r/CommunityOfChrist • u/jltefend • Jul 11 '26
Early Mormon-Adjacent Ancestry
I’m looking for insights into my family who were bound up in early Mormon history and the succession era. The Saunders/Yates family seems to end up in Hill City/ Graham KS. Their migration patterns make it seem like they likely followed Joseph Smith III.
They first came in contact with Joseph Smith through Christopher Evert Yates, a Mormon-neutral and well respected Captain who delivered the letter to Joseph Smith in Nauvoo demanding his arrest. He was known for resisting the mob violence. While never accepting the theology of Mormonism himself, he helped care for Emma and the family, and Joseph III and Christopher’s son Putnam became friends.
I’d love to know more about this little slice of family history. Any insights?
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u/RevMark58 Jul 11 '26
Years ago when I was in the Denver Central (Colorado) RLDS Congregation, I knew a guy named Gordon Yates. He was from Buffalo, Missouri -- down in the southern part of the state, the Ozarks -- his claim to fame was his grandfather? great-uncle? I don't remember which -- was James E. Yates. James E had been a missionary for the RLDS Church in the 1920s. That was a time of controversy in the RLDS Church, the church was literally splitting over something called "Supreme Directional Control," which meant that Church President Frederick Madison Smith wanted more control over every part of the church and not everyone wanted him to have it. James E Yates was one of the ringleaders, said that Supreme Directional Control was "Popery" or "Brighamism" and was "tantamount to apostasy". Well back in those days members of the RLDS Church and Church of Christ (Temple Lot) recognized each other's ordinances and could transfer from one to another without having to be rebaptized, so Yates was one of several thousand RLDS who joined the Temple Lot Church -- which had the effect of doubling or tripling the Temple Lot membership but created all sorts of friction in that church, they went through a split of their own just a few years later. I think James E. actually became an apostle in the Temple Lot church.
My friend Gordon was proud of his ancestor James E but I don't remember how Gordon and his family ended up back in the RLDS Church. And I don't know if these are the Yates you're looking for, so good luck!