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The Amboy Conference was the setting of the official “re-organization” of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints into the Latter Day Saint denomination now known as the Community of Christ. Held on April 6, 1860, this conference recognized movement founder Joseph Smith, Jr’s eldest son, Joseph Smith III as his rightful successor and sustained the young Joseph as President of the Church.
Elder Zenas H. Gurley, Sr. presided over the conference held in Amboy, Illinois. Samuel Powers and Edmund Briggs were reported to preach powerful sermons and bear strong testimonies of the restored gospel. Joseph Smith III addressed the conference and told the assembled Latter Day Saints that he had accepted the calling “in obedience to a power not my own, and I shall be dictated by the power that sent me.” Smith also denounced the practice of plural marriage, stating that it opposed the doctrine contained in the Book of Mormon. He affirmed his allegiance to the constitution and laws of the United States, and he said that the church must act in accordance with those laws so that there be no antagonism between church and state.
Smith and his mother, Emma Hale Smith Bidamon, were accepted into the church without rebaptism — as their original baptisms were considered valid. After the conference, Smith and his mother returned to their homes in Nauvoo, Illinois, from where he began to preside over the affairs of the newly reorganized church.
A memorial plaque on the early history of the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormon Church). This was one of the first settlements of the Mormon Church.
