cathryn lucy “katie” collinwood was a twenty-one-year-old nursing student at Salt Lake County Hospital in the summer of 1941 when she told her diary, “Feel odd today—like something strange is going to happen soon. ”1Strange is certainly one word for the two-year odyssey Collinwood began the next day. On August 14, she went on a date with Heber Kimball “Fred” Cleveland, whose passion about the necessity of plural marriage for exaltation within their shared Mormon faith apparently struck a chord. Plus, Collinwood found the gaunt-faced Cleveland handsome, notwithstanding his age of forty. That night, after their date, Collinwood wrote, “Am going to marry this wonderful fellow and know I shall love and respect him forever for he is the kind one respects. ” The next day, Cleveland took her to meet his three wives at their South 9th Street home. “I am fully aware of this code of living the officiant was Joseph White Musser, a leader of the fundamentalist Mormon movement to which Cleveland, and now Collinwood, belonged. “I am Mrs. Heber Kimball Cleveland, ” she gushed to her diary. “I love him with all my heart. ”2Collinwood's diary entries are among roughly two thousand pages of investigatory documents compiled by the FBI in 1943 and 1944 as agents investigated alleged violations of the Mann Act, the Lindbergh Act, and other federal laws related to fundamentalist Mormons’ religious practice of plural marriage. 3 While the documents provide insight into the mindset of federal agents as they probed what they saw as a potential threat to the American social order during World War II, the investigative reports also provide a rare glimpse into the quotidian aspects of a group often exoticized, marginalized, and demonized during its century of existence. Discussion of fundamentalist Mormonism often focuses on official channels: religious leaders, their doctrines, and their public statements, on the one hand, and the state, its laws, and its enforcement actions, on the other. This almost always is examined through the lens of polygamy, its most distinctive and controversial doctrine. 4 Yet between these public antagonisms sit hundreds of women and men living their religion, often in private spaces difficult for scholars to access. In 1943, however, bishops from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints gave federal prosecutor John Boyden evidence they had collected during a yearslong surveillance campaign of Salt Lake City polygamists whom the church had excommunicated over the previous two decades. Angered by the flagrant flouting of anti-polygamy laws, Boyden in turn handed their evidence to the FBI, which opened its own investigation that concluded with a 1944 raid leading to the arrest of forty-six polygamous men and women and the eventual conviction of fifteen men on state and federal charges. 5 The resulting documents—declassified in the 1990s but seemingly never examined or discussed until now—reveal not only the steps the LDS Church and the federal government took to eradicate polygamy from the Utah capital during World War II but also the daily lives of self-described fundamentalists who worshipped on Sundays, prayed for loved ones fighting in Europe and the Pacific, married (and married, again and again), struggled with finances, squabbled with each other, raised families, and sought converts in the face of opposition from both church and state. These details become apparent in hundreds of transcribed letters and interviews federal agents conducted with current and former fundamentalists, but most compellingly in Collinwood's diary. While the nursing student's clinical notations of each time she and her new husband had sex provided smoking-gun evidence that Cleveland had transported her across state lines for an “immoral purpose, ” which the Supreme Court eventually ruled could and did include plural marriage, 6 other entries, as transcribed by the FBI, shed light on the life of an early 1940s polygamous family living in Salt Lake City. Collinwood was Cleveland's fourth concurrent wife. Although he had initially married Eileen Hume in 1926, the couple divorced in 1935 upon Cleveland's embrace of fundamentalism. He then married Zola Chatwin in 1938, with Leah Woolley added as a plural wife shortly after. His third wife was particularly controversial: fourteen-year-old Marie Beth Barlow, with whom he fathered a child, and whose disappearance from school attracted law enforcement attention and eventually led to Cleveland's fleeing the state. 7 After she married Cleveland, Collinwood helped him recruit other wives for his family, sending letters and meeting with prospective converts who were curious about polygamy. “I talked the law to her, ” Collinwood wrote of a potential plural wife named Jean in October 1941. “Explained of the Priesthood being with us today—of the healings I knew of—of the pure necessity of the law—of my reasons for belief—how happy I was with Fred—of the wonderful life this was. . . . She agreed to a date with him if I came along. ”8Needless to say, Collinwood was an enthusiastic and helpful convert to fundamentalism. Not only did she proselytize for plural marriage, she worked as a typist for Musser's fundamentalist journal, Truth, likely transcribing many of the pro-polygamy editorials and commentaries Musser wrote in 1941 and 1942. Further, her nursing skills proved useful as she helped deliver a baby for members of the group shortly after arriving, then again when Marie delivered Fred Albert Cleveland in December 1941. 