Rupert Fletcher

Rupert Fletcher
Rupert Fletcher
6th President of The Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite)
	September 21, 1958 [1] – November 22, 1974 [1]
Called by	Erle Whiting [2]
Predecessor	Erle Whiting [2]
Successor	Julian Whiting
Personal details
Born	May 15, 1896; Clitherall, Minnesota, United States
Died	November 22, 1974 (aged 78); Independence, Missouri, United States
Resting place	Mound Grove Cemetery; 39°06′46″N94°25′41″W / 39.1128°N 94.4281°W
Spouse(s)	Daisy Evangeline Whiting
Parents	Emery George Fletcher ; Ethel Florence Minton
	Biographyportal Latter Day Saintsportal
	Biographyportal Latter Day Saintsportal

Last updated February 19, 2019

Rupert J. Fletcher (May 15, 1896 – November 22, 1974) was a Latter Day Saint leader who served as the sixth president of The Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite) from 1958 to 1974. As church president, he ended the schism between the church's Missouri congregation and its Minnesota branch, which had seceded from the church in 1955 and called itself the True Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite). He also authored, in company with his wife Daisy, a compendium of Cutlerite history and doctrine, entitled Alpheus Cutler and The Church of Jesus Christ.

Latter Day Saint movement collection of independent church groups

The Latter Day Saint movement is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian primitivist movement founded by Joseph Smith in the late 1820s. Collectively, these churches have over 16 million members, although the vast majority of these—about 98%—belong to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The predominant theology of the churches in the movement is Mormonism, a form of Christianity usually categorized as Restorationist. A minority of Latter Day Saint adherents, such as members of the Community of Christ, believe in traditional Protestant theology, and have distanced themselves from some of the distinctive doctrines of the LDS Church. Other groups include the Remnant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which supports lineal succession of leadership from Smith's descendants, and the more controversial Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, which defends the practice of polygamy.

The Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite) is a denomination of the Latter Day Saint movement headquartered in Independence, Missouri, United States. The church derives its epithet from its founder, Alpheus Cutler, a member of the Nauvoo High Council and of Joseph Smith's Council of Fifty. Cutler justified his establishment of an independent church organization by asserting that God had "rejected" Smith's organization—but not his priesthood—following Smith's death, but that Smith had named Cutler to a singular "Quorum of Seven" in anticipation of this event, with a unique prerogative to reorganize the church that no one beyond this group possessed. Hence, Cutler's organization claims to be the only legitimate Latter Day Saint church in the world today. Currently, it has only one branch, located in Independence. The Cutlerite church retains an endowment ceremony believed to date to the Nauvoo period, practices the United Order of Enoch, and accepts baptism for the dead, but not eternal marriage or polygamy.

Missouri is a state in the Midwestern United States. With over six million residents, it is the 18th-most populous state of the Union. The largest urban areas are St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield, and Columbia; the capital is Jefferson City. The state is the 21st-most extensive in area. In the South are the Ozarks, a forested highland, providing timber, minerals, and recreation. The Missouri River, after which the state is named, flows through the center of the state into the Mississippi River, which makes up Missouri's eastern border.

Early years

Fletcher was born in Clitherall, Minnesota on May 15, 1896. In his early years, he worked on his father's farm and also as a cowboy in Montana before joining the Cutlerite community in Independence, Missouri. Later, he worked as an over-the-road truck driver, and a taxicab driver for Kansas City's Yellow Cab Co. He married Daisy Evangeline Whiting on December 26, 1930, and they became the parents of three children.

Clitherall is a city in Otter Tail County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 112 at the 2010 census.

A farm is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used for specialised units such as arable farms, vegetable farms, fruit farms, dairy, pig and poultry farms, and land used for the production of natural fibres, biofuel and other commodities. It includes ranches, feedlots, orchards, plantations and estates, smallholdings and hobby farms, and includes the farmhouse and agricultural buildings as well as the land. In modern times the term has been extended so as to include such industrial operations as wind farms and fish farms, both of which can operate on land or sea.

