Lost Witnesses of the Restoration: The Harris Family
Lucy Harris is commonly remembered among Mormons as the grouchy housewife who disapproved of her husband’s scribing for Joseph Smith and whose unhallowed hands stole the first 116 pages of their book in 1828. Beyond these stories though, the family of Martin Harris fades quickly into obscurity. His children and in-laws from Palmyra remain nameless in Church manuals and even though Martin’s family members were first-hand witnesses to the Smith family in Palmyra, Joseph’s revelatory process, Joseph’s closed boxes (supposedly holding the plates), and the Book of Mormon translation, there is little to no curiosity about why none of them followed Martin to become revered founders of Church History.
Lucy
The second-youngest of eleven children, Lucy was born in 1792, an infant in an infant country. By the time she was first swaddled, the muskets of war had been stowed, the red coats had sailed home, the Constitution had been ratified, and President George Washington was still trying to figure out what it meant to govern an independent Republic. The colonies were being accepted one by one and re-christened as “states” with sub-governments to balance the central powers. Lucy’s birth place in Rhode Island had only just been made an official “state” two years before her birth in 1790. It was the last colony to join the Union. Her future home state of New York had only accepted statehood four years ago. And it was still shifting into its namechange, after having been called “New Amsterdam” for 162 years.1
When Lucy was born, women’s suffrage had not yet been snuffed out of the American dream and neither had the abolition of slavery. Women and non-whites had played a significant part in the fight for independence and some areas, like nearby New Jersey, were honoring that by naming voters as “he or she” and allowing all races to vote throughout the 1790s.2 The reassertion of white male power was already underway, though. As Lucy turned eight, Washington was stepping down from his Presidency and Thomas Jefferson was rising to fill it. With Jefferson came a resurgence of federally-mandated misogyny and racism and women and non-whites were again shut out of the voter’s booth.
Lucy would have grown up surrounded by the strong opinions and deep convictions of her family and her homeland. Religiously, she was steeped in the Puritan pilgrimage legacy, and surrounded by strong congregations of Baptists and Quakers. Her own parents aligned more with the Quakers and Lucy herself probably identified as such throughout her life.
Politically, Rhode Island was small, proud, and progressive. Besides the non-violent and egalitarian Quakers, Rhode Island had also hosted the first ever “Black Regiment” during the Revolution. Black and Native American soldiers who fought in this regiment were “promised freedom after 3 years” if they would serve the cause of colonial independence.3 Perhaps it was in an effort to keep these promises that Rhode Islanders abstained from joining the union so long, despite being the smallest colony. In the 1790s though, the pressure to join the American Republic was strong and within ten years, Rhode Island was unable to maintain its promises of freedom and fairness to those who had fought for it. Lucy’s daily life would not have been directly impacted by these political decisions as a child, but young Lucy Harris would have been surrounded by adults debating the topics. By the time she married in her mid-teens, she would have had an adequate homegrown education on ethics, abolition, equality, suffrage, independence, and democracy.
At 15 years old with a birthday on May Day, Lucy may have been one of the young women of New England who received a flower basket from a suitor at her door on May first. If she did, she would have chased him down to kiss him.4 If she did, it was the last time she was able to indulge such a romantic vision because before her next birthday, she had already been shuttled into marriage with her first cousin.
Domestic Blisters
Martin Harris, Lucy’s first cousin and now husband, had also been raised a Quaker. By the time of his marriage though, he may have identified more as a Methodist. The couple already shared a surname thanks to their shared grandfather, and they both had a deep streak of independence, but that is approximately where their similarities end. The magnetism in their marriage was probably based on money. The equation for a marriage between them in 1808 was pretty simple: Martin was male and had land and Lucy was young and female. Lucy’s and Martin’s parents probably didn’t think twice about the wisdom of pairing them up to keep it all in the family.5
For the first years of the marriage, the primary struggle for Lucy was probably Martin’s temper, which in modern parlance means domestic violence. As a vulnerable young wife, Lucy was discovering the sad truth that too many women faced behind closed doors in the 19th century: that her husband’s inner conflicts would become her outer bruises. Martin was nearly ten years older than she was and though he was not an especially large man at 5’8”, he still would have towered over a teenaged wife.
