Beware False Prophets or There's One Born Every Minute

 

Jesse James Strang

     The place was Beaver Island, largest of several that lay in the northernmost reaches of Lake Michigan, the year 1856.  In this lovely spot a murder was about to take place, though there were more than a few who would consider the man's death divine vengeance.

     Who was this man, why did he come to his violent end here, far from his birthplace?  His story began over six hundred miles away in Cayuga County, New York in 1813, the Town of Scipio to be exact.  Later he and his parents Clement Strang and Abigail James would relocate to Chautauqua County in the same state.   Clement Strang was the grandson of my 5th great-grandaunt Antje Clement and her husband Gabriel Strang.  Antje's father Johannis Clement was my 6th great-grandfather making the victim my 3rd cousin 4 times removed.

      His given name was Jesse James Strang, though later in life he would reverse those names to become James Jesse Strang, the king of Beaver Island.  The next step in this curious tale was the chance meeting in Illinois between James Strang, who had fled his creditors in New York, and Mormon prophet Joseph Smith.  Not long after, Smith was assassinated by an anti-Mormon mob and James, ever the opportunist, saw his chance.  He forged a letter naming himself as Smith's chosen heir to lead the new faith, signing it with Smith's name. This so enraged the other contender for the job, Brigham Young, that after winning the leadership Young promptly excommunicated James.  Not to be deterred, James took his wife and children further west to Wisconsin where he set about building his own religious utopia he named Voree. 

     The place prospered but James believed it was still too close to the gentiles, as he called non-Mormons.  With the lynching of Joseph Smith still fresh in his mind James looked about and happened upon Beaver Island, telling his followers he had seen it in a vision.  The group began the move to that place though they had no legal claim to the land which was then populated by a few Native Americans and some white fishermen and their families, many of them Irish.  Things went well on the island for a time, the town grew with new members arriving regularly, but James was not yet satisfied.  Now he must be king.  Somehow, James convinced his followers that his edicts were revelations from God himself.  In 1850, after one of these revelations, while wearing red robes and a paper crown decorated with golden tinsel stars, James Strang had himself crowned king by his adherents in a farcical ritual devised by one of the group who was a former actor.

     Had James in fact been the benevolent leader he proclaimed himself to be, he might have lived out his days in comfort and peace, but as often happens, power went straight to his head.  Among the unpopular revelations he now began to receive was the requirement that women wear bloomers instead of long skirts, the introduction of animal sacrifice, and most unpopular of all, the institution of polygamy even though he had perviously been against it.  James himself aquired four new wives, initially going about it quietly.  He traveled frequently, looking for new recruits, and on one of these trips he was joined by his nephew Charles James Douglas.  Many of those who met Charles sensed something was off about the young man, it was not long before the jig was up.  Charles was in fact Elvira Field who had become James' second wife on Beaver Island, now dressing in men's clothing and cropping her hair in an attempt to avoid scandal while traveling alone with him.

Elvira Field dressed as a man

     As James steadily devolved into a petty dictator, resentment against him grew.  Another teaching of his was the idea Mormons, being the rightful heirs of earth, were not constrained by property laws and were therefore entitled to take whatever they desired from gentiles.  As a result of depredations against their neighbors, anger was now growing outside the group as well as within. Eventually, other residents of the island had enough of being robbed and threatened; complaining to authorities they demanded action be taken.  In 1851 the federal warship Michigan approached the enclave, arrested James, and whisked him off to Detroit to stand trial, where he was acquitted.  Afterwards an unrepentant James returned to Beaver Island, taking up right where he had left off.  In 1856 the USS Michigan was forced to make a return voyage to that place where the following ensued on June 16th, 1856--

Capt. McBlair sent a messenger to Mr. Strang, requesting him to visit him on board.  Mr. Strang immediately accompanied the messenger, and just as they were stepping on the bridge leading to the pier, two assassins approached in the rear, unobserved by either of them, and fired upon Mr. Strang with pistols.  The first shot took effect upon the left side of the head, entering a little back of the top of the ear, and rebounding, passed out near the top of the head.  This shot brought him down, and he fell on his left side so that he saw the assassins, [Thomas Bedford and Alexander Wentworth former followers]... The assassins immediately fled on board the U.S. steamer, with pistols in hand, claiming her protection.—Northern Islander, June 20, 1856

     Though fatally wounded, James was conscious and supposedly requested he be taken to Voree where his estranged first wife Mary was living.  It was here he died on July 9th.*  Mary was not by his side, she being in Illinois visiting her brother.  Only two of his five wives, four of whom were pregnant, were present when James departed his earthly kingdom.  His assassins were never punished.

     I can't say why it it is, but it seems whenever I look closely at the non-Irish ancestors in my mother's side of the tree, weird things come to light.  Accused witches, clowns, spiritualists, bigamists, and now a self-proclaimed monarch all frolic among those twisted limbs.  I often wish I was able to tell her about them.

    

 * There is so much more known about this man and his life it would require a book, not a blog, to cover it all and indeed, several have been written.  Many articles are online, and a search of Google Books brings up a good number of pages as well.