File:EarlyPitman+6May1877JohnWhitmerBookofMormonTestmonyLetter-Pgs38+39OrigOwnerRichardWarrenLipack.jpg

English: JOHN WHITMER 6 MAY 1877 TESTIMONY TO THE BOOK OF MORMON & EARLY PITMAN SHORTHAND CHARACTERS COMPRISING COMMENTARY AUTHORED BY JOSEPH R. LAMBERT OF THE RDLS CHURCH

JOHN WHITMER HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION 2019 ANNUAL CONFERENCE - ROCHESTER, NY PRESENTATION

http://www.sndup.net/bkcb

Found in the "Scrap-Book" journal of RDLS Bishop Joseph R. Lambert (1845-1932) are pages numbered 38 and 39 to which affixed by paste are "Early Pitman" shorthand annotations on page 38, and on page 39 is found the Mormon co-founder John Whitmer's 6 May 1877 dated testimony. The document reaffirms the original testimony given by Whitmer as one of the Eight Witnesses found in the 1830 Book of Mormon bible.

When John Whitmer executed his reaffirmation testimony to the Book of Mormon on 6 May 1877, almost forty years past his excommunication, never to that day had Whitmer rejoined the LDS Church.

This original manuscript letter of testimony supports and validates that the fabled Gold Plates of Mormon, as delivered to Prophet Smith by Mormon's son Angel Moroni, were real and truly existed.

When the Lambert Journal was initially found in the year 2001, besides the John Whitmer 1877 testimony, the journal was filled with 1870's newspaper clippings of Mormon interest. Additionally pages of odd text written in an unknown form was found. It was perplexing. They were thought at first to be Mormon hieroglyphics that had been modified from original reformed Egyptian texts. Or it was thought that the odd inscriptions could have been a form of characters found along the lines of Joseph Smith's papyri.

For about five years after the scrap book's year 2001 discovery by historian Richard Warren Lipack at Renninger's open-air antique flea market in Mt. Dora, Florida, nothing much was understood about it outside of the existence of the John Whitmer testimony; A testimony believed to be unknown to anybody within the Mormon faith. The Mormon newspaper clippings in English affixed to the pages were interesting to read, but the handwritten comments in a strange hieroglyphic form seen written next to the clippings remained undecipherable. This kept further formidable research from being conducted.

At one point looking through an old late-1800's book on Pitman shorthand at an antiques show in the year 2006, historian Lipack noticed a certain character he remembered seeing in his Mormon journal.

According to the Pitman book, it came to be understood as being the word for "God." After purchasing the little book on Pitman, Lipack started to contact Pitman shorthand organizations and Pitman study groups in both the US and Canada, and sent samples of the journal's text to them for members to try deciphering the strange code. To no avail however could any of these groups accomplish this needed function. They were Pitman practitioners by trade, or had used Pitman in prior years, but never saw Pitman symbols of the sort or form as found in the Joseph R. Lambert Mormon scrap book Journal.

It was finally later in the year 2006 that historian Lipack noticed a new update on the online internet Pitman shorthand study group site he was monitoring in Canada. A short two-line posted classified advertisement by a woman named Dorothy Webb Roberts had appeared. The ad offered services citing the shorthand services of Dorothy Roberts in in the realm of transcribing what she called "Early Pitman" shorthand. Seeing this notice, an effort was immediately put forth to contact Dorothy Roberts about her ability to conduct transcriptions in the area of "Early Pitman" shorthand.

Dorothy Roberts was originally from England and had worked for the Queen's Service in South Africa as a shorthand practitioner and secretary. Becoming quite proficient at shorthand and stenography, Dorothy Roberts also taught a instructional course on Pitman's shorthand protocols, which she had developed an advanced knowledge of. But this was the more modern Pitman shorthand.

Going forward, ultimately Dorothy Roberts came to perfect the transcription of "Early Pitman" shorthand in 1995 after transcribing three old Civil War diaries brought to her attention. Shortly thereafter Dorothy Roberts was given a citation from the Library of Congress for being the first person in the world to perfect this form of 'lost' shorthand.

Roberts came to be the only person in the world who could transcribe "Early Pitman" shorthand at this time.

Historically, the "Early Pitman" shorthand practice had been slowly phased out by the 1880's and replaced by a newer form of Pitman shorthand.. This was after the aging inventor Isaac Pitman handed his business over to his sons, who went ahead and modified the original "Early Pitman" into a more modern form that was used well into the 20th century.

