In this course, you will follow the life of James Jesse Strang, a lawyer and newspaper man from rural New York who eventually managed to lead his own Mormon splinter group that established a de facto monarchy on Beaver Island in Lake Michigan. In a story with everything from plates buried under a hill in Burlington to secret love affairs and a bloody rivalry between Beaver and Mackinac Island, King James Strang is one of the most interesting characters in early Midwest history.