IMPORTANT EVENTS AT THE WHITMER CABIN IN THE 1800s
The Peter Whitmer family came to Fayette from Harrisburg, PA, during 1809. The family consisted of the parents and children Christian, age 11, Jacob, age 9, John, age 7, David, age 4, and Catherine, age 2. Peter Junior, Nancy, and Elizabeth Ann were born in Fayette. They came by boat as far as Harmony (now Oakland) and came by foot approximately 105 miles, carrying the younger children on their backs. They cleared the ground of native hardwood trees and built the 1 ½ story cabin. Growth of trees was so thick they had to blaze the trees when they went in so they could find their way back again. The next step was to open up the forest to the sun’s rays and prepare the soil for planting.
The Whitmers were Pennsylvania Germans. Mary Musselman Whitmer was born in Germany. They were hard-working, God-fearing people who attended church. Peter Whitmer Sr. was Overseer of Highways for the district in 1826 and 1827, and was a local school trustee.
The soil in this land was quite acidic because of the oak trees that had grown here. When the Erie Canal was finished in 1825, supplies for farming were available at reasonable prices. One of these commodities was Plaster of Paris, which neutralized the acid in the soil. David Whitmer often drove into Palmyra, the nearest port town on the canal, to bring home supplies for the farm. This was an overnight trip, and he enjoyed going. While in Palmyra he made friends with Oliver Cowdery, who had come there to teach school.
School teachers boarded in the homes of their students. This board and room was part of their teaching salary. Oliver lived for part of the year with the Joseph Smith family. He eventually learned about the visions of Joseph, about the plates, and learned that Joseph Jr. was living in Harmony, Pennsylvania, translating the ancient record he had received from the Angel Moroni. In the spring, Samuel Smith walked down to Harmony, and Oliver decided to go with him. They stayed with the Whitmer family on the way. The Whitmers liked Oliver and Samuel and were interested in the religious work in which Joseph was involved. Oliver kept his word and wrote to David. He quoted parts of the Book of Mormon in his letters. When persecution arose in Harmony, Oliver wrote to the Whitmers to find out if they could come stay at their home to finish the translation in peace. Peter Whitmer agreed that David could go, but told him he needed to finish plowing the fields and sowing the plaster on them, as it was spring and the work could not be delayed.
After asking the Lord to help him “to do this work sooner than the same work had ever been done on the farm before,” David was able to do as much plowing in one day as it normally took two days to do. His father was impressed, and all David needed to finish was sowing the plaster. He tells in his interviews about coming out in the morning to find the fields white with plaster. He went to his sister’s home to ask if she had seen anyone sowing the plaster after dark. She had seen three men and had assumed David had hired them, knowing he was in a hurry. He had not hired anyone, but the job was done and he was able to leave that day to pick up the Prophet and Oliver. When he met Joseph, David was astonished that Joseph had known where he had stayed on his trip and many details of his travel to Harmony.
Joseph asked the Lord how to safely move the plates back to Fayette. The Lord told him to give them back to the Angel. Joseph did this, and he, Oliver and David started for Fayette in the Whitmer wagon. Along the road they passed a vigorous elderly gentleman wearing brown who was walking with a backpack on his back. As friendly country folk always did, they offered him a ride. He declined, saying, “No, thank you. I’m just going to Cumorah.” Cumorah is not the local name for that hill. Sitting in the wagon were the two men on earth who knew what Cumorah meant and where it was, because they had just finished translating the end of the Book of Mormon. Joseph explained to David, “That’s the angel!” When they looked again, he was gone.
The Whitmer family gave space in their home where Joseph and Oliver could work. Eventually Emma arrived. Mary Whitmer cooked, cleaned, and did laundry for her guests for two months as they finished the translation. One day when she was on her way to milk the cows she met an elderly gentleman wearing brown, who said to her, “You have been faithful and diligent in your labors, but you are tried because of the increase of your toil; it is proper therefore that you should receive a witness that your faith may be strengthened.” He showed her the plates, turned the pages for her, and let her see the engravings. Her description of her visitor matched the man her son David had seen walking along the road, the one of whom Joseph said, “That’s the angel!” Her grandson, John C. Whitmer, heard his grandmother’s story several times. She told him the messenger had a “kind, friendly tone of address,” and she saw the engravings as the leaves of the plates were turned one by one before her eyes.” Mary Whitmer became a strong believer in the Book of Mormon until she died.
