Hiram Winters (1805-1889)

Conversion to Mormonism
Hiram Winters [also called Winter in the History of the Church], a member of Zion's Camp, was born April 5, 1805, near Westfield, Washington Co., N, Y. He removed with his parents to Seneca County and afterwards settled in Jamestown, N.Y., where he married Rebecca Burdick, who bore him six children.

He was baptized by Lyman Royal Sherman (1804-1839) in June, 1833, and in the fall of that year moved to Kirtland, Ohio. The next year he joined Zion's Camp and marched to Missouri, acting as cook of the second Ten of that organization until the camp arrived at Salt Creek, Mo., where he was appointed to serve in the second company of rangers.

Both Hiram and his brother-in-law, Alden Burdick (1803-1845), were participants in Zions Camp and the 1st Quorum of Seventy.

Zions Camp Participant
One of the most interesting episodes in the early history of LDS Church was the march of Zion's Camp (1834). The members of the Church in Missouri were being persecuted, and the Prophet Joseph made it a matter of prayer and received a revelation on February 24, 1834. The Lord instructed the Prophet to assemble at least one hundred young and middle-aged men and to go to the land of Zion, or Missouri. (See | D&C 130:19–34.)

Zion’s Camp, a group of approximately one hundred and fifty men, gathered at Kirtland, Ohio, in the spring of 1834 and marched to Jackson County, Missouri. By the time they reached Missouri, the camp had increased to approximately two hundred men.

LDS Quorum of Seventy
Created by the Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith (1805-1844) in early 1835, the Quorum of Seventy was to act as traveling and presiding ministers for the newly created The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Many of these men performed notable works for the early church, living near then church headquarters in Kirtland, Ohio. The Quorum of Seventy itself did not meet as a governing body of the church and was not renewed until reorganized by the church in 1976.

A year later in February of 1835 he was called to become a Seventy and a member of the the First Quorum of the Seventy. He was ordained under the hands of the Prophet Joseph Smith and was the first Seventy to walk this earth since the days of the Savior! His brother-in-law, Hiram Winters was the second. The Lord had specifically designated the First Quorum as a quorum having equal authority with the First Presidency and the Twelve, thus, Elder Alden Burdick cemented his position as a General Authority. There is no evidence, however, that the First Quorum ever functioned as a governing quorum in the Kirtland-Missouri-Nauvoo era.

Kirtland Era
After the camp was dissolved, Bro. Winters returned to Kirtland, Ohio, where he was ordained a Seventy by the Prophet Joseph Smith Feb. 28, 1835, being the first Seventy ordained in this dispensation. In the spring of 1835, he was sent on a mission to New York.

Elder Winters was present at the dedication of the Kirtland Temple March 27, 1836, and moved to Quincy, Ill., in 1837, later to Commerce.

In 1841-45 Kirtland, He was ordained a High Priest and appointed to act as a counselor to Bishop Thomas Burdick (another brother-in-law).

Westward Trek
In 1845, he moved his family to Nauvoo, and when the camps of the saints moved westward, he established himself at Burlington, Iowa, as a shoemaker and a builder of hydraulic cisterns. Having earned sufficient means to buy a traveling outfit, he followed the Camps of Israel to Kanesville, Iowa, in 1851, and arrived in the Valley in 1852.

Elder Winters died Oct. 21, 1889 at Pleasant Grove, Utah.

Marriage and Family
His wife died while crossing the plains and was buried near Scott's Bluffs, Iowa on the Platte River. Her grave was marked with a steel wagon tire, In recent years, the descendants provided a more permanent and suitable marker. Her grave is still visible today.