The violence was probably especially shocking coming from Lucy’s pacifist background with the Quakers. And it was probably made more frightening by the fact that she was immediately pregnant. At seventeen years old, Lucy birthed her first daughter. One year later she was eighteen years old and birthing her first son. She got pregnant again within two years, probably just as Martin left to serve in the War of 1812. Though domestic rape at this time would not have been considered a crime and thus, would not be recorded, it seems likely to me based on the descriptions these characters: Martin was violent, determined to enact “his wishes,” and prone to “mad fits” if he didn’t get what he wanted. He also had a high libido, as expressed through his affair with Mrs. Haggard while married to Lucy and his prompt remarriage to a much younger woman after Lucy’s death. In addition, Lucy was very young and inexperienced. Though women are fully capable of expressing sexual attraction, nothing approaching this appear in any of Lucy’s descriptions of Martin and the large gap between the third and last child suggests to me that as soon as Lucy found a way to refuse consent, she did so.
While Martin was at war, Lucy’s third child was born in 1813. Thus, at nineteen years old Lucy was postpartum with a baby, raising two toddlers, and alone while also running a large farm in Martin’s absence. She probably had help from extended family, but even so, the strain must have been immense. Perhaps this burden along with the disillusionments of marriage gave Lucy the strength to later stick up for herself with unusual clarity. By the time Martin got back, she was different. She did not have another baby by him until 1820 and she asserted her opinion on financial and managerial matters with exceptional independence.
Both Lucy and Martin came from large families. Lucy had ten siblings, Martin had seven. Lucy had borne three children before Martin got home from war and two of them were healthy boys. Lucy’s last child would not be born for another seven years.6 This picture of Martin and Lucy’s family is again suggestive that the binding glue in their marriage was not personal compatibility, but financial security. They were committed to the estate. They had two healthy young boys who could inherit and by the 1820s, Martin had doubled their acreage through shrewd buying. Perhaps at that point, the marriage became primarily functional.
A Restorationist
By 1818, as thundering preachers rolled in and out of Palmyra, striking the Burned Over district with their electrifying sermons, Martin had found a new repository for his passions anyway: religion. He had moved on from the Quaker and Methodist faiths and was now crafting his identity as an “unchurched man” and “restorationist.” Though he had joined a number of churches already and probably attended various congregations for his own pleasure, he did not see himself as fully adherent to any of them. He was looking for a “restored Christianity” that resembled the following of Jesus from the New Testament and was telling neighbors freely about being “taught by the Spirit [not to join] any church.” To prepare himself for this ancient Greco-Roman Christianity, Martin had started playing the part in small ways. He wore a Greek-style jowl-beard, used gold and silver instead of the paper dollars, refused to use banks, and donated to a Greek Christian crusade.78 He also talked often and openly about his visions of the ideal church.
At about the time that Martin started vocalizing his allegiance to a “restoration,” the Smith family moved to the area. The family had a full gaggle of boys at the time and they were quickly growing into men. One of the boys walked with crutches, but his stories were probably already circulating as the Smiths settled in. This was the boy who had survived the experimental leg surgery–a patient of none less than Dr. Nathan Smith–yes, the Dartmouth surgeon–a miracle procedure–a miracle child–blessed by God, even with his limp. And there was more: the boy’s father had been saying that he could see things–hidden things–forgotten treasures in the ground–lost things–he said the boy had been visited by ghosts, spirits, angels–the apparitions had told him things. Now, they were organizing a crew, looking for investors, who could afford to hire these diviners to guide them to the unimaginable riches hidden nearby? Who could afford not to?
Henry
As the years pulled young Joseph into maturity, his notoriety grew. With his parents stoking excitement for instant wealth from the surrounding neighbors, the Smiths began to establish Joseph in a mystical career with peeping. Martin and Lucy’s children were also maturing. Their son Henry reports that in 1820 he was old enough to be acquainted with Joseph Sr. and his family. “[The Smiths] were a family that labored very little,” he said, “the chief they did was to dig for money. Joseph Smith Jr.…used to pretend to tell fortunes he had a stone which he used to put in his hat, by means of which he professed to tell people’s fortunes.”
