RLDS Church History Context

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Source: Church History Vol. 3 Chapter 2 Page: 45

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45 raised up of God to fill the station to which he has been called by prophecy."-Gospel Herald, vol. 4, p. 16.

The Voree Herald was first issued at Voree, Wisconsin, January, 1846, as the official organ of Mr. J. J Strang. It was published under this title until November, 1846, when it assumed the name of Zion's Reveille and continued as such until September 23, 1847, when it appeared under the name of Gospel Herald, maintaining under all these titles its character as an organ of the church. It was continued at least until June 6,1850, which is the last number we have seen.

After being in Voree a few years Mr. Strang removed his headquarters to Beaver Island, one of the Manitou group, in Lake Michigan, where he built the city of St. James. Here a paper called the Northern Islander was published by Cooper and Chidister in the interest of Strang's organization.

Mr. Strang made his home the remainder of his life at St. James. The following is from volume 17 of "Michigan Pioneer and Historical Collections":-

"The community at Voree grew steadily under Strang's energetic leadership, but in 1846 he determined to plant a colony on the Lake Michigan archipelago, and in the following year he visited Beaver Island at the head of a prospecting party. In the face of the resistance of the few traders already in possession, and amid many hardships, they thoroughly explored it and decided to settle there. This is the largest of the many islands scattered thickly through the northeastern extremity of Lake Michigan, divided into three groups, known by the names of Manitou, Fox, and Beaver, and organized into the county of Manitou by the State of Michigan. It is fifteen miles in length by six in width, contains several thousand acres of fertile and well watered lands, and has one of the finest natural harbors upon the chain of great lakes. These islands now contain an isolated community of small farmers, woodcutters, traders, and fishermen, are visited only irregularly by passing vessels, and are chiefly known as valuable fishing stations. Thirty-five years ago they were sparsely inhabited by Indians and

(page 45)

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