Talk:Leonard Rich

Birth and death
The biographical register of Dean C. Jessee's Papers of Joseph Smith (1989 and 1992) states that Rich was born in New York and died in 1856. Our WP article currently lists his birth in Connecticut and death in 1868, though no inline citation is given. This article seems similar to Rich's page on Scott Kenney's Saints Without Halos website, so perhaps that is the source of this vital data. That article lists the 1860 Census at Ancestry.com for the birth and no source for the death.

In the past I've seen similar disagreements in sources on vital data, such as with Sylvester Smith. In Smith's article I favored the newer Joseph Smith Papers biographical register, which mostly agreed with Quinn's Mormon Hierarchy. Since I don't have access to either book right now, can anyone else check them? You may notice that Kenney's webpage already references Mormon Hierarchy repeatedly, especially for Rich's later life.

It seems like sources rarely approach Rich biographically. Perhaps this is because he didn't remain for long in any of the Latter Day Saint groups that persisted and published histories, though he appeared to never abandon his own brand of Mormonism and died in Kirtland. Are there any good sources on Rich out there?

Also, would anyone know if he was related to Charles C. Rich, another early prominent Mormon? ——Rich jj (talk) 15:31, 24 March 2010 (UTC)


 * I found web sources describing Rich's gravestone inscription at the North Kirtland Cemetery or Temple Cemetery. One states the death year as "1868" (Rootsweb) and the other as "18__" (USGenWeb).  ——Rich jj (talk) 16:04, 24 March 2010 (UTC)


 * The Joseph Smith Papers biographical directory states Rich died in 1856, which I doubt. I thought I read somewhere that Rich voted against Joseph Smith III leading the Reorganization and started his own small group that worshiped at the Kirtland Temple.  ——Rich jj (talk) 00:56, 25 March 2010 (UTC)