Money digging was a niche forbidden pastime for the nearly-wealthy men of New York. These investors had just enough money to hire crews and pay Joseph and his father for their guidance, but not enough to be immune to the suggestion of buried treasure. When the Smiths had found such an investor (many of them were peers to Martin), they would plan the expedition and Joseph would lead them into the woods. Since most of the digging men labored or farmed during the day, these excursions usually happened at night with Joseph laying a trail of clues and rituals to lead the diggers into almost finding something. The digs never turned up anything, but the remarkable thing about them is not their results but how they show Joseph’s extraordinary talent for performance early on. Even if we didn’t have his mother’s recollection of Joseph as a “most amusing” storyteller, we can see that his tale-telling and personal charm were already highly developed: he could not yet own land or vote, but he could keep a company of grown men digging through the night, find nothing, and they would still follow him again the next time he claimed a vision.
Henry William Harris watched it all. He was only six when the Smiths had moved in, but eight years later when his father excitedly hired the limping mystic to dig a well, Henry was fourteen. He watched his father begin “meeting privately” with the peeper boy. He listened to them name their business “the gold Bible company.” He heard his mother, aunt, and others call his father a dupe or worse and heard their concern over Martin’s stated intention to mortgage the farm. He stepped into leading the family while his father spent months away from home in Pennsylvania. He saw his father abandon his resistance to banks while increasing the violence towards his mother. He tried to understand this widening gap in his caretakers.
In 1827, Henry was seventeen years old. Joseph had stolen a wife from Pennsylvania in January and in September he lit up the town again with his stories of digging up the plates at night and then bravely retrieving the gold Bible, while shadowy ruffians attempted to stop him. There was talk of a breastplate, a sword, a pair of spectacles, and maybe a mountain full of other treasure. Joseph’s money-digging friends were first excited at the find, then incensed that Joseph would not share, as their contract stipulated. This was the first treasure anyone in Palmyra had actually found and everyone wanted a piece. Other peepers in town were trying to find where he had hidden this treasure at home. One actually succeeded and discovered a hidden box of sand on the Smith property.9 Joseph blithely said he had known they were coming and had removed the plates before they found it.
For Henry, this must have been a storm of confusion. His father was dancing with excitement to talk to Joseph, but did not like to show it. He was clearly thrilled to hear that Joseph was eager to talk to him too. When Lucy Mack Smith came to the Harris house asking for Martin to come speak to Joseph, Martin deferred until later but sent Henry to harness their horses and drive Mrs. Smith home. Mrs. Smith asked for Henry’s sister and for Lucy Harris to come along. They did and received the special honor of hefting a closed box. It was heavy, Henry and his sister reported, “very heavy.” Despite the sparse detail, Martin was eager to bargain his way into the story. He began looking for Joseph.
His Kingdom for a Story
When Martin stopped by the Smith house, Joseph was gone to Peter Ingersoll’s. He waited and talked with the rest of the family. Then Joseph got home and Martin steered him away from the group. Joseph told Martin the story–angels, destiny, a holy work– and who had God prepared to assist Joseph in this task but Martin! Thirty years later, we can almost hear Martin blushing as he stammered for more details: what did Joseph mean? Joseph elaborated: an angel had told Joseph to “quit the company of money-diggers for they were wicked men.” He needed someone pure, someone who would assist him and he saw…Martin Harris standing before him. Martin’s heart soared–finally, to be chosen! To be recognized as the upstanding conduit of the divine! He was grateful and caught up that right then, without ever talking to his wife, Henry, or any of his extended family about how the decision might impact them, he promised Joseph “all the money necessary to bring [the book] before the world.”10 Within a few weeks, Henry’s father would start making good on that promise by bestowing a handsome $5011 on Joseph and Emma to settle Joseph’s debts and enable their move to Pennsylvania. Martin declared he was planning on joining Joseph there in a few months.
