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This article examines how Mormons reinterpreted the figure of Joseph Smith (1805-1844) in the wake of their prophet's death. As a number of Mormon sects emerged in the years immediately following 1844, rival prophets claimed continued access to Smith as a means of legitimating themselves against opposing bodies. The article argues that these re-conceptualizations of Joseph Smith served to draw boundaries between movements, with particular attention to the processes of sacralization common to many new religious movements facing their founder's death. Specific emphasis is on the Latter-Day Saints' efforts to regulate such practices originating from their sectarian competitors but also from LDS adherents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the integration of the private and esoteric layer of the Nauvoo theology of Mormonism founder Joseph Smith into James Strang's Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, with specific focus on the coronation on Beaver Island. Topics discussed include the beginning of Mormon ideas of theocracy, or theo-democracy, in Nauvoo, Illinois, contests over Nauvoo esotericism in Voree, Wisconsin, and the expansion of symbols of theocracy following Strang's coronation.

The article discusses the history of the Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite), a small Mormon sect founded in Iowa in 1853 by Alpheus Cutler, a follower of Joseph Smith Jr. Based on Cutlerite church records made public in 2002, the article discusses Cutler's activities from the death of Smith in 1844 to Cutler's church reorganization in 1853, Cutlerite theology, and distinct features of Cutlerite church government, such as the absence of a Quorum of Twelve Apostles, or a Quorum of Seventy, or the office of bishop.