History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 110

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1216

USA > Pennsylvania > Washington County > History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 110

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).

7. Nahum Howard, another of Spaulding's neigh- bors in Ohio, writes from Conneaut, in August, 1833, as follows :

" I first became acquainted with Solomon Spaulding in December, 1810. After that time I frequently saw him at his house and also at my house. I once, in conversation with him, expressed a surprise at not having any account of the inhabitants once in this country, who erected the old forts, mounds, etc. He then told me that he was writing a history of that race of people, and afterwards frequently showed me his writings, which I read. I have lately read the Book of Mormon, and believe it to be the same as Spaulding wrote, except the religious part. He told me that he intended to get his writings published in Pittsburgh, and he thought that in one century from that time it would be believed as much as any other history."

8. Artemas Cunningham, of Perry, Geauga Co., Ohio, who visited Spaulding in October, 1811, at Conneaut for the purpose of securing a debt due him from Spaulding, found the latter "destitute of the means of paying his debts," his only hope resting " upon the sale of a book which he had been writing," and which, he thought, "would meet with a ready sale." Mr. Cunningham, writing in 1833, proceeds to say :

" Before showing me his manuscripts he went into a verbal relation of its outlines, saying that it was a fabulous or romantic history of the first settlement of this country, and as it purported to have been a record found buried in the earth, or in a cave, he had adopted the ancient or Scripture style of writing. He then presented bis manuscripts, when

428

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

we sat down and spent a good share of the night in reading them and conversing upon them. I well remember the name of Nephi, who ap- peared to be the principal hero of the story. The frequent repetition of the phrase ' I, Nephi,' I recollect as distinctly as though it was but yes- terday, although the general features of the story have passed from my memory through the lapse of twenty-two years. He attempted to ac- count for the numerous antiquities which are found upon this continent, and remarked that after this generation had passed away, his account of the first inhabitants of America would be considered as authentic as any other history. The Mormon Bible I have partially examined, and at fully of the opinion that Solomon Spaulding had written its outlines before he left Conneaut."

The testimony of these eight witnesses was pub- lished by Mr. Howe in 1835 at Painesville, Ohio, in close proximity to Kirtland, then the headquarters of Mormonism, where Rigdon in that very year deliv. ered his seven famous lectures on faith, which are prefixed to the Mormon "Doctrine and Covenants," where the same year the first " quorum of the twelve apostles" was ordained, and where in the following year the first Mormon temple was dedicated. Through all this portion of Ohio public curiosity in regard to this new fanaticism had been intensely excited, and Mr. Howe's book was widely disseminated by his agents. Of its contents Rigdon and Smith could not possibly have remained in ignorance. Yet no denial, no protest, not the slightest attempt to evade these clear proofs of plagiarism was made, and under such a charge, so direct and public, preferred by persons of intelligence and of unimpeachable veracity, silence was equivalent to a confession of guilt. So strong, moreover, was Mr. Spaulding's disposition to read his history to every willing auditor, that the number of attestants to its general character and contents could at that date easily have been quadrupled. Other witnesses in other places have since 1835 added their evidence to that already given. Extracts from their statements are subjoined :

9. Mrs. Matilda (Spaulding) Davison, the widow of Rev. Solomon Spaulding (married in 1820 to Mr. Davison, of Hartwick, Otsego Co., N. Y.) made a statement in 1839 to Rev. D. R. Austin, of Monson, Mass., which was written down by him and published in the Boston Recorder in May of that year. She re- lates substantially, as already mentioned, the circum- stances under which her late husband's "imaginary history" was composed, and adds,-

10. Mrs. M. S. Mckinstry, the only child of Rev. Solomon Spaulding, made a statement at Washington, D. C., April 3, 1880, which was carefully taken down by Mrs. E. E. Dickinson, and was published in Scrib- ner's Monthly for August, 1880, in which, speaking of her father's "Manuscript Found," she says,-

" He read the manuscript, which I had seen him writing, to the neigh- bors and to a clergyman-a friend of his-who came to see him. Some of the names that he mentioned while reading to these people I have never forgotten. They are as fresh to me to-day as though I heard them yes- terday. They were ' Mormon,' ' Maroni,' ' Lamanite,' ' Nephi.'"