In 1829 Sarah Conrad was an unmarried housekeeper in the Whitmer home. She described the Prophet and Oliver’s appearance to her granddaughter, Pearl Bunnell Newell, like this, “They would go up into the attic, and they would stay all day. When they came down, they looked more like heavenly beings than they did just ordinary men.” (From “The House Where the Church Was Organized” by Dr. Richard Lloyd Anderson.)
The part of the Book of Mormon translated in the Whitmer home was the portion known as the Small Plates of Nephi. This translation comes in chronological order at the beginning of the book but was translated last. Because these plates covered the same time period as the parts of the Book of Lehi that had been lost, Joseph was able to put them at the beginning of his translation to cover the time period previously addressed in the Book of Lehi. His explanation about the loss of the 116 pages comprises the preface in the First Edition Book of Mormon and the Lord’s explanation of why the Small Plates were to be translated and substituted for the missing pages.
The Book of Mormon would have been quite different if the 116 pages had not been lost. It would begin with a large Book of Lehi extending to our present Book of Mosiah. The Small Plates cover the same time period as the Book of Lehi, but have a different structure and purpose. They were made to be a religious history of the Nephite people and read more like a conference report than like a history. They are full of very choice material. Some of these include: Nephi’s vision of the coming of the Savior, from his birth to his crucifixion in 1st Nephi Chapters 10-13; the explanation of opposition in all things that is in 2nd Nephi Chapter 2; the great explanation of the Atonement of Christ in 2nd Nephi Chapter 9; the vision of our days including the coming forth of the Book of Mormon in 2nd Nephi Chapter 29; the explanation about monogamy and purity in Jacob Chapter 2; and Enos’s wrestle with the Lord. This part of the Book of Mormon is packed with choice material. Mormon was inspired to put these small plates of Nephi in with his record as he was finishing them up, “for a wise purpose.” The book, “Words of Mormon” explains how the small plates came to be put in with Mormon’s abridgement of all the Nephite records.
When the Book of Mormon translation was finished, Joseph sent word to his family in Palmyra. They stayed up long into the night reading parts of the book and rejoicing in this great addition to scripture, which explains many things lost from the Bible in the many years when it was passed from hand to hand.
The Three Witnesses saw Moroni as an angel in the glory “of exceeding brightness.” They were permitted to see the Plates, the Urim and Thummin and the Breastplate, the Liahona, and the Sword of Laban. They heard the voice of God declaring: “These plates have been revealed by the power of God. The translation of them which you have seen is correct, and I command you to bear record of what you now see and hear.” They went into the cabin, drew up their testimony, and signed it. In the first edition of the Book of Mormon, the witness statements are at the back. They were moved to the front of the book in subsequent editions so they would be easier for readers to find.
Twenty sections of the Doctrine and Covenants were received in the log cabin between June, 1829 and January, 1831, when the Saints left to go to Ohio. Three conferences of the church were held here, and regular Sunday services were also held in the Whitmer Cabin.
Among the many significant events which occurred on Tuesday, April 6, 1830, was the first administering and blessing of the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. This ordinance requires church organization and had to wait to be done until the church was formally organized.
Beginning Sunday, April 11, 1830, Sacrament meetings were held in the Whitmer home and continued until after Christmas of that year. The first missionaries were sent to Kirtland, Ohio, and to the “borders of the Lamanites.”
The Lord chose the day on which the Church would be organized again upon the earth. This date was a Tuesday, April 6, 1830. Joseph and Oliver saw in revelation the precise day upon which, according to [God’s] will and commandment, we should proceed to organize his church once again, here upon the earth.” (History of Joseph Smith, Times & Seasons, Oct. 1, 1842) and were given eleven months to get ready for the organization of the church. One of those duties involved getting the Book of Mormon translated and published. The Book of Mormon came off the press exactly ten days before the organizational date given.
