Brigham Young's chief rival in 1844 was James J. Strang, whose followers included former LDS apostles, witnesses to the Book of Mormon, a stake president, the former Presiding Bishop, and the entire Joseph Smith family. Whereas Young identified himself as the church's "caretaker" until a rightful heir stepped forward, Strang embodied the prophetic model, claiming personal visions, accounts of angelic visitations, revelations, and translations from the so-called sealed portion of the Book of Mormon. Publicly opposed to polygamy, Strang secretly wed an eighteen-year-old teacher disguised as his male secretary. Strang was increasingly despotic and was assassinated by his own followers. In "God Has Made Us a Kingdom," the details of the prophet's life and work are skillfully unraveled, showing the significance of his religious career and influence with those who sought the "garden of peace" in a "stronghold of safety."
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James Jesse Strang (1813-1856) was the leader of a dissident Mormon group that coalesced in the years following the death of the Mormon Church founder and prophet, Joseph Smith, in 1844. Strang had only been a convert to Mormonism for four months when Smith was killed, yet Strang stepped forward to claim the mantle of the prophet. Eventually, he produced his own golden plates and a translation of them, the Book of the Law of the Lord (1851). Strang's followers, or Strangites, first settled in Voree, Wisconsin, then on Beaver Island in Lake Michigan. In the latter location, Strang ruled as a king and practiced polygamy, even though earlier he had denounced plural marriage. He married five women: Mary Abigail Perce Strang, Elvira Field Strang Baker, Elizabeth "Betsy" McNutt Strang, Sarah Wright Strang Wing, and Phoebe Wright Strang Jesse. The Strangites were tightly knit and suspicious of those outside their group. Their homes and possessions were destroyed and their families threatened by locals on several occasions during their six-year tenure on Beaver Island, but the Strangite men gave as good as they got. When Strang died, his kingdom dissolved. His wives went their separate ways, three of them remarrying. Some Strangites journeyed westward to join the Mormons in Utah. Others remained in the Midwest and became part of the Reorganized Church. Seventy or more Strangites survive today, most of them not descended from the nineteenth-century Strangites. The author of "God Has Made Us a Kingdom," Vickie Cleverley Speek, is an award-winning journalist whose family has been Mormon for six generations. She knew nothing about the Strangites until she happened on references to them while writing a story about Beaver Island. Her curiosity grew, and eventually she amassed enough information to produce the present volume. Speek's work is carefully documented and rich in historical detail. She covers every aspect of Strang's story from start to finish. In particular, Speek is to be commended for providing detailed chapters on Strang's wives. They have been either overlooked or their importance underrated in previous work on the Strangites. Unfortunately, her narrative lacks historical contextualization. No cues are provided to locate Strang's kingdom in nineteenth-century history. No assessments are made of the value of Strang's movement for Mormon historical studies. Speek simply describes a sequence of events: this happened, then this, then this, and so on. Therefore, those unfamiliar with Mormon history should read introductory material about Strang, polygamy, and the history of Mormonism from the 1830s through the 1850s before opening Speek's book. Only then can they appreciate her first-rate historical investigation. --W. Michael Ashcraft, Journal of American History
About the Author
VICKIE CLEVERLY SPEEK is a former newspaper and radio reporter, feature writer, and columnist in Illinois and Michigan, recipient of four firstplace awards from the Illinois Press Association, the 2002 Illinois State Red Ribbon Media Award, and recognition as a columnist from the Associated Press. In 2001 she received the Award of Excellence from the Illinois Historical Society for her historical research and writing on a Civil War theme. She has been a speaker at professional and community gatherings, including two presentations about James Strang during Museum Week on Beaver Island, Michigan. She is a past director of the LDS Family History Center in Morris, Illinois. She and her family live in Minooka, Illinois.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The LDS who went to the Great Lakes - their happy and sad moments,
This review is from: "God Has Made Us a Kingdom": James Strang And the Midwest Mormons (Hardcover)
