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Appendix 2: Copies of Book of Mormon Characters, Introduction

Page

Featured are three documents—one apparently created by
John Whitmer

27 Aug. 1802–11 July 1878. Farmer, stock raiser, newspaper editor. Born in Pennsylvania. Son of Peter Whitmer Sr. and Mary Musselman. Member of German Reformed Church, Fayette, Seneca Co., New York. Baptized by Oliver Cowdery, June 1829, most likely in Seneca...

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, one penned by
Oliver Cowdery

3 Oct. 1806–3 Mar. 1850. Clerk, teacher, justice of the peace, lawyer, newspaper editor. Born at Wells, Rutland Co., Vermont. Son of William Cowdery and Rebecca Fuller. Raised Congregationalist. Moved to western New York and clerked at a store, ca. 1825–1828...

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, and one published as a broadside by a church-affiliated newspaper—that claim to include copies of characters JS transcribed from the
gold plates

A record engraved on gold plates, which JS translated and published as the Book of Mormon. The text explained that the plates were an abridgment of other ancient records and were written by an American prophet named Mormon and his son Moroni. The plates were...

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. Although it is unlikely that JS was involved directly in the creation of any of these “characters documents,” each may have derived from a text JS created. Since none of the three documents can be verified as copies of a specific JS document, they are included in an appendix to this volume rather than as featured texts.
According to his history, JS obtained the
gold plates

A record engraved on gold plates, which JS translated and published as the Book of Mormon. The text explained that the plates were an abridgment of other ancient records and were written by an American prophet named Mormon and his son Moroni. The plates were...

View Glossary
on 22 September 1827 in
Manchester

Settled 1793. Formed as Burt Township when divided from Farmington Township, 31 Mar. 1821. Name changed to Manchester, 16 Apr. 1822. Included village of Manchester. Population in 1825 about 2,700. Population in 1830 about 2,800. JS reported first vision of...

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, New York, and returned them to an
angel

Being who acts as a minister and messenger between heaven and earth. JS taught that angels were individuals who “belonged to this earth”; those who had already lived on earth were often resurrected beings. In addition to giving instruction, direction, and...

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after he finished
translating

To produce a text from one written in another language; in JS’s usage, most often through divine means. JS considered the ability to translate to be a gift of the spirit, like the gift of interpreting tongues. He recounted that he translated “reformed Egyptian...

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the Book of Mormon, about the end of June 1829.
1

JS’s history records that “by the wisdom of God they [the plates]remained safe in my hands untill I had accomplished by them what was required at my hand, when according to arrangement the messenger called for them, I delivered them up to him and he has them in his charge untill this day.” Peter Bauder, a critic of the church who interviewed JS in 1830, wrote, “After he had a part translated, the angel commanded him to carry the plate into a certain piece of woods, which he did:—the angel took them and carried them to parts unknown to him.” In 1834 Eber D. Howe recorded part of the sworn testimony of Leman Copley, including his recollection of a conversation between JS and Joseph Knight Jr. According to Copley, Knight said that “after he [JS] had finished translating the Book of Mormon, he again buried up the plates in the side of a mountain, by command of the Lord.” In an 1841 interview in Nauvoo, Illinois, JS’s brother William Smith related that “at length he [JS] was directed by a vision to bury the plates again in the same manner; which he accordingly did.” (JS History, vol. A-1, 8; Bauder, Kingdom and Gospel of Jesus Christ, in Vogel,Early Mormon Documents, 1:17; Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, 277; James Murdock, New Haven, CT, 19 June 1841, Letter to the Editor, Congregational Observer, 3 July 1841, in Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 1:479.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Vogel, Dan, ed. Early Mormon Documents. 5 vols. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1996–2003.

Howe, Eber D. Mormonism Unvailed: Or, A Faithful Account of That Singular Imposition and Delusion, from Its Rise to the Present Time. With Sketches of the Characters of Its Propagators, and a Full Detail of the Manner in Which the Famous Golden Bible Was Brought before the World. To Which Are Added, Inquiries into the Probability That the Historical Part of the Said Bible Was Written by One Solomon Spalding, More Than Twenty Years Ago, and by Him Intended to Have Been Published as a Romance. Painesville, OH: By the author, 1834.

