Church History
Doctrine and Covenants Places: New York and Pennsylvania


Doctrine and Covenants Historical Resources, Places: New York and Pennsylvania, Doctrine and Covenants Historical Resources (2020)

Places: New York and Pennsylvania, Doctrine and Covenants Historical Resources

Historic Places: New York and Pennsylvania

Maps and information about places associated with the revelations from The Joseph Smith Papers, Historic Sites, and other helpful sources

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Map showing New York and vicinity 1805–1832

New York and Vicinity, 1805–1832

Chenango County, New York

Facts and sources: Created in south-central New York state, 1798. Population in 1830 about 37,000. In this county, Josiah Stowell employed Joseph Smith as farmhand and millworker, 1825–1827. Joseph Smith married Emma Hale in South Bainbridge, Chenango Co., 1827. More …

Colesville Township, New York

Facts and sources: Area settled, beginning 1785. Formed from Windsor Township, Apr. 1821. More …

Fayette Township, New York

Facts and sources: Located in northern part of county between Seneca and Cayuga lakes. Area settled, by 1790. Officially organized as Washington Township, 14 Mar. 1800. Name changed to Fayette, 6 Apr. 1808. More …

Revelations in New York and Pennsylvania

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Infographic with information on revelations in New York and Pennsylvania

Peter Whitmer Log Home in Fayette, New York

Topic essay: In the first decades of the 19th century, almost everyone in western New York was a recent arrival. Many families in the area—and by extension in the early Church—came to the area from parts of New England that were mostly settled by English immigrants. The Whitmers, in contrast, were part of the German immigrant community in Pennsylvania. More …

Church Organization at the Whitmer Farm

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Infographic illustrating facts about the organization of the Church

Harmony Township, Pennsylvania

Facts and sources: Located in northeastern Pennsylvania. Area settled, by 1787. Organized 1809. Population in 1830 about 340. More …

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Map showing western Harmony, Pennsylvania, 1828–1830

Western Harmony Township, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, 1828–1830

Emma’s Susquehanna: Growing Up in the Isaac and Elizabeth Hale Home

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A white, clapboard house with dark green shutters.

Isaac and Elizabeth Hale home, Harmony (now Oakland Township), Pennsylvania, USA

Topic essay: Elizabeth Hale delivered her seventh child on July 10, 1804, at the Hales’ log home. The baby came less than a week after the Hales attended the biggest social event of the year, the local Independence Day “frolic.” The family named her Emma. More …

Joseph and Emma Smith’s Home

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Red clapboard house with rail fence in the foreground.

Reconstructed home of Joseph and Emma Smith at Harmony (now Oakland Township), Pennsylvania, USA

Topic essay: Shortly after Joseph was entrusted with the plates, he and Emma moved back to Emma’s hometown of Harmony, Pennsylvania, and stayed briefly with her parents before moving into a neighboring home of their own. It was in that small home on the Susquehanna River that much of the Book of Mormon was translated, many early revelations were received, and the process of priesthood restoration was begun. More …

Where Was the Priesthood Restored?

Topic essay: On May 15, 1829, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery knelt in a secluded spot near Joseph’s home in Harmony, Pennsylvania, to pray about baptism by proper authority. In answer to their prayers, John the Baptist appeared as an angel and conferred on them the Aaronic Priesthood. This was the first in a series of events that would bring back priesthood authority and keys needed to perform essential ordinances, to lead Christ’s restored Church, and to seal families together for eternity. More …

Priesthood Offices Restored

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Infographic with information about the restoration of the priesthood

“Upon You My Fellow Servants”: How the Aaronic Priesthood Was Restored

Photo essay: On April 5, 1829, Oliver Cowdery finished a 150-mile journey across the state of New York. As the sun set, he arrived at his destination in Harmony Township, Pennsylvania, and met Joseph Smith for the first time. More …

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Map showing Joseph Smith’s residences in the United States

Joseph Smith’s residences

Manchester Township, New York

Facts and sources: Settled 1793. Formed as Burt Township when divided from Farmington Township, 31 Mar. 1821. Name changed to Manchester, 16 Apr. 1822. Included village of Manchester. More …

