James Emmett (February 22, 1803 – December 28, 1852) was an early American Latter Day Saint and for a time claimed to be the rightful successor to Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. Emmett was born in Boone County, Kentucky. He was baptized into the Church of Christ in 1831 and in August 1832 he moved to Jackson County, Missouri to live with the gathering of Latter Day Saints there. He was a missionary for the church in Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and Missouri.