...Just as Mr. Vancleave started to read the official orders to the city council last night he received a telegram stating that David Whitmer, his wife's grandfather, was dying at his home in Richmond, Mo., and that he would probably not live through the night.
David Whitmer was a remarkable man. He was one of the founders of the Mormon church, and helped translate the hieroglyphics found on the plates of gold that Joseph Smith claimed to have dug out of a hill in central New York. Born Jan. 6, 1805, in Pennsylvania, his family removed to western New York and settled on a farm near Watkins glen, Ontario county, where the boys helped their father until they arrived at the age of manhood. The daughter married the village schoolmaster, Oliver Cowdery. Learning that a young man named Joseph Smith had found a valuable treasure in the northern part of the county, Cowdery imparted the information to Whitmer, and together they decided to look into the matter, for which purpose Cowdery visited Smith at his home.
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The work of translating consumed about eight months, Smith acting as the seer, Oliver Cowdery, Smith's wife, and Christian Whitmer, David's brother, performing the duties of amanuenses, in whose handwriting the original translation of the Book of Mormon still exists. The silver-rimmed spectacles cut a considerable figure in the proceedings, as it was only by their aid that Smith was able to decipher the meaning of the wondrous signs and figures on the mysterious plates. He would set at a table, the open volume before him, and one or other of the amanuenses would write at his dictation, relieving each other as they found the work fatiguing.
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David Whitmer has always been regarded by his fellow citizens of Richmond, Mo., as a good, law-abiding citizen. He has always maintained the confidence of those with whom he has come into contact in business, and has lived to see his children, grand children, and great-grand children prosperous and God-fearing men and women around him. Of those who took part in the original translation he is the last survivor.