26 Facts About David Whitmer

David Whitmer was an early leader of the Latter Day Saint Movement and one of the Three Witnesses to the gold plates of the Book of Mormon.

David Whitmer was the most interviewed Book of Mormon witness.

David Whitmer was born near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on January 7,1805, the fourth of nine children of Peter David Whitmer Sr.

David Whitmer's grandfather was George Witmer, who was born in Prussia, and his great-grandfather was born in Switzerland.

David Whitmer had five brothers and three sisters, one of which died in 1813 in her infancy.

On March 12,1825, David Whitmer was elected sergeant in a newly organized militia called the Seneca Grenadiers.

David Whitmer first heard of Mormonism and the golden plates in 1828 when he made a business trip to Palmyra, New York, and talked with his friend Oliver Cowdery, who believed that there "must be some truth to the matter".

Cowdery continued to write David Whitmer letters concerning the matter, which David Whitmer then shared with his parents and siblings.

David Whitmer was baptized in June 1829, nearly a year prior to the formal organization of the Church of Christ.

Later, in an 1878 testimony, David Whitmer claimed to have seen a light, "not like the light of the sun, nor like that of a fire, but more glorious and beautiful".

David Whitmer then went on to describe a table appearing with the golden plates, the Urim and Thummim, and other objects referenced in the Book of Mormon narrative.

When Smith organized the Church of Christ on April 6,1830, David Whitmer was one of six original members.

In 1835, David Whitmer assisted Cowdery and Harris in selecting and ordaining the first Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the church.

David Whitmer participated in some of the earliest missionary trips, accompanying Joseph Smith and baptizing new converts.

David 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.

On July 7,1834, Smith ordained David Whitmer to be the president of the church in Missouri and his own successor, should Smith "not live to God".

Cowdery and David Whitmer were called to "search out" twelve "disciples", who would become the Quorum of the Twelve.

Phelps and John David Whitmer presided over the church in Missouri until the summer of 1837.

David Whitmer was formally excommunicated from the church on the grounds of breaking the Word of Wisdom, neglecting his leadership duties, meeting with the other "Kirtland apostates", and circulating unfavorable information about Joseph Smith.

David Whitmer continued to live in Richmond, where he operated a livery stable and was elected mayor, a position he held from 1867 to 1868.

At McLellin's urging, David Whitmer exercised his claim to be Smith's successor and the Church of Christ was formed in Kirtland, Ohio.

However, David Whitmer never joined the body of the new church and it dissolved relatively quickly.

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, David Whitmer published a pamphlet entitled "An Address to All Believers in Christ", in which he affirmed his testimony of the Book of Mormon, but denounced the other branches of the Latter Day Saint movement.

In 1880, John Murphy interviewed David Whitmer and later published an account suggesting that perhaps David Whitmer's experience was a "delusion or perhaps a cunning scheme".

David Whitmer ordered that his testimony to the Book of Mormon be placed on his tombstone.