JS’s history added that he was commanded not to show the plates to anyone: “I should not show them to any person, neither the breastplate with the
Urim and Thummin

A device used to translate and receive revelation. In the Old Testament, the high priest of Israel used a device by this name to discern God’s will for Israel. The Book of Mormon gives an account of an ancient prophet, Mosiah, who translated records into ...

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only to those to whom I should be commanded to show them, If I did I should be destroyed.”
2

JS History, vol. A-1, 5; see also Knight, Reminiscences, 3; Metcalf, Ten Years before the Mast, 70–71; and Revelation, Mar. 1829 [D&C 5:11–13].


Comprehensive Works Cited

Knight, Joseph, Sr. Reminiscences, no date. CHL. MS 3470.

Metcalf, Anthony. Ten Years before the Mast: Shipwrecks and Adventures at Sea! Religious Customs of the People of India and Burmah’s Empire. How I Became a Mormon and Why I Became an Infidel. No publisher, 1888.

While the plates were in his possession, JS kept them hidden from view—encased in a log in the woods, in a barn, or underneath a bed. When the plates were not secretly stored, JS kept them covered from view under a tablecloth, stored in a wooden box, or enclosed in a sack, despite considerable pressure from skeptics, family members, friends, and his scribes to see them.
3

Joseph Knight Sr. wrote, “Now it soon got about that Joseph Smith had found the plates and People Come in to see them But he told them that they Could not for he must not shoe [show] them But many insisted and ofered money and Property to see them But for keeping them from the People they persecuted and abused them and they ware obliged to hide them.” Emma Smith explained in an interview that “they lay in a box under our bed for months but I never felt at liberty to look at them.” In an 1879 interview with Joseph Smith III, she stated, “The plates often lay on the table without any attempt at concealment, wrapped in a small linen table cloth.” Lucy Mack Smith explained that when JS first obtained the plates, he hid them in a hollowed-out birch log. Isaac Hale explained that in 1829 JS hid the plates in a wooded area near his house. (Knight, Reminiscences, 3; Nels Madsen, “Visit to Mrs. Emma Smith Bidamon,” 1931, CHL; Joseph Smith III, “Last Testimony of Sister Emma,” Saints’ Herald, 1 Oct. 1879, 290; Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 5, [11]; Isaac Hale, Affidavit, Harmony, PA, 20 Mar. 1834, in “Mormonism,” Susquehanna Register, and Northern Pennsylvanian [Montrose, PA], 1 May 1834, [1]; see also Joseph Smith III to E. Horton, 7 Mar. 1900, in Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 1:546.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Knight, Joseph, Sr. Reminiscences, no date. CHL. MS 3470.

Madsen, Nels. “Visit to Mrs. Emma Smith Bidemon,” 27 Nov. 1931. CHL. MS 852.

Saints’ Herald. Independence, MO. 1860–.

Susquehanna Register, and Northern Pennsylvanian. Montrose, PA. 1831–1836.

Vogel, Dan, ed. Early Mormon Documents. 5 vols. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1996–2003.

Fulfilling a JS revelation, eleven witnesses viewed the plates at about the end of June 1829 and signed statements testifying of them. There is no evidence that any of these witnesses saw or handled the plates except on the occasion described in their statements, and none ever claimed to have copied characters from the plates.
4

See Revelation, Mar. 1829 [D&C 5:11–13]; Revelation, June 1829–E [D&C 17:1–3]; Testimony of Three Witnesses, Late June 1829; and Testimony of Eight Witnesses, Late June 1829.


David Whitmer

7 Jan. 1805–25 Jan. 1888. Farmer, livery keeper. Born near Harrisburg, Dauphin Co., Pennsylvania. Son of Peter Whitmer Sr. and Mary Musselman. Raised Presbyterian. Moved to Ontario Co., New York, shortly after birth. Attended German Reformed Church. Arranged...

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later recalled that an angel showed the plates to his mother,
Mary Musselman Whitmer

27 Aug. 1778–Jan. 1856. Born in Germany. Immigrated to Pennsylvania. Married Peter Whitmer Sr., before 1798, in Pennsylvania. Lived in Lebanon Township, Dauphin Co., Pennsylvania, by 1800. Moved to Fayette, Seneca Co., New York, by 1809. Member of German ...

