Journal of Book of Mormon Studies
Volume 16 Number 1 Article 3
1-31-2007
The Conversion of Oliver Cowdery
Larry E. Morris Maxwell Institute.
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BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Morris, Larry E. (2007) "The Conversion of Oliver Cowdery," Journal of Book of Mormon Studies: Vol. 16 : No. 1 , Article 3. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jbms/vol16/iss1/3
This Feature Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Book of Mormon Studies by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. Title The Conversion of Oliver Cowdery
Author(s) Larry E. Morris
Reference Journal of Book of Mormon Studies 16/1 (2007): 4–17, 81–83.
ISSN 1065-9366 (print), 2168-3158 (online)
Abstract Shortly after arriving in New York and begin- ning employment as a schoolteacher in 1828, Oliver Cowdery first learned about Joseph Smith and the gold plates through rumors and gossip. Through the sincere investigations of Oliver and his newfound friend, David Whitmer, and his time as a boarder with the Joseph Smith family in Palmyra, Oliver contin- ued to learn about Joseph and the plates. He received a personal witness and traveled with Samuel Smith to visit Joseph in Harmony. Several events involving Martin Harris, David Whitmer, Joseph Knight Sr., and the Smith family all played a role in Oliver’s con- version, and on April 7, Joseph and Oliver began the translation of the Book of Mormon. 4 Volume 16, number 1, 2007 Larry E. Morris
uring the monumental—and exact—year that began on April 7, 1829, when Joseph Smith began dictating the inspired text of the Book of Mormon, and ended on April 6, D1830, when the Church of Christ was organized, no one was more involved in the key events of the restoration than Oliver Cowdery. He was present for the translation of the Book of Mormon—accomplished in an amazing ten weeks through the gift and power of God; he was with Joseph when John the Baptist and later Peter, James, and John appeared as resurrected personages and restored the priesthood through the literal laying on of hands (with Oliver becoming the first person baptized in this dispensation); and he was one of three witnesses called to see the angel and the plates and to testify of the truth of the book. Not only that, but he also prepared the printer’s manuscript of the Book of Mormon and assisted with the printing at a time when Joseph was gener- ally not present. Clearly, it is no exaggeration to call Oliver the cofounder of Mormonism.
What makes Oliver’s home because of finan- story even more fas- cial hardship. Joseph cinating is that he Sr.’s and Lucy’s faith- gained a testimony fulness during these of the truthfulness of trials—and their respec- the work even before tive testimonies of their meeting Joseph Smith, son’s prophetic calling— while David Whitmer had a profound effect on and Martin Harris were Oliver, prompting him to also being prepared to testify pray and decide for himself of the Book of Mormon. This what he thought about the occurred during a crucial time for story of the gold Bible. The pow- the Joseph Smith Sr. family, when, in erful confirmation that resulted con- the midst of divine manifestations, they vinced him the restoration was genuine were also bombarded by earthly pressures that and that he should be a part of it. By the time included the death of an infant grandchild, the loss he met Joseph Smith—about six months after meet- of an invaluable document, serious illness, a law- ing Joseph’s parents—Oliver Cowdery was thus pre- suit brought by a former friend, rumormongering pared to start immediately on the translation. And among their neighbors, and eviction from their that is precisely what happened.
journal of Book of Mormon Studies 5 Oliver’s Arrival from Vermont of so much secret gratification, had in a moment fled, and fled for ever.”5 Sometime in the mid-1820s, young Oliver About two months later, apparently in late Cowdery left his native state of Vermont and joined August or early September, Joseph Sr. and Lucy a constant stream of immigrants heading west to traveled to Harmony because they had heard noth- upstate New York. Lucy Cowdery Young, Oliver’s ing from Joseph and were worried about him. To half sister, said he made the move when he was their surprise, he met them “with a countenance twenty years old, which would mean in 1826 or blazing with delight.”6 Although the plates and 1827, since Oliver was born October 3, 1806. West- the Urim and Thummim had been taken from ern New York seemed like the natural place to go Joseph, they had now been restored because of his because Oliver’s older brother Warren, as well as penitence. He had also received a revelation (now other brothers and sisters, had already relocated to section 3 of the Doctrine and Covenants) in which the Empire State.1 the Lord told Joseph that he was “still chosen” and Two contemporary records indicate that Oliver “again called to the work” (v. 10). Furthermore, may have lived near Newark (also called Arcadia) reported Joseph, “‘the angel said that the Lord or Lyons, about seven and thirteen miles east of would send me a scribe, and I trust his promise will Palmyra, respectively. The Lyons Advertiser news- be verified.’”7 paper offers the first-known New York record men- tioning Oliver by name. “List of letters remaining in Oliver the Schoolteacher the Post Office at Newark, Oct. 1st, 1827,” the notice read, and the list of fifty-nine names that followed Joseph Sr. and Lucy arrived back in Manchester included both Oliver and his father, William.2 The and found their children Sophronia and Samuel list, which ran for four consecutive weekly issues, “lying at the point of Death,”8 so sick that Hyrum indicates that someone thought the Cowderys were (now married) “had left his own house, and quit- in the area; still, the exact whereabouts of both ted business, in order to take care of them during Oliver and his father remain a mystery.3 Oliver our absence.”9 Palmyra physician Gain C. Robinson was definitely in the vicinity by the next summer, visited the Smiths on September 11 and charged however, because he and his brother Lyman signed Joseph Sr. for medicine given to “Boy Harrison” a twenty-two dollar note to a Lyons grocer by the (Samuel).10 Lucy added that Sophronia “lay very sick name of David Adams on August 11, 1828.4 for 2 months in which time she was dreadfully sali- vated by the Dr. who attended her.”11 The Loss of the 116 Pages About this same time, the elder Joseph and Lucy met Oliver Cowdery for the first time. His The summer of 1828 had been a traumatic brother Lyman had applied to teach school in the one for the Smith family. On June 15, Joseph and Manchester district and had spoken first with Emma, then living in Harmony, Pennsylvania, near twenty-eight-year-old Hyrum, a trustee of the dis- Emma’s parents, lost their firstborn child, a son trict, who called a meeting of the other trustees. named Alvin, who died shortly after his birth. For They agreed to employ Lyman and settled on the two weeks, Joseph nursed Emma, who seemed “for terms. But, as Lucy later recalled, “the next day some time,” wrote Lucy, “more like sinking with her [Lyman] brought his brother Oliver and requested infant into the mansion of the dead, than remaining them to receive him in the place of himself.” with her husband among the living.” With Emma Whether because of coincidence or providence, slowly recovering, Joseph traveled to the Smith farm Lyman Cowdery was unable to fulfill his obligation; in Manchester, New York, only to discover that Lucy remembered that “business had arisen” that Martin Harris had lost the 116 transcribed pages would oblige him to disappoint them.12 Whatever of the Book of Mormon. The entire family was this unnamed business was, it set Oliver Cowdery’s plunged into despair, and when Joseph departed life on a startling new course. for Harmony, Lucy wrote, “We parted with heavy Lyman assured the trustees that Oliver, who hearts, for it now appeared that all which we had so had just turned twenty-two, could do the job. Pre- fondly anticipated, and which had been the source sumably, the trustees interviewed Oliver, discover-
