Footnotes

1. [1]

   In 1841 John M. Bernhisel gave JS a copy of John Lloyd Stephens’s book Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan. In a letter thanking Bernhisel for the gift, JS stated that Stephens’s work was “the most correct luminous & comprihensive” of any book written on American antiquities. That same year, a missionary named Charles Thompson published a volume that used Stephens’s research as evidence that the Book of Mormon was a “divinely inspired record, written by the Forefathers of the Natives whom we call Indians.” In 1842, under JS’s editorship, the Times and Seasons published articles citing Stephens’s works to support the idea that individuals and populations described in the Book of Mormon had inhabited the Americas; an additional article was published in the Times and Seasons in 1843. (Letter from John M. Bernhisel, 8 Sept. 1841; Letter to John M. Bernhisel, 16 Nov. 1841; Thompson, Evidences in Proof of the Book of Mormon, 2, 241–256; “Extract From Stephens’ ‘Incidents of Travel in Central America,’” Times and Seasons, 15 Sept. 1842, 3:911–914; “Extract From Stephens’ ‘Incidents of Travel in Central America,’” Times and Seasons, 1 Oct. 1842, 3:927–928; “Stephens’ Works on Central America,” Times and Seasons, 1 Oct. 1843, 4:346–347.)

   Thompson, Charles. Evidences in Proof of the Book of Mormon, Being a Divinely Inspired Record, Written by the Forefathers of the Natives Whom We Call Indians, (Who Are a Remnant of the Tribe of Joseph,) and Hid Up in the Earth, but Come Forth in Fulfilment of Prophesy for the Gathering of Israel and the Re-establishing of the Kingdom of God upon the Earth. Batavia, NY: D. D. Waite, 1841.

   Times and Seasons. Commerce/Nauvoo, IL. Nov. 1839–Feb. 1846.

2. [2]

   In 1842 Page attempted to align cities named in the Book of Mormon with the geography described by John Lloyd Stephens in Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan. In 1843 Page published a pamphlet refuting the theory that Sidney Ridgon had plagiarized a manuscript written by Solomon Spalding to produce the Book of Mormon. During 1843 and 1844, Page published The Gospel Light, a series of three tracts “devoted to the promulgation and defence of the doctrine of the scriptures as advocated by ‘The church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints.’” (John E. Page, “To a Disciple,” Morning Chronicle [Pittsburgh], 1 July 1842, [2]; Page, Spaulding Story, 15–16; “The Gospel Light,” Gospel Light, June 1843, 1.)

   Morning Chronicle. Pittsburgh. 1841–1844.

   Page, John E. The Spaulding Story, concerning the Origin of the Book of Mormon, Duly Examined, and Exposed to the Righteous Contempt of a Candid Public. Pittsburgh: By the author, 1843.

   Gospel Light. Pittsburgh. 1843–1844.

3. [3]

   JS, Journal, 27 Apr. 1844. JS’s journal entry for this day and its sequence of reported events suggest that Richards was with JS in JS’s store, that Foster visited there, and that he arrived around midday.