John Whitmer (August 27, 1802 – July 11, 1878) was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement. He was one of the Eight Witnesses of the Book of Mormon's golden plates. Whitmer was also the first official Church Historian and a member of the presidency of the church in Missouri from 1834 to 1838. Biography Whitmer was born in Pennsylvania on August 27, 1802 to Peter Whitmer, Sr. and Mary Musselman. He had seven siblings. In 1809, the Whitmer family moved to Fayette, New York. Here, Whitmer was a member of the German Reformed Church. Foundation of the Latter Day Saint movement Whitmer's brother David and his entire family became early followers of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. Joseph and his wife, Emma Smith, boarded with the Whitmers for six months. Whitmer was baptized into the movement by Oliver Cowdery in June 1829, nearly a year prior to the formal organization of the Church of Christ. In that same month, Whitmer became one of eight men who signed a testimony that they had handled and been shown the golden plates. Known as the "Testimony of the Eight Witnesses", the statement was printed in the first edition of the Book of Mormon and has been included in almost every subsequent edition. The church was formally organized on April 6, 1830 in the Whitmer family's home. John Whitmer was one of the earliest members and he was ordained an elder of the church on June 9. He moved to the church's new headquarters at Kirtland, Ohio in December 1830 at the encouragement of Joseph Smith. The next year, on March 8, 1831, Smith said that he received a revelation from God, calling Whitmer to "write and keep a regular history" of the church. This revelation was printed by Latter Day Saints as Book of Commandments 50, and in the Doctrine and Covenants (originally section 63, the revelation is now section 47 of the LDS Church edition). He soon began writing a historical record of the church, a project he worked on until about 1847. Whitmer was to "accompany Oliver Cowdery to Zion (Independence, Missouri) with the manuscript of the Book of Commandments, forerunner of the Doctrine and Covenants, and [was] made one of the stewards over the modern revelations." Whitmer was made a high priest in the church by Lyman Wight on June 4, 1831