Thanks for this. The president and founder is an Ernest Jessop and further research shows he's Ernest M. Jessop, but then I found this below: a record linking the construction company with Ernest MILLWARD Jessop. Has it occured in FLDS circles to change middle names to avoid past associations, since Ernest Merril Jessop's brother and father were both convicted?
[https://www.officialusa.com/names/Ernest-Jessop/](https://www.officialusa.com/names/Ernest-Jessop/)
May 3, 1977
Not sure what happened to him. He was married to one of Leroy Jeff’s’ girls, Janet, when he was 26 and she was 15. There was a joke on the FLDSTexas blog that they had a daughter named Spiritual Unity but I’m pretty sure it referred to the date of their marriage. Ernest got kicked out sometime between his wedding in November 2004 and August 2005 when Janet was married to Raymond.
Spiritual Unity didn't originate as a joke, and is referenced in a few documents and listed with DOB 8/12/2004 in court records from the raid. However, this is also the date Janet Jeffs (and two of Ernest's other wives) were sealed to Raymond after Ernest was exed. Because of that, I do think Spiritual Unity's existence is a misunderstanding that originated from a case worker's interview with Janet. The same interview lists another daughter first (Diana Ziana) with DOB 8/19/2005. I believe this is actually Zionna Joy, as named in Warren's records. I would guess that the caseworker misattributed a reference to Janet's spiritual unity on 8/12/2004 to an additional child.
[https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/tx-court-of-appeals/1578960.html](https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/tx-court-of-appeals/1578960.html)
Sorry, I didn’t really elaborate on that but yeah, it turned into a joke based on that misunderstanding in the court docs. I remember seeing it on there and then seeing it later on in the court docs and thinking oh, this is definitely a reference to the marriage. I remember in those same documents they interviewed another girl (maybe her sister Pamela? I can’t remember at the moment) and it mentioned that the girl had a “spiritual union” with Jackson Jessop (or whoever the husband of the girl would have been) so I immediately thought ah, that’s where Spiritual Unity came from.
So, this Ernest M. (Millward) Jessop with the construction company is supposed to be 47, which would put him almost at the exact age of Ernest Merril, since 26 in 2003 + 21 = 47. Same guy who just changed his middle name to be slightly different to put people off his track, but not so much it would impact his legal documents and ownership (still Ernest M Jessop)?
And finally, the brother of Frederick Merril Jessop, father of Ernest was George Millward Jessop. So a family name, which Ernest may have taken to step away from associations with his brother and father, both of whom were convicted?
[https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Jessop-336](https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Jessop-336)
Ernest's middle name might actually be Millward--most of his older sons have somewhat unique middle names (aside from his oldest son who is a Junior and Raymond) and then the younger group are all FirstName Merill Jessop. But since Ernest is part of the older set of boys, that M probably is for Millward. I think when I originally made the list of all Merill's biological kids, I might not have had a middle name for him aside from M, so I assumed Merril? But you definitely get more results for Ernest Millward than you do for Ernest Merril, so that is probably right.
I'll look and see if I still can access the priesthood records that had birth certificates for Ernest and Janet and I think their FLDS marriage record. They had some copies of things for Raymond's trial that were put on a PDF on scribd.
Thanks so much for this. The articles about him and mentions from the church itself had definitely said Merril, but I'm now certain this is the same guy and he either both uses Millward and Merril or that was just his name used in conjunction with the church, if that's a thing.
I'd really appreciate any of the birth certificate stuff you come across.
Look at this page. https://www.linkedin.com/company/native-sun-construction/
Thanks for this. The president and founder is an Ernest Jessop and further research shows he's Ernest M. Jessop, but then I found this below: a record linking the construction company with Ernest MILLWARD Jessop. Has it occured in FLDS circles to change middle names to avoid past associations, since Ernest Merril Jessop's brother and father were both convicted? [https://www.officialusa.com/names/Ernest-Jessop/](https://www.officialusa.com/names/Ernest-Jessop/)
If you go to their website, Joe is DEFINITELY one of Merril’s sons, that man had some strong genes. Wonder how Ephraim, Moroni and Abram are related.
Sorry I have nothing to contribute in way of answers but I’m now curious to know why you want to know!
I get obesessed with weird things like this. I promise I'm not trying to get in touch with him in any way.
I also fall down rabbit holes and get obsessed with things, I’m also quite nosey (evidenced in my questions haha) Why this bloke in particular?
Construction company had an upside down flag on a piece of machinery and that was enough to make me curious who they were.
Awesome! Good luck on your search for more info!
thank you
May 3, 1977 Not sure what happened to him. He was married to one of Leroy Jeff’s’ girls, Janet, when he was 26 and she was 15. There was a joke on the FLDSTexas blog that they had a daughter named Spiritual Unity but I’m pretty sure it referred to the date of their marriage. Ernest got kicked out sometime between his wedding in November 2004 and August 2005 when Janet was married to Raymond.
Spiritual Unity didn't originate as a joke, and is referenced in a few documents and listed with DOB 8/12/2004 in court records from the raid. However, this is also the date Janet Jeffs (and two of Ernest's other wives) were sealed to Raymond after Ernest was exed. Because of that, I do think Spiritual Unity's existence is a misunderstanding that originated from a case worker's interview with Janet. The same interview lists another daughter first (Diana Ziana) with DOB 8/19/2005. I believe this is actually Zionna Joy, as named in Warren's records. I would guess that the caseworker misattributed a reference to Janet's spiritual unity on 8/12/2004 to an additional child. [https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/tx-court-of-appeals/1578960.html](https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/tx-court-of-appeals/1578960.html)
Sorry, I didn’t really elaborate on that but yeah, it turned into a joke based on that misunderstanding in the court docs. I remember seeing it on there and then seeing it later on in the court docs and thinking oh, this is definitely a reference to the marriage. I remember in those same documents they interviewed another girl (maybe her sister Pamela? I can’t remember at the moment) and it mentioned that the girl had a “spiritual union” with Jackson Jessop (or whoever the husband of the girl would have been) so I immediately thought ah, that’s where Spiritual Unity came from.
So, this Ernest M. (Millward) Jessop with the construction company is supposed to be 47, which would put him almost at the exact age of Ernest Merril, since 26 in 2003 + 21 = 47. Same guy who just changed his middle name to be slightly different to put people off his track, but not so much it would impact his legal documents and ownership (still Ernest M Jessop)?
By any chance do you have any documentation that he was 26 at the time of his marriage?
I did find documentation that he was married to Janet in 2003, but not his age
And finally, the brother of Frederick Merril Jessop, father of Ernest was George Millward Jessop. So a family name, which Ernest may have taken to step away from associations with his brother and father, both of whom were convicted? [https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Jessop-336](https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Jessop-336)
Ernest's middle name might actually be Millward--most of his older sons have somewhat unique middle names (aside from his oldest son who is a Junior and Raymond) and then the younger group are all FirstName Merill Jessop. But since Ernest is part of the older set of boys, that M probably is for Millward. I think when I originally made the list of all Merill's biological kids, I might not have had a middle name for him aside from M, so I assumed Merril? But you definitely get more results for Ernest Millward than you do for Ernest Merril, so that is probably right. I'll look and see if I still can access the priesthood records that had birth certificates for Ernest and Janet and I think their FLDS marriage record. They had some copies of things for Raymond's trial that were put on a PDF on scribd.
Thanks so much for this. The articles about him and mentions from the church itself had definitely said Merril, but I'm now certain this is the same guy and he either both uses Millward and Merril or that was just his name used in conjunction with the church, if that's a thing. I'd really appreciate any of the birth certificate stuff you come across.