Due to missionary success and the growing number of church members in Ohio, the group in Fayette was directed to move to Kirtland, Ohio, in the winter of 1831-1832. The Whitmer family sold their farm and moved.
SEARCH FOR THE LOCATION OF THE CABIN
In October of 1888 the Church sent out Andrew Jensen, Edward Stevenson and Joseph S. Black. They interviewed tenant farmers, Chester Reed and John Marshall, who remembered the old Whitmer cabin. The old well that was on the property was still there. Near to the site of the old cabin, a subsequent owner, John Deshler, had built a Greek revival-style home on the property.
Through the efforts of early Palmyra missionary Willard Bean, the church was able to buy the original 100 acres of the Whitmer farm on September 25, 1926. The farm now consists of 260 acres.
A missionary named William Lee Powell and his family was sent here to farm the land between 1941 and 1952. In 1947, while dragging hay into their barns, the hay kept snagging on something. When Elder Powell and his sons dug in the area, they discovered the rock foundations to the old cabin. They took measurements, received permission to remove stones interfering with their work, and smoothed over the spot. Years later when the church determined to reconstruct the cabin, Elder Powell was invited back to confirm where the cabin foundations were located.
Sometime in the intervening years a wing was added to the “House With Columns” which served as a visitors’ center. This house stood on the present site of the Fayette chapel.
A complete archaeological excavation and study of the cabin site was done in 1969. Household artifacts covering that time period were found, along with foundation stones and footings for the fireplace. It was the opinion of the archaeological team that the cabin had stood from 1809 to around 1920.
Members of the church in Fayette had been renting rooms above some of the stores in Waterloo to hold their church services. As they would fix up a suitable room, after while the building would sell and they would have to find and fix up another. They had worked hard to raise money for their own building. They had picked out a piece of land, when they were asked by their Stake President to lend their money to another ward that needed a building worse. After fasting and praying, they decided to comply with the request, but wondered if they would ever have a building of their own.
Not long after this, Elder Gordon B. Hinckley was put in charge of the 150th Anniversary of the Organization of the Church. He came to Fayette in about 1977, where a decision was made to construct a replica of the Whitmer Cabin and to hold General Conference from this place via satellite broadcast. One session of the conference would be broadcast from the cabin. The other would be broadcast from their new ward building, which would be placed on the historic grounds of the Whitmer Farm.
The ward members were thrilled, but there was a great deal of work to be done. To make the cabin authentic, the decision was made to locate, if possible, logs from the time period. This was eventually done with the assistance of local historical societies. The brethren were able to purchase logs and material authentic to the early 1800s including board for floors, stairway, and ceiling beams that just happened to be stored in an old barn adjacent to the building made of the logs which were in good enough condition to build the cabin. Ward members spent seven Saturdays dismantling an old building and moving the logs. It was heavy, difficult work, breaking apart stucco and plaster, taking down the logs, carrying them to vehicles, transporting them, and unloading them near the site for the cabin. Towards the end of the demolishing project, a severe storm washed out the bridge to the barn area. From that point the work became nearly impossible and the ward was not able to completely clear the site because heavy equipment could not get in. This part of the project was complete in March of 1979.
Then the ward members helped clean dark green paint from the wooden boards so they could be used in the interior of the cabin. They also gathered rocks to build the fireplace. The general contractor, Edward Sisson from Albany, New York, supervised the rebuilding of the cabin using authentic methods. Ward members provided the labor. A local member, Doug Porschet, who is a specialist in antiques, purchased the furnishings for the center and log home, assisted by Merrill Roenke, curator of the Geneva Historical Society. Every furnishing and artifact in both places is authentic to the 1830 time period, although none of it belonged to the Whitmer family, who took their belongings to Ohio when they moved in 1831.
The “House With Columns” which had served as a visitors center had to be moved after a new foundation/basement was built. The wing which had housed the visitors center was removed and the house was moved and then returned to its appearance as shown in the early photos. It now houses two companionships of sister missionaries and one senior missionary couple who serve at tour guides at the Whitmer Farm.
