Peter Whitmer Sr. Farm Home
Peter Whitmer Sr. Farm House, Winter
Kitchen in Peter Whitmer Sr. Home
Peter Whitmer Home Upstairs
Peter Whitmer Farm Home Dedication
(April, 1980, Proclamation #4)
The Organization of the Church

Daniel 2:44-45

Isaiah 2:2

Tuesday, April 6th, 1830

Isaiah 5:26 = The standard, the banner, the ensign!
This was one of the pivotal events that has taken
place in the history of the world. It started to fulfill
the prophecies of all the ancient seers!
April 6th, 1830
50-60 people were present.
Few had been baptized to this point.
Four were baptized that morning.
Lucy Mack Smith, Joseph Sr. and Orrin Porter Rockwell
were among those baptized.
Joseph said of his fathers baptism, “I am so happy that I
praise God that I have lived to see the day when my
own father has come into the kingdom of God.”
New York State Law
New York State Law stated that 3 to 9 people
could be used in starting a church. Joseph
chose to have six.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Oliver Cowdery
Joseph Smith Jr.
Hyrum Smith
Samuel H. Smith
Peter Whitmer Jr.
David Whitmer
23
24
30
22
20
25
All of these men should be considered
privileged men. Unfortunately we have never
found the document of incorporation.
The Meeting!
The meeting began with a hymn and a prayer.
Joseph Jr. presented his and Oliver’s name to be
their teachers.
Joseph than presented his and Oliver’s names to
be sustained as the first and second Elders of the
Church (Elder Packer said that we are to always
introduce Apostles as Elders).
Harold B. Lee said, “Elders are defenders of the
faith.”
They passed the sacrament and then confirmed newly
baptized members.
Some were ordained to offices in the priesthood.
The first called historian of the Church was Oliver
Cowdery.
John Whitmer later replaced Oliver because of Oliver’s
duties.
Five days later another meeting was held.
Oliver Cowdery gave the first sermon or discourse in this
dispensation at a sacrament meeting.
Many people were baptized in April including the
Whitmer’s and the Jolley’s. The Jolley’s were the next
door neighbors of the Whitmer’s. David Whitmer’s wife
was a Jolley.
By June of 1831, the bulk of the first
year’s converts had left New York.
New York would never again be
headquarters for the Church.
The religious identity he had forged in
New York would flourish in Ohio. He
arrived as a prophet, the head of the
Church, the leader of Zion. All the rest
was now irrelevant.
David Lewis
There was an eleven year old boy in attendance at the
Peter Whitmer Sr. farm home named David Lewis. He was
so excited about what he heard and saw that he asked
Joseph Smith to baptize him. Joseph told him, “No, you
go home and discuss it with your parents and if they okay
it, then come back and you can be baptized.”
David went home and told his parents about what he
had seen and heard. His mom asked him what Church it
was that he wanted to join. David told her and she
responded, “but everyone hates that Church, even our
good minister hates that Church.”
His answer was, “but mother, you should hear the Prophet
Joseph Smith speak! I feel comfortable listening to him
and I believe what he says. I want to be baptized.” She
answered, “well, if that’s what you want, go ahead.”
Twenty-nine days later on his 12th
birthday, David sought out the
Prophet Joseph Smith and requested
baptism. After he was baptized, a big
storm hit and Joseph asked David to
stay the night at his home. David told
the Prophet Joseph Smith that he
could not do that because he had
made his mom a promise that he
would return home after the baptism.
Joseph said, “You do what your
Mother asked and God will help you
get home safely.”
Years later David told Joseph that he had become
desperately lost on his way home. It was pitch black
and he was terrified. He remembered Joseph’s
promise to him about God helping him get home
safely. A lantern appeared in front of him. He
followed it as it stayed a few feet in front of him. He
could never quite catch up to it. It led him to the
front door of his house. His mother saw the lantern go
by the window and when she opened the door
David walked in safely.
They both looked for the footprints of whoever might
have carried the lantern. They never found any.
Joseph said, “I knew God would see you home
safely, for He told me He would (Ensign, Sept. 78, 26).
“The Creation of the Sacred”
Richard Bushman
An address given at BYUI on 23 September 2006
in the Taylor Building at BYU-Idaho.
Why was Joseph Smith successful in attracting
others to his newly found religion?
