Adam-ondi-Ahman

As Latter-day Saints gathered to dedicate the Kirtland Temple in 1836, they sang “Adam-ondi-Ahman,” a hymn composed by William W. Phelps and included in the newly published Latter-day Saint hymnal. The lyrics celebrated teachings from Joseph Smith’s revelations about a place called Adam-ondi-Ahman, where Adam bestowed his last blessing upon his posterity. The hymn also looked forward to the Savior’s Second Coming, when Adam-ondi-Ahman would be restored to its former beauty and glory.¹

Modern photograph of Adam-ondi-Ahman.

Two years later, while searching for lands the Saints could settle in Daviess County, Missouri, Joseph Smith and a group of Church leaders found a beautiful spot near the Grand River with abundant water, wild game, and grass-covered prairies. Speaking of a prominent knoll in the area called Spring Hill, the Lord in a revelation explained that He had named it “Adam-ondi-Ahman” because “it is the place where Adam shall come to visit his people.”²

The Saints rejoiced at this news, and soon families began moving to the area. They patterned their settlement after the plat of Zion (Joseph Smith’s urban plan for Independence, Missouri) and identified a location for a temple.³ Leaders organized the Adam-ondi-Ahman Stake in 1838, one of the first in the Church.⁴ As many as two hundred homes were built, but the settlement at Adam-ondi-Ahman lasted only a few months. Violence soon erupted between the Latter-day Saints and other Missourians in the fall of 1838, and the Saints at Adam-ondi-Ahman were forced to abandon their homes.

Church Resources

Jacob W. Olmstead, “Far West and Adam-ondi-Ahman: D&C 115, 116, 117,” in Matthew McBride and James Goldberg, eds., Revelations in Context: The Stories behind the Revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2016), 235–41.

“Adam-ondi-Ahman, Missouri,” Historic Sites, history.lds.org.

“Adam-ondi-Ahman,” josephsmithpapers.org.

Bibliography

The following publications provide further information about this topic. By referring or linking you to these resources, we do not endorse or guarantee the content or the views of the authors.

Leland H. Gentry, “Adam-ondi-Ahman: A Brief Historical Survey,” BYU Studies, vol. 13, no. 4 (Summer 1973), 553–76.

Robert J. Matthews, “Adam-ondi-Ahman,” BYU Studies, vol. 13, no. 1 (Autumn 1972), 27–35.

Related Topics: Mormon-Missouri War of 1838, Zion/New Jerusalem, Far West

Notes

1. Several early revelations contained information about Adam-ondi-Ahman. For example, a March 1832 revelation explained that in “pure language,” Ahman is the name of God. See “Sample of Pure Language, between circa 4 and circa 20 March 1832,” in Revelation Book 1, 144, josephsmithpapers.org. See also Robin Scott Jensen, Robert J. Woodford, and Steven C. Harper, eds., Revelations and Translations, Volume 1: Manuscript Revelation Books. Vol. 1 of the Revelations and Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, edited by Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, and Richard Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2011), 204–6. An 1835 revelation now known as Doctrine and Covenants 107 explains that it was in the valley of Adam-ondi-Ahman that Adam bestowed upon his posterity his last blessing (D&C 107:53; see also “Instruction on Priesthood, between circa 1 March and circa 4 May 1835 [D&C 107],” in Doctrine and Covenants, 1835 ed., 86, josephsmithpapers.org).

2. Doctrine and Covenants 116; see also Joseph Smith, “Journal, March–September 1838,” 43–44, josephsmithpapers.org. Joseph Smith later described a future meeting in which Adam, who “presides over the spirits of all men” as the “father of the human family” would “call his children, together” to “prepare them for the coming of the son of man” and “[deliver] up his stewardship to Christ” (“Discourse, between circa 26 June and circa 4 August 1839–A, as Reported by Unknown Scribe,” 2, 3, josephsmithpapers.org).

3. “Plat of the City of Zion, circa Early June–25 June 1833,” josephsmithpapers.org.

4. “Conference Minutes,” Elders’ Journal, vol. 1, no. 4 (Aug. 1838), 60–61, josephsmithpapers.org.