u/filipinawifelife

PBS uploaded an interview segment with Jim Jones Jr. from 2005. It has clearer quality.

I wonder why they decided to post this out of the blue?

https://youtu.be/FQa68cir1mU?si=Uhg-nolFoqQe1xbM

I like to read early news articles on Jonestown. Some turn out to be correct, while others clearly didn’t have the right information at the time.

Sharing this article because it does have a little background information on Jim Jones, including a short quote from a cousin.

James Warren Jones was bon near Lynn, Ind., in a house that was little more than a shack, on May 13, 1931. The economy of the town of 1,350 people, 55 miles east of Indianapolis, was and is based on death. It has 13 businesses, five of them coffin makers. There's one blinking stoplight in the middle of town, one restaurant, a town hall and five churches.

His father, James T. Jones, who was 47 years old when his son was born, was one of 12 children in a poor farm family. He had been gassed in combat during World War I and was an invalid, frequently suffering painful emphysema‐like attacks.

Years later. Mr. Jones would explain from the pulpit that he had compassion for blacks because he was the product of a biracial marriage, saying his father was part Cherokee Indian. But, like many stories he told, it apparently was not true. “There wasn't an ounce of Indian in our family,” Barbara Shaffer, a cousin, said this week.

https://www.nytimes.com/1978/11/26/archives/jim-jonesfrom-poverty-to-power-of-life-and-death-arrested-for-lewd.html

Lisa Wright was born on July 23, 1961 in Los Angeles, California. She was only 17 years old when she died in Jonestown.

“Lisa was smart, principled and very perceptive. She took initiative and was popular among her peers, a leader in activities, fun to be with and always a good listener. In Jonestown, outside her high school classes, Lisa helped on work crews in agriculture and livestock, was a Team B counselor, and helped in the sew/decorate/mend workshop. May you be resting in peace with the angels, Lisa. You were a star, and so missed, never to be forgotten.”

- Kathryn Barbour, Who Died, A Memorial Album

Lisa wore many hats in Jonestown, including working as a seamstress for the Toy & Sewing Department, and supervising the planting of crops by field workers. In a self-evaluation letter, she writes that she likes sewing and making toys.

“I Lisa Wright like making toys because it [is] a nice job & the project help the cause. I like knowing how many I can make & do right…

…But I going to work more harder & put my all in these animal so that we can bring in more money. And I will take my mistake and grow from them. And will talk lesser. I have alway like sewing.”

She also talks about how she can improve as a worker. In a letter to Angela Davis, she mentions that she has been part of the Temple since she was 8, and that she now supervises planting in the fields:

“Hi, I’m Lisa Wright a youth of People’s Temple, I’m 16 years old. I have been in this movement since I was about 8 years old. I’m a supervisor in the field planting foods such as eddoes, cutlass beans...”

Lisa also stood up for herself, writing a letter to Jim Jones after she was accused of refusing to carry out work in Georgetown:

“But I just wanted you to know what I was told when I was told that I was going home & isn’t true I refuse to go procure. It bothers me because I always helped if it was needed. I could have done more.…

…But Dad I don’t think it’s fair when I was told something different & the report was different.”

Rest in peace, Lisa! You haven’t been forgotten.

Photos: California Historical Society Collection in Stanford/Who Died, A Memorial Album/California Revealed

Lisa Wright was born on July 23, 1961 in Los Angeles, California. She was only 17 years old when she died in Jonestown.

“Lisa was smart, principled and very perceptive. She took initiative and was popular among her peers, a leader in activities, fun to be with and always a good listener. In Jonestown, outside her high school classes, Lisa helped on work crews in agriculture and livestock, was a Team B counselor, and helped in the sew/decorate/mend workshop. May you be resting in peace with the angels, Lisa. You were a star, and so missed, never to be forgotten.”

