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of Northwest Missouri John Whitmer's Grave |
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of Northwest Missouri John Whitmer's Grave |
Going north on Interstate 35 from the Kansas City area, taking the Route 116 exit marked for Polo, then travelling east on 116 to Route 13. Go north on 13 to Kingston. Kingston is the county seat of Caldwell County, orginally designated as a home place for the Latter-day Saints by the Missouri State Legislature.
Above are the two sides of the Missouri Historical Society Marker at the County Courthouse. If you go north on 13, You'll have a great view of the Kingston Cemetery, where John Whitmer is buried. John Whitmer was the first Church Historian and one of the Eight Witnesses of the Book of Mormon.
Brother Whitmer's headstone is in the center of this picture, taken from the berm of Route 13, just north of the town square. To access the cemetery, (and it is a little difficult), go back to the city square, go east at the courthouse, travel for two blocks and turn left. The cemetery (which is still accepting burials, by the way) is a couple of blocks north of here, it almost feels like an alleyway, only a small wooden sign indicates that this is the entrance to the cemetery.
The Whitmer stone is singular and stands above the stones around it. Both Whitmer, and his wife Sarah are buried here, as indicated on the the stone. Here is a detailed look at the memorial itself, and Sarah's separate headstone, no doubt (and this is conjecture) erected upon her death several years before John's.
Below is the stone put at the gravesite in 1999 by the John Whitmer Historical Society and the Missouri Mormon Frontier Foundation.
Whitmer was part of the family in whose home the church was formed in April of 1830, was one of the Eight Witnesses of the Book of Mormon, was the first Church Historian until 1838, when he became disaffected with Church leadership, and stayed behind when the membership of the church were expelled at gunpoint from the state the next winter.
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