David Whitmer
David Whitmer was an early adherent of the Latter Day Saint movement who eventually became the most interviewed of the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon's golden plates.
Early life
Whitmer was born near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, the fourth of nine children of Peter Whitmer Sr. and Mary Musselman. Whitmer's ancestry on both sides of his family was German, and the family spoke with a German accent. His grandfather was George Witmer, who was born in Prussia, and his great-grandfather was born in Switzerland. By the 1820s, the Whitmer family had moved to a farm in Fayette, in New York's Finger Lakes area. On March 12, 1825, Whitmer was elected sergeant in a newly organized militia called the Seneca Grenadiers.Role in the early Latter Day Saint movement
Whitmer and his family were among the earliest adherents to the Latter Day Saint movement. Whitmer first heard of Joseph Smith and the golden plates in 1828 when he made a business trip to Palmyra, New York, and there talked with his friend Oliver Cowdery, who believed that there "must be some truth to the matter."Book of Mormon witness
Whitmer eventually accepted the story and brought his father's family to join the Smiths in Palmyra. Whitmer was baptized in June 1829, nearly a year prior to the formal organization of the Church of Christ. During that same month, Whitmer said that he, along with Smith and Cowdery, saw an angel present the golden plates in a vision. Martin Harris reported that he experienced a similar vision with Smith later in the day. Evidence places this event near his father's home in Fayette, New York, on June 28, 1829. Whitmer, Cowdery, and Harris then signed a joint statement declaring their testimony to the reality of the vision. The statement was published in the first edition of the Book of Mormon and has been included in nearly every subsequent edition.Whitmer later said that Smith had received a revelation that Hiram Page and Cowdery would sell the copyright of the Book of Mormon in Toronto. After Page and Cowdery returned from Canada empty handed, Whitmer asked Smith why they had been unsuccessful, and Smith received another revelation "through the stone" that "some revelations are of God: some revelations are of men: and some revelations are of the devil."
Founding church member
When Smith organized the Church of Christ on April 6, 1830, Whitmer was one of six original members.Church offices
Whitmer had been ordained an elder of the church by June 9, 1830, and he was ordained to the office of high priest by Cowdery on October 5, 1831. Soon after the organization of the church, Smith set apart Jackson County, Missouri, as a "gathering place" for Latter Day Saints. According to Smith, the area would be the "center place" of the City of Zion, the New Jerusalem. On July 7, 1834, Smith ordained Whitmer to be the president of the church in Missouri and his own successor, should Smith "not live to God".
By virtue of his position as President of the High Council in Zion, David Whitmer was sustained as "the president of the church in Zion," not merely as a Stake President. Since the Quorum of the Twelve and the First Quorum of the Seventy had not yet been organized, this meant that there was a short period of time—from July 3, 1834, until February 14, 1835—when the High Council in Zion stood in an administrative position next to the First Presidency. It also meant that from July 3, 1834, until December 5, 1834, at which time Oliver Cowdery was made the Associate President of the Church, David Whitmer, as President of the High Council in Zion, was the Prophet's rightful successor."
Although a revelation dated June 1829 referred to Whitmer and Cowdery as receiving the same calling as the apostle Paul, Smith had not yet started a church or created the office known today as apostle. Cowdery and Whitmer did have a visionary experience and like Paul, were called to preach. They were also called to "search out" twelve "disciples", who later were called "apostles." None of the Three Witnesses were ordained to that apostleship.