- Kathryn Barbour, Who Died, A Memorial Album

Lisa wore many hats in Jonestown, including working as a seamstress for the Toy & Sewing Department, and supervising the planting of crops by field workers. In a self-evaluation letter, she writes that she likes sewing and making toys.

“I Lisa Wright like making toys because it [is] a nice job & the project help the cause. I like knowing how many I can make & do right…

…But I going to work more harder & put my all in these animal so that we can bring in more money. And I will take my mistake and grow from them. And will talk lesser. I have alway like sewing.”

She also talks about how she can improve as a worker. In a letter to Angela Davis, she mentions that she has been part of the Temple since she was 8, and that she now supervises planting in the fields:

“Hi, I’m Lisa Wright a youth of People’s Temple, I’m 16 years old. I have been in this movement since I was about 8 years old. I’m a supervisor in the field planting foods such as eddoes, cutlass beans...”

Lisa also stood up for herself, writing a letter to Jim Jones after she was accused of refusing to carry out work in Georgetown:

“But I just wanted you to know what I was told when I was told that I was going home & isn’t true I refuse to go procure. It bothers me because I always helped if it was needed. I could have done more.…

…But Dad I don’t think it’s fair when I was told something different & the report was different.”

Rest in peace, Lisa! You haven’t been forgotten.

Photos: California Historical Society Collection in Stanford/Who Died, A Memorial Album/California Revealed

Self-Evaluation: Toy Department, https:// jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=132923

Memos of Jonestown Residents, Spring 1978:

https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page\_id=121905

Kathryn Barbour: https://www.facebook.com/

whodiedbook/photos/arlisa-lavette-lisa-wright-17-lived-in-los-angeles-ca-she-entered-guyana-on-7291/1729403100422092/?

set=a.509826251286453&http_ref=eyJOcyl

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ОІwvХС93d3cuZmFjZWJvb2suY29tХC9waG

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yМDkyJnNIdD1hLjUwOTgyNjl1MТІ4NjQ1MyZ

pZD0хМDAwNjc3Nzl0ODE4NТEifQ%3D%3D

Letters to Angela Davis: https://

jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=114735

Death Record: https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?

who_died=wright-arlisa-layette-lisa

There has been a number of documentaries on Jonestown, but none have captivated me more than Mel White’s film, Deceived, which was shot shortly after the murders. It includes rare interviews with several Jonestown survivors, including Al and Jeannie Mills just a year before their own mysterious killings.

What makes Deceived different from other documentaries is when it was filmed: 1979, when the deaths were still fresh in the minds of the survivors and the greater public. A few survivors who no longer (or are able to) do interviews about the massacre freely spoke their minds on camera: Al and Jeannie Mills, murdered in 1980; Daphene Mills, murdered alongside her parents in 1980; Wayne Pietila who died in 2011; Bonnie Thielmann, who died in 2017. Other rare survivor interviews were with Lena Pietila and Tim Stoen - people you don’t really see or hear from in more recent documentaries.

The fact that the film was shot in 1979 - with its subdued colors, slightly grainy camera, and interviewees wearing 70s hairstyles and clothing - really takes you back to the time of the tragedy. Instead of making you feel distant from the world of Jim Jones and Peoples Temple, it takes you there.

I believe this film is also one of the few, if not the only one, that includes what appears to be a montage of Greg Robinson’s last photos, which were black-and-white shots of Jonestown’s residents in varying moods: smiling, pensive, lost in thought.

And finally, the film also shows Lou Gurvich’s heartbreaking search for his daughter, Jan, who once enthusiastically worked as a teacher in Jonestown, and who was now lost in the layers of bodies that covered the jungle.

https://youtu.be/FQ-FkTLPrAw?si=RBVABWSdyiszulJ0

I’ve always been interested in the construction of Jonestown, and often wondered how the inside of the cottages looked. I compiled a few photos that exhibit their interiors, but excluded the ones that show the victims’ bodies.