The Fayette Ward Building was built in three phases. For 1980, the building consisted of the chapel; the east wing containing a baptismal font, classrooms, and bishop’s office; and the west wing containing the visitors center with original art and sculpture as well as posters and charts teaching gospel principles. Phase two, built some years later, included kitchen and cultural hall. Phase three included Relief Society and Primary rooms, Young Women’s and Young Men’s rooms, and facilities for the many pageant guests was added last. Now this building houses and supports a full-size ward.
General Conference on April 6, 1980 was the first remote broadcast of an LDS general conference ever done. It was the first general conference held away from Temple Square since the Saints had come to the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. The Church had been broadcasting to cable systems via satellite to commercial stations, cable TV, and church outlets. In 1977 there were only about 5 earth station receivers at stake centers. When the decision was made to broadcast the historic conference, many more were installed in time for much of the church membership to view the conference. This broadcast was so successful that units were eventually installed worldwide. The satellite dishes have been durable and reliable and are still working at the present time. Members of the LDS Church may receive every session of each General Conference in their own buildings, broadcast in over a hundred languages. This technology was in pioneer stages in 1980 when the 150th birthday of the church was held in Fayette.
The portable earth station transmitter leased by Bonneville International was the only portable unit in the United States at the time. Now every news agency owns them, but this was a pioneering and revolutionary broadcast. The Westar I satellite used for the broadcast had 12 channels. The church leased one of those channels full time. This program has been very greatly expanded since then. In a talk to Regional Representatives in April 1978, Pres. Kimball said the only way for the gospel to reach the world’s millions is to use satellites and related discoveries “to their greatest potential.” That has proved a prophetic statement, as the church can now broadcast directly to every stake center in the world, on six continents, and in over a hundred languages.
The Whitmer family made very significant contributions to the Restoration of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. A visit to the historical site allows visitors to get acquainted with this outstanding family, learn of the miracles and the important work done on this sacred ground.
MARTIN HARRIS and the 116 PAGES
Martin Harris was a prosperous weaver, businessman and farmer who had met the Smiths when they first settled in Palmyra and had hired various family members to work for him over the years. He provided money so Joseph and Emma could pay off their debts and also gave them fifty dollars for their trip from Palmyra to Harmony, PA. With the plates hidden in a barrel of beans in the back of the wagon, they left Palmyra on a December day in 1827. They boarded with Emma’s parents and then purchase a house from Emma’s oldest brother, Jesse.
Between December, 1827 and January 1828, Joseph copied many characters from the plates and translated some of them by using the Urim and Thummim. Joseph put in considerable time and effort learning the language of the plates and learning how to translate.
Sometime in February, Martin visited Joseph in Harmony. Martin had been told by the Lord in 1818 not to join any church, and the Lord revealed that the Lord had a work for him to do. Martin came to know that Joseph Smith was a prophet and that he should help Joseph bring the Book of Mormon to this generation.
Martin took a copy of some of the characters to Albany and New York City. He visited Dr. Samuel Mitchell of Columbia College, and Prof. Charles Anthon of Columbia College. Anthon knew French, German, Greek and Latin and in his library had books about the latest discoveries about the Egyptian language. Prof. Anthon said the characters resembled Egyptian, Chaldean, Assyrian, and Arabic, and gave his opinion in writing that the translation given on the manuscript was correct. But when Anthon found out about the angel, he tore up the statement and offered to translate the plates himself. He was told that part of the book was sealed and that Martin was forbidden to bring them. Mr. Anton seemed to be put off not by the existence of the plates, but by the involvement of a heavenly being with them. Many years later he made statements about meeting Martin Harris that contradict those Martin recorded at the time of the visit.
Martin’s wife, Lucy, was unhappy that he had gone to the East without her. She resented the time he was spending with Joseph and not with her. She was the kind of person who demanded positive proof, so when Martin prepared to go to Pennsylvania again, she insisted on going. She ransacked Joseph’s house, forcing him to hide the plates outside. When she thought she had found the place outside she was frightened by a large snake. She told anyone who would listen that Joseph was a “grand imposter.” Martin took her home after two weeks, and she continued her criticism in Palmyra.
