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Union Branch, Reorganized Latter Day Saints. Smyrna Township: Members

Wed, 09/09/2009 - 12:52am — BobWScott

The Reorganized Latter Day Saints were a group that split form the Latter Day Saints. They did not call themselves Mormons or practice polygamy. But that distinction was probably lost on their enemies when the began organizing in Jefferson County in the 1870s.

One of the more success churches was the Union Branch, which took its name from the Union Schoolhouse near Wirt, where it first met. It apparently later constructed its own building and dissolved after 1900.

No single membership list is known to exist. In the following account, many of the records came from reports in the Saints Herald, a denominational publication. In 2000, the denomination was renamed the Community of Christ.

April 24, 1873. Saints Herald. Samuel Rector,elder, William Burton, president, John Newton, secretary.
July 2, 1873. Madison Courier article. Ordained elder, Samuel Rector. Members: Andrew Fisher, wife, and daughter of Lancaster, John Fewell and wife, John Newton and family, William Burton and family, James Stites of Smyrna Township, Dr. A.S. Davison and “Prophet” Woodburn and their wives from Madison. Total membership, 26
Sept. 4, 1873. Saints Herald. Bro. Wm. Woodburn of Madison, Indiana, died at house of John Newton while attending services, aged 60 years, 1 month, 7 days
June 3, 1876. Saints Herald. Andrew J. Hart, a member of the Union Branch, Indiana, notified to appear at hearing before elders at Union school house, Jefferson county, Indiana, on the 5th day of June, 1876.
Nov. 1, 1876. Saints Herald. Jane M. Stites, of the Union Branch, of the Southern Indiana District, died November 1st, 1876,
July 22, 1889. Saints Herald. House of Samuel Rector. William Marshall was excommunicated from Union Branch

Historical note: Marshall, a minister, espoused polygamy and had been a true Mormon. In the 1900s, he became a Baptist and served briefly at the Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church in Shelby Township, which was not far from the shorter-lived Mt. Pleasant Branch of the Reorganized LDS, located a short distance away on the Halls Ridge Road in Milton Township.