Oliver Hervy Pliny Cowdery (3 October 1806 – 3 March 1850) was the primary participant with
Joseph Smith, Jr.Joseph Smith, Jr. was the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, also known as Mormonism, and an important religious and political figure during the 1830s and 1840s...
in the formative period of the
Latter Day Saint movementThe Latter Day Saint movement is a group of Restorationist religious denominations and adherents who follow at least some of the teachings and revelations of Joseph Smith, Jr., publisher of the Book of Mormon in 1830...
from 1829 through 1836. He was one of the
Three WitnessesThe Three Witnesses were a group of three early leaders of the Latter Day Saint movement who signed a statement in 1830 saying that an angel had shown them the golden plates from which Joseph Smith, Jr. translated the Book of Mormon and that they had heard God's voice testifying that the book had...
of the
Book of Mormon'sThe Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr. as The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi...
golden platesAccording to the theology of Latter Day Saint movement churches, the golden plates are a book of bound and engraved metal plates that Joseph Smith, Jr. said was his source for the Book of Mormon...
and with Smith was one of the first
Latter Day SaintA Latter Day Saint is an adherent of the Latter Day Saint movement, a group of denominations tracing their heritage to the teachings of Joseph Smith, Jr. and the Church of Christ he organized in 1830...
apostles. After the organization of the Church of Christ—as the early Latter Day Saint church was known—he became the
Second ElderAssistant President of the Church was a position in the leadership hierarchy in the early days of the Latter Day Saint church founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. The Assistant President was the second-highest authority in the church and was a member of the church's governing First Presidency...
of the church.
Life
Cowdery was born October 3, 1806 in
Wells, VermontWells is a town in Rutland County, Vermont, United States. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 1,121.-Geography:According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 23.4 square miles , of which, 22.5 square miles of it is land and...
. His father, William, may have been a follower of sectarian leader
Nathaniel WoodNathaniel Wood, Sr., was the leader of a sect called the New Israelites, which was formed in Middletown, Rutland County, Vermont at the end of the 1790s. Wood emigrated from Newent Parish in Norwich, Connecticut to Bennington, Vermont. From Bennington he moved to Rutland County in 1761...
of Middletown, Vermont, whose small religious sect, the "New Israelites," practiced divining for buried treasure and for revelatory purposes. The Cowdery family also attended the
Congregational ChurchCongregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs....
of
Poultney, VermontPoultney is a village in Rutland County of the U.S. state of Vermont. The village is entirely within the Town of Poultney. The population was 1,575 at the 2000 census...
, where
Ethan SmithView of the Hebrews is an 1823 book written by Ethan Smith which argues that Native Americans were descended from the Hebrews. Numerous commentators on Mormon doctrine, from LDS Church general authority B. H. Roberts to biographer Fawn M...
was pastor. At the time, Ethan Smith was writing
View of the Hebrews (1823), a book speculating that Native Americans were of Hebrew origin.
David PersuitteJoseph Smith and the Origins of the Book of Mormon is a book written by David Persuitte. The work was first published in 1985, with a second expanded edition in 2000. It provides detailed biographical information about Joseph Smith and background information about the origin of the Book of Mormon...
argues that Cowdery had a knowledge of
View of the Hebrews and that this significantly contributed to the final version of the
Book of Mormon. Even noted LDS scholar
Richard BushmanRichard Lyman Bushman is an American historian and Gouverneur Morris Professor of History emeritus at Columbia University. He is currently the Howard W. Hunter Visiting Professor in Mormon Studies at Claremont Graduate University...
has written in
Joseph Smith: Rough Stone RollingJoseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling is a biography of Joseph Smith Jr., founder and prophet of the Latter Day Saint movement, by Richard Bushman. Bushman is both a practicing Latter-day Saint and Gouverneur Morris Professor of History emeritus at Columbia University.-Approach:The title of the book...
that though "Joseph Smith is not known to have seen
View of the Hebrews until later in life, the parallels seem strong enough for critics to argue that Ethan Smith provided the seeds for Joseph Smith's later compositions." Nevertheless, Mormon apologists such as
John W. WelchJohn Woodland "Jack" Welch is an LDS law and religion scholar who currently teaches at the J. Reuben Clark Law School at Brigham Young University ....
reject the connection and argue that there is little relationship between the contents of the two books.
