Sidney Rigdon joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by baptism in November 1830. He was serving as a Campbellite minister in Mentor, Ohio, at the time. Many of his congregation joined the LDS Church when he did. He was prominent in those early days of the LDS Church, sharing in revelation to the Prophet and being called to the First Presidency.
Rigdon survived a vicious assault at the hands of a mob in Hiram, Ohio, in 1832. From that time forward he exhibited strange behaviors from time to time. The question of his complete mental well-being has been debated frequently.
After his arrival in Commerce, later Nauvoo, Illinois, Rigdon moved into the stone home on the banks of the Mississippi River. It had once been owned by James White. He and his family later moved to this frame home in Nauvoo, situated on the east side of Main Street just north of Water Street and the Mansion House.
Following the death of Joseph Smith, Rigdon had fellowship in the church withdrawn by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and he moved to Pennsylvania. He died and was buried in Friendship, New York, on July 14, 1876. His extant Nauvoo home is privately owned.