Rigdonites
A Rigdonite is a member of the Latter Day Saint movement who accepts Sidney Rigdon as the successor in the church presidency to the movement's founder, Joseph Smith Jr. The early history of the Rigdonite movement is shared with the history of the Latter Day Saint movement, but as of the 1844 succession crisis becomes distinct. Sidney Rigdon and other church leaders, including Brigham Young and James J. Strang, presented themselves as leaders of the movement and established rival church organizations. Rigdon's group was initially headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It was known at one point as the Church of Jesus Christ of the Children of Zion, and its adherents are referred to as Rigdonites, or sometimes "Pennsylvania Latter Day Saints" or "Pennsylvania Mormons." The only surviving organization that traces its succession back to Rigdon's organizations is The Church of Jesus Christ, founded by a group of Rigdon's followers led by William Bickerton. History Backgroun ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sidney Rigdon
Sidney Rigdon (February 19, 1793 – July 14, 1876) was a leader during the early history of the Latter Day Saint movement. Biography Early life Rigdon was born in St. Clair Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, on February 19, 1793. He was the youngest of four children of William and Nancy Rigdon. Rigdon's father was a farmer and a native of Harford County, Maryland. He died in 1810. According to an account by his son John M. Rigdon, young Rigdon "borrowed all the histories he could get and began to read them. ... In this way he became a great historian, the best I ever saw. He seemed to have the history of the world on his tongue's end and he got to be a great biblical scholar as well. He was as familiar with the Bible as a child was with his spelling book. He was never known to play with the boys; reading books was the greatest pleasure he could get. He studied English Grammar alone and became a very fine grammarian. He was very precise in his language." Rigdon remained ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Joseph Smith Jr
Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was 24, Smith published the Book of Mormon. By the time of his death, 14 years later, he had attracted tens of thousands of followers and founded a religion that continues to the present with millions of global adherents. Smith was born in Sharon, Vermont. By 1817, he had moved with his family to Western New York, the site of intense religious revivalism during the Second Great Awakening. Smith said he experienced a series of visions, including one in 1820 during which he saw "two personages" (whom he eventually described as God the Father and Jesus Christ), and another in 1823 in which an angel directed him to a buried book of golden plates inscribed with a Judeo-Christian history of an ancient American civilization. In 1830, Smith published what he said was an English translation of these plates called the ''Book of Mormon ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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William Bickerton
William Bickerton (January 15, 1815 – February 17, 1905) was a leader in the Latter Day Saint movement after the 1844 succession crisis. In 1862, Bickerton became the founding president of the church now known as The Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonite), which is one of many churches that claim to be a continuation of the Church of Christ founded by Joseph Smith in 1830. Early life Bickerton was born in Kyloe, Northumberland, England, the seventh of eleven children of Thomas Bickerton and Isabella Hope. Bickerton immigrated to the United States in 1830 and became a coal miner in, first, Virginia and then Pennsylvania. Follower of Sidney Rigdon Bickerton was not a Latter Day Saint during the lifetime of Joseph Smith. Rather, he was a practising Methodist who was converted to the faith by Sidney Rigdon in 1845. Following Smith's death in 1844, a number of Latter Day Saint leaders, including Rigdon, Brigham Young, and James Strang, claimed to be Smith's rightful successor t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Death Of Joseph Smith
Joseph Smith, the founder and leader of the Latter Day Saint movement, and his brother, Hyrum Smith, were killed by a mob in Carthage, Illinois, United States, on June 27, 1844, while awaiting trial in the town jail. As mayor of the city of Nauvoo, Illinois, Joseph Smith had ordered the destruction of the facilities used to print the '' Nauvoo Expositor'', a newly established newspaper created by a group of non-Mormons and others who had seceded from the church. The newspaper's first (and only) issue was highly critical of Smith and other church leaders, reporting that Smith was practicing polygamy and claiming he intended to set himself up as a theocratic king. In response, a motion to declare the newspaper a public nuisance was passed by the Nauvoo City Council, and Smith consequently ordered its press destroyed. [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ezra T
Ezra (; he, עֶזְרָא, '; fl. 480–440 BCE), also called Ezra the Scribe (, ') and Ezra the Priest in the Book of Ezra, was a Jewish scribe (''sofer'') and priest (''kohen''). In Greco-Latin Ezra is called Esdras ( grc-gre, Ἔσδρας). According to the Hebrew Bible he was a descendant of Sraya, the last High Priest to serve in the First Temple, and a close relative of Joshua, the first High Priest of the Second Temple. He returned from Babylonian exile and reintroduced the Torah in Jerusalem. According to 1 Esdras, a Greek translation of the Book of Ezra still in use in Eastern Orthodoxy, he was also a High Priest. Rabbinic tradition holds that he was an ordinary member of the priesthood. Several traditions have developed over his place of burial. One tradition says that he is buried in al-Uzayr near Basra (Iraq), while another tradition alleges that he is buried in Tadif near Aleppo, in northern Syria. His name may be an abbreviation of ', " Yah helps". In t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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First Presidency
Among many churches in the Latter Day Saint movement, the First Presidency (also known as the Quorum of the Presidency of the Church) is the highest presiding or governing body. Present-day denominations of the movement led by a First Presidency include the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), the Community of Christ, Remnant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and the Righteous Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. When the Church of Christ was organized on April 6, 1830, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery led the church in their capacity as elders. Smith established the inaugural First Presidency on March 8, 1832, with the ordinations of Jesse Gause and Sidney Rigdon as his counselors. The term "first presidency," though used at least as early as 1834, did not become standard until 1838. The presidency was to exercise authority over the entire church, whereas the jurisdictions of the Twelve Apostles and the Seventy were the outly ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Succession Crisis (Latter Day Saints)
