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Oliver Hervy Pliny CowderyPrior to the winter of 1830-31, Cowdery generally signed his name "Oliver H P Cowdery", the "H P" standing for "Hervy" and "Pliny," two of his father's relatives. For unknown reasons Cowdery discontinued using his middle initials about 1831. Cowdery may have wished his name to match the form in which it was printed in the 1830 '' 1806 – 3 March 1850 ) was the primary participant with Joseph Smith, Jr. in the formative period of the Latter Day Saint Movement from 1829 through 1836. He was one of the Three Witnesses of the Book Of Mormon's Golden Plates . After the organization of the Church Of Christ — as the early Latter Day Saint church was known — he became the Second Elder and an Apostle of the church. LIFE Oliver Cowdery was born (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005), 70. Book of Mormon scribe and witness An acquaintance of Joseph Smith's father, Joseph Smith, Sr. , Cowdery met Joseph Smith on April 5 , 1829 , (one year and a day before the official founding of the church) after the Smith family told him that the younger Smith had received Golden Plates containing ancient Native American writings.''Joseph Smith--History'' 1:66. Like Smith, who was a distant relative, Cowdery genealogy Cowdery was also a treasure hunter who had used a divining rod in his youth.''EMD'', 1: 603-05, 619-20. Cowdery also told Smith that he had seen the Golden Plates in a vision before the two ever met.Richard Bushman, ''Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005), 73; Grant Palmer, ''An Insider's View of Mormon Origins'' (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002), 179. From April 7 to June 1829, Cowdery acted as Smith's scribe for the translation of the plates into what would later become the , 1829 when he and Smith had received the Aaronic Priesthood from John The Baptist , after which they had baptized each other in the Susquehanna River .''Messenger and Advocate'' (October 1834), 14-16; Bushman, 74-75. Cowdery also said that he and Smith had later gone into the forest and prayed "until a glorious light encircled us, and as we arose on account of the light, three persons stood before us dressed in white, their faces beaming with glory." One of the three announced that he was the Apostle Peter and named the others as the Apostles James and John.Charles M. Nielsen to Heber Grant, February 10, 1898, in Dan Vogel, ed., ''Early Mormon Documents'' (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1998), 2: 476; ''History of the Church'' 1:39-42. Later that year, Cowdery reported experiencing a vision along with Smith and David Whitmer in which an angel showed him the Golden Plates. Martin Harris said he saw a similar vision later that day, and Cowdery, Whitmer and Harris signed a statement to that effect. They became known as the Three Witnesses , and their testimony has been published with nearly every edition of the Book of Mormon. Also in 1829, Cowdery received a revelation entitled " Articles Of The Church Of Christ ", which directed the formation of the Church Of Christ . Second Elder of the church When the Church was organized on April 6 , 1830 , Joseph Smith, Jr. was named "First Elder" and Cowdery "Second Elder." Cowdery was technically second in authority to Smith in the church from its organization through 1838, though in practice Sidney Rigdon , Smith's "spokesman" and counselor in the First Presidency , began to supplant Cowdery as early as 1831. Cowdery held the position of Assistant President Of The Church from 1834 until his excommunication in 1838 . On December 18 , 1832 , Cowdery married Elizabeth Ann Whitmer, the daughter of Peter Whitmer, Sr. and sister of David , John , Jacob and Peter Whitmer, Jr. . They had five children, only one of whom lived to maturity.Maria Louise Cowdery, born August 11, 1835. Cowdery helped Smith revise and publish a series of Smith's revelations first called the '''', the '' Messenger And Advocate '', and ''The Northern Times''. When the Church created a bank known as the Kirtland Safety Society in 1837, Cowdery obtained the money-printing plates. He later was sent to Monroe, Michigan where he became President of the Bank of Monroe, which the Church had purchased. By 1837, both banks failed. Later that year, Oliver moved to the newly founded Latter Day Saint settlement in Far West, Missouri and suffered ill health through the winter of 1837-38. Early written history of the church In 1834 and 1835, with the help of Smith, Cowdery published a history of the church as a series of articles in the church's '' Messenger And Advocate ''. This history is not always congruent with the later Official History of the church. For instance, Cowdery does not mention the First Vision . Instead, he associates Smith's first spiritual manifestation with a visitation of the Angel Moroni , who Cowdery said had appeared to Smith in September 1823. Cowdery places the religious revival that encouraged Smith to question which church to join in 1823, not 1820, and corrected himself after first claiming that it had occurred in 1821, when Smith was 15. In the correction, Cowdery stated that the revival had occurred after Smith's brother Alvin had died in 1823.Cowdery also said that the final battle between the Nephite s and the Lamanites had occurred in the vicinity of the Hill Cumorah , where Smith claimed he found the Golden Plates . There is little evidence for mass graves for tens of thousands of soldiers at the site and most modern Mormon Apologists now argue that the events likely took place in Central America . Excommunication By early 1838 conflicts had arisen between Smith and Cowdery.
