20 Facts About Alpheus Cutler

John Alpheus Cutler was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement who founded the Church of Jesus Christ in 1853.

Alpheus Cutler claimed that this was the sole legitimate continuation of Smith's organization, and he served as its leader until his death.

Alpheus Cutler was born in Plainfield, New Hampshire, to Knight Alpheus Cutler, a veteran of the American Revolution, and Elizabeth Boyd.

Alpheus Cutler married Lois Lathrop of Lebanon, New Hampshire, on November 17,1808.

Alpheus Cutler fought as a private in the War of 1812, serving in Cpt.

Alpheus Cutler moved to the main Mormon settlement at Kirtland, Ohio, the following year.

An enthusiastic convert, Alpheus Cutler was invited to attend Smith's School of the Prophets in Kirtland, and assisted in the construction of the Kirtland Temple there.

When Joseph Smith moved church headquarters to Caldwell County, Missouri, in 1837, Alpheus Cutler followed him there and settled in adjacent Ray County.

Together with members of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles and other leading Latter Day Saints, Alpheus Cutler risked death and slipped back into Far West, where as the newly named "chief architect and master workman of all God's holy houses", Alpheus Cutler laid the cornerstone for the Far West Temple.

Alpheus Cutler continued to work on the Nauvoo Temple, where he was reportedly "sealed" to Lois on 14 February 1846.

At this point Alpheus Cutler's loyalties were clearly with Brigham Young; he participated as a member of the High Council in the excommunication trials of Rigdon and Strang, as well as Joseph Smith's own brother, William, who had publicly endorsed Strang.

Alpheus Cutler established Alpheus Cutler's Park, Nebraska, in 1846, and was appointed presiding member of the municipal High Council on 9 August of that year.

Sometime prior to 1849, Alpheus Cutler made a decision to withdraw from the main church body under the Twelve, and to go his own way.

Alpheus Cutler soon became the subject of lurid rumors concerning his Indian mission, with spurious reports indicating that he had been elected as the "Generalissimo" of a union of "thirty-seven nations".

Hyde ultimately became convinced that Alpheus Cutler considered himself to be a greater authority than the council over which he presided, and ordered his mission suspended.

On September 19,1853, Alpheus Cutler organized The Church of Jesus Christ, claiming that he had seen a prophesied celestial sign which Joseph Smith had allegedly told him to wait for before commencing this "reorganization" of the church.

Alpheus Cutler claimed that Smith's church had been "rejected" by God, and that only he possessed the power to reorganize it.

Alpheus Cutler rebuffed Gurley's overtures with a tersely-worded letter of his own, in which he openly ridiculed the RLDS Church's claims and insisted that his organization alone was possessed of the true priesthood authority.

Alpheus Cutler died from complications of pulmonary tuberculosis on 10 June 1864, and is buried in Manti, Iowa.

On 10 August 1864, those members of his church who had remained loyal to Alpheus Cutler relocated to Clitherall, near Battle Lake, Minnesota, in response to an alleged vision.