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.