People of the Record

The witnesses, officers and members whose names recur in the record of the Church of Christ between 1829 and 1834, each followed only as far as this site’s period.

The revelations and minutes this site follows were received, recorded and carried out by a small number of people. These pages gather what the dated record says about each of them, from the summer of 1829 to the conference of May 1834. A fuller list of the people named in the record, including the Eight Witnesses, is kept in the Source Index.

The presidency

Joseph Smith Jr. → — First Elder from 1830; President of the High Priesthood from 1832.
Sidney Rigdon → — Ohio preacher baptized in 1830; scribe and counselor in the presidency from 1832.
Frederick G. Williams → — Physician and scribe; counselor in the presidency from 1833; likely draftsman of the plat.

The witnesses

Oliver Cowdery → — Scribe, one of the Three Witnesses, Second Elder, printer and editor.
David Whitmer → — One of the Three Witnesses; directed with Cowdery in 1829 to search out the Twelve.
Martin Harris → — Early scribe, one of the Three Witnesses, and guarantor of the Book of Mormon’s printing.

The bishopric

Edward Partridge → — The church’s first bishop, appointed in 1831 to oversee the settlement of Zion.

Biographical details on these pages follow the biographical entries of the Joseph Smith Papers, checked against the dated documents cited on this site’s chronology pages. Each person is followed only to May 1834, with a single closing line on their later life.