Separation from the church
Whitmer continued to live in Kirtland, Ohio, and his counselors, W. W. Phelps and John Whitmer presided over the church in Missouri until the summer of 1837. After the collapse of the Kirtland Safety Society bank, Smith and his counselor Sidney Rigdon, battered by creditors, moved to Far West, Missouri, to evade arrest. The ensuing leadership struggle led to the dissolution of the presidency of the church in Missouri. Whitmer resigned and separated from the church.Whitmer and the other excommunicated Latter Day Saints became known as the "dissenters." Some of the dissenters owned land in Caldwell County, Missouri, which they wanted to retain. The church presidency and other members looked unfavorably upon them. Rigdon preached his "Salt Sermon", which called for their expulsion from the county. A number of Latter Day Saints formed a secret society known as the Danites, whose stated goal was removal of the dissenters. Eighty prominent Mormons signed the so-called Danite Manifesto, which warned the dissenters to "depart or a more fatal calamity shall befall you." Shortly afterward, Whitmer and his family fled to nearby Richmond, Missouri.
Whitmer, other dissenters, and Mormons loyal to Smith complained to the non-Mormons in northwestern Missouri about their forcible expulsion and the loss of their properties and began to file lawsuits to recover them. Non-Mormon residents were alarmed by this and a revelation by Smith which said:
29 Wherefore, the land of Zion shall not be obtained but by purchase or by blood, otherwise there is none inheritance for you.
31 And if by blood, as you are forbidden to shed blood, lo, your enemies are upon you, and ye shall be scourged from city to city, and from synagogue to synagogue, and but few shall stand to receive an inheritance.
Tensions escalated, bringing about the 1838 Mormon War after which Governor Boggs issued Missouri Executive Order 44 in October 1838 authorizing deadly force in the removal of Mormons. Consequently, most of the Latter Day Saints were expelled from Missouri by early 1839.
In response to "persecutions" from a "secret organization" formed within the LDS church that denounced "dissenters," Whitmer used his position as one of the Three Witnesses to condemn the church: "If you believe my testimony to the Book of Mormon," wrote Whitmer, "if you believe that God spake to us three witnesses by his own voice, then I tell you that in June, 1838, God spake to me again by his own voice from the heavens and told me to 'separate myself from among the Latter Day Saints, for as they sought to do unto me, so it should be done unto them.'" Whitmer interpreted God's command to include the RLDS Church, : "God commanded me by his voice to stand apart from you."
Whitmer continued to live in Richmond, where he operated a successful livery stable and became a prominent and respected citizen. In 1867, he was elected to fill an unexpired term as mayor.
President of the Church of Christ (Whitmerite)
After the death of Smith in 1844, several rival leaders claimed to be Smith's successor, including Brigham Young, Sidney Rigdon, and James J. Strang. Many of Rigdon's followers became disillusioned by 1847 and some, including apostle William E. McLellin and Benjamin Winchester, remembered Whitmer's 1834 ordination to be Smith's successor. At McLellin's urging, Whitmer exercised his claim to be Smith's successor and the Church of Christ was formed in Kirtland, Ohio. However, Whitmer never joined the body of the new church and it dissolved relatively quickly.Around this time, fellow Book of Mormon witness Oliver Cowdery began to correspond with Whitmer. After traveling from Ohio to Kanesville, Cowdery attended the Kanesville Tabernacle meeting, called to sustain Brigham Young as the new President of the Church. Cowdery bore, with conviction, his testimony of the truthfulness of everything that had happened spiritually regarding Smith and the Book of Mormon. Meeting with Young at Winter Quarters, Nebraska, he requested readmission into the church, and he was re-baptized into the church there. Cowdery then traveled to meet with Whitmer in Richmond to persuade him to move west and rejoin the Saints in Utah Territory. Cowdery, however, succumbed to tuberculosis and died March 3, 1850.
In January 1876, Whitmer resurrected the Church of Christ by ordaining his nephew, John C. Whitmer, an elder, and giving him the title "First Elder".
In 1887, Whitmer published a pamphlet entitled "", in which he affirmed his testimony of the Book of Mormon, but denounced the other branches of the Latter Day Saint movement. Whitmer died in Richmond. The Whitmerite church survived until the 1960s.
Religious views
Whitmer stated his religious views in three publications: "" published March 24, 1881, "" published April 1887, and "" also published April 1887.;Polygamy
I do not endorse polygamy or spiritual wifeism. It is a great evil, shocking to the moral sense, and the more so, because practiced in the name of religion. It is of man and not God, and is especially forbidden in the Book of Mormon itself.
