Official first members
According to what is now known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), the first six members of the church were: [1]
Not shown: Peter Whitmer, Jr.
Early participants in the Latter Day Saint movement consist of those individuals who were involved in Joseph Smith's Latter Day Saint movement prior to Smith's departure for Ohio in January 1831. Early participants also included the Three Witnesses and the Eight Witnesses to the Book of Mormon and members of the extended Whitmer and Smith families. Other early members included friends and acquaintances of the Smith and Whitmer families, such as Orrin Porter Rockwell.
According to what is now known as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), the first six members of the church were: [1]
Early membership also included the remainder of the Smith family of Manchester: Joseph Smith, Sr., Lucy Mack Smith, [2] Calvin Stoddard and wife Sophronia Smith Stoddard, [3] [4] William Smith, [2] Katharine Smith, [2] Don Carlos Smith, [2] and Lucy Smith. [2]
John Whitmer was baptized into the movement as early as June 1829, nearly a year prior to the formal organization of the Church. The Whitmer family and their spouses who were early members included: Hiram Page [4] and his wife Catherine Whitmer Page, Jacob Whitmer and his wife Elizabeth Schott Whitmer, Christian Whitmer and his wife Anne Schott Whitmer, [2] [4] Elizabeth Ann Whitmer, Peter Whitmer, Sr. and his wife Mary Musselman Whitmer. [4]
Early members from the Rockwell family include Sarah Witt Rockwell and her children Orrin Porter Rockwell, [4] Caroline, Electa and Peter. [4] Members from the Jolly family included Elizabeth, Vincent, William, Harriet, John and Julia Ann Jolly. [4]
Solomon Chamberlain wrote in his 1858 autobiography that he was baptized shortly after the organization of the church. [4] [5]
Ziba Peterson was baptized on April 18. [4] Ezra Thayre was baptized on October 10, 1830. [6]
Preserved Harris, Martin Harris's brother. [3]
The Latter Day Saint movement experienced major milestones at its organizations, its conference, and its relocation to Ohio.
On April 6, 1830, Joseph Smith Jr., Oliver Cowdery, and a group of approximately 50 believers met to formally organize the Church of Christ into a legal institution. [7]
The new church's first conference was held on June 9, 1830, in Fayette, N.Y., with 27 members. [8] [9]
In January 1831, Joseph Smith traveled to Kirtland, Ohio.
According to one scholar, the first known baptisms include: [4]
| Name | Date of baptism | Comments |
|---|---|---|
| Joseph Smith Jr. | May 15, 1829 | |
| Oliver Cowdery | May 15, 1829 | |
| Samuel H. Smith | May 24, 1829 | |
| Hyrum Smith | June 1829 | |
| Joseph Smith Sr. | April 6, 1830 | |
| Lucy Mack Smith | April 6, 1830 | |
| Martin Harris | April 6, 1830 | |
| David Whitmer | June 1829 & April 6, 1830 | |
| Peter Whitmer Jr. | June 1829 | |
| Orrin Porter Rockwell | April 6, 1830 | |
| Sarah Witt Rockwell | April 6, 1830 | |
| Solomon Chamberlain | "a few days" after April 6, 1830 |
The Angel Moroni is an angel whom Joseph Smith reported as having visited him on numerous occasions, beginning on September 21, 1823. According to Smith, the angel was the guardian of the golden plates, buried in the hill Cumorah near Smith's home in western New York; Latter Day Saints believe the plates were the source material for the Book of Mormon. An important figure in the theology of the Latter Day Saint movement, Moroni is featured prominently in Mormon architecture and art. Besides Smith, the Three Witnesses and several other witnesses also reported that they saw Moroni in visions in 1829.
The Church of Christ, informally called Hedrickites and the Church of Christ , is a denomination of the Latter Day Saint movement headquartered in Independence, Missouri, on what is known as the Temple Lot. The nickname for members of the church comes from the surname of Granville Hedrick, who was ordained as the church's leader in July 1863. Unlike The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and Community of Christ, the Temple Lot church rejects the office of prophet or president, being instead led by its Quorum of Twelve Apostles. The church also rejects the doctrines of baptism for the dead and celestial marriage promulgated by the Utah-based LDS Church, as well as the Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price. While once avidly engaged in dialogue with other Latter Day Saint factions, the church no longer has any official contact with any other organization. It is notable for its sole ownership of the Temple Lot, which it has held for nearly 150 years. As of 2013, membership is 7,310 members in 11 countries. Most of the members live in the United States, but there are parishes in Canada, Mexico, Honduras, Nigeria, Kenya, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Tanzania, India, and the Philippines.
Oliver H. P. Cowdery was, with Joseph Smith, an important participant in the formative period of the Latter Day Saint movement between 1829 and 1836. He was the first baptized Latter Day Saint, one of the Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon's golden plates, one of the first Latter Day Saint apostles, and the Second Elder of the church.
