Editing Hiram Page

{{Short description |Book of Mormon witness}}
{{Use American English |date=December 2015}}
{{Use mdy dates |date=December 2015}}
{{Infobox Latter Day Saint biography
 | name           =Hiram Page
 | image          =
 | alt           =
 | birth_date        ={{circa}} 1800<!-- {{Birth date |YYYY |MM |DD |mf=yes}} -->
 | birth_place       =[[Vermont]], U.S.
 | death_date        =August 12, 1852<!-- {{Dda |YYYY |MM |DD |YYYY |MM |DD |mf=yes}} -->
 | death_place       =[[Excelsior Springs, Missouri]], U.S.
 | death_cause       =
 | resting_place      =Hamers Farm
 | resting_place_coordinates={{Coord |39.356045 |-94.176267 |type:landmark |display=inline |name=Hiram Page's Grave}}
 | known_for        =One of the [[Eight Witnesses]]
 | spouse          =Catherine Whitmer
 | children         =9
 | website         =<!-- {{URL |www.example.com}} -->
 | footnotes        =
 | portals         =movement}}
'''Hiram Page''' ({{circa}} 1800 {{ndash}} August 12, 1852) was an early member of the [[Latter Day Saint movement]] and one of the [[Eight Witnesses]] to the [[Book of Mormon |Book of Mormon's]] [[golden plates]].

==Early life==
Page was born in [[Vermont]]. Earlier in his life, he studied medicine which he practiced during his travels throughout [[New York (state) |New York]] and [[Canada]]. On November 10, 1825, Page married Catherine Whitmer, daughter of [[Peter Whitmer Sr.]] and [[Mary Musselman Whitmer |Mary Musselman]]. The two had nine children together: John, Elizabeth, Philander, Mary, Peter, Nancy, Hiram, Oliver, and Kate.

==Early involvement in the Latter Day Saint movement==
Page became one of the [[Eight Witnesses]] during June 1829.<ref>[http://josephsmithpapers.org/paperSummary/the-testimony-of-eight-witnesses-circa-june–august-1829 Testimony of Eight Witnesses] {{webarchive |url=https://archive.today/20120709080112/http://josephsmithpapers.org/paperSummary/the-testimony-of-eight-witnesses-circa-june%E2%80%93august-1829 |date=July 9, 2012 }}, The Joseph Smith Papers (accessed May 1, 2012)</ref>

He and Catherine were baptized into in the [[Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints) |Church of Christ]] (later renamed the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints)<ref name=1838name1>''Manuscript History of the Church'', LDS Church Archives, book A-1, p. 37; reproduced in Dean C. Jessee (comp.) (1989). ''The Papers of Joseph Smith: Autobiographical and Historical Writings'' (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book) '''1''':302–303.</ref><ref name=1838name2>[[H. Michael Marquardt]] and [[Wesley P. Walters]] (1994). ''Inventing Mormonism: Tradition and the Historical Record'' (Salt Lake City, Utah: Signature Books) p. 160.</ref> on April 11, 1830, by [[Oliver Cowdery]]. On June 9, he was ordained a [[teacher (Latter Day Saints) |teacher]] in the church, one of the church's first twelve officers.<ref>[http://josephsmithpapers.org/paperSummary/minutes-9-june-1830 Minutes of 9 June 1830 meeting], The Joseph Smith Papers (accessed May 1, 2012)</ref>

===Seer stone and revelations===
Page was living with his in-laws the [[Peter Whitmer Sr. |Whitmers]] in [[Fayette, New York]]. [[Joseph Smith Jr.]] arrived in August 1830 to discover Page using a black "[[Seer stone (Latter Day Saints) |seerstone]]" to produce revelations for the church. The revelations were regarding the organization and location of [[Zion (Latter Day Saints) |Zion]]. Cowdery and the Whitmer family believed the revelations were authentic. In response, Smith announced in a new revelation during the church's September [[General conference (Latter Day Saints) |conference]] that Page's revelations were of the devil ([[Doctrine and Covenants]], {{sourcetext |source=The Doctrine and Covenants |book=Section 28 |verse=11}}). At the conference there was considerable discussion on the topic. Page agreed to discard the stone and the revelations and join in following Smith as the sole [[prophet, seer, and revelator |revelator]] for the church. The members present confirmed this unanimously [[common consent (Latter Day Saints) |with a vote]]. The fate of the stone and revelations was not recorded by contemporary sources and has been the subject of interest ever since.<ref name=MacKay2016>{{cite book
 |last1=MacKay 
 |first1=Michael Hubbard
 |last2=Frederick
 |first2=Nicholas J.
 |date=August 29, 2016
 |title=Joseph Smith's Seer Stones
 |publisher=Deseret Book Company
 |page=<!-- I don't have my copy at present. -->
 |isbn=9781944394059
}}</ref> [[Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints) |Martin Harris's]] brother Emer stated second-hand in 1856 that the stone was ground to powder and the associated revelations were burned.<ref>Emer Harris statement, in Utah Stake General Minutes, Local Record 9629, ser. 11, vol. 10 (1855-60), 6 April 1856, Church History Library.</ref> [[Apostle (Latter Day Saints) |Apostle]] [[Alvin R. Dyer]] stated that he had discovered Page's seerstone in 1955, that it had been passed down through Jacob Whitmer's family.<ref>Dyer, Alvin R., ''Refiner's Fire: The Significance of Events Transpiring in Missouri'', 2nd ed. rev. (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1968), 257-259</ref> The validity of this claim has been questioned.<ref name=MacKay2016 />

