USA > Ohio > The history of the state of Ohio; from the discovery of the great valley, to the present time > Part 56
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73
Mr. John Spaulding testifies that the Mormon Bible, so-called, is essentially this book. Mr. Henry Lake, of Conneaut, also cor- roborates this testimony, in the following emphatic words :
" I left the State of New York late in the year 1810, and arrived at Conneaut the Ist of January following. Soon after my arrival I formed a co-partnership with Solomon Spaulding, for the pur- pose of rebuilding a forge, which he had commenced a year or two before. He very frequently read to me from a manuscript which he was writing, which he entitled the ' Manuscript Found,' and which he represented as being found in this town. I spent many hours in hearing him read said writings, and became well acquainted with their contents. He wished me to assist him in getting his production printed, alleging that a book of that kind would meet with a rapid sale. I designed doing so, but the forge not meeting our anticipations, we failed in business, when I declined having anything to do with the publication of the book.
"This book represented the American Indians as the descend- ants of the lost tribes, gave an account of their leaving Jerusalem, their contentions and wars, which were many and great. One time, when he was reading to me the tragic account of Laban, I pointed out to him what I considered an inconsistency, which he promised to correct. But by referring to the Book of Mormon, I
696
HISTORY OF OHIO.
find, to my surprise, that it stands there just as he read it to me then. Some months ago I borrowed the Mormon Bible, put it into my pocket, carried it home, and thought no more about it.
"About a week after my wife found the book in my coat- pocket, as it hung up, and commenced reading it aloud, as I lay upon the bed. She had read but a few minutes till I was aston- ished to find the same passages in it that Spaulding had read to me more than twenty years before from his 'Manuscript Found.' Since then I have more fully examined the said Mormon Bible, and have no hesitancy in saying that the historical part of it is principally, if not wholly, taken from the 'Manuscript Found.' I well recollect telling Mr. Spaulding, that the so frequent use of the words: 'And it came to pass,' 'Now it came to pass,' rendered it ridiculous. Mr. Spaulding left here in 1812, and I furnished him means to carry him to Pittsburgh, where he said he would get the book printed and pay me. But I never heard any more from him or his writings, till I saw them in the Book of Mormon."
The testimony of six other witnesses is equally explicit upon this point. Mr. Spaulding was vain of his writings, and was con- tinually reading them to his neighbors. It is much easier to write such a book than it is to get a publisher who is willing to risk his capital by issuing it from the press. Mr. Spaulding could not find a publisher for his book. What disposition he made of the manu- script is not known. He remained in Pittsburgh two or three years and died in Amity in 1816. Several years afterwards, when this manuscript, with sundry additions and alterations, appeared as the Morman Bible Solomon Spaulding's widow testified that it was her impression that her husband took the manuscript to the pub- lishing house of Messrs. Patterson and Lambdin, but that she did not know whether it was ever returned.
In the meantime Mr. Lambdin had died. The establishment was broken up. Mr. Patterson had no remembrance of any such manuscript. He said, however, that many manuscripts were at that time brought to the office and remained upon the shelves even for years unexamined.
About the year 1823, a man by the name of Sidney Rigdon, came to Pittsburgh. He was a very eccentric character, with an unbalanced mind, and somewhat of a monomaniac upon the sub- ject of the Bible. He had been a wandering preacher, without any special ecelesiastical connection. He became very intimate
697
HISTORY OF OHIO.
with Mr. Lambdin, was often in the printing office, where all the manuscripts, which were candidates for publication, were on the shelves. For three years he deemed it is duty to abandon all other employment, even preaching, that he might devote his whole time to the study of the Bible. He is described, by those who knew him, as a man of some versatility, a kind of religious Ish- maelite, sometimes a Campbellite preacher, and sometimes a printer, and at all times fond of technical disputations in theology.
This man, looking over the manuscripts, fell upon Mr. Spauld- ing's, which he read and re-read with the greatest interest. It was peculiarly adapted to his half-crazed state of mind. He be- came so much absorbed in the work that he copied it, as he him- self frequently stated .*
Mr. Rigdon, in his wanderings, fell in with a very singular man, known as Joe Smith. He professed to possess certain arts of divination, by which there were revealed to him treasures hidden in the ground. He was, at that time, digging for money on the banks of the Susquehanna. He is represented, by those opposed to his pretensions, as a man of low associates, averse to all regular industry, very voluble in speech, having great self-confidence, and with unusual powers of duping others. He had some seer stones, by which he could look into futurity, as well as into the bowels of the earth.
