Family Background

1805. January 7: Born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, David was the brother of fellow Book of Mormon witnesses Peter, Jacob, John, and Christian Whitmer. His sister Catherine married Hiram Page, and another sister, Elizabeth, married Oliver Cowdery.

Of "Pennsylvania Deutsch" heritage, Whitmer still spoke with a "German twang" in his eightieth year. His family moved to a farm near Seneca Lake, New York, when he was a boy. He was elected sergeant in the local militia, the "Seneca Grenadiers," at age twenty. In 1830 Whitmer married Julia A. Jolley; they had two children.

Book of Mormon Benefactor

1829. June: Whitmer first heard of Joseph Smith and the "gold plates" from his friend Oliver Cowdery in 1828. After receiving a sample of the Book of Mormon translation and several letters from Cowdery, Whitmer made a two-hundred-mile wagon trip to bring Joseph and Oliver from Harmony, Pennsylvania, to his home in Fayette, New York.

The Whitmer family was close to the translation process as the Book of Mormon manuscript increased day by day. Whitmer even served briefly as a scribe in June. His 1887 account relates:

"I will now give you a description of the manner in which the Book of Mormon was translated. Joseph Smith would put the seer stone into a hat, and put his face in the hat, drawing it closely around his face to exclude the light; and in the darkness the spiritual light would shine. A piece of something resembling parchment would appear, and on that appeared the writing. One character at a time would appear, and under it was the interpretation in English. Brother Joseph would read off the English to Oliver Cowdery, who was his principal scribe, and when it was written down and repeated to Brother Joseph to see if it was correct, then it would disappear, and another character with the interpretation would appear. Thus the Book of Mormon was translated by the gift and power of God, and not by any power of man."

Book of Mormon Witness

1829. June: Whitmer, Oliver Cowdery and Martin Harris reported a visitation from the angel Moroni. In 1878 Orson Pratt and Joseph F. Smith recorded an interview with Whitmer in which he said that Moroni had shown the Three Witnesses the "plates of the Book of Mormon, also the sword of Laban, the Directors—i.e., the ball which Lehi had—and the Interpreters. … I heard the voice of the Lord, as distinctly as I ever heard anything in my life, declaring that the records … were translated by the gift and power of God."

For many years Whitmer maintained possession of the "printer's copy" of the Book of Mormon manuscript (in Oliver Cowdery's handwriting). This document is now in the possession of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Whitmer was baptized, confirmed, and ordained an elder by Joseph Smith in June, 1829. In April of the following year he became one of the six original members of the Church.

Joseph Smith's Nominated Successor

1834. July 3: Whitmer was sustained as president of the high council in Missouri. Later in the year he was ordained as Joseph Smith's successor "on condition that he [Joseph Smith] did not live to God himself."

1838. Whitmer was sustained as "President of the Church" in Far West, Missouri—the modern equivalent of stake president.

Dissident

According to a March, 1829, revelation, Joseph Smith was given "a gift to translate the [Book of Mormon], and I have commanded him that he shall pretend to no other gift, for I will grant him no other" (Book of Commandments 4:2). Whitmer opposed Joseph Smith as president of the Church, feeling that the Prophet's only gift was to [p.389] translate the Book of Mormon. The revelation was revised in the 1835 edition of the Doctrine and Covenants to read, "I have commanded that you should pretend to no other gift until my purpose is fulfilled in this; for I will grant unto you no other gift until it is finished."

Whitmer also objected to high priest ordinations, though he himself had been so ordained by Oliver Cowdery at the age of twenty-six. "This error was introduced at the instigation of Sidney Rigdon. The office of high priests was never spoken of, and never thought of being established in the church until Rigdon came in. … Rigdon … would persuade Brother Joseph to inquire of the Lord about this doctrine and that doctrine, and of course a revelation would always come just as they desired it."

Jealous of Rigdon's popularity, Whitmer wrote, "Rigdon was a thorough 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. … Brother Joseph rejoiced, believing that the Lord had sent to him this great and mighty man Sidney Rigdon, to help him in the work. Poor Brother Joseph! He was mistaken."