Joseph and Martin worked together on the translation until June 14, 1828. The translation filled 116 foolscap pages (this type of paper is on display in the Grandin print shop). Martin asked if he could take this manuscript home to show his wife and friends. He hoped this would convince his wife that the work was legitimate. Joseph asked the Lord twice and was told no. But Martin was the only person Joseph knew who would work as a scribe and finance the publication of the book, so he asked again. Martin agreed in writing to show the manuscript to only five people. These were his wife Lucy; his brother, Preserved Harris; his father; his mother; and Lucy’s sister, Mrs. Polly Cobb. He left for Palmyra with the only copy of the manuscript.
While Martin was gone, Emma had their first child, Alvin, who died and is buried in the cemetery near the present-day Aaronic Priesthood Restoration monument. Emma was very sick. For two weeks Joseph tended her. When she was out of danger, Emma encouraged Joseph to take the stagecoach to Palmyra and check on the manuscript. He walked the last twenty miles in the night. When he arrived, he sent for Martin. Several hours passed before Martin came. When he arrived they served him breakfast, but he could not eat. Hyrum asked him, “Martin, why do you not eat? Are you sick?” Martin answered, “Oh, I have lost my soul! I have lost my soul!” Joseph exclaimed, “Martin, have you lost that manuscript?” Martin admitted that it was gone and he did not know where.
Joseph paced the room for hours, asking, “What will I tell the Lord? How shall I appear before the Lord?” When he returned to Harmony, Moroni came and took the plates and the Urim and Thummim, but promised he could get them back later. Joseph did repent, and in September the book was returned to him.
Joseph completed the translation to the end of the Book of Moroni. When he asked the Lord whether he should translate the Book of Lehi over again, the Lord gave him a definite answer. This is found in the preface to the first edition of the Book of Mormon. This is part of what Joseph was told:
“...if I should translate the same over again, they [the thieves] would publish that which they had stolen, and Satan would stir up the hearts of this generation, that they might not receive this work: but behold, the Lord said unto me, I will not suffer that Satan shall accomplish his evil design in this thing: therefore thou shalt translate from the plates of Nephi, until ye come to that which ye have translated, which ye have retained; and behold ye shall publish it as the record of Nephi; and thus I will confound those who have altered my words. I will not suffer that they shall destroy my work; yea, I will shew unto them that my wisdom is greaer than the cunning of the Devil.”
Mormon had left an explanation with the inclusion of the Small Plates of Nephi when he put them in the record he had made back in about 385 AD. Mormon writes: “After I had made an abridgment from the plates of Nephi...I searched among the records which had been delivered...and I found these plates, which contain this small account of the prophets...And the things which are upon these plates pleasing me, because of the prophecies of the coming of Christ; and my father knowing that many of them have been fulfilled...and as many as go beyond this day must surely come to pass– Wherefore, I chose these things, to finish my record upon them...for they are choice unto me, and I know they will be choice unto my brethren. And I do this for a wise purpose; for thus it whispereth me, according to the workings of the Spirit of the Lord which is in me. And now, I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do according to his will.”
The Small Plates of Nephi covered the same time period as the Book of Lehi had covered. So the Lord had prepared for the loss of the 116 pages 1400 years earlier by inspiring Moroni to include additional records. The Small Plates of Nephi contain very significant prophecies and spiritual information for those people who believe in Jesus Christ. So there was no gap in the Nephite records or loss in the quality of the writing when that segment of the manuscript was lost.
Descendants of Lucy Harris claim that she was angry at Martin for helping Joseph and giving him money, so she took the manuscript and threw it in the fireplace. No evidence of such a manuscript being in existence today has ever been found, despite extensive searches.
MARK HOFMANN – A MODERN INSTANCE
Mark Hofmann was a young man who graduated from Olympus High School in Salt Lake City in 1973. His only distinction was that he had lettered in track. One of his hobbies was creating things that exploded with chemistry sets and gadgets he could buy in hobby stores. He was an average student. He filled a mission for the LDS Church to England and while he was there spent a great deal of time in used bookstores. He studied anti-Mormon literature and took part in debates against anti-Mormons. He spent all his spare money on books.