6 Volume 16, number 1, 2007 @ .,2 metic, reading, grammar, and geography, and he frequently asked his students to read from the New Testament.16 His reputation was good: one student remembered him as “a man of good character”;17 another called him “a peaceable fellow.”18 Oliver and David Whitmer Investigate the Gold Bible Oliver had barely begun teaching when he started to hear rumors about Joseph Smith and the gold plates. Neighbors had known about the “gold Bible” for more than a year, and some of them had ransacked a Smith shed in search of the plates in September 1827, not long after Joseph obtained them. Oliver quite possibly heard a variety of tales about the plates from both his students and their parents. If later affidavits are any indication, hearsay and gossip were the order of the day. All kinds of people in the area claimed some kind of knowledge of the gold book, but very few of them had talked directly to young Joseph.19 About this same time—possibly in November 1828—twenty-three-year-old David Whitmer made a business trip from his home in Fayette Township to Palmyra (thirty miles away), a bustling borough Oliver Cowdery. Photograph, c. 1848, C. W. Carter Collection. of “very considerable business” according to a con- Page 4: Oliver Cowdery. Daguerreotype Courtesy Prints and temporary description. Strategically situated along Photographs Division, Library of Congress. the Erie Canal—which had been completed just Page 5: Joseph Smith Baptizes Oliver Cowdery, by Del Parson. © 1996 IRI. three years earlier—Palmyra boasted an academy, two or three schools, thirteen dry good stores, three ing for themselves that he “had acquired a good inns, three druggist shops, and two tanneries, “one common school education.”13 Perhaps the trustees of which is so extensive as to employ 40 hands.” were impressed by his serious manner; they likely Well over one thousand people lived in Palmyra, found him rather articulate for a young man. What- taking advantage of a post office, a printing busi- ever the exact details, “all parties were satisfied,” ness, several “mechanical establishments,” a number and Oliver was given the assignment.14 of mills, and Presbyterian, Methodist, and Baptist Like Oliver’s home state of Vermont, New York churches.20 had made excellent provisions for education. By David later recalled that while in Palmyra, he 1820, New York’s schools were said to be among the “stopped with one Oliver Cowdery.” The details of best in the nation.15 Oliver labored in New York’s how the two young men became acquainted are Joint District 11, teaching in a small frame school- unknown, but they quickly struck up a friendship, house about a mile south of the Smith home on taking a mutual interest in the stories being told Stafford Road. During his five-month, six-day ten- about Joseph Smith. “A great many people in the ure—which began late in October—he taught a total neighborhood were talking about the finding of of 107 “scholars” (although the attendance on any certain gold plates by one Joseph Smith, jr.,” David given day was probably a fraction of that). Sixty- recorded. “Cowdery and I, as well as others, talked one of them, including Katharine, Don Carlos, about the [plates], but at the time I paid but little and Lucy Smith, were older than five years old and attention to it, supposing it to be only the idle gos- younger than sixteen. Oliver taught spelling, arith- sip of the neighborhood.” David’s reminiscences of
journal of Book of Mormon Studies 7 @ .,2 more than five decades later indicate that he visited middle name), 20; William (“Bill”), 17; Katharine, Palmyra more than once (or remained there for 15; Don Carlos (“Carlos”), 12; and Lucy, 7. Sophro- some time) and had multiple conversations with nia, 25, and her husband, Calvin Stoddard, may Oliver, who “said he was acquainted with the Smith have also been living with the family at this time. family, and he believed there must be some truth Samuel and Sophronia were most likely still recov- in the story of the plates, and that he intended to ering from their illnesses when Oliver moved in. investigate the matter.”21 The family lived in comfortable quarters in the Neither David nor Oliver ever explained why two-story frame home begun by Alvin in 1823 and they took a sincere interest in Joseph Smith while so completed about two years after his death (he had many in the area viewed him cynically. (It is worth died November 19, 1823). noting, however, that several of the neighbors, such Perhaps prompted by his discussions with as those who had ransacked the Smith shed, were David Whitmer, Oliver asked Joseph Sr. about the convinced that Joseph had plates, but their inter- plates. Lucy recalled that Oliver asked several times, est was monetary, not religious.) From the start, “but he did not succeed in eliciting any informa- David and Oliver seemed to have been taken with tion from him.”27 Joseph Sr. was likely reluctant to the religious implications of a gold Bible rather than discuss his son’s experiences because of the hos- thoughts of worldly treasure, a motivation that sev- tility of several of the neighbors—and the frenzy eral neighbors freely acknowledged. However, the shown by some of them to steal the plates. About family backgrounds of both the Whitmers and the this same time, David Whitmer was conducting Cowderys likely influenced this course of events. his own investigation and may have even talked to David’s father, Peter Whitmer Sr., faithfully some of the same neighbors. “I had conversations attended the German Reformed church in West with several young men who said that Joseph Smith Fayette, New York, where his sons Christian, Jacob, had certainly gold plates,” David said, “and that and John were all confirmed. Based on interviews before he attained them he had promised to share with the David Whitmer family in 1885, a reporter with them, but had not done so, and they were very characterized Peter as “a hard-working, God-fearing much incensed with him.”28 man, a strict Presbyterian [who] brought his chil- Whether on horseback or on foot, the inquisi- dren up with rigid sectarian discipline.”22 Even tive David Whitmer continued to travel through the minister Diedrich Willers, who believed Joseph area, interrogating one person after another until Smith eventually duped the Whitmers, depicted he learned that “one night during the year 1827, Peter as “a quiet, unpretending, and apparently Joseph Smith, jr., had a vision, and an angel of God honest, candid, and simple-minded man.”23 Oliver appeared to him and told him where certain plates likewise grew up in a religious environment. His were to be found and pointed out the spot to him, grandfather William Cowdery Sr., who was still and that shortly afterward he went to that place and alive when Oliver was a boy, served as a deacon in found the plates which were still in his possession.” the Congregational Church, preaching sermons David was impressed because “these parties were so after the death of the minister.24 And Oliver’s step- positive in their statements”—like Oliver, he began mother, Keziah Pearce Austin Cowdery, was also a to feel there must be “some foundation for the sto- member of the Congregational Church who took ries.” David pondered what he had heard “for a long her faith seriously.25 Their upbringings may well time,” then spoke again with Oliver, and the two of have prepared both David and Oliver to focus on them agreed to stay in contact and share any infor- “Bible” rather than “gold” when they first heard of mation they obtained about the gold plates.29 Joseph and the plates. Meanwhile, Oliver struggled to get by finan- Although the exact sequence of events is not cially. A distinct disadvantage of teaching school known, Oliver soon asked Joseph Smith Sr. to take was that schoolmasters had to wait until the end of him as a boarder “at least for a little while” until the term to be paid, making it understandably diffi- he became acquainted with other patrons in the cult for them to pay debts in the interim. In January district.26 Joseph Sr. agreed, and Oliver took up 1829 David Adams filed a complaint before a justice residence with Joseph and Lucy and their chil- of the peace in Lyons for the debt that Lyman and dren Samuel (known as “Sam” or “Harrison”—his Oliver owed him. After being served a summons,
8 Volume 16, number 1, 2007 @ .,2 Oliver Cowdery lived in this frame house on the Smith family farm in Manchester, New York, while he was boarding with the Smiths as a schoolteacher. Courtesy IRI.
