Hiram Page

Who was Hiram Page?

Hiram Page was an early member of the Latter-day Saint movement and one of the Eight Witnesses to the Book of Mormon's golden plates.

Page was born in Vermont. Earlier in his life, he studied medicine which he practiced during his travels throughout New York and Canada. On November 10, 1825, Page married Catherine Whitmer, daughter of Peter Whitmer, Sr. and Mary Musselman. The two had nine children together: John, Elizabeth, Philander, Mary, Peter, Nancy, Hiram, Oliver, and Kate.

Page became one of the Eight Witnesses during June 1829. He and Catherine were baptized into in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 11, 1830, by Oliver Cowdery. On June 9, he was ordained a teacher in the church, one of the church's first twelve officers.

While Page was living with the Whitmers in Fayette, New York, Smith arrived in August 1830 to discover Page using a "seerstone" to receive revelations for the church. The only available detail about the stone was that it was black. The revelations were regarding the organization and location of Zion. Cowdery and the Whitmer family believed the revelations Page had received were true. In response, Joseph Smith, the first prophet of the Church, received a revelation during the conference in September of that year to have Cowdery go to Page and convince him that his revelations were of the devil. At the conference there was considerable discussion on the topic. Page agreed to discard the stone and the revelations he received and join in following Smith as the sole revelator for the church. The members present confirmed this unanimously with a vote. Later, the stone was ground to powder and the revelations purportedly received through it were burned.