;High Priests
As to the High Priesthood, Jesus Christ himself is the last Great High Priest, this too after the order of Melchisedec, as I understand the Holy Scriptures.
;Name change
I do not endorse the change of the name of the church, for as the wife takes the name of her husband so should the Church of the Lamb of God, take the name of its head, even Christ himself. It is the Church of Christ.
The name change just prior to Whitmer's objection was to add "of Latter-day Saints" based on the April 26, 1838 revelation to Smith recorded in DC 115:3. Thus, the name "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints" was formalized through incorporation in 1851, thirty years before Whitmer published his objection.
The most interviewed Book of Mormon witness
Because Cowdery died in 1850 at age 43 and Martin Harris died in 1875 at age 92, Whitmer was the only survivor of the Three Witnesses for 13 years. At Richmond, Missouri, he sometimes received several inquirers daily asking about his connection to the Book of Mormon, including missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who were traveling from Utah Territory to the eastern United States and Europe. Despite his hostility toward the LDS Church, Whitmer always stood by his claim that he had actually seen the golden plates.Some of the 71 recorded interviews he gave between 1838 and 1888 contained different details than others. Recounting the vision to Orson Pratt in 1878, Whitmer claimed to have seen not only the golden plates but the "Brass Plates, the plates containing the record of the wickedness of the people of the world... the sword of Laban, the Directors and the Interpreters. I saw them just as plain as I see this bed".
In 1880, John Murphy interviewed Whitmer and later published an account suggesting that perhaps Whitmer's experience was a "delusion or perhaps a cunning scheme." Murphy's account said that Whitmer had not been able to describe the appearance of an angel and had likened Whitmer's experience to the "impressions as the quaker when the spirit moves, or as a good Methodist in giving a happy experience." Whitmer responded by publishing "", reaffirming his testimony and saying,
"It having been represented by one John Murphy, of Polo, Caldwell County, Mo., that I, in a conversation with him last summer, denied my testimony as one of the three witnesses to the BOOK OF MORMON. To the end, therefore, that he may understand me now, if he did not then; and that the world may know the truth, I wish now, standing as it were, in the very sunset of life, and in the fear of God, once for all to make this public statement: That I have never at any time denied that testimony or any part thereof, which has so long since been published with that Book, as one of the three witnesses. Those who know me best, well know that I have always adhered to that testimony. And that no man may be misled or doubt my present views in regard to the same, I do again affirm the truth of all of my statements, as then made and published. He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear; it was no delusion!"
To the "Proclamation" Whitmer attached an affidavit attesting to his honesty and standing in the community. Whitmer ordered that his testimony to the Book of Mormon be placed on his tombstone.
In response to a question by Anthony Metcalf, Whitmer attempted to clarify the "spiritual" versus "natural" viewing of the plates:
In regards to my testimony to the visitation of the angel, who declared to us Three Witnesses that the Book of Mormon is true, I have this to say: Of course we were in the spirit when we had the view, for no man can behold the face of an angel, except in a spiritual view, but we were in the body also, and everything was as natural to us, as it is at any time. Martin Harris, you say, called it 'being in vision.' We read in the Scriptures, Cornelius saw, in a vision, an angel of God. Daniel saw an angel in a vision, also in other places it states they saw an angel in the spirit. A bright light enveloped us where we were, that filled at noon day, and there in a vision, or in the spirit, we saw and heard just as it is stated in my testimony in the Book of Mormon. I am now passed eighty-two years old, and I have a brother, J. J. Snyder, to do my writing for me, at my dictation. David Whitmer.
The following table shows which interviews were cited in the following publications:
- Kenneth W. Godfrey, "David Whitmer and the Shaping of Latter-day Saint History," in The Disciple As Witness: Essays on Latter-Day Saint History and Doctrine in Honor of Richard Lloyd Anderson, edited by Richard Lloyd Anderson, Stephen D. Ricks, Donald W. Parry, and Andrew H. Hedges, Provo: FARMS, 2000, pp. 223–56.