Smith was ever traveling about the country, appearing suddenly and in unexpected places. He was confined to no particular branch of business. At times he would be very active in a re- ligious revival, praying and exhorting with unusual fervor, in that exuberance of words which he had wonderfully at his command.
The human mind is so singular in its varied operations that it is very difficult to tell where hypocrisy loses itself in a sort of sincerity of fanaticism. Joe Smith and Sidney Rigdon, both fana- tics and monomaniacs, taking the Manuscript Found as their guide, undoubtedly originated the system of Mormonism. It is by no means certain that in deluding others, they did not in a certain degree delude themselves into a belief that they were guided by the movements of the Holy Spirit to establish a new religion. Smith was endowed with the requisite cunning and volubility. He had seer stones, in which the illiterate had faith. He had already exhumed from the Indian mounds many mys- * See Utah and the Mormons, by Benjamin G. Ferris.
.
.
698
HISTORY OF OHIO.
terious antiquities, not a few of which, it was conjectured, were of his own manufacture. Sidney was a printer, a preacher, who had but to open his mouth and there came from it a wonderful flow of religious verbiage; and he had Spaulding's manuscript not only in his hand but thoroughly in his mind.
Joe Smith had the commanding energies and that self-confi- dence which nothing could embarrass or cause to blush. He took the lead in the new enterprise, being sagaciously guided by events as they occurred.
"A portion of mankind," writes Mr. Ferris, "have been look- ing for the last days for the past eighteen hundred years, and at the period in question were ready to run into Millerism, or any other ism, whereby their notions could be accommodated in this respect. A prophet, therefore, who could superadd to the dis- covery of a golden Bible, a proclamation of the speedy destruction of all mundane things, a power of attorney for the restoration of an authorized priesthood, and the gathering of the saints, and make a formidable display of miraculous powers, was the most acceptable gift which could be made to popular superstition. Here then would seem to have been combined the elements of an imposture which has since branched out and gathered strength, until it has become the most noted instance in modern times of the development and growth of religious fanaticism."
Joe Smith's story is as follows: He says that in the year 1820, as he in a retired place was earnestly engaged in prayer, two angels appeared to him. They informed him that God had for- given all his sins, and that he was the chosen instrument to intro- duce a new dispensation ; that all the then religious denomina- tion were in error; that the Indians were the descendants of the lost tribes; that they had brought with them to this country inspired writings; that these writings were safely deposited in a secret place, and that he was selected by God to receive them, and translate them into the English tongue.
There was considerable negotiation before the angel conde- scended to put the plates into his hands. At length the angel informed him where they were to be found About four miles from Palmyra, New York, there was a small hill or mound. Smith dug down, on the left side of this mound and found a large stone box so carefully sealed that no moisture could enter it. Here the plates were found. Orson Pratt, one of the first converts to
699
HISTORY OF OHIO.
Mormonism, and one of its most distinguished advocates, gives the following account of the plates as then found :
"These records were engraved on plates which had the ap- pearance of gold. Each plate was not far from seven by eight inches in width and length, being not quite so thick as common tin. They were filled on both sides with engravings, in Egyptian characters, and were bound together in a volume, as the leaves of a book, and fastened at one edge with three rings running through the whole. This volume was something like six inches in thick- ness, a part of which was sealed.
"The characters or letters upon the unsealed part were small and beautifully engraved. The whole book exhibited many marks of antiquity in its construction, as well as much skill in the art of engraving. With the record was found a curious instru- ment, called by the ancients the Urim and Thummin, which con- sisted of two transparent stones, clear as crystal, set in the two rims of a bow. This was in use in ancient times by persons called seers. It was an instrument by the use of which they re- ceived revelation of things distant or of things past or future."