Joseph Smith met a human need for the
“Sacred!”
He presented new sacred words and places!
It was truly the “message” and not about the
man Joseph Smith!
His timing was certainly good, but there were a
lot of other young men running around claiming
to have seen heavenly things!
New Sacred Words
The Book of Mormon, Doctrine & Covenants, Joseph
Smith Translation, Pearl of Great Price, etc.
What was truly amazing was that his followers canonized
his writings immediately. The Bible was not the only
scripture on sacred words.
Why did people believe in Joseph Smith when he
revealed these revelations?
1. The
words were written and
constructed in a way that people
believed was God’s wording. For
many, the wording was as good as
the message.
2. Joseph
Smith was completely
removed from the message, it was
God’s message. Joseph Smith never
put himself as the narrator in any of
his writings. He was a “selfless writer.”
New Sacred Plates
American Christians have no special city or place like
other countries do. We do not have a Mecca, Rome,
Jerusalem, Dome of the Rock, etc. It is true that we have
political buildings of great importance, but really no
center place or place in which to gather.
Joseph Smith introduced a “Center Place” in Jackson
County that the Saints have never forgotten!
Joseph Smith was detested in every city he lived, yet he
never gave up.
Every major city they gathered in he instructed his
people to build a temple. Even in the smaller cities he
built tabernacles (Holy Places).
We don’t build sacred cities anymore, but we do build
temples. Temples are sacred places to keep us further
away from a fallen world.
Joseph, Moses, and Enoch 1830
After making inquiries in Palmyra in 1831, the
New York reporter James Gordon Bennett
concluded that Joseph was a “careless, idle,
indolent fellow.”
When questioned, neighbors described the
Smiths as “lazy, intemperate and worthless,”
given to money-digging and lying.
One onlooker later recalled Joseph’s occasional
attendance at revival meetings, but most denied that he
had any religious character. He appeared to be an easy
going boy with little ambition. No one imagined him as a
prophet.
Only a handful of people valued his revelations. Martin
Harris, Joseph Knight, Josiah Stowell and Oliver Cowdery.
Joseph met only with scorn at the beginning. His fatherin-law, Isaac Hale, refused to allow him to stay in his
house with the gold plates.
Most Palmyra villagers thought the Book of Mormon was a
fraud and boycotted the book to prevent Joseph from profiting
by it.
In recounting his experience years later, Joseph remembered
only skepticism and ridicule.
Joseph was more popular as a money-digger than he was as
the translator of the Book of Mormon.
Joseph was no Abraham Lincoln in borrowing books and
reading them when he finished plowing a furrow. No ministers
reported conversations about religious writings with Joseph.
Joseph stepped into the prophetic role with surprising
confidence. He understood his calling as a gift, not as an
achievement. What was known was that in his early twenties,
Joseph began acting like a prophet.
Revelation
To the believers, the revelations sounded like
scriptures. When Joseph figured in the
revelations, he stood among the listeners
receiving instructions. When reprimands were
handed out, he was likely to receive one. He
spoke as if the revelations commanded him
along with everyone else.
Each sentence was uttered slowly and very
distinctly, and with a pause between each,
sufficiently long for it to be recorded, by an
ordinary writer, in long hand.
This was the manner in which all his written
revelations were dictated and written. There was
never any hesitation, reviewing, or reading back,
in order to keep the run of the subject; neither
did any of these communications undergo
revisions, interlinings, or corrections. As he
dictated them so they stood, so far as I am
witnessed.
Once recorded, the revelations were copied
and carried around by Church members.
Translation
If Joseph followed the course of other Yankee dreamers
and visionaries he would have become a preacher.
Charles Finney, the rural New York lawyer who had a
vision of Christ a few years after Joseph, immediately
began preaching and in time became a leading
evangelist in America.
Joseph did not pretend to have the mastery of the
pulpit.
In fact, as work on the Book of Mormon
proceeded, a seer-stone took the place of the
Urim and Thummin as an aid in the work,
blending magic with inspired translation.
In all these works, Joseph Smith does not
introduce himself as the narrator of the story. The
Book of Mormon opens with the phrase, “I,
Nephi, having been born of goodly parents”; the
Book of Moses begins, “The words of God which
he spake unto Moses at a time when Moses was
caught up into an exceeding high mountain”;
Abraham starts, “In the land of Chaldeans, at
the residence of my father.”
