Rigdonite

After the death of Joseph Smith in 1844, Sidney Rigdon, who had been the first counselor in the First Presidency, claimed to have received a vision sustaining him as the leader of the Church.

Up until Smith's death, the First Presidency had made nearly all the major decisions and led the Church of Christ both naturally and spiritually.

The Quorum of the Twelve's claim was derived from a revelation of Joseph Smith allowing them to stand equal to the First Presidency in attending to natural matters of the church.

The LDS Church does not agree with this view of the proceedings, as they recognize newly ordained apostles under Joseph Smith as authorized to offer a sustaining vote.

Church elder Benjamin Winchester commented that Young and the Quorum of the Twelve had: The Rigdonites came to believe that Joseph Smith had become a fallen prophet when he began to practice polygamy and that, as a result the "Lord smote him for this thing—cut him off from the earth."

(Messenger and Advocate, Jan. 1, 1845) Rigdon toured the eastern branches of the church in late 1844 and early 1845, gathering leaders to his cause.

On April 6, 1845—fifteen years after the original organization of the church—Rigdon presided over a General Conference of Rigdonite Latter Day Saints in Pittsburgh, establishing a new hierarchy.

The new Quorum of the Twelve Apostles consisted of: William E. McLellin, George W. Robinson, Benjamin Winchester, James Blakeslee, Josiah Ells, Hugh Herringshaw, David L. Lathrop, Jeremiah Hatch, Jr., E.R.

At a General Conference held that fall in Philadelphia, Rigdon announced that the church would re-establish a communitarian society on what was named "Adventure Farm" near Greencastle, Pennsylvania.

By April 1847, the Adventure Farm community had collapsed and Rigdon had abandoned his flock, living out the rest of his life on the charity of relatives in New York state.

Bickerton continued to live in the Monongahela area and in 1849 began meeting informally with other believers whom he had converted to the faith, few of which had ever been associated with Rigdon.