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, in 1829, but there is no indication that she copied any of the characters either.
5

Joseph F. Smith, New York City, NY, to John Taylor et al., [Salt Lake City, Utah Territory], 17 Sept. 1878, draft, Joseph F. Smith, Papers, CHL; Stevenson, Journal, 9 Feb. 1886 and 2 Jan. 1887; see also Andrew Jenson, “Eight Witnesses,” Historical Record, Oct. 1888, 621.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Smith, Joseph F. Papers, 1854–1918. CHL. MS 1325.

Stevenson, Edward. Journals, 1852–1896. Edward Stevenson, Collection, 1849–1922. CHL. MS 4806, boxes 1–4.

The Historical Record, a Monthly Periodical, Devoted Exclusively to Historical, Biographical, Chronological and Statistical Matters. Salt Lake City. 1882–1890.

Therefore, any characters copied from the plates were copied only by JS, meaning that if the documents presented here contain characters that originated from the gold plates, they must have derived from a JS document.
JS had the plates in his possession between September 1827 and June 1829 and could have copied characters from them anytime during that period.
6

The only time JS lost possession of the plates, according to his own account, was for a brief period during summer 1828. (JS History, vol. A-1, 11.)


He created at least one document with copied characters by early 1828, when
Martin Harris

18 May 1783–10 July 1875. Farmer. Born at Easton, Albany Co., New York. Son of Nathan Harris and Rhoda Lapham. Moved with parents to area of Swift’s landing (later in Palmyra), Ontario Co., New York, 1793. Married first his first cousin Lucy Harris, 27 Mar...

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took a document containing characters copied by JS to scholars in
Albany

State capital and county seat, located in eastern-central part of state on west bank of Hudson River. Area settled by Dutch, 1612. Known as Fort Orange and Beaver Wyck, 1623; name changed to Williamstadt, 1647. Capitulated to English forces, 1664, and renamed...

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,
Philadelphia

Port city founded as Quaker settlement by William Penn, 1681. Site of signing of Declaration of Independence and drafting of U.S. Constitution. Nation’s capital city, 1790–1800. Population in 1830 about 170,000; in 1840 about 260,000; and in 1850 about 410...

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, and
New York City

Dutch founded New Netherland colony, 1625. Incorporated under British control and renamed New York, 1664. Harbor contributed to economic and population growth of city; became largest city in American colonies. British troops defeated Continental Army under...

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.
7

See Bennett, “Read This I Pray Thee,” 178–216. JS explained that the copy of the characters he made for Harris was taken from the plates. However, in his description of the translation process, David Whitmer related that “a spiritual light would shine forth, and parchment would appear before Joseph, upon which was a line of characters from the plates, and under it, the translation in English; at least, so Joseph said.” If JS did see the characters on the seer stone he may have copied them from the seer stone instead of the plates. (JS History, vol. A-1, 9; J. L. Traughber Jr., “Testimony of David Whitmer,” Saints’ Herald, 15 Nov. 1879, 341.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Bennett, Richard E. “‘Read This I Pray Thee’: Martin Harris and the Three Wise Men of the East.” Journal of Mormon History 36 (Winter 2010): 178–216.

Saints’ Herald. Independence, MO. 1860–.

While most extant accounts of JS copying characters from the gold plates focus on this event,
8

See, for example, JS History, ca. Summer 1832, 5; JS History, vol. A-1, 9; Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 6, [7]; and Knight, Reminiscences, 3–4.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Knight, Joseph, Sr. Reminiscences, no date. CHL. MS 3470.

he likely created other documents containing characters before he returned the plates, a possibility also supported by differing accounts of the copying process. For example,
Joseph Knight Sr.

3 Nov. 1772–2 Feb. 1847. Farmer, miller. Born at Oakham, Worcester Co., Massachusetts. Son of Benjamin Knight and Sarah Crouch. Lived at Marlboro, Windham Co., Vermont, by 1780. Married first Polly Peck, 1795, in Windham Co. Moved to Jericho (later Bainbridge...

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recalled that JS’s wife
Emma Smith

10 July 1804–30 Apr. 1879. Scribe, editor, boardinghouse operator, clothier. Born at Willingborough Township (later in Harmony), Susquehanna Co., Pennsylvania. Daughter of Isaac Hale and Elizabeth Lewis. Member of Methodist church at Harmony (later in Oakland...

