William Earl McLellin (January 18, 1806 – April 24, 1883) was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement.

One of the original members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, McLellin later broke with church founder Joseph Smith.

[7] An experienced schoolteacher and a self-proclaimed physician, McLellin taught penmanship in the Kirtland School for Temporal Education in 1834.

[8] When the Book of Commandments was about to be published, some Latter Day Saints criticized the wording of some of the revelations Smith said he had received.

[citation needed] McLellin was excommunicated on May 11, 1838, and subsequently actively worked against the Latter Day Saints, becoming involved with Missouri mobs.

[citation needed] A history published in the Latter Day Saint periodical Millennial Star in 1864 related the incident: While Joseph was in prison at Richmond, Mo., Mr. McLellin, who was a large and active man, went to the sheriff and asked for the privilege of flogging the Prophet; permission was granted, on condition that Joseph would fight.

[12]Previous to that incident, Smith authored a letter to the church from Liberty Jail on December 16, 1838, in which he made allusions to actions by McLellin that he vilified as sins.

McLellin later associated with churches led by George M. Hinkle, James J. Strang, and Granville Hedrick.

This generated interest that allowed Hofmann to sell it to two simultaneous buyers before being exposed as a counterfeiter when he killed two people to cover his crimes.

However, these collections were missing a notebook, known because of photographs in a 1920s newspaper published by the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

In January 2009, this notebook was located and acquired by Brent Ashworth, one of the original collectors interested in Hofmann's supposed McLellin collection.