February 5: A Far West meeting of the "whole Church in Zion" voted to remove David Whitmer, John Whitmer, and W. W. Phelps from their positions as "Presidents of the Church" in Missouri. David Whitmer was accused of persisting "in the use of tea, coffee, and tobacco." All three men allegedly encouraged the sale of Jackson County lands, a transgression which Joseph Smith had earlier declared "a denial of our faith, as that is the place where the Zion of God shall stand, according to our faith and belief in the revelations of God."

April 13: Found guilty of "possessing the same spirit with the dissenters," David Whitmer was excommunicated for failure to observe the Word of Wisdom, neglecting meetings, writing unfavorable letters about Joseph Smith, and signing his name to official Far West documents after being removed from the presidency there.

Fifty years after the fact, Whitmer said, "If you believe my testimony to the Book of Mormon; 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 [p.390] 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 should it be done unto them."

Whitmer left Far West after his excommunication and settled in Richmond, Missouri, where he operated a "Livery and Feed Stable," advertising that "customers may rely on promptness, good turnouts, safe horses, and moderate charges." The Whitmer business, as described by a great-granddaughter, "filled hauling contracts, rented out carriages and buggies, and met two trains a day at Lexington Junction with a beautifully decorated yellow bus."

1839. Spring: When the Mormons were expelled from Far West in the spring of 1839, Whitmer recalled, the local militia "pressed me and my team into service, and I was forced to go and drive a wagon load of baggage to Far West. I told them if I had to go I would take no gun. They said 'all right'; and I took no gun." During the confusion of the evacuation of the city, "he was handed a musket by the soldiery and ordered to shoot Joseph Smith, but threw the musket down, declaring he 'would not harm the Lord's anointed.'"

Whitmer became involved in the leadership of several "reorganizations." In 1848 he gave approval to organize a church in Kirtland around his name and former ordinations, but the collapse of that effort embarrassed him. Thirty years later, he ordained his nephew to organize a new "Church of Christ," claiming an identical organization to the 1829-1830 Church. After his death adherents of this group continued to publish materials supporting his claims.

Union Loyalist

1860. During a Richmond political meeting at which non-secessionists were urged to leave Missouri, Whitmer walked to the platform and delivered a short speech declaring that "no resolutions or threats would cause him to run away. … He was a citizen of the United States, and should remain such. He proposed to live or die under the [p.391] old flag. If anyone desired to shoot him, then was a good time." He walked away a respected man.

Most-Interviewed Witness

During the last years of his life, constantly interviewed about his experiences with the Book of Mormon, Whitmer never denied his testimony. When the Book of Mormon manuscript was examined in 1884 by a committee from the Reorganized Church, Joseph Smith, III, said that a skeptical Richmond military officer suggested to Whitmer that he possibly "had been mistaken and had simply been moved upon by some mental disturbance or hallucination, which had deceived him into thinking he saw" the angel, plates, and Urim and Thummim:

"Elder Whitmer arose and drew himself up to his full height—a little over six feet—and said, in solemn and impressive tones: 'No sir! I was not under any hallucination, nor was I deceived! I saw with these eyes, and I heard with these ears! I know whereof I speak!'"

Death

1888. January 25: Died at the age of eighty-three in Richmond, Missouri, the last surviving witness to the Book of Mormon. Buried in the "new" Richmond Cemetery.

Sources
Anderson, Richard L. Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1981.
Blankmeyer, Helen Van Cleave. David Whitmer: Witness for God. Springfield, Illinois, 1955.
Chicago Times, 26 January 1888.
Chicago Tribune, 17 December 1885.
Durham, Reed C., and Heath, Stephen H. Succession in the Church. Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1970.
Millennial Star, 43:421.
Richardson, Ebbie L. V. "David Whitmer: A Witness to the Divine Authenticity of the Book of Mormon." Master's thesis, Brigham Young University, 1952.
Smith, Mary Audentia, ed., condensed by Vertha Audentia Anderson Hulmes. Joseph Smith III and the Restoration. Independence: Herald House, 1952.
Whitmer, David. An Address to All Believers in Christ. Richmond, Missouri, 1887.
_____. "Letter to Joseph Smith III, 9 December 1886." Saints' Herald 34 (1887):89