Peter Whitmer, Jr.
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Peter Whitmer, Jr. (1809–1836) was the sixth child and fifth son of Peter Whitmer, Sr. and Mary Musselman. He is primarily remembered as one of the Eight Witnesses of the Book of Mormon's Golden Plates.
Born September 27, 1809 in Fayette, New York, Peter Whitmer, Jr. and several of his brothers became special witnesses of the Book of Mormon in June of 1829. Soon after the organization of the Latter Day Saint church on April 6, 1830, Whitmer was called to travel with Oliver Cowdery, Parley P. Pratt and Ziba Peterson on a special mission to preach the faith to the Native Americans. This mission led to the conversion of former Campbellite minister Sidney Rigdon.
Whitmer subsequently moved to Jackson County, Missouri, where he married Vashti Higley on October 14, 1832, with whom he had three children. By 1835, Whitmer and his family had relocated to the new Latter Day Saint settlement of Far West, Missouri, where he sat on the church's High Council. He died of tuberculosis on September 22, 1836 in Liberty, Missouri.
