Peter Whitmer, Sr.
Peter Whitmer, Sr. (1773–1854) was an early member of the church, and head of one of the most prominent families in church history.
Peter Whitmer, Sr. was born April 14, 1773, in Pennsylvania and married Mary Elsa Musselman. The Whitmers had eight children together: Christian, Jacob, John, David, Catherine, Peter Jr., Nancy and Elizabeth Ann. In 1809, the family moved to Waterloo, New York, where they joined a German Reformed church and where Peter became a road overseer and school trustee. After 1827, they moved to Fayette.
In June of 1829, Peter's wife Mary was shown the plates by a stranger as she went about her tasks of caring for her large family and her boarders. Their sons and son-in-law Hiram Page became witnesses to the Golden Plates and when the early Latter-day Saint (Church of Christ) church was organized on April 6, 1830, the Whitmers were among the first members. Their daughter Elizabeth Ann later married Oliver Cowdery, one of the Three Witnesses of the plates. Their Fayette home is the traditional site of the church's organization.
- It was not until the Whitmer family were residing in Far West, Missouri that they began to question and reject their faith. Peter joined his sons David, Jacob, and John in open rebellion against the leadership of Joseph Smith. The Prophet Joseph wrote that Peter was among those who “said I was a fallen Prophet, and they were capable of leading the people.”[1]
Peter later moved to Richmond, Missouri, where he lived until his death on August 12, 1854. He never returned to fellowship in the Church.