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helped produce a document containing the characters; because she presumably never saw the plates, she must have copied a document previously transcribed by JS.
9

Though it is unknown for what purpose Emma Smith helped JS prepare a characters document, it was likely to prepare a duplicate copy or to improve the characters’ appearance. Knight stated that JS and Emma “drew of[f] the Caricters” together, which suggests that Emma was helping to improve the transcription. If that was the case, JS might have made a rubbing from the plates instead of copying them by hand since Emma, who never saw the original characters on the plates, would not have been able to improve upon JS’s freehand transcription accurately. (Knight, Reminiscences, 3.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Knight, Joseph, Sr. Reminiscences, no date. CHL. MS 3470.

Reuben Hale, Emma’s brother, may have helped JS create an additional document; a statement reportedly made by Reuben’s brother David indicated that Reuben “assisted Joe Smith to fix up some characters such as Smith pretended were engraven on his book of plates.”
10

Blackman, History of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, 104.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Blackman, Emily C. History of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. From a Period Preceding Its Settlement to Recent Times. . . . Philadelphia: Claxton, Remsen and Haffelfinger, 1873.

If these accounts are correct, JS created, at the very least, two documents containing characters.
Several accounts describing texts containing characters from the plates likewise suggest the existence of multiple documents—documents with content completely different from one another. Neither JS’s earliest account nor
Joseph Knight Sr.

3 Nov. 1772–2 Feb. 1847. Farmer, miller. Born at Oakham, Worcester Co., Massachusetts. Son of Benjamin Knight and Sarah Crouch. Lived at Marlboro, Windham Co., Vermont, by 1780. Married first Polly Peck, 1795, in Windham Co. Moved to Jericho (later Bainbridge...

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’s account explains what was copied or the number of characters copied.
11

JS History, ca. Summer 1832, 5; Knight, Reminiscences, 3.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Knight, Joseph, Sr. Reminiscences, no date. CHL. MS 3470.

John Clark, an Episcopalian pastor in
Palmyra

Known as Swift’s Landing and Tolland before being renamed Palmyra, 1796. Incorporated, Mar. 1827, two years after completion of adjacent Erie Canal. Population in 1820 about 3,700. Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith family lived in village briefly, beginning ...

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, claimed that
Martin Harris

18 May 1783–10 July 1875. Farmer. Born at Easton, Albany Co., New York. Son of Nathan Harris and Rhoda Lapham. Moved with parents to area of Swift’s landing (later in Palmyra), Ontario Co., New York, 1793. Married first his first cousin Lucy Harris, 27 Mar...

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had shown him a document with characters from the plates. He wrote that Harris “carefully unfolded a slip of paper, which contained three or four lines of characters.”
12

[John A. Clark], “Gleanings by the Way. No. VI,” Episcopal Recorder, 5 Sept. 1840, 94.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Episcopal Recorder. Philadelphia. 1831–1919.

The first and third documents featured below are similar in format to the document Clark described, although they vary in the number of lines and in the number of characters in each line. Accounts apparently describing different documents may in fact be describing the same document in various stages of completion; in other words, one eyewitness may describe a document that was later added to and described differently by someone else. Similarly, accounts that seem to describe the same document may refer to similarly formatted documents with different content.
A number of extant accounts appear to describe more complex documents that included more than just samples of characters from the plates. A later report by
Palmyra

Known as Swift’s Landing and Tolland before being renamed Palmyra, 1796. Incorporated, Mar. 1827, two years after completion of adjacent Erie Canal. Population in 1820 about 3,700. Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith family lived in village briefly, beginning ...

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printer Orsamus Turner, for example, suggests that
Martin Harris

18 May 1783–10 July 1875. Farmer. Born at Easton, Albany Co., New York. Son of Nathan Harris and Rhoda Lapham. Moved with parents to area of Swift’s landing (later in Palmyra), Ontario Co., New York, 1793. Married first his first cousin Lucy Harris, 27 Mar...

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showed Turner’s informant an untranslated copy of the Book of Mormon title page in an attempt to convince him to print the book.
13

Turner, History of the Pioneer Settlement of Phelps and Gorham’s Purchase, and Morris’ Reserve, 215.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Turner, Orsamus. History of the Pioneer Settlement of Phelps and Gorham’s Purchase, and Morris’ Reserve; Embracing the Counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, Most of Wayne and Allegany, and Parts of Orleans, Genesee and Wyoming. To Which Is Added, a Supplement, or Extension of the Pioneer History of Monroe County. . . . Rochester: William Alling, 1851.

