Author's Answered Prayer Concerning Adam-ondi-Ahman
Published October 11, 2026 at 8:10 PM
Contributed by
Millennial Star Research
In September 1888, the author visited historical sites in Missouri, including Far West and Adam-ondi-Ahman, in the company of Elder Edward Stevenson, Bishop Joseph S. Black, and Elder Andrew Jenson. During this journey, standing upon the hill at Adam-ondi-Ahman, the author engaged in fervent prayer, seeking a direct spiritual confirmation regarding the site's profound historical significance—a sanctity previously attested to by President Wilford Woodruff and A. O. Smoot. The author received a distinct and quiet assurance in response to this prayer, confirming the truth of the site's divine associations. Edward Stevenson, who accompanied the party, reflected deeply on the experience, recalling his own earlier personal association with the Prophet Joseph Smith in 1838. Stevenson noted that the geography of the region, including the location of the Garden of Eden near Independence and the migration of Father Adam to the site of the altar, had been revealed to the Prophet. Stevenson vividly remembered standing with Joseph Smith on that same hill in 1838, where the Prophet pointed to a mound of stones and declared that it was the very location where Father Adam, following his expulsion from the Garden of Eden, had constructed an altar to offer sacrifice unto the Lord.
In Their Own Words
“In September, 1888, in company with Elder Andrew Jenson and Bishop Joseph S. Black, of Deseret, I visited this place, also Far West and Adam-ondi-Ahman. It was a source of great satisfaction to me to visit these sacred spots, and especially the latter, where I had been with the Prophet Joseph Smith in the year 1838, less than one year before he was imprisoned in Liberty jail. We were standing with others on the hill of Adam-ondi-Ahman, and the Prophet said, pointing to a mound of stones: 'There is where Father Adam built an altar when he was driven from the Garden of Eden and offered up sacrifice unto the Lord.' The Prophet said it had been manifested unto him that here was where our Father Adam was placed, and where his home was until his fall, when he was driven out into the dreary world, and from thence he took his departure northeast about seventy miles, to where a stake of Zion was located, and it was named Adam-ondi-Ahman by revelation. While standing on this hill in 1888, I felt a desire to offer up a prayer to the Lord, and I stepped aside a few paces and poured out my soul to Him, asking for a testimony of the truth of these things, and I received a quiet, peaceful assurance that all was true, which was a great comfort to me.”
— Edward Stevenson, Reminiscences of Joseph the Prophet and the Coming Forth of the Book of Mormon
Sources & References
The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star (Manchester, later Liverpool, England, May 1840–1970), 20 April 1891 (Vol. 53, No. 16). https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1891-04-20_53_16 (account extracted verbatim from the issue's Internet Archive OCR text; research confidence: high) Additional sources (periodical research): Edward Stevenson, Reminiscences of Joseph the Prophet and the Coming Forth of the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City: n.p., 1893), 40. https://bhroberts.org/records/GzMcbd-0YyBRu/edward_stevenson_recollects_joseph_teaching_that_adam_built_the_altar_at_adam_ondi_ahman_after_being_expelled_from_eden Full first-person account: Edward Stevenson, Reminiscences of Joseph the Prophet and the Coming Forth of the Book of Mormon (Salt Lake City: By the author, 1893), 40 https://archive.org/details/reminiscencesofj00stev/page/40/mode/2up
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