“Waiting for the Boat,” with Lighthouse behind Pier
Paradise Bay, St. James, Beaver Island, Lake Michigan, 1910

You have found the original Latter Day Saint church, a small group of primitive Mormons that has been in continuous existence since 1830, but remained in the Midwest when Joseph Smith was killed in 1844.  We support Joseph Smith’s written revelation appointing a successor named James Strang on June 18, 1844, just nine days before the Joseph Smith was killed.  James Strang said he was ordained to that sole office by angels the same hour that Joseph was killed, and with witnesses claimed he found brass records buried in a Wisconsin hill.  The closest associates to Joseph Smith were numbered with us, including his wife, his mother, his only surviving brother and his sisters, three of his apostles, the bishop of the whole church, the Nauvoo stake president, and the Book of Mormon witnesses.   James Strang was killed in 1856 surrounded by events similar to those when Joseph Smith was killed, and our members have become few in number as predicted in the scriptures.  After Brigham Young argued that the Prophet Joseph would not have a successor, a minority of members elected Brigham as their president anyway en route to Utah in1847.  That new organization grew rapidly in the West, changed dramatically, and are a modern worldwide organization today.  They no longer claim new prophecies, visions, revelations, or translations.  You should join us if you prefer the Mormons in the days of the Prophet Joseph.  Since 1830, we have had no membership requirements except faith, repentance, baptism, and confirmation.  We are the “Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints”.

(800) 862-5667

Prophet Joseph Smith, 1829

Ebenezer Page, 1830
(Early Mormon in N.Y., Missouri, brother of John E. Page,
Later an Apostle at Voree, Wis., and Beaver Island)

Elder Wingfield Watson, 1858
(Lived on Beaver Island)

Elder Joseph H. Hickey, 1907
(Son of L.D. Hickey who lived at Palmyra, N.Y., Nauvoo, Ill.,
Voree, Wis., and was an apostle on Beaver Island)

Elder Steve Barany, 1953
(Son-in-law of Joseph H. Hickey, died in 2010 at 95)

Others