Description

The Lost Witness

Hiram Page and his wife Catherine Whitmer were among the first members of the Church; being baptized on April 11, 1830. Hiram is most often remembered for the incident with a black stone and false revelations received therefrom. It is because of the Hiram Page that the Lord gave DC 28 which established a new way of governance in contemporary 19th century Christianity: “No one shall be appointed to receive commandments and revelations in this church excepting my servant Joseph Smith Jun., for he receiveth them even as Moses.” (DC 28:2) Hiram Page could hardly be blamed and certainly his intent was not malicious.

Once corrected, he disposed of the stone and the revelations from Satan were supposedly burned. When Lucy Mack Smith took a group of Saints to Fairport Harbor and across the Lake to Kirtland, Ohio, Hiram and his wife, Catherine Whitmer went with them. In 1832, he followed the command of revelation and moved his family to Jackson County Missouri. As a part of the Whitmer Settlement, Hiram was there when violence erupted and on October 31, 1833 was beaten by the mob so severely that he nearly died. They only ceased the assault when it became evident that he would die before he would deny his faith.

He and his family were among the saints that fled across the Missouri River into Clay County and spent the winter of 1833-34 suffering in exile. Hiram was among those first families to settle Far West, Missouri. But then when controversy erupted around his brothers-in-law, John and David Whitmer, and they were excommunicated from the Church; the extended Whitmer family left with them, including Hiram and Catherine Whitmer Page.

Along with the rest of the Whitmers, Hiram remained in Missouri after the members of the Church were driven out. He bought a farm at Excelsior Springs, just 14 miles north of Richmond Missouri.

In 1847, he became associated with William E. McClellin and his efforts to start a new Church. In a letter to William McClellin in May 1847, Hiram made this telling statement: “As to the Book of Mormon, it would be doing injustice to myself and to the work of God in the last days to say that I could know a thing to be true in 1830 and know the same thing to be false in 1847.” Numerous witnesses attest that Hiram Page never denied his testimony of the Book of Mormon down to the end of his days.

On August 12, 1852 it is reported that Hiram Page was killed when a wagon on his farm overturned on him. He was buried on the farm of his son, Philander Page in Ray County

That farm would later be purchased by the Fulkerson family who knew the name of the man and cared for the grave but knew little of the significance of the individual buried there. The grave of Hiram Page was lost to the rest of the world. Finally, in 2000, the connection was made and the grave of Hiram Page was found and appropriately marked at last. He was the last of the 11 Witnesses of the Book of Mormon to be found. The man was lost but not his testimony, not then, and not ever. The Book of Mormon is true!

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