William Shepard

WILLIAM SHEPARD is of Strangite heritage and has a broad interest in Mormon history. He has extensively researched James J. Strang’s settlement at Voree (now Burlington), Wisconsin, between 1844 and 1856. Bill is president-elect of the John Whitmer Historical Association and has published articles in several Mormon historical journals.

“To Set in Order the House of God”: The Search for the Elusive “One Mighty and Strong”

Articles/Essays – Volume 39, No. 3

When Orson Pratt, apostle and LDS Church historian, revised the Doctrine and Covenants in 1876 at the direction of Brigham Young, he included Section 85 among some twenty-five other new sections. Section 85 is a portion of a letter written by the Prophet Joseph Smith at Kirtland, Ohio, on November 27, 1832. Presumably dictated by Joseph Smith to his scribe Frederick G. Williams, the letter was mailed to William Wine Phelps, a leading high priest and editor of the Missouri church’s newspaper the Evening and the Morning Star. It contained information concerning the efforts of Bishop Edward Partridge to implement the law of consecration amidst grumbling and disorder on the part of the Saints gathered there.

An Inside View of Polygamy in the Midwest | Vickie Cleverley Speek, “God Has Made Us a Kingdom”: James Strang and the Midwest Mormons

Articles/Essays – Volume 40, No. 1

Vickie Speek is a fifth-generation Mormon whose progenitors were pioneers in Idaho. An award-winning journalist, she received the Award of Excellence from the Illinois Historical Society in 2001 for her research on the Civil War.…

Building “as Great a Temple as Ever Solomon Did” | Matthew McBride, A House for the Most High: The Story of the Original Nauvoo Temple

Articles/Essays – Volume 41, No. 1

It is a pleasure to review this excellent book which will be a standard work on the Nauvoo Temple among the Mountain Saints for many years to come. McBride, the manager of online development at Deseret Book Company and an avid researcher, has written an easy-to-read and well-documented history of the Mormon temple at Nauvoo.

Shadows on the Sun Dial: John E. Page and the Strangites

Articles/Essays – Volume 41, No. 1

William Wine Phelps, an influential Mormon high priest at Nauvoo, Illinois, wrote a long emotional letter on Christmas Day in 1844 which praised Mormonism, the martyred Mormon prophet Joseph Smith, Smith’s deceased brothers (Hyrum, Don Carlos, and Samuel), and current Mormon leaders. He also composed pseudonyms for the twelve apostles, the group which assumed the leadership of the Mormon Church following Joseph Smith’s death, pseudonyms which became associated with the twelve men. For example, he described Brigham Young as “the lion of the Lord,” Orson Hyde as “the olive branch of Israel,” and John E. Page as “the sun dial.”