Book of Mormon Witnesses

Parent page: Book of Mormon

Mary Musselman Whitmer

Mary Musselman Whitmer, who is one of the witnesses to the plates, the 12th or 13th witness, she’s been called. And her story is a remarkable one. We have at least two chains of accounts telling about her experience of having seen the plates, which she didn’t expect to do.

She’s out there milking the cows and she’s not in a good mood because the menfolk are in there translating the Book of Mormon, and she’s having to do all the work and feed them. So she’s not feeling especially spiritual. That’s when the messenger comes and says, look, you’re having a hard time, right? It’s only fair that you get a special look at these plates so you will feel better about things. And she did. She felt considerably better.

Lucy Mack Smith describes the return of Joseph and the Three Witnesses after their vision

Lucy Mack Smith writes:

They returned to the house. It was between three and four o'clock. Mrs. Whitmer and Mr. Smith and myself were sitting in a bedroom. I sat on the bedside. When Joseph came in he threw himself down beside me: 'Father! Mother!' said he, 'you do not know how happy I am. The Lord has caused the plates to be shown to three more besides me, who have also seen an angel and will have to testify to the truth of what I have said. For they know for themselves that I do not go about to deceive the people. And I do feel as though I was relieved of a dreadful burden, which was almost too much for me to endure. But they will now have to bear a part, and it does rejoice my soul that I am not any longer to be entirely alone in the world.' Martin Harris then came in. He seemed almost overcome with excess joy. He then testified to what he had seen and heard, as did also others, Oliver and David. Their testimony was the same in substance as that contained in the Book of Mormon..." ^[1]

Witness statements remain unimpeached

Even now, despite the passage of nearly two centuries and countless attempts, no credible counterexplanation has been offered by any critic for the experiences claimed by the Witnesses to the Book of Mormon. Their still-unimpeached testimony clearly demonstrates that the Book of Mormon plates and the other artifacts mentioned in the historical accounts were physical, that they were neither a figment of Joseph Smith's imagination nor generated by the credulous fantasies of a band of rustic religious zealots.^[2]

Notes

1. ↑ Lucy Smith, preliminary manuscript of Biographical Sketches, also cited in Biographical Sketches, p. 139. Cited in Richard Lloyd Anderson, Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses (1981) p. 14.
2. ↑ Daniel C. Peterson, "Not Joseph's, and Not Modern," in Echoes and Evidences of the Book of Mormon, edited by Donald W. Parry, Daniel C. Peterson, and John W. Welch (Provo, Utah: FARMS, 2002), Chapter 2, references silently removed—consult original for citations.