William Bickerton
| William Bickerton | |
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Bickerton in 1905, just prior to death.
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3rd President of the Church The Church of Jesus Christ |
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| July 1862 – July 1880 | |
| Predecessor | Sidney Rigdon |
| Successor | William Cadman |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
January 15, 1815 Alnwick, Northumberland, England |
| Died | February 17, 1905 (aged 90) St. John, Kansas, United States |
| Resting place | Fairview Park Cemetery 38°00′28″N 98°44′45″W / 38.0078°N 98.7457°W |
| Spouse(s) | Dorothy Breminger (1845-ca.1863) Charlotte Hibbs (1863-1905) |
| Children | By Dorothy James Bickerton Eliza Ann Clara Virginia Angeline Ann Josephine Florence By Charlotte William Alma |
| Parents | Thomas Bickerton Isabella Hope |
William Bickerton (January 15, 1815 – February 17, 1905) was a leader in the Latter Day Saint movement after the 1844 succession crisis. In 1862, Bickerton became the founding president of the church now known as The Church of Jesus Christ (Bickertonite), which is one of many churches that claim to be a continuation of the Church of Christ founded by Joseph Smith in 1830.
Bickerton was born in Kyloe, Ancroft Parish, Northumberland, England, the seventh of eleven children of Thomas Bickerton and Isabella Hope. As an infant, he was not baptized until February 4, 1816, which has resulted in some sources misreporting that Bickerton was born in 1816. Bickerton immigrated to the United States and became a coal miner.
Bickerton was not a Latter Day Saint during the lifetime of Joseph Smith. Rather, he was a practising Methodist who was converted to the faith by Sidney Rigdon in 1845. Following Smith's death in 1844, a number of Latter Day Saint leaders, including Rigdon, Brigham Young, and James Strang, claimed to be Smith's rightful successor to lead the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which Smith had founded in 1830 as the Church of Christ.
The Latter Day Saints who followed Rigdon separated themselves from the followers of Young. While the group led by Young remained in Nauvoo, Illinois, and eventually settled in Utah, Rigdon and his followers settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. On April 6, 1845, Rigdon presided over a conference of the Church of Christ, which he claimed was the rightful continuation of the church founded by Smith. (Historians often refer to Rigdon's church as the "Church of Christ (Rigdonite)" and its adherents as "Rigdonites", "Pennsylvania Latter Day Saints", or "Pennsylvania Mormons".) Bickerton was converted by the preaching of Rigdon and was baptized at Pittsburgh in 1845. Later that same year, Bickerton was ordained an elder and shortly after an evangelist in the church.
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