Inventing Mormonism: Tradition and the Historical Record - Softcover

Marquardt, H. Michael; Walters, Wesley P.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1560851082 ISBN 13: 9781560851080

Publisher: Signature Books, 1998

Synopsis

 For more than 150 years the story of Mormon origins has been rewritten to a point where only fragments remain of the original. This book restores much of the human drama and detail. Moving from village to village, the Joseph Smith, Sr., family lived in constant poverty. When in 1825 Joseph, Sr., a cooper, defaulted on the family’s final mortgage payment, he and his nineteen-year-old son, Joseph Jr., traveled 100 miles south to Pennsylvania to join a band of money diggers on a desperate hunt for buried Spanish treasure.

Following this ill-fated quest, father and son returned near-penniless to New York to face eviction. They resettled in a small Manchester cabin where young Joseph later saw angels–not unlike his father and other contemporaries–and eventually found hieroglyph-inscribed sheets of gold, which his former money-digging associates repeatedly tried to steal.

During this turbulent time Joseph Smith was brought to court three times for crystal gazing, eloped with a former landlord’s daughter, watched as his mother and siblings were excommunicated from the Presbyterian church, published his translation of the hieroglyphs, founded the Church of Christ, saw a potential convert forcibly abducted by her minister, and eventually sought refuge in Ohio where he changed the name of his church and its place of origin.

About this title

About the Author:

 H. Michael Marquardt is co-author with the late Wesley P. Walters of the acclaimed The Four Gospels According to Joseph Smith; Inventing Mormonism: Tradition and the Historical Record; The Rise of Mormonism: 1816-1844; and editor of Early Patriarchal Blessings of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the The Joseph Smith Revelations: Text and Commentary. In addition, he is the author of several historical monographs, including The Book of Abraham Revisited, Joseph Smith’s Diaries, and The Strange Marriages of Sarah Ann Whitney, and of essays that have appeared in a variety of professional and religious journals. A retired civil servant, he is now the webmaster for the Mormon Origins site. He and his wife, Dorothy, live in Sandy, Utah, and have five children.
Wesley P. Walters, M.T., Covenant Theological Seminary, was pastor of the Marissa Presbyterian church in Illinois until his death in 1990. His thesis, The Use of the Old Testament in the Book of Mormon, presaged his life’s work. He was the editor of the revised editions of Harry L. Ropp’s Are the Mormon Scriptures Reliable; co-authored Inventing Mormonism: Tradition and the Historical Record; was published on similar topics in Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, the Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Journal of the Westminster Theological Society, and the Journal of Pastoral Practice.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

 Chapter 5. The Treasure

INVENTING MORMONISM: TRADITION AND THE HISTORICAL RECORD

© 1994 by H. Michael Marquardt. All Rights Reserved.

By the summer of 1827, when newlyweds Joseph and Emma Smith1were living with Joseph's family in Manchester, New York, people began to hear from the Smith family about a treasure Joseph had found. They told the story of a book written on plates of gold which had been buried in the ground in a Manchester hill (later called the Hill Cumorah) about two miles southeast from their home. This glacial drumlin had been, according to one scholar, "the site of treasure digging both before and after Joseph Smith's receiving the golden plates."2
This chapter attempts to recover from available sources the earliest versions of this saga. Certainly no single account gives a complete picture of events pieced together years later. But important patterns and similarities recur among the early accounts. In contrast to the account which was latter told, the earliest versions linked the finding of the plates with the practice of searching for buried treasure. They also linked obtaining the plates with magical rituals traditionally associated with winning treasure from its guardian spirits.
Willard Chase was a neighbor and friend of the Smith family. He had known them since 1820 and later recalled that the family followed the money-digging business "until the latter part of the season of 1827." That June, Joseph Smith, Sr., told Chase a remarkable story, whose beginnings went back more than three years:

That some years ago, a spirit3 had appeared to Joseph his son, in a vision, and informed him that in a certain place there was a record on plates of gold, and that he was the person that must obtain them, and this he must do in the following manner: On the 22d of September, he must repair to the place where was deposited this manuscript, dressed in black clothes, and riding a black horse with a switch tail, and demand the book in a certain name, and after obtaining it, he must go directly away, and neither lay it down nor look behind him.4They accordingly fitted out Joseph with a suit of black clothes and borrowed a black horse.

Chase reportedly was told that Smith in fact went to the stone box in which the book of gold was deposited and removed the book:

but fearing some one might discover where he got it, he laid it down to place back the top stone, as he found it; and turning round, to his surprise there was no book in sight. He again opened the box, and in it saw the book, and attempted to take it out, but was hindered. He saw in the box something like a toad, which soon assumed the appearance of a man, and struck him on the side of his head.

Smith tried to take the book again but was again struck by the spirit. On asking "why he could not obtain the plates," he was told that he had not obeyed the orders of the spirit. He was then instructed to bring his oldest brother Alvin:

come one year from this day, and bring with you your oldest brother, and you shall have them. This spirit, he said, was the spirit of the prophet who wrote this book, and who was sent to Joseph Smith, to make known these things tq him. Before the expiration of the year, his oldest brother died; which the old man said was an accidental providence!