9 Even so, Collinwood's diary entries record a turbulent transition into a large household whose internal dynamics included strong wills and clashing personalities. “Zola the structure of Cleveland's family was divinely mandated yet condemned, both by the church of which they still claimed to be a part and the state of which they were citizens. This tension suffuses her writing, especially after the birth of her daughter. The couple traveled to Grand Junction, Colorado, likely so they could fudge the birth certificate details without local authorities noticing. With their daughter due any moment, Cleveland and Collinwood checked into the Hillcrest Maternity Home, calling themselves Mr. and Mrs. Robinson and paying thirty-five dollars cash for the July 11, 1942, delivery. The birth certificate listed the baby's name as Cathryn Collinwood Robinson, with the father as William Dawson Robinson, the name of Collinwood's grandfather. To keep up the ruse that the baby's parents were Grand Junction residents, the couple stayed in Colorado through the end of the year, traveling to Salt Lake City for short visits, such as in September, when Musser and Cleveland formally named and blessed the baby. 14 Their travel became so noteworthy, it attracted the attention of the local newspaper, which on September 14 jauntily dubbed the younger Cathryn “the traveling baby. ” She “is a guest at this time of Mr. and Mrs. H. K. Cleveland, ” while her father, falsely identified as Robinson, “is on a business trip to Texas. ”15By January 1943, the Cleveland family was briefly reunited in Salt Lake City, but Cleveland soon left Utah rather than face arrest for his relationship with Marie. Collinwood thus cared for their infant daughter, helped shield Marie from police scrutiny, managed the household's meager finances (“All 5 of us are trying to manage on 10. 50 per week for food, ” an equivalent of less than 200 today), and mediated disputes between the fractious Zola and Laura. 16 In letters, the couple expressed affection for each other, calling each other pet names like “Sunny” and “Woody” and their daughter “Mugwumps, ” but Cleveland's absence clearly wore on Collinwood. When she received word in the summer of 1942 that the LDS Church had excommunicated her, she wrote a furious response: “I am just sorry for you and taking this opportunity of calling you to repentance before the judgements of God fall upon you as they have to men in the past. ”17 Collinwood first showed the letter to Musser to see if she should send it, but he advised her not to. “You are to be congratulated that the powers of darkness think enough of you to try and exclude you from the blessings of salvation, ” he replied. The FBI later found the unsent letter among her papers. 18For Musser and the other fundamentalist leaders, these were heady times, even as they recognized potential storm clouds on the horizon. The FBI recorded the group's successful purchase of a new Salt Lake City meeting place at 2157 Lincoln Ave. , a majestic three-story Victorian house that took some pressure off Cleveland's wives to ensure a presentable worship space each week. In a July 1942 fundraising letter sent to Cleveland and other fundamentalists, the group's Priesthood Council extolled its first-floor apartments, which could be rented out to cover mortgage payments, and “large assembly room” on the third floor that could hold up to three hundred people. Yet even this exciting news came tempered with the reality of the group's precarious position. Although on two bus lines, the house was isolated enough “not to be a disturbing factor with our neighbors, ” and on the reverse side of the letter, Musser handwrote a note to Cleveland, warning him that while he was in California, “Would be careful about teaching the Gospel to strangers. They don't usually appreciate it. ”19Meanwhile, Musser and the Priesthood Council dealt with unanticipated legal trouble of a much more humdrum variety than they would experience in 1944. Although they expected that the third story of their new meeting house would be “free for our use, ” city fire inspectors disagreed, deeming it unsafe for so many people to occupy such a space with little ability to leave in an emergency. As the fire department reviewed the property, inspectors determined that John Y. Barlow, leader of the Priesthood Council, was the primary occupant, but also saw “several women and a large number of children, ” perhaps a dozen or so. One fire official said he encountered a pregnant woman on the second floor. “He advised that the young woman gave the impression that she was very depressed, was required to stay within her apartment, and indicated that she was not in with was going on on the. . . she it was her and not in the of The FBI her age first as then or The fire she was but the said he she was married to Musser, Joseph Musser's September 1942, the group in their new meeting house for the first the first then for the meeting that is a from Musser wrote to Fred and church members worked into each the what were never so in and as By early Musser wrote that of men and women were to the Yet he also that beneath the and of a new “the of is upon and The is to and then polygamists in Salt Lake City, the prospect of state was never the FBI proved especially in the group's which and with the and former members about even as fundamentalist to about what was said and in the In January FBI agents school age Although not a her family was with some who all of by their as in the of who her and. . . for a time to convert her to the of plural While found the teaching that women have as many as She also that Salt Lake City to to that community on the also fundamentalist father, in but her polygamy, and he to in to federal or so his wife told the was raised in a Mormon fundamentalist most By the time FBI agents her that she had for more than two her family from City to Salt Lake City at the of Musser, Barlow, and the of the Priesthood By this the investigation was an had told his daughter “not to the names of the members to Although told FBI agents that she only her are and had not to the of she was to a who was then in the and whose was a plural wife living in her to keep details of fundamentalist a proved to be a of for the She that the group's discussed their and the Further, a about of the and plural She of members to the but added that to be to be sent an of its in fundamentalist paying a of of her two the group's The FBI was particularly in said she never received a for the that was a and that she know what was with the she is the impression that some of these are for the of the as in investigation indicated handed to Musser, who the into the of provided agents with a of all at the