At the turn of the year, everything was changing. Martin was leaving his farm and family and though they didn’t fully cognize it at the time, the change would be permanent. Martin had been craving a restoration for more than a decade and here was a boy willing to satisfy him. Joseph served Martin revelation after revelation after revelation, affirming Martin’s central place, his calling, his destiny to bring forth a mighty work of God. Martin was chosen, Joseph said, prepared, a fulfillment of prophecy. And he could be a part of it–all for the low price of Martin’s farm. Martin was ravenous for it: for the revelations, the visions, everything. And for Martin, the privilege of being immersed in a cosplay of not just reading scripture but writing it was worth any price. He spent several months scribing in a tiny cabin as Joseph stared into his hat and then travelled back to New York at his own expense to authenticate Joseph’s “caractors.” When the Professor of ancient characters told Martin that he was being defrauded, Martin retrenched again and allowed Joseph to reframe the encounter as a positive fulfillment of prophecy. That May, Martin’s daughter got married. Martin missed the wedding.12
Sticks and Peep Stones
In the summer of 1828 though, Martin came home victorious. He brought with him solid proof that his investment was divine. No closed boxes this time–he had actual readable pages: 116 of them. What Lucy, Henry, and the other children thought as they read these pages is lost to history but it was clearly not the slam-dunk conversion experience Martin Harris had hoped for. Then, the pages went missing. Martin blamed Lucy. He picked apart her drawers, tore their home to pieces, and finally had to give up. Some time after the actual loss of the pages, a story began circulating that Lucy had challenged Joseph to find the pages with his stone, if he really could find lost things with it and that when he could not she burned the pages. While the story is compelling, there is no contemporary account of this interaction. The story only shows up later. However, the loss of the 116 pages may have precipitated Martin’s declaration that “he would have no one in his house that did not believe in Mormonism,” before striking Lucy several times with “butt end of a whip…and was about the size of [a] thumb,13 and three or four feet long…and turn[ing her] out of doors twice.”
It may also have been during this interlude in Palmyra that Martin sought out the more-than-friendly company of “Mrs. Haggard”14 that Lucy mentions too. As the recipient of so much violence and under threat of losing their farm to the gold Bible, Lucy was probably not eager for Martin’s bedroom company. Lucy also says that Martin’s extra-long visits and sleepovers with Mrs. Haggard seemed to her to be the result of spending more time with Joseph. Additionally, Martin was just emerging from months of immersive indoctrination with Joseph in Pennsylvania, during which time Joseph and Martin were justifying “adultery as no crime.”15 In addition, Martin was distraught about the loss of the 116 pages and may have been avoiding facing Joseph directly. If the affair with Mrs. Haggard occurred during this period in the summer of 1828, it may have served multiple purposes in that it removed Martin from accountability to Lucy at his own home or to Joseph in Harmony. Though the detail and timing of the affair remains speculative, the fact of it is clear. Lucy’s affidavit regarding Mrs. Haggard is not presenting the idea as new, but answering questions from an ongoing conversation that she has overheard from others. Thus, we can deduce that whatever Martin’s specific reasons for pursuing Mrs. Haggard, Martin was caving to the cocktail of influence that Joseph had brought with him.
Read more about the Hale Family Witnesses and the Lewis Family Witnesses.
Eventually, Joseph came looking for Martin and they both went back to Pennsylvania empty handed. In the next two years, Martin would languish at the edges of Joseph’s approval, wringing his hands over being called a “wicked man” in revelation, and eager to make up for the loss by mortgaging his farm when the book was ready. He was also still funneling money to the couple. Thus, Joseph kept Martin close though he did not attempt to retranslate the book with him. Until this juncture, Joseph had been reassuring Martin through revelations that his role in the translation was certain. But even though God had supposedly shown Joseph (through peepstone) that Martin Harris was the destined scribe for the work, when Joseph walked back to his cabin one day refreshed and ready to dictate again, Martin was no longer the chosen vessel through whom Joseph would deposit his words. Martin was not completely banished, but he was also not chosen anymore. Joseph used Emma, his new brother-in-law Reuben and then Oliver Cowdery, perhaps as a way to avoid giving his avid investor too much bargaining power over the new transcription.
Abigail
In addition to the skepticism from his wife and son, Martin was also making a lackluster impression on his extended family. There were many Harrises in the New York and New England region and many of them were siblings to either Martin or Lucy. Of all the proselytizing Martin did to his family and community, though, only one16 of his extended clan accepted Martin’s latest religious experiment. Martin’s in-laws, that is Lucy’s siblings, shared Lucy’s skepticism. They may have been biased against Martin already, but they didn’t need Lucy’s insider knowledge to form their own opinions of the Smiths and the gold Bible. Lucy’s brother Peter and his wife Abigail, for example, could collect their information firsthand since they also lived in Palmyra.