- Lyndon W. Cook, David Whitmer Interviews, Grandin Book, 1991.
- Dan Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, Vol. V, Signature Books, 2003.
- John W. Welch and Erick B. Carlson eds., Opening the Heavens, Accounts of Divine Manifestations 1820–1844, Deseret Book, 2005. Twenty-one interviews were cited, the "x-#" refers to the document number in this volume only.
- Richard Lloyd Anderson, Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses, Deseret Book, 1981.
| Interviewer | Interview Date | Name of Publication | Publication Date | Godfrey | Cook | Vogel | Welch | Anderson |
| Eber D. Howe | 1834 | Mormonism Unvailed | 1834 | x | ||||
| Lumon Andros Shurtliff | 21 August 1836 | Autobriography, LDS Church Archives | 1852–1876 | x | ||||
| Thomas B. Marsh | 1838 | Deseret News | 24 March 1858 | x | x | |||
| David H. Cannon | 1861 | Beatrice Cannon Evans and Janath Russell Cannon, eds. Cannon Family Historical Treasury, 250. | 1967 | x | ||||
| David H. Cannon | 1861 | A. Karl Larson and Katherine Miles Larson, eds., Diary of Charles Lowell Walker, 1773—74,. | 1980 | x | x | x | ||
| Davis H. Bays | 13 September 1869 | Saints' Herald | 1 November 1869 | x | x | |||
| Henry Moon | 9 January 1872 | Deseret Evening News | 10 April 1872 | x | x | x | ||
| Eri B. Mullin | 1874 | Saints' Herald 27, 76 | 1 March 1880 | x | x | x-83 | ||
| James Caffall | August 1874 | Saints' Herald | 15 September 1874 | x | x | |||
| Mark H. Forscutt | 2 March 1875 | Scrapbook, 16-17, reproduced in Inez Smith Davis The Story of the Church. Independence, Missouri: Herald House, 75 | 1964 | x | ||||
| Chicago Times reporter | August 1875 | ' | 7 August 1875 | x | x | x | ||
| Dr. James N. Seymour | 8 December 1875 | Saints' Herald 26, 223 | 1879 | x | x | x | ||
| Thomas Wood Smith | January 1876 | Fall River Herald | 28 March 1879 | x | x-80 | |||
| Thomas Wood Smith | January 1876 | Saints' Herald 27, 13 | 1 January 1880 | x | x | x-82 | ||
| Edward Stevenson | 22—23 December 1877 | Diary of Edward Stevenson, LDS Church Archives | x | x | x | |||
| Edward Stevenson | 22—23 December 1877 | Journal History, LDS Church Archives | x | x | ||||
| Edward Stevenson | 22—23 December 1877 | Salt Lake Herald | 2 February 1878 | x | x | |||
| Edward Stevenson | 22—23 December 1877 | Reminiscences of Joseph, the Prophet and the Coming Forth of the Book of Mormon | 1893 | x | ||||
| Joseph Smith III | 2 February 1878 | Community of Christ Library Archives | x | x | ||||
| P. Wilhelm Poulson | 13 August 1878 | Deseret Evening News | 16 August 1878 | x | x | x-79 | x | |
| Orson Pratt, Joseph F. Smith | 7—8 September 1878 | Joseph F. Smith Diary, LDS Church Archives | x | x | ||||
| Orson Pratt, Joseph F. Smith | 7—8 September 1878 | Deseret News | 16 November 1878 | x | ||||
| Orson Pratt, Joseph F. Smith | 7—8 September 1878 | Orson Pratt correspondence, LDS Church Archives | x | x | x | |||
| Orson Pratt, Joseph F. Smith | 7—8 September 1878 | Andrew Jenson, Historical Record 6, 1886, 210. | 1886 | x-78 | ||||
| Orson Pratt, Joseph F. Smith | 7—8 September 1878 | Joseph F. Smith Collection, LDS Church Archives | x | |||||