When Smith returned a year later, the spirit asked about his brother. Learning he was dead, the spirit "commanded him to come again, in just one year, and bring a man with him. On asking who might be the man, he was answered that he would know him when he saw him."
According to Chase's account, filtered through his and Joseph Sr.'s perspectives, Joseph Jr. first decided that the next year he should bring Samuel Lawrence, another treasure seeker and seer in the Manchester area:

Joseph believed that one Samuel T. Lawrence was the man alluded to by the spirit, and went with him to a singular looking hill, in Manchester, and shewed him where the treasure was. Lawrence asked him if he had ever discovered any thing with the plates of gold; he said no: he then asked him to look in his stone to see if there was any thing with them. He looked, and said there was nothing; he told him to look again, and see if there was not a large pair of specks with the plates; he looked and soon saw a pair of spectacles, the same with which Joseph says he translated the Book of Mormon.
Lawrence told him it would not be prudent to let these plates be seen for about two years, as it would make a great disturbance in the neighborhood. Not long after this, Joseph altered his mind, and said L[awrence]. was not the right man, nor had he told him the right place.5

One hundred miles to the south, a resident of Colesville for whom Smith worked briefly, recounted a very similar story. Joseph Knight, whose recollections were written sometime between 1835 and 1847, when Knight died, also told of the spirit requesting that Joseph bring Alvin to the hill. Knight does not mention Lawrence, but his account adds the identity of a third person Smith felt compelled by the spirit personage to take to the hill in order to obtain the treasure-his future wife Emma Hale:

From thence he [Joseph Smith] went to the hill where he was informed the Record was and found no trouble for it appear[e]d plain as tho[ugh] he was acquainted with the place it was so plain in the vision that he had of the place. He went and found the place and opened it and found a plane Box. He oncovered it and found the Book and took it out and laid [it] Down By his side and thot he would Cover the place over again thinkinking [sic] there might be something else here. But he was told to take the Book and go right away. And after he had Covered the place he turned round to take the Book and it was not there and he was astonished that the Book was gone. He thot he would look in the place again and see if it had not got Back again. He had heard people tell of such things. And he opened the Box and Behold the Book was there. He took hold of it to take it out again and Behold he Could not stur the Book any more then he Could the mountain. He exclaimed "why Cant I stur this Book?" And he was answer[e]d, "you have not Done rite; you should have took the Book and a gone right away. You cant have it now. " Joseph says, "when can I have it?" The answer was the 22nt Day of September next if you Bring the right person with you. Joseph says, "who is the right Person?" The answer was "your oldest Brother."
But before September Came his oldest Brother Died. Then he was Disap[po]inted and did not [k]now what to do. But when the 22nt Day of September Came he went to the place and the personage appear[e]d and told him he Could not have it now. But the 22nt Day of September nex[t] he mite have the Book if he Brot with him the right person. Joseph says, "who is the right Person?" The answer was you will know. Then he looked in his glass and found it was Emma Hale, Daughter of old Mr Hail [Hale] of Pensylvany, a girl that he had seen Before, for he had Bin Down there Before with me.6

About 1830 Fayette Lapham visited the Smith family with a friend, Jacob Ramsdell, and talked with Joseph Sr. about finding the buried record. Lapham's narrative, which was published in 1870, is very similar to the versions related by Chase and Knight--including the details about bringing Alvin and then Emma to the hill in order to placate the guardian spirit:

He [Joseph] then told his father that, in his dream, a very large and tall man appeared to him, dressed in an ancient suit of clothes, and the clothes were bloody. And the man said to him that there was a valuable treasure, buried many years since, and not far from that place; and that he had now arrived for it to be brought to light, for the benefit of the world at large; and, if he would strictly follow his directions, he would direct him to the place where it was deposited, in such a manner that he could obtain it. He then said to him, that he would have to get a certain coverlid, which he described, and an old-fashioned suit of clothes, of the same color, and a napkin to put the treasure in. ... when he had obtained it, he must not lay it down until he placed it in the napkin. ... Joseph mounted his horse. ... Taking up the first article, he saw the others below: laying down the first, he endeavored to secure the others; but before he could get hold of them, the one he had taken up slid back to the place he had taken it from.

Smith was struck down and fell on his back. The personage then told him that

when the treasure was deposited there, he was sworn to take charge of and protect that property, until the time should arrive for it to be exhibited to the world of mankind; and, in order to prevent his making a improper disclosure, he was murdered or slain on the spot, and the treasure had been under his charge ever since. He said to him [Joseph] that he had not followed his directions; and, in consequence of laying the article down before putting it in the napkin, he could not have the article now; but that if he would come again one year from that time, he could have them.
The year passed over before Joseph was aware of it, so the time passed by; but he went to the place of deposit, where the same man appeared again, and said he had not been punctual in following his directions, and, in consequence, he could not have the article yet. Joseph asked when he could have them; and the answer was, "Come in one year from this time, and bring your oldest brother with you; then you may have them." During that year, it so happened that his oldest brother died; but, at the end of the year, Joseph repaired to the place again, and was told by the man who still guarded the treasure, that, inasmuch as he could not bring his oldest brother, he could not have the treasure yet; but there would be another person appointed to come with him in one year from that time, when he could have it.