Further documentation regarding the Journal contents has come forward revealing that it was Joseph R. Lambert's sisters who had become adept in "Early Pitman" shorthand and had executed the strange Journal transcriptions for their brother Joseph R. Lambert.

More substantial authentication and provenance to the John Whitmer 6 May 1877 Book of Mormon testimony subsequently came forward about nine years after its initial year 2001 discovery by historian Richard Warren Lipack.

A happenstance online internet search in 2010 brought forth a revealing article by Mormon historian Richard Lloyd Anderson.

The article was found in a January 30, 2005 BYU publication. It cited quotes from a letter dated January 29, 1884 to E. L. Kelley written by Joseph R. Lambert. This 1884 letter amazingly cited the 6 May 1877 Whitmer letter Lambert had received seven years prior. In the 1884 letter, Lambert quoted several lines written by Whitmer exactly as was found in the Book of Mormon testimony found in the Journal that historian Richard Warren Lipack had discovered!

Serving as a finite means of authentication, today the 1884 Lambert letter resides in the archives of the Community of Christ church in Independence, MO. (the former RLDS). This gives the Lambert Journal and Whitmer testimony irrefutable provenance and also serves as irrefutable authentication.

After Joseph Smith became settled in Kirtland himself and others began to gather there, in March 1831, John Whitmer was anointed by Smith to write and keep a regular history. (Documents & Covenants 47:1).

From Kirtland, Whitmer eventually relocated in 1837 to Far West, Missouri to attend to missionary work. In 1838, the year after John Whitmer had first arrived in Far West a great turmoil arose which ultimately led to John Whitmer's excommunication from the Church.

Increasing loan debts that the Church had with the Kirtland Safety Society bank brought on by Smith wanting to keep a Mormon militia ready against anti-Mormon factions prompted Smith to come out to Far West to solicit from Church parishioners property to help pay the Kirtland bank loan. This property was in the form of cattle, chickens, livestock and such to resell - that Prophet Smith had sought.

But the Prophet just took these properties carte blanche in the form of a outright theft. And John Whitmer precisely reported this in a truthful manner without reserve.

Joseph Smith did not approve of this action, as it was an embarrassment to the Prophet. Thus, in 1838 John Whitmer became the first Mormon to be excommunicated from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And John Whitmer never returned to the LDS Church, yet he would always keep and support his testimony found reproduced in the Book of Mormon; even to the day he would meet his maker the Lord Almighty.

John Whitmer would die on July 11, 1878, approximately 14 months after he executed this most significant testimony to the Book of Mormon for Joseph R. Lambert.

The question arises as to if a man so close to nearing his death at meeting his maker God would tell a lie in the face of his God when asserting his testimony involving his God and Lord Savior?

One would think not.

Thus, the statements provided in the 6 May 1877 John Whitmer testimony clearly support that the Gold Plates existed and are the true and faithful origins of the Book of Mormon. This is irrefutable.

In Dan Vogel's five volume masterwork: "Early Mormon Documents" published between the years 1996 and 2003, not a single mention of the May 6, 1877 John Whitmer testimony is made. Dan Vogel had access to the same RLDS Church archives just as LDS BYU historian Richard Lloyd Anderson would have a few years later.

It was however in the year 2005 that the BYU historian Richard Lloyd Anderson would publish notice of John Whitmer's 6 May 1877 Book of Mormon testimony just a few years following Dan Vogel's earlier effort that failed to do so. Richard Lloyd Anderson's identification, documentation and showing the existence of John Whitmer's 6 May 1877 hand written and signed Book of Mormon testimony is of immeasurable significance.

The premise behind Richard Lloyd Anderson's BYU lectures that he gave and also what is found in his 2005 BYU published work entitled: Attempts to Redefine the Experience of the Eight Witnesses, was that the Book of Mormon is wholly supported by the written and printed testimony of these Witnesses, in that these testimonies serve as legal affidavits.(2)

The very hands that touched and "hefted" the Book of Mormon Gold Plates are the very hands that wrote to what can be considered the most formidable letter of testimony to the Book of Mormon extant ever.

(1) Dan Vogel (editor), Early Mormon Documents (Salt Lake City), Signature Books, 1996-2003), 5 vols, 5:247-249., original in Deseret Evening News, 6 August 1878; citing a letter from P. Wilhelm Poulson to Editors (31 July 1878) from Ovid City, Idaho.

(2) Richard Lloyd Anderson, Attempts to Redefine the Experience of the Eight Witnesses (Salt Lake City), Brigham Young University, Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, Vol. 14, No. 1, January 31, 2005.

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https://www.mormonkey.com/home-/index.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xI4Y0Wb_WA

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