| Orson Pratt, Joseph F. Smith | 7—8 September 1878 | Brian H. Stuy. Collected Discourses, Burbank: B.H.S. Pub. vol 2 | 1987–92 | x | ||||
| William E. McLellin | June 1879 | William E. McLellin Collection, New York Public Library. | 14 August 1880 | x | x | |||
| J. L. Traughber Jr. | October 1879 | Saints' Herald 26, 341 | 15 November 1879 | x | x-81 | |||
| J. L. Traughber | October 1879 | T. A. Schroeder Papers, New York Public Library. | 21 August 1901 | |||||
| Heman C. Smith | 5 December 1876 | Community of Christ Library Archives | x | x | ||||
| John Murphy | June 1880 | Hamiltonian | 21 January 1881 | x | x | |||
| John Murphy | June 1880 | Kingston Times | 16 December 1887 | x | ||||
| E. S. Gilbert | 1 August 1880 | New Light on Mormonism by Ellen E. Dickson, New York: Funk and Wagnalls. | 1885 | x | ||||
| David Whitmer | 19 March 1881 | "Proclamation" - Leaflet | 19 March 1881 | x | x | |||
| David Whitmer | 19 March 1881 | "Proclamation" in Richmond Conservator | 24 March 1881 | x | x | |||
| David Whitmer | 19 March 1881 | "Proclamation" in Hamiltonian | 8 April 1881 | x | ||||
| David Whitmer | 19 March 1881 | "Proclamation" in Saints' Herald | 1 June 1881 | x | ||||
| David Whitmer | 19 March 1881 | "Proclamation" in "Address to All Believers in Christ" | 1 April 1887 | x | ||||
| Jesse R. Badham | 20 March 1881 | Diary of Jesse R. Badham, RLDS Church Library—Archives | x | x | x | |||
| Jesse R. Badham | 20 March 1881 | Saints' Herald | 1 April 1881 | x | x | x | ||
| Kansas City Daily Journal reporter | 1 June 1881 | ' | 5 June 1881 | x | x-84 | x | ||
| David Whitmer's corrections to Kansas City Daily Journal | Kansas City Daily Journal | 19 June 1881 | x | x-85 | ||||
| Chicago Times correspondent | 14 October 1881 | ' | 17 October 1881 | x | x-86 | x | ||
| Edwin Gordon Woolley | 1882 | Diary of Edwin Gordon Woolley, BYU Library—Archives | x | x | x | |||
| Edwin Gordon Woolley | 1882 | E. G. Woolley Biography, BYU Library—Archives | x | |||||
| William H. Kelley, G. A. Blakeslee | 15 January 1882 | Saints' Herald 29, 68 | 1 March 1882 | x | x-87 | x | ||
| Joseph Smith III et al. | 4 April 1882 | Saints' Herald | 1 May 1882 | x | x | x | ||
| John Morgan, Matthias F. Cowley | 13 April 1882 | John Morgan Diary, LDS Church Archives | x | x | x | |||
| John Morgan, Matthias F. Cowley | 13 April 1882 | Arthur M. Richardson and Nicholas G. Morgan.The Life and Ministry of John Morgan. 323 | 1965 | x | x | x | ||
| John Morgan, Matthias F. Cowley | 13 April 1882 | Diary of Matthias F. Cowley, LDS Church Archives | x | x | x | |||
| J. W. Chatburn | No date | Saints' Herald | 15 June 1882 | x | ||||
| S. T. Mouch | 18 November 1882 | Whitmer Papers, Community of Christ Library Archives. | x | x | ||||
| Moroni Pratt, S. R. Marks, et al. | 30 June 1883 | Bear Lake Democrat | 3 & 14 July 1883 | x | x | x | ||
| Moroni Pratt, S. R. Marks, et al. | 30 June 1883 | Deseret News | 19 & 21 July 1883 | x | x | x | ||
| James H. Hart | 21 August 1883 | James H. Hart Notebook | x | |||||
| James H. Hart | 23 August 1883 | Deseret Evening News | 4 September 1883 | x | x | |||