When I interviewed Stephan Jones and Mike Touchette for an article, Stephan described the challenges they faced while building housing for the residents:

“Digging postholes, for example, for the cottages out in the open field – you wanted that rain to come. Sometimes when the rain came, it came like a wall. I mean, you could see it coming, and I would just stand there and put my arms wide open and let it hit me ’cause it was so hot down there.”

1. Bunk beds next to a small chair and table with a potted plant. It doesn't appear to be a troolie cottage, unless the troolies were upgraded later on with complete wood paneling. (Interiors of Mom and Pop Jackson's troolie: https://archive.org/ details/chi_000125)

2. Bunk beds! Mattresses look uncomfortable. And you can see how cramped their cottages can be, especially when there are 8, 14 or so people in a space that's meant to hold 4.

3. Poncho Johnson braiding Tinetra's hair. Thank God they were able to add a little color in their room (spy the rug!) - also spot the large radio! I wonder if their radio was eventually taken or surrendered at some point.

4. Tinetra in a cottage loft.

5. Interiors of Cottage 11. Cottage 11 had 3 residents.

They were listed as the following: Karen Lewis, Alfred March, Peter Wotherspoon.

6. Troolie 1: Shot of the electrical light. This cottage, like all troolie cottages, housed only two residents. This residence belonged to Mom and Pop Jackson who were early pioneers of Jonestown. Since they were there from the beginning, I wonder if they had a say in how their cottage was built. Pop made furniture, too, so I assume he made some for his cottage.

A few were constructed using troolie palm leaves, which were harvested, trimmed, and woven into panels to form the walls of a cottage. The settlers also used the fronds, which could measure up to 30 feet long, for thatching roofs.

- Chronicling the History of the Pioneers of Jonestown

7. Troolie 1 didn’t have bunk beds - but two small beds separated by what appears to be a table.

8. You can see the walls of troolie here - and a shot of a tiny cat on Pop’s bed!

As for Marceline, she is listed in “Troolie 6.” This is how Stephan describes how his parents’ houses came about (Jim’s first cabin was built much later than I thought):

“His first cabin was built around the same time that other cottages were being built. We were building what we called the dormitories, which were big buildings nearest to the pavilion. Mom’s cottage, or what became her cottage – I don’t think it was made for her – but there were a number of cottages that were made on the other side of the main road from the pavilion, alongside the kitchen area, the dining area, and where they later put the infirmary.”

[Updated info to Cottage 11!]

Sources:

Photos:

Internet Archive/CHS in Stanford

Alamy

Peoples Temple Flickr/The_Temples_People Instagram Page (Tinetra, loft) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cr4a6jSskvH/?igsh=NXpjY3MycGNzM2Jr

Troolie Interior: https://archive.org/details/chi_000125

Juanell Smart, Vice: https://www.vice.com/en/article/rare-photos-from-jonestown-the-deadliest-cult-in-american-history/#:~:text=Poncho%20Johnson%20braids%20Tinetra%20Fain's%20hair%20in,Smart%2C%20and%20Teri%20Smart%20also%20hang%20out

Residents’ Designated Housing: https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/03c-ResidencesABC.pdf

Chronicling the History of the Pioneers of Jonestown: https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=130179#:~:text=Throughout%20the%20process%2C%20the%20pioneers,Historical%20Society%20Collection%20at%20Stanford.

I’m trying to learn more about the outreach and PR campaign conducted by the Temple while they were living in Guyana. My understanding is Paula Adams supervised the PR and diplomatic efforts in Georgetown, and folks like Debbie Touchette and Sharon Amos were regulars there.

It appears a lot of their work involved correspondence with a variety of people, including government officials, members of the religious community, and local residents. So far, the letters I’ve read from the community were quite sad, in the sense that quite a few seemed to believe in the “healing powers” of Jim Jones:

Pastor, I am kindly asking you to continue praying for my demon possessed wife. I realized that this is the case like the one in the Gospel of Mark – legion. But with a strong faith in Jesus I know He will use you to conquer the demons. May God bless and make you as an instrument to relieve those who are suffering from poverty.