Lyman sent a representative to admit owing money house when I was Buisey a Drawing Lumber,” wrote on the note. Justice of the Peace Hugh Jameson ren- family friend Joseph Knight Sr., who lived in Coles- dered judgment against Lyman and Oliver, finding ville, about twenty-two miles from Harmony. “I told them liable for the balance of $17.65 owed on the him they had traviled far enough I would go with $22.00 note (plus court costs of $1.76, for a total of my sley and take them Down [to Harmony] to mor- $19.41).30 In the fragile economy of the New York row[.] I went Down and found them well and the[y] frontier—where actual currency could be quite hard were glad to see us[.] we conversed about many to come by—such a situation was not uncommon. things. in the morning I gave the old man a half a Dollar and Joseph a little money to Buoy paper to “The Field Is White Already to translate[,] I having But little with me. The old gen- Harvest” tlman told me to Come and see him once in a while as I Could[.]”31 About the same time these legal proceedings Samuel and his father must have relished riding were taking place, Joseph Sr. and Samuel made a in a sleigh after their exhausting trek from Man- trip to Harmony to visit Joseph and Emma. The chester. Joseph Knight Sr.—who had been one of details of the journey are not known, but they pre- the first outside the Smith family to believe Joseph’s sumably traveled most of the 130 miles on foot, account of the plates and who just a month or two enduring harsh conditions during midwinter in earlier had given Joseph and Emma some provi- upstate New York. “In January [Joseph Sr.] and sions, a pair of shoes, and three dollars—had once Samuel [Smith] Came from Manchester to my again shown what a valuable friend he was.
journal of Book of Mormon Studies 9 @ .,2 4
5 2 6 1 7 8 3
Aerial view of Hale and Smith homesteads. Looking toward the west, one can see the Harmony Church history sites as they appear today. From left to right: (1) Susquehanna River winding past the homesteads; (2) area near where the Aaronic Priesthood was restored; (3) present- day railroad tracks separating the river from the Smith and Hale homesites; (4) Hale homesite; (5) site of the Smith home; (6) site of Aaronic Priesthood Restoration Monument; (7) State Highway 171 running between the Smith and Hale homesteads; (8) the McKune Cemetery and grave sites of Isaac Hale and some other family members. Courtesy IRI.
While Joseph Sr. and Samuel were staying in above, Joseph Knight said the Smiths arrived at his Harmony, the Prophet received a revelation directed home in January. Joseph Smith, on the other hand, to his father, one that is particularly beloved by mis- wrote that “in the month of February Eighteen hun- sionaries—Doctrine and Covenants section 4. “Now dred and twenty nine my father came to visit us at behold,” it begins, “a marvelous work is about to which time I received the following revelation for come forth among the children of men. Therefore, him.”32 If Joseph Sr. confided in Oliver when he and O ye that embark in the service of God, see that Samuel returned to Manchester, perhaps in mid- or ye serve him with all your heart, might, mind and late February, that time frame would fit quite well strength, that ye may stand blameless before God at with Lucy’s observation that Oliver did not succeed the last day” (D&C 4:1–2). in obtaining information from her husband “for a Is it possible that this revelation motivated long time”33 and that Oliver at last “gained my hus- Joseph Sr. to finally tell Oliver Cowdery the details band’s confidence, so far as to obtain a sketch of the about the plates and the visits of Moroni? Although facts relative to the plates.”34 the participants never discussed this issue, the tim- As for the wording of the revelation, consider ing and wording of the revelation are both quite this passage: “Therefore, if ye have desires to serve consistent with such a scenario. First, Joseph Sr. and God ye are called to the work; For behold the field Samuel’s visit to Harmony apparently took place is white already to harvest; and lo, he that thrusteth in late January and early February 1829. As noted in his sickle with his might, the same layeth up in
10 Volume 16, number 1, 2007 @ .,2 store that he perisheth not, but bringeth salvation Joseph Jr.’s work. Oliver did just that, and although to his soul” (D&C 4:3–4). Although Joseph Sr. had he did not describe it himself, he clearly experienced previously told neighbor Willard Chase (in June a spiritual epiphany that powerfully convinced him 1827) of his son’s experiences,35 he appears to have of the rightness of his course. A revelation received done so in a rather matter-of-fact way, not as one in April 1829 specifically discussed this conversion “called to the work.” This revelation given specifi- experience: “Verily, verily, I say unto you [Oliver], if cally to him, however, could certainly be interpreted you desire a further witness, cast your mind upon as admonishing him to bear serious testimony of the night that you cried unto me in your heart, the “marvelous work,” and who was a more likely that you might know concerning the truth of these recipient of that testimony than Oliver? things. Did I not speak peace to your mind con- cerning the matter? What greater witness can you Oliver Seeks a Personal Witness have than from God? And now, behold, you have received a witness; for if I have told you things Lucy wrote that not long after obtaining this which no man knoweth have you not received a “sketch of facts,”36 Oliver returned from school one witness?”42 day “in quite a lively mood.”37 As soon as he was The Prophet Joseph explained that “he [Oliver able to talk to Joseph Sr., he said he had been in Cowdery] stated to me that after he had gone to my a “deep study all day and it had been put into his father’s to board, and after the family communi- heart that he would have the [privilege] of writing cated to him concerning my having got the plates, for Joseph.” The next day was memorable because of that one night after he had retired to bed, he called a tremendous thunderstorm. “The rain fell in tor- upon the Lord to know if these things were so, and rents,” Lucy said, making it “almost impossible to that the Lord had manifested to him that they were travel the road between the school house and our true, but that he had kept the circumstance entirely place.”38 The weather was so bad that Lucy assumed secret, and had mentioned it to no being, so that Oliver might stop with a neighbor who lived close after this revelation having been given, he knew that to the school and spend the night there. But Oliver the work was true, because that no mortal being liv- was determined to get back to the Smith home—he ing knew of the thing alluded
journal of Book of Mormon Studies 11 @ .,2 with “‘everything arranged for their comfort.’”46 and their five children, as well as Hyrum and his Although Joseph Sr. and Lucy had been unable to wife, Jerusha, and their eighteen-month-old daugh- pay their rent late in 1825—and had been threat- ter, Lovina, with another child just months away. ened with eviction—a Quaker named Lemuel Dur- (Hyrum and Jerusha had lived in the cabin since fee had purchased the property and allowed the their marriage in November of 1826.) Smiths to stay in exchange for Samuel’s labor. That “In consequence of these things,” Lucy arrangement ended early in 1829, however, when explained to Oliver, who had spent much, if not Durfee’s daughter and her husband were scheduled all, of the school term with the Smiths, “we cannot to move into the house. Lucy wrote: “We now felt make you comfortable any longer, and you will be more keenly than ever the injustice of the mea- under the necessity of taking boarding somewhere sure which had placed a landlord over us on our else.” own premises, and who was about to eject us from “Mother,” said the intent young man, apparently them.”47 The family now faced the dreary prospect unaware he was speaking to a blood relative of his of returning to the cramped log cabin they had own mother, Rebecca Fuller, and showing how the occupied before the frame home was completed. A Smiths’ faithfulness had impacted him, “let me stay Palmyra resident described the cabin as a “small, with you, for I can live in any log hut where you and one-story, smoky log-house,” explaining that it was father live, but I cannot leave you, so do not men- “divided into two rooms, on the ground-floor, and tion it.” And so, on the brink of the key event of the had a low garret, in two apartments,” and that a restoration, ten Smiths and one surrogate Smith bedroom wing constructed of sawed logs was later crowded into the humble log cabin, giving up con- added.48 The cabin, barely capable of housing one venience, as Lucy said, “for the sake of Christ and family, was about to house two—Joseph and Lucy salvation.”49
Shortly before Oliver left for Pennsylvania, the Smith family was forced to move back into the log home on their family farm. This replica of the log home stands on the site today. Courtesy IRI.
