William Bickerton - Follower of Sidney Rigdon

Follower of Sidney Rigdon

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.

At a general conference of the church held that fall in Philadelphia, Rigdon announced that the church would re-establish a communitarian society on what was named "Adventure Farm" near Greencastle, Pennsylvania. Many of Rigdon's followers, including Bickerton, opposed moving the headquarters of the church. By 1847, disagreement among the Rigdonites had led to the virtual disintegration of Rigdon's church. Several prominent members, including William E. M'Lellin and Benjamin Winchester, separated from the church and established a rival organization centered around the leadership of David Whitmer. However, some followers of Rigdon, including Bickerton, refused to join the dissenters.