Jackie Rehwald | News-Leader

A polygamous community in the Ozarks was recently featured in The Salt Lake Tribune and The Guardian US in an article titled "How Mormon polygamists returned to Missouri and made it their melting pot."

The community, referred to as "The Ranch," is located between Stockton and Humansville and is home to about 400 people, the article states.

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Sean Anderson, a 51-year-old fundamentalist Mormon from Mexico, recently moved to The Ranch and told the Tribune reporter, "Missouri is the promised land."

According to the article, "the residents come from polygamous churches that haven’t always gotten along. But here, the polygamists worship not only with one another but also with members of the Salt Lake City-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which officially abandoned polygamy in 1890 and excommunicates members found practicing it.

"Despite their differences, the mainstream Latter-day Saints and people on The Ranch still share core beliefs — and the community still uses the 16 million-member church’s texts."

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Though residents call it The Ranch, agriculture amount to only a few cows and chickens and a hayfield, the article says.

The article details the community's history, starting in 1983 when one of the founders, Stephen Laub, heard a divine voice that eventually instructed him to leave southwest Utah and move to Missouri.

Latter-day Saints' history with Missouri has been complicated — as the Tribune article notes, church founder Joseph Smith at one prophesized that "'Zion' was in Jackson County and that Jesus would return there one day."

Later, conflicts with other settlers resulted in the 1838 Mormon War in Missouri, and an executive order signed by then-Gov. Lilburn Boggs stating that "The Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the state if necessary for the public peace — their outrages are beyond all description."

Residents spoke to The Salt Lake Tribune reporter about life in the Ozarks. Anderson said he likes that he can have discussions of church doctrine with other residents without fear of offending someone.

“They may not agree with me,” Anderson told The Tribune, “and they aren’t going to ostracize me.”

FROM THE ARCHIVES:Fleeing a polygamist — an Ozarks case

The News-Leader last reported on a polygamist community near Humansville in 2011. In that article, 27-year-old twin sisters, Heather and Sara Staples, and their eight children had fled their shared husband, Charles Laub.

Charles Laub was charged in Cedar County Court with domestic assault and rape.

According to online court documents, he was convicted by a jury of attempted forcible rape and third-degree domestic assault and is currently serving time in Missouri prison.

It was not immediately clear if or how Charles Laub is related to the Laubs mentioned in the recent Tribune article, but public records indicate a connection.

To read the full Salt Lake Tribune article, go to sltrib.com.

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NEWS-LEADER ARCHIVES: Fleeing a polygamist — an Ozarks case