12 Volume 16, number 1, 2007 @ .,2 Lucy Harris’s Lawsuit of his head shall be harmed.’”53 She returned to the cabin and tried to read but found herself overcome Within weeks—or possibly even days—of the with emotion. move, a former friend compounded the family’s When Hyrum’s wife, Jersuha, came into the tribulation. According to Lucy, Martin Harris’s room, she asked what was the matter. “I told her, wife (also named Lucy) “undertook to prove, that that I had never felt so happy before in my life,” Joseph never had the Record which he professed wrote Lucy, “that my heart was so light, and my to have, and that he pretended to have in his pos- mind so completely at rest, that it did not appear session certain gold plates, for the express purpose possible to me that I should ever have any more of obtaining money.” Although Martin’s wife had trouble while I should exist.”54 originally offered to help finance the work of trans- That evening the Smiths heard what had hap- lation, she had quickly grown hostile to her hus- pened at the hearing. Three witnesses (not identified band’s involvement. Now she stepped up her oppo- by Lucy) had testified: the first reported hearing sition after learning that Martin had made plans to Joseph say that the box that supposedly used to hold visit Joseph and Emma in Harmony. Encouraged the plates had held nothing but sand; the second by Samuel’s news of Joseph’s success, Martin had claimed Joseph had said the box contained lead; a “great desire to go down to Pennsylvania to see the third “declared, that he once inquired of Joseph how [Joseph and Emma] were prospering.” (Samuel Smith what he had in that box, and Joseph Smith may have explained that Joseph Knight was helping told him that there was nothing at all in the box, Joseph and that Samuel and Emma had both acted saying, that he had made fools of the whole of them, as scribe for Joseph.) Determined to prevent Mar- and all he wanted was, to get Martin Harris’s money tin from going, Lucy Harris “mounted her horse, away from him.”55 flew from house to house through the neighbour- Not surprisingly the next witness was Lucy hood, like a dark spirit, . . . stirring up every mali- Harris herself, who proclaimed her belief that cious feeling which would tend to serve her wicked Joseph was out to defraud her husband and had purpose.”50 never possessed any gold plates. Before hearing any The upshot of all this was that Lucy Harris had other witnesses, the magistrate then called Martin a complaint filed against Joseph Jr. before a mag- Harris to the stand. “I can swear,” Martin report- istrate in Lyons.51 A hearing was scheduled, and edly said, “that Joseph Smith never has got one dol- Oliver’s brother Lyman, a lawyer who possibly held lar from me by persuasion since God made me. I a position in the county, was called on to assist in did once, of my own free will and accord, put fifty Joseph’s arrest if he were found guilty. Oliver would dollars into his hands, . . . and I can tell you, fur- have been well aware of this sequence of events, but thermore, that I have never seen, in Joseph Smith, whether he attended the hearing—or whether he a disposition to take any man’s money without giv- talked to Lyman about the case—is unknown. The ing him a reasonable compensation for the same in historical record is also silent on whether Oliver met return. And as to the plates which he professes to Martin Harris at this time. have, gentlemen, if you do not believe it, but con- On the day of the hearing, Lucy Smith learned tinue to resist the truth, it will one day be the means that several neighbors had departed for Lyons to of damning your souls.” testify against Joseph. She was worrying about the According to the Smiths’ informant, the mag- outcome when Hyrum came into the room of the istrate then “told them they need not call any more cabin where she was sitting. She asked him what witnesses, but ordered them to bring him what had could be done. been written of the testimony already given. This “Why, mother,” he said, “we can do nothing, he tore in pieces before their eyes, and told them to except to look to the Lord; in him is all help and go home about their business, and trouble him no strength; he can deliver from every trouble.”52 more with such ridiculous folly.”56 Comforted by Hyrum’s faith, Lucy found a Nor did Lucy Harris succeed in keeping her secluded spot and poured out her “whole soul in husband away from Joseph Smith. Martin and a entreaties to God.” A powerful feeling of peace fell man by the name of Rogers promptly left for Har- upon her, and she heard a voice say, “‘not one hair mony. Rogers had heard of the plates and wanted to
journal of Book of Mormon Studies 13 @ .,2 see if Joseph really had them. Only later did Martin farm, possibly passing through a grove that would discover that Rogers had pledged to give Lucy Har- take on sacred significance three months in the ris $100 if he verified that the plates were real.57 future. News of the magistrate’s reaction brought Oliver and Samuel must have been cold and the peace Lucy Smith had confidently expected. tired and hungry by the time they arrived at the Still, the family continued to battle illness, just as twenty-by-thirty-foot, one-and-a-half story log they had done most of the fall. On March 11 and home where David, the fourth of eight children, again two weeks later on March 25, Dr. Robinson lived with his parents, Peter and Mary Mussel- stopped at the log home to check on Jerusha—and man Whitmer, both in their fifties. “[Oliver] did possibly other sick family members—and leave go [to Harmony],” David later wrote, “and on his medicine.58 way stopped at my father’s house and told me that as soon as he found out anything either truth and Oliver and Samuel Depart for Harmony untruth he would let me know.”63 The Whitmers were respected members of the Fayette Township, A few days later, in what had turned out to be a with Peter serving as a school trustee and oldest son momentous few months, the school term ended and Christian as a constable. Subsequent events indicate Oliver received his pay of $65.50, possibly in a lump that Oliver and Samuel were welcomed into the sum.59 On Tuesday, March 31, Oliver and Samuel home, where they may have told what they knew apparently traveled to Lyons, where Oliver made about the ancient record while savoring a warm a thirteen dollar payment on the debt to David meal. They were likely introduced to three or four of Adams. The next day, April 1, Oliver and Samuel David’s brothers and sisters, including his youngest departed for Harmony.60 sister, fourteen-year-old Elizabeth Ann, the young Lucy remembered that “the weather, for woman Oliver Cowdery would marry almost four some time previous, had been very wet and years later.64 disagreeable—raining, freezing, and thawing Continuing their journey despite the driv- alternately, which had rendered the roads almost ing wind and rain, Oliver and Samuel trekked on, impassable, particularly in the middle of the averaging an impressive twenty to twenty-five miles day.”61 Traveling on foot, Oliver and Samuel a day for five days, despite the mud and muck. A trudged through the mud, heading east. The most contemporary traveler recalled that progress dur- prominent road in the area was the Seneca Turn- ing rainstorms “was neither pleasant nor fast; for pike, a sixty-four-foot-wide thoroughfare paved the mud in some places reached nearly to [my with logs and gravel, running south of the Erie horse’s] knees, and the small streamlets, which I Canal but north of the Finger Lakes, accessing was obliged to cross, were swelled to the size of Canandaigua on the west and Utica on the east. turbid, angry brooks.”65 