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Broken Promise: The story of a man growing up in Bountiful and living under 'The One Man Rule.'
Born into the Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saint (FLDS) community of Bountiful, British Columbia, Jon Blackmore grew up believing that his church was the sole path to salvation, the only people destined to survive an impending apocalypse. But salvation required more than just faith. It also demanded perfect obedience to God’s chosen representatives on Earth—the church’s prophet and the local bishop.
Wielding absolute control over every aspect of their followers’ lives—spiritually, socially, and financially—Bishop Winston Blackmore, backed by God’s so-called prophet in the United States, ruled his followers with an iron fist. The people of Bountiful were driven into a life of near-enslavement, where refusal to comply with their leaders’ demands—which included surrendering children to forced labor or entering “plural marriages”—meant excommunication from the church and eternal damnation.
This memoir chronicles Jon’s journey from devout believer to conflicted follower to questioning skeptic as his leaders’ increasingly bold and outrageous antics cause his community and his church to unravel, putting the future of Jon’s own family in peril.
Wielding absolute control over every aspect of their followers’ lives—spiritually, socially, and financially—Bishop Winston Blackmore, backed by God’s so-called prophet in the United States, ruled his followers with an iron fist. The people of Bountiful were driven into a life of near-enslavement, where refusal to comply with their leaders’ demands—which included surrendering children to forced labor or entering “plural marriages”—meant excommunication from the church and eternal damnation.
This memoir chronicles Jon’s journey from devout believer to conflicted follower to questioning skeptic as his leaders’ increasingly bold and outrageous antics cause his community and his church to unravel, putting the future of Jon’s own family in peril.
234 pages, Hardcover
Published January 30, 2025
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April 13, 2025
Disappointing. A book about manipulation... that is trying to manipulate us.
This book seems to serve one single purpose: tell the world that Winston Blackmore is bad and Jon's father, Winston's older brother, Brandon Blackmore Sr, is innocent.
NOW: Was it deeply unfair that Winston Blackmore got no jail time although he had sex with at least seven (7!) 15 and 16 year olds? Sure. That Winston Blackmore stole an insane amount of money through brainwashing from his cult members, abusing a huge amount of children for child labour, resulting in deaths and amputated limbs? Also: sure.
Does that mean that Brandon Blackmore Sr should not have received the one year jail for giving his 12 year old daughter to Warren Jeffs to be raped? No.
Jon's biggest point seems to be to try to manipulate us into believing that his father was innocent - while providing ZERO evidence! Jon keeps repeating that his father "had no choice", which is simply incorrect. His father could have gone to the police and could have left the cult. Instead Brandon Sr was cool with receiving a 4th and 5th wife as "thank you" and in exchange for his daughters. Jon keeps mentioning people who did leave the cult, so he directly contradicting himself.
Words that are never used in the book? Brainwashing and grooming. This is missing. I would understand if Jon were to argue that his father was brainwashed. But he just doesn't.
Other things that Jon omits to manipulate the readers:
1) His 2nd wife Ruth Jessop. He makes it look like he is a monogamist, by only featuring his first wife LaRee "Julia" Wyler. Very very odd.
2) Cindy Blackmore and her walk for child sexual abuse victims in Bountiful and how absolutely ubiquitous child rape is - or any of the stories that Cindy's 2015 blog that was extensively featured in the media featured.
3) Why Marvin Palmer's house was burned down and by whom. This one is truly ridiculous: Marvin's plural wife Debbie Oler burned down the house because Marvin was molesting daughters. There was a state investigation and three men were ousted in 1992 for child sexual abuse and social workers were sent to Bountiful because of how widespread the abuse was. The state did not follow up after that.
4) Jon is yet another annoying example of the "it was all Warren Jeffs" with an added "plus Winston Blackmore" twist lie: NO, child brides and child sexual abuse did not start with Warren Jeffs! Debbie Oler was 15 when she was married to her stepgrandfather Raymond Blackmore, Jon's grandfather, who was 57. Jon's grandmother Anna Mae Wynder/Johnson was only 16 years old when she was married to his grandfather - and he could do that because she came from an extremely broken home and spent part of her childhood in foster care. Ruth Blackmore was married to Eldon Palmer on her 15th birthday - he was 56. Winston Blackmore himself said that the youngest girl he married was 13, just about to turn 14. Ina Thomson, that Jon mentions, became plural wife to the 38 year old Eldon Palmer when she 16. He does not mention this. John Barlow sexually abused a 12 year old, who was then passed on to her 2nd husband as a "widow" at age 16, Leroy S. Johnson sexually abused 12 year old and two 14 year olds that he declared his "wives". He also took more teen wives at age 95 for crying out loud! Heck, Jon even mentions that his dad's first wife had no kids and was a very young widow of Richard Seth Jessop - who died at age 84!!! STOP PRETENDING THAT THIS IS ALL WARREN AND NEVER EXISTED BEFORE! Jon Blackmore seems to have absolutely nothing to say about his sisters, like May and Bonita Laree, being given to ancient men past retirement age. We have Rulon Jeffs' child brides (May's sister wives) speaking out in front of TV cameras on what it feels like to be raped by a man in his 80s. So where is Jon's compassion? And again: Brandon Blackmore Sr made that choice. For his own spiritual advancement in the cult, for additional young wives.
