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1843: Smith discloses the principle of celestial, or plural, marriage.
1862: The first U.S. federal law is passed outlawing polygamy.
1885: Polygamists begin flight to Mexico and Alberta.
1890: As Utah vies for statehood, LDS church leader Wilford Woodruff issues "Official Declaration" suspending the practice of polygamy because it is contrary to the laws of the land.
1924: The United Effort Plan is formally established to manage properties and affairs for the fundamentalists.
1944: Federal agents instigate raids on polygamists at Short Creek. Simultaneous sweeps are carried out in Utah, Idaho and other Arizona sites.
1953: Arizona law enforcement descends on Short Creek on July 26 and arrests 31 men and nine women practicing polygamy. Some 263 women and children are taken into state custody. It is a public relations nightmare. One that is not to be forgotten and makes Arizona and Utah reluctant to move on the polygamists again.
LATE 1950s: Canadian polygamists in British Columbia align with fundamentalists in Short Creek.1961: Short Creek is renamed Colorado City, Arizona.
1986: FLDS President LeRoy Johnson dies. Rulon T. Jeffs is named president. Winston Blackmore of Canada is named as a trustee.
1990: A number of women who fled from polygamy demand an investigation into polygamous practice at Bountiful. The Creston RCMP launches an investigation .
2002: Rulon Jeffs, FLDS leader, has a series of strokes. A few months before his death in September 2002, Rulon signs an order removing Winston Blackmore as a UEP trustee. On Sept. 8, Rulon Jeffs dies. He is succeeded by his son Warren Jeffs.
Within six months of Rulon Jeffs's death, Blackmore has been ex-communicated, removed from the board of the Bountiful elementary-secondary school and his children and those of his followers shunned and forced to leave the school.
Winston Blackmore breaks away from Jeffs and tries to distance himself from "purported criminal behaviour".
2003: On March 5, the Utah legislature approves tougher penalties for men who take young girls as their plural wives. Child bigamy, or marrying a second wife who is under the age of 18, is punishable by 1 to 15 years in prison.
On August 14, Hildale police officer Rodney Holm, who was wed in a spiritual marriage to his wife's sister, is convicted of one count of bigamy and two counts of unlawful sex with a minor. He is sentenced to one year in jail.
On August 22, Utah and Arizona officials hold a summit in St. George to discuss polygamy issues.
SEPTEMBER 2003: Bountiful is split between Winston Blackmore followers and Warren Jeffs followers. They go to the B.C. Supreme Court. Blackmore and his supporters lose control of the school and the school's society. It also means Blackmore loses access to over $700,000 a year grant from the B.C. Education Ministry.Winston refits one of the few buildings he owns in Bountiful as Mormon Hills School, which now receives $363,000 in government grants.
He starts buying property just south of Bountiful across the B.C.-Idaho border to welcome FLDS members ex-communicated by Jeffs. He purchases 45 acres around Bonner's Ferry, Idaho.
Warren Jeffs buys properties near Mancos, Colorado and Eldorado, Texas. The latter, a 2,000-acre parcel of land purchased for $674,515, is bought on behalf of YFZ Land Corp, believed to stand for "Yearning for Zion". The dormitory style buildings, each 28,000 square feet and a three-story temple, are at the center of the community.
On October 16, Utah's Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, backed by the Peace Officer Standards and Training Council, announces his intention to investigate the Hildale police force and recommends decertification for all officers who have multiple wives.
2004: FLDS church leader Warren Jeffs ex-communicates 21 men, ordering them out of the community and stripping them of their wives and children.
SUMMER 2004: British Colombia Attorney General Geoff Plant announces the start of an RCMP investigation into allegations of child abuse, forcible marriage and sexual exploitation.Idaho legislature forms an interim committee to investigate rumours of Mexican baby brides being sold to men in southern Idaho and allegations of border crossings by young brides for the community of Bountiful.
APRIL 16, 2005: Winston Blackmore holds a polygamy summit in Creston, British Columbia and invites Attorneys General from Idaho and British Columbia. They don't attend.Winston appears to offer his followers more freedom. Fifteen of Winston's plural wives attend a conference in Winnipeg that focuses on sexual abuse in closed communities.
The wives make national news by urging the federal government to raise the age of sexual consent to 16 from 14.
JUNE 16, 2005: An Arizona grand jury indicts Warren Jeffs on two counts of felony child sex abuse for his role in planning and performing the marriage of a 16-year-old girl to a man that was already married. He could face two years in jail. Jeffs also faces 2 civil suits in Utah, one from young men expelled from the church and another from a nephew who has accused him of sexual abuse.
Two U.S. courts determine he is trying to avoid being served with papers regarding two lawsuits against him and the United Effort Plan trust. One suit, launched last July by Brent Jeffs, alleges that Warren Jeffs, his uncle, began molesting him when he was five. Since Jeff fails to file a statement of defence, and the UEP trust also did not file a statement of defence, lawyers for Brent ask court to freeze the UEP trust.
Utah authorities seize FLDS's biggest asset the UEP trust, registered in that state. It controls ¾ of Bountiful's land—all the farms, ranches, and homes. Utah officials remove the Board of Directors.
Warren Jeffs is on the run, authorities believe he may be in Canada.
As police begin to dig deeper into the case they realize that the two men in the car, Nathaniel Steed Allred and Seth Steed Jeffs were in fact couriers in the midst of a supply run to assist fugitive Warren Jeffs.
NOVEMBER 2005: One of Winston Blackmore's wives faces deportation. Edith Barlow came to Canada 10 years ago to marry Winston Blackmore. She had five children with him. Her application to extend her visitor visa and for permanent residency in Canada under humanitarian and compassionate grounds is rejected. She has been ordered out of the country. Immigration Canada says marriage is recognized but a spouse cannot sponsor more than one wife. Barlow had appealed.
DECEMBER 2005: Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff visits Vancouver in early December 2005 to meet with British Columbia Attorney General Wally Oppal. Shurtleff makes polygamy a top priority. His office has prosecuted a man for bigamy and offered financial support to women trying to escape polygamous communities.
Winston invites British Colombia's Attorney General Oppal
to visit Bountiful. Oppal declines saying he is not sure of the
benefit of such a visit when RCMP are investigating allegations
of abuse against young women there.
A judge appoints a board of advisors to oversee the UEP trust. Winston
is not appointed.
One study 
recommends that Canada legalize polygamy. The paper
was done by three law professors at Queen's University in Kingston.
The paper argues that a Charter challenge to Section 293 of the
Criminal Code banning polygamy might be successful. The study also
argues that Canadian laws should be changed to better accommodate
the problems of women in polygamous marriages.
The other study by
the Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre, urges British Columbia
to proceed immediately with a prosecution in Bountiful.
Sources: Salt Lake Tribune, National Post, Globe & Mail, Vancouver
Sun
August 29, 2006: After being on the run for two years, Warren Jeffs and two other people are arrested while driving through Nevada. Investigators recover about $50,000 in cash from the vehicle, as well as a large number of cellphones, laptop computers and wigs.
September 7, 2007: British Columbia Attorney General, Wally Oppal, asks for another review to look into whether member of the Bountiful polygamous community should be charged with sexual offences.
September 25, 2007: After a trial in St. George, Utah, Jeffs is found guilty of being an accomplice to rape for performing a wedding between a man, 19, and a 14-year-old girl. Under Utah law, a 14-year-old can consent to sex in some circumstances. But, sex is not considered consensual if a person under 18 is enticed by someone at least three years older.
