[6] Jessop, along with his brother Moroni "Rone" and sister Frances, became interested in the nascent Mormon fundamentalist movement, and in particular the polygamist message of Lorin C. Woolley, after coming into contact with John Y. Barlow and his relative Israel Barlow Jr. Their acceptance of the message led to them becoming local outcasts, despite earlier being "pillars" of the Millville community.

After this fact was leaked to the locals, Martha was excommunicated from the LDS Church, causing a "great big splash" in the town.

[8] Jessop was also among those arrested during the 1953 Short Creek raid, and was placed onto a lengthy journey by bus to Kingman, Arizona in order to be prosecuted.

"[5] At the end of his life, he had 28 children,[9] 112 grandchildren and 145 great-grandchildren, and of those who survived him, 110 could not attend his funeral because they were being held in Phoenix by Arizona authorities.

[11][12] The unusually high prevalence of the extremely rare disease known as fumarase deficiency among FLDS members has been attributed to cousin marriages between the descendants of these two families.