The Strangite church is headquartered in Voree, Wisconsin, just outside Burlington, and accepts the claims of James Strang as successor to Smith.

At its peak, the Strangite Church had about 12,000 members, making them noteworthy rivals to the larger faction led by Young.

During the resulting succession crisis, several early Mormon leaders asserted claims to succeed Smith, including Sidney Rigdon, Brigham Young and James Strang.

Rigdon's claim rested on his status as the senior surviving member of Smith's First Presidency, the church's highest leadership quorum.

Rejected by the main church body in Nauvoo, Illinois, Rigdon and his followers moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where his organization faltered.

Although he was a relatively recent convert at the time of Smith's death, James Strang posed a formidable—and initially quite successful—challenge to the claims of Young and Rigdon.

[1] Strang's assertion appealed to many Latter Day Saints who were attracted to Mormonism's doctrine of continuing revelation through a living prophet.

Strang's claim was bolstered by his discovery of the Voree plates, purporting to contain the last testament of an ancient Native American, one "Rajah Manchou of Vorito".

Many prominent Latter Day Saints believed in Strang's "letter of appointment" and accepted him as Mormonism's second "Prophet, Seer, Revelator and Translator"—at least in the short term.

Bennett founded a secretive Strangite fraternal society known as the "Order of Illuminati", but his presence disrupted Strang's church and ultimately led to his excommunication.

Since many of his early disciples had looked to him as a monogamous counterweight to Young's polygamous version of Mormonism, Strang's decision to embrace plural marriage proved costly to him and his church.

Because the high price of land in the Voree area made it difficult for Latter Day Saints to "gather" there, Strang moved his church headquarters to Beaver Island in Lake Michigan.

Rather, he asserted that he was king over his church, which he saw as the one, true "Kingdom of God" prophesied in scripture and destined to spread over all the earth.

Accusations of thuggery and thievery were leveled by both parties against each other, compounded by ever-increasing dissension among some of Strang's own disciples, who chafed at what they saw as his increasingly tyrannical rule.

Dale Morgan, a historian of the Latter Day Saint movement, writes: "Strang surveys the geography and history of Mackinac and the surrounding region, particularly the islands of Lake Michigan, and after giving an account of the Mormon settlement upon Big Beaver Island, addresses himself to the bitter controversies between the people of Mackinac and the Mormons.

[15] Tensions finally came to a head on June 20, 1856, when two Strangite malcontents shot Strang in the back, leading to his death three weeks later.

They consider editions of the Doctrine and Covenants published prior to Smith's death (which contained the Lectures on Faith) to be scripture.

The Book of Jasher was consistently used by both Smith and Strang, but as with other Latter Day Saint denominations, there is no official stance on its authenticity and it is not considered canonical.

[46] Although Strang briefly retained the services of Apostle William Smith as "Chief Patriarch" of his church,[47] he makes no mention of this office anywhere in his book.

[49] The Strangite Decalogue differs from any other Jewish, Catholic, Islamic or Protestant version, by including the commandment: "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.

Strang's version of the Decalogue (together with the rest of his teaching) are rejected by all non-Strangite Mormon factions, including the mainline LDS Church.

They insist that there is but one eternal God, the Father, and that alleged progression to godhood (a doctrine supposedly taught by Smith, but Strangites reject that assertion) is impossible.

[64] Jesus Christ, Strangites believe, was the natural-born son of Mary and Joseph, who was chosen from before all time to be the Savior of mankind, but who had to be born as an ordinary mortal of two human parents (rather than being begotten by the Father or the Holy Spirit) to be able to truly fulfill his Messianic role.

[65] Strang claimed that the earthly Christ was in essence "adopted" as God's son at birth, and fully revealed as such during the transfiguration.

[66] After proving himself to God by living a perfectly sinless life, he was thus enabled to provide an acceptable sacrifice for the sins of men, prior to his resurrection and ascension.

However, rather than simply baptizing for anyone whose name can be located, Strang required a revelation for those seeking to have a baptism done for someone outside of a close relative "within the fourth degree of consanguinity".

While still believed in, baptisms for the dead are not currently performed in the Strangite church due to the lack of a temple and prophetic leadership.

[76] Within Strang's Beaver Island kingdom and other places where Strangites were numerous, groves of trees were to be maintained upon each farm, village and town.

[82] However, with federal and state bans on the practice, and a divine injunction to obey "the law of the land,"[84] plural marriage has been given up in the contemporary Strangite organization, though belief in its correctness is still required and affirmed.

[86] No "endowment" rituals comparable to those in the LDS Church appear to have existed among his followers,[87] and Strangites believe that only a prophet of God has the ability to receive a revelation to direct the building of a Temple.