Sidney Rigdon was a leader during the early history of the Latter Day Saint movement.
Missouri Executive Order 44, commonly known as the Mormon Extermination Order, was an executive order issued on October 27, 1838, by the Governor of Missouri, Lilburn Boggs. The order was issued in the aftermath of the Battle of Crooked River, a clash between Mormons and a unit of the Missouri State Militia in northern Ray County, Missouri, during the 1838 Mormon War. Claiming that the Mormons had committed open and avowed defiance of the law and had made war upon the people of Missouri, Governor Boggs directed that "the Mormons must be treated as enemies, and must be exterminated or driven from the State if necessary for the public peace—their outrages are beyond all description". The Militia and other state authorities—General John B. Clark, among them—used the executive order to violently expel the Mormons from their lands in the state following their capitulation, which in turn led to their forced migration to Nauvoo, Illinois. The order was supported by most northwest Missouri citizens but was questioned or denounced by a few. However, no determination of the order's legality was ever made. On June 25, 1976, Governor Kit Bond issued an executive order rescinding the Extermination Order, recognizing its legal invalidity and formally apologizing on behalf of the State of Missouri for the suffering it had caused the Mormons.
David Whitmer was an early adherent of the Latter Day Saint movement who eventually became the most interviewed of the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon's golden plates.
Orson Pratt Sr. was an American mathematician and religious leader who was an original member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He became a member of the Quorum of the Twelve of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was a leading Mormon theologian and writer until his death.
Thomas Baldwin Marsh was an early leader in the Latter-day Saint movement and an original member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He served as the first President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints from 1835 to 1838. He withdrew from the church in 1838, was excommunicated from the church in 1839, and remained disaffected for almost 19 years. Marsh was rebaptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in July 1857, but never again served in church leadership positions.
John Whitmer was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement. He was one of the Eight Witnesses of the Book of Mormon's golden plates. Whitmer was also the first official Church Historian and a member of the presidency of the church in Missouri.
Rigdonite is a name given to members of the Latter Day Saint movement who accept Sidney Rigdon as the successor in the church presidency to movement 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.
Polygamy in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, or plural marriage, is generally believed to have originated with the founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith. According to several of his associates, Smith taught that polygamy was a divine commandment and practiced it personally, by some accounts marrying more than 30 women, some of whom had existing marriages to other men. Evidence for Smith's polygamy is provided by the church's "sealing" records, affidavits, letters, journals, and diaries. However, until his death, Smith and the leading church quorums denied that he preached or practiced polygamy. Smith's son Joseph Smith III, his widow Emma Smith, and the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints challenged the evidence and taught that Joseph Smith had opposed polygamy. They instead claimed that Brigham Young, the head of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, introduced plural marriage after Smith's death. In 1852, leaders of the Utah-based LDS Church publicly announced the doctrine of polygamy.
Signature Books is an American press specializing in subjects related to Utah, Mormonism, and Western Americana. The company was founded in 1980 by George D. Smith and Scott Kenney and is based in Salt Lake City, Utah.
There are many works relating to Joseph Smith. These works cover Joseph Smith's his life, legacy, and teachings. Smith is the author of several works of scripture, and several personal histories, letters, and other writings. There have also been several biographies written about him.
John Corrill was an early member and leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and an elected representative in the Missouri State Legislature. He was prominently involved in the Mormon conflicts in Missouri before leaving the church in 1839 and publishing A Brief History of the Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints .
The Spalding–Rigdon theory of Book of Mormon authorship is the theory that the Book of Mormon was plagiarized in part from an unpublished manuscript written by Solomon Spalding. The theory first appeared in print in the book Mormonism Unvailed [sic], published in 1834 by E. D. Howe. The theory is that a Spalding manuscript was stolen by Sidney Rigdon, who used it in collusion with Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery to produce the Book of Mormon. Although Rigdon claimed that he was converted to the Latter Day Saint movement through reading the Book of Mormon, Howe argued that this story was a later invention to cover the book's true origins.
There are several theories as to the origin of the Book of Mormon. Most adherents to the Latter Day Saint movement view the book as a work of inspired scripture. The most common belief of adherents is that promoted by Joseph Smith, who said he translated ancient golden plates inscribed by prophets. Smith claimed the angel Moroni, a prophet in the Book of Mormon, directed him in the 1820s to a hill near his home in Palmyra, New York where the plates were buried. Besides Smith himself, there were at least 11 witnesses who said they saw the plates in 1829, and three also claiming to have been visited by an angel. Several other witnesses observed Smith dictating the text that eventually became the Book of Mormon.
Ezra Booth was an early member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who became an outspoken critic of Joseph Smith and the Church of Christ.
Richard Eyring "Rick" Turley Jr. is an American historian and genealogist. He previously served as both an Assistant Church Historian of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and as managing director of the church's Public Affairs Department.
Mark Roscoe Ashurst-McGee is an American historian of the Latter Day Saint movement and editor for the Joseph Smith Papers project.
Steven Craig Harper is a professor of church history and doctrine at Brigham Young University. Formerly he was a historian for the Church History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is the Editor-in-Chief of BYU Studies Quarterly.
Mormon studies is the interdisciplinary academic study of the beliefs, practices, history and culture of those known by the term Mormon and denominations belonging to the Latter Day Saint movement whose members do not generally go by the term "Mormon". The Latter Day Saint movement includes not only The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints but also the Community of Christ (CoC) and other groups, as well as those falling under the umbrella of Mormon fundamentalism.
Richard S. Van Wagoner was a non-academic historian who published works on the history of Utah and the history of the Latter Day Saint movement.
Stephen Post was an early member of the Latter Day Saint movement who became President of Sidney Rigdon's Rigdonite church after Rigdon's death in 1876.
