{{Short description|American Mormon missionary}} '''Leman Copley''' (March 25, 1781 – December 1862) was an early convert to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.<ref name="Saints2017">{{cite book|last=Intellectual Reserve|title=Revelations in Context: The Stories behind the Sections of the Doctrine and Covenants|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wRI4DwAAQBAJ|year=2016|publisher=The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints|isbn=978-1-4651-1885-1}}</ref> Born in Connecticut,<ref name="Whitmer1995">{{cite book|author=John Whitmer|title=From Historian to Dissident: The Book of John Whitmer|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sMDtAAAAMAAJ|year=1995|publisher=Signature Books|isbn=978-1-56085-043-4|page=66}}</ref> Copley moved to Rutland County, Vermont,<ref name="Cook1981">{{cite book|author=Lyndon W. Cook|title=The Revelations of the Prophet Joseph Smith: A Historical and Biographical Commentary of the Doctrine and Covenants|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JgCQAAAAMAAJ|year=1981|publisher=Seventy's Mission Bookstore}}</ref> sometime before 1800 and was living in Thompson Township,<ref>{{cite book|title=Mormon Historical Studies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v3wOAQAAMAAJ|year=2007|publisher=Mormon Historic Sites Foundation}}</ref> Ohio, by 1820.<ref>[https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/person/leman-copley Biography] of Leman Copley, The Joseph Smith Papers (accessed 21 December 2011)</ref> Prior to his conversion to the Church of Christ, Copley was a Shaker.<ref name="Cook1981"/>

Copley was born in Connecticut in 1781. His father’s name was Samuel Copley. He married a woman named Salley, with whom he had one son. While living in Pittsford, Vermont, he joined the United Society of Believers in Christ's Second Appearing (the Shakers) and moved to join others of the faith near Cleveland, Ohio.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=McCune|first=George M.|title=Personalities in the Doctrine and Covenants and Joseph Smith–History|publisher=Hawkes Publishing, Inc.|year=1991|isbn=0890365180|location=Salt Lake City, Utah|pages=31–32|oclc=25553656}}</ref>

He later joined the Church of Christ (predecessor to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints),<ref name="Saints2017" /> but maintained his Shaker beliefs in some aspects. Prompted by Copley’s belief system, Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, petitioned God for an explanation of the Shaker’s beliefs in the context of religious truth, resulting in section 49 of the Doctrine and Covenants.<ref name=":0" /> In March 1831, Copley was called by Smith through a revelation to preach the gospel to the Shakers along with Sidney Rigdon and Parley P. Pratt.<ref name="Price1997">{{cite book|author=Lynn F. Price|title=Every Person in the Doctrine and Covenants|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sqBa2-_L4joC&pg=PA31|date=1 February 1997|publisher=Cedar Fort|isbn=978-1-4621-0500-7|pages=31–2}}</ref><ref name="Chase2010">{{cite book|author=Randal S. Chase|title=Church History Study Guide, Pt. 1: 1805-1832|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8bKqiw_ERuwC&pg=PA354|date=1 December 2010|publisher=Plain & Precious Publishing|isbn=978-1-937901-04-2|pages=354}}</ref> The three read Doctrine and Covenants section 49 to the Shakers, but the group rejected it.<ref name=":0" />