fundamentalist she in the or and more than three dozen in the the and several other would the Salt Lake City as as would fundamentalists from In her that was a part of these and that one would the while wives FBI clearly in a difficult As a during a time of her in was not She enough in the fundamentalist to and her as as to marry into the Yet she provided to agents it be should of any of the of this group be and that it be for her to to the as that her be and the FBI as she the group's and agents fundamentalist to their to embrace plural marriage and Musser for the and of polygamy in Truth, the FBI a more Not only the interviews with fundamentalists and provide of families, such as the to religious and legal they also the practice of polygamy could and out to the of several fundamentalist leaders, a of women who in previous had their turn by the marriage and taking their with they proved to be in what they could about the One of Zola from her in October and took of their two She told agents that had “a who was led by the fundamentalist of his father, and now his current a and very rough to told agents she a changed her from him and he became a of the one when she was taking their to fundamentalist she Musser told agents what she knew about the group her husband helped Joseph had married more than in and for fifteen they had never Although they had Musser that Joseph did not provide a in a She being a of polygamy while married to the public of the to other wives into their home, and as a Musser never discussed the group with her or in their With perhaps some she told FBI agents that for these she was not a wife. she also told she had of Musser's until after their Even so, she to be very wrote, although she was about the about her husband have on their wives had a of Mormon so did Albert and who were to from to Salt Lake Their in letters initially provided to the Salt Lake County which then gave to the FBI, both the and the of fundamentalist in the and early to the letters, fundamentalist with the of his had their to in an especially of the law of to to Salt Lake City in with the “I it is a very to wrote, I it is not to any and all to and to told the that fundamentalists in Salt Lake City were the even this was not an official an of life in fundamentalist Salt Lake City, one that perhaps should have raised for the of our people have very large and is not one of my who is in he wrote during the He then provided a of a polygamous family of living on thirty-five dollars per which was less than the new of the would have provided and to less than a Although Priesthood Council household as with a of and love and that one it as soon as one the found something much after they their home and their and to Salt Lake In an the as “a who was as of as a was of their three in Salt Lake City, the a of by by and among his of their the a couple have to a home with perhaps with to the more they told also for the they to what he for and took of their for his is my wrote, all he of me was to me out to his place at to his family he (and that I would not his family and I as as I had a the claimed they not until their and had not for over a for their age and While they were wife of a with little apparent other and or the other of these two would a with the other, and if they to it would be their as led her to to by what they as their in to Salt Lake when they they were excommunicated by their local they the In July 1941, they provided Utah with as much as they could of the family, several of the have for that and his family to our and in order to shield they wrote, if are as by the state shall not for him added a to one of her you see that these a They are on our is about Collinwood's own with the group into which she had so In 1942, Collinwood to convert her to with her for about the of plural marriage and it worked in her In Collinwood the polygamous life in a letter to her husband when his marriage to after one her & And what time she I shall her with & as I would have the you with in Collinwood was furious enough at the Latter-day bishops who excommunicated her that she one “the in the the next however, Collinwood was of her life at the Cleveland Fred and Zola were in Colorado divorced so he could marry Marie. Cathryn was and Collinwood and Marie struggled with the In a 5, 1943, letter to her of she wrote, “I but I know I am not not & would my to have a with She about or even in the as from the & or nursing skills had and she her only now in a for Even her to Cleveland a fifth wife had I be the she wrote on last three you have I have & they have all out a 24 letter to which Collinwood her is to be and that “I know I am not happy in this that she is not fully in with living as a plural Cleveland from Colorado that the of by the Collinwood LDS for in Fred Cleveland's eventually with her and in she gave FBI agents a for her they did not record in her with she said that although she had received letters from Cleveland and her wives her she had left She also her to her former By the time Fred Cleveland was on in 1944 for taking her across state lines to their polygamous Collinwood had and to California, taking the as Cathryn to her she was into the LDS Church in When Cleveland and Collinwood's at age in the identified her as to and third whom she married in Heber Kimball Cleveland went as a fundamentalist Mormon in the of and was with struggled as they and from the church they and investigation and eventually arrest and from the not only on the even of plural marriage, as in Cathryn Collinwood's of women on her but also on the of two other Mormon the and the law of The their life in to in Salt Lake City, and to even of to be with the found life much than the that from of pages during the investigation into fundamentalist Mormonism in to of polygamous especially when for the that any evidence to the investigation likely did not as or in Although the Latter-day and FBI certainly evidence of among the Salt Lake City and such as marriage that to in they also often more than the reality of daily among fundamentalist of people living their
Paul A. Anthony (Thu,) studied this question.