[3] Whitmer's brother David and his entire family became early followers of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement.

[2] Whitmer was baptized into the movement by Oliver Cowdery in June 1829,[3] nearly a year prior to the formal organization of the Church of Christ.

[3] The next year, on March 8, 1831,[3] Smith said that he received a revelation from God, calling Whitmer to "write and keep a regular history" of the church.

[3] Whitmer was to "accompany Oliver Cowdery to Zion (Independence, Missouri) with the manuscript of the Book of Commandments, forerunner of the Doctrine and Covenants, and [was] made one of the stewards over the modern revelations.

"[1] Whitmer was made a high priest in the church by Lyman Wight on June 4, 1831[3] and acted as one of Joseph Smith's scribes during the final steps of the Book of Mormon translation.

Whitmer wrote several petitions to Missouri's governor, Daniel Dunklin, asking that the Latter Day Saints be allowed to return to their lands in Jackson County.

A brief leadership struggle ensued, which led to the excommunication of the entire Whitmer family, as well as Oliver Cowdery, W. W. Phelps, and others[citation needed] on March 10, 1838.

Whitmer was accused of "persisting in unchristianlike conduct," particularly in his financial dealings; he allegedly allotted $2,000 worth of the church's money for his own personal use.

Sidney Rigdon, in his "Salt Sermon", warned the dissenters to leave the county, and his words were soon followed up by perceived threats from the newly formed Mormon confraternity known as the Danites.

This conflict between Latter Day Saints and their neighbors in northwestern Missouri ended with the expulsion of the former, who eventually relocated to a new headquarters at Nauvoo, Illinois.

Whitmer continued to live in Far West, buying up land (including the proposed temple site) and eventually amassing a large farm.

[1] When Jacob Gates visited him in 1861, Whitmer reaffirmed that he believed in the Book of Mormon but expressed dismay with the practice of plural marriage that Brigham Young and his followers adhered to.

Whitmer had initially resisted Joseph Smith’s 1831 request to serve as the church historian but eventually accepted after receiving a revelation affirming it as God’s will.

[7] Following his excommunication, Whitmer refused to turn over his manuscript when William W. Phelps inquired about it in the early 1840s, prompting Joseph Smith and other leaders to begin a new historical record.