A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the vaquero traditions of northern Mexico and became a figure of special significance and legend. A subtype, called a wrangler, specifically tends the horses used to work cattle. In addition to ranch work, some cowboys work for or participate in rodeos. Cowgirls, first defined as such in the late 19th century, had a less-well documented historical role, but in the modern world have established the ability to work at identical tasks and obtained considerable respect for their achievements. There are also cattle handlers in many other parts of the world, particularly South America and Australia, who perform work similar to the cowboy in their respective nations.

Presidency

Fletcher became president of the Missouri branch of the Cutlerite church in 1958, upon the death of his predecessor, Erle Whiting. Three years earlier, the Minnesota congregation had seceded from the church in a dispute over who should occupy the presidential office. The Missouri congregation, where the majority of Cutlerites attended, had elected Erle Whiting as president, in accordance with long-standing Cutlerite traditions which saw the presidency descend to the First Counselor of the previous president when that person died. The Minnesota congregation disagreed, and elected Clyde Fletcher as church president. Rejecting this illegal act, the Missouri majority continued to sustain Whiting, and following his death, they elected Rupert Fletcher to succeed him. After this, the Minnesota group began calling itself "the True Church of Jesus Christ."

Ivan Erle Whiting, Sr. was the fifth president of The Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite), a branch of the Latter Day Saint movement. His short tenure in office was marred by a dispute between the Independence, Missouri congregation of the church, where he and the church headquarters were located, and the branch at Clitherall, Minnesota, which rejected his election to office and chose Clyde Fletcher from their own congregation as president of the church. When the Independence branch refused to accept this unlawful development, the Minnesota branch broke away under Clyde's leadership as the True Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite). A battle between the two branches for church properties and leadership was resolved in the Independence branch's favor by a Minnesota court, and Clyde Fletcher's schismatic sect ceased to exist with his death, when both congregations were reunited under Erle's successor, Rupert Fletcher.

Clyde Leroy Fletcher was the founder and sole president of the True Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite), a schismatic faction of the Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite) which existed from 1953 until his death in 1969. Following his demise, his few remaining adherents elected to reunite with the main Cutlerite church in Independence, Missouri.

The two congregations had fought over possession of church properties and funds; in 1966, a Minnesota court in Fergus Falls found in favor of the Missouri congregation.^[3] Following Clyde Fletcher's death in 1969, the remaining members of his Minnesota sect reunited with Fletcher's Missouri congregation, ending the schism.

Fergus Falls is a city in and the county seat of Otter Tail County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 13,138 at the 2010 census.

In 1973, a year before his death, Rupert and Daisy Fletcher co-authored Alpheus Cutler and The Church of Jesus Christ, a compendium of Cutlerite history (by Daisy Fletcher) and doctrine (by Rupert). The book combined several pamphlets and articles Fletcher had written on various theological themes related to Cutlerite teachings.

Rupert Fletcher died on November 22, 1974, in Independence. He is buried in Mound Grove Cemetery, with his wife.

Children

Rupert and Daisy Fletcher had three children:

David Lee
Russell Rupert
Virginia Ruth

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References

1 2 Biographical History
1 2 Fletcher, Rupert J. and Daisy Whiting, Alpheus Cutler and The Church of Jesus Christ. Church of Jesus Christ, 1974, pp. 47–55, 271–274.
↑ Young, Biloine Whiting (2002). Obscure Believers: The Mormon Schism of Alpheus Cutler. Pogo Press. ISBN 978-1-880654-27-9, p. 192.

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[Biographical_History-1] 1 2 Biographical History

[Fletcher-2] 1 2 Fletcher, Rupert J. and Daisy Whiting, Alpheus Cutler and The Church of Jesus Christ. Church of Jesus Christ, 1974, pp. 47–55, 271–274.

[3] Young, Biloine Whiting (2002). Obscure Believers: The Mormon Schism of Alpheus Cutler. Pogo Press. ISBN 978-1-880654-27-9, p. 192.