When Hofmann returned from his mission, he decided to attend Utah State University. By this time he had a considerable library of anti-Mormon books. He also discovered coin collecting and learned how to “improve” the value of some of the coins by electroplating mint marks onto them. Hofmann decided to follow a career as a dealer in coins and documents. Even though he had lost his faith in religion, he knew he would have to “remain a member in good standing” in order to be able to make money. He told his fiancee, “Eventually the documents I find are going to show people that they believe in a fairytale.” So very early in his life he decided he was going to destroy the work of the Lord, specifically through undermining the faith of members of the church in the divinity of the Prophet Joseph Smith. He did this through a deliberate series of moves over a period of nearly ten years.
His first forged document was sold to Jeff Simmonds of the USU library. His second forgery was a letter from Joseph Smith to two young sisters, Maria and Sarah Lawrence, which hinted at Joseph’s active involvement in polygamy, which had no documented evidence elsewhere.
His third forgery, placed in a 17th century Cambridge bible, was allegedly those characters Joseph had copied for Martin Harris to take to Prof. Anthon. Joseph left a description of what he had copied. Anthon also wrote a description of what he had seen and how it was arranged on the page, contradicting Joseph’s explanation. Hofmann’s creation, naturally, supported Anton’s allegations, written many years after the fact, rather than the Prophet Joseph’s writing about the incident contemporary to the occurrence.
Hofmann studied church history carefully, searching for details on what documentation existed and what undocumented areas had holes he could fill with his forgeries. Another document he created was a blessing Joseph Smith supposedly gave to his grandson, Joseph Smith III, appointing him to be successor to the Prophet. This was sold to the LDS church, who generously passed it on to the Reorganized Church (now known as the Community of Christ), whose position about the prophetic succession it reinforced.
Hofmann created various documents which appeared to contain signatures of Martin Harris. He did this to create a basis for authenticating that signature when he used it for more damaging forgeries. He also made money by forging copies of early “Mormon money.” Hofmann also sold the church a testimonial from David Whitmer, to provide handwriting samples that could be used to authenticate later documents he planned to forge. He forged “the original contract that Joseph Smith and Martin Harris had signed with the printed E. B. Grandin in 1829.” The church paid $25,000 for this document in 1983. So Hofmann had proved he could make money in the forgery business. He also laid groundwork for a later “find” by telling Jeff Simmonds that he had some leads on the lost 116 pages of the Book of Mormon manuscript.
In 1983 he made a major move toward undermining the history of the Church and the validity of Joseph Smith’s visions and manifestations through his “Salamander Letter.” This letter was "dated" in 1825 when Joseph Smith was 19 years of age, and contained a Palmyra postmark. It supposedly was written by Martin Harris and portrayed Joseph obtaining the plates through folk magic via a magical talking white salamander, rather than through the appearance of the Angel Moroni as Joseph recorded in his History of the Church. No other samples of Martin Harris’s handwriting have survived, except for those Hofmann had created, so he knew the signatures would match. The paper and ink were confirmed to be consistent with similar items from the 1800s. Hofmann asked a friend of his to take credit for finding the document so that he would not be the only documents searcher finding early Mormon documents. Hofmann also began a pattern of “leaking” information to the anti-Mormon community and then accusing members of the church as being the leaks. He played both sides against each other in order to spread lies and rumors about the church and undermine faith of members in the honesty of their leaders.
The Salamander Letter caused a great stir in the LDS historical community. It was taken seriously by some scholars, who were attempting to fit it into the context of folk magic of the 1800s. During the same time period Hofmann also produced numerous other documents, including several supposedly in the handwriting of Joseph Smith. He also continued to circulate rumors about the missing 116 pages of the Book of Mormon. The value of the lost 116 pages would be in the millions of dollars. Hofmann told enough people that he had leads on this piece of LDS history that obviously he planned on trying to forge this document in order to make his fortune. He admitted to an investigator that he had put in substantial research on the project.