Smith was then told about an important person he soon would meet:

Joseph asked, "How shall I know the person?" and was told that the person would be known to him at sight. During that year, Joseph went to the town of Harmony, in the State of Pennsylvania, at the request of some one who wanted the assistance of his divining rod and stone in finding hidden treasure, supposed to have been deposited there by the Indians or others. While there, he fell in company with a young woman; and, when he first saw her, he was satisfied that she was the person appointed to go with him to get the treasure he had so often failed to secure.7

In 1879 Hiel and Joseph Lewis, cousins of Emma Hale Smith, recorded their recollections. According to the brothers, Joseph had told, probably in early 1828 in Harmony, Pennsylvania, how he discovered the plates. In addition to other details, the brothers recalled the importance of their cousin Emma to Smith's narrative:

He [Joseph] said that by a dream he was informed that at such a place in a certain hill, in an iron box, were some gold plates with curious engravings, which he must get and translate, and write a book; that the plates were to be kept concealed from every human being for a certain time, some two or three years; that he went to the place and dug till he came to the stone that covered the box, when he was knocked down; that he again attempted to remove the stone, and was again knocked down; this attempt was made the third time, and the third time he was knocked down.
Then he exclaimed, "Why can't I get it?" or words to that effect; and then he saw a man standing over the spot, which to him appeared like a Spaniard, having a long beard coming down over his breast to about here, (Smith putting his hand to the pit of his stomach) with his (the ghost's) throat cut from ear to ear, and the blood streaming down, who told him that he could not get it alone; that another person whom he, Smith, would know at first sight, must come with him, and then he could get it. And when Smith saw Miss Emma Hale, he knew that she was the person, and that after they were married, she went with him to near the place, and stood with her back toward him, while he dug up the box, which he rolled up in his frock.8

Smith's mother, Lucy Mack Smith, added her own recollections about the gold record to her autobiography. She dates Joseph's first trip to the nearby hill just before Alvin's death in 1823 and emphasizes Alvin's place in these events. She thus indirectly suggests why Joseph may have felt the guardian spirit required Alvin's presence at the hill:

thinking he could keep every commandment given him that it would be possible for him to take them from their place and carry them home. But said the divine messenger you must take them into your hands and go straight to the house without delay .
Accordingly when the time arrived he went to the place appointed and removed the moss and grass from the surface of the rock and then pryed up the first stone according to the directions which he had received. He then discovered the plates laying on 4 pillars in the inside of the box. He put forth his hand took them up when he lifted them from their place the thought flashed across his mind that there might be something more in the box that would be a benefit to him in a pecuniary point of view. In the excitement of the moment he laid the record down in order to cover up the box least some one should come along and take away whatever else might be deposited there. When he turned again to take up the record it was gone but where he knew not nor did he know by what means it was taken away. He was much alarmed at this. kneeled down <&> asked the Lord why it was that the record was taken from him. The angel appeared to him and told him that he had not done as he was commanded in that he laid down the record in order to secure some imaginary treasure that remained.
After some further conversation Joseph was then permit[t]ed to raise the stone again and there he beheld the plates the same as before. He reached forth his hand to take them but was to the ground. When he recov.9

According to his mother, Joseph was instructed that "when you get the record take it immediately into the house and lock it up as soon as possible."10 She adds that Alvin told Joseph that they would "have a fine long evening all set down and hear you talk." Joseph told the family about the plates and asked them not to discuss what he said outside their She then describes how in the teachings. They also heard Joseph tell stories of the continent's former civilizations.11
Alvin, his mother remembers, was especially interested in the record. On his death bed he told Joseph, "I want you to be a good boy & do everything that lays in your power to obtain the record. Be faithful in receiving instruction and keeping every commandment that is given you."12 According to Lucy, "Alvin had ever manifested a greater zeal and anxiety if it were possible than any of the rest with regard to the record which had been shown to Joseph and he always showed the most intense interest concerning the matter. With this before our minds we could not endure to hear or say one word upon that subject, for the moment that Joseph spoke of the record it would immediately bring Alvin to minds."13 Lucy continues, "but none were more engaged than the one whom we were doomed [to] part with, for Alvin was never so happy as when he was contemplating the final suc[c]ess of his brother in obtaining the record. And now I fancied I could hear him with his parting breath conjureing his brother to continue faithful that he might obtain the prize wh...

About this edition

• Publisher: Signature Books
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 1560851082
• ISBN 13: 9781560851080
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 286