| James H. Hart | 21 August 1883 | Bear Lake Democrat | 15 September 1883 | x | ||||
| James H. Hart | 21 August 1883 | Contributor 5, 9–10 | October 1883 | x | x | |||
| James H. Hart | 21 August 1883 | "An Interview with David Whitmer in August, 1883" | 1883 | x | ||||
| George Q. Cannon | 27 February 1884 | George Q. Cannon Journal, LDS Church Archives | x | x-90 | ||||
| George Q. Cannon | 27 February 1884 | Instructor 80, 520 | 1945 | x | ||||
| James H. Hart | 10 March 1884 | Deseret Evening News | 25 March 1884 | x | x-89 | |||
| James H. Hart | 10 March 1884 | Deseret Evening News | 10 April 1884 | x | ||||
| James H. Hart | 10 March 1884 | Bear Lake Democrat | 28 March 1884 | x | ||||
| E. C. Briggs, Rudolph Etzenhouser | 25 April 1884 | Saints' Herald 31, 396–97 | 21 June 1884 | x | x-88 | |||
| J. Frank McDowell | 8 May 1884 | Saints' Herald | 22 July and 9 August 1884 | x | x | x | ||
| Heman C. Smith, William H. Kelley | 19 June 1884 | Saints' Herald 31, 442 | 12 July 1884 | x | x | x | x | |
| Heman C. Smith, William H. Kelley | 19 June 1884 | Joseph Smith III, Heman C. Smith, and F. Henry Edwards. The History of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Independence, Missouri: Herald House, 4:448–49 | 1968 | x | x | |||
| Joseph Smith III et al. | mid-July 1884 | Saints' Herald | 28 January 1936 | x | ||||
| St. Louis Republican | mid-July 1884 | St. Louis Republican | 16 July 1884 | x | x-91 | |||
| Unknown | July 1884 | "The True Book of Mormon" unknown newspaper clipping in William H. Samson Scrapbook, 18:76–77, Rochester Public Library. | July 1884 | x | ||||
| B. H. Roberts | 1884 | Contributor 9, 169 | March 1888 | x | ||||
| B. H. Roberts | 1884 | Millennial Star 50, 120 | 20 February 1888 | x | ||||
| B. H. Roberts | 1884 | Conference Report, 126 | October 1926 | x | ||||
| Editor | 9 January 1885 | Richmond Conservator | 9 January 1885 | x | x | |||
| Zenas H. Gurley | 14 January 1885 | Gurley Collection, LDS Church Archives | January 21, 1885 | x | x-92 | |||
| Zenas H. Gurley | 14 January 1885 | Autumn Leaves 5, 452 | 1892 | x | ||||
| E. C. Brand | 8 February 1885 | Kingston Times | 23 December 1887 | x | ||||
| Franklin D. Richards and Charles C. Richards | 25 May 1885 | Charles C. Richards, "An Address Delivered by Charles C. Richards at the Sacrament Meeting Held in SLC, UT, Sunday Evening, April 20, 1947," signed. LDS Church Archives. | 1947 | x | ||||
| James H. Moyle | 28 June 1885 | James H. Moyle Journal, LDS Church Archives | x | x | ||||
| James H. Moyle | 28 June 1885 | 24 November 1928 reminiscence | x | |||||
| James H. Moyle | 28 June 1885 | Conference Report | April 1930 | x | ||||
| James H. Moyle | 28 June 1885 | Deseret News | 2 August 1944 | x | ||||
| James H. Moyle | 28 June 1885 | Instructor | 1945 | x | x | |||
| Chicago Tribune correspondent | 15 December 1885 | ' | 17 December 1885 | x | x-93 | x | ||
| Edward Stevenson | 9 February 1886 | Diary of Edward Stevenson, LDS Church Archives | x | |||||
| Edward Stevenson | 9 February 1886 | Millennial Star | 8 March 1886 | x | ||||