Joseph worked from the King James Version of
Genesis without promptings from another
manuscript. Joseph did not translate in the sense
of learning the language and consulting
dictionaries. He received the words by
“revelation,” whether or not a text lay before him.
The three historical translations all grew out of the
Bible. They centered on Moses, Enoch, and
Abraham, and took place in Bible lands:
Jerusalem, Canaan, and Egypt.
By presuming to alter the Western world’s most
revered literary work, Joseph appeared to rise
above holy writ, risking the wrath of every
Christian. Other translations of the Bible in
Joseph’s time simplified the language to make
the scriptures more accessible.
Together the Book of Mormon and the Book of
Moses give history a different shape from the Old
Testament. There is no sharp drop after the Fall,
followed by gradual spiritual enlightenment.
Theologically, the ancient patriarchs were the
equals of later Christians. The problem of history
was to hold on to the Gospel, not to prepare its
coming.
Later, when Joseph disguised his identity
to elude his enemies, he took the name of
Enoch as a pseudonym.
After the Enoch revelations, he made no
more heroic additions. The smaller
revisions read more like improvements
than fresh revelations. He gave up the
Urim and Thummin, as Orson Pratt later
explained, because he had become
acquainted with “the Spirit of Prophesy
and Revelation” and no longer needed it.
Joshua Seixas was hired to teach Hebrew to the
elders. Joseph attended the classes along with
everyone else. Joseph seemed to want to blend
conventional learning with his own special gifts.
Near the end of his life, he said he could not fault
the skeptics for their disbelief.
“If I had not experienced what I have, I should
not have believed it myself.”
Solomon Chamberlain
(1st Missionary of the Church?)
Samuel Smith started on his mission
twelve weeks after the Church was
organized in Fayette and is
considered the first missionary of the
Church.
Solomon Chamberlain, a resident of Lyons, New
York, had heard of the Book of Mormon in 1829
and, being led by the Spirit, came to the Smith
home. He entered the house and asked, “Is there
any one here that believes in visions and
revelations?” Hyrum replied, “Yes, we are a
visionary house.” Solomon explained to them that
an angel had revealed to him “that all churches
and denominations on the earth had become
corrupt…but that God) would shortly raise up a
Church, that would never be confounded nor
brought down and be like unto the apostolic
Church.” He then asked if they could make
known to him any of their discoveries. He
recorded: “Now the Lord revealed to me by the
gift and power of the Holy Ghost that this was the
work I had been looking for.”
Hyrum took Solomon to the Grandin Press and
pulled the first sixty-four pages of the Book of
Mormon that had been printed and gave them
to him. Solomon immediately took leave for
Canada and preached the gospel by the way to
“both high and low, rich and poor.” Solomon
continued:
“And thus you see this was the first that ever
printed Mormonism was preached to this
generation.” Solomon Chamberlain was
baptized by the Prophet Joseph Smith and
remained faithful all his days. He died in
Washington County, Utah, on March 26th, 1862
(Porter, “Origins,” 360-64).
The Church of Christ 1830
The organization of the “Church of Christ” had to
wait until April 6th, the date given by revelation
(probably as far back as the summer of 1829).
Although Fayette has been accepted
traditionally as the place, the evidence for
Manchester is not insubstantial. The first meeting
shows no records of an actual sermon. There was
no one present that had the experience to
preach.
At age twenty-four, Joseph seemed unprepared.
He had attended church meetings haphazardly
and had no experience with complex
organizations. Yet he formed institutions almost
intuitively, showing a surprising aptitude for one
with limited experience.
Joseph was not the luminous central figure he
was sometimes made out to be. Attention
focused on his gift, not his personality.
The point was not that a great prophet had arisen
among them, but that revelation had come
again.
Conversions
On the first Sunday after the organization, Oliver
Cowdery preached and a half dozen people were
baptized. Cowdery baptized another eight in
Seneca Lake the next Sunday. In April about
twenty-three people in all joined the Church. The
first to be baptized were Joseph’s family and close
friends (Oliver Cowdery, Martin Harris, and the
Whitmer’s).
Even among visionaries and seekers, conversions
came slowly at first. The Whitmer’s, Smith’s, Jolly’s,
Rockwell’s and Knight’s were some of the first
families to join the Church.