In later years, when Abigail offered her own affidavit, she offered a valuable third witness to the events that Lucy and Henry described. As a member of the extended family and of the Palmyra community, her testimony is doubly important as it provides a detailed firsthand account that is more removed from the spiral of tensions alive within Martin and Lucy Harris’ household. She recounts that Joseph’s mother’s as anticipating that the exhibition of the plates would “bring in annually an enormous sum of money–that money would then be very plenty, and the book would also sell for a great price, as it was something entirely new–that they had been commanded to obtain all the money they could borrow for present necessity, and to repay with gold.” This affirms the testimonies of Lucy, Henry, and the Hale and Lewis families in Pennsylvania, all of whom heard Joseph and Martin speaking of the gold Bible project as a money-grab.
To be fair, Martin’s motives may not have been clear even to himself. In his own memories, he recalls himself as a generous beneficiary to Joseph at some times, and as a shrewd investor expecting a return at others. Lucy recalls Martin’s “main complaint against [her being] that [she] was always trying to hinder his making money.” Abigail also recalls this from Martin and that he told Lucy: “[Even if] it is a lie; if you will let me alone I will make money out of it!” It is probable that the motives for wealth, status, and spiritual arousal were all blended together for Martin and the Smiths, making it difficult to single out one single thing, however if there was a single motive behind the gold Bible project, documented history suggests it was money.
Abigail is also one of the earliest recorded examples of the Smith family claiming that angels resembled the Quakers, an idea that Joseph seems to have continued developing with later followers. He is remembered as believing that beings (as in, humans or human-like angels) lived on the Moon17 and probably also the Sun.18 But the idea may have started in Palmyra as the Smiths were tailoring their appeals to the wealthy local Harrises, who were also Quakers. Thus, Lucy Mack pulled Abigail aside, asked her for a $519 investment to fund the translation, and promised Abigail that “the spirit has said you shall receive fourfold.” Probably hoping that Abigail’s sense of religious duty would close the deal, Lucy Mack made sure to point out that the “spirit” who promised this was a Quaker like Abigail–one of “the order of Friends.” Claiming a resemblance with Quakers would not have been a random choice. Other than Martin, the extended Harris family was consistently Quaker. Thus, Lucy’s comparison of the angel to a Quaker sounds like another attempt to tease or flatter the Harrises into investing actual property by comparing them to angels. Abigail declined investing, but her record of the encounter is another valuable example of how the Smith family was crafting their stories around a specific intended audience.
The promises of repayment that Lucy Mack made to Abigail and that Joseph made (but never fulfilled) to Martin Harris, suggest that the Smiths did not have strong intentions of repaying “investments.” This is probable not only because there were so many examples of unpaid debts in the Smith family, but also because Joseph used the exact same leverage of revelations, personal appeals to the wealthy, and promises of multi-fold divinely-guaranteed repayment in order to elicit deposits in his homegrown bank a few years later.20 In modern times, that would make Joseph’s ventures not religion, so much as affinity fraud.
A Broken Family
Finally, in 1829, Joseph had gotten the entire Book of Mormon manuscript out of his head and on to the page and Martin fulfilled his long-standing desire to sacrifice everything for his spiritual cause. He mortgaged his farm to pay for publication and then went on the road to sell the books. When the books didn’t sell for the prophesied price, Martin had to remortgage and then keep selling. Eventually, Martin followed Joseph to Ohio, married a docile Mormon girl thirty-three years his junior, had six more children, and got to dabble with a number of other Churches21 over the years before eventually settling in Utah.
Martin’s family, though, never recovered. He and Lucy separated when he gave up his farm and Lucy had a portion of the estate put in her name to salvage some income for herself. His children more-or-less disowned their father, as evidenced by Henry’s stringent public castigation of his father’s character. The strain of defending her innocence about the pages, avoiding Martin’s violent rages, and again bearing the weight of their family alone must have been extreme. In addition, Martin’s growing infamy as a founder of the “Mormon delusion” was drawing reporters, writers, and curious onlookers to the Harris’ door.
In 1833, Lucy’s health was declining. She was only forty-one and in another three years, she would be gone. Her impending death gives special weight to her written affidavit in which she offers “a statement to the world of what I know respecting the Gold Bible speculation…realizing I must give an account at the bar of God for what I saw.” Her son Henry William and sister-in-law Abigail joined her, writing sobering testimonies of their own view of Martin’s restoration. But unlike the melodramatic victories of Mormon testimonies, the Harris’ witnesses are sad tales, full of confusion over how their family, their savings, and their community could have turned so dramatically, so quickly, and upon so little actual evidence.