Lucy Mack Smith

8 July 1775–14 May 1856. Oilcloth painter, nurse, fund-raiser, author. Born at Gilsum, Cheshire Co., New Hampshire. Daughter of Solomon Mack Sr. and Lydia Gates. Moved to Montague, Franklin Co., Massachusetts, 1779; to Tunbridge, Orange Co., Vermont, 1788...

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also claimed that JS “transcribe[d] the Egyptian alphabet” from the plates.
14

Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 6, [7]; see also Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 538 [Mormon 9:32].


JS’s later history describes a document that included copies of the characters along with their translation, a document that may have been similar to the second document featured below.
15

JS History, vol. A-1, 9.


The most intricate account of a characters document came from
Charles Anthon

17 Nov. 1797–29 July 1867. College professor, lawyer. Born in New York City. Son of George Christian Anthon and Genevieve Judot. Attended Columbia College, 1811–1815, in New York City. Studied law; admitted to bar, 1819. Adjunct professor of Greek and Latin...

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, one of the scholars Martin Harris visited. Anthon reportedly described the paper shown to him as “a singular scrawl” that “consisted of all kinds of crooked characters disposed in columns.”
16

Charles Anthon, New York City, NY, to Eber D. Howe, Painesville, OH, 17 Feb. 1834, in Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, 270–272.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Howe, Eber D. Mormonism Unvailed: Or, A Faithful Account of That Singular Imposition and Delusion, from Its Rise to the Present Time. With Sketches of the Characters of Its Propagators, and a Full Detail of the Manner in Which the Famous Golden Bible Was Brought before the World. To Which Are Added, Inquiries into the Probability That the Historical Part of the Said Bible Was Written by One Solomon Spalding, More Than Twenty Years Ago, and by Him Intended to Have Been Published as a Romance. Painesville, OH: By the author, 1834.

In an 1841 letter, Anthon reportedly stated that the document had “columns, like the Chinese mode of writing,” and “Greek, Hebrew, and all sorts of letters . . . intermingled with sundry delineations of half moons, stars, and other natural objects, and the whole ended in a rude representation of the Mexican zodiac.”
17

Charles Anthon, NY, to Thomas Winthrop Coit, New Rochelle, NY, 3 Apr. 1841, in Clark, Gleanings by the Way, 233. Orsamus Turner also described the document Harris had as containing “concentric circles” with characters written inside, between, and outside the lines. (Turner, History of the Pioneer Settlement of Phelps and Gorham’s Purchase, and Morris’ Reserve, 215.)


Comprehensive Works Cited

Clark, John A. Gleanings by the Way. New York: Robert Carter, 1842.

Turner, Orsamus. History of the Pioneer Settlement of Phelps and Gorham’s Purchase, and Morris’ Reserve; Embracing the Counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, Most of Wayne and Allegany, and Parts of Orleans, Genesee and Wyoming. To Which Is Added, a Supplement, or Extension of the Pioneer History of Monroe County. . . . Rochester: William Alling, 1851.

If this description is accurate, the document Harris showed Anthon was longer and more complex than any of the surviving texts.
JS may have created separate characters documents for different purposes. For example, the document shown to Anthon was likely created for scholars who might identify, verify, or translate the characters. The document described by Orsamus Turner may have been created especially to persuade a printer to publish the Book of Mormon. JS likely also copied characters for a broader audience; one
Palmyra

Known as Swift’s Landing and Tolland before being renamed Palmyra, 1796. Incorporated, Mar. 1827, two years after completion of adjacent Erie Canal. Population in 1820 about 3,700. Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith family lived in village briefly, beginning ...

More Info
resident remembered that documents containing characters from the plates were exhibited publicly.
18

Turner, History of the Pioneer Settlement of Phelps and Gorham’s Purchase, and Morris’ Reserve, 215; Henry G. Tinsley, “Origin of Mormonism,” San Francisco Chronicle, 14 May 1893, 12; see also [John A. Clark], “Gleanings by the Way. No. VI,” Episcopal Recorder, 5 Sept. 1840, 94.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Turner, Orsamus. History of the Pioneer Settlement of Phelps and Gorham’s Purchase, and Morris’ Reserve; Embracing the Counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, Most of Wayne and Allegany, and Parts of Orleans, Genesee and Wyoming. To Which Is Added, a Supplement, or Extension of the Pioneer History of Monroe County. . . . Rochester: William Alling, 1851.

San Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco. 1865–1925.

Episcopal Recorder. Philadelphia. 1831–1919.

JS and others may have also wanted personal copies, and in later years JS showed copies of the characters to visitors such as
Michael Chandler

Ca. 1798–21 Oct. 1866. Antiquities exhibitor, farmer. Born in Ireland. Married Frances F. Ludlow. Immigrated to U.S., ca. 1828. Moved to Ohio, by 1829. Moved to Philadelphia, 1833. Acquired eleven mummies, perhaps in association with others, in New York City...

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19

Oliver Cowdery, “Egyptian Mummies,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Dec. 1835, 2:235.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

and Reverend George Moore.
20

Cannon, “Reverend George Moore Comments on Nauvoo, the Mormons, and Joseph Smith,” 11.


Comprehensive Works Cited

Cannon, Donald Q. “Reverend George Moore Comments on Nauvoo, the Mormons, and Joseph Smith.” Western Illinois Regional Studies 5, no. 1 (Spring 1982): 5–16.

The three documents featured were all purported to include characters copied from the gold plates, and they likely are representative of characters JS copied from the plates.
Documents
1. Characters Copied by John Whitmer, circa 1829–1831
2. Characters Copied by Oliver Cowdery, circa 1835–1836
3. Stick of Joseph, 1844
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Appendix 2: Copies of Book of Mormon Characters, Introduction
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    Footnotes

    1. [1]

      JS’s history records that “by the wisdom of God they [the plates]remained safe in my hands untill I had accomplished by them what was required at my hand, when according to arrangement the messenger called for them, I delivered them up to him and he has them in his charge untill this day.” Peter Bauder, a critic of the church who interviewed JS in 1830, wrote, “After he had a part translated, the angel commanded him to carry the plate into a certain piece of woods, which he did:—the angel took them and carried them to parts unknown to him.” In 1834 Eber D. Howe recorded part of the sworn testimony of Leman Copley, including his recollection of a conversation between JS and Joseph Knight Jr. According to Copley, Knight said that “after he [JS] had finished translating the Book of Mormon, he again buried up the plates in the side of a mountain, by command of the Lord.” In an 1841 interview in Nauvoo, Illinois, JS’s brother William Smith related that “at length he [JS] was directed by a vision to bury the plates again in the same manner; which he accordingly did.” (JS History, vol. A-1, 8; Bauder, Kingdom and Gospel of Jesus Christ, in Vogel,Early Mormon Documents, 1:17; Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, 277; James Murdock, New Haven, CT, 19 June 1841, Letter to the Editor, Congregational Observer, 3 July 1841, in Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 1:479.)

      Vogel, Dan, ed. Early Mormon Documents. 5 vols. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1996–2003.

      Howe, Eber D. Mormonism Unvailed: Or, A Faithful Account of That Singular Imposition and Delusion, from Its Rise to the Present Time. With Sketches of the Characters of Its Propagators, and a Full Detail of the Manner in Which the Famous Golden Bible Was Brought before the World. To Which Are Added, Inquiries into the Probability That the Historical Part of the Said Bible Was Written by One Solomon Spalding, More Than Twenty Years Ago, and by Him Intended to Have Been Published as a Romance. Painesville, OH: By the author, 1834.

    2. [2]

      JS History, vol. A-1, 5; see also Knight, Reminiscences, 3; Metcalf, Ten Years before the Mast, 70–71; and Revelation, Mar. 1829 [D&C 5:11–13].

      Knight, Joseph, Sr. Reminiscences, no date. CHL. MS 3470.

      Metcalf, Anthony. Ten Years before the Mast: Shipwrecks and Adventures at Sea! Religious Customs of the People of India and Burmah’s Empire. How I Became a Mormon and Why I Became an Infidel. No publisher, 1888.

