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organization of the church has been variously reported as having occured
in Manchester and Fayette, New York. The correct location is Manchester. |
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Evening and Morning Star |
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| Manchester |
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IT will be three years the sixth
of April next, since the church of Christ was organized, in Manchester,
New York, with six members. It has increased steadily in faith and works
since; and the work has spread into several states.
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"Rise and Progress of the Church of Christ," Evening
and Morning Star, vol. 1, no. 10 (March
1833), (n.p.). |
| Fayette |
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Soon after the book of Mormon came
forth, containing the fulness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the church
was organized on the sixth of April, in Manchester; soon after, a branch
was established in Fayette, and the June following, another in Colesville,
New York.
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"Rise
and Progress of the Church of Christ," Evening
and Morning Star, vol. 1, no. 11 (April
1833), (n.p.). |
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Book of Commandments (1833) |
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| Manchester |
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Revelations dated April 6, 1830 (Chapters 17 through 22)
are given
"in Manchester, New York." |
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Joseph Smith, 1842 |
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| Manchester |
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On the 6th of April, 1830, the "Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints," was first organized in the town
of Manchester, Ontario co., state of New York. |
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Commonly referred to as the "Wentworth
letter." Times and Seasons, vol. 3 no. 9 (March 1, 1842), 708.
The original name of the church is the Church of Christ. It was changed
to the Church of the Latter Day Saints in 1834, then to the name cited here
in ¶ D&C 115, April 26,
1838. |
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David Whitmer, 1887 |
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| Fayette |
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Now, when April 6, 1830 came, we had then established three
branches of the "Church of Christ," in which three branches were
about seventy members: One branch was at Fayette, N.Y.; one at Manchester
N.Y., and one at Colesville, Pa. It is all a mistake about the church being
organized on April 6, 1830, as I will show. We were as fully organized—spiritually—before
April 6th as we were on that day. The reason why we met on that day was
this; the world had been telling us that we were not a regularly organized
church, and we had no right to officiate in the ordinances of marriage,
hold church property, etc., and that we should organize according to the
laws of the land. On this account we met at my father's house in Fayette,
N.Y. on April 6, 1830, to attend to this matter of organizing according
to the laws of the land. |
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David Whitmer, Address to believers,
33.
David is mistaken in reporting 3 branches with seventy members. The Minutes
of September 26, 1830 (4 months after the organization) report only
62 members. The Fayette branch was
organized April 11 and the Colesville
branch June 28.
For a refutation of David's arguments that the April 6 organization was
for legal purposes, see Inventing, 162–164. (The statement
on page 162 about the June 9 conference applies to the September 26 conference.) |
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