5) Mothers and daughters having sex with the same man. Jon mentions his father-in-law Marvin Wyler. He incorrectly has Marvin Wyler with three wives - in fact, he had four wives, as he was also married to the mother of two of his wives. She tried to get him to have sex with him in her 50s by stating that she would like to become pregnant again (the FLDS discourages marital relations after menopause - you get your next teen wife for that!)... Marvin Wyler spoke extensively to media about his. What he also spoke about extensively is the fact that his mother was mentally disabled and was kidnapped by her elderly abuser who raped her and declared her his "plural wife".
Two of Jon Blackmore's other mothers (Brandon Blackmore Sr's first and third wife) are daughters of Newel Steed and his stepdaughters that he raised. He never mentions this abuse either. Nor does he mention that Raymond Blackmore, his grandfather, started having sex with his adopted daughter that he raised and declared his plural wife at age 14, Wanda Johnson... I could go on and on and on. Shout out also to Nate Carlisle, who did not do his job as a journalist - always happy to have a camera on him. Oddly rarely with any investigation. What did we get instead from Nate in his interview with Jon Blackmore on this book?! The chicken farm of the Blackmores! It would be funny if it wasn't so deeply sad.
6) While it would be a unique story for Jon to tell, he just doesn't go there with the exception of a single sentence: Jon is the grandson of Bob Crossfield - the guy who declared himself Prophet Onias in the early 1960s and dropped several daughters and stepdaughters off at the FLDS in Canada. Bob Crossfield actually engaged in polyandry - he had sex with women married already to other men. There is a book out by one of Bob's stepdaughters that describes Bob abusing his followers and how she herself was raped as a young girl by one of Bob's two sons, Jon's uncle. Bob Crossfield had the murderous Lafferty brothers as his followers. Zero mention by Jon. All he says is that Bob dropped two of his daughters off in Bountiful, Gail (Jon's mother) and her sister, and her sister was raped and beaten badly by Brandon Blackmore Sr's brother and that at age 16 Gail was married as 2nd wife to Jon's father Brandon Blackmore. How did Jon find out about the rape of his aunt? How does he feel about any of this? Are there feelings for women and their suffering apart from "I love 'Julia' [his pseudonym for his first wife]. She is a great mom and cook"? If so, that does not become apparent at all.
7) Jon mentions a wealthy man being excommunicated for tithing both to the LDS and the FLDS. His wife is reassigned to Winston Blackmore. I am not sure who that is - Carlene Thomson, Ina Thomson's and Della Thomson's sister? Be that as it may: what is missing is how that was possible. Why does this woman just accept another husband? Hint: the brainwashing that is integral to patriarchal polygamy to get women's obedience. If there is no sexual and romantic attraction to one's "husband" who may well be in his 80s, then what one needs is obedience and brainwashing. And that is the elephant in the room that Jon never addresses. He keeps saying that his father Brandon would have lost his wives if he had not consented to his daughters being given away as teenagers to deeply inappropriate men, be that Rulon Jeffs, Warren Jeffs or Merril Jessop (odd also that he never mentions Bonita Laree although Carolyn Blackmore Jessop wrote about her in her bestselling "Escape"). He omits why. Because they had been brainwashed to be with him in the first place. That is not to say that some of Brandon's wives may not have liked him if they had gotten to know him normally. It is just to say that they were never given that choice nor the choice of whether they wanted to be monogamously married to him. Their (non-?)choice was not getting to the highest level of heaven or obedience.
8) Jon neither mentions Teressa Wall by name nor any of her testimony against the legalization of polygamy in Canada, although he does mention Teressa's marriage to his brother, albeit without naming her. He does not mention Vanessa Rohbock.
This book seems to serve one single purpose: tell the world that Winston Blackmore is bad and Jon's father, Winston's older brother, Brandon Blackmore Sr, is innocent.
