Mary Whitmer Is Shown the Book of Mormon Plates by the Heavenly Messenger (1829)

Mary Musselman Whitmer, mother of the large Whitmer family of Fayette, New York, provided a vital refuge for Joseph Smith, Emma Smith, and Oliver Cowdery during the final stages of the Book of Mormon translation in 1829. Her son David Whitmer later recounted that the addition of the three guests to their household significantly increased his mother’s labor and anxiety, as she was responsible for feeding and managing a very large family. Though Mary never complained, she had begun to feel that the physical demands placed upon her were becoming overwhelming. Sometime after the group's arrival, David Whitmer observed circumstances leading him to believe the gold plates were concealed in his father's barn; Joseph Smith confirmed this to him. One day, while Mary was on her way to the barn to milk the cows, she was met by a pleasant, heavy-set elderly man with white hair and beard, wearing a suit of brown woolen clothes—the same heavenly messenger who held the plates. He spoke to her kindly, saying: 'You have been very faithful and diligent in your labors, but you are tired because of the increase of your toil; it is proper, therefore, that you should receive a witness, that your faith may be strengthened.' He then showed her the plates. This extraordinary experience completely removed Mary's feelings of burden and fatigue, providing her with the spiritual strength and perspective necessary to carry out her responsibilities for the remainder of the translation process.