Cowdery was reared in Poultney, but beginning at age twenty, he clerked at a store in New York for several years until 1829, when he taught school in the town of
ManchesterManchester, New York is both a town and a village located in Ontario County, New York.*Manchester , New York*Manchester , New York...
. While teaching, Cowdery lodged at different houses in the Manchester area, including that of Joseph Smith, Sr., who apparently provided Cowdery with additional information about the
golden platesAccording to the theology of Latter Day Saint movement churches, the golden plates are a book of bound and engraved metal plates that Joseph Smith, Jr. said was his source for the Book of Mormon...
of which he had heard "from all quarters".
Book of Mormon scribe and witness
Cowdery met Joseph Smith, Jr. on April 5, 1829, (one year and a day before the official founding of the church) and heard from him how he had received the
golden platesAccording to the theology of Latter Day Saint movement churches, the golden plates are a book of bound and engraved metal plates that Joseph Smith, Jr. said was his source for the Book of Mormon...
containing ancient
Native AmericanNative Americans in the United States is the phrase that describes indigenous peoples from North America now encompassed by the continental United States, including parts of Alaska and the island state of Hawaii. They comprise a large number of distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of...
writings. Like Smith, who was a distant relative, during his youth, Cowdery engaged in hunting for buried treasure and used a
divining rodA divining rod is an apparatus used in dowsing. There are many types of divining rods:...
. Cowdery told Smith that he had seen the golden plates in a vision before the two ever met.
From April 7 to June 1829, Cowdery acted as Smith's primary scribe for the translation of the plates into what would later become the
Book of MormonThe Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr. as The Book of Mormon: An Account Written by the Hand of Mormon upon Plates Taken from the Plates of Nephi...
. Cowdery also attempted to translate part of the
Book of Mormon, but was unsuccessful. Before meeting Cowdery, Joseph Smith's translation had come to a standstill after the first 116 pages were lost by Martin Harris. Once Smith and Cowdery met, the translation continued and transcribed in a remarkably short period (April-June 1829) in what Richard Bushman called a "burst of rapid-fire translation."
During the translation of the golden plates, Cowdery and Smith stated they were present together on May 15, 1829 when he and Smith had received the
Aaronic PriesthoodThe Aaronic priesthood is the lesser of the two orders of priesthood recognized in Mormonism. The others are the Melchizedek priesthood and the rarely-recognized Patriarchal priesthood...
from
John the BaptistJohn the Baptist was a mission preacher and a major religious figure who led a movement of Baptism at the Jordan River in expectation of a divine apocalypse that would restore occupied Israel...
, after which they had
baptizedIn Christianity, baptism is the ritual act, with the use of water, by which one is admitted to membership of the Christian Church and, in the view of some, as a member of the particular Church in which the baptism is administered.The usual form of baptism among the earliest Christians was for the...
each other in the
Susquehanna RiverThe Susquehanna River is a river located in the northeastern United States. At approximately 444 mi long, it is the longest river on the American east coast, the 16th longest in the United States, and the longest river in the continental United States without commercial boat traffic...
. Cowdery also said that he and Smith had later gone into the forest and prayed "until a glorious light encircled us, and as we arose on account of the light, three persons stood before us dressed in white, their faces beaming with glory." One of the three announced that he was the
Apostle PeterSimon Peter , Pétros “Rock”, Kephas in Hellenized Aramaic) was a leader of the early Christian Church, who features prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. Peter was the son of John, and was from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee...
and named the others as the Apostles James and
JohnJohn the Apostle was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. He was the son of Zebedee and Salome, and brother of James, another of the Twelve Apostles....
.
Later that year, Cowdery reported experiencing a vision along with Smith and
David WhitmerDavid Whitmer was an early adherent of the Latter Day Saint movement who eventually became the most interviewed of the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon's Golden Plates.-Early life:...
in which an
angelAngels are spiritual beings found in many religious traditions. They are broadly viewed as messengers of God, sent to do God's tasks. Traditions vary as to the precise nature and role of these messages and tasks...
showed him the golden plates. Martin Harris said he saw a similar vision later that day, and Cowdery, Whitmer and Harris signed a statement to that effect. They became known as the
Three WitnessesThe Three Witnesses were a group of three early leaders of the Latter Day Saint movement who signed a statement in 1830 saying that an angel had shown them the golden plates from which Joseph Smith, Jr. translated the Book of Mormon and that they had heard God's voice testifying that the book had...
