Erle Whiting

Ivan Erle Whiting, Sr. (January 2, 1876 – August 15, 1958) was the fifth president of The Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite), a branch of the Latter Day Saint movement. His short tenure in office was marred by a dispute between the Independence, Missouri congregation of the church, where he and the church headquarters were located, and the branch at Clitherall, Minnesota, which rejected his election to office and chose Clyde Fletcher from their own congregation as president of the church. When the Independence branch (which was much more numerous) refused to accept this unlawful development, the Minnesota branch broke away under Clyde's leadership as the True Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite). A battle between the two branches for church properties and leadership was resolved in the Independence branch's favor by a Minnesota court, and Clyde Fletcher's schismatic sect ceased to exist with his death, when both congregations were reunited under Erle's successor, Rupert Fletcher.