When the members of the branch of the Church of Christ from Colesville, New York<ref name="BlackTate1993">{{cite book|author1=Susan Easton Black|author2=Charles D. Tate|title=Joseph Smith: the prophet, the man|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MZvtAAAAMAAJ|date=1 June 1993|publisher=Religious Studies Center,, Brigham Young University|isbn=978-0-88494-876-6}}</ref> came to settle in Ohio, Copley was persuaded to allow them to settle on his large farm<ref name="Hill1983">{{cite book|author=Donna Hill|title=Joseph Smith: The First Mormon|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=o-KPAAAAMAAJ|date=October 1983|publisher=Signature Books|isbn=9780941214162}}</ref> of nearly 1000 acres.<ref name="Chase2010" /> Then, when he and the church had a falling out, he forced them all to leave.<ref name="Chase20102">{{cite book|author=Randal S. Chase|title=Church History Study Guide, Pt. 1: 1805-1832|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8bKqiw_ERuwC&pg=PA361|date=1 December 2010|publisher=Plain & Precious Publishing|isbn=978-1-937901-04-2|pages=361–}}</ref> Joseph Smith received a revelation to have the "Colesville Saints" go to Missouri,<ref name="Bushman2007">{{cite book|author=Richard Lyman Bushman|title=Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Mz3tpz4eRBQC|date=18 December 2007|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-307-42648-2}}</ref> where God would reveal to Smith the location of the land of Zion.<ref name="Crowther2008">{{cite book|author=Duane S. Crowther|title=Prophecies of Joseph Smith|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eIOs5efUfuoC|date=1 January 2008|publisher=Cedar Fort|isbn=978-0-88290-842-7}}</ref> This was the beginning of the church's movement to Missouri<ref name="GivensGrow2011">{{cite book|author1=Terryl L. Givens|author2=Matthew J. Grow|title=Parley P. Pratt: The Apostle Paul of Mormonism|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RwlIShRZF14C&pg=PT60|date=4 October 2011|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-991330-5|pages=60–}}</ref><ref name="Backman1983">{{cite book|author=Milton Vaughn Backman|title=The heavens resound: a history of the Latter-day Saints in Ohio, 1830-1838|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7qjtAAAAMAAJ|date=1 October 1983|publisher=Desert Book Co.|isbn=978-0-87747-973-4}}</ref> and the dual centers of church activity (i.e. Kirtland, Ohio and Independence, Missouri).<ref name="Hammond2012">{{cite book|author=John J. Hammond|title=A Divided Mormon Zion: Northeastern Ohio Or Western Missouri?|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f3XzioqxpaMC|year=2012|publisher=Xlibris Corporation|isbn=978-1-4691-9005-1}}</ref><ref name="Givens2004">{{cite book|author=Terryl Givens|title=The Latter-day Saint Experience in America|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IEEkTWyIpZkC&pg=PA19|year=2004|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-313-32750-6|pages=19–}}</ref> Copley was disfellowshipped in 1832 for refusing to keep his promise to help the Colesville Saints. Then, at Doctor Philastus Hurlbut's 1834 trial, Copley testified against Joseph Smith.<ref name=":0" />

Copley was readmitted into full fellowship with the church in April 1836.<ref name=":0" /> He served another mission in March 1833, this time with Doctor Hurlbut.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Joseph Smith Papers |title=Hurlbut, Doctor Philastus |url=https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/person/doctor-philastus-hurlbut |website=Joseph Smith Papers}}</ref> He did not travel west with the rest of the Mormon pioneers.<ref name=":0" /> Sometime before 1850, Copley moved to Madison, Ohio,<ref name="Whitmer1995"/> where he died in May 1862.<ref name="Whitmer1995"/><ref name="Smith1989">{{cite book|author=Joseph Smith|title=The Papers of Joseph Smith: Autobiographical and Historical Writings|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LHPZAAAAMAAJ|year=1989|publisher=Deseret Book Company|isbn=978-0-87579-199-9|page=480}}</ref>

==Notes== {{reflist}}

== External links ==

* [http://archives.lib.byu.edu/repositories/14/resources/3677 Ashbel Kitchell diary], L. Tom Perry Special Collections {{Clear}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Copley, Leman}} Category:1781 births Category:1862 deaths Category:American Latter Day Saint missionaries Category:Converts to Mormonism Category:Doctrine and Covenants people Category:Former Shakers Category:Latter Day Saint missionaries in the United States Category:People excommunicated by the Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints) Category:People rebaptized after excommunication by the Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints) Category:Shaker members