, and their testimony has been published with nearly every edition of the
Book of Mormon. Also in 1829, Cowdery received a revelation entitled "
Articles of the Church of ChristThe "Articles of the Church of Christ" was an 1829 revelation purportedly given by God to Oliver Cowdery in the early history of the Latter Day Saint movement. The original Articles were never included in the Mormon canon; however, the language of much of the Articles found its way into various...
", which directed the formation of the Church of Christ.
Second Elder of the church
When the Church was organized on April 6, 1830, Joseph Smith, Jr. was named "First Elder" and Cowdery "Second Elder." Cowdery was technically second in authority to Smith in the church from its organization through 1838, though in practice
Sidney RigdonSidney Rigdon was an important figure in the early history of the Latter Day Saint movement. Rigdon's influence over the early years of the movement is considered by many historians to have been nearly as strong as that of church founder Joseph Smith Jr.-Baptist background:Sidney Rigdon was born...
, Smith's "spokesman" and counselor in the
First PresidencyIn the Latter Day Saint movement, the First Presidency was the highest governing body in the Latter Day Saint church established by Joseph Smith, Jr. in 1832, and is the highest governing body of several modern Latter Day Saint denominations...
, began to supplant Cowdery as early as 1831. Cowdery held the position of
Assistant President of the ChurchAssistant President of the Church was a position in the leadership hierarchy in the early days of the Latter Day Saint church founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. The Assistant President was the second-highest authority in the church and was a member of the church's governing First Presidency...
from 1834 until his excommunication in 1838.
On December 18, 1832, Cowdery married Elizabeth Ann Whitmer, the daughter of
Peter Whitmer, Sr.Peter Whitmer, Sr. was an early member of the Latter Day Saint movement, and father of the movement's second founding family.Peter Whitmer, Sr. was born April 14, 1773 in Pennsylvania and married Mary Elsa Musselman. The Whitmers had eight children together: Christian, Jacob, John, David,...
and sister of
DavidDavid Whitmer was an early adherent of the Latter Day Saint movement who eventually became the most interviewed of the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon's Golden Plates.-Early life:...
,
JohnJohn Whitmer 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...
,
JacobJacob Whitmer was the second born child 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....
and
Peter Whitmer, Jr.Peter Whitmer, Jr. 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....
. They had five children, only one of whom lived to maturity.
Cowdery helped Smith publish a series of Smith's revelations first called the
Book of CommandmentsThe Book of Commandments is the earliest published volume said to contain the revelations of Joseph Smith Jr. Text published in the Book of Commandments is now considered scripture by Latter-day Saints as part of the larger Doctrine and Covenants....
and later, when revised and expanded, the
Doctrine and CovenantsThe Doctrine and Covenants is a part of the open scriptural canon of several denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement...
, to which Cowdery had significant objections. Cowdery was also the editor on the editorial board of several early church publications including the
Evening and Morning StarThe Evening and the Morning Star was an early Latter Day Saint periodical published monthly in Independence, Missouri, from June 1832 to July 1833, and then in Kirtland, Ohio, from December 1833 to September 1834.-Printing in Missouri:The Evening and Morning Star was the first Latter Day Saint...
, the
Messenger and AdvocateLatter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate was an early Latter Day Saint periodical published monthly in Kirtland, Ohio from October 1834 to September 1837...
, and the
Northern Times.
When the Church created a bank known as the
Kirtland Safety SocietyThe Kirtland Safety Society was a quasi-bank organized in 1836 by leaders and followers of the Church of the Latter Day Saints. According to KSS's 1837 "Articles of Agreement", it was intended to serve the banking needs of the growing Mormon community in Kirtland, Ohio...
in 1837, Cowdery obtained the money-printing plates. He later was sent to
Monroe, MichiganMonroe is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 22,076 at the 2000 census. It is the largest city and county seat of Monroe County. The city is bordered on the south by Monroe Charter Township, but both are politically independent. The city is located approximately north of...
where he became president of the Bank of Monroe, which the church had purchased. By 1837, both banks failed. Later that year, Oliver moved to the newly founded Latter Day Saint settlement in
Far West, MissouriFar West, Missouri, was a Latter Day Saint settlement in Caldwell County, Missouri.-Foundation and early history:The town was founded by Missouri Mormon leaders, W. W. Phelps and John Whitmer in August 1836 shortly before the county's creation. The town was platted originally as a 1 mile square...
and suffered ill health through the winter of 1837-38.
