Editing David Whitmer (section)

==President of the Church of Christ (Whitmerite)==
[[File:LDS David WITMER.jpg|thumb|125px|Portrait of David Whitmer by Lewis A. Ramsey]]
After the [[Killing of Joseph Smith|killing of Smith]] in 1844, several rival leaders claimed to be Smith's successor, including [[Brigham Young]], [[Sidney Rigdon]], and [[James Strang]]. Many of Rigdon's followers became disillusioned by 1847 and some, including [[Apostle (Latter Day Saints)|apostle]] [[William E. McLellin]] and [[Benjamin Winchester]], remembered Whitmer's 1834 ordination to be Smith's successor. At McLellin's urging, Whitmer exercised his claim to be Smith's successor and the [[Church of Christ (Whitmerite)]] was formed in [[Kirtland, Ohio]]. However, Whitmer never joined the body of the new church and it dissolved relatively quickly.

Around this time, fellow Book of Mormon witness [[Oliver Cowdery]] began to correspond with Whitmer. After traveling from Ohio to [[Council Bluffs, Iowa|Kanesville (Council Bluffs)]], [[Iowa]] Cowdery attended the [[Kanesville Tabernacle]] meeting, called to sustain [[Brigham Young]] as the new [[President of the Church]]. Cowdery bore, with conviction, his testimony of the truthfulness of everything that had happened spiritually regarding Smith and the Book of Mormon. Meeting with Young at [[Winter Quarters, Nebraska]], he requested readmission into the church, and he was [[Rebaptism (Mormonism)|re-baptized]] into the church there. Cowdery then traveled to meet with Whitmer in Richmond to persuade him to move west and rejoin the Saints in [[Utah Territory]]. Cowdery, however, succumbed to [[tuberculosis]] and died March 3, 1850.<ref>David Whitmer, ''An Address to All Believers in the Book of Mormon'', 1887, p. 1</ref><ref>Scott H. Faulring, [https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?filename=6&article=1083&context=mi&type=additional "The Return of Oliver Cowdery,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111021025608/http://maxwellinstitute.byu.edu/publications/transcripts/?id=50 |date=October 21, 2011 }} Maxwell Institute, Provo, Utah.</ref>

In January 1876, Whitmer resurrected the [[Church of Christ (Whitmerite)]] by ordaining his nephew, [[John C. Whitmer]], an [[Elder (Christianity)|elder]], and giving him the title "First Elder".<ref>''Deseret News''; ''[http://www.sidneyrigdon.com/RigWrit/M&A/Return1.htm#27-9210a The Return]'', vol. 3, no. 3, October 1892, pp. 3–5; George Sweich, "David Whitmer and the Church of Christ," ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=pfcOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA520 Magazine of Western History]'', New York, vol. 14, May 1891&mdash;October 1891, p 520.</ref>

In 1887, Whitmer published a pamphlet entitled "[[s:An Address to All Believers in Christ|An Address to All Believers in Christ]]", in which he affirmed his testimony of the Book of Mormon, but denounced the other branches of the Latter Day Saint movement. Whitmer died in Richmond. The Whitmerite church survived until the 1960s.