Peter Whitmer Farm
The 100-acre Peter Whitmer Farm in Fayette, New York is an important location historically for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The church was organized here on April 6, 1830.
Joseph Smith, Jr., the first president of the Church of Jesus Christ, had come to stay with the Whitmer family in June 1829 to escape persecution in Pennsylvania. During his first month with them, he finished translating the Book of Mormon. Here Joseph Smith also received revelation from the Lord regarding the establishment of the Church of Jesus Christ.
On April 6, approximately sixty family members and friends crowded into the small log home to witness the formal organization of the Church of Christ, as it was then called. Smith and five other men formally organized the church, as was required by law. Joseph Smith was ordained as first elder and Oliver Cowdery was sustained as second elder. Following the service, which included prayers, blessing and passing of the sacrament, and further divine revelation, several people were baptized, most significantly Joseph Smith’s parents, Joseph Smith, Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith.
During his stay on the farm, Joseph Smith received twenty revelations that are recorded in the Doctrine and Covenants. The Angel Moroni showed the Three Witnesses the gold plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated. One of the witnesses was David Whitmer, one of the seven children of Peter and Mary Whitmer. Several of the Whitmer family were later shown the plates by Joseph Smith. Mary Whitmer, burdened by more work due to the extra people in her home (Oliver Cowdery and Joseph’s wifeEmma Hale Smith were also living there), was shown the plates by a “special messenger.”[1]
The first conference of the Church of Christ was held in the Whitmer home on June 9, 1830. Joseph and Emma left the home for one month, but returned in time for the second conference held there in August.
The Whitmer family moved to Ohio in 1831 and then on to Missouri with the Latter-day Saints moved.
In 1926, the Church of Jesus Christ purchased the Peter Whitmer farm and rebuilt the home on its original site. It is furnished with household artifacts of that same time period. In 1980 (the 150th anniversary of the organization of the Church), President Spencer W. Kimball dedicated it in a broadcast from the restored home. A visitors’ center was built nearby.