The two possibly stopped Mile markers helped travelers chart their progress. at inns the second and third nights, boarding with Tolls were collected every ten miles—a man on a throng of fellow travelers—some arriving after horseback might be charged four cents; a team- midnight and others departing before dawn. A ster with four horses and a wagon, eighteen and a typical course would have taken them through the half cents. Cart, wagon, and stagecoach traffic was pleasant hills of Ithaca and past “two of the pretti- interspersed by the sound and smell of livestock— est Falls imaginable,”66 then east-southeast toward with droves of cattle, hogs, and even turkeys being Chenango and Broome Counties. Lucy recalled that driven to market.62 both of them “suffered much” from the miserable When they reached the town of Waterloo, Oli- weather and from fatigue, which in Samuel’s case ver and Samuel likely asked directions to the Peter was complicated by his lingering illness. Oliver also Whitmer farm, which lay three miles south and one endured a frostbitten toe.67 mile west, across the Seneca River and between two It is possible that the two of them stopped of the Finger Lakes—Seneca and Cayuga. Making at Joseph Knight Sr.’s farm in Colesville, just as their way through hills and vales, through fertile Joseph Sr. and Samuel had done two months ear- farmland spotted with clumps of forest, the two lier. Knight, who had befriended Joseph Smith in young men reached the one-hundred-acre Whitmer 1826, owned a 142-acre farm with “‘two dwelling
14 Volume 16, number 1, 2007 @ .,2 houses, a good barn, and a fine orchard,’”68 and he also operated a gristmill. Joseph Knight had just made a visit to Harmony himself, going “the last of March.” He may have given Oliver and Samuel the same report he later recorded in his own hand: “We [Knight and his wife, Polly] went Down and found [Joseph and Emma] well and ware glad to see us Joseph talked with us about his translating and some revelations he had Received.”69 A Warning and a Promise to Martin Harris One of the revelations mentioned by Joseph Knight concerned Martin Harris, who, like Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer, was experiencing events that would prepare him to serve as a spe- cial witness of the Book of Mormon. Martin and his associate Rogers had visited Joseph shortly before the Knights did. Harris and Rogers asked to see the plates, and, as Martin later put it, Rog- ers “had Whet his [knife] to cut the covering of the Plates.”70 But they were not allowed to see the plates—nor did Rogers have opportunity to view them surreptitiously. Instead Martin, who eight months earlier had “set at naught the counsels of God” (D&C 3:13) and had lost the 116 pages, now asked Joseph to inquire of the Lord. The revela- tion that followed (now D&C 5) warned Martin to humble himself and then spoke of “the testimony of three of my servants, whom I shall call and This frontispiece for the October 1883 Contributor shows the Three ordain, unto whom I will show these things [the Witnesses over an engraving of the Hill Cumorah. This was the first plates], and they shall go forth with my words that LDS publication of Oliver’s portrait. Courtesy Edward L. Hart. are given through you.” In addition, Martin was promised that if he were humble, the Lord would Along with Martin and Rogers, the coach likely “grant unto him a view of the things which he carried four or five others, along with a load of mail. desires to see.”71 Strong leather springs offered reasonable comfort, Harris and Rogers then headed north by stage- but passengers were still “kept in constant motion,” coach. Apparently encouraged by the revelation, as one traveler recalled, “jolting and bumping about Martin told his fellow passengers that Joseph Smith in high style, all taking it in good humour, and “had found a gold bible & stone in which he looked enjoying our laugh in turn, as each came in contact & was thereby enabled to translate the very ancient with his neighbour’s head.”73 In the midst of this chara[c]ters.” Saying he had just visited Joseph, Mar- constant jostling, at least one passenger listened tin explained that Joseph “was poor & was living in attentively as Martin Harris—one of the first mis- a house which had only one room” and that “Smith sionaries of the Book of Mormon—told of the gold had a sheet put up in one corner & went behind it Bible. “Smith read to him a good deal of the bible & from observation when he was writing the bible.” he repeated to those in the Stage verse after verse of Martin added that Joseph “would not let him see the what Smith had read to him.”74 bible but let him feel of it when it was covered up.”72
journal of Book of Mormon Studies 15 @ .,2 The Translation Begins After meeting each other, Joseph and Oliver “sat down and conversed together till late. During the As the driver maneuvered the team of horses up evening, Joseph told Oliver his history, as far as was and down hills and around bends, the northbound necessary for his present information, in the things stagecoach, winding its way from Bainbridge to which mostly concerned him.”76 Geneva, had possibly crossed paths with south- Oliver wrote that he and Joseph took care of bound Oliver and Samuel. By Sunday, April 5, the temporal business on Monday, April 6. That busi- two of them neared the end of their exhausting ness was an agreement between Joseph and his journey, finally crossing the border into Pennsylva- father-in-law, Isaac Hale, in which Hale agreed nia. Just as the sun was setting, they made their way to sell Joseph a thirteen-acre parcel of land that through the wooded hills near the Susquehanna included a house and a barn. The price was $200, River and approached the home where Joseph and and Joseph made a down payment of $64; Oliver Emma lived.75 and Samuel were witnesses.77 (It is unknown if Oli- Lucy recalled that “Joseph called upon the Lord, ver contributed all or part of what remained from three days prior to the arrival of Samuel and Oli- his teaching salary to this down payment.) ver, to send him a scribe, according to the promise In a brief six-month period, Oliver Cowdery of the angel; and he was informed that the same had met the Smith family, come to know them well should be forthcoming in a few days. Accordingly, and shared in their hardships, investigated the story when Mr. Cowdery told him the business that he of the gold Bible and deliberated it, and sought had come upon, Joseph was not at all surprised.” and received his own witness of the truthfulness of
The Susquehanna River, near the home where Joseph and Emma lived while the plates were being translated. This river provided the location for several of the events in early Church history, including the restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood to Joseph and Oliver on May 15, 1829. Courtesy IRI.
16 Volume 16, number 1, 2007 @ .,2 After a year of preparation, Oliver was prepared to begin assisting with the translation of the Book of Mormon only two days after meeting the Prophet Joseph Smith. Oliver Writing with a Feather Pen. © 1984 Robert Barrett. the work. Less than two days after meeting Joseph of heaven, awakened the utmost gratitude of this Smith for the first time, he “commenced to write the bosom! Day after day I continued, uninterrupted, book of Mormon.” Considering what had led to this to write from his mouth, as he translated, with the moment, it comes as no surprise that Oliver added: Urim and Thummim, or, as the Nephites [would] “These were days never to be forgotten—to sit under have said, ‘Interpreters,’ the history, or record, the sound of a voice dictated by the inspiration called ‘The book of Mormon.’”78 !
