New Witnesses for God (Volume 2 of 3)

by B. H. Roberts

JACOB WHITMER.

Jacob Whitmer was thirty years of age when he saw the plates, having been born on the 27th of January, 1800. He, too, passed through the trying scenes incident to the expulsion of the Latter-day Saints from Jackson county. But after enduring well for a season he left the Church, in 1838, making his home near Richmond, in Ray county, Missouri. Here he lived a quiet, retired life, and reared his family in respectability; his eldest son, David P. Whitmer, rising to some local prominence as a lawyer, and serving one or two terms as mayor of Richmond. To the day of his death—which occurred April 21, 1856—Jacob Whitmer was true to his testimony of the truth of the Book of Mormon. Though he severed his relations with the Church, because he did not agree with the policy of the leading elders, he continued true to the special trust God had committed to him—an actual knowledge of the existence of the Nephite record—as long as he lived.

PETER WHITMER, JR.

This Witness for the existence of the Nephite Record was in his twentieth year at the time he examined the plates and held them in his hands. On meeting with the Prophet Joseph, on the occasion of the latter coming to reside at the home of his father, Peter Whitmer, Sen., in Fayette township, 1829, a firm friendship immediately sprang up between them. Peter Whitmer, Jr., seems to have been one of those gentle, loving natures that finds its greatest enjoyment and usefulness in giving its allegiance to some more rugged character on whose strength it can lean, in whose courage it can find strength. He entered with enthusiasm into the work of God coming forth under the inspired words and movements of his friend Joseph, the Prophet. He was among the first to join the Church, and when, in September, 1830, a mission was appointed to the Lamanites (American Indians), under the leadership of Oliver Cowdery, young Whitmer was especially appointed to accompany him, and commanded to be afflicted in all his (Oliver's) afflictions, "ever lifting up your heart unto me in prayer, and faith for his and your deliverance."^[[9]] The missionaries to the Lamanites traveled on foot from central New York to the western borders of Missouri, a distance of more than one thousand miles, and that chiefly in winter time, when storms and mud and cold had to be encountered. Peter Whitmer, Jr., remained in western Missouri, and assisted the Saints in settling Jackson county (1831-1833), where, in common with the Saints who gathered from the east, he saw the rise of that persecution which culminated in the expulsion of the Saints from that country. With many of his exiled co-religionists he found a temporary home near Liberty, Clay county, Missouri, where he died on the 22nd of September, 1836; and was buried by the side of his brother Christian, who had died in the same neighborhood less than a year before. Consumption was the immediate cause of his death, which was doubtless hastened by exposure, in the course of his missionary labors and the hardships he was forced to endure by reason of his expulsion from Jackson county. This young man—he was but twenty-seven when he died—remained true to his testimony through the seven years of toil and suffering that he lived after God called him to be a Witness for the truth of the Book of Mormon; and his fidelity to his trust under all circumstances, adds weight to the solemn words of testimony to which he signed his name in June, 1829.

JOHN WHITMER.

The fourth of the Eight Witnesses, John Whitmer, was twenty-seven years of age when he beheld the plates of the Nephite record. He was a young man of considerable promise, and upon the coming of Joseph Smith to his father's house, became not only his enthusiastic friend, but rendered him considerable assistance in writing as the Prophet dictated the translation of the Book of Mormon. John Whitmer was Church Historian for a number of years; for a time editor of the Messenger and Advocate, the second periodical published by the Church (Kirtland, Ohio, 1834-1837). He was also prominent in the affairs of the Church in Missouri, being one of the assistant presidents of the Church, his brother David and William W. Phelps being the president and other assistant respectively. He endured the hardships incident to the persecutions of the Saints in that land. When settlements were being formed in the new county of Caldwell, John Whitmer was prominently connected with the land purchases made. Indeed it was largely owing to some irregularities connected with the business, and some misunderstanding with the Prophet and other leading brethren in the Church, that finally resulted in his excommunication, in March, 1838.

After the expulsion of the Church from Missouri, in the winter of 1838-9, John Whitmer purchased the greater part of the townsite of Far West, which soon reverted to farming lands; and here John Whitmer continued to live, making farming his principal occupation, until his death in July, 1878. Though his relations with the Church were severed John Whitmer, up to the very close of his life, continued to bear witness that his testimony published in connection with the Book of Mormon was true. From it he never deviated. It was his testimony when living; it remains his testimony now that he is dead, unimpaired in its force by any word of his, though he was much offended at the Prophet Joseph, and for forty years had no standing in the Church. One can but regret the events which resulted in his severance from the Church, but one is compelled to admire his fidelity to the trust imposed in him by the Prophet when he made him a Witness for the existence of the Nephite record, in the presence of temptation to take a different course in the hour of his great darkness.

HIRAM PAGE.

This is the only Witness of the Eight not either a Whitmer or a Smith. He was a son-in-law, however, to Peter Whitmer, Sen., having married Catherine Whitmer, in 1825. He was but a young man when he became a Witness to the existence of the Nephite plates, having been born in the year 1800, in the state of Vermont. He was living at Fayette, with the Whitmers when the Prophet and Oliver Cowdery arrived there in the spring of 1829. He entered into the work with enthusiasm, and for some years was a faithful member of the Church. He followed the westward movement of the Saints from New York to Ohio and thence to Missouri. He shared in the persecutions of the Church in Jackson county; in common with his co-religionists he fled to Clay county; and subsequently settled in Caldwell county. When the trouble arose in the Church at Far West, in 1838, Hiram Page followed the fortune of the Whitmers, severed his relations with the Church and finally made his home near Excelsior Springs, some fourteen miles north and a little west of Richmond, Missouri, where he died in August, 1852. Like his fellow Witnesses he remained true to his testimony. His oldest son, Philander Page, in 1888, said to Elder Andrew Jenson:

"I knew my father to be true and faithful to his testimony of the divinity of the Book of Mormon until the very last. Whenever he had an opportunity to bear his testimony to this effect, he would always do so, and seemed to rejoice exceedingly in having been privileged to see the plates and thus become one of the Eight Witnesses. I can also testify that Jacob, John and David Whitmer and Oliver Cowdery died in full faith in the divinity of the Book of Mormon. I was with all these Witnesses on their death-beds and heard each of them bear his testimony." John C. Whitmer, a nephew of Hiram Page by marriage, also testified in the presence of Elder Jenson: "I was closely connected with Hiram Page in business transactions and other matters, he being married to my aunt. I knew him at all times and under all circumstances to be true to his testimony concerning the divinity of the Book of Mormon."^[[10]]