**

May I humbly beg of you if you will kindly help me for I am a sick man suffering from a pain in my back for the past four (4) years.

Though poor I am, I have tried several doctors but in vain.

**

I am a sick woman I am suffering with Diabetes and also my nerves I am having three children to take care of two boys and one girl (Orphans) and Rev my husband is of a fretful type that I can hardly stand him. I am actually going mad. So please Rev I ask you kindly to do your best for me.

Others asked for help with other equally personal matters, such as reeling back in a wayward son named Elvis.

Sir Elvis who is my adopted son is causing me tears, as he has turned out to be very wayward he is just sixteen years old…

People also asked for assistance, and I believe I’ve read a few letters where it appears clothes were sent, as well as a calendar and a check. But most of it were Jim Jones sending his prayers and “meditations,” and a part of me wished that - for the sake of the hopeful writers - all of it was true and that somehow, Jim Jones did end up healing them. 💔 I wonder how they felt when news about the massacre in Jonestown came out…

Letters: https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=133470

(Transcribed by Janelle Noble)

According to the New Yorker in an article written in 1993, Stephan Jones allegedly considered offering to act as some sort of interpreter - perhaps mediator? - in the Waco standoff:

Stephan even thought briefly of offering himself as a kind of interpreter in the standoff between the authorities and the Branch Davidians. “I wrestled with myself over whether to call the F.B.I.,” he told me. But he suspected that his advice would not be well received: “Why would anybody listen to the son of a nut?”

The article also mentions that, for the most part, the Jonestown survivors were able to “put away their feelings” about what happened in Jonestown, but mass tragedies like Waco end up bringing it back.

Photo: The Jonestown Institute, Ron Cabral

Article: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1993/11/22/orphans-of-jonestown

I’ve been reading Annie Moore’s letters - I am horrified - and came across a small tidbit in one of her long, rambling confessions:

I gave you salt to make you vomit in hastiness without thinking of your ulcers and body chemistry disregarding what you said about it and you died on the floor in the bathroom and your son Stephen [Stephan] had to help revive you, causing more pressure and pain for him and you both..

I know that letters from Jonestown should be taken with a grain of salt, but I feel compelled to believe that they contain at least a kernel of truth when they are long and detailed like this.

If he is indeed writing a book, I hope it’ll give us a better insight into his relationship with his father. Meanwhile, if you want to be horrified and lose all sympathy for Annie Moore, you can read her letters here:

https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=125533

(And believe me, I tried very hard to give her the benefit of the doubt.)

According to Variety back in 2022, British filmmaker Sally El Hosaini “acquired the life rights” from Stephan Jones. It appears she has been trying to produce a film based on Stephan’s point-of-view for several years now, but it looks like the project isn’t getting off the ground for some reason.

“It’s a very misunderstood chapter in American history,” she says. “People label Jim Jones as a Charles Manson type of character from that era, but if the history had stopped in 1976/7, (before the mass murder-suicide in 1978, he would be remembered like Martin Luther King, Jr. in that he was anti-racist, pro-LGBT, super progressive and an athiest.

A lot of educated, clever, progressive people signed up to the People’s Temple, and then it all went wrong. It’s a film about narcissism, fake news, if you are only fed one narrative, what it can do to you, the ability of power to corrupt. It’s ultimately a Shakespearean family drama.”

She wrote an article on The Jonestown Institute way back in 2017, where she talked about receiving Stephan’s blessing to write and produce a film based on his point-of-view, and how she then struggled with the weight of her research.

I want to make a film that complicates an audience’s perception of Jim Jones, who is usually written off as a one-dimensional tyrant. Through Stephan – and through Stephan’s reflections on his father – I seek a more nuanced understanding of Peoples Temple and Jonestown.

I hope that this film still gets made somehow. Jones would have been its title.

