Mary Whitmer

Who was Mary Whitmer?

Mary Musselman Whitmer was a Book of Mormon witness and the wife of Peter Whitmer, Sr.

Through her son David, she and her family became acquainted with Joseph Smith around 1828. In 1829, she was caring for three boarders in addition to her large household while the Book of Mormon was being translated. She said that she was often overloaded with work to the extent she felt it quite a burden. During this time, the male boarders and members of her household were speaking of being shown the golden plates. One evening, when she went to milk the cows, she said that a stranger with a knapsack spoke to her, explained what was going on in her house, comforted her, then produced a bundle of plates from his knapsack, turned the leaves for her, showed her the engravings, exhorted her to faith in bearing her burden a little longer, then suddenly vanished with the plates. Whitmer always called the stranger "Brother Nephi".

Whitmer was baptized a member of the Church of Christ by Oliver Cowdery in Seneca Lake, April 18, 1830. She was the mother of five of the Witnesses to the Book of Mormon. She was excommunicated from the church with the entire Whitmer family in 1838.