Chancey Whiting

Early years Whiting was born on 19 August 1819 in Portage County, Ohio, the fifth child and second son of Elisha Whiting, a wagon maker and veteran of the War of 1812, and Sally Hulet.

Cutlerite leadership

Following Cutler's death in 1864, preceded by the defection of his designated successor Thaddeus Cutler to the rival "New Organization" headed by Joseph Smith's son Joseph Smith III, Chancey Whiting was chosen to succeed as president of Cutler's Church of Jesus Christ. He presided over the Cutlerites' move from Iowa to Clitherall, Minnesota, near Battle Lake, where they established the first permanent white settlement in Otter Tail County on 6 May 1865. With the Dakota War having ravaged the region only three years before, and being warned of possible trouble with the Native Americans remaining in the area, Whiting and other church leaders met with local chiefs and made a private treaty to preserve the peace, which neither side ever broke.

Though he was unable to prevent the loss of several church members to RLDS missionaries during the 1870s and 1880s, Whiting managed to hold the remnant of his church together until his death in 1902. He supervised construction of a church and other buildings in Clitherall, and established a church corporation in 1873 to hold and manage church properties.

Whiting died in Clitherall on 7 June 1902. He is remembered today as one of Otter Tail County's leading early residents.