Joe Smith boldly exhibited these apparently golden plates, but no unsanctified hands were permitted to touch them. He also showed a very highly polished marble box, which he said had contained the plates, and which in that case must have miracu- lously retained its lustre for countless centuries. But it had been observed some time before that Joe Smith, his brother Hiram, and another man by the name of McKnight, were very busily employed in some secret work, which particularly engrossed their time in hours of darkness. It was suspected that they were en- gaged in some counterfeiting operations. According to Joe Smith's account, they were engaged in lonely vigils and in prayer.
It was emphatically true of the new prophet that he had but very little honor in his own country. His peculiar claims excited ridicule and contempt. Mobs beset his house, demanding a sight of the famous plates. At length the annoyance became so great that he fled from Palmyra and took refuge in the Northern part of Pennsylvania, where his father-in-law resided. He secreted his plates for the journey in a barrel of beans. Being quietly housed in his retreat, he commenced, by divine inspiration, translating the Egyptian hieroglyphics. As he scarcely knew how to write himself he employed a scribe, one Oliver Cowdry. Stationed behind a
41
700
HISTORY OF OHIO.
screen, where Cowdry could not see him, he professed to look through the Urim and Thummim, and thus translated the unknown symbols, sentence by sentence.
The work proceeded very slowly, and month after month passed away while it was in progress. During this time John the Baptist appeared to them, having been sent by the Apostles Peter, James, and John, and ordained first Smith and then Cowdry into the priesthood of Aaron. The family of the prophet's father became converts, and then an individual by the name of Martin Harris. The character of this man's mind may be inferred from the fact that he had been a Quaker, Methodist, Baptist and finally a Pres- byterian. Harris had some property, and Smith importuned him to furnish funds to publish the book, assuring him that it would produce an entire change in the world and save it from ruin.
Mr. Harris, a simple-minded, well-meaning man, was very anxious to see the wonderful plates, but the prophet avowed that he was not yet holy enough to enjoy that privilege. He, however, after much importunity, gave Mr. Harris a transcript of some of the characters on a piece of paper. As Mr. Harris was parting with his money, he evidently felt some solicitude lest he might be deceived, since all around him were speaking contempt- uously of the prophetic claims of Joe Smith, and he adopted the wise precaution, probably urged to it by some of his friends, of submitting the paper containing the hieroglyphics to Professor Charles Anthon, a distinguished Oriental scholar in New York.
Mr. Howe, in writing a history of Mormonism, subsequently wrote to Professor Anthon making inquiries upon this subject. He received a reply, under date of February 17, 1834, from which we make the following extracts :
"Some years ago a plain, apparently simple-hearted farmer called on me with a note from Dr. Mitchell, requesting me to decipher if possible the paper which the farmer would hand me. Upon examining the paper I soon came to the conviction that it was all a trick, perhaps a hoax. When I asked the person who brought it how he obtained the writing, he gave me the following account.
" A gold book, containing a number of plates fastened together by wires of the same material, had been dug up in the northern part of the State of New York, and along with it an enormous pair of spectacles. These spectacles were so large that if any person
701
HISTORY OF OHIO.
attempted to look through them, his two eyes would look through one glass only, the spectacles being altogether too large for the human face. 'Whoever,' he said, 'examined the plates through the' glass, was enabled not only to read them but fully to under- stand their meaning.'
" All this knowledge, however, was confined to a young man, who had the trunk containing the book and spectacles in his sole possession. This young man was placed behind a curtain, in a garret in a farm-house, and being thus concealed from view, he put on the spectacles occasionally, or rather looked through one of the glasses, deciphered the characters in the book, and having committed some of them to paper, handed copies from behind the curtain to those who stood outside.
" The farmer had been requested to contribute a sum of money towards the publication of the Golden Book. So urgent had been these solicitations, that he intended selling his farm and giving the amount to those who wished to publish the plates.
"On hearing this odd story, I changed my opinion about the paper, and instead of viewing it any longer as a hoax, I began to regard it as part of a scheme to cheat the farmer of his money ; and I communicated my suspicions to him, warning him to beware of rogues.
" The paper in question was, in fact, a singular scroll. It con- sisted of all kinds of singular characters, disposed in columns, and had evidently been prepared by some person who had before him, at the time, a book containing various alphabets, Greek and Hebrew letters, crosses and flourishes. Roman letters inverted or placed sideways, were arranged and placed in perpendicular columns. The whole ended in a rude delineation of a circle, divided into various compartments, arched with various strange marks, and evidently copied after the Mexican calendar, given by Humboldt, but copied in such a way as not to betray the source whence it was derived.