With his financial success in fake LDS documents, Hofmann began to live a more lavish lifestyle. He bought cars. He decided to venture into early American documents. Through a printer in Colorado, he had a plate made to forge the earliest printed document in America, “The Oath of a Free Man.” Two experts in New York “authenticated” this and offered it for sale to the Library of Congress for one million dollars. He produced a Daniel Boone collection of letters, some Betsy Ross letters, and an original signed copy of the Lincoln-Douglas debate documents. On the strength of the forthcoming sale of the Oath, Hofmann committed to the purchase of an expensive home. When the sale of the Oath fell through, Hofmann’s checks began to bounce.
He put together several consortiums of wealthy businessmen who provided money for him to purchase something he called “The McLellin Collection.” William McLellin was a former LDS apostle and renegade excommunicated early member of the church. Hofmann claimed there were six diaries, the papyri shown in the Pearl of Great Price as Facsimile #1, letters, affidavits and other artifacts that Hofmann claimed painted a portrait of the early church far different from traditional Mormon history. After providing money, investors asked him for proof that such a collection existed. Since he had told people it contained the papyrus pieces used in the Pearl of Great Price, Hofmann arranged to get on consignment a Book of the Dead papyrus from a dealer in New York. This papyrus had nothing to do with early LDS history, which both the supplier, Kenneth Rendell, and Hofmann knew. Hofmann cut it in two parts and showed one part to some of his investors, telling them it was part of the collection, even though the papyrus piece he showed was not similar in any way to the one printed in scripture. The other part was put into a safety deposit box by Steve Christensen, who had undertaken the process of authentication and who had asked Kenneth Rendell to come from New York since he was an expert on Egyptian antiquities. Hofmann was under considerable pressure for his investors to produce the collection. One set of investors caught him in a lie he told and was watching him carefully to see if he “went to get the collection” in Texas. Christensen was working for another group to authenticate the one piece he had manage to obtain from Hofmann. The threat of Rendell coming was particularly serious because he would instantly recognize the piece of papyrus he had given Hofmann on consignment.
Hofmann had become caught in the trap of most confidence artists, whose only goal becomes “buying time.” Using “The Anarchist’s Cookbook” and his skills from his youth, he constructed three pipe bombs. The first bomb killed Steve Christensen. To cover his path and misdirect investigators, the second bomb was placed at the home of the former employer of Christensen, Gary Sheets. Gary’s wife picked up the bomb on the driveway and died instantly. The third bomb went off on a Wednesday, in early afternoon, the day after the first two were detonated, in Hofmann’s own car as Hofmann was getting into the vehicle after visiting a downtown Salt Lake City mall. Hofmann was seriously injured but not killed. At first he was considered a victim, but the statement he gave to police did not agree with the evidence produced by the blast. As police realized this, he became the suspect in the case. The car was seized as evidence and the materials found in the car were studied. Quite surprisingly, the national press coverage created by the bombings helped unearth a genuine "McLellan" collection, which was nothing like the one described by Hofmann and contained no damaging or spectacular material.
Investigators began to postulate who might have been the intended victim of the third bomb. Brent Ashworth was an attorney and collector of antiquities, who had purchased many Hofmann forgeries and was interested in the McLellan collection. He and Hofmann met regularly on Wednesdays. However, on this particular Wednesday Ashworth had not come. Investigators speculated that Hofmann had built the bomb into a box containing the McLellan Collection and thought Hofmann might have intended to invite Ashworth to his car to see the collection, at which time it would explode, kill Ashworth, and give Hofmann an excuse for not being able to produce the elusive collection. When Ashworth did not come, Hofmann had to shift the position of the bomb inside the car. In doing this, the bomb exploded, injuring him and doing serious damage to his car. However, no pipe bomb will vaporize everything. There was substantial evidence left for study, proving Hofmann’s account of the incident to be a lie and pointing to Hofmann as not being a victim but as being the bomber.