journal of Book of Mormon Studies 17 @ .,2 endnotes
The Conversion of Oliver recipient did live in the area a hypothetical, unpublished Signature Books, 1996–2003], Cowdery but had failed to pick up—and romance also written by 1:72–73 [hereafter EMD]). Larry E. Morris pay postage for—mail waiting Ethan Smith, and deliver both Lucy, on the other hand, said at the post office. Interest- to Joseph Smith (who suppos- in one portion of her remi- Thanks to the Joseph Fielding ingly, the name listed after edly used them to produce niscences that the Urim and Smith Institute for Latter-day William Cowdery’s is that the Book of Mormon). Again, Thummim was returned on Saint History for funding the of Solomon Chamberlain, a none of this guesswork can be September 22, 1828, and that research associated with this Lyons cooper who became backed up by primary docu- sometime after that, she and article. convinced of the truthfulness ments. See Morris, “Vermont her husband visited Joseph 1. Oliver was born in Wells, Ver- of the Book of Mormon in Years,” 118–21. (see Biographical Sketches, mont, to William and Rebecca 1829 and used proof sheets of 4. Manuscript, Lyons, New York, 126). Complicating the mat- Fuller Cowdery. He was the the not-yet-published book Hugh Jameson Docket Book ter even further, she said in youngest of eight children. to preach in Canada. He (January 1, 1828–July 21, another part of her history The others were Warren (b. was baptized in April 1830, 1829), 309, Lyons, New York, that “nearly two months” had 1788), Stephen (b. 1791), Dyer endured persecutions in town offices. Hugh Jameson passed when she and Joseph (b. 1793), Erastus (b. 1796), Missouri, crossed the plains was a justice of the peace in Sr. decided to go to Harmony. Sally (b. 1799), Lyman (b. as part of the original 1847 Lyons. Thanks to Richard L. Since Joseph apparently 1802), and Olive (b. 1804). pioneer company, and died in Anderson and Scott Faulring, returned to Pennsylvania the Oliver’s mother died on Sep- Utah in 1862 or 1863. Lavina who located and transcribed first week of July, such reck- tember 3, 1809, and his father Fielding Anderson, ed., Lucy’s this document, for generously oning places Joseph Sr. and married Keziah Pearce Austin, Book: A Critical Edition of sharing their research. Lucy’s trip south around the a widow, on March 18, 1810. Lucy Mack Smith’s Family 5. Lucy Mack Smith, Bio- beginning of September rather William and Keziah had three Memoir (Salt Lake City: Sig- graphical Sketches of Joseph than at the end of the month. daughters: Rebecca Marie (b. nature Books, 2001), 809–10. Smith the Prophet and His I believe Lucy was simply 1810), Lucy Pearce (b. 1814), Thanks to Dale Broadhurst Progenitors for Many Gen- mistaken about the September and Phoebe (b. 1817). Lucy for informing me of the Lyons erations (Liverpool, England: 22 date and that the plates and Cowdery Young wrote that Advertiser lost-letter list. Richards, 1853), 122 [hereafter Urim and Thummim were “Oliver was brought up in 3. Oliver’s whereabouts during Biographical Sketches]. returned to Joseph in July and Poultney Rutland County the mid-1820s have become a 6. Lucy Mack Smith, Prelimi- that his parents visited early Vermont and when he arrived matter of controversy. Some nary Manuscript [1844–45], in September, arriving back at the age of twenty he went to critics, such as Wayne L. Church Archives (hereafter in Manchester on or before the State of New York where Cowdrey, Howard A. Davis, Preliminary Manuscript), in September 11, the date when his older brothers were mar- and Arthur Vanick (Who Anderson, Lucy’s Book, 424. Gain C. Robinson visited the ried and Settled and in about Really Wrote the Book of Mor- 7. Biographical Sketches, 126. Smith family and charged two years my father moved mon? The Spalding Enigma Reconstructing a precise Joseph Sr. for medicine (see there” (Lucy Cowdery Young [St. Louis: Concordia, 2005], chronology for this time note 10). This is one of a to Brigham H. Young, March 1237–82) speculate that Oliver period is problematic because number of instances where a 7, 1887, Family and Church arrived in New York around of differences in Joseph third-party account confirms History Department Archives, 1822, became involved in the Jr.’s and Lucy Mack Smith’s details of Lucy Mack Smith’s The Church of Jesus Christ printing business, conspired accounts. Joseph said that history—rather impressive of Latter-day Saints [here with Joseph Smith and Sidney “immediately” after his return considering the fact that she after Church Archives]). Lucy Rigdon to produce the Book of to Harmony, in July 1828, the dictated it in 1844–45. also claimed Oliver was born Mormon, and even served as heavenly messenger returned 8. Preliminary Manuscript, 431. in 1805, however (the cor- a scribe to William Morgan, a the Urim and Thummim 9. Biographical Sketches, 128. rect year is 1806), so Oliver’s former Mason who threatened (which had been taken in 10. Gain C. Robinson Day Book, arriving in New York as early to reveal Masonic secrets and consequence of Joseph “hav- 1827–1830, in EMD, 3:439. as 1825 would be partially was apparently murdered ing wearied the Lord in asking 11. Preliminary Manuscript, 431. consistent with her account. as a result. There are no for the privilege of letting As Anderson explains, “‘Sali- See Larry E. Morris, “Oliver documents from the 1820s Martin Harris take the writ- vation’ was a medical treat- Cowdery’s Vermont Years supporting such claims, how- ings”). Joseph then received ment that employed mercury and the Origins of Mormon- ever, only late reminiscences the revelation now recorded to generate an abnormal flow ism,” BYU Studies 39/1 (2000): that are dubious at best. See in Doctrine and Covenants of saliva” (Lucy’s Book, 431 n. 106–29, for more information Matthew Roper’s detailed 3 through the Urim and 194). Sophronia lived to the on Oliver’s early history. response in “The Mythical Thummim. “After I had age of seventy-three and died 2. Lyons Advertiser (New York), ‘Manuscript Found,’” FARMS obtained the above revela- in 1876. October 17, October 24, Review 17/2 (2005): 7–140. tion,” recorded Joseph, “both 12. Preliminary Manuscript, 431. October 31, and November 7, On the other hand, a critic the plates, and the Urim and 13. William Lang, History of 1827. A lost-letter notice could like David Persuitte (Joseph Thummin were taken from Seneca County: From the mean any number of things. Smith and the Origins of the me again, but in a few days Close of the Revolutionary For example, it could simply Book of Mormon [Jefferson, they were returned to me” War to July, 1880; Embrac- mean that the writer of a letter NC: McFarland, 1985]) argues (Joseph Smith, Manuscript ing Many Personal Sketches falsely believed the intended that Oliver stayed in Poultney, History of the Church, Book of Pioneers, Anecdotes, and recipient to be living in the Vermont, until 1825—long A-1, Joseph Smith Papers, Faithful Descriptions of Events area in question. It could also enough to become friends Church Archives [hereafter Pertaining to the Organization mean that the recipient had with Poultney minister Ethan “Manuscript History”], in of the County and Its Progress moved from the area—or had Smith, obtain a copy of his Dan Vogel, Early Mormon (Springfield, OH: Transcript not yet moved to the area. book View of the Hebrews and Documents [Salt Lake City: Printing, 1880), 364. Lang Again, it could mean that the
