Oliver Cowdery's Dying Testimony — 'He Died the Happiest Man I Ever Saw'

Oliver Cowdery (1806–1850) served as the chief scribe of the Book of Mormon translation, the second elder of the restored Church, the first person baptized in the latter-day dispensation, and one of the Three Witnesses who heard the voice of God declare the translation true. Yet after years of estrangement from Joseph Smith and excommunication in 1838, Cowdery spent over a decade outside the Church — practicing law, building a career, and living in Michigan and Wisconsin.

Then, in October 1848, something remarkable happened. At a conference in Kanesville, Iowa, Oliver Cowdery stood before an assembly of Saints and bore his testimony publicly before requesting rebaptism into the Church. He declared that he had never denied and could never deny what he had seen and heard — that an angel of God had come down from heaven, that the plates were real, that the voice of God had spoken. He was rebaptized that same day.

He planned to travel to the Salt Lake Valley to be with the Saints, but his health failed. By early 1850 he was dying at the home of David Whitmer in Richmond, Missouri.

On March 3, 1850, Oliver Cowdery gathered his family and friends around his bedside for the last time. Elder Phineas H. Young, who was present, later recorded: 'His last moments were spent in bearing testimony of the truth of the Gospel revealed through Joseph Smith, and the power of the holy priesthood which he had received through his administrations.'

Oliver's half-sister Lucy P. Young (widow of Phineas H. Young) described the final moments: 'Oliver Cowdery just before breathing his last asked his attendants to raise him up in bed that he might talk to the family and his friends who were present. He then told them to live according to the teachings contained in the Book of Mormon, and promised them if they would do this that they would meet him in heaven. He then said, "Lay me down and let me fall asleep." A few moments later he died, without a struggle.'

David Whitmer, who witnessed the death of his brother-in-law, later testified to Apostles Orson Pratt and Joseph F. Smith: 'Oliver died the happiest man I ever saw. After shaking hands with the family and kissing his wife and daughter, he said, "Now I lay me down for the last time: I am going to my Savior;" and he died immediately with a smile on his face.'

Oliver Cowdery's final hours stand as one of the most powerful deathbed testimonies in Latter-day Saint history — a man who had seen the angel, heard the voice of God, and faced years of difficulty and estrangement, yet met death not in doubt, but in radiant, smiling peace.