Asael Smith, eighty-six years old and
close to death, read the Book of
Mormon nearly through without the
aid of glasses. He said, “he always
knew that God was going to raise up
some branch of his family to be a
great benefit to mankind.”
Jesse Smith, Joseph Smith Sr. brother
was the only living brother who did
not join.
Trials
Charges brought against Joseph in
the court of Justice were not always
clear. Joseph said it was for “setting
the country in an uproar by preaching
the Book of Mormon.” Joseph Knight
said it was often because of Joseph’s
pretending to see under the ground.
The Melchizedek Priesthood
The only account we have that is a possible link to
the Melchizedek Priesthood is the following accounts
from Addison Everett and Erastus Snow:
Erastus Snow later said that Peter, James, and John
appeared to Joseph and Cowdery “at a period
when they were being pursued by their enemies and
they had traveled all night, and in the dawn of the
coming day when they were weary and worn who
should appear to them, but Peter, James, and John,
for the purpose of conferring upon them the
Melchizedek Priesthood.
In a conversation between Hyrum and Joseph
overheard by Addison Everett, Joseph spoke of a
trial involving Mr. Reed in trying to escape the
mob:
Joseph and Oliver went to the woods in a few
rods, it being night, and they traveled until Oliver
was exhausted and Joseph carried him through
mud and water. They traveled all night and just
at the break of day Oliver gave out entirely and
exclaimed O! Lord! How long brother Joseph
have we got to endure this thing; Brother Joseph
said that at that very time Peter, James, and
John came to them and ordained them to the
Apostleship.
Dissension
Emma was a believer. Oliver Cowdery baptized her in
Colesville in late June. Like her father, Isaac, Emma
worried about Joseph as a provider.
Isaac Hale protected Joseph against growing resentment
among the neighbors, but Hale’s brother-in-law,
Nathanial Lewis, a leader among the Methodists, was
determined to discredit the Prophet. He may have been
the one to turn Isaac Hale against Joseph.
Oliver Cowdery and the Whitmer family began to
conceive of themselves as independent authorities with
the right to correct Joseph and receive revelation.
Perhaps Oliver thought his duty was to detect errors.
Joseph was like Moses, to “receive commandments and
revelations in the church.” Oliver Cowdery was like
Aaron, “to declare faithfully the commandments and the
revelations…unto the church.”
Gathering
Edward Partridge, who had withheld judgment until
he met the Prophet, was baptized the next day.
Two months later he became the first Bishop in the
Church.
Sidney Rigdon was Mormonism’s most auspicious
convert to date. He had qualified as a Baptist
minister in 1819 at the age of twenty-six by selfeducation. He broke with the Baptists in 1824 over
the doctrine of infant damnation. He was impressed
with the Book of Mormon and did not think that a
twenty-four year old could have written it.
Rigdon was a Bible scholar, a man of fine
education, and a powerful orator. He soon
worked himself deep into Brother Joseph’s
affections and had more influence over him
than any other man living. Sidney was thirteen
years Joseph’s senior and far his superior in
education. With Cowdery on a mission, Sidney
became Joseph’s primary assistant. At a sermon
in Palmyra, the people stood trembling and
amazed, so powerful were his words.
The organization of the Church was the signal to
all Israel that they must come home quickly,
because Jehovah was soon to come as the God
of judgment.
The first time He came as a God of mercy, but
the second time He will come in judgment, to
judge the nations of the earth.
This time the Lord set up His kingdom and it will
not be destroyed, but will remain intact when the
Savior makes His appearance.
The Knight Family
They all believed!
Many prayers were offered, and that was a hard thing
for some of them to do (especially Joseph Knight Sr. and
Newel Knight).
Public prayer was simply a mind block for them.
Newel Knight wanted to pray vocally in a public setting
but just couldn’t do it.
The First Miracle
Newel Knight became so physically sick that his
wife went to get Joseph Smith. When Joseph
arrived, he found Newel in considerable pain
and his body terribly distorted. A large crowd
had gathered by the time Joseph entered the
room. Joseph knew immediately what was
wrong. He took Newel Knight by the hand and
said “Newel, do you believe I can cast the devil
out?” Newel responded “yes.” Joseph than
rebuked the devil.
