W. W. Phelps (Mormon) - Joins Early Latter Day Saint Church

Joins Early Latter Day Saint Church

Well educated as a young man, Phelps was an aspirant for the office of lieutenant governor of New York at the time when he purchased a copy of the Book of Mormon from Parley P. Pratt on April 9, 1830—just three days after the early Latter Day Saint church was organized. On December 24, 1830 he met Joseph Smith and was convinced he was a prophet. On April 29, 1831, he was imprisoned at Lyons, New York by a "couple of Presbyterian traders, for a small debt, for the purpose, as I was informed, of "keeping me from joining the Mormons."

He visited Kirtland in 1831, was baptized on June 10, 1831, and established a print house in Independence, Missouri, where he published the Evening and Morning Star. On July 20, 1833, while working to publish the church's Book of Commandments, a mob of vigilantes attacked Phelps' home, seized the printing materials, destroyed many papers, destroyed the press, and threw his family and furniture out of doors.

Phelps was present near Jackson County, Missouri on 17 July 1831 when, according to Phelps' later testimony, church leader Joseph Smith, Jr. received the first revelation about plural marriage.