Organization of the Church, 1830
See this page in the original 1992 publication.
Author: Carmack, John K.
On Tuesday, April 6, 1830, under the direction of the Prophet Joseph Smith, a group of friends assembled in Peter Whitmer, Sr.'s log farmhouse to organize the Church, later named The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (see Name of the Church). Whitmer, a German immigrant from Pennsylvania, had come to Fayette, New York, in the Seneca Lake region in 1809. Joseph and Emma Smith and Oliver Cowdery had lived and worked in the Whitmer farmhouse in 1829 while they completed the translation of the Book of Mormon.
Prior to this date, Joseph Smith and his small but growing group of believers had held meetings regularly in Fayette, Manchester, and Colesville, New York, but April 6 was the day given them by revelation to organize formally as a church, in compliance with laws regulating the creation of new churches in New York State. It appears that the legal requirements were checked and steps taken to comply with New York law prior to the organization. The law required notice on two successive sabbaths, nomination and election of three to nine trustees, and nomination of two members to preside at the election (Carmack, p. 16). These steps assured formal status to the fledgling Church, validating property and ecclesiastical actions in the eyes of the state. Joseph Smith's official history reports his conclusion that the organizers held the meeting agreeable to the laws of the country (see Joseph Smith-History). There is no record of any challenge to the action, and thereafter the Church conducted both religious rites and business transactions on a regular basis.
The organizational meeting commenced with prayer. The small congregation, made up of about fifty men and women, unanimously voted approval to organize a new church and elected Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, Hyrum Smith, Peter Whitmer, Jr., Samuel H. Smith, and David Whitmer as trustees. They also unanimously elected Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery as teachers and first and second elders of the newly organized Church of Christ. Smith ordained Cowdery as an elder of the Church, and in turn Cowdery ordained Smith, even though they had previously ordained each other to the priesthood office of elder (see Melchizedek Priesthood: Restoration of Melchizedek Priesthood). The second ordination signified that the two elders were empowered to act in the new Church. They blessed and shared the bread and wine of the Lord's Supper with those present in honor of the special occasion, bestowed the gift of the Holy Ghost on each individual member present by the laying on of hands, and confirmed each of those previously baptized as members. Smith and Cowdery called and ordained men to different offices of the priesthood. Those present at the meeting enjoyed an unusual outpouring of the Spirit of the Lord. After the spiritual feast, they dismissed the formal meeting. Having authority bestowed upon them, the newly appointed Church officers baptized several persons, including Joseph Smith, Sr., Martin Harris, and Orrin Porter Rockwell. On this day the Prophet Joseph Smith also received revelations to guide the Church (cf. D&C 21).
Important events such as the restoration of priesthood authority and the translation and publishing of the Book of Mormon preceded this date, and subsequent revelations and administrative changes defined and expanded Church organization, but Latter-day Saints consider April 6, 1830, as the birthday of the Church.
Bibliography
Anderson, Richard L. "The House Where the Church Was Organized." IE 73 (Apr. 1970):16-19, 21-25.
Carmack, John K. "Fayette, the Place the Church Was Organized." Ensign 19 (Feb. 1989):15-19.
Porter, Larry C. "A Study of the Origins of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the States of New York and Pennsylvania, 1816-1831." Ph.D. diss., Brigham Young University, 1971.
JOHN K. CARMACK
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