journal of Book of Mormon Studies 81 was a friend and associate of Cook, ed., David Whitmer the profits of any treasure that 42. Doctrine and Covenants Oliver’s in Ohio during the Interviews: A Restoration any of them found. Although 6:22–24. Section 6 was first 1840s. Witness [hereafter Whitmer Joseph viewed the plates in published as chapter 5 in the 14. Preliminary Manuscript, 432. Interviews] (Orem, UT: Gran- religious terms, quite apart Book of Commandments in 15. See Ellwood P. Cubberley, din Book, 1991), 60. David from the kind of treasure he 1833. Public Education in the United Whitmer wrote a letter to the had sought while working for 43. Manuscript History of the States: A Study and Interpreta- editor of the Kansas City Jour- Josiah Stowell, the neighbors Church, EMD, 1:74. tion of American Educational nal, June 19, 1881, correcting made no such distinction. 44. Manuscript, Joseph Smith, “A History (Boston: Houghton several items in the published 29. Whitmer Interviews, 60, 61. History of the Life of Joseph Mifflin, 1934), 97, cited in interview but making no cor- 30. Hugh Jameson Docket Book. Smith,” in Dean C. Jessee, Stanley R. Gunn, Oliver rections to the sections dis- 31. Joseph Knight Sr. reminis- Personal Writings of Joseph Cowdery: Second Elder and cussing Oliver Cowdery (see cence, “Manuscript of the His- Smith, rev. ed. (Salt Lake City: Scribe (Salt Lake City: Book- Whitmer Interviews, 71–73). tory of Joseph Smith,” circa Deseret Book, 2002), 14 (writ- craft, 1962), 27. 22. “The Book of Mormon,” Chi- 1835–47, in EMD, 4:19. ten in the hand of Frederick 16. Manuscript, Manchester cago Tribune, December 17, 32. Manuscript History of the G. Williams; my punctuation Commissioners of Common 1885, p. 3, cited in Richard Church, EMD, 1:73. Joseph Jr. added in brackets). Schools, report “To the Super- Lloyd Anderson, “The Whit- did not mention that Samuel 45. Preliminary Manuscript, 434. intendent of Common Schools mers: A Family That Nour- had accompanied his father to 46. Biographical Sketches, 87. of the State of New York,” July ished the Church,” Ensign, Harmony, while Lucy did not 47. Biographical Sketches, 129. 1, 1829, Manchester Town August 1979, 35. mention the trip at all. Sec- Since Samuel began working Office, Clifton Springs, New 23. Diedrich Willers to Ellen E. tion 4 was first published as for Durfee in April (Lemuel York, Public School Records, Dickinson, January 19, 1882, chapter 3 of the Book of Com- Durfee account book, April 1828–1915. Thanks again to in EMD, 5:282. mandments in 1833. 16, 1827, in EMD, 3:457), some Richard L. Anderson and 24. Mary Bryant Alverson 33. Preliminary Manuscript, 432. historians have assumed that Scott Faulring for sharing Mehling, Cowdrey-Cowdery- 34. Biographical Sketches, 128. the Smiths’ annual agree- their research. Cowdray Genealogy: William There are three other fac- ments with Durfee ran from 17. John Stafford interview, 1881, Cowdery of Lynn, Massachu- tors to consider when asking April to April. Manchester in EMD, 2:123. setts, 1630, and His Descen- when Joseph Sr. first told land records, however, show 18. Lorenzo Saunders interview, dants (n.p.: Frank Allaben Oliver about the plates. First, that Durfee’s purchase of the 1884, in EMD, 2:134. In an Genealogical, 1911), 79. Lucy’s phrase “a long time” is property was recorded in 1887 interview, Saunders 25. See Morris, “Vermont Years,” ambiguous, to be sure. How- January 1826 (Deed Books, claimed he saw Cowdery 118–20. ever, given the general tone Ontario County Courthouse, “writing, I suppose the ‘Book 26. Preliminary Manuscript, 432. of her explanation, I believe Canandaigua, New York, in of Mormon’ with books and Although Lucy indicates that a late February time frame Porter, “Study of the Origins,” manuscripts laying on the Oliver immediately moved in is more probable than early 140); I therefore believe the table before him” (in EMD, with the Smiths, David Whit- January, or earlier. Second, yearly agreements more likely 2:213). A much more rea- mer recalled that Oliver ini- Lucy strongly implies that ran from January to January. sonable explanation is that tially said he was acquainted Joseph Sr. was continually on Since Joseph Sr. and Samuel Cowdery was simply prepar- with the Smiths, with no the scene after telling Oliver— traveled to Harmony in Janu- ing his school lessons—he had mention of his boarding not possible if Joseph Sr. had ary 1829, Durfee may have not yet met Joseph Smith, and with them at that time. Since told him and then departed delayed any action until they there is no evidence that he David takes greater pains to for the three or four weeks returned in February. contributed to the content of draw distinctions, I tend to required to complete a trip 48. Pomeroy Tucker, Origin, Rise, the Book of Mormon. conclude that Oliver knew the to Harmony. Third, as dis- and Progress of Mormonism 19. A close look at the Hurlbut, Smiths for a period of time cussed below, Lucy mentions (New York: Appleton, 1867), 13. Kelley, Thorne, and Dem- before moving in with them. a tremendous rainstorm that 49. Biographical Sketches, 130; ing collections, for example, 27. Preliminary Manuscript, 432. occurred shortly after Joseph Preliminary Manuscript, 437. reveals a multitude of state- 28. Whitmer Interviews, 60. As Sr. and Oliver had their dis- 50. Biographical Sketches, 132; ments about the plates, noted, the exact sequence of cussion. In upstate New York see Lucy’s Book, 395, for Lucy very few of them based on events is uncertain, particu- such a storm seems much Harris’s offer to help Joseph. firsthand conversations with larly so because Lucy did not more likely in late winter than The date of this incident is not Joseph Smith. See EMD, mention Oliver’s relationship in midwinter. certain because Lucy Mack 2:1–214. with David Whitmer, and 35. See the Willard Chase state- Smith says it took place in 20. Horatio Gates Spafford, A David did not mention Oliver ment, in EMD, 2:64–74. August of 1829. She links it Gazetteer of the State of New moving in with the Smith 36. Biographical Sketches, 128. with Samuel’s return from York (Albany: Packard, 1824), family—and because neither 37. Preliminary Manuscript, 432. Harmony, however, and it 400–401, cited in Larry C. of them provided specific 38. Preliminary Manuscript, 432. seems quite certain that Porter, “A Study of the Ori- dates for various events. My 39. Preliminary Manuscript, 432. Samuel did not remain in gins of The Church of Jesus speculative timetable attempts 40. Biographical Sketches, 129. Harmony after Joseph and Christ of Latter-day Saints in to take the statements of 41. Whitmer Interviews, 61 (see Oliver left in June. (Nor would the States of New York and both David and Lucy into also James H. Hart’s March it have made sense for Martin Pennsylvania” (PhD diss., account. As for claims that 10, 1884 interview, Whitmer to go to Pennsylvania after Brigham Young University, Joseph Jr. had promised to Interviews, 114). Since David Joseph had already returned 1971, published by the Joseph share the plates with others, Whitmer seems to distin- to New York.) I believe the Fielding Institute for Latter- it is perfectly possible, given guish between conversations court hearing took place in day Saint History and BYU the popularity of treasure with and letters from Oliver, March 1829 because Martin Studies, 2000), 15. seeking throughout New York his words “Cowdery told Harris himself gives the 21. David Whitmer interview and New England during this me” indicate that he learned month as March, strongly with the Kansas City Journal, time, that Joseph and various of Oliver’s plans while on implying the year was 1829 June 1, 1881, in Lyndon W. neighbors had agreed to split another visit to Palmyra. (Testimony of Martin Harris