"Some time after the farmer paid me a second visit. He brought with him 'the gold book ' in print, and offered it to me for sale. I declined purchasing. I adverted once more to the roguery which in my opinion had been practiced upon him, and asked him what had become of the gold plates. He informed me that they were in the trunk with the spectacles. I advised him to go to a magistrate and have the trunk examined. He said the
702
HISTORY OF OHIO.
curse of God would come on him if he did. On my pressing. him, however, to go to a magistrate, he told me he would open the trunk if I would take the curse of God upon myself. I replied that I would do so with the greatest willingness, and would incur every risk of that nature, provided I could only extricate him from the grasp of the rogues.
"He then left me. I have given you a full statement of all that I know respecting the origin of Mormonism; and I must beg you, as a personal favor, to publish this letter immediately, should you find my name mentioned again by these wretched fanatics.
" Yours respectfully, " CHARLES ANTHON."
When the Mormons say that an illiterate young man could not fluently dictate, in connected series, a voluminous work, it is replied that all that marvel is removed by the supposition that, hid behind the curtain, he was reading Spaulding's manuscript. Still, Joe Smith was very reluctant to have the plates examined. But the clamors of an incredulous community became so loud, that it was "revealed " to Joe that they were to be shown to three witnesses chosen by the Lord. The witnesses thus selected were Oliver Cowdry, who had been the scribe to write the translation, Martin Harris, who had furnished the funds for printing the book, and a new convert, David Whitmer, who subsequently, getting into a quarrel with some of the Mormons, was accused, together with Cowdry, of being connected with "a gang of counterfeiters, thieves, liars and blacklegs of the deepest dye, to deceive, cheat and defraud the saints." The "Elders' Journal " also spoke of Martin Harris in the following disrespectful terms: "Martin Harris is so far beneath contempt, that a notice of him would be too great a sacrifice for a gentleman to make."
These men, according to the declaration of Joe Smith, were the divinely appointed apostles to testify to the authenticity of the golden plates. Their meagre testimony was as follows:
" An Angel of God came down from Heaven and brought and said before our eyes, that we beheld and saw the plates and the engraving thereon."
No one doubted that Joe Smith had provided himself with some yellow plates upon which certain unintelligible characters were in- scribed. Still, strange as it may appear, there were men and women found who were willing to accept Joe Smith as a divinely
EDWARD F. NOYES Governor 1872-74.
لوجستيكولوج
705
HISTORY OF OHIO.
appointed prophet. On the first of June, 1830, he organized a band of thirty followers, at Fayette, Ontario County, Pennsylvania. But these saints were held in such slight repute where they were known, that their leader thought best to remove with them, and to establish his head-quarters at Kirtland, Lake County, Ohio.
Here, having assumed the name of the "Latter Day Saints," three thousand persons gave in their adhesion to Joe Smith. Many of the persons had considerable property. It was "re- vealed " to Joe that they should build him a house. They did so. It was "revealed " to him that they should "provide for him food and raiment and whatsoever thing he needeth." They did so. It was revealed to him that they should erect a temple, at the expense of forty thousand dollars. They did so. Whenever Joe Smith wished to have anything accomplished, he simply resorted to a new " revelation," and it was promptly done. "Thus," it is written in the history of Mormonism, "from a state of almost beggary, the family of Smith were furnished with the fat of the land by their disciples, many of whom were wealthy."
Joe Smith established a bank which he said "could never fail," as it was instituted " by the will of God." It did fail, however- miserably. The prophet explained : "The Lord," said he, " prom- ised a blessing only upon condition of the bank being conducted upon proper principles."
The managers failed in their duty. The prophet, in his autobi- ography, gives the following account of what ensued :
" At this time the spirit of speculation in lands and property of all kinds was taking deep root in the church. As the fruits of this spirit, evil surmisings, fault-finding, disunion, dissension and apostacy followed in quick succession. It seemed as though all the powers of hell were combining to overthrow the church at once, and make a final end. Other banking institutions refused the Kirtland Safety Society's notes. The enemy abroad and apostates in our midst united their. schemes. Many became dis- affected towards me, as though I was the sole cause of those very evils I was most strenuously striving against, and which were actually brought about by the brethren not taking heed to my counsel."