    3. [3]

      Joseph Knight Sr. wrote, “Now it soon got about that Joseph Smith had found the plates and People Come in to see them But he told them that they Could not for he must not shoe [show] them But many insisted and ofered money and Property to see them But for keeping them from the People they persecuted and abused them and they ware obliged to hide them.” Emma Smith explained in an interview that “they lay in a box under our bed for months but I never felt at liberty to look at them.” In an 1879 interview with Joseph Smith III, she stated, “The plates often lay on the table without any attempt at concealment, wrapped in a small linen table cloth.” Lucy Mack Smith explained that when JS first obtained the plates, he hid them in a hollowed-out birch log. Isaac Hale explained that in 1829 JS hid the plates in a wooded area near his house. (Knight, Reminiscences, 3; Nels Madsen, “Visit to Mrs. Emma Smith Bidamon,” 1931, CHL; Joseph Smith III, “Last Testimony of Sister Emma,” Saints’ Herald, 1 Oct. 1879, 290; Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 5, [11]; Isaac Hale, Affidavit, Harmony, PA, 20 Mar. 1834, in “Mormonism,” Susquehanna Register, and Northern Pennsylvanian [Montrose, PA], 1 May 1834, [1]; see also Joseph Smith III to E. Horton, 7 Mar. 1900, in Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 1:546.)

      Knight, Joseph, Sr. Reminiscences, no date. CHL. MS 3470.

      Madsen, Nels. “Visit to Mrs. Emma Smith Bidemon,” 27 Nov. 1931. CHL. MS 852.

      Saints’ Herald. Independence, MO. 1860–.

      Susquehanna Register, and Northern Pennsylvanian. Montrose, PA. 1831–1836.

      Vogel, Dan, ed. Early Mormon Documents. 5 vols. Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1996–2003.

    4. [4]

      See Revelation, Mar. 1829 [D&C 5:11–13]; Revelation, June 1829–E [D&C 17:1–3]; Testimony of Three Witnesses, Late June 1829; and Testimony of Eight Witnesses, Late June 1829.

    5. [5]

      Joseph F. Smith, New York City, NY, to John Taylor et al., [Salt Lake City, Utah Territory], 17 Sept. 1878, draft, Joseph F. Smith, Papers, CHL; Stevenson, Journal, 9 Feb. 1886 and 2 Jan. 1887; see also Andrew Jenson, “Eight Witnesses,” Historical Record, Oct. 1888, 621.

      Smith, Joseph F. Papers, 1854–1918. CHL. MS 1325.

      Stevenson, Edward. Journals, 1852–1896. Edward Stevenson, Collection, 1849–1922. CHL. MS 4806, boxes 1–4.

      The Historical Record, a Monthly Periodical, Devoted Exclusively to Historical, Biographical, Chronological and Statistical Matters. Salt Lake City. 1882–1890.

    6. [6]

      The only time JS lost possession of the plates, according to his own account, was for a brief period during summer 1828. (JS History, vol. A-1, 11.)

    7. [7]

      See Bennett, “Read This I Pray Thee,” 178–216. JS explained that the copy of the characters he made for Harris was taken from the plates. However, in his description of the translation process, David Whitmer related that “a spiritual light would shine forth, and parchment would appear before Joseph, upon which was a line of characters from the plates, and under it, the translation in English; at least, so Joseph said.” If JS did see the characters on the seer stone he may have copied them from the seer stone instead of the plates. (JS History, vol. A-1, 9; J. L. Traughber Jr., “Testimony of David Whitmer,” Saints’ Herald, 15 Nov. 1879, 341.)

      Bennett, Richard E. “‘Read This I Pray Thee’: Martin Harris and the Three Wise Men of the East.” Journal of Mormon History 36 (Winter 2010): 178–216.

      Saints’ Herald. Independence, MO. 1860–.

    8. [8]

      See, for example, JS History, ca. Summer 1832, 5; JS History, vol. A-1, 9; Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 6, [7]; and Knight, Reminiscences, 3–4.

      Knight, Joseph, Sr. Reminiscences, no date. CHL. MS 3470.

    9. [9]

      Though it is unknown for what purpose Emma Smith helped JS prepare a characters document, it was likely to prepare a duplicate copy or to improve the characters’ appearance. Knight stated that JS and Emma “drew of[f] the Caricters” together, which suggests that Emma was helping to improve the transcription. If that was the case, JS might have made a rubbing from the plates instead of copying them by hand since Emma, who never saw the original characters on the plates, would not have been able to improve upon JS’s freehand transcription accurately. (Knight, Reminiscences, 3.)

      Knight, Joseph, Sr. Reminiscences, no date. CHL. MS 3470.

    10. [10]

      Blackman, History of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, 104.

