Benjamin LeBaron

Benjamin LeBaron, also known as Ben, was one of the seven sons of Dayer LeBaron. He belonged to a family whose religious authority was contested even among its members: Benjamin and two of his brothers each claimed to be “one mighty and strong,” a divinely appointed prophet who would restore the Mormon Church to what they regarded as its righteous path. Benjamin’s public performance in Salt Lake City made that claim visible as spectacle, before his brothers Joel and Ervil emerged as the group’s guiding lights in the 1960s.

Family and Prophetic Claim

The LeBaron family’s prophetic claims were part of a wider contest over who possessed the authority to lead the faithful. Benjamin was one of three brothers who claimed the title “one mighty and strong.” Each presented himself as divinely ordained to return the Mormon Church to the course it had abandoned after the 1890 Manifesto. The shared claim placed the brothers within the same religious movement while also setting up competing assertions of leadership.

Public Performance

In a widely remembered incident in the early 1950s, Benjamin lay face down in the middle of a busy Salt Lake City intersection, bringing traffic to a halt. He then performed two hundred push-ups. When police persuaded him to get up, he treated the feat as proof that he was the “one mighty and strong.” The episode joined a dramatic interruption of ordinary city life to a claim of prophetic distinction: physical prowess became his offered evidence of divine appointment.

Later Years and Family Context

By the 1960s, Benjamin was committed to the Utah State Mental Hospital. With him institutionalized, his brothers Joel and Ervil became the group’s guiding lights; both, like Benjamin, claimed the title “one mighty and strong.” The account does not describe Benjamin’s later role or any resolution of his claim. It instead places him at the start of a family conflict over prophetic legitimacy that continued through his brothers.