While a majority of Saints ultimately accepted Brigham Young's claim to lead the church, and while that body of Saints went on to become the most influential and populous of the successor churches, one historian has estimated that as many as half of the church membership at the time of Joseph's assassination rejected Young's claims, and went after one of Smith's many other successors.
The main splinter groups included:
Church of Christ in Kirtland, the church formed by dissenters that broke away in 1837 when the prophet was still alive. This church at one point claimed five of the eleven special witnesses of the Book of Mormon: Martin Harris, Hiram Page, and David, John, and Jacob Whitmer.
Reformed Church of Christ, formed in Nauvoo by William Law in 1844 before the assassination of the prophet.
Lyman Wight, also a former member of the Council of Fifty, had been sent by Joseph Smith to Texas to establish a permanent Mormon settlement there. He refused to recognize anybody else's authority to recall him from the mission that Joseph Smith himself had sent him on. His colony in Gillespie County, Texas disbanded after his death in 1858.
James Emmett, whose claim to leadership stemmed from his membership in the Council of Fifty, led a group to Iowa in 1844-45.
Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. George J. Adams led a group to Ames, Iowa in 1845, and attempted to recruit Joseph Smith III to accept leadership of the group. Emma Smith, however, refused to affiliate herself or her family with any Mormon group. In 1853, the group was organized into the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In April 1860, Joseph III, now twenty-eight years old, accepted leadership of the church. The Reorganized Church, with its headquarters in Independence, Missouri, and recently renamed the Community of Christ, is the second largest group claiming restoration roots, with about 250,000 members worldwide.
The Church of Christ formed by Sidney Rigdon in 1846 in the Cumberland Valley in Pennsylvania. This church disintegrated in 1847 due to Rigdon's growing instability. Rigdon founded another Mormon splinter group from 1859-79 known as the Children of Zion.
Church of Jesus Christ. Alpheus Cutler based his claims to leadership on his membership in the Quorum of the Anointed and in the Council of Fifty. He led a group of Saints to Nebraska in 1846, then to Silver Creek, Iowa in 1849, then to Manti, Iowa in 1850. In 1853 he formed the Church of Jesus Christ. After Cutler's death in 1864, his followers migrated to Minnesota. There were still a handful of followers of Alpheus Cutler in southern Minnesota in the 1990s.
Strangites. James J. Strang led approximately 2,000 followers to Voree, Wisconsin, and then to Beaver Island, Michigan. In 1850, like Joseph Smith, he had himself crowned "king on earth." Also like Smith, he was assassinated in 1856. There were still about 200 Strangites in Wisconsin and New Mexico in the mid-1980s.
William Smith, the prophet's brother, organized his own church in Kentucky from 1847-50. He considered joining the Utah Church for a time, but ultimately joined the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