Early written history of the church
In 1834 and 1835, with the help of Smith, Cowdery published a history of the church as a series of articles in the church's
Messenger and AdvocateLatter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate was an early Latter Day Saint periodical published monthly in Kirtland, Ohio from October 1834 to September 1837...
. This history is not always congruent with the later
official historyHistory of the Church is a semi-official history of the early Latter Day Saint movement during the lifetime of founder Joseph...
of the church. For instance, Cowdery does not mention the
First VisionThe First Vision is a religious belief held by various denominations that comprise the Latter Day Saint movement that God the Father and Jesus Christ appeared to the fourteen-year-old Joseph Smith, Jr...
. Instead, he associates Smith's first spiritual manifestation with a visitation of the angel Moroni, who Cowdery said had appeared to Smith in September 1823. Cowdery places the religious revival that encouraged Smith to question which church to join in 1823, not 1820, and corrected himself after first claiming that it had occurred in 1821, when Smith was 15. In the correction, Cowdery stated that the revival had occurred after Smith's brother Alvin had died in 1823.
Excommunication
By early 1838 Smith and Cowdery disagreed on three significant issues. First, Cowdery competed with Smith for leadership of the new church and "disagreed with the Prophet's economic and political program and sought a personal financial independence [from the] Zion society that Joseph Smith envisioned." Then too, in March 1838, Smith and Rigdon moved to Far West, which had been under the presidency of Cowdery's brothers-in-law,
DavidDavid Whitmer was an early adherent of the Latter Day Saint movement who eventually became the most interviewed of the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon's Golden Plates.-Early life:...
and John Whitmer. There Smith and Rigdon took charge of the Missouri church and initiated policies that Cowdery and the Whitmers believed violated separation of church and state. Finally, in January 1838, Cowdery wrote his brother
WarrenWarren A. Cowdery was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and an editor of Latter Day Saints' Messenger and Advocate, an early Latter Day Saint periodical. He was the eldest brother of Oliver Cowdery, who with Joseph Smith, Jr...
that he and Joseph Smith had "had some conversation in which in every instance I did not fail to affirm that which I had said was strictly true. A dirty, nasty, filthy affair of his and
Fanny Alger'sFanny Alger is alleged to have been the first plural wife of Joseph Smith, Jr...
was talked over in which I strictly declared that I had never deserted from the truth in the matter, and as I supposed was admitted by himself." Alger, a teenage maid living with the Smiths, may have been Joseph Smith's first
plural wifePolygamy was a defining characteristic of early Mormonism, and continues to be the defining characteristic of Mormon fundamentalism. The practice of polygamy was instituted in the 1830s by founder Joseph Smith, Jr., and was a contributing factor leading to his 1844 assassination...
, a practice that Cowdery opposed.
On April 12, 1838, a church court excommunicated Cowdery after he failed to appear at a hearing on his membership and sent a letter resigning from the Church instead. The Whitmers, William Wines Phelps and Book of Mormon witness
Hiram PageHiram Page was an early member of the Latter Day Saint movement and one of the Eight Witnesses to the Book of Mormon's Golden Plates....
were also excommunicated from the church at the same time..
Cowdery and the Whitmers became known as "the dissenters," but they continued to live in and around Far West, where they owned a great deal of property. On June 17, 1838, President
Sidney RigdonSidney Rigdon was an important figure in the early history of the Latter Day Saint movement. Rigdon's influence over the early years of the movement is considered by many historians to have been nearly as strong as that of church founder Joseph Smith Jr.-Baptist background:Sidney Rigdon was born...
announced to a large Mormon congregation that the dissenters were "as salt that had lost its savor" and that it was the duty of the faithful to cast the dissenters out "to be trodden beneath the feet of men." Cowdery and the Whitmers took this
Salt SermonThe salt sermon was an oration delivered on June 17 1838 by Mormon leader, Sidney Rigdon, against Mormon dissenters. Rigdon was First Counselor in the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and often acted as spokesman for Joseph Smith Jr....
as a threat against their lives and as an implicit instruction to the Danites, a secret vigilante group, and fled the county. Stories about their treatment circulated in nearby non-Mormon communities and increased the tension that led to the 1838 Mormon War.