Anyone know any tea about this project?

Sources:

https://variety.com/2022/film/global/sally-el-hosaini-jonestown-the-swimmers-1235437681/

https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page\_id=70989

Scan generously shared by researcher u/perithealpaca.

I’ve been transcribing Joe Holsinger’s testimony (I’m so slowww) and he spent a good bit on the Houston family and their concerns about Peoples Temple. Patty and Judy Houston were the young granddaughters of Sam Houston, an old friend of Congressman Leo Ryan. Their mother, Phyllis, was a devoted member of Peoples Temple. The girls were sent to Jonestown in 1977, a little over a year after the mysterious death of their father, Bob Houston.

In the spring of 1977, Ryan, a liberal but maverick Democrat, spoke with a longtime friend, Associated Press Photographer Robert Houston. Houston, who was ill, told Ryan that Houston's son Bob, 33, had been found dead in the San Francisco railroad yards, where he worked, just one day after he had quit the Peoples Temple. Though authorities said his son died as the result of an accidental fall, Houston claimed the cult had long threatened defectors with death.

- Time

Holsinger admitted that he couldn’t blame authorities for ruling Bob Houston’s death as accidental, as there was no concrete evidence that proved otherwise. But the Houstons remained concerned about their girls, and suspected that they were being held in Jonestown for two reasons:

1. Money, in the form of Social Security checks that were being sent to Jonestown after Bob’s death.
2. The Houstons heard that “unusual sexual practices” were taking place in the commune, perpetrated by Jim Jones and others.

…they felt their two young granddaughters were subject to being misused in that fashion.

While there were many salacious rumors swirling around Jim Jones and his group, we do know that former members have raised the alarm about abuse and harassment in the Temple. And so in that regard, the fears and concerns of the Houston family were not without merit. While we do not know what, exactly, the girls endured in Jonestown, we do know that they were just two of the hundreds of innocent victims that were murdered there.

Holsinger’s testimony gave me a better understanding of why the family - and so many families with estranged relatives in Jonestown - desperately reached out to Leo Ryan, and why Leo Ryan felt compelled to act with urgency.

So, it was a very emotional meeting. They had a lot of clippings, a lot of evidence, a lot of clippings on the Peoples Temple. They related in great detail the problems of the Peoples Temple to Leo.

It was a rather emotional meeting -- Sammy is a little guy, and Leo is a big man -- they embraced each other. Sammy was crying. Leo patted him on the shoulder and said, “Sammy, I tell you whatever I can do to get your granddaughters back and make sure they are safe I will do, no matter what the cost."

Sources:

Box 1, Holsinger, courtesy of Aliah Mohmand and The Jonestown Institute (still transcribing)

Time: https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,912249-2,00.html

I always wondered about the charity work the Temple carried out in Guyana. I know that they gave free medical services until the very end. Clifton James, a Port Kaituma resident that went to Jonestown, even talked about this in an interview. (He survived the airstrip shooting and surprisingly still had good things to say about Jonestown - even calling it a paradise.)

We know that Temple residents were required to raise money for the commune, but I often wondered if they ever did anything for the Guyanese in return. It appears that they did, though perhaps not enough to overcome the lasting impact of the tragedy. But despite everything they were going through - dealing with dwindling resources, overworking, sleep deprivation - the Temple made contributions when they could.

“They used to come out on the tractor - the same tractor trailer - and they used to drive and used to sell chicken, they used to sell greens, and they used to give away rice. I used to collect rice from the trailer - when the tractor drive around, I used to go with our bag and collect rice from them, they didn’t used to charge us for the rice. And sometimes I used to go and take a bagful, go home, and go to another route, and collect another bag.”

- Clifton James, Witnessing the End of Jonestown

In this note, transcribed by Janell Noble, it appears part of the Temple’s outreach was directed at Guyana’s religious community. Here’s a note from a vicar general:

Dear Deborah [Touchette],

Please convry our thanks to Bishop Jones and the Peoples Temple for the check and beautiful tablecloth which we have already used.

May God bless you.

Sincerely, Neville Lalljee

I don’t know what the motives are behind their outreach efforts - I’m sure part of it is genuine. Part of it could also be an attempt to win support and favors from authorities and religious leaders, especially as concerning reports of fraud and abuse were starting to emerge in the media. I really don’t know.

I’ll post more on this when I’ve done enough research on the PR/outreach team.

Source:

Clifton James: https://youtu.be/BCPAeyIhgFo

Letter: https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=133479

Photos: Betty Daniel and her sons, Maurice Chaunte Carter, Steve Nathaniel III, Marcus Emile Morgan.

Betty Daniel married Steve Daniel in 1973 or 1974. Steve was a young 24 year old man then, longing for a family of his own.

Steve had come from a close-knit family himself, and Betty, as well as her two young sons, Marcus Emile Morgan and Maurice Chaunte Carter, fit right in. Not long after, Betty and Steve had a son of their own: Steve Nathaniel Daniel III.

I knew the first time I held Lil Steve in my arms, my heart no longer belonged to me.

- Steve Daniel

The Daniels appeared to have a happy and stable home in San Francisco. Steve held a job at the San Francisco Water Department while Betty stayed home with the children, devoting herself to their care. It seemed that Steve’s dream had finally come true: he now had a loving wife and three beautiful children by his side.

I would come home to all three kids anticipating my arrival. Even before I got through the door, I would hear them heading for me, each one louder and faster than the one before, ready to tell me all about whatever adventures had unfolded for them that day. I made sure to give each one the undivided attention he deserved.

How, then, did this wonderful dream end in a nightmare in the jungles of Guyana? Steve can’t tell you exactly when the Temple became part of their lives, but like so many victims who shared his family’s fate, it gradually consumed their time and relationships.

His brother, Charles, found the Temple during a difficult chapter in his life. He returned to his family a “different man, more reserved and serene.” Naturally, this piqued their curiosity and, as most close-knit families do, decided to see for themselves what brought about this positive change.

Just like that, right before my unsuspecting eyes, my family had become members of Peoples Temple.

Steve didn’t let his doubts prevent him from throwing his full support behind Betty, who seemed to be flourishing in church. He dutifully drove his family to Ukiah every Saturday, each round trip taking him nearly 5 hours to complete. These exhausting trips were no longer necessary when the Temple moved to San Francisco, but this meant his family was now able to fully commit themselves to the cause.

They displayed an intense loyalty and unwavering dedication to the church. They had changed ­– I could see that – but it wasn’t the kind of changes that you could really put your finger on.

Despite Betty’s increasing involvement with the Temple, Steve never once felt that his family was in danger. Despite his growing unease with Jim Jones and his movement, his children always returned home from their care playful and upbeat.

I felt being in the church was the safest place for any child. And they always came back home full of excitement, singing and playing. They were joyous.

The beginning of the end of Steve’s dream began when Betty told him that she and the children were leaving for Guyana. They decided to settle on a compromise: Betty and the kids would stay in Guyana for one year, and Steve would be entitled to visits, calls, pictures - anything that would allow him to maintain ties with his family.

Why was he so nervous, anyway? After all, his aunt and uncle had gone to Guyana, and his uncle - who eventually returned - told him that “there was nothing to worry about, that everything was fine down there.” Everything was fine.

Steve still remembers the last time he saw his boys.

Marcus and Lil Steve looked like such big boys in their brand new matching outfits. I swear they were standing a bit taller as if they were already assuming the protective, head of the house responsibility in my absence. It made me chuckle silently, but mostly it made me proud.

Betty sent him a few letters while she and the family were in Jonestown. He was just so happy to hear from them that he didn’t mind the letters seemed somewhat brief and impersonal.