===Migration to Ohio and Missouri===
In January 1831, Page accompanied [[Lucy Mack Smith]] and a company of saints from [[Waterloo, New York]], to [[Buffalo, New York |Buffalo]] on the [[Erie Canal]], on their way to [[Fairport Harbor, Ohio |Fairport]] and [[Kirtland, Ohio]]. In May 1831, Page moved his family to [[Thompson Township, Geauga County, Ohio |Thompson, Ohio]], under Lucy Mack Smith's direction. He again moved his family to [[Jackson County, Missouri]], in 1832 and joined the Latter Day Saints gathering there. With the other Whitmers, they formed a cluster of ten or twelve homes called the "Whitmer Settlement". Hiram owned {{convert |120 |acre |m2}} of land in the area.

During the growing [[anti-Mormon]] hostilities in Jackson County, Page was severely beaten by a group of non-Mormon vigilantes on October 31, 1833. On July 31 and August 6, 1834, he testified to the facts of the beatings. By 1834, Page and his family were expelled from the county along with the other Latter Day Saints, and lived for a time in neighboring [[Clay County, Missouri |Clay County]], before moving to [[Far West, Missouri |Far West]].

==Schism with Joseph Smith and later life==
When the members of the Whitmer family were excommunicated from the church in 1838, Page withdrew from church fellowship. One historian summarizes the situation as follows:

<blockquote>As a result of these events, Hiram became estranged from mainstream Mormonism. Though there is no evidence of excommunication or withdrawal of his [preaching] license, after 1838 there is no record of Page's association with the main body of the church. Hiram continued residence in the Richmond, &#91;[[Ray County, Missouri |Ray County]]&#93; area until his death in 1852. Catherine gave birth to four more children, the last being born in the year that Hiram died.<ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/5142/ |title=Hiram Page: An Historical and Sociological Analysis of an Early Mormon Prototype |journal=Theses and Dissertations |date=January 1987 |last1=Stewart |first1=Bruce |page=57}}</ref></blockquote>

On September 6, 1847, [[William E. McLellin]] baptized Page, [[David Whitmer]], [[John Whitmer]], and [[Jacob Whitmer]] into his newly formed [[Church of Christ (Whitmerite)]]. McLellin ordained Page a [[High priest (Latter Day Saints) |high priest]] in the church. Page participated in the subsequent ordinations of the others.

Page died on the farm he had bought in [[Excelsior Springs, Missouri |Excelsior Springs]], in Ray County, still affirming his testimony of the Book of Mormon. His death was caused when his wagon overturned, crushing him underneath.

==Grave location==
For almost 150 years, the final resting place of Page was unknown.<ref name=Burial>{{cite news |last=Shull |first=Sharon |title=Hiram Page's grave identified |url=https://www.thechurchnews.com/2001/1/6/23245082/hiram-pages-grave-identified/ |access-date=11 February 2014 |newspaper=Deseret News |date=6 January 2001}}</ref> However, in 2000, it was located near Excelsior Springs, on property purchased by Charles and Molly Fulkerson in 1917.<ref name=Burial/> Page's burial location was the last of the 11 Book of Mormon witnesses to be identified.<ref name=Burial/> A commemorative marker was placed on Page's grave on April 27, 2002.<ref>{{cite web |title=Ray County Genealogy: A Missouri GenWeb Project: Historical Markers: Hiram Page |url=http://ray.mogenweb.org/markers/page/page.htm |publisher=Kentucky Comprehensive Genealogy Database |access-date=11 February 2014}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

'''General'''
*{{cite web |title=The Joseph Smith Papers Project: Page, Hiram: Biography |url=http://josephsmithpapers.org/person/hiram-page |publisher=The Church Historian's Press: The Church History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints |access-date=11 February 2014}}
*{{cite news |last=Mays |first=Kenneth |title=Picturing history: Hiram Page's grave |url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765617012/Picturing-history-Hiram-Pages-grave.html?pg=all |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140224054927/http://www.deseretnews.com/article/765617012/Picturing-history-Hiram-Pages-grave.html?pg=all |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 24, 2014 |access-date=11 February 2014 |newspaper=Deseret News |date=5 December 2012}}
*{{cite book | last=Jenson | first=Andrew | title=Latter-day Saint biographical encyclopedia: A compilation of biographical sketches of prominent men and women in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints | volume=1 | year=1901 | publisher=The Andrew Jenson History Company (Printed by The Deseret News Press) | location=Salt Lake City, Utah | pages=[https://books.google.com/books?id=o3LUAAAAMAAJ&dq=Latter-Day%20Saint%20Biographical%20Encyclopedia%2C%20vol%201&pg=PA277 277–278]}}

{{Book of Mormon Witnesses}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Page, Hiram}}
[[Category:1800 births]]
[[Category:1852 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century American physicians]]
[[Category:American Latter Day Saint leaders]]
[[Category:American Latter Day Saints]]
[[Category:Book of Mormon witnesses]]
[[Category:Converts to Mormonism]]
[[Category:Doctrine and Covenants people]]
[[Category:Latter Day Saint leaders]]
[[Category:People from Excelsior Springs, Missouri]]
[[Category:People from Fayette, New York]]
[[Category:People from Vermont]]
[[Category:Religious leaders from Vermont]]
[[Category:Road incident deaths in Missouri]]
[[Category:Seership in Mormonism]]
[[Category:Whitmer family]]