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Sidney Rigdon to be the successor to Joseph Smith...
Sidney Rigdon to be the successor to Joseph Smith...
Item # 685128
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September 07, 1844
NILES' NATIONAL REGISTER, Baltimore, Sept. 7, 1844 Page 3 has an article with small heading: "Illinois. The Mormons" which reports: "Samuel H. Smith, brother of Joseph and Hiram, died at Nauvoo a fortnight since. William is now the only surviving brother. Sidney Rigdon, the most talented of the concern, has returned to Nauvoo & claimed to be successor of the Prophet..." and a bit more.
Sixteen pages, 8 1/2 by 12 inches, nice condition.
As noted in Wikipedia, this title: "...(was) one of the most widely-circulated magazines in the United States...Devoted primarily to politics...considered an important source for the history of the period."
Note: In 1844, following the assassination of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, a significant leadership crisis ensued. Sidney Rigdon, who had served as Smith's First Counselor in the First Presidency since 1832, asserted his claim to lead the church.
Rigdon returned to Nauvoo, Illinois, on August 3, 1844, and the next day proclaimed that he had received a revelation appointing him as the "Guardian of the Church." He contended that, as the sole surviving member of the First Presidency, he was the rightful leader of the church.
However, Brigham Young and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles challenged Rigdon's claim. Young argued that Joseph Smith had conferred the "priesthood keys" upon the Twelve Apostles, granting them equal authority to the First Presidency. On August 8, 1844, during a pivotal meeting in Nauvoo, both Rigdon and Young presented their cases to the congregation. The majority of church members voted in favor of Young's leadership, reportedly influenced by an event where Young was perceived to have taken on the appearance and voice of Joseph Smith during his address.
Following this decision, Rigdon was excommunicated from the church in September 1844. He subsequently established his own sect, initially called the "Church of Christ," later known as the "Church of Jesus Christ of the Children of Zion." This group, often referred to as the Rigdonites, was headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Despite initial efforts, internal disputes led to the decline of Rigdon's movement by 1847. Nonetheless, some of his followers, notably William Bickerton, reorganized the church in 1862 under the name The Church of Jesus Christ.
Category: Pre-Civil War