Across the library

The Eight Witnesses

The second testimony at the front of the Book of Mormon, and the one people usually skip. Eight men, no angel, no voice from heaven — just a claim to have picked the plates up and turned the leaves. Every quote linked.

Days after the Three Witnesses recorded their experience, eight more men signed a second and very different statement. The difference is the whole point of reading it, and it is the reason the Eight are worth more attention than they usually get.

Who the eight were

They are not eight independent strangers, and the printed order makes that plain — four Whitmer brothers, three Smiths, and Hiram Page, who had married the Whitmers' sister Catherine.

1. Christian Whitmer
2. Jacob Whitmer
3. Peter Whitmer, Jun.
4. John Whitmer
5. Hiram Page
6. Joseph Smith, Sen.
7. Hyrum Smith
8. Samuel H. Smith

Two families, in other words, plus an in-law. That is a fair criticism of the list and it is also simply what the document says, so it is printed here rather than argued about.

What they claimed — and what they did not

No angel appears in this testimony. No voice from heaven declares anything. What the Eight describe is ordinary handling, in daylight, of a physical object:

Joseph Smith, Jun., the translator of this work, has shown unto us the plates of which hath been spoken, which have the appearance of gold; and as many of the leaves as the said Smith has translated we did handle with our hands

The Testimony of Eight Witnesses, printed in every edition of the Book of Mormon since 1830

we also saw the engravings thereon, all of which has the appearance of ancient work, and of curious workmanship

The Testimony of Eight Witnesses, printed in every edition of the Book of Mormon since 1830

Note the phrase that does the work twice: the appearance of gold, the appearance of ancient work. These men are describing what a thing looked like in their hands, and they are careful not to claim they assayed it. That restraint is easy to miss and hard to fake.

Why the difference matters

The two testimonies are often read as one block of eleven names. They are not the same claim. The Three describe a vision and a voice; the Eight describe an object and their own hands. Anyone weighing the witnesses has to decide what each kind of statement is worth, and collapsing them into a single number of signatures is the one move that guarantees getting it wrong.

There is also a question about whether any of the eleven physically signed anything — the surviving page is in a single man's handwriting. That has its own page here.