On and Book of Mormon witness Hiram Page were also excommunicated from the church at the same time.'' Far West Record'', 165-66. Cowdery and the Whitmers became known as "the dissenters," but they continued to live in and around Far West, where they owned a great deal of property. On June 17 , 1838 , President Sidney Rigdon announced to a large Mormon congregation that the dissenters were "as salt that had lost its savor" and that it was the duty of the faithful to cast the dissenters out "to be trodden beneath the feet of men." Cowdery and the Whitmers took this Salt Sermon , and its implicit endorsement of the " Danite s, a secret vigilante group, as a threat against their lives and fled the county. Reports of their treatment circulated in nearby non-Mormon communities and increased the tension that led to the Mormon War .Richard Lyman Bushman, ''Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling'' (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005), 349-53. Life apart from the church From 1838 to 1848, Cowdery put the Latter Day Saint church behind him. There is a possibility that he may have even briefly denied his testimony regarding the , where he became a civic and political leader. He edited the local Democratic newspaper until it was learned that he was one of the Book of Mormon witnesses. He did not recant his testimony, but he was still able to become assistant editor. In 1846, Cowdery was nominated as his district's Democratic party candidate for the state senate, but when his Mormon background was discovered, he was defeated. Later Latter Day Saint contacts After Joseph Smith was assassinated, Cowdery's brother Lyman recognized James J. Strang as Smith's successor to the Church Presidency , and in 1847, Oliver moved to Elkhorn, Wisconsin near Strang's headquarters in Voree and entered law practice with his brother. He became co-editor of the ''Walworth County Democrat'' and in 1848 he ran for state assemblyman. However, his Mormon ties were once again discovered and he was defeated. In 1848, Cowdery traveled to meet with followers of Brigham Young and the Quorum Of The Twelve who were encamped at Winter Quarters, Nebraska and asked to be reunited with the Church."Brethren, for a number of years, I have been separated from you. I now desire to come back. I wish to come humble and be one in your midst. I seek no station. I only wish to be identified with you. I am out of the Church, but I wish to become a member. I wish to come in at the door; I know the door, I have not come here to seek precedence. I come humbly and throw myself upon the decision of the body, knowing as I do, that its decisions are right." Stanley R. Gunn, "Oliver Cowdery Second Elder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Division of Religion, Brigham Young University," (1942), 166, as cited in ''The Improvement Era'', 24, p.620.) On November 12 , 1848 , Cowdery was rebaptized into The Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints by Orson Hyde of the Quorum Of The Twelve in Indian Creek at Kanesville, Iowa . Cowdery never again held high office in the church. Cowdery developed a respiratory illness, and on March 3 , 1850 he died in David Whitmer's home in Richmond, Missouri .Of Cowdery's death, David Whitmer said: "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 down for the last time; I am going to my Saviour’; and he died immediately with a smile on his face." (Stanley R. Gunn, Oliver Cowdery Second Elder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Division of Religion, Brigham Young University. (Stanley R. Gunn: 1942), 170-71, as cited in Mill, Star, XII, p. 207.) SEE ALSO FOOTNOTES REFERENCES # Legg, Phillip R., ''Oliver Cowdery: The Elusive Second Elder of the Restoration'', Herald House: Independence, Missouri, 1989. # Mehling, Mary, ''Cowdrey-Cowdery-Cowdray Genealogy'' p. 181, Frank Allaben: 1911. # 2 # Welch, John W. and Morris, Larry E., eds., ''Oliver Cowdery: Scribe, Elder, Witness'' (Provo, UT: The Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship, 2006); ISBN 0842526617. EXTERNAL LINKS
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