11. William H. Sabine, Esq., of Onondaga Valley, Onondaga Co., N. Y., a lawyer of eminence and ac- customed to weigh evidence, was the brother of Mrs. Solomon Spaulding, at whose request she gave D. P. Hurlbut authority to receive her late husband's "Man- uscript Found" from Mr. Clark, at Hartwick, N. Y., in whose care it had been left. Mrs. Mckinstry, in her statement above referred to, says that "Mr. Sabine had undoubtedly read the manuscript while it was in his house, and had faith that its production would show to the world that the Mormon Bible had been taken from it." He based his request for the loan of the manuscript to Hurlbut upon his "desire to uproot this Mormon fraud."

12. To these statements of members of Spaulding's family or connection must be added the testimony of Joseph Miller, of Amity, Pa., born Feb. 1, 1791, and now in his ninety-second year. His memory, notwithstanding his advanced age, is remarkably clear and distinct ; he has long been a ruling elder in the Cumberland Presbyterian Church, and his veracity is unimpeachable. He was intimately ac- quainted with Spaulding during the entire residence of the latter in Amity ; often heard him read his ro- mance ; assisted in nursing him during his last ill- ness, in performing the last offices to his remains, and in settling his temporal affairs. He is the oldest of three men who are living witnesses to the identity of the Book of Mormon with the Spaulding manuscript as read in their hearing by its author. Mr. Miller's testimony has been repeatedly published. The fol- lowing extracts are taken from the record made, with the utmost care to be accurate, by Dr. W. W. Sharp, of Amity, and published in the Pittsburgh Telegraph, Feb. 6, 1879. Mr. Miller says, ---

" It claimed to have been written by one of the lost nation, and to have been recovered from the earth, and assumed the title of ' Manu- "I was well acquainted with Mr. Spaulding when he lived in Amity, Pa. ... Mr. Spaulding seemed to take delight in reading from his manuscript (written on foolscap) for the entertainment of his frequent visitors. Heard him read most, if not all of it, and had frequent con- versations with him about it. Some time ago I had in my possession for script Found.' The neighbors would often inquire how Mr. Spaulding progressed iu deciphering the manuscript ; and when he had a sufficient portion prepared, he would inform them, and they would assemble to hear it read. . . . After the Book of Mormon came out, a copy of it was taken to New Salem, the place of Mr. Spaulding's former residence, and the | about six months the Book of Mormon, and heard most of it read during very place, where the . Manuscript Found' was written. A Mormon preacher appointed a meeting there, and in the meeting read and re- peated copions extracts from the Book of Mormon. The historical part was immediately recognized by all the older inhabitants as the identical work of Mr. Spaulding, in which they had all been so deeply interested years before. Mr. John Spaulding was present and recognized perfectly the work of his brother. He was amazed and afflicted that it should have been perverted to so wicked a purpose. His grief found vent in a flood of tears, and he arose on the spot and expressed to the meeting his sorrow and regret that the writings of his deceased brother should be used for a purpose so vile and shocking." that time. . .. On hearing read the account from the book of the battle between the Amlicites and the Nephites [Book of Alma, chapter i.], in which the soldiers of one army had placed a red mark on their foreheads to distinguish them from their enemies, it seemed to reproduce in my mind not only the narration but the very words, as they had been im- pressed on my mind by the reading of Spaulding's manuscript. . . . The longer I live the more firmly I am convinced that Spaulding's manu- script was appropriated and largely used in getting up the Book of Mor- mon. I believe that, leaving out of the book the portions that may be | easily recognized as the work of Joe Smith and his accomplices, Solomon | Spaulding may be truly said to be its author. I have not a doubt of it."

429

RELIGIOUS HISTORY.

13. Redick McKee, Esq., formerly a resident of Washington County, Pa., afterwards of Wheeling, W. Va., and now of Washington, D. C., a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church, and esteemed for his many Christian virtues, is another living witness to the similarity of the Book of Mormon and Spaul- ding's manuscript. In a communication from Wash- ington, D. C., April 14, 1869, published in the Wash- ington (Pa.) Reporter for April 21, 1869, and suggested by a statement then recently published in the Re- porter by Rev. J. W. Hamilton of the reminiscences of Mr. Joseph Miller, above mentioned, Mr. McKee writes,-

"In the fall of 1814 I arrived in the village of 'Good Will,' and for eighteen or twenty months sold goods in the store previously occupied by Mr. Thos. Brice. It was on Main Street, a few doors west of Spaul- ding's tavern, where I was a boarder. With both Mr. Solomon Spaulding and his wife I was quite intimately acquainted. .. . I recollect quite well Mr. Spaulding spending much time in writing (on sheets of paper torn out of an old book) what purported to be a veritable history of the nations or tribes who inhabited Canaan. . . . He called it ' Lost History Found,' 'Lost Manuscript,' or some such name, not disguising that it was wholly a work of the imagination, written to amuse himself, and without any immediate view to publication. . .. I was struck with the minuteness of his details and the apparent truthfulness and sincerity of the author. . . . I have an indistinct recollection of the passage referred to by Mr. Miller about the Amlicites making a cross with red paint on their foreheads to distinguish them from enemies in the confusion of battle."