The succession crisis in the Latter Day Saint movement occurred after the death of Joseph Smith, the movement's founder, on June 27, 1844. For roughly six months after Smith's death, several people competed to take over his role, the leading contenders being Sidney Rigdon, Brigham Young, and James Strang. The majority of Latter Day Saints elected to follow Young's leadership, but several smaller churches emerged from the succession crisis. This significant event in the history of the Latter Day Saint movement precipitated several permanent schisms. Background The Church of Christ was organized by Joseph Smith and a small group of men on April 6, 1830. Between that time and Smith's death in 1844, the administrative and ecclesiastical organization of the new church evolved from an egalitarian group of believers to an institution based on hierarchy of priesthood offices. This gradual change was driven by both the growth in church membership and the evolution of Smith's role as leader ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Quorum Of Twelve Apostles
A quorum is the minimum number of members of a deliberative assembly (a body that uses parliamentary procedure, such as a legislature) necessary to conduct the business of that group. According to ''Robert's Rules of Order Newly Revised'', the "requirement for a quorum is protection against totally unrepresentative action in the name of the body by an unduly small number of persons." In contrast, a plenum is a meeting of the full (or rarely nearly full) body. A body, or a meeting or vote of it, is quorate if a quorum is present (or casts valid votes). The term ''quorum'' is from a Middle English wording of the commission formerly issued to justices of the peace, derived from Latin ''quorum'', "of whom", genitive plural of ''qui'', "who". As a result, ''quora'' as plural of ''quorum'' is not a valid Latin formation. In modern times a quorum might be defined as the minimum number of voters needed for a valid election. In ''Robert's Rules of Order'' According to Robert, each as ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Amasa M
Amasa (עמשא) or Amessai is a person mentioned in the Hebrew Bible. His mother was Abigail (), a sister of King David (). Hence, Amasa was a nephew of David, and cousin of Joab, David's military commander, as well as a cousin of Absalom, David's son. David calls him "my bone and my flesh" (). Amasa's father was Jether (, ) who was also called Ithra (). When Absalom rebelled against David and won over the tribes of Israel (), he appointed Amasa as commander over the army, in effect replacing Joab, who had served as commander for David. After the revolt was crushed and Absalom died (), David was invited back to Jerusalem and restored as king. David re-appointed Amasa "from now on" as his military commander () in place of Joab. The New International Version translates the Hebrew text as commander "for life". David's appointment of Amasa has been interpreted as "a bold stroke of policy, to promise the post of commander-in chief to the general of the rebel army". Kirkpatrick, A. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Latter Day Saint Movement
The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded by Joseph Smith in the late 1820s. Collectively, these churches have over 16 million members, although about 98% belong to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). The predominant theology of the churches in the movement is Mormonism, which sees itself as restoring the early Christian church with additional revelations. A minority of Latter Day Saint adherents, such as members of Community of Christ, have been influenced by Protestant theology while maintaining certain distinctive beliefs and practices including continuing revelation, an open canon of scripture and building temples. Other groups include the Remnant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which supports lineal succession of leadership from Smit ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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William Smith (Latter Day Saints)
William Smith (also found as William B. Smith) (March 13, 1811 – November 13, 1893) was a leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and one of the original members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Smith was the eighth child of Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith and was a younger brother of Joseph Smith Jr., the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. After the 1844 murders of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, William Smith claimed leadership of the Latter Day Saints and attracted a small number of followers. Most church members accepted Brigham Young as rightful leader of the church, and Smith was later affiliated with the Strangite and Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (now the Community of Christ). Early life Born in Royalton, Vermont, Smith and his family suffered considerable financial problems and moved several times in the New England area. He was living in the home of his parents near Manchester, New York, when his brother Joseph reported that he ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lyman Wight
Lyman Wight (May 9, 1796 – March 31, 1858) was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement. He was the leader of the Latter Day Saints in Daviess County, Missouri, in 1838. In 1841, he was ordained a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. After the death of Joseph Smith resulted in a succession crisis, Wight led his own break-off group of Latter Day Saints to Texas, where they created a settlement. While in Texas, Wight broke with the main body of the group led by Brigham Young. Wight was ordained president of his own church, but he later sided with the claims of William Smith, and eventually of Joseph Smith III. After his death, most of the "Wightites" (as members of this church were called) joined with the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS Church). Early life Lyman Wight was born to Levi Wight and Sarah Corton on May 9, 1796, in Fairfield, New York. He fought in the War of 1812. On January 5, 1823, he married Harriet Benton in Henrietta, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |