Like its parent church, the Primitive Church of Jesus Christ was a Rigdonite and Bickertonite organization: it traced its claim of succession to Latter Day Saint movement founder Joseph Smith through Sidney Rigdon and William Bickerton.
[2] Caldwell and the other dissenters also disagreed with Cadman about the truth of Joseph Smith's First Vision.
[3] Caldwell and his followers referred to members of their parent church as "Cadmanites", because it was led by William Cadman.
[1] The Primitive Church of Jesus Christ eventually merged with the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ, another schismatic Bickertonite sect that had been created in 1907.
By the 1970s, the combined church had dwindled to a single congregation in Erie, Pennsylvania.