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Map showing the Finger Lakes region of New York, USA

Finger Lakes Region, New York, and Upper Susquehanna Valley, Pennsylvania, 1828–1831

Life on the Smith Farm

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Photo of a field and grove of trees with a spilt-rail fence in the foreground

Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith family farm, Manchester, New York, USA

Topic essay: The fields, orchards, and groves on the Smith family farm were the landscape in which many of the very earliest events of the Restoration took place. Here in a grove of trees, God the Father and Jesus Christ visited the boy Joseph Smith Jr. Here in the family’s small log home the Angel Moroni appeared to Joseph and revealed the existence of the Book of Mormon. It is sometimes easy to forget that here, on the Smith farm, the members of the family experienced the mundane along with the miraculous. More …

See also Sacred Grove.

Palmyra Township, New York

Facts and sources: First permanent white settlers arrived, ca. 1789. Included village of Palmyra. Erie Canal opened, 1825, in southern portion of township. More …

Palmyra and Manchester

Topic essay: Beginning in the late 1700s, New Englanders moved to western New York in droves, attracted by the fertile soil and cheap acreage. The completion of the Erie Canal in 1825 added to the boom, and the small village of Palmyra quickly transformed into a trading center. More …

The Book of Mormon: From the Hill Cumorah to Grandin’s Press

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Photo of Hill Cumorah

Hill Cumorah

Photo essay: The task would be difficult, Moroni warned. Joseph could only be entrusted with the plates the records were engraved on if his heart was focused solely on God’s work—but he would be tempted to use the plates for personal gain. More …

Publication of the Book of Mormon

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Infographic with facts about the publication of the Book of Mormon

Pearl Street House and Ohio Hotel, New York City, New York

Facts and sources: Also known as Merchants’ House. Four-story edifice with columned entrance and arched sign on roof. Located at 88 Pearl Street (oldest street in city). Joseph Smith and Bishop Newel K. Whitney journeyed to New York City, fall 1832, and stayed at hotel. More …

Perrysburg Township, New York

Facts and sources: Also spelled Perrysburgh. Located in northwestern New York state, about six miles southeast of Lake Erie. Created 1814; first known as Perry Township. Name changed to Perrysburg, 1818. Population in 1830 about 2,400. Branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints organized in township, 1833. More …

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Map

Oliver Cowdery, Peter Whitmer Jr., Ziba Peterson, and Parley P. Pratt departed New York in October 1830 on a mission to preach to the “Lamanites” in Indian territory. Frederick G. Williams joined the group in Ohio. They preached to the Indians in early 1831, but they were soon ordered off Indian land.

Sacred Grove

See also Manchester Township, New York.

Sacred Grove and Smith Family Farm

Topic essay: The Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith family farm served as backdrop for many of the earliest events of the Restoration. The Smiths moved to Palmyra, New York, between 1816 and 1817, with the intent of growing wheat. After saving for two years, the family made the first payment on a 100-acre lot of densely forested land in Manchester. More …

The Sacred Grove

Topic essay: When Joseph Smith Sr. and his son Alvin first purchased their 100-acre farm near Palmyra, New York, the land, like most of the land in the area, was covered with a magnificent stand of hardwood forest. Many of the trees were from 200 to 350 years old. More …

The First Vision: Journey to the Sacred Grove

Photo essay: Joseph Smith’s journey toward the Sacred Grove began in 1816 with a devastating economic crisis. Frosts every month of the year and snowstorms in June killed crop after crop in Vermont, driving food prices up and thousands of poor, broken farmers—including the Smith family—from the state. More …

Stand in the Sacred Grove

Elder Marlin K. Jensen

Of the Seventy

I want you to come with me virtually into the Sacred Grove. Stand with me there while I share with you some visual scenes of the grove, the reasons for my love of that sacred place, and the valuable life’s lessons one can learn there. More …

Wayne County, New York

Facts and sources: First permanent white settlement established, Mar. 1789. Created from Ontario and Seneca counties, 11 Apr. 1823. Bounded on north by Lake Ontario. County seat, Lyons. Erie Canal completed through southern portion of county, near Palmyra, by 1825. More …