Later Newel said that he saw the evil spirit come
out of him and go up to the ceiling. The evil spirit
turned it’s head and gnashed it’s teeth in hatred
at him. Newel settled onto the bed to relax and
the next thing he recalled was that his shoulder
was bumping against the beam of the ceiling.
He was so filled with the Spirit of God that the
heavens were opened to him and he began to
see the future and destiny of the Church. Newel
Knight joined the Church in Fayette at the end of
May, 1830. Newel’s aunt also became possessed
by an evil spirit a few weeks later and Newel
Knight cast the evil spirit out of her (Mrs. Peck).
The First Conference
June 9th, 1830 was the first General Conference of the
Church.
Joseph read the Articles and Covenants of the Church
(section 20).
During the meeting, many members prophesied. Newel
Knight again saw a vision of the future of the Church and
also the Son of God. At that time, the Savior told him,
“Newel, where I am, you will be also one day.”
We know this today as having our “Calling and Election
Made Sure.” As far as we know he is the first person to
have received it.
Newel Knight was a faithful and wonderful man.
It was at this conference that Samuel Smith,
Joseph Smith Sr. and Hyrum Smith received their
ordination to the Priesthood.
In August of 1830, Joseph Smith Sr. and Don
Carlos Smith went on a mission to preach to their
relatives.
Many joined the Church.
Jesse, Joseph Sr.’s brother and Susan his sister
refused to join the Church.
Moses 1
In June 1830, the Lord revealed to Joseph, Moses chapter
one.
It is the best single commentary in the Standard Works
about Satan.
Satan is a frustrated coward and deceiver.
Joseph started on the translation of the Bible. Through
that experience, many doctrines came forth and many
were recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants.
Joseph’s scribes were Oliver and John Whitmer.
It wasn’t until December of 1830 that the Lord brought
Sidney Rigdon to help with the translation.
Doctrine & Covenants 20:37
Oliver Cowdery wrote a letter to the Prophet that really
bothered him. Oliver referred to Doctrine & Covenants 20:37,
which he said smacked of Protestantism… “works.”
Oliver wrote, “in the name of God, I command you to do away
with that verse that there be no priest-craft amongst us.”
Joseph was grieved and wrote back saying, “By what authority
do you command me to change a revelation of God?”
Oliver had the full support of all of the Whitmer family, and as a
result most of the Church sided with Oliver.
Oliver had a hard time learning that Joseph Smith answered
only to God and not to him. Oliver considered himself to be
Joseph’s equal. His besetting sin was pride.
Hiram Page and the Seer Stone
In August of 1830 Hyrum Page had an experience with a
seer stone that he found (Doctrine & Covenants 28).
Joseph Smith said it was as fine a seer stone as there ever
was. The only problem was that it had been
consecrated for the use of devil.
Hyrum was receiving revelation about Zion’s location
and the government of the Church. He had collected
pages of revelations.
Hiram was sincere in wanting to help the Church but it
became a major problem for Joseph.
The Church needed to learn that revelation for the
Church only came through the Prophet.
The Doctrinal Restoration in the New
York Period
Many doctrines were restored during the New
York time period of Church History (this is not a
complete list).
The Nature of God
Pre-mortality
Creation of the Earth
Creation of Man
The Fall
Atonement
Justification and Sanctification
First Principles and Ordinances
Faith
Repentance
Baptism
Holy Ghost
Sacrament
Ministry of Angels
Priesthood
The Gathering
Zion (or New Jerusalem)
Revelation
What came through Joseph Smith was
beyond Joseph Smith, and it stretched him!
In fact, the doctrines that came through
that “choice seer” (2 Nephi 3:6-7 by
translation or revelation are often so light
sensitive that, like radioactive materials,
they must be handled with great care!
(Neal A. Maxwell, “A Choice Seer,” 114).
Yet another way of testing and appreciating the
significance of the ministry of the Prophet Joseph
Smith is to ask oneself: (1) “What would we know
about the holy temples and about the sealing
power without the Prophet Joseph Smith?”; (2)
“What would we know about the plan of
salvation with its different estates without the
Prophet Joseph Smith?”; (3) “What would we
know about the precious and plain doctrine of
pre-mortality of mankind without the Prophet
Joseph Smith?” The answer to each question is
the same: “Very, very little; certainly not enough”
(Neal A. Maxwell, “A Choice Seer,”).