MISSOURI MORMON FRONTIER FOUNDATION and JOHN WHITMER HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

 

Co-sponsored a
Commemoration at the John Whitmer Grave, Kingston, Missouri

Saturday, 25 September 1999

Contributions are invited for forthcoming markers.

John Whitmer Interpretive Marker Unveiling

Whitmer Descendants Unveil New Marker

An interpretive marker was unveiled at the John and Sarah Whitmer gravesite, in the Kingston Cemetery, Kingston, Caldwell County, Missouri

Two mid-west oriented Latter Day Saint related historical organizations, Missouri Mormon Frontier Foundation and John Whitmer Historical Association, teamed up to accomplish this exciting commemorative marker project honoring John Whitmer, an early pioneer of Caldwell County, Missouri. A new interpretive marker was erected at the grave site of John and Sarah Whitmer providing historical information about the John Whitmer family, their contribution to northern Missouri history, and how they came to be buried at Kingston Kingston Cemetery, Kingston, Missouri.

Family and friends of John Whitmer gathered at the grave site for the 2:15 p.m. Saturday afternoon commemoration. About one hundred participants were present as descendants of the family unveiled of the new stone marker.

Who was John Whitmer?

John Whitmer was an important figure in the early church movement founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. As the movement developed in the early 1830s, his extended family affiliated with the church in New York State where John served as a witness to the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. The family followed the church west, first to Ohio, then Missouri. During forced migrations while in Missouri, John served as a church administrator. As the movement's first historian, Whitmer's manuscript history provides a vital view into many founding events of Mormonism. Following a break with Joseph Smith, Jr., and the church, the Whitmers remained in northern Missouri when the Mormons were expelled from the state. When Mormons fled the town, John and his family moved back to Far West. In addition to his manuscript history, John also produced a draft of Smith's translation of the Holy Scriptures, that he cared for at his home at Far West till his death in 1878.

The marker reads:

John Whitmer                     Sarah Maria Jackson Whitmer

27 August 1802 - 11 July 1878    13 October 1809 - 15 October 1873

This "honest, truth-loving man" and his family played an important role in the Mormon movement.

One of the Eight Witnesses to view the golden plates believed to be the source of the Book of Mormon.

Testified to the truth of the Book of Mormon the rest of his life.

First Church Historian.

Recorder of significant events and careful steward of important documents.

The family lived at Far West, Caldwell County, following the 1838 expulsion of the Mormons from Missouri.

Erected 1999 by

John Whitmer Historical Association
and
Missouri Mormon Frontier Foundation

You may earmark contributions to the MMFF Marker Fund c/o MMFF, Treasurer, P.O. Box 3186, Independence, Missouri 64055, phone: (816) 257-5588