Beaver Island and Its Self-Crowned King

Here is one of the strangest true stories in Michigan history. In the 1850s, the largest island in Lake Michigan was ruled by a king — an actual, crowned king, the only one ever to reign on American soil.

His name was James Jesse Strang. A lawyer who’d converted to Mormonism just before founder Joseph Smith was killed in 1844, Strang claimed a letter (probably forged) naming him Smith’s successor. Most Mormons followed Brigham Young west; Strang led a breakaway group to remote Beaver Island instead. There, on July 8, 1850, in a big log tabernacle, he had himself crowned king in a theatrical ceremony — moss-stuffed throne, red robe, a backdrop painted by a former actor. His island kingdom grew to more than 2,500 followers. He founded the town of St. James, started northern Michigan’s first newspaper, practiced polygamy, taxed non-Mormons, and twice won election to the state legislature.

It ended in violence. In June 1856, two embittered former followers shot Strang on a St. James dock; he died weeks later. A mob, many from Mackinac Island, then forced his followers off the island at gunpoint — a day one historian called the most disgraceful in Michigan history. Irish fishing families settled in their place, and Beaver Island is Michigan’s “Emerald Isle” to this day.