Fred Jessop

Fred Jessop, known as Uncle Fred, was an admired ninety-five-year-old patriarch in Colorado City’s First Ward and a possible successor to Rulon Jeffs. His importance in the account lies less in any recorded action of his own than in what his candidacy exposed: leadership in the community depended on contested claims to prophetic authority, and a succession decision could place an entire congregation at risk of division.

Identity and Standing

Jessop is identified as an admired patriarch, but the account gives no further biography or description of his leadership. His standing is conveyed through the expectation that many First Ward members wanted him, rather than Warren Jeffs, to succeed Rulon. At ninety-five, he represented a respected alternative at a moment when the community was deciding who would inherit its highest religious office.

Succession and the Threat of Division

When Warren was ordained prophet, Jessop’s supporters were thought likely to be sufficiently disenchanted to leave the First Ward and form another sect. The possibility made Jessop a focal point of uncertainty even though the account does not say that he sought the office or directed his followers. A brother of Warren speculated that the faction might instead wait: its members believed Warren would not remain in the prophet’s chair for long and hoped that, after his departure, one of their own could lead an intact First Ward. The account presents this as the brother’s assessment, not as a decision or prediction attributed directly to Jessop.

Earlier Succession Disputes and Significance

The prospect of a break had a clear precedent in Colorado City. After LeRoy Johnson died in 1986, Rulon Jeffs assumed leadership, but followers of Marion Hammon disputed his claim and left to establish the Second Ward. The two congregations then denounced each other as apostate. Against that history, speculation about Jessop’s supporters carried more than personal significance: disagreement over who should lead could become a separate church, with lasting consequences for communal allegiance.

The wider movement’s succession history likewise shows how leadership appointments could generate rival claims. After John Y. Barlow’s death, Joseph Musser’s appointment of Rulon Allred as his heir apparent met opposition from supporters of LeRoy Johnson and contributed to a split between rival groups. Jessop’s candidacy belongs to this recurring pattern of revered figures, competing expectations, and the possibility that followers might withdraw rather than accept a new prophet. The text does not establish what Jessop himself thought or what ultimately became of his followers; it leaves him at the point where an anticipated succession could either fracture the First Ward or be deferred in the hope of preserving it.