KnoWhy #781 | March 4, 2025
Why Was the Church Organized in Fayette, New York?
Post contributed by
Scripture Central
“Which church was organized and established in the year of your Lord eighteen hundred and thirty, in the fourth month, and on the sixth day of the month which is called April.” Doctrine and Covenants 21:3
The Know
Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, and a small gathering of family, friends, and other interested parties met at the Whitmer farm in Fayette, New York, “in the year of your Lord eighteen hundred and thirty, in the fourth month, and on the sixth day of the month which is called April” (Doctrine and Covenants 21:3). On this day, they officially organized the Church of Christ, known today as The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Joseph would later recollect that at this meeting, “we proceeded, (according to previous commandment) to call on our brethren to know whether they accepted us as their teachers in the things of the Kingdom of God, and whether they were satisfied that we should proceed and be organized as a Church according to said commandment which we had received. To these they consented by an unanimous vote.”1 Other significant events of this day included the administration of the sacrament, baptizing interested people, and giving the gift of the Holy Ghost to the Church’s first members.2
It was also at this meeting that Joseph and Oliver ordained each other as the First and Second Elders of the Church, respectively, just as they had been commanded to do previously.3 Furthermore, at the meeting, Joseph received a revelation canonized as Doctrine and Covenants 21, which affirmed Joseph as the prophet of the Church and urged the Saints to “give heed unto all his words and commandments which he shall give unto you as he receiveth them, walking in all holiness before me” (Doctrine and Covenants 21:4).4
While it may seem odd that Joseph would choose to organize the Church at the Whitmer farm in Fayette rather than at his parents’ home in the Palmyra and Manchester area, there is good reason why the Whitmer house was a suitable place to organize the Church from Joseph’s perspective. Indeed, numerous significant events had happened near the Whitmer farm already, and the Whitmers were some of Joseph’s closest friends and supporters during this time.5
When persecution in Harmony, Pennsylvania, arose that interrupted Joseph and Oliver’s ability to continue translating the Book of Mormon, for instance, the Whitmers welcomed them into their home.6 This allowed the Book of Mormon translation to continue uninterrupted. The printer’s manuscript was also written at the Whitmer farm once the Book of Mormon translation was finished, and some Whitmer brothers served as scribes for the translation process as well. Joseph also received revelations specifically for David, Peter Jr., and John Whitmer. These revelations are now canonized as Doctrine and Covenants sections 14 through 16 and show that even before the Church was organized, the Whitmers (like Joseph’s family) were eager to aid in the work any way that they could.7
Because of the Whitmers’ faith, some also received significant spiritual experiences with the plates at the farm itself. David Whitmer was chosen to serve as one of the Three Witnesses, and in a grove not far from the Whitmer farm, David, Oliver Cowdery, and Martin Harris saw the plates and other Nephite artifacts.8 Five members of the Whitmer family would additionally be invited to serve as some of the Eight Witnesses, including Christian Whitmer, Jacob Whitmer, Peter Whitmer Jr., John Whitmer, and Hiram Page (who had married Catherine Whitmer in 1825).9 Additionally, Mary Whitmer was visited by an angelic messenger who showed her the plates while the Book of Mormon was still being translated.10
Even though Joseph and Oliver both consistently stated that the Church was organized in Fayette, some early Church publications (principally by William W. Phelps and Orson Pratt) incorrectly placed the location in Manchester, New York. No certificate of incorporation has been found to confirm the original location, leaving open the possibility, in the view of some researchers, to question whether or not the Church was actually organized in Manchester in Hyrum Smith’s home.11 However, when the historical documents are more closely investigated, both of these details can be explained without precluding the Church’s organization in Fayette.
First, while it is true that no certificate of incorporation has been found, it is possible that it was lost or just never filled out. Under New York law in 1830, the Church could have been organized as an unincorporated religious society, as New York attorney David Keith Stott has recognized.12 Ultimately, the lack of articles of incorporation does not prove or disprove anything.