The Church of Christ was the original name of the Latter Day Saint church founded by Joseph Smith. Organized informally in 1829 in New York and then formally on April 6, 1830, it was the first organization to implement the principles found in Smith's newly published Book of Mormon, and thus represents the formal beginning of the Latter Day Saint movement. Later names for this organization included the Church of the Latter Day Saints, the Church of Jesus Christ, the Church of God, the Church of Christ of Latter Day Saints, and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
The Latter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate, often shortened to Messenger and Advocate, was an early Latter Day Saint monthly newspaper published in Kirtland, Ohio, from October 1834 to September 1837. It was the successor to The Evening and the Morning Star and the predecessor to the Elders' Journal.
The Latter Day Saint movement is a religious movement within Christianity that arose during the Second Great Awakening in the early 19th century and that led to the set of doctrines, practices, and cultures called Mormonism, and to the existence of numerous Latter Day Saint churches. Its history is characterized by intense controversy and persecution in reaction to some of the movement's doctrines and practices and their relationship to mainstream Christianity. The purpose of this article is to give an overview of the different groups, beliefs, and denominations that began with the influence of Joseph Smith.
David Whitmer was an early adherent of the Latter Day Saint movement who eventually became the most interviewed of the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon's golden plates.
Mary Elsa Musselman Whitmer was a Book of Mormon witness and the wife of Peter Whitmer Sr.
Thomas Baldwin Marsh was an early leader in the Latter-day Saint movement and an original member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who served as the quorum's first president in the Church of the Latter Day Saints from 1835 to 1838. He withdrew from the church in 1838, was excommunicated from it in 1839, and remained disaffected for almost 19 years. Marsh was rebaptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in July 1857, but never again served in church leadership positions.
John Whitmer was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement. He was one of the Eight Witnesses of the Book of Mormon's golden plates. Whitmer was also the first official Church Historian and a member of the presidency of the church in Missouri.
Samuel Harrison Smith was a younger brother of Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. Samuel was a leader in his own right and a successful missionary. Smith is commonly regarded as the first Latter Day Saint missionary following the organization of the Church of Christ by his brother, Joseph. One of the Eight Witnesses to the Book of Mormon's golden plates, Samuel Smith remained devoted to his church throughout his life.
Hiram Page was an early member of the Latter Day Saint movement and one of the Eight Witnesses to the Book of Mormon's golden plates.
Peter Whitmer Jr. was the sixth child and fifth son of Peter Whitmer Sr. and Mary Musselman. He is primarily remembered as one of the Eight Witnesses of the Book of Mormon's golden plates.
The life of Joseph Smith from 1827 to 1830, when he was 22–25 years old, includes some of his life's most significant events, and some of the most important history of the Latter Day Saint movement, the Restorationist religious movement he initiated during this period. This movement gave rise to Mormonism, and includes such denominations as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Community of Christ. The period covered by this article begins in late 1827, after Smith announced he had obtained a book of golden Plates buried in a hill, guarded by an angel, near his home in Manchester, New York. See Early life of Joseph Smith Because of opposition by former treasure-seeking colleagues who believed they owned a share of the golden plates, Smith prepared to leave the Palmyra area for his wife's home town of Harmony, Pennsylvania. From late 1827 to the end of 1830, Smith would translate the golden plates, publish the Book of Mormon, and establish the Church of Christ.
The Book of Mormon witnesses are a group of contemporaries of Joseph Smith who claimed to have seen the golden plates from which Smith translated the Book of Mormon. The most significant witnesses are the Three Witnesses and the Eight Witnesses, all of whom allowed their names to be used on two separate statements included with the Book of Mormon. None of the witnesses ever denied what they saw.
Phineas Howe Young was a prominent early convert in the Latter Day Saint movement and was later a Mormon pioneer and a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Phineas Young was an older brother of Brigham Young, who was the president of the LDS Church and the first governor of the Territory of Utah.
The Peter Whitmer log home is a historic site located in Fayette, New York, United States, owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The current house is a replica of the original log cabin and at its original site, and was built in 1980 to mark the sesquicentennial of the founding of the church. In the early 19th century, it was the home of Peter Whitmer, Sr., his wife Mary Musselman Whitmer, and their eight children: Christian, Jacob, John, David, Catherine, Peter Jr., Nancy, and Elizabeth Ann, who lived on the property from 1809–1830. The house is prominent in the early history of the Latter Day Saint movement as the traditional location of the formal organization of the Church of Christ, the original name of the church founded by Joseph Smith on April 6, 1830, and is near the site where The Three Witnesses were shown the golden plates by the Angel Moroni in 1829. Joseph Smith and his wife Emma lived in the home with the Whitmers for six months in 1829, with a large part of the Book of Mormon being translated during that time. The house and adjacent visitor center are open year-round for public tours.
This is a chronology of Mormonism. In the late 1820s, Joseph Smith, founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, announced that an angel had given him a set of golden plates engraved with a chronicle of ancient American peoples, which he had a unique gift to translate. In 1830, he published the resulting narratives as the Book of Mormon and founded the Church of Christ in western New York, claiming it to be a restoration of early Christianity.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the life and influence of Joseph Smith:
Note 3:David Whitmer estimated the number at fifty, although as many as seventy-three could have been in attendance. See [Larry C.] Porter, "Organizational Origins," 153-55