It is from Lucy’s 1833 affidavit that modern Church apologists salvage a few words to bolster belief in Martin Harris as a trusted Witness to the Book of Mormon. In the Encyclopedia of Mormonism they say, “His wife characterized him as industrious, attentive to domestic concerns, and an excellent provider and father.”22 Besides the idea that Lucy stole the 116 pages, this is the only thing a faithful member is supposed to remember about the Harris family’s involvement with Joseph. However, what Lucy actually recorded “for the world” was this:
“Martin Harris was once industrious and attentive to his domestic concerns, and thought to be worth about ten thousand dollars. He is naturally quick in his temper and in his mad-fits frequently abuses all who may dare to oppose him in his wishes. However strange it may seem, I have been a great sufferer by his unreasonable conduct. At different times while I lived with him, he has whipped, kicked, and turned me out of the house.”
She goes on to detail the ways in which Martin was no longer industrious or attentive and how he squandered his money on the speculations of Joseph over and over, despite her distress. Her son and sister-in-law add firsthand witnesses that they also saw the events Lucy described. The assessment is not a compliment: it’s a tragedy.
After Lucy’s death in 1836, Martin would immediately remarry twenty-year-old Caroline Young, a relative of Brigham Young. He was fifty-three at the time. They would go on to have six children and eventually migrated to Utah after many detours in other faiths too. He never saw his children from Lucy again. The separation was probably mutual.
Lucy Harris’ affidavit, as well as those of her family members, is many things. It is an admission that the life options in Colonial America were so few for a married woman that staying in an abusive marriage with a semi-rich farmer was better than divorce. It is an affirmation that the main thing holding her in marriage was the idea that she would not be left destitute in old age, that Martin had property, and that by mortgaging away his farm he also swept away the only consolation prize Lucy had from their marriage. It is an attempt to fairly represent the character of this larger, older man who had repeatedly “whipped, kicked, and turned [her] out of the house.” It is a window into the forgotten world of the families who were left behind when someone converted to follow the Mormons.
It is also a lament for the slightly-more-decent man that Lucy remembered before his involvement with Joseph Smith. It is a mourning that perhaps the only worthy qualities of her husband (industriousness, attention to chores, and his estate) had all been lost behind the screen of religious fanaticism. It is a final almost nihilist show of strength: a woman with no clout, voting rights, or political power taking a stand against a speculation that hollowed out her life. It is why Lucy, regardless of what happened to the 116 pages, deserves the praise that Christopher Hitchens gave her by saying that, “determined women like this appear far too seldom in the history of religion.”23
Footnotes
- New York state was originally a Dutch colony named “New Netherlands” and their key hub of colonists lived at the mouth of the Hudson river in New Amsterdam. After the British-American Revolution, the American colonists veered into a strange bout of nostalgia for good old England and renamed the Dutch area and colony both “New York.” ↩︎
- Louise Krall, “Did You Know: Women and African Americans Could Vote in NJ before the 15th and 19th Amendments?,” U.S. National Park Service, last updated July 3, 2018, https://www.nps.gov/articles/voting-rights-in-nj-before-the-15th-and-19th.htm. ↩︎
- The “Black Regiment” was officially the 1st Regiment of Rhode Island.
“1st Rhode Island Regiment,” Wikipedia, last modified access page for exact “last edited” date, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Rhode_Island_Regiment. ↩︎ - The “May Day Basket” tradition was common in 19th century New England. Suitors would collect trinkets, candy, and flowers in April to fill a basket and then deposit it on the doorstep of their crush and run away (but not too fast). I owe the lovely children’s novel Heart of a Samurai by Margi Preuss for awareness of this tradition. ↩︎
- Martin’s father had bought 600 acres of New York and though the exact date of Martin receiving his inheritance is unknown, it was customary at the time for men to have a living and a home before marrying. Thus, Martin probably received 150 acres of his father’s land sometime around his twenty-fourth birthday, just before he married Lucy in the spring of 1808. ↩︎
- Lucy’s four children are listed on her tombstone: Lucy, Henry William, George B., and Elizabeth L. The Encyclopedia of Mormonism claims that Lucy had 6 children by Martin and that claim is quoted from the Encyclopedia often, but I saw no records, graves, or other firsthand sources of another two children.
