Laman Manasseh Victorious

Laman Manasseh Victorious was originally published in 1931 by Charles W. Kingston. Taking about six months to complete the project Charles authored the text just 3 years after being excommunicated from the LDS Church. The book was one of the more widely circulated works published in the final transition period of the LDS Church during the presidency of Heber J. Grant when the mainstream church was actively purging and distancing itself from any remaining holdouts of plural marriage. Some other notable individuals excommunicated or disfellowshipped during this time included John W. Woolley Lorin Woolley Israel Barlow John W. Taylor Joseph Musser John Y. Barlow and others. President Grant delivered strong addresses to the main body of the church against plural marriage in 1925 1926 and 1931.In 1933 President Grant along with his counselor J. Rueben Clark prepared a sixteen-page document addressed to church members and published in the Deseret News on June 17 1933. The official statement decried and rebuked individuals who continued to distribute literature at the temple grounds republishing statements by past church leaders in support of plural marriage and causing questions among current church members.Two of the individuals publishing and distributing literature were Charles W. Kingston and Jesse B. Stone the authors of Laman Manasseh Victorious. The two men had worked together to fund and print the first ever published version of accounts surrounding the 1886 revelation in a pamphlet titled An Event of the Underground Days in 1930. In one instance Charles anonymously left over 1000 pamphlets on the tables just outside the Tabernacle during conference weekend. The pamphlets were formatted to look much like official statements by the LDS Church Presidency of the time and they quoted official LDS scripture with excerpts of speeches by past church leaders. His actions prompted church officials to change their policy and remove the customary literature tables from meetings at the tabernacle.The tone of the work reflects many common views of early fundamentalist Mormon thought as it identifies critical points of difference between the authors and the church. It also contains some views unique to the author(s) that give a window to early thinking within the Davis County Co-operative Society which was founded by Charles W. Kingston's son Elden.