The
dissident in the
Mormons who wanted to
succeed Joseph Smith. After
Joseph Smith was
assassinated Strang claimed that
God told him that he was supposed to be the new leader of the
Mormons. He also produced a
letter that was supposedly from Smith saying that Strang was his intended
successor. Strang was denounced by
Brigham Young and his
posse as an
impostor and for the
forgery of the letter from
Joseph Smith. Strang wasn't into it any more so he formed his own
sect called the Strangites.
After relocating his followers to Wisconsin Strang supposedly translated The Book of the Law of the Lord with some glasses given to him by an angel from gold plates that were supposed to be from the Ark of the Covenant. He claimed that the plates gave him revelations that authorized polygamy and coronated him as King James I.
Eventually Strang was assassinated by some of his former followers. At the time of his death he had 5000 or so faithful followers.