Polygamy in Early Pentecostalism

After having established Zion City, Illinois as a commune for his Christian Catholic Church cult, John Alexander Dowie began seeking to create similar cities in other parts of the world. The Dowieites organized a massive campaign to convert New York City by force, and when that failed, continued to other locations.

Near the end of his life, Dowie split much of his time between Zion City and a colony in Mexico, and the Mexican branch of the Christian Catholic Church had an interesting feature planned: many new wives for Dowie. As plans were being arranged for his colony and his harem, and Zion became divided over the controversy, Dowie’s wife, Jane, in Zion had a nervous breakdown over the situation.

Leaders in the Zion cult held a meeting of 250 overseers, elders, deacons, deaconesses, and teachers at Zion University to discuss the domestic abuse and tyranny. Jane Dowie testified that Dowie had for two years been unbearable, confirming the affidavits of eight instances of violence and misconduct. Some of them were apparently being collected as grounds of divorce; Dowie had tried to physically assault Jane Dowie by throwing a statue of an angel at her, and had been caught in a romance with Agnes Monroe, a noted Scottish singer. Dowie’s romance involved buying the singer expensive evening gowns, sending her love letters, and gifts or money totaling $12,250. ($12,250 in 1906 is worth $412,910.75 today).

Dowie responded by telegram from Mexico City blaming Wilbur Voliva for being “unfaithful”, and said that he would be returning to retaliate against Voliva, financial manager Alexander Granger, and others for incompetency. In the end, Wilbur Glenn Voliva seized control of Zion, though that control was challenged when Pentecostal founder Charles Fox Parham tried to wrestle control away from Voliva. Parham had recruited William Branham’s mentor, F. F. Bosworth, Pentecostal leader John G. Lake, the family of Gordon Lindsay, and others into what would later evolve into the Post WWII Healing Revival.

You can learn this and more on William-branham.org

John Alexander Dowie:
https://william-branham.org/site/research/people/john_alexander_dowie

Charles Fox Parham:
https://william-branham.org/site/research/people/charles_fox_parham

F. F. Bosworth:
https://william-branham.org/site/research/people/f._f._bosworth

John G. Lake:
https://william-branham.org/site/research/people/john_g._lake