Timeline of Events
The main events of the book in order. Each links to the chapter that tells it. Where the exact day is not known, only the month or season is given.
Before the Restoration
- October 6, 1536
William Tyndale is executed at Vilvoorde, near Brussels.
Chapter 1: A Famine of Hearing → New England
- January 24, 1796
Joseph Smith Sr. and Lucy Mack marry in Tunbridge, Vermont.
Chapter 3: Lucy and Joseph → - December 23, 1805
Joseph Smith Jr. is born in Sharon, Vermont.
Chapter 3: Lucy and Joseph → - 1816
“The year without a summer”; the family moves to Palmyra, New York, that winter (1816–17).
Chapter 4: The Boy Who Would Not Be Bound → New York and Pennsylvania
- Spring 1820
Joseph, age fourteen, prays in the grove near the family farm.
Chapter 5: A Pillar of Light → - September 21–22, 1823
The angel Moroni visits Joseph and shows him where the plates are buried.
Chapter 6: The Last Words of Malachi → - November 19, 1823
Alvin Smith dies.
Chapter 6: The Last Words of Malachi → - January 18, 1827
Joseph Smith and Emma Hale marry.
Chapter 6: The Last Words of Malachi → - September 22, 1827
Joseph receives the plates at the hill.
Chapter 6: The Last Words of Malachi → - Summer 1828
Martin Harris loses the first 116 manuscript pages; in July Joseph records the revelation now in D&C 3.
Chapter 7: By the Gift and Power of God → - April–June 1829
Most of the Book of Mormon is translated, with Oliver Cowdery as scribe.
Chapter 7: By the Gift and Power of God → - May 15, 1829
Joseph and Oliver receive the Aaronic Priesthood near the Susquehanna River.
Chapter 7: By the Gift and Power of God → - March 26, 1830
The Book of Mormon goes on sale in Palmyra.
Chapter 7: By the Gift and Power of God → - April 6, 1830
The Church is organized at the Peter Whitmer farm in Fayette, New York.
Chapter 8: Come and See → Ohio and Missouri
- February 4, 1831
Joseph and Emma arrive in Kirtland, Ohio.
Chapter 8: Come and See → - March 27, 1836
The Kirtland Temple is dedicated.
Chapter 9: The Lord's House → - April 3, 1836
Joseph and Oliver record the visions in the temple, including Elijah (D&C 110).
Chapter 9: The Lord's House → - October 30, 1838
The killings at Hawn's Mill, Missouri.
Chapter 10: The Refiner's Fire → - December 1, 1838 – April 6, 1839
Joseph and his companions are held in Liberty Jail.
Chapter 10: The Refiner's Fire → Nauvoo
- July 22, 1839
A day of healings among the sick at Nauvoo and Montrose.
Chapter 11: A City Beautiful → - October 24, 1841
Orson Hyde offers a prayer on the Mount of Olives, Jerusalem.
Chapter 11: A City Beautiful → - March 17, 1842
The Female Relief Society of Nauvoo is organized.
Chapter 11: A City Beautiful → - June 27, 1844
Joseph and Hyrum Smith are killed at Carthage Jail, Illinois.
Chapter 12: Carthage, and the Work Rolls On →