| Edward Stevenson | 9 February 1886 | Utah Journal | 10 March 1886 | x | ||||
| Nathan Tanner, Jr. | 13 April 1886 | Nathan Tanner, Jr. Journal, LDS Church Archives | x | x | ||||
| Nathan Tanner, Jr. | 13 April 1886 | Tanner reminiscence, LDS Church Archives | x | |||||
| Nathan Tanner, Jr. | May 1886 | Nathan A. Tanner, Jr. to Nathan A. Tanner, LDS Church Archives | 17 February 1909 | x-98 | ||||
| Omaha Herald correspondent | 10 October 1886 | Omaha Herald | 17 October 1886 | x | x-94 | x | ||
| Omaha Herald correspondent | 10 October 1886 | Chicago Inter-Ocean | 17 October 1886 | x-94 | ||||
| Omaha Herald correspondent | 10 October 1886 | Saints' Herald, 33:706 | 13 November 1886 | x-94 | ||||
| D. C. Dunbar | 10 October 1886 | Dunbar correspondence, LDS Church Archives | x | |||||
| M. J. Hubble | 13 November 1886 | Missouri State Historical Society, Columbia, Missouri | x | x-95 | ||||
| Edward Stevenson | 2 January 1887 | Diary of Edward Stevenson, LDS Church Archives | x | |||||
| Edward Stevenson | 2 January 1887 | Juvenile Instructor | 15 February 1887 | x | ||||
| Edward Stevenson | 2 January 1887 | Millennial Star | 14 February 1887 | x | ||||
| David Whitmer | "An Address to All Believers in Christ: By a Witness to the Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon", Richmond, Missouri | 1887 | x | x-96 | x | |||
| Edward Stevenson | 2 January 1887 | Juvenile Instructor | 1 January 1889 | x | ||||
| Sister Gates | 11 February 1887 | Whitmer Papers, Community of Christ Library Archives. | x | x | ||||
| Robert Nelson | 15 February 1887 | Whitmer Papers, Community of Christ Library Archives. | x | x | ||||
| Anthony Metcalf | March 1887 | Ten Years Before the Mast, 74 | 1888 Malad, Idaho | x | ||||
| Angus M. Cannon | 7 January 1888 | Angus M. Cannon Diary, LDS Church Archives | x | x | x | |||
| Angus M. Cannon | 7 January 1888 | Deseret Evening News | 13 February 1888 | x | x | x | x | |
| Chicago Tribune correspondent | 23 January 1888 | Chicago Tribune | 24 January 1888 | x | ||||
| Unidentified Chicago man | Chicago Times | 26 January 1888 | x | x | x | x | ||
| Richmond Conservator report | 26 January 1888 | Richmond Conservator | 26 January 1888 | x | x | x | x | |
| Richmond Democrat report | January 1888 | Richmond Democrat | 26 January 1888 | x | x | |||
| Richmond Democrat report | January 1888 | Richmond Democrat | 2 February 1888 | x-97 | x | |||
| John C. Whitmer | September 1888 | Deseret News | 13 & 17 September 1888 | x | ||||
| John C. Whitmer | September 1888 | Saints' Herald | 13 October 1888 | x | ||||
| George W. Schweich | 1899 | Woodbridge I. Riley. The Founder of Mormonism. New York: Dodd, Mead and Co., 1903, 219–20. | 22 September 1899 | x | x | |||
| Philander Page | January 25, 1888 | George Edward Anderson Diary, Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum, 27–28. | 1907 | x | ||||
| John J. Snyder | 1886–87 | W. H. Cadman. A History of the Church of Jesus Christ, Organized at Green Oak, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., in the Year 1862. Monongola, Pennsylvania: The Church of Jesus Christ, 1945, 24–25. | 10 October 1928 | x |