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September 4, 1837

Photograph of John Whitmer, unknown photographer, circa 1870. Joseph Smith Papers Project, © by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.josephsmithpapers.org.

Photograph of William W. Phelps, Charles R. Savage, circa 1865. Joseph Smith Papers Project, © by Intellectual Reserve, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.josephsmithpapers.org.

In the summer of 1836, William W. Phelps and John Whitmer, both members of the Missouri Church presidency, set out to purchase lands in Missouri in order to “redeem Zion.”[1] Their mission was partially in response to an earlier revelation that Joseph Smith had received admonishing that “honorable, . . . even wise men” be sent forth “to purchase lands” (Doctrine and Covenants 101:73).[2] When the two men arrived in Missouri, they worked with state officials to purchase land near Jackson County. Beginning in August, Phelps and Whitmer started laying out a city on Shoal Creek that would come to be known as Far West. They purchased the land on Shoal Creek using funds that Thomas Marsh and Elisha Groves had accumulated on behalf of “poor bleeding Zion.” Following the precedent laid forth by Bishop Edward Partridge, Phelps and Whitmer placed the property in their names.[3]

Shortly thereafter, they laid out an ambitious plan for the settlement, including plans for the erection of a house of the Lord.[4] However, in the early spring of 1837, controversy regarding their plans and management of the settlement began to cause problems. David Patten and Thomas Marsh, both members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, called together a high council to interrogate Phelps and Whitmer. The council, for instance, wanted to know what authority they had to designate that a house of the Lord be built in Far West and if they would receive profits from the sale of property they had purchased under their names.[5] After three days of meetings, it was decided that Whitmer and Phelps would give the title of the lands to the bishopric and that any profits gained would be put to the fund for “poor bleeding Zion.”[6] After this meeting, it seemed as though the controversy was settled.[7]

During the summer of 1837, however, there were still lingering questions about Whitmer’s and Phelps’s conduct regarding the property and their management thereof. This included the placement of undue financial burden on Edward Partridge as part of the agreement mentioned above.[8] Their overambition and failure to counsel other Church leaders about their plans for Far West provide the context for the following revelatory chastisement.

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Revelation to Joseph Smith Jr., given in Kirtland, Ohio, September 4, 1837, making known the transgression of John Whitmer and William W. Phelps.

Verily, thus saith the Lord unto you my servant Joseph Smith Jr.—my servants John Whitmer and William W. Phelps have done those things which are not pleasing in my sight. Therefore, if they repent not, they shall be removed out of their places. Amen.

Notes

[1] The “Redemption of Zion” refers to “a time when [the Saints] would return and reclaim their land in Missouri and resume building the holy city.” See “Zion/New Jerusalem,” Church History Topics, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/zion-new-jerusalem; see also Doctrine and Covenants 105.

[2] Bruce A. Van Orden, We’ll Sing and We’ll Shout: The Life and Times of W. W. Phelps (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Salt Lake City, Deseret Book, 2018), 241.

[3] Van Orden, We’ll Sing and We’ll Shout, 247.

[4] Van Orden, We’ll Sing and We’ll Shout, 249.

[5] Minute Book 2, April 3, 1837, 72, The Joseph Smith Papers, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/minute-book-2/74.

[6] Van Orden, We’ll Sing and We’ll Shout, 257.

[7] JSP, D5:432.

[8] Van Orden, We’ll Sing and We’ll Shout, 258.