Leonard Rich (1800–1868) was an early leader in the

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 Jo ...

and one of the inaugural seven Presidents of the Seventy. Rich was born in

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its cap ...

in 1800 and was a farmer. He was married to Kezia Rich (1805–1853) and they had four children. In 1833, he

baptized Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost ...

Truman Angell, future architect of the

Salt Lake Temple The Salt Lake Temple is a temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. At , it is the largest Latter-day Saint temple by floor area. Dedicated in 1893, it is the sixth temple ...

. In 1834, the Kirtland High Council rebuked him for "transgressing the word of wisdom and for selling the revelations cripturesat an extortionary price." That same year he was part of

Zion's Camp Zion's Camp was an expedition of Latter Day Saints led by Joseph Smith, from Kirtland, Ohio, to Clay County, Missouri, during May and June 1834 in an unsuccessful attempt to regain land from which the Saints had been expelled by non-Mormon settle ...

. In January 1837, Rich signed the new constitution of the

Kirtland Safety Society The Kirtland Safety Society (KSS) was first proposed as a bank in 1836, and eventually organized on January 2, 1837, as a joint stock company, by leaders and followers of the Church of the Latter Day Saints. According to KSS's 1837 "Articles of ...

. On April 6 of that year, he and other presidents of the Seventy who were ordained high priests prior to their call were released. That fall, he dissented from the church and in December the church excommunicated him. In 1845, Reuben McBride reported that Rich was a leader of rioters who broke into and took possession of the

Kirtland Temple The Kirtland Temple is a National Historic Landmark in Kirtland, Ohio, United States, on the eastern edge of the Cleveland metropolitan area. Owned and operated by the Community of Christ, formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of La ...

. In January 1847 Rich, along with William E. McLellin and Jacob Bump, organized the Church of Christ at Kirtland.Biography
of Leonard Rich, The Joseph Smith Papers (accessed January 13, 2012) Rich's first wife died in 1853 and he married Marina Bassett at Kirtland March 7, 1858. He died in Kirtland in 1868.

Footnotes

1800 births 1868 deaths American Latter Day Saints Converts to Mormonism Former Latter Day Saints Leaders in the Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints) People excommunicated by the Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints) Presidents of the Seventy (LDS Church) Religious leaders from Connecticut 19th-century American farmers {{LDS-stub