Sadly, his joy and relief were only temporary as troubling reports started to surface about the fraud and abuse in the commune. Jim Jones had changed, defectors say, and the religious sermons that Betty loved so much were now replaced by endless meetings, suicide drills, and excessive punishments. Steve immediately made plans to see his family, but his activities became lost in a blur of denial, worry, and fear. Relief and hope finally came in the form of Congressman Leo Ryan, whom he heard was going to check on his constituents in Jonestown.

All the recent stress and adrenaline that had kept me going on autopilot poured out of me. I started to hope again, to believe that I was not in fact entering a nightmare. I almost laughed out loud – due to delirium surely – thinking how silly I had been, overreacting and thinking the worst. Once Betty returned home, she would undoubtedly get a kick out of the image of me running around the city like a madman, ranting about going to South America.

I even let myself entertain the possibility of catching a glimpse of my kids or wife on TV, waving at me, as they boarded the plane to return home with Ryan.

Steve’s dream came to an end on November 18, 1978, when his beloved wife, Betty, and his sons Maurice, Marcus, and Steve all perished in Jonestown.

It has taken a better part of my adulthood to be able to choose to view this tragedy and memory differently. I believe that my family – like so many others – was brave enough to uproot their lives, to give up every piece of security that they had known their entire lives in the name of what they believed in. These were the people that didn’t just talk the talk, but rather acted on their beliefs. I may never know what went on down there in the jungles of Guyana or who masterminded what. That may not be for me to know. I wish to God, it had been the answer to their prayers as they believed.

Photos: Kathryn Barbour, The Jonestown Institute

Honoring My Duty to My Family by Steve Daniel: https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=40198

Betty Daniel: https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?who_died=daniel-betty-leon

Marcus Morgan: https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?who_died=morgan-marcus-emile

Maurice Carter: https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?who_died=carter-maurice-chaunte

Steve Nathaniel III Daniel: https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?who_died=daniel-steve-nathaniel-iii

Betty Daniel Family Tree: https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=35734

Photos: Betty Daniel and her sons, Maurice Chaunte Carter, Steve Nathaniel III, Marcus Emile Morgan.

Betty Daniel married Steve Daniel in 1973 or 1974. Steve was a young 24 year old man then, longing for a family of his own.

Steve had come from a close-knit family himself, and Betty, as well as her two young sons, Marcus Emile Morgan and Maurice Chaunte Carter, fit right in. Not long after, Betty and Steve had a son of their own: Steve Nathaniel Daniel III.

I knew the first time I held Lil Steve in my arms, my heart no longer belonged to me.

- Steve Daniel

The Daniels appeared to have a happy and stable home in San Francisco. Steve held a job at the San Francisco Water Department while Betty stayed home with the children, devoting herself to their care. It seemed that Steve’s dream had come true: he finally had a loving wife and three beautiful children by his side.

I would come home to all three kids anticipating my arrival. Even before I got through the door, I would hear them heading for me, each one louder and faster than the one before, ready to tell me all about whatever adventures had unfolded for them that day. I made sure to give each one the undivided attention he deserved.

How, then, did this wonderful dream end in a nightmare in the jungles of Guyana? Steve can’t tell you exactly when the Temple became part of their lives, but like so many victims who shared his family’s fate, it gradually consumed their time and relationships.

His brother, Charles, found the Temple during a difficult chapter in his life. He returned to his family a “different man, more reserved and serene.” Naturally, this piqued their curiosity and, as most close-knit families do, decided to see for themselves what brought about this positive change.

Just like that, right before my unsuspecting eyes, my family had become members of Peoples Temple.

Steve didn’t let his doubts prevent him from throwing his full support behind Betty, who seemed to be flourishing in church. He dutifully drove his family to Ukiah every Saturday, each round trip taking him nearly 5 hours to complete. These exhausting trips were no longer necessary when the Temple moved to San Francisco, but this meant his family was now able to fully commit themselves to the cause.

