| Warner Doty the first Mormon to
die in Kirtland. According to the Painesville Telegraph,
Warner refused to see a physician and died of inflammation of the bowel.
He was blessed by Joseph and others, but shortly before his death, renounced
his faith in Mormonism. A copy of the "aerial commissions"
used by three missionaries was found in his pants pocket (Aerial Commissions). |
| The only other known
source seems to be a piece by Newel K. Whitney's brother, the Rev. S[amuel].
F[ranklin]. Whitney (1806–1886). S. F. moved to Kirtland in 1826 and wrote
about his experience of the Mormons—as well as surmises and rumors—for
Arthur B. Deming's Naked Truths About Mormonism (1888). He claims
the commission was a prank written by his uncle that Warner "pretended"
to catch. |
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| Born |
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March 4, 1810 |
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Kirtland obituaries, 37. Source |
| Died |
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March 29, 1831 in Kirtland, Geauga County, Ohio |
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PT,
Apr. 5, 1831. Source |
| Father |
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Ebenezer Doty |
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Kirtland obituaries, 37. Source |
| Mother |
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Phebe Goodell |
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Kirtland obituaries, 37. Source |
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Eber D. Howe Account |
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Warner a believer
Believed he would live a thousand years |
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Died, in Kirtland on Tuesday night last, Mr. Warner Doty, aged about 29 years [sic, 21]. The deceased was one of those who had embraced the imposition
of Jo Smith, and was a victim to the delusion of Mormonism. He was duly
commissioned after their manner, to preach, and was one of the most active
and zealous in the cause. So fully did he believe in the divinity of Smith,
that he had been made to have full faith that he should live a thousand
years—this he confessed to a near relative some four weeks before
his decease. |
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PT,
Apr. 5, 1831. Source
The paper was published on Tuesday, April 5. The preceding Tuesday was March 29. |
Bowel inflammation
Parents non-believers |
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Five days before he expired, he was suddenly attacked with
an inflammation in the bowels, which afterwards assumed a typhoid appearance.
He was immediately removed to the residence of his parents, who had no faith
in the Mormon remedies for the cure of diseases.— |
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| Refuses physician |
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No persuasion could induce the young man to have a physician
called, so strong was he impressed with the supernatural powers of Smith.— |
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Mormons encourage him until near
death
Then abandon him |
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Several of the Mormonites soon assembled around the sick man,
where they continued to encourage him to persevere, and strengthen his delusion,
telling him that he was getting better and soon would be well, till they
saw he was about to expire, when they all fled from the house, without offering
to assist in the last sad solemnities of the dead. |
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| Joseph first refuses to visit |
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Smith was sent for soon after he was taken sick, and proceeded
towards the house of Doty, to heal him, but (as Smith said) he received
a command not to go to Doty's and "cast his pearl before swine." |
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Joseph had used the
biblical pearls before swine imagery as recently as February 4: "For it
is not meet that the things which belong to the children of the kingdom
should be given to them that are not worthy, or to dogs, or the pearls to
be cast before swine." D&C 41:6. |
| Later visits and blesses |
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He however visited the sick man a day or two after, and said
he would get well, and protested against calling a physician. He held his
hand upon the head of Doty for 10 or 15 minutes, but with what object is
not known. |
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| Mormons try to prevent physician |
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A few hours before the young man expired, Dr. Brainard was
sent for, much against the will of the worshippers of Smith, by the interference
of other friends. The Doctor immediately pronounced his disease past remedy,
and told the Mormon doctors that their superstitions had probably been the
means of the young man's death, or something of like import. |
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| Repudiates faith on deathbed |
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When the young man discovered that death was nigh, his faith
in Smith's pretensions seemed to forsake him. He said "What a wonderful
mistake I have made," and called all his friends to take his leave.
Addressing himself to an old man of the Mormon faith, he said "you
are a friend to every body—I must shake hands with you—this
is a lesson that I have learnt by actual experience, by which you ought
to profit, but with me it is too late." |
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| Information reliable |
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The Mormonites will probably contradict many of these statements, as they
have many positive facts heretofore; but we have our information from a
relative of the disceased, who was present during the last 18 hours of his
life, and whose intelligence and veracity will not suffer in comparison
with the whole of those deluded people who have adapted Jo Smith as their
spiritual leader. |
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S. F. Whitney Account |
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Warner pretended to catch commission
Uncle's prank
Joseph and Sidney bless
Call on mission to foreign nations
Funeral |
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Warner Doty, aged about 25, pretended he caught a revelation
in the air which was a commission for him to preach Mormonism to foreign
nations. His uncle, Nathan Goodell, said he wrote it to fool him. Doty had
a fever. The Mormons took charge and watched with him day and night. His
mother became alarmed and called Dr. Brainard, who told her it was too late,
altogether too late. The watchers had been instructed when the fever turned
to send for Jo and Rigdon. They came and laid their hands on him and pronounced
him healed and told his mother he would recover because they had received
a revelation that he was to preach to foreign nations. Doty soon died, being
the first Mormon to die in Kirtland. Rev. Elijah Ward preached his funeral
sermon from Job 36:18, "Because there is wrath, beware lest he take
thee away with his stroke; then a great ransom cannot deliver thee."
Jo and Rigdon were present and writhed under the sermon. |
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Rev. S. F. W. Source
Pretend to catch a prank?
Nathan Goodell (b. 1764) was the older brother of Ichabad Warner Goodell (1768–Aug. 15, 1826) whom Sidney Rigdon succeeded as pastor of the Regular Baptist Church in Mentor.
Mormons were not being called on missions to foreign nations for several
more years.
Oliver and the Aerial Commissions
Elijah A. Ward is listed in the 1830 census for Chagrin, Ohio. |
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Biographical sketches
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