Zenas Hovey Gurley Sr. (May 29, 1801 – August 28, 1871) was a leader in the history of the

Latter Day Saint movement 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 by ...

. He was baptized into the

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian restorationist Christian denomination and the largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement. Founded dur ...

on April 1, 1838, and became an elder soon thereafter. By the

death of Joseph Smith Joseph Smith, the founder and leader of the Latter Day Saint movement, and his brother, Hyrum Smith, were killed by a mob in Carthage, Illinois, United States, on June 27, 1844, while awaiting trial in the town jail on charges of treason. The ...

in 1844, Gurley had been ordained a seventy. Beginning in 1849, Gurley led a

branch A branch, also called a ramus in botany, is a stem that grows off from another stem, or when structures like veins in leaves are divided into smaller veins. History and etymology In Old English, there are numerous words for branch, includ ...

of the

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Strangite) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints—usually distinguished with a parenthetical (Strangite)—is one of the several organizations that claim to be the legitimate continuation of the church founded by Joseph Smith on April 6, 1830. I ...

in Yellowstone, Wisconsin, in the early years after the

succession crisis A succession crisis is a crisis that arises when an order of succession fails, for example when a monarch dies without an indisputable heir. It may result in a war of succession. Examples include (see List of wars of succession): * The Wars of Th ...

. In 1852, Gurley broke with

James Strang James Jesse Strang (March 21, 1813 – July 9, 1856) was an American religious leader, politician and self-proclaimed monarch. He served as a member of the Michigan House of Representatives from 1853 until his assassination. In 1844, he said he ...

over the issue of

plural marriage Polygamy (called plural marriage by Latter-day Saints in the 19th century or the Principle by modern fundamentalist practitioners of polygamy) was practiced by leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) for more ...

and was eventually

excommunicated Excommunication is an institutional act of religious censure used to deprive, suspend, or limit membership in a religious community or to restrict certain rights within it, in particular those of being in communion with other members of the con ...

from Strang's church. Along with Jason W. Briggs, Gurley became an important early leader of the "New Organization" of the church that developed in the Midwest in the 1850s. In 1853, he was called as an

apostle An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary. The word is derived from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", itself derived from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to se ...

in the New Organization, which is today known as the

Community of Christ Community of Christ, known legally and from 1872 to 2001 as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS), is an American-based international church, and is the second-largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement ...

. Along with William Marks, Gurley ordained

Joseph Smith III Joseph Smith III (November 6, 1832 – December 10, 1914) was the eldest surviving son of Joseph Smith (founder of the Latter Day Saint movement) and Emma Hale Smith. Joseph Smith III was the Prophet-President of what became the Reorganized Chu ...

President of the Church In the Latter Day Saint movement, the president of the Church is generally considered to be the highest office of the church. It was the office held by Joseph Smith, founder of the movement, and the office assumed by many of Smith's claimed succe ...

in 1860. Gurley's son Zenas H. Gurley Jr. was called as an RLDS Church apostle in 1873.

References

*Inez Smith Davis, ''The Story of the Church: A History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and of Its Legal Successor, the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints,'' 12th edition, Herald House: 1981.

External links

* 1801 births 1871 deaths American Latter Day Saint missionaries American leaders of the Community of Christ Apostles of the Community of Christ Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Strangite) members Community of Christ missionaries Converts to Mormonism Latter Day Saint missionaries in the United States People excommunicated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Strangite) Religious leaders from Wisconsin {{LDS-stub