NOW: Was it deeply unfair that Winston Blackmore got no jail time although he had sex with at least seven (7!) 15 and 16 year olds? Sure. That Winston Blackmore stole an insane amount of money through brainwashing from his cult members, abusing a huge amount of children for child labour, resulting in deaths and amputated limbs? Also: sure.
Does that mean that Brandon Blackmore Sr should not have received the one year jail for giving his 12 year old daughter to Warren Jeffs to be raped? No.
Jon's biggest point seems to be to try to manipulate us into believing that his father was innocent - while providing ZERO evidence! Jon keeps repeating that his father "had no choice", which is simply incorrect. His father could have gone to the police and could have left the cult. Instead Brandon Sr was cool with receiving a 4th and 5th wife as "thank you" and in exchange for his daughters. Jon keeps mentioning people who did leave the cult, so he directly contradicting himself.
Words that are never used in the book? Brainwashing and grooming. This is missing. I would understand if Jon were to argue that his father was brainwashed. But he just doesn't.
Other things that Jon omits to manipulate the readers:
1) His 2nd wife Ruth Jessop. He makes it look like he is a monogamist, by only featuring his first wife LaRee "Julia" Wyler. Very very odd.
2) Cindy Blackmore and her walk for child sexual abuse victims in Bountiful and how absolutely ubiquitous child rape is - or any of the stories that Cindy's 2015 blog that was extensively featured in the media featured.
3) Why Marvin Palmer's house was burned down and by whom. This one is truly ridiculous: Marvin's plural wife Debbie Oler burned down the house because Marvin was molesting daughters. There was a state investigation and three men were ousted in 1992 for child sexual abuse and social workers were sent to Bountiful because of how widespread the abuse was. The state did not follow up after that.
4) Jon is yet another annoying example of the "it was all Warren Jeffs" with an added "plus Winston Blackmore" twist lie: NO, child brides and child sexual abuse did not start with Warren Jeffs! Debbie Oler was 15 when she was married to her stepgrandfather Raymond Blackmore, Jon's grandfather, who was 57. Jon's grandmother Anna Mae Wynder/Johnson was only 16 years old when she was married to his grandfather - and he could do that because she came from an extremely broken home and spent part of her childhood in foster care. Ruth Blackmore was married to Eldon Palmer on her 15th birthday - he was 56. Winston Blackmore himself said that the youngest girl he married was 13, just about to turn 14. Ina Thomson, that Jon mentions, became plural wife to the 38 year old Eldon Palmer when she 16. He does not mention this. John Barlow sexually abused a 12 year old, who was then passed on to her 2nd husband as a "widow" at age 16, Leroy S. Johnson sexually abused 12 year old and two 14 year olds that he declared his "wives". He also took more teen wives at age 95 for crying out loud! Heck, Jon even mentions that his dad's first wife had no kids and was a very young widow of Richard Seth Jessop - who died at age 84!!! STOP PRETENDING THAT THIS IS ALL WARREN AND NEVER EXISTED BEFORE! Jon Blackmore seems to have absolutely nothing to say about his sisters, like May and Bonita Laree, being given to ancient men past retirement age. We have Rulon Jeffs' child brides (May's sister wives) speaking out in front of TV cameras on what it feels like to be raped by a man in his 80s. So where is Jon's compassion? And again: Brandon Blackmore Sr made that choice. For his own spiritual advancement in the cult, for additional young wives.
5) Mothers and daughters having sex with the same man. Jon mentions his father-in-law Marvin Wyler. He incorrectly has Marvin Wyler with three wives - in fact, he had four wives, as he was also married to the mother of two of his wives. She tried to get him to have sex with him in her 50s by stating that she would like to become pregnant again (the FLDS discourages marital relations after menopause - you get your next teen wife for that!)... Marvin Wyler spoke extensively to media about his. What he also spoke about extensively is the fact that his mother was mentally disabled and was kidnapped by her elderly abuser who raped her and declared her his "plural wife".
Two of Jon Blackmore's other mothers (Brandon Blackmore Sr's first and third wife) are daughters of Newel Steed and his stepdaughters that he raised. He never mentions this abuse either. Nor does he mention that Raymond Blackmore, his grandfather, started having sex with his adopted daughter that he raised and declared his plural wife at age 14, Wanda Johnson... I could go on and on and on. Shout out also to Nate Carlisle, who did not do his job as a journalist - always happy to have a camera on him. Oddly rarely with any investigation. What did we get instead from Nate in his interview with Jon Blackmore on this book?! The chicken farm of the Blackmores! It would be funny if it wasn't so deeply sad.