Life apart from the church
From 1838 to 1848, Cowdery put the Latter Day Saint church behind him. He may even have briefly denied his testimony regarding the
Golden PlatesAccording to the theology of Latter Day Saint movement churches, the golden plates are a book of bound and engraved metal plates that Joseph Smith, Jr. said was his source for the Book of Mormon...
because in 1841, the Mormon periodical
Times and SeasonsTimes and Seasons was a nineteenth-century Latter Day Saint periodical published monthly or twice-monthly at Nauvoo, Illinois, from November 1839 to February 15 1846...
published the following verse: "Or does it prove there is no time,/Because some watches will not go?/...Or prove that Christ was not the Lord/Because that Peter cursed and swore?/Or Book of Mormon not His word/Because denied, by Oliver?" Nevertheless, there is no direct evidence that Cowdery ever denied his testimony, and he repeated it even while estranged from the church.
Cowdery studied law and practiced at
Tiffin, OhioTiffin is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Seneca County. The population was 18,135 in the 2000 census. The National Arbor Day Foundation has designated Tiffin as a Tree City USA....
, where he became a civic and political leader. He edited the local Democratic newspaper until it was learned that he was one of the Book of Mormon witnesses. He did not recant his testimony, but he was still able to become assistant editor. In 1846, Cowdery was nominated as his district's Democratic party candidate for the state senate, but when his Mormon background was discovered, he was defeated.
Later Latter Day Saint contacts
After Joseph Smith was assassinated, Cowdery's brother Lyman recognized James J. Strang as Smith's successor to the
church presidencyIn the Latter Day Saint movement, the President of the Church is generally considered to be the highest office of the church. It is the office held by Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the movement, and the office assumed by many of Smith's claimed successors, such as Brigham Young, Joseph Smith III,...
, and in 1847, Oliver moved to
Elkhorn, WisconsinElkhorn is a city in Walworth County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 7,305 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Walworth County.-Geography:Elkhorn is located at ....
near Strang's headquarters in
VoreeVoree is an unincorporated community on the outskirts of present-day Burlington, in Walworth County, Wisconsin, United States, in the town limits of Spring Prairie. It is best known as the historic and current headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints , a denomination of the...
and entered law practice with his brother. He became co-editor of the
Walworth County Democrat and in 1848 he ran for state assemblyman. However, his Mormon ties were once again discovered and he was defeated.
In 1848, Cowdery traveled to meet with followers of
Brigham YoungBrigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the western United States. He was the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death and was the founder of Salt Lake City and the first governor of Utah Territory,...
and the
Quorum of the TwelveIn The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is one of the governing bodies in the church hierarchy...
who were encamped at
Winter Quarters, NebraskaWinter Quarters was an encampment formed by approximately 2,500 members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as they waited during the winter of 1846-1847 for better conditions for their trek westward. It followed a preliminary tent settlement some 3½ miles west at Cutler's Park. ...
and asked to be reunited with the Church.
On November 12, 1848, Cowdery was rebaptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by
Orson HydeOrson Hyde was a leader in the early Latter Day Saint movement and an original member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles...
of the
Quorum of the TwelveIn the Latter Day Saint movement, the Quorum of the Twelve was one of the governing bodies of the church hierarchy organized by the movement's founder Joseph Smith, Jr., and patterned after the twelve apostles of Christ In the Latter Day Saint movement, the Quorum of the Twelve (also known as the...
in Indian Creek at Kanesville, Iowa. Cowdery never again held high office in the church. Cowdery developed a respiratory illness, and on March 3, 1850 he died in
David Whitmer'sDavid Whitmer was an early adherent of the Latter Day Saint movement who eventually became the most interviewed of the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon's Golden Plates.-Early life:...
home in
Richmond, MissouriRichmond is a city in Ray County, Missouri, United States. The population was 6,116 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Ray County.-Geography:Richmond is located at...
.
External links