Q: Did Emma Smith encourage the founding of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints?

A: False.

Jason Briggs, Zenos Gurley, and William Marks, all former members of the LDS Church, formed what became the RLDS Church because they did not accept the doctrine of the Celestial Marriage Covenant.

Jason W. Briggs was baptized a Latter-day Saint, age 20, at Potosi, Wisconsin, in 1841.  In 1842, he was ordained an Elder.  He converted and baptized his family and many friends.  Two branches of the Church were established in the area.  After the death of the Prophet Joseph Smith and after the leadership of the Church fell to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, members of these two Wisconsin branches came to believe that the Church was in apostasy because of the practice of plural marriage.  These members failed to go West.  Additionally, some of them became members of a sect founded by James J. Strang.

Zenos Gurley, previously ordained a seventy, likewise had supported the leadership of the Quorum of the Twelve, but he too failed to go West.  He likewise became a follower of James J. Strang.  Disillusioned with Jame’s doctrines, the two men briefly followed William Smith, the Prophet Joseph's brother, who had newly organized a church.  Strang and Gurley parted with Smith because he, like Strang, came to advocate the practice of polygamy.

Briggs desired to "recover the spirit, beliefs, purpose, and structure of the original church."  He later claimed receiving a revelation in 1851 that a descendant of Joseph Smith, Jr, "shall be mighty and strong, and he shall preside over the high priesthood of my church. . . and Zion shall be reinhabited . . ."  Briggs claimed that the revelation denounced polygamy.

Briggs prepared a document summarizing his "revelation" and presented it to several friends.  One of them, John Harrington, reminded Jason that the Doctrine and Covenants stated that no one except a prophet, seer, and revelator should receive revelations for the church (LDS D&C 43:3).  Despite Harrington's declaration, three couples prayed and said that they received a testimony of Jason Briggs' claims.

Jason next stated that the true successor of Joseph Smith was his eldest son, who would be called upon "in due time" to act in that calling.  In the meantime, Briggs was contacted by Zenos Gurley, a seventy, who claimed to have been told in a revelation "that God would raise up a prophet." Gurley's followers merged with Briggs' in 1852.  The combined group became known as the New Organization."

 When Briggs and Samuel Gurley visited Joseph Smith III in 1856, he rejected their invitation to lead this group strongly along with his mother, Emma.  During the following four years Joseph III struggled with the issue and repeatedly turned down the invitation, but finally decided to accept the call. Joseph III’s memoirs indicated the various failed business attempts during these years was a sign from God that he should follow in his father’s footsteps. He was sustained as president during the 1860 conference of the renamed Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints held in Amboy, Illinois. He was ordained by William Marks, former Nauvoo Stake President, who had successively joined churches founded by Sidney Rigdon, Charles B. Thompson, and John E. Page.  On June 11, 1860, he was admitted to the "New Organization."   Joseph III's mother, Emma, was received into RLDS membership based upon her original baptism as a Latter-day Saint. – Author Paul Thomas Smith