Picturing history: Eight Witnesses monument

A Missouri site of historical significance to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is that of the Michael Arthur farm in Clay County, Mo. Adjacent to or part of the farm is a cemetery in which two of the Eight Witnesses of the Book of Mormon are buried. Several others of the Eight Witnesses are buried in the general region in Richmond and Excelsior Springs, Mo.

In recent years, the cemetery was purchased and plans made for a monument to be erected honoring the Eight Witnesses as well as some of the important events that happened on the Arthur property.

Two Mormon brothers, who choose to remain anonymous, planned and financed the monument, which resembles the 100-year-old monument to the Three Witnesses in Richmond.

The monument to the Eight Witnesses, about three miles from the jail in Liberty, was dedicated on Nov. 19, 2011, by Elder Donald D. Deshler, an Area Seventy.