They displayed an intense loyalty and unwavering dedication to the church. They had changed ­– I could see that – but it wasn’t the kind of changes that you could really put your finger on.

Despite Betty’s increasing involvement with the Temple, Steve never once felt that his family was in danger. Despite his growing unease with Jim Jones and his movement, his children always returned home from their care playful and upbeat.

I felt being in the church was the safest place for any child. And they always came back home full of excitement, singing and playing. They were joyous.

The beginning of the end of Steve’s dream began when Betty told him that she and the children were leaving for Guyana. They decided to settle on a compromise: Betty and the kids would stay in Guyana for one year, and Steve would be entitled to visits, calls, pictures - anything that would allow him to maintain ties with his family.

Why was he so nervous, anyway? After all, his aunt and uncle had gone to Guyana, and his uncle - who eventually returned - told him that “there was nothing to worry about, that everything was fine down there.” Everything was fine.

Steve still remembers the last time he saw his boys.

Marcus and Lil Steve looked like such big boys in their brand new matching outfits. I swear they were standing a bit taller as if they were already assuming the protective, head of the house responsibility in my absence. It made me chuckle silently, but mostly it made me proud.

Betty sent him a few letters while she and the family were in Jonestown. He was just so happy to hear from them that he didn’t mind the letters seemed somewhat brief and impersonal.

Sadly, his joy and relief were only temporary as troubling reports started to emerge about the fraud and abuse in the commune. Jim Jones had changed, defectors say, and the religious sermons that Betty loved so much were now replaced by endless meetings, suicide drills, and excessive punishments. Steve immediately made plans to see his family, but his activities became lost in a blur of denial, worry, and fear. Relief and hope finally came in the form of Congressman Leo Ryan, whom he heard was going to check on his constituents in Jonestown.

All the recent stress and adrenaline that had kept me going on autopilot poured out of me. I started to hope again, to believe that I was not in fact entering a nightmare. I almost laughed out loud – due to delirium surely – thinking how silly I had been, overreacting and thinking the worst. Once Betty returned home, she would undoubtedly get a kick out of the image of me running around the city like a madman, ranting about going to South America.

I even let myself entertain the possibility of catching a glimpse of my kids or wife on TV, waving at me, as they boarded the plane to return home with Ryan.

Steve’s dream came to an end on November 18, 1978, when his beloved wife, Betty, and his sons Maurice, Marcus, and Steve all perished in Jonestown.

It has taken a better part of my adulthood to be able to choose to view this tragedy and memory differently. I believe that my family – like so many others – was brave enough to uproot their lives, to give up every piece of security that they had known their entire lives in the name of what they believed in. These were the people that didn’t just talk the talk, but rather acted on their beliefs. I may never know what went on down there in the jungles of Guyana or who masterminded what. That may not be for me to know. I wish to God, it had been the answer to their prayers as they believed.

Photos: Kathryn Barbour, The Jonestown Institute

Honoring My Duty to My Family by Steve Daniel: https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=40198

Betty Daniel: https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?who_died=daniel-betty-leon

Marcus Morgan: https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?who_died=morgan-marcus-emile

Maurice Carter: https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?who_died=carter-maurice-chaunte

Steve Nathaniel III Daniel: https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?who_died=daniel-steve-nathaniel-iii

Betty Daniel Family Tree: https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=35734

Photo: Jim and Marceline Jones with Temple lawyer Charles Garry. CHS Collection at Stanford.

“Jim Jones wants to return very badly,” said temple attorney Charles Garry. “He’s happy there, but he’s the kind of person who wants to be involved. He can't come back here for reasons I can't disclose at this time.”

Garry indicated the reasons did not involve the ongoing investigations of several government agencies into accusations that the temple beat its members, bilked some out of property and misused public funds in the operation of care homes. The temple has denied all the allegations.

- Tim Reiterman, “Temple Investigation Bogged Down” newspaper clipping

(Thank you u/perithealpaca for sharing the scans!)