Alepheus Cutler

His granddaughter Emma Anderson stated his birthdate was 07/29/1788. Gravestone indicates 07/29/1784.

Religious Leader. Alpheus was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on January 20, 1833, by Apostle David W. Patten in Western New York. Shortly after joining the Church, he and his moved to Kirtland, Ohio, to gather with the Saints and assist in the building of the temple there. One of Joseph Smith's earliest converts and confidantes, he was well known in the early church and helpful in spreading the word of the new Mormon religion. Ordained an Elder in 1833, Cutler was a stone mason by trade and was instrumental in the building of the temples in Kirtland and Nauvoo, Illinois. He was a member of the Nauvoo High Council and the Council of Fifty, both having leadership roles in the church. After Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were assassinated in nearby Carthage on June 25, 1844, Alpheus Cutler was one of the pall bearers at their funerals. Later, after the mass exodus of then church members in the Nauvoo area in 1846-47, Cutler broke away from the church when the wagon companies reached Kanesville, Iowa. While Cutler and his followers were encamped near present day Silver City, Brigham Young took over the leadership of the church, such as it was, and had himself set apart as the religion's new prophet, seer, and revelator. Cutler felt that Joseph Smith had promised the leadership of the people should go to him if anything happened, such as, in fact, did happen in 1844, and felt he couldn't nor wouldn't follow Brigham Young. In 1853, Alpeus started his own faith, known as the Church of Jesus Christ, often referred to as Cutlerites. It followed the same tenants and doctrines as the earlier religion established by Smith in 1830. After "Father" Cutler's death in 1864, in Manti, Iowa, "Mother" Cutler, her children and their families, and other Cutlerite church members, relocated to Clitherall, Minnesota, in 1867. There they reestablished the church and its only church building. However, in 1953, a schism in the organization led to a permanent split in the membership, with part of the Cutlerites remaining in Clitherall, and a second group relocating to Independence, Missouri, under new and different leadership. Eventually, the church membership in Minnesota died off and, today, the church members in Independence remain the only group of Cutlerites who still follow the church tenants as established by Alpheus Cutler in 1853. As an aside, Cutler's grave marker and those of a dozen or other souls were removed from the original Manti Cemetery and placed in a secure display in the Page County, Iowa, Historical Museum in nearby Shenandoah.

Bio by: Graves R Us