Introduction: The Wild Ram of Texas

The history of the Wightites and the polygamous villages of the Texas Hill Country are relevant and timely today. Such stories as headlined in theEldorado (TX) Success, “Arizona Man Says Prophet Stole His Family,” in July 2005, catch attention. TheDallas Morning Newsreported a year earlier about the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints’ new compounds “in tiny Eldorado, where fire-and-brimstone religion may be welcome but multiple wives tend to rankle.” Once again, more than 140 years later, the American issues of “fringe religions, moral relativism and separation of church and state” have come to Texas. Texas and Texans have