Second, the confusion behind the location of the Church’s organization in early Latter-day Saint print sources appears to have largely been caused by a misunderstanding. When William W. Phelps was printing the Book of Commandments in 1833, the revelations to be printed were taken from Revelation Book 1, which was compiled and edited by both Oliver Cowdery and John Whitmer.
In Revelation Book 1, Doctrine and Covenants 21 was dated to April 6, 1830, and said to have been revealed in Fayette, New York. This introduction was written by Oliver Cowdery, who corrected some information. Michael Hubbard Mackay explains,
[Oliver’s] revisions to Revelation Book 1 followed a regular pattern by inserting the month in which Joseph dictated the revelations but never specifying the exact day. In most instances, Cowdery did not add the month to each revelation because when Smith dictated more than one revelation in a single month, Cowdery only inserted the month into the heading of the first revelation given in that month.13
Phelps, who was familiar with Oliver’s system, would then add the month to each subsequent revelation as he typeset the Book of Commandments.
However, “at some point . . . John Whitmer inserted a ‘6’ between ‘Ap[r]il’ and ‘1830.’ Whitmer apparently knew or thought he knew the date for this Fayette revelation, which likely had been dictated in his own home.”14 John was unaware of Oliver’s system, and Phelps was apparently unaware that John Whitmer was the source of this insertion. Because of this, Phelps dated Doctrine and Covenants 21 and the subsequent five revelations given in Manchester all to April 6, 1830.15 During this process, Phelps or an assistant then changed the Fayette location noted for section 21 to Manchester in an effort to correct a perceived error. This single error “likely created the bedrock for other print editions that claimed the Church was founded in Manchester.”16 This error was then repeated in tracts published by Orson Pratt. As soon as Joseph Smith published his history stating the location was Fayette, however, all other publications, including Pratt’s tracts, were corrected to say Fayette.
The Why
Throughout history, remembering and honoring significant events has been very important for people throughout the world. Similarly, the locations that these events occur in are also special and could be seen as sacred in their own right. As Michael Hubbard Mackay explained, while these sacred locations are not akin to temples where saving ordinances occur, they allow Latter-day Saints to better connect with their history and remember the great things that the Lord has done for them. As such, these sites “bind the modern membership [of the Church] to God’s plan and offer meaning to seemingly arbitrary historical places. . . . Their purpose is to build a deeper understanding of, and foster faith in, the Restoration.”17 Knowing about these sacred locations helps make the history of the Church real and tangible for many Latter-day Saints, especially as they learn about the glorious events that occurred at these locations.
The Whitmer farm is one such sacred space. At the Whitmer farm, several significant events happened, including the organization of the Church. Furthermore, because the Church was organized, people throughout the world have been able to make and keep sacred covenants with God through sacred ordinances. The Whitmer farm can therefore rightly be called the birthplace of the Church, and in many ways served as the headquarters of the Church for the first year after its organization.18 Because of the support Joseph received from the Whitmer family during such a critical time, this farm and family will forever be remembered in the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Michael Hubbard MacKay, Sacred Space: Exploring the Birthplace of Mormonism (Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Deseret Book, 2016).
Casey Griffiths and Mary Jane Woodger, New England Guide for Travel and Study (Cedar Fort, 2023), 151–78.
Larry C. Porter, “The Whitmer Log Home: Cradle of Mormonism,” Religious Educator 12, no. 3 (2011): 177–201.
John K. Carmack, “Fayette: The Place the Church was Organized,” in Sperry Symposium Classics: The Doctrine and Covenants, ed. Craig K. Manscill (Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Deseret Book, 2004), 48–55.
Larry C. Porter, “A Study of the Origins of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the States of New York and Pennsylvania, 1816–1831” (PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1971), 223–76.
- 1. “History, 1838–1856, volume A-1 [23 December 1805–30 August 1834],” p. 37, The Joseph Smith Papers.
