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The Kingdom of St. James
This Beaver Island tourist brochure (dating from circa 1971) features an Irish theme
Beaver Island, located in Lake Michigan, is one of Michigan’s prominent tourist attractions. Today, the island is renowned for its natural beauty and strong Irish roots. In the mid-nineteenth century, it was better known as a home to royalty, albeit self-proclaimed royalty.
James Jesse Strang, King of Beaver Island
James Jesse Strang led a Mormon splinter group that resided in Beaver Island from 1849 to 1856. Dubbing Beaver Island the “Kingdom of St. James,” Strang held a coronation in 1850. He anointed himself “King James, Vice-regent of God on Earth.” This made him, to this date, the only ruler ever anointed on American soil. In addition to his kingly duties, Strang created the first Michigan newspaper to cover important events north of Saginaw. He also, through the votes of his religious followers, served in the State Legislature from 1853 to 1856. One of his notable achievements as a legislator was negotiating the passage of a bill that officially mapped out the modern-day boundaries of Charlevoix and Emmet Counties in 1853. Despite these accomplishments, his activities as a religious prophet made him several enemies. By June 1853, for example, Strang and his followers had forced every non-believer off of Beaver Island. He then proceeded to give the abandoned lands to his followers. However, being Strang’s disciple held its own risks: he once had a man publicly beaten for disagreeing with him. In June 1856, he was shot while boarding the USS Michigan. He died three weeks later.
After Strang’s assassination, the non-Mormons returned to reclaim their lands, forcing Strang’s followers to depart. Only one building built by the Mormons still stands: the print shop. Today, it’s a museum dedicated to Beaver Island’s interesting history.
Want to learn more about James Jesse Strang and Beaver Island? There’s more information on “King James” and his followers at The Beaver Island Historical Society Web site (www.beaverisland.net/History). If hands-on research is more your style, then head over to the Archives of Michigan to look at the James Jesse Strang Collection! The ANSWER online catalog record of this collection includes a descriptive finding aid and a location guide. To view this material, click here: Jesse Strang Collection Online Catalog Record.
The Clarke Historical Library has the largest publicly available collection of Strangite papers documenting James Jesse Strang and his followers, the Strangite Mormons, notably Wingfield Watson, and Mormon history of Beaver Island in the papers of Helen Collar. The Clarke also has extensive publications on/by the various branches of the Mormon church, polygamy, Beaver Island history, and the history of the Mormon faith in the U.S. Check the Clarke website http://clarke.cmich.edu
or the CMU Library catalog http://www.lib.cmich.edu/ and type in “Strangite” in the search box for further information. There are still some members of the Strangite branch alive and practicing their faith. Strang’s papers are considered to be sacred his followers believe he was the Prophet of God. Something not noted in the article is that Strang and his followers were jailed in a very important court case concerning their religious practices, from which they were eventually declared innocent. For more about that see “Millard Fillmore, George C. Bates and James Jesse Strang: Why Michigan’s only king was tried in federal court”, in Court Legacy (the newsletter of the Historical Society for the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan), v. XI, no. 2, June 2003, written by Marian Matyn and Mary Graham at the request of Judge Avery Kohn.
My two great grandfather James F Cable was driven from the island, in the early 1850′s with his wife and son, by the Mormons. He returned to Beaver after Strang was killed and later, when wood was no longer needed for the great lakes ships he opened the John Jacob Astor House on Mackinac Island.
The reformist, independent “National Catholic Reporter” newspaper, in its Aug.21-Sept. 13 issue, tells the amazing current-day story of a 71-year-old gruff, old-fashioned priest who has been assigned to the modern-thinking Holy Cross Catholic Church on Beaver Island, which assignment has split the church and sent many younger members to worship in Catholic-style services in a non-Catholic Church. Has Jesse Strang returned via reincarnation, in the person of a gruff Catholic pastor?