IAGenWeb Project


Shelby County
IAGenWeb



Galland's Grove RLDS branch
aka Manteno branch
Shelby County, Iowa

The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS) was formally organized April 6, 1860 under the leadership of the son of the founder, Joseph Smith, III. There were many LDS members in southwestIowa in the 1850s and 1860s, joined by others returning from Utah. Between two and three thousand of these joined the "RLDS" Church in theearly 1860s to 1875, the time period these branch records cover. The church is now known as Community of Christ.Branch records courtesy of Community of Christ Archives.For further history and information, see web page: www.cofchrist.org For membership records research contact: bbernauer@cofchrist.org

Galland's Grove RLDS branch was also known as the Manteno branch. It was organized 21 October 1859, perhaps by John McIntosh after a visit by RLDS missionaries W. W. Blair and Edmund Briggs that summer. William Van Ausdall was the first President. They met in a log church, also used as a school,until 1881 when a chapel was built.
This list is of all recorded members to about 1875.
The branch held its last meeting in 1931 and the land sold in 1995.
There is a memorial marker on the road in Grove Township where it was.
LINK:   Galland's Grove RLDS branch, aka Manteno branch (pdf file)


Barbara Bernauer
Assistant Archivist
Community of Christ
Independence, MO