Gladden Bishop

Francis Gladden Bishop was a minor leader in the Latter Day Saint movement after the 1844 succession crisis. Bishop claimed to be the rightful successor to Joseph Smith; from the 1850s until his death, Bishop led a succession of small groups of Latter Day Saints and converts. His followings have been identified informally by later writers as the Gladdenites and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Gladdenite), though the name of a late following is formally The Church of Jesus Christ of the New Jerusalem. In the 1850s, many of Bishop's followers abandoned him and joined the movement that would later become the Church of Christ (Temple Lot). Early life: Bishop was born in Livonia, Livingston County, New York, the third of nine children born to devout Methodists Isaac Gates Bishop and Mary Hyde. According to some reports, Mary Hyde Bishop "was a religious enthusiast and previous to [Gladden's] birth had predicted that she would bear a son who would some day gladden the hearts of the people and would be the flying roll which Zacharias [sic] saw with his prophetic eye" (see Zechariah 5:1-4). Other than serving as a missionary, Bishop's adult occupation is unknown. He was identified in various contemporary documents as a silversmith and as a pocket watch repairer. Latter Day Saint: In July 1832, Bishop was baptized by Latter Day Saint missionaries at Olean, New York and became a member of the Church of Christ, which had been founded two years earlier by Joseph Smith. Bishop also became an elder of the church and for a brief period of time in 1833 was president of the congregation of Latter Day Saints at Westfield, New York. At some point Bishop was also ordained to the priesthood office of seventy. In 1838 and 1839 Bishop was a missionary for the church in North Carolina, Virginia (including present-day West Virginia), Maryland, New York, Massachusetts, and Upper Canada. During his mission, Bishop published a short history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Apostasies: On August 7, 1835, Bishop was disfellowshipped from the church by a high council of the church at Bradford, Massachusetts because "it was proved that he had erred in spirit and in doctrine, and was considerably inclined to enthusiasm, and much lifted up". On September 28, the Presiding High Council at Kirtland, Ohio reinstated Bishop and warned him against "advancing heretical doctrines which were derogatory to the character of the Church of the Latter Day Saints". However, one contemporary commentator stated that "Gladden gave Joseph [Smith] much trouble; was cut off from the church and taken back and rebaptized nine times".