 Bickerton was not a Latter Day Saint during the lifetime of Joseph Smith.Rather, he was a practising Methodist who was converted to the faith by Sidney Rigdon in 1845.Following Smith's death in 1844, a number of Latter Day Saint leaders, including Rigdon, Brigham Young, and James Strang, claimed to be Smith's rightful successor to lead the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, which Smith had founded in 1830 as the Church of Christ.