Also, in a letter to the present writer, dated Wash- ington, D. C., April 15, 1879, Mr. McKee says, -

" There can be no doubt that the Book of Mormon was founded on and largely copied from the vigorous romance of Solomon Spaulding."

14. Rev. Abner Jackson, of Canton, Ohio, in a com- munication to the Washington County Historical So- ciety, dated Dec. 20, 1880, and published in the Wash- ington Reporter of Jan. 7, 1881, gives a more minute account of Spaulding's romance, and a fuller outline of its narrative, than any of the preceding witnesses. He also institutes a close comparison between its plot and that of the Book of Mormon, showing the strict adherence of the latter to the former. Just before Mr. Spaulding's removal to Pittsburgh he brought his romance to Mr. Jackson's father, read much of the story to him, and gave him an outline of the whole. The son, being confined to the house with a lame knee, was present, and heard the conversation that passed between them. He is the third surviving wit- ness to the unmistakable resemblance between the -

Book of Mormon and Spaulding's story. Of the latter he gives his recollections, and adds,-

"Spaulding frequently read his manuscript to the neighbors, and amused them as he progressed with his work. He Wrote it in Bible style. 'And it came to pass'occurred so often that some called him 'Old Come-to-pass.' . . . The Book of Mormon follows the romance too closely to be a stranger. In both many persous appear having the same name, as Maroni, Mormon, Nephites, Laman, Lamanites, Nephi, and others. Here we are presented with romance second, called the Book of Mormon, telling the same story of the same people, traveling from the same plain in the same way, having the same difficulties aud desti- nation, with the same wars, same battles, and same results, with thou- Bands upon thousands slain. Then see the Mormon account of the last battle, at Cumorah, where all the righteous were slain. . . . How much this resembles the closing scene in the ' Manuscript Found" The most

singular part of the whole matter is that it follows the romance so closely with this difference : the first claims to be a romance; the second claims to be a revelation of God, a new Bible! When it was brought to Conneaut, and read there in public, old Esquire Wright heard it and ex- claimed, ' Old Come-to-pass has come to life again!' Here was the place where Spaulding wrote and read his manuscript to the neighbors for their amusement, and 'Squire Wright had often heard him read from his romance. This was in 1832, sixteen years after Spaulding's death. This 'Squire Wright lived on a farm just outside of the little village. I was acquainted with him for twenty-five years. I lived on his farm when I was a boy, and attended school in the village. I am particular to notice these things to show that I had an opportunity of knowing what I am writing about."

The testimony of Esquire Wright was given above (No. 5). The constant recurrence in Spaulding's romance of the phrase, " And it came to pass" has been referred to by a number of the above witnesses, and Spaulding himself was admonished of its undue repetition, yet failed to remedy the defect. It is an important coincidence, worthy of special observation, that in no other volume probably in the whole range of English literature does the same peculiarity occur with one-tenth the frequency of its appearance in the Book of Mormon. This remarkable concurrence of a literary blemish is itself an indication of a common origin. The authorship of the Homeric poems, and even of some portions of the Bible, has been disputed by scholars on the ground of the presence or absence of much slighter peculiarities.

