Ever Reverend Jones is the child of James Warren Jones, an American cult leader, and mass murderer. Most of Ever’s father’s children were adopted except his son with his wife, Marceline Baldwin.
Ever’s Father
James Warren Jones, popularly known as Jim Jones, developed a desire to preach when he was young; the pastor’s wife in the church he went to had a special attachment to Jones, and she gave him a bible and encouraged him to read it.
As Jim Jones grew older, he went to several churches and could be baptized in some. He later started practicing how to preach in private; one time, his mother found him imitating the pastor and barred him from going to church.
Ever’s father was obsessed with the church, but despite that, he was a thief, as he stole candy from merchants in his hometown, and his mother was forced to pay for his thefts. While in the neighborhood, Jim Jones used offensive language to greet his friends.
With Ever’s father’s obsession with religion, he started reading social doctrines and studying people like Adolf Hitler, Karl Max, Mahatma Gandhi, Mao Zedong, and Joseph Stalin, spending many hours in the community library.
The Johnstone Mass Suicide
In November 1978, Ever’s father killed congressman Leo Ryan and some of his men, a delegation that had come to Johnstone to investigate allegations of human rights abuses. Some of Ryan s men escaped the killing, making Ever’s father mad. On the same day, he called the whole Johnstone community and asked them to assemble at the central pavilion. He feared that Ryan’s delegation that escaped would tell the military commandos, and they would be killed.
Ever’s father and other group members said they should commit suicide instead of dying without dignity. Jim Jones had bought cyanide which he added to a drink, and the people drunk, the ones who refused, were injected with cyanine poison. Among the many people killed that day were high school children; Marceline tried to protest against their killing but was restrained.
According to Ever Reverend Jones’ father, mass suicide was an act of revolutionary suicide where they were protesting against inhumane world conditions, including racism and discrimination.
Over 900 people, including Jim Jones’ children and wife, died that day. Some of his children survived the mass suicide as they were not around then. Around 80 people survived the Johnstone mass suicide, as they ran into the jungle where they hid, and some were out of town, including a basketball team.
Ever’s father recorded the whole mass suicide, and it was a 45-minute tape; it was recovered by the police and was named Death Tape.
Ever Reverend’s Father’s Death
Every member of the Jim Jones family died except his three sons, who were out of town with the basketball team; most probably Ever died there as well, as most of her details are unknown.
Jim shot himself on the same day of the mass murder. There were speculations that he had someone to help him with the gunshot.