In a search for motive, investigators began to study the documents Hofmann had supposedly found more closely. A pattern of cracked ink or ink that ran one way on the page, as if it had been hung up to dry, emerged in all the documents coming from Hofmann. Neither of these phenomena were seen in documents coming from other sources. Of those Hofmann documents which didn’t have cracking or running, some documents showed artificial aging of signatures and dates, where one signature had been removed and another inserted, or other signs of tampering or alteration. Under a microscope Hofmann documents were easy to identify when compared to legitimate old documents, either by the cracking, the running of the ink, or by things removed and replaced such as names, dates, and signatures. None of his “major discoveries” were authentic. 175 Hofmann forgeries were analyzed by investigators in the course of this investigation. Motive for murder was shown by the tangle of financial obligations and pressures Hofmann had created for himself by his pattern of double-dealing in documents and promising what he could not deliver.
Hofmann promised to provide interviews as part of his plea bargain. These were incomplete, but he did admit to the bombings and told one investigator of doing research into the project of forging the missing 116 pages of the Book of Mormon. He appeared to plan to represent Lehi as a miner, a “money digger,” and tie this to what he claimed was Joseph Smith’s early work in digging for Josiah Stowell (who was searching for treasure) and for the work Joseph had done in digging and lining wells in New York. Hofmann appeared to believe the genius of the Prophet Joseph was some Freudian self-wish showing itself in the Book of Mormon, which Hofmann thought Joseph had written as a work of fiction. Lehi’s profession is not given in the Book of Mormon; Hofmann invented this “connection” in an attempt to discredit the Book of Mormon and all it represents.
Two innocent people were killed by Mark Hofmann, and many other lives were disrupted or destroyed. Also sadly, faith and testimony in some people were damaged by Hofmann’s lies and misrepresentations. As recently as last month, a visitor to the Hill Cumorah came in and asked about the presence of white salamanders in upstate New York, showing that Hofmann’s lies are still circulating among people who do not know the facts.
However, the Lord did not allow Satan, or Mark Hofmann, to accomplish his evil design in this thing. As the scripture in Alma 30:60 says, “And thus we see that the devil will not support his children at the last day, but doth speedily drag them down to hell.” Mark Hofmann made a plea agreement to two charges of murder and was sentenced to life in the Utah State Prison. In his interviews with prosecutors after he began to serve his prison sentence, he admitted he had a desire to create a false history for the Church in place of the one members believe and honor. Fortunately, his own lies exposed him. Historians are still uncovering documents he forged and passed off to the unsuspecting public. He will be remembered in books like “Great Fakes and Forgeries,” but he did not succeed in destroying the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Peter Whitmer Farm as a working farm in the early 1940s. House With Columns stands on the site of the present-day chapel. Site of the original Whitmer Cabin is behind the barns. Hay being dragged into those barns exposed the foundation stones to the old cabin, discovered by William Lee Powell in 1947.
House With Columns had a second wing (on the right) added to it for use as a Visitors' Center.
Diorama of the Organization of the Church which was displayed in the old Visitors' Center. Further research revealed that, although six men signed the legal documents, somewhere between 50 and 60 people were present for the organizational meeting on April 6, 1830.
House With Columns was moved so that the Fayette Ward Chapel could be built on its previous site. The Whitmer Cabin was built on the spot of its original foundations in time for the 150th anniversary of the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This celebration was broadcast via satellite uplink on April 6, 1980, from the cabin and the chapel.
Peter Whitmer Log Home in winter. It was built with authentic logs from the 1820s. Unfortunately, the logs are beginning to show signs of rot, and the cabin is slated to be rebuilt with newer materials, possibly in 2010. 
Living room of the Peter Whitmer Log Home. The furnishings are authentic to the 1820s, but none are original pieces belonging to the Peter Whitmer, Sr., family, since they sold their land and took their belongings with them to Ohio in 1831-32. This room is approximately 20 x 18 and served as the first LDS meetinghouse. The first three General Conferences were held here, as well as Sacrament Services on Sundays. The Whitmer family sacrificed a great deal for their beliefs and were extremely helpful and supportive to Joseph Smith and his family.
