Clyde Fletcher

Clyde Fletcher (d. 1969) was the founder and sole president of the True Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite), a schismatic faction of the Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite) which existed from 1953 until his death in 1969. Following his demise, his few remaining adherents elected to reunite with the main Cutlerite church in Independence, Missouri.

Born and raised in the Cutlerite community in Clitherall, Minnesota, Fletcher elected not to relocate with the main body when that group moved the church headquarters to Independence in the 1920's. Following the death of President Emery Fletcher in 1953, the Independence church, which then contained the majority of Cutlerite members, elected Erle Whiting as the new President of the Church. This was in keeping with a Cutlerite tradition that passed the presidency of the church to the former leader's First Counselor, subject (as in all Latter Day Saint denominations) to the approval of the membership.

Clyde Fletcher and the Cutlerite remnant in Minnesota did not approve of this step, and Fletcher was accordingly elected president of his congregation in Clitherall, which he subsequently claimed to be the sole legitimate continuation of the Cutlerite organization. Fletcher named his church the "True Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite)", and began a lengthy court battle with the Independence organization over church properties in Minnesota. A Minnesota court finally ruled in favor of the Independence church in 1966, giving them sole control over all Cutlerite properties and church records. Fletcher refused to accept the legitimacy of the Independence organization, however, and remained at the head of his church (which was headquartered in the Cutlerite meetinghouse in Clitherall) until his death in 1969. To the end of his life, he continued to claim that his was the only true Cutlerite sect, and the only true church on earth.

Fletcher did not change any of the distinctive beliefs of the Cutlerite church; his organization remained exactly identical to the main body in Independence in every respect save leadership. Following Fletcher's death, the few remaining members of his organization elected to accept an offer to return to the Independence church, which led to the folding of Fletcher's church and the healing of the schism he had provoked.

Sources

• Fletcher, Rupert J. and Daisy Whiting, Alpheus Cutler and the Church of Jesus Christ. Church of Jesus Christ, 1974.
• Shields, Steven L. Divergent Paths of the Restoration. Herald House, 2001, p. 158.
• Unsworth, Alan Church of Jesus Christ (Fletcher).
• Unsworth, Alan Clyde Fletcher.
• Young, Biloine Whiting. Obscure Believers: The Mormon Schism of Alpheus Cutler. Pogo Press, 2002.

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Name	Fletcher, Clyde
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Date of death	1969
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