- 2. While sources agree that there were six founding members, including Joseph and Oliver, no precise list was recorded, and some later recollections vary as to which Whitmer or Smith family member was included in this list. The four remaining individuals were most likely from these two families. It is also possible that Joseph Smith Sr. was in Manchester, New York, at the time and was baptized later that night after Joseph made a lengthy return trip home; he would have therefore still been baptized shortly after the Church was organized, as Joseph Smith said he was. For an overview of what sources say regarding the founding members, see Michael Hubbard MacKay, Sacred Space: Exploring the Birthplace of Mormonism (Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Deseret Book, 2016), 49–55.
- 3. For more on this event, see Scripture Central, “How Was the Melchizedek Priesthood Restored? (Joseph Smith—History 1:72),” KnoWhy 778 (February 11, 2025).
- 4. For a brief discussion on this, see MacKay, Sacred Space, 48. For another brief discussion on the events that occurred the day the Church was organized and on the preparations leading up to it, see Larry C. Porter, “The Whitmer Log Home: Cradle of Mormonism,” Religious Educator 12, no. 3 (2011): 184–86.
- 5. For an in-depth discussion of the following events, as well as the Whitmer family as a whole, see Larry C. Porter, “A Study of the Origins of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the States of New York and Pennsylvania, 1816–1831” (PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1971), 223–76.
- 6. David Whitmer was able to bring Joseph and Oliver to their home so quickly in part because of a miracle. David needed to plow the fields before he went to Harmony, and overnight much of the field left was plowed. Some accounts mention three strangers who never asked for money or offered an explanation for their services. See Scripture Central, “The Simple Miracle That Helped the Whitmers Further the Book of Mormon (Alma 37:6),” KnoWhy 488 (November 27, 2018); Casey Paul Griffiths and Mary Jane Woodger, New England Guide for Travel and Study (Cedar Fort, 2023), 152–53.
- 7. For a discussion on these sections, see Casey Paul Griffiths, Scripture Central Commentary on the Doctrine and Covenants, vol. 1 (Scripture Central; Cedar Fort, 2024), 167–80; Griffiths and Woodger, New England Guide for Travel and Study, 153–54.
- 8. See Griffiths and Woodger, New England Guide, 158–64.
- 9. While the Eight Witnesses likely saw and hefted the plates at the Smith farm in Palmyra, the fact that so many Whitmers were invited to see the plates underscores their faithfulness to Joseph during the early years of the Restoration and could explain why the Church would have been organized in their home. For a discussion on this event, see Griffiths and Woodger, New England Guide, 58–64.
- 10. For more on this event, see Scripture Central, “What Does Mary Whitmer Teach Us About Enduring Trials? (2 Nephi 27:14),” KnoWhy 455 (August 2, 2018). For a discussion on the multiple spiritual witnesses that the entire Whitmer family experienced, including all of the events discussed above, see Porter, “Whitmer Log Home,” 178–82.
- 11. For an analysis of every instance Joseph and Oliver affirmed the Church was organized in Fayette, see MacKay, Sacred Space, 59–66.
- 12. See David Keith Stott, “Organizing the Church as a Religious Association in 1830,” in Sustaining the Law: Joseph Smith’s Legal Encounters, ed. Gordon A. Madsen, Jeffery N. Walker, and John W. Welch (BYU Studies, 2014), 113–39; Scripture Central, “How Did the Establishment of Jesus Christ’s Church in 1830 Comply with the Law? (Doctrine and Covenants 20:1),” KnoWhy 598 (March 2, 2021). For another discussion about New York laws and the nonextant certificate of incorporation, see John K. Carmack, “Fayette: The Place the Church was Organized,” in Sperry Symposium Classics: The Doctrine and Covenants, ed. Craig K. Manscill (Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University; Deseret Book, 2004), 48–51.
- 13. MacKay, Sacred Space, 80.
- 14. MacKay, Sacred Space, 81.
- 15. These five revelations have been combined into section 23 of the current edition of the Doctrine and Covenants.
- 16. MacKay, Sacred Space, 81.
- 17. MacKay, Sacred Space, 5–6.
- 18. Griffiths and Woodger, New England Guide, 152.