15. Rev. Robert Patterson, to whom the Spaulding manuscript was taken in 1812 for publication, should certainly have been applied to for information among the first. Mr. Howe, in his book already mentioned, states that " Mr. Patterson said he had no recollection of any such manuscript being brought there for pub- lication, neither would he have been likely to have seen it, as the business of printing was conducted wholly by Lambdin at that time." This statement seems irreconcilable with the testimony of the widow and daughter of Spaulding, and also in conflict with the fact that the partnership of R. Patterson and Lambdin was not formed until Jan. 1, 1818. In 1812, Lambdin was a lad of fourteen in the book- store of Patterson & Hopkins, and afterwards was continued in the employ of R. & J. Patterson. Mr. Howe, on being applied to for his authority for the statement, answered, "I think Hurlbut was the per- son who talked with Patterson about the manuscript." But Hurlbut himself informed the present writer (Aug. 19, 1879) that he had never seen Mr. Patter- son or had any communication with him. There is therefore no known authority for the statement in Mr. Howe's book. On being applied to in 1842 by Rev. Samuel Williams, who was preparing for publi- cation a pamphlet entitled "Mormonism Exposed," Mr. Patterson wrote the following brief certificate, which we copy in full from Mr. Williams' pamphlet :

" R. Patterson had in his employment Silas Engles at the time, a fore- man printer, and general superintendent of the printing business. As he [S. E.] was an excellent scholar, as well as a good printer, to him was intrusted the entire concerns of the office. He even decided on the pro- priety or otherwise of publishing manuscripts when offered,-as to their morality, scholarship, &c., &c. In this character, he informed R. P. that

430

HISTORY OF WASHINGTON COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

a gentleman, from the East originally, had put into his hands a manu- script of a singular work, chiefly in the style of our English translation of the Bible, and handed the copy to R. P., who read only a few pages, and finding nothing apparently exceptionable, he [R. P.] said to Engles he might publish it if the author furnished the funds or good security. He [the author] failing to comply with the terms, Mr. Engles returned the manuscript, as I supposed at that time, after it had been some weeks in his possession, with other manuscripts in the office.

" This communication written and signed 2d April, 1842. " ROBERT PATTERSON."

It is matter of sincere regret that so meagre a document is all the written evidence that Mr. Patter- son has left. Mr. Williams introduces it with the remark (p. 16) that " Mr. Patterson firmly believes, also, from what he has heard of the Mormon Bible, that it is the same thing he examined at that time." So many errors of date have crept into this part of the history of Mormonism that it may be well to note the following : Mr. Lambdin died Aug. 1, 1825, in his twenty-seventh year; Mr. Engles, July 17, 1827, in his forty-sixth year ; Mr. Patterson, Sept. 5, 1854, in his eighty-second year. Messrs. Williams, Howe, and Hurlbut are still living (March 4, 1882).

16. A coincidence may here be noted : Mr. Howe, in 1835, had in his possession a story in Spaulding's handwriting, and admitted to be his, which " pur- ported to have been translated from the Latin, found on twenty-four rolls of parchment in a cave on the banks of Conneaut Creek," giving an account of a ship driven upon the American coast, with a party from Rome, previous to the Christian era. The Book of Ether, which is a portion of the Book of Mormon, purports to relate the history of a party which com- menced its wanderings at the confusion of tongues at Babel, found its way to America, and whose history, written by Ether upon twenty-four plates whilst he was concealed in the cavity of a rock, was long after- wards discovered by the people of Limhi. Here is a threefold resemblance : each is the history of a col- ony not Jewish transported to this continent ; each is recorded on the same number of plates or parch- ments; each colony seeming to have perished ; and each history is hidden in a cave and is long after- wards discovered. That two plots so much alike should originate so nearly about the same time and place in two different minds seems incredible.

17. The statement which follows is accorded a place here not because it is entitled in its present form to be regarded as evidence, but that attention may be attracted to it and inquiry continued. In "Apple- ton's Cyclopædia," under the title " Mormons," oc- curs the following statement : " As early as 1813 this work [Spaulding's] was announced in the newspapers as forthcoming, and as containing a translation of the 'Book of Mormon.' Spaulding entitled his book ' Manuscript Found,' and intended to publish with it, by way of preface or advertisement, a fictitious account of its discovery in a cave in Ohio." The author of this article, on being interrogated, could not recall his authority for the statement, but was positive that he had ample warrant for it at the time of writing.

Few files of Pittsburgh papers of 1813 are in exist- ence; some perished in the great conflagration of 1845 ; and all search for the said announcement has thus far been unsuccessful. Any reader of this para- graph who has access to a file of Pittsburgh news- papers of 1813 will do well to institute a search and report the result.

It should be remembered that the evidence adduced above has reference only to the historical portions of the Book of Mormon. Intermingled with these are crude ideas on various theological points that were themes of popular discussion in Western New York about the time when this pseudo-revelation was in preparation for the press. The opportunity of set- tling disputed points in favor of the side maintained by the medium of revelation was too good to be lost. For all such interpolations, and for the constant dis- regard of grammatical rules, Mr. Spaulding should not be held responsible.

