| Hiram Page | |
|---|---|
| Personal details | |
| Born | c. 1800 Vermont, U.S. |
| Died | August 12, 1852 Excelsior Springs, Missouri, U.S. |
| Resting place | Hamers Farm 39°21′22″N94°10′35″W / 39.356045°N 94.176267°W /39.356045; -94.176267 (Hiram Page's Grave) |
| Known For | One of theEight Witnesses |
| Spouse(s) | Catherine Whitmer |
| Children | 9 |
Hiram Page (c. 1800 – August 12, 1852) was an early member of theLatter Day Saint movement and one of theEight Witnesses to theBook of Mormon'sgolden plates.
Page was born inVermont. Earlier in his life, he studied medicine which he practiced during his travels throughoutNew York andCanada. On November 10, 1825, Page married Catherine Whitmer, daughter ofPeter Whitmer Sr. andMary Musselman. The two had nine children together: John, Elizabeth, Philander, Mary, Peter, Nancy, Hiram, Oliver, and Kate.
Page became one of theEight Witnesses during June 1829.[1]
He and Catherine were baptized into in theChurch of Christ (later renamed the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints)[2][3] on April 11, 1830, byOliver Cowdery. On June 9, he was ordained ateacher in the church, one of the church's first twelve officers.[4]
Page was living with his in-laws theWhitmers inFayette, New York.Joseph Smith Jr. arrived in August 1830 to discover Page using a black "seerstone" to produce revelations for the church. The revelations were regarding the organization and location ofZion. Cowdery and the Whitmer family believed the revelations were authentic. In response, Smith announced in a new revelation during the church's Septemberconference that Page's revelations were of the devil (Doctrine and Covenants,Section 28:11). At the conference there was considerable discussion on the topic. Page agreed to discard the stone and the revelations and join in following Smith as the solerevelator for the church. The members present confirmed this unanimouslywith a vote. The fate of the stone and revelations was not recorded by contemporary sources and has been the subject of interest ever since.[5]Martin Harris's brother Emer stated second-hand in 1856 that the stone was ground to powder and the associated revelations were burned.[6]ApostleAlvin R. Dyer stated that he had discovered Page's seerstone in 1955, that it had been passed down through Jacob Whitmer's family.[7] The validity of this claim has been questioned.[5]
In January 1831, Page accompaniedLucy Mack Smith and a company of saints fromWaterloo, New York, toBuffalo on theErie Canal, on their way toFairport andKirtland, Ohio. In May 1831, Page moved his family toThompson, Ohio, under Lucy Mack Smith's direction. He again moved his family toJackson County, Missouri, in 1832 and joined the Latter Day Saints gathering there. With the other Whitmers, they formed a cluster of ten or twelve homes called the "Whitmer Settlement". Hiram owned 120 acres (490,000 m2) of land in the area.
During the growinganti-Mormon hostilities in Jackson County, Page was severely beaten by a group of non-Mormon vigilantes on October 31, 1833. On July 31 and August 6, 1834, he testified to the facts of the beatings. By 1834, Page and his family were expelled from the county along with the other Latter Day Saints, and lived for a time in neighboringClay County, before moving toFar West.
When the members of the Whitmer family were excommunicated from the church in 1838, Page withdrew from church fellowship. One historian summarizes the situation as follows:
As a result of these events, Hiram became estranged from mainstream Mormonism. Though there is no evidence of excommunication or withdrawal of his [preaching] license, after 1838 there is no record of Page's association with the main body of the church. Hiram continued residence in the Richmond, [Ray County] area until his death in 1852. Catherine gave birth to four more children, the last being born in the year that Hiram died.[8]
On September 6, 1847,William E. McLellin baptized Page,David Whitmer,John Whitmer, andJacob Whitmer into his newly formedChurch of Christ (Whitmerite). McLellin ordained Page ahigh priest in the church. Page participated in the subsequent ordinations of the others.
Page died on the farm he had bought inExcelsior Springs, in Ray County, still affirming his testimony of the Book of Mormon. His death was caused when his wagon overturned, crushing him underneath.
For almost 150 years, the final resting place of Page was unknown.[9] However, in 2000, it was located near Excelsior Springs, on property purchased by Charles and Molly Fulkerson in 1917.[9] Page's burial location was the last of the 11 Book of Mormon witnesses to be identified.[9] A commemorative marker was placed on Page's grave on April 27, 2002.[10]
General
| Three Witnesses |  | |
|---|---|---|
| Eight Witnesses | ||
| Additional Witnesses | ||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