The foreword of the book gave me a better idea of what I was going to read. I had longed for this book. Books about the other denominations, sprung out of Joseph Smith (1805-1844) are very limited. If they do exist, they are apologetic, not neutral scholarship.V C Speek, with her sublime and humble style, diplomatic and investigative, has given me a personal deep understanding of Strang and his people. She has dug in archives, she has read books about the LDS movements, former books about Strang, taken contact with his descendants and the congregation that still cherish this faith. I thought it would be the life story of Strang - I wanted to have some source criticism of his two major works, the Voree plates and the Book of Law. I did get some insight, but more on the surface. Speek didn't want to go into the polemical side of these issues. Good done - she treated these works as natural as all other sides of Strang's life. Normally, Strang becomes the focus in many books and the way she has dedicated the half part of the book to the five wives of Strang and two chapters to the time after his murder and what happened to his people and the controversy between his followers and the islanders, have made a book a sort of a synthesis. The book starts with the discovery of this denomination in Voree and how Speek starts her voyage thru the archives in different cities to capture this off-shot of Joseph Smith' movement. After his death many sought to be new leaders of the church, one of them his own brother, William Smith. Strang in his own way - thru personal revelation and a letter (put in question) by Joseph himself - became a new prophet for a new people with a new covenant. Even though he had broken with Joseph about the issue of plural marriage, he took with himself the role of translator, prophet and seer. He established a new kingdom according to the kingdom envisioned by Joseph, the Council of Fifty. Strang came to accept plural marriage. He became the king Joseph never had the time to become, he also got his kingdom till both islanders and people of his own put a stop to it. He also became a senator, Joseph had run for president, but never made it. So much continued, with it also the same troubles: mobs attacking the movement, stealing, rumour spreading about how dangerous and contra-US the movement is. Once again the people had to relive the Missouri and Nauvoo persecutions. With his murder, his wives scattered and what happened - yes, just find out by your self. Left was that island, Beaver Island, civilised, modernised, but empty. His wives were different in many ways. Each of them was educated, competent and skilled. Speek has captured their sorrows and happy times, thru diaries of their own or others and has shown this spirit of survival and of hope. The resemblance between Joseph and Strang shows how much belief and faith make us want to change everything. The new revelations of Strang brought new perspectives to the LDS faith. It can be his way, it can be the way he understood his higher power, at the end, I see how much we need faith. When you make a city out of marshes and jungles, you have proven that paradise CAN exist today on earth, NOW. Both Joseph and Strang left so many broken hearts, so much unresolved. The question of whether they are fraud or prophets haunts them. But Speek catches the people, their every day life, whether cutting trees or gathering berries, wearing funny clothes or not drinking. Finding more, and bringing new pieces to the puzzle of faith and its interaction with us. These people really had a bawl, not always, but they had it. Do we?
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Great American Story,
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This review is from: "God Has Made Us a Kingdom": James Strang And the Midwest Mormons (Hardcover)
Vickie Speek has written a definitive history on the Strang era on Beaver Island, MI. She pays special attention to Strang's five wives, their children, and developments in the aftermath of Strang's assassination. Unlike van Noord's somewhat dry history of Strang, Speek writes in a compelling narrative style that you won't be able to put down. This book cries out to be a major motion picture. It's a fascinating story from American history.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book about an intriguing man,
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This review is from: "God Has Made Us a Kingdom": James Strang And the Midwest Mormons (Hardcover)
I found this book to be very well-written from a non-judgmental position. It is a breath of fresh air. The folks at Signature Books have published a winner here. This book will be of interest to those interested in the religious movement begun by Joseph Smith. Like Smith, Strang founded cities, had several wives, and struggled to lead his people to prosperity. In a similar manner to the assignation of Joseph Smith, Strang was also murdered by those who had been his friends. Buy this book and learn about the adventures of the mid-west Mormons.
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