When Joseph and Emma Smith arrived by sleigh in Kirtland, Joseph bounded into the Whitney store and announced to the surprised shopkeeper, "Newel K. Whitney! Thou art the man! . . . I am Joseph the Prophet. . . . You've prayed me here; now what do you want of me?" (Joseph Fielding Smith, Church History and Modern Revelation, 2 vols. [1953], 1:175).
Among the revelations received in this home was the Law of the Church now found in Doctrine and Covenants 42.
The Prophet and his family lived in the Whitney store from September 1832 to February 1834. ("House of Revelation," Ensign, Jan. 1993, 31, 34).
Latter-day Saints began moving from New York to Kirtland, Ohio, in 1831. Joseph and Emma Smith were graciously invited to live in the Whitney home, where they stayed for a few weeks.
Joseph Smith lived on the Morley Farm from March to September 1831. Isaac Morley invited many early converts to live on his 80-acre farm and here built a small home for Joseph and Emma Smith.
The Prophet Joseph Smith received a commandment in December 1832 to build a temple in Kirtland. Despite living in poverty, the small group of Saints then living in Kirtland set out to fulfill the commandment.
Moses, Elias, and Elijah came to the Kirtland Temple and restored priesthood keys which included keys for the gathering of scattered Israel and the sealing power to bind families together forever.
Jesus Christ appeared to Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery in the Kirtland Temple on April 3, 1836. They recorded: "We saw the Lord standing upon the breastwork of the pulpit, before us. . . . His eyes were as a flame of fire; the hair of his head was white like the pure snow; his countenance shone above the brightness of the sun; and his voice was as the sound of the rushing of great waters" (D&C 110:2–3).