| 738 organized a branch at Waukesha, Wisconsin. Whether this was a separate branch from the original one, or whether it was a reorganization of the former one, we cannot say.
By reference to the Gospel Herald we find reports of Elder Briggs laboring in the following places: Bennington, Prattsburg, Auburn, and other places in New York, as well as laboring to some extent in Wisconsin.
Of his association with Strang and his reasons for leaving him he has this to say:-
"After we cut loose from the leadership of Brigham Young, we accepted the leadership of James J. Strang, and remained in fellowship nominally with James J. Strang until about 1850, but only nominally; we were more or less dissatisfied with the condition of affairs, but did not take steps to leave it entirely until about 1850. . . .
"My reasons for leaving Strang were that I saw something better in the matter of faith and leadership,-I should say in the form of leadership and faith. Then there were some of the doctrines of Strang that did not suit me, and some other things that I considered objectionable. After we left Strang, myself and most of the branch at Beloit became associated with William Smith's organization, . . . with the faction that acknowledged him as its leader.
"We became associated with that faction, as guardian for the seed of Joseph Smith, as presiding authority until the seed of Joseph should claim that right and priority which belonged to them. . . . William Smith taught it in that light. . . . He subsequently claimed it as his own right. I became associated with the William Smith leadership about the first of the year 1851, and continued with him until the next fall. I was with him a little less than a year. My reasons for leaving him were very similar to my reasons for leaving Strang. I got to believe, and the branch there got to believe, that he was teaching errors. He claimed subsequent to my first acquaintance with him that it was his right to preside over the church, instead of his standing as a guardian or representative of the rightful heir; and another doctrine was that of polygamy which we considered false and refused to accept."
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