The candid inquirer after truth cannot fail to be impressed by the concurrent testimony of a dozen witnesses, many of them personally unknown to the others and widely separated from them, yet agreeing in their recollections of Spaulding's romance, its plan and purpose, its general scope, the names of leading characters and tribes, its grand division of the popu- lation of this continent into two classes, the right- eous and the idolatrous, and the discovery of the history of these people as recorded, and the record concealed in the earth. The same witnesses concur in recognizing precisely the same features in the " Book of Mormon,"-an identity in the names of promi- nent persons and places ; an identity in the amazing frequency of wars and the vast number of sanguinary battles ; an identity in events and the order of their occurrence so great that one witness declares that the " Book of Mormon was familiar to him before he read it ;" an identity of style, even the blemishes of the original being faithfully adhered to in the transcript; and an identity in the alleged discovery of the record in the earth. All this is established by the united testimony of men and women of unimpeachable ve- racity. Much of this evidence was published within five years after the appearance of the " Book of Mor- mon," must necessarily have been known to the Mor- mon leaders, and was never contradicted by them. The conclusion is irresistible that these two produc- tions must have had a common origin. The adherents of Joseph Smith have never claimed that the " Book of Mormon" was the offspring of his imagination. They freely admit that he was too illiterate and igno- rant to accomplish such a task. They contend that the "Book of Mormon" was divinely inspired, as truly so as the Bible itself. The question is thus nar- rowed down to a very simple alternative: either the " Book of Mormon" was inspired or its historical por- tion was the work of Solomon Spaulding.

II. THE PLAGIARIST,-If the origin of the " Book of Mormon" has been established by the testimony

431

RELIGIOUS HISTORY.

cited above, we might at this point lay down the pen, were it not that public curiosity has been busy with the inquiry, How was the plagiarism effected ? And we are free to confess that all the evidence thus far elicited creates simply a very strong circumstantial probability. One theory has been advanced that Smith might have stolen the manuscript from Mrs. Spaulding's trunk whilst it remained for some years unlocked in the house of her brother, William H. Sabine, Esq., at Onondaga Valley, N. Y., Smith being at the time, it is said, a laborer in Mr. Sabine's employ. No evidence is offered that Smith was thus employed; if so, he was not more than fifteen years of age, scarcely able to read, and the document would have been of no use to him; and Mrs. Mckinstry's statement in Scribner's Monthly for August, 1880, effectually disposes of this hypothesis, as she testifies that about 1820 her mother sent to Mr. Sabine for her effects, and "that the old trunk with its contents reached her in safety." We have also the evidence of both mother and daughter that down to 1834 (the date of Hurlbut's visit and four years after the " Book of Mormon" was published) the alleged or suggested theft had not been discovered. Popular opinion has tended strongly towards the adoption of a different theory, that the agent through whom the romance was transformed into a revelation was Sidney Rigdon, and the evidence both for and against that judgment will be given as briefly as possible.

Sidney Rigdon was born near the present village of Library, Allegheny Co., Pa., Feb. 19, 1793; attended in boyhood an ordinary country school; joined the Baptist Church near his home May 31, 1817; studied divinity with a Baptist preacher named Clark in Beaver County, Pa., in the winter of 1818-19, and was licensed to preach ; went to Warren, Ohio, where he was ordained, and in the winter of 1821-22 returned to Pittsburgh; became pastor of the First Baptist Church there Jan. 28, 1822, and for doctrinal errors was excluded from the Baptist denomination Oct. 11, 1823. He continued to preach in the court-house to his adherents, but in 1824, according to one account, he removed to the Western Reserve, Ohio; according to another account he engaged in the tanning busi- ness in Pittsburgh until 1826, and then removed to the Reserve, residing for brief periods at Bainbridge, Mentor, and Kirtland. At this time he was connected with the Campbellite or Disciples' Church, and preached its doctrines, mingled with extravagant con- ceits of his own, until in 1830 he joined the Mormons.

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.

History of Washington County, Pennsylvania : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 110

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N Publication date: 1882 Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co. Number of Pages: 1216

Author: Crumrine, Boyd, 1838-1916; Ellis, Franklin, 1828-1885; Hungerford, Austin N
Publication date: 1882
Publisher: Philadelphia : H.L. Everts & Co.
Number of Pages: 1216