In addition to these troubles, the outside barbarians in and around Kirtland, who fancied themselves swindled by these bank- ing operations, became excited and procured legal process for the
706
HISTORY OF OHIO.
arrest of Joe Smith and Elder Rigdon. They both ran away. Smith thus describes the affair :
"A new year dawned upon the church in Kirtland, in all the bit- terness of the spirit of the apostate mobocracy, which continued to rage, and grow hotter and hotter, until Elder Rigdon and myself were obliged to flee from its deadly influence, as did the apostles and prophets of old, and, as Jesus said, 'When they persecute you in one city flee to another;' and on the evening of the 12th of January, about 10 o'clock, we left Kirtland on horseback to escape mob violence, which was about to burst upon us, under cover of legal process to cover their hellish designs, and save themselves from the just judgment of the law. The weather was extremely cold, and we were obliged to secrete ourselves sometimes to elude the grasp of our pursuers, who continued their race more than two hundred miles from Kirtland, armed with swords and pistols, seeking our lives."
In consequence of these persecutions, the Mormons purchased a large tract of land in Independence, Jackson County, Missouri, to which place they gradually removed from Ohio. Converts were multiplied; a printing press and a weekly newspaper were established, and a thriving town sprang up, as by magic. This little settlement soon numbered twelve hundred Mormons; and this singular fanaticism seemed again to be borne along on the tide of prosperity.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
EXPULSION AND EMIGRATION OF THE MORMONS.
CHARACTER OF THE MORMONS- LAWLESSNESS- MOB ACTION- GOVERNMENTAL ACTION -THE FLIGHT TO ILLINOIS -RAPID INCREASE - ASSASSINATION OF JOE SMITH -STATEMENT OF THE GOVERNOR - THE MORMONS DRIVEN FROM ILLINOIS- INCIDENTS OF EMIGRATION - TESTIMONY OF COLONEL KANE - PICTURESQUE ENCAMPMENT - HOME IN UTAH.
HAVING SPOKEN of the origin of Mormonism, in Ohio, and its expulsion from the state, the reader will undoubtedly be interested in a brief narrative of its subsequent career. There were doubt- less, among the Mormons, deluded persons, of sincere and worthy characters. But their conduct as a body was such as to excite the intolerable disgust of the people of Missouri. No respectable person wished to live near them; and their presence in the County of Jackson diminished the value of all surrounding property. The Mormons were defiant in tone and action. They raised a large military force which was thoroughly armed, and under perfect discipline. Sustained by this force they declared that they were a law unto themselves, and seemed disposed to bid defiance to the authority of the sparsely settled Statc.
To meet this state of things, and to prevent an outbreak of lawless violence, which was daily anticipated, the Governor mar- shaled a force of four thousand militia, probably intending so to intimidate the Mormons as to compel them to leave the State. Indeed there had been already several pretty serious disturbances. In one conflict eight Missourians were wounded, and twenty-five Mormons were killed and thirty wounded. The enraged Mor- mons burned the small towns of Gallatin and Millport. They also ravaged the country in mid-winter, driving the women and children from their homes and laying the farm houses in ashes.
General J. B. Clark was in command of the governmental
708
HISTORY OF OHIO.
force. The feelings of the community in reference to the Mor- mons may be inferred from the following extract, taken from a letter from General Clark to the governor :
" There is no crime," he wrote, "from treason down to petit lar- ceny, but these people, or a majority of them, have not been guilty of; all, too, under counsel of Joseph Smith, the prophet. They have committed treason, murder, arson, burglary, robbery, lra- ceny and perjury. They have societies, formed under the most binding covenants and the most horrid oaths, to circumvent the laws and put them at defiance ; and to plunder, burn, and mur- der, and divide the spoils for the use of the church."
The governor issued an order which was unfortunately worded. "The ringleaders of this rebellion," he wrote, " should be made an example of. If it should become necessary to the public peace, the Mormons should be extirminated, or expelled from the state."
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.