82 volume 16, number 1, 2007 dictated to Edward Stevenson, to Harmoney Pensylvania identities of Martin Harris this time. Both Joseph and September 4, 1870, in EMD, 125 [miles] & found Joseph. and Rogers/Richards. In other Oliver, however, apparently 2:332). Martin and Lucy Har- Rogers unknown to me had respects, however, his memory used Urim and Thummim ris, who were first cousins, agreed to give my wife 100 seems surprisingly accurate. generically, sometimes refer- separated when Martin fol- Dollars if it was not A Desep- As for the order of events, ring to the apparatus deliv- lowed Joseph Smith to Ohio in tion & had Whet his Nife to Joseph Knight’s mention of ered by Moroni and some- 1831. After Lucy’s death in the cut the covering of the Plates “revelations” (possibly refer- times referring to the seer summer of 1836, Martin mar- as the Lord had forbid Joseph ring to sections 4 and 5 in stone (which was purportedly ried Caroline Young, Brigham exhibiting them openley[.]” the Doctrine and Covenants) discovered by Alvin, Joseph Young’s niece. Arnold K. 58. Gain C. Robinson Day Book, and his specifying that he Jr., and Willard Chase when Garr, Donald Q. Cannon, and in EMD, 3:439. went to Harmony “the last the three of them were dig- Richard O. Cowan, Encyclope- 59. Manchester Commissioners of of March” indicate that the ging a well in 1822—see Chase dia of Latter-day Saint History Common Schools, report. Knights arrived in Harmony statement, in EMD, 2:65). (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 60. Hugh Jameson Docket Book. shortly after Martin Harris 2000), 469. (Vogel, however, The court record for March and Rogers (Joseph Knight Straight (Not Strait) and Narrow dates Lucy’s death to 1837 31, 1829, simply reads “Recd Sr. reminiscence, in EMD, John S. Welch [EMD, 2:34].) $13.00,” not explaining who 4:19). Martin Harris’s state- 51. New York law at the time may made the payment. Since ment that he went in March, 1. See Joshua 23:6; compare not have allowed Lucy Harris Oliver may have still been in accompanied by Sayre’s recol- Alma 56:37, “They did not to file the suit herself. (The the area to make this March lection that he was traveling turn to the right nor to the legal scholars I consulted 31 payment, and since he and on the stagecoach in April, left, but pursued their march did not agree as to whether Samuel are known to have indicates that Harris and in a straight course.” this was the case.) If not, her arrived in Harmony on April Rogers may have arrived the 2. Cyprian Treatise 12.3.6 brother Peter may have filed 5, it is likely, but not certain, last week in March and left a (“Three Books of Testimonies on her behalf. that they departed Lyons on day or two before the Knights against the Jews,” in The Ante- 52. Lucy’s Book, 442. April 1. arrived (Harris testimony, in Nicene Fathers, vol. 5, ed. 53. Lucy’s Book, 442–43. 61. Biographical Sketches, 130. EMD, 2:332; Sayre to Cobb, Alexander Roberts and James 54. Biographical Sketches, 133. 62. Alexander C. Flick, ed., His- in EMD, 4:144). It could have Donaldson [Grand Rapids: The fact that this incident tory of the State of New York, been April by the time they Eerdmans, 1965], 534). took place in the cabin indi- vol. 5, Conquering the Wilder- boarded the same stage as 3. Epistles of Cyprian 6.3 (in cates that the Smiths had ness (New York: Columbia Sayre—somewhere between Ante-Nicene Fathers, 5:284). already moved from the frame University Press, 1934), 263, Bainbridge and Geneva. As 4. Origen, Commentary on John home. 267–68, 278. for Sayre’s mention of a one- 10.28 (in Ante-Nicene Fathers, 55. Biographical Sketches, 134. 63. Whitmer Interviews, 61. room house, the home occu- vol. 10, ed. Allan Menzies The first witness may have 64. See Richard Lloyd Anderson, pied by Joseph and Emma [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, been Peter Ingersoll, who Investigating the Book of Mor- originally had two rooms 1969], 408). claimed in an 1833 statement mon Witnesses (Salt Lake City: on the ground floor and one 5. John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s that Joseph had confessed to Deseret Book, 1981), 122–34, room upstairs (Porter, “Ori- Progress, Harvard Classics, ed. filling his frock with sand and for background on the Whit- gins,” 51). Martin may have Charles W. Eliot (New York: then telling his family that the mer family. been referring to the upper P. F. Collier and Son, 1910), frock contained the plates (see 65. Roger Haydon, Upstate story, where Joseph worked on 15:32. EMD, 2:43–44). Travels: British Views of the translation. 6. Accessible at www.worldwide 56. Biographical Sketches, 134. Nineteenth-Century New York 73. Haydon, Upstate Travels, 19. school.org/library/books/hst/ The magistrate tearing up (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse Uni- 74. Sayre to Cobb, in EMD, 4:145. european/CriticalandHis- the testimony is certainly a versity Press, 1982), 50. 75. Oliver Cowdery to W. W. toricalEssaysVolume2/chap29. possible explanation of why 66. Haydon, Upstate Travels, 247. Phelps, September 7, 1834 html (accessed 31 August no record of the hearing has 67. Preliminary Manuscript, 438. [Letter 1], Latter Day Saints’ 2007). been found (although several 68. Broome County Republican, Messenger and Advocate 1 7. For examples, see William historians, including those May 5, 1831, as cited in Wil- (October 1834): 14. See EMD, Penn, Advice of William Penn involved in the Joseph Smith liam G. Hartley, Stand By My 2:416–21. to His Children (London: Papers project, have searched). Servant Joseph: The Story of 76. Biographical Sketches, 131. Assigns of F. Sowle, 1726), Martin Harris confirmed that the Joseph Knight Family and Lucy, Joseph, and Oliver all “the straight and narrow Way a hearing had been held when the Restoration (Provo, UT: make it clear that Joseph and that leads to Life Eternal” he said, “in March [1829] The Joseph Fielding Smith Oliver met for the first time (image no. 7 in the online the People Rose up & united Institute for Latter-day Saint on April 5, 1829. Those who version in the database “Eigh- against the Work gathering History and Deseret Book, argue that they actually met teenth Century Collections testimoney against the Plates 2003), 5. before that time have provided Online,” accessible at infotrac. & Said they had testimony 69. Joseph Knight Sr. reminis- undocumented speculation but galegroup.com with a sub- Enough & if I did not Put cence, in EMD, 4:19. no real evidence. See note 3. scription); Jonathan Edwards, Joseph in Jail <& his father> 70. Harris testimony, in EMD, 77. See EMD, 4:424–31, for details A Treatise concerning Reli- for Deseption[,] they Would 2:333. on the land transaction. gious Affections (Edinburgh: me” (Harris testimony, in 71. Doctrine and Covenants 5:11, 78. Oliver Cowdery to W. W. Laing and Matthews, 1789), EMD, 2:332). 24. Section 5 was originally pub- Phelps, September 7, 1834, 472, “the strait and narrow 57. Harris testimony, in EMD, lished in 1833 as chapter 4 of the 14, emphasis in original. way which leads to life”; and 2:332–33. The excerpt in ques- Book of Commandments. See EMD, 2:419, and Joseph Jane E. Leeson, “Prayer to the tion reads as follows: “So I 72. William S. Sayre to James T. Smith—History 1:71 note. Good Shepherd,” Hymns and went from Waterloo 25 mls Cobb, August 31, 1878, in Statements from David Whit- Scenes of Childhood (London: [miles] South East of Palmyra EMD, 4:145. As Vogel points mer, Emma Smith, and others 1842), 25 (hymn no. 17), to Rogerses [in] [Suscotua?] out, Sayre calls Rogers indicate that Joseph used the “Loving Shepherd ever near, [Seneca?] Co[unty] N.Y. & “Richards” and reverses the seer stone to translate during / teach thy lamb thy voice to
journal of Book of Mormon Studies 83