Emery George Fletcher (July 22, 1868 - July 21, 1953) was a

Latter Day Saint The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded b ...

leader who served as the fourth president of The Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite), succeeding Isaac Whiting in that office after Whiting died in 1922. During his tenure, the Cutlerites fulfilled a long-cherished dream of their founder,

Alpheus Cutler John Alpheus Cutler (February 29, 1784 – June 10, 1864) was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement who founded the Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite) in 1853. He had previously served in several church positions under Joseph Smith, fou ...

, by relocating their church headquarters from

Clitherall, Minnesota Clitherall ( ) is a city in Otter Tail County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 62 at the 2020 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , all land. Minnesota State Highway 210 ...

(where it had been since 1865) to

Independence, Missouri Independence is a city in and one of two county seats of Jackson County, Missouri, United States. It is a satellite city of Kansas City, Missouri, and is the largest suburb on the Missouri side of the Kansas City metropolitan area. In 2020 Unite ...

, within sight of the

Temple Lot The Temple Lot, located in Independence, Missouri, is the first site to be dedicated for the construction of a Temple (Latter Day Saints), temple in the Latter Day Saint movement. The area was dedicated on August 3, 1831, by the movement's found ...

. However, this move had the unintended consequence of commencing a division between the

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

and

Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...

branches of the church, which led to a short-lived

schism A schism ( , , or, less commonly, ) is a division between people, usually belonging to an organization, movement, or religious denomination. The word is most frequently applied to a split in what had previously been a single religious body, suc ...

after Fletcher's death.

Early years

Fletcher was born in

, on 22 July 1868. He married Ethel Florence Minton in

Fergus Falls Fergus Falls ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Otter Tail County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 14,119 at the 2020 census, and was estimated to be 14,258 in 2024. History The falls from which the city gets part of its n ...

and had four children with her. Following her death in 1908, he married Emily Augusta Whiting on 18 April 1915 in Clitherall, but this marriage produced no children.

Moving to Zion

Before 1920, there had only been one Cutlerite congregation in Clitherall. However, during the early 1920s, a majority of this congregation elected to relocate to

, near the

, where they purchased land and erected a building which became their new church headquarters. Independence was an urban environment, in sharp contrast to rural Clitherall. According to Rupert Fletcher, president of the Cutlerite church from 1958 to 1974 and author of ''Alpheus Cutler and The Church of Jesus Christ'', the schism that would lead to the founding of the so-called True Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite) after Emery's death was precipitated by what Rupert (Emery Fletcher's son, and a later president of the Cutlerite church) called "the lack of communication and a wide difference in environment." Whereas the Minnesota congregation were primarily "members of a rural society, engaged in agrarian pursuits," the Missouri members lived and worked "in an urban community." "The problems and needs of each have little in common with the other", wrote he, and this often "caused disunity." However, following the death of "True Church" founder Clyde Fletcher, this schism was rapidly healed, and the Cutlerite people reunited around the leadership of then-president Rupert Fletcher (Emery's son). Fletcher died on 21 July 1953, one day before what would have been his eighty-fifth birthday. He is buried in Clitherall with several other early Cutlerite pioneers in the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery.

Children

All of Emery Fletcher's children were by his first wife, Ethel Minton: *Nellie *Elmer Claude * Rupert J., who would later serve as president of the Cutlerite church *Neil George

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fletcher, Emery 1868 births 1953 deaths American Latter Day Saint leaders Leaders in the Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite) People from Otter Tail County, Minnesota