Leonard Rich was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement

Latter Day Saint movement

The Latter Day Saint movement is a group of independent churches tracing their origin to a Christian primitivist movement founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. in the late 1820s. Collectively, these churches have over 14 million members...

 and one of the inaugural seven Presidents of the Seventy.

Rich was born in Connecticut

Connecticut

Connecticut is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, and the state of New York to the west and the south .Connecticut is named for the Connecticut River, the major U.S. river that approximately...

 in 1800 and was a farmer. He was married to Kezia Rich (1805–1853) and they had four children. In 1833, he baptized Truman Angell, architect of the Salt Lake Temple

Salt Lake Temple

The Salt Lake Temple is the largest and best-known of more than 130 temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is the sixth temple built by the church, requiring 40 years to complete, and the fourth operating temple built since the Mormon exodus from Nauvoo,...

. In 1834, the Kirtland High Council rebuked him for "transgressing the word of wisdom and for selling the revelations [scriptures] at an extortionary price." That same year he was part of Zion's Camp

Zion's Camp

Zion's Camp was a paramilitary expedition of Latter Day Saints, led by Joseph Smith, Jr., from Kirtland, Ohio to Clay County, Missouri during May and June 1834 in an unsuccessful attempt to regain land from which the Saints had been expelled by non-Mormon settlers...

.

In January 1837, Rich signed the new constitution of the Kirtland Safety Society

Kirtland Safety Society

The Kirtland Safety Society was a quasi-bank organized in 1836 by leaders and followers of the Church of the Latter Day Saints. According to KSS's 1837 "Articles of Agreement", it was intended to serve the banking needs of the growing Mormon community in Kirtland, Ohio...

. On April 6 of that year, he and other presidents of the Seventy who were ordained high priests prior to their call were released. That fall, he dissented from the church and in December the church excommunicated him.

In 1845, Reuben McBride reported that Rich was a leader of rioters who broke into and took possession of the Kirtland Temple

Kirtland Temple

The Kirtland Temple is a National Historic Landmark in Kirtland, Ohio, USA, on the eastern edge of the Cleveland metropolitan area. Owned and operated by the Community of Christ, formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints , the house of worship was the first temple to be...

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