Brewsterites

The Church of Christ, formed in 1848 and often called the Brewsterites after the founder and leader James C. Brewster, was one of many schismatic sects of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

After the death of Joseph Smith, Jr. in 1847, William E. McLellin and other church leaders returned to Kirtland, Ohio. According to Wikipedia, they formed their church, The Church of Christ with two principles: to accept David Whitmer as leader and to make Kirtland the center of the church.[1] In the Springfield, Illinois, organization of this church, Hazen Aldrich was appointed first president. James C. Brewster and James Goodale were named his counselors.

They began publishing a periodical known as the Olive Branch, which often contained Brewster’s revelations. The newspaper was moved to Springfield, where Brewster lived. In October 1849 the Olive Branch announced that Kirtland was the temporary headquarters and Brewster said that the church planned to move to California. His revelation was accepted in a General Assembly in the Kirtland Temple in June 1849. Brewster declared in 1850 that the Rio Grande Valley was selected by God for the church’s gathering place. Brewster and Goodale led a wagon train to find the place designated as “Bashan,” but Aldrich remained behind in Kirtland because he had begun to doubt Brewster’s prophetic abilities. While on the journey, most of Brewster’s followers deserted him and settled in California, eventually Brewster himself settled there. The church was never reorganized.