Oliver Granger
Oliver Granger, 1794-1841, served as the sheriff of Ontario County, New York, and as a colonel in the New York militia. He was a licensed exhorter in the local Methodist congregation before reading the Book of Mormon in 1830.
Oliver recounted to his daughter, Sarah Granger Kimball, a heavenly visitation.
As published in the (Augusta Joyce Crocheron, Representative Women of Deseret, SARAH M, KIMBALL, SECRETARY OF THE L. D. S. WOMEN'S ORGANIZATIONS. (Salt Lake City: J. C. Graham and Co., 1884), p. 24.)
Sarah Granger Kimball stated:
“ I am the daughter of Oliver Granger and Lydia Dibble Granger, was born December 29th, 1818, in the town of Phelps, Ontario Co., New York. Of my parents, eight children, only myself and two younger brothers, Lafayette and Farley, remain.
My father, Oliver Granger, 'had an interesting experience in connection with the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. He obtained the book [of Mormon] a few months after its publication, and while in the city of New York… he had a ' heavenly vision. My father was told… [by] a personage who said his name was Moroni, that the Book of Mormon, about which his mind was exercised, was a true record of great worth, and Moroni instructed him (my father) to testify of its truth and that he should hereafter be ordained to preach the everlasting Gospel to the children of men. Moroni instructed my father to kneel and pray ; Moroni and another personage knelt with him by the bedside. Moroni repeated words and instructed my father to repeat them after him. Moroni told my father that he might ask for what he most desired and it would be granted. He asked for an evidence by which he might know when he was approved of God. The evidence or sign was given, and remained with him until his dying hour, being more particularly manifest when engaged in prayer and meditation.
I love the memory of my father. He died in Kirtland, Ohio, August 1843, aged forty-seven.”
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Source of Information:
(Augusta Joyce Crocheron, Representative Women of Deseret, SARAH M, KIMBALL, SECRETARY OF THE L. D. S. WOMEN'S ORGANIZATIONS. (Salt Lake City: J. C. Graham and Co., 1884), p. 24.)
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WHO'S WHO IN THE DOCTRINE AND COVENANTS
by Susan Easton Black
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Note:
D.& C. 117: Introduction & D. & C. 117:12-13