6) While it would be a unique story for Jon to tell, he just doesn't go there with the exception of a single sentence: Jon is the grandson of Bob Crossfield - the guy who declared himself Prophet Onias in the early 1960s and dropped several daughters and stepdaughters off at the FLDS in Canada. Bob Crossfield actually engaged in polyandry - he had sex with women married already to other men. There is a book out by one of Bob's stepdaughters that describes Bob abusing his followers and how she herself was raped as a young girl by one of Bob's two sons, Jon's uncle. Bob Crossfield had the murderous Lafferty brothers as his followers. Zero mention by Jon. All he says is that Bob dropped two of his daughters off in Bountiful, Gail (Jon's mother) and her sister, and her sister was raped and beaten badly by Brandon Blackmore Sr's brother and that at age 16 Gail was married as 2nd wife to Jon's father Brandon Blackmore. How did Jon find out about the rape of his aunt? How does he feel about any of this? Are there feelings for women and their suffering apart from "I love 'Julia' [his pseudonym for his first wife]. She is a great mom and cook"? If so, that does not become apparent at all.
7) Jon mentions a wealthy man being excommunicated for tithing both to the LDS and the FLDS. His wife is reassigned to Winston Blackmore. I am not sure who that is - Carlene Thomson, Ina Thomson's and Della Thomson's sister? Be that as it may: what is missing is how that was possible. Why does this woman just accept another husband? Hint: the brainwashing that is integral to patriarchal polygamy to get women's obedience. If there is no sexual and romantic attraction to one's "husband" who may well be in his 80s, then what one needs is obedience and brainwashing. And that is the elephant in the room that Jon never addresses. He keeps saying that his father Brandon would have lost his wives if he had not consented to his daughters being given away as teenagers to deeply inappropriate men, be that Rulon Jeffs, Warren Jeffs or Merril Jessop (odd also that he never mentions Bonita Laree although Carolyn Blackmore Jessop wrote about her in her bestselling "Escape"). He omits why. Because they had been brainwashed to be with him in the first place. That is not to say that some of Brandon's wives may not have liked him if they had gotten to know him normally. It is just to say that they were never given that choice nor the choice of whether they wanted to be monogamously married to him. Their (non-?)choice was not getting to the highest level of heaven or obedience.
8) Jon neither mentions Teressa Wall by name nor any of her testimony against the legalization of polygamy in Canada, although he does mention Teressa's marriage to his brother, albeit without naming her. He does not mention Vanessa Rohbock.
July 13, 2025
this is the story of a man and his family that grew up in Bountiful, British Columbia , Canada. Bountiful is the center for the fundamental latter day saint community here in Canada. It is ruled by one man Winston Blackmore who rules this community with a iron fist. Most of the families in this center are living in poor conditions as for Winston with approx. 30 wives live in luxury. By being support by the rest of the community , who gives most of their earnings to Winston on the pretext that it is for all but actually he takes the most. Jon talks about how the young boys and girls are sent to a forest camp for cutting trees as for punishment for all of the church followers from the united states and in his community. he gives them small amounts like 5 dollars to work from sun up to sun down and then he takes alot back. Winston makes promises that he never keeps .Hopefully Jon takes his family out of the group.
February 11, 2026
Born into the oppressive world of the Fundamentalist Latter-Day Saint (FLDS) community in Bountiful, British Columbia, Jon Blackmore’s memoir takes readers on a gripping journey from blind faith to hard won freedom. Growing up under the absolute authority of Bishop Winston Blackmore and the church’s prophet, Jon was taught that obedience was the only path to salvation, even if it meant surrendering children to forced labor or entering polygamous marriages.
As Jon’s faith begins to crack, he grapples with the realization that the leaders who once seemed infallible were actually leading his community down a dangerous and manipulative path. This memoir details his painful transformation from devout follower to questioning skeptic, all while his family’s future hangs in the balance as the church unravels around him. A compelling and emotional story of survival, this memoir sheds light on the dark underbelly of religious extremism and one man's fight for freedom.
As Jon’s faith begins to crack, he grapples with the realization that the leaders who once seemed infallible were actually leading his community down a dangerous and manipulative path. This memoir details his painful transformation from devout follower to questioning skeptic, all while his family’s future hangs in the balance as the church unravels around him. A compelling and emotional story of survival, this memoir sheds light on the dark underbelly of religious extremism and one man's fight for freedom.
March 29, 2025
There are many books and shows that touch on the horrors experienced by the girls and women of the FLDS, but not much on what the boys and men went through. This book is full of knowledge to a side of the story not much touched on.
I look forward to reading the next book
I look forward to reading the next book
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews