Granville Hedrick (September 2, 1814 – August 22, 1881) was a 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 J ...

after the 1844 succession crisis. In 1863, Hedrick became the founding leader of the

Church of Christ (Temple Lot) The Church of Christ, informally called Hedrickites and the Church of Christ (Temple Lot), is a denomination of the Latter Day Saint movement headquartered in Independence, Missouri, on what is known as the Temple Lot. The nickname for members of ...

, which is one of many churches that claim to be a continuation of the Church of Christ founded by

Joseph Smith 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, ...

in 1830.

Latter Day Saint church membership

In 1843 at

Woodford County, Illinois Woodford County is a county located in the state of Illinois. The 2010 United States Census listed its population at 38,664. Its county seat is Eureka. Woodford County is part of the Peoria, IL, Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its name comes fro ...

, Hedrick was baptized into the

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The c ...

by Hervey Green, a

missionary A missionary is a member of a religious group which is sent into an area in order to promote its faith or provide services to people, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care, and economic development.Thomas Hale 'On Being a Mi ...

for the church. Green also ordained Hedrick to the priesthood office of elder shortly after he was baptized. Soon after his baptism, he became dissatisfied with the church and moved to Galena to work in the lead mines. After Smith's death in June 1844, a number of Latter Day Saint leaders, including

Brigham Young Brigham Young (; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), from 1847 until his death in 1877. During his time as ch ...

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 ...

, and

James Strang James Jesse Strang (March 21, 1813 – July 9, 1856) was an American religious leader, politician and self-proclaimed monarch. In 1844 he claimed to have been appointed to be the successor of Joseph Smith as leader of the Church of Jesus Christ o ...

, claimed to be Smith's rightful successor as leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which Smith had founded in 1830 as the Church of Christ. Each leadership candidate established rival organizations, each claiming to be the true successor of the church. Sometime after Smith's death, Hedrick was re-baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints by William O. Clark. Hedrick traveled to Nauvoo, Illinois, to join the body of Latter Day Saints led by Brigham Young. However, he considered the conditions in Nauvoo dangerous and volatile at the time, and instead settled in Crow Creek, Illinois under the spiritual leadership of Gladden Bishop.

Leadership of unaffiliated branches

By the late 1850s, Brigham Young's organizations of Latter Day Saints had moved to

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

, and Sidney Rigdon's organization had dissolved. However, a number of

branches A branch, sometimes called a ramus in botany, is a woody structural member connected to the central trunk of a tree (or sometimes a shrub). Large branches are known as boughs and small branches are known as twigs. The term ''twig'' usually r ...

of Latter Day Saints in Illinois and

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

remained. At this time, these branches were not formally affiliated with any Latter Day Saint organization. Among these was a branch of Latter Day Saints in Crow Creek, Illinois, which had been led by Hedrick since April 1857. In June 1857, Hedrick's branch and Latter Day Saints from other unaffiliated branches gathered for a joint conference. The conference was attended by

John E. Page John Edward Page (February 25, 1799 – October 14, 1867) was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement. Born in Trenton, New York, Page was the son of Ebenezer and Rachel Page. He was baptized into the Church of Christ on August 18, 1833 ...

, one of the men who had been an

apostle An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to send off". The purpose of such sending ...

of the church during Joseph Smith's leadership of the church. Following the conference, Page became a supporter of these unaffiliated branches of Latter Day Saints and they continued to gather together for conferences of what they felt was the continuing remnant of the true Church of Christ. At a May 1863 conference of these branches, Page ordained Hedrick, David Judy, Jedediah Owen, and Adna C. Haldeman to the priesthood office of

. At a conference in July 1863, it was proposed that the members of the unaffiliated branches nominate a person to be president of the high priesthood of the church. Page nominated Hedrick, and with the assent of the Latter Day Saints at the conference, Page, Judy, Owen and Haldeman ordained Hedrick to be the president of the high priesthood and a prophet, seer, revelator, and translator to the Church of Christ, all positions which had been held by Joseph Smith. In typical fashion among various factions of the Latter Day Saint movement, believers associated with Hedrick were nicknamed '' Hedrickites''.

Revelations

Within one month of his ordination in mid-July, 1863, Hedrick began to produce

revelation In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing of some form of truth or knowledge through communication with a deity or other supernatural entity or entities. Background Inspiration – such as that bestowed by God on the ...

stating that the pride of Joseph Smith led him to produce false revelations. As a result, Smith was said to have introduced doctrines to the church that were inconsistent with the word of God as found in the Bible and the ''

Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude d ...

''. Hedrick declared Smith to be a "fallen prophet". Eventually, Hedrick decided that among the errors introduced by Smith were the creation of a

president of the church In the Latter Day Saint movement, the President of the Church is generally considered to be the highest office of the church. It was the office held by Joseph Smith, founder of the movement, and the office assumed by many of Smith's claimed succe ...

and

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 ...

of the church. Thereafter, Hedrick repudiated his 1863 ordination to these positions, holding that the true Church of Christ was to be headed only by a presiding elder, an office which was done away with by a vote of

s in 1925. Other doctrines rejected by Hedrick included plural marriage, celestial marriage, exaltation and

plurality of gods In orthodox Mormonism, the term God generally refers to the biblical God the Father, whom Latter Day Saints refer to as '' Elohim'', and the term ''Godhead'' refers to a council of three distinct divine persons consisting of God the Father, Jes ...

tithing A tithing or tything was a historic English legal, administrative or territorial unit, originally ten hides (and hence, one tenth of a hundred). Tithings later came to be seen as subdivisions of a manor or civil parish. The tithing's leader or ...

as one-tenth of income, and the existence of the priesthood office of high priest.

Move to Jackson County, Missouri

On April 24, 1864, Hedrick produced a revelation directing his followers to return to

Independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the statu ...

in Jackson County, Missouri in 1867 to initiate a re-gathering of Latter Day Saints to the region. Granville's wealthy brother John A. Hedrick and two other families were apparently the first "Mormons" to return to Independence and reside there, John Hedrick purchased a farm east of the city on October 11, 1865. About sixty Hedrickites moved by covered wagons to Jackson County in February 1867. Hedrick's followers were the first group of Latter Day Saints to return to this area where they had been driven out in the late 1830s by the Missourian " extermination order". Granville Hedrick himself, ironically, did not move to Independence ''"...until late 1868 or early 1869. Records show that on May 29, 1868, Granville was still in Illinois when he executed a “

Power of Attorney A power of attorney (POA) or letter of attorney is a written authorization to represent or act on another's behalf in private affairs (which may be financial or regarding health and welfare), business, or some other legal matter. The person auth ...

” in behalf of his brother John Hedrick..."'' By 1877, the Hedrickites had purchased the most prominent portion of a plot of land which Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon had dedicated in 1831 as the future location of a

temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...

headquartering a " New Jerusalem", a sacred city to be built preparatory to the

Second Coming The Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Advent or the Parousia) is a Christian (as well as Islamic and Baha'i) belief that Jesus will return again after his ascension to heaven about two thousand years ago. The idea is based on messian ...

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

. As a result of their ownership over this strategic property—later discovered to contain the buried "marker" stones emplaced by Joseph Smith in 1831—Hedrick's church came to be called the

. The church exists today with a worldwide membership of approximately 5000. Hedrick died at Independence and was buried at the "Hedrick Cemetery" about three miles (5 km) northeast of the

Temple Lot The Temple Lot, located in Independence, Missouri, is the first site to be dedicated for the construction of a temple in the Latter Day Saint movement. The area was dedicated on August 3, 1831, by the movement's founder, Joseph Smith Jr., and p ...

. His widow, Eliza Ann Jones Hedrick, died in Independence on April 6, 1910, and their son James A. Hedrick, who had served as the church's "General Secretary," died in Independence, age 60, on April 22, 1926.Missouri Death Certificates 1910-1959
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References

External links

*, from the