William Miller founded Millerism. Miller, a farmer from New York, claimed to have discovered when Jesus Christ would return to Earth as stated in the Bible. Also a Baptist preacher, he taught that a great trumpet from heaven would sound, Jesus Christ would gather up the faithful, and the wicked would be immediately destroyed by fire. As many as 100,000 followers gathered, many of those in Summit County, for Judgment Day, April 4, 1843.