David Whitmer

“ Joe Smith cheated the authorities by bribing his guards with Mormon gold, just as he had stated that he would from the beginning. The success of his prediction shows, if other evidence were lacking, that he was a shrewd and daring adventurer, quick to plan and bold to execute, lacking but education to have made him, from a temporal stand-point, the peer of the foremost man of his time. ”

“ Be it known unto all nations, kindreds, tongues, and people, unto whom this work shall come, that we, through the grace of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, have seen the plates which contain this record, which is a record of the people of Nephi, and also of the Lamanites, their brethren, and also of the people of Jared, who came from the tower of which hath been spoken, and we also know that they have been translated by the gift and power of God, for his voice hath declared it unto us; wherefore we know of a surety that the work is true. ”

“ In person he is above medium height, stoutly built through not corpulent, his shoulders inclining to stoop as if from so long supporting his massive head rather than from the weight of years, his frank, manly, and benevolent face closely shaven, and his whole exterior betokening him to be one of nature's gentlemen. ”

“ To-day he is the proprietor of a livery stable in Richmond, Mo., owns some real estate, has a handsome balance in the bank, is universally respected by all who know him, and surrounded by children and grandchildren, is pleasantly gliding toward the gates of sunset, confident that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was also the God of Nephi, whose faithful disciple he has been and is. ”

“ Doniphan, as attorney for Smith, caused the guards who were to escort them to Columbia, Boone county, to be selected from the Clay county militia, who were generally well disposed toward them. This done, he called on Joe Smith, at Gallatin, and informed him what precautions he had taken. Contrary to his expectation Joe Smith cursed him for his interference, and asked him for God's sake and his sake to send his Clay county friends home and let the Caldwell guards escort him through. "General," said he, "you may be, and are a good lawyer, but you don;t understand human nature as I do. ”

“ Meanwhile the escaped prisoners proceeded to the Mississippi, crossed into Illinois, whither they were soon followed by large numbers of disheartened fugitives who had practically lost faith in the revelation to Joe Smith, that declared Missouri to be the land of Zion, and began the brilliant era in this state which was marked by the founding and rapid rise of the templed city of Nauvoo, and culminated in the shooting of Joe Smith at Carthage, and the subsequent sacking of the city and expulsion of the saints. ”

“ Joe Smith, he said, was generally opposed to these revelations, but was frequently importuned by individuals to reveal their duty, and oftimes he was virtually compelled to yield, and in this way the original purity of the faith was tarnished by human invention, and the accepted records of to-day lumbered with a mass of worse than useless rubbish. ”

“ His is the stern faith of the puritans, modified by half a century of benevolent thought and quiet observation. He might have been a martyr had he locked sense and shrewdness to escape the death sentence that was pronounced against him by the high priests of the church he had helped to build. As it is, he is perhaps the only living witness of the wondrous revelation made to Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism.
David Whitmer was married in Seneca county, New York, in 1830, and was for a number of years an elder in the Church of Christ. ”

“ John, as clerk of the church, had its records, and Oliver Cowdery bore off the original translation, and eventually transferred it to the keeping of David. Since that memorable day both John and David Whitmer have kept aloof from the so-called Latter-Day Saints, although firm as ever in the faith as taught by the Book of Mormon. John is a man of fine education, and abundantly able to defend his faith from assaults from any quarter. ”