Oliver Cowdery

Born in Wells, Vermont; moved to New York in 1825; became acquainted with Joseph Smith’s family while teaching school in Manchester; went to Harmony, Pennsylvania, to meet the Latter-day Saint prophet; served as Joseph Smith’s principal scribe during translation of the Book of Mormon and assisted in establishing the Church; one of the Three Witnesses, whose testimony appears in each copy of the Book of Mormon; sustained as Assistant Counselor to First Presidency of Church in 1837; excommunicated from Church in 1838; rebaptized in Kanesville, Iowa, in 1848; died in Richmond, Missouri, while making preparations to immigrate to Utah. (See Jenson, BE, 1:246–51; Anderson, Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses, 201–2; Welch and Morris, Oliver Cowdery; Baugh, Days Never to Be Forgotten; Gunn, Oliver Cowdery; GQC journal, Mar. 20, 1851.)