      Blackman, Emily C. History of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. From a Period Preceding Its Settlement to Recent Times. . . . Philadelphia: Claxton, Remsen and Haffelfinger, 1873.

    11. [11]

      JS History, ca. Summer 1832, 5; Knight, Reminiscences, 3.

      Knight, Joseph, Sr. Reminiscences, no date. CHL. MS 3470.

    12. [12]

      [John A. Clark], “Gleanings by the Way. No. VI,” Episcopal Recorder, 5 Sept. 1840, 94.

      Episcopal Recorder. Philadelphia. 1831–1919.

    13. [13]

      Turner, History of the Pioneer Settlement of Phelps and Gorham’s Purchase, and Morris’ Reserve, 215.

      Turner, Orsamus. History of the Pioneer Settlement of Phelps and Gorham’s Purchase, and Morris’ Reserve; Embracing the Counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, Most of Wayne and Allegany, and Parts of Orleans, Genesee and Wyoming. To Which Is Added, a Supplement, or Extension of the Pioneer History of Monroe County. . . . Rochester: William Alling, 1851.

    14. [14]

      Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 6, [7]; see also Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 538 [Mormon 9:32].

    15. [15]

      JS History, vol. A-1, 9.

    16. [16]

      Charles Anthon, New York City, NY, to Eber D. Howe, Painesville, OH, 17 Feb. 1834, in Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, 270–272.

      Howe, Eber D. Mormonism Unvailed: Or, A Faithful Account of That Singular Imposition and Delusion, from Its Rise to the Present Time. With Sketches of the Characters of Its Propagators, and a Full Detail of the Manner in Which the Famous Golden Bible Was Brought before the World. To Which Are Added, Inquiries into the Probability That the Historical Part of the Said Bible Was Written by One Solomon Spalding, More Than Twenty Years Ago, and by Him Intended to Have Been Published as a Romance. Painesville, OH: By the author, 1834.

    17. [17]

      Charles Anthon, NY, to Thomas Winthrop Coit, New Rochelle, NY, 3 Apr. 1841, in Clark, Gleanings by the Way, 233. Orsamus Turner also described the document Harris had as containing “concentric circles” with characters written inside, between, and outside the lines. (Turner, History of the Pioneer Settlement of Phelps and Gorham’s Purchase, and Morris’ Reserve, 215.)

      Clark, John A. Gleanings by the Way. New York: Robert Carter, 1842.

      Turner, Orsamus. History of the Pioneer Settlement of Phelps and Gorham’s Purchase, and Morris’ Reserve; Embracing the Counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, Most of Wayne and Allegany, and Parts of Orleans, Genesee and Wyoming. To Which Is Added, a Supplement, or Extension of the Pioneer History of Monroe County. . . . Rochester: William Alling, 1851.

    18. [18]

      Turner, History of the Pioneer Settlement of Phelps and Gorham’s Purchase, and Morris’ Reserve, 215; Henry G. Tinsley, “Origin of Mormonism,” San Francisco Chronicle, 14 May 1893, 12; see also [John A. Clark], “Gleanings by the Way. No. VI,” Episcopal Recorder, 5 Sept. 1840, 94.

      Turner, Orsamus. History of the Pioneer Settlement of Phelps and Gorham’s Purchase, and Morris’ Reserve; Embracing the Counties of Monroe, Ontario, Livingston, Yates, Steuben, Most of Wayne and Allegany, and Parts of Orleans, Genesee and Wyoming. To Which Is Added, a Supplement, or Extension of the Pioneer History of Monroe County. . . . Rochester: William Alling, 1851.

      San Francisco Chronicle. San Francisco. 1865–1925.

      Episcopal Recorder. Philadelphia. 1831–1919.

    19. [19]

      Oliver Cowdery, “Egyptian Mummies,” LDS Messenger and Advocate, Dec. 1835, 2:235.

      Latter Day Saints’ Messenger and Advocate. Kirtland, OH. Oct. 1834–Sept. 1837.

    20. [20]

      Cannon, “Reverend George Moore Comments on Nauvoo, the Mormons, and Joseph Smith,” 11.

      Cannon, Donald Q. “Reverend George Moore Comments on Nauvoo, the Mormons, and Joseph Smith.” Western Illinois Regional Studies 5, no. 1 (Spring 1982): 5–16.

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