Doctrine and Covenants Historical Resources: David Whitmer, Doctrine and Covenants Historical Resources (2025)
David Whitmer, Doctrine and Covenants Historical Resources (2025)
David Whitmer
(1805–88)
David Whitmer, ca. 1865, photograph by Jacob T. Hicks, copy by Charles W. Carter, Church History Library, PH 5176.
David Whitmer was born near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He played a key role in helping Joseph Smith complete the translation of the Book of Mormon. Following his baptism in June 1829, Whitmer was one of the Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon, and he was later present when The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was officially established on April 6, 1830. Several early revelations were directed in part to Whitmer (Doctrine and Covenants 14; 17; 18; 30). In 1831, he married Julia Ann Jolly. That same year they moved to Kirtland, Ohio, and then to Jackson County, Missouri (Doctrine and Covenants 52:25). In July 1834, Whitmer was appointed president of the Church in Missouri, but he was stripped of that title in February 1838. He was excommunicated the following April and then expelled from Far West, Missouri, in June. In later years he became briefly involved in the church founded by former apostle William E. McLellin, and then in 1875 Whitmer founded the Church of Christ (Whitmerite).
References in the Doctrine and Covenants