“Lucy Harris,” Find a Grave, memorial ID 150025857, accessed January 6, 2026, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/150025857/lucy-harris. ↩︎ - This was the Greek War of Independence in 1821. A significant element of the war was the religious conflict between Greek Orthodox Christians and their Islamic overlords. ↩︎
- Rhett S. James, “Harris, Martin,” in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, ed. Daniel H. Ludlow (New York: Macmillan, 1992), https://eom.byu.edu/index.php?title=Harris,_Martin. ↩︎
- Martin Harris, interview by Joel Tiffany, “Mormonism—II,” Tiffany’s Monthly 5 (August 1859): 163–70, American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, MA. ↩︎
- Full Quote: “[God] told [Joseph] to go and look in the spectacles, and [God] would show [Joseph] the man that would assist him. [Joseph said] that he did so, and he saw myself, Martin Harris, standing before him. That struck me with surprise. I told him I wished him to be very careful about these things. “Well,” said he, “I saw you standing before me as plainly as I do now.” I said, if it is the devil’s work I will have nothing to do with it; but if it is the Lord’s, you can have all the money necessary to bring it before the world. He said the angel told him, that the plates must be translated, printed and sent before the world.”
Martin Harris, interview by Joel Tiffany. ↩︎ - $50 in 1827 would be about $1620 in 2026. ↩︎
- May 8, 1828, Martin’s oldest child, Lucy Harris married Isaiah Dike. Isaiah was said to have been a scoundrel and a thief, so modern historians have speculated that he may have been Isaiah who stole the 116 pages. ↩︎
- The “rule of thumb” in 19th century America was a colloquial method of gauging the severity of domestic violence. The sordid reasoning went something like this: if a man beat a woman with an object smaller in diameter than a man’s thumb, it was permissible. If the object was larger in diameter than a man’s thumb, that was too violent. This rule was probably not a proper legality on paper, at least not universally, but the fact that Lucy references her thumb size to describe the weapon Martin used towards her indicates that she knew the rule and expected the general readership to understand its meaning as well. She is also showing by this description that Martin was strategically using the largest yet still-permissible item possible with which to hurt her. ↩︎
- Historians have not ascertained for sure who this was. In my own research, I found that the Haggard-Gentry families were a large family in Virginia and Kentucky going back into the 1700s. Their area in Virginia was not convenient to Palmyra, so if these were relatives of the large southern Haggard family, then they may have only been in the area temporarily before going South again. I could find no records of a Haggard surname in the surrounding graveyards of Palmyra. If an enterprising historian does manage to track down details on this couple, please contact me and I will update this article. ↩︎
- Lewis Family Affidavits. Download available here. ↩︎
- Martin’s brother Emer would end up following the Mormons all the way to Utah. ↩︎
- “Inhabitants of the Moon are more of a uniform size than the inhabitants of the Earth, being about 6 feet in height. They dress very much like the Quaker Style & are quite general in Style, or the one fashion of dress. They live to be very old; [coming] generally, near a thousand years.”
“Journal of O.B. Huntington,” Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, digital image, page 96. accessed January 7, 2026, https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/SCMisc/id/27480.
For more on the “Moon Quakers”, see:
“Joseph Smith and Moon Quakers,” Mormonr.org, accessed January 7, 2026, https://mormonr.org/qnas/09I79j/joseph_smith_and_moon_quakers. ↩︎ - Brigham Young reiterated the moon idea and added the “Sun’s inhabitants” in 1870 over the pulpit. Brigham often said he was only restating things taught to him by Joseph Smith.
Full quote from Brigham Young: “…when you inquire about the inhabitants of [the Moon] you find that the most learned are as ignorant in regard to them as the most ignorant of their fellows. So it is with regard to the inhabitants of the sun. Do you think it is inhabited? I rather think it is. Do you think there is any life there? No question of it; it was not made in vain.”
Brigham Young, “The Gospel—The One-Man Power,” in Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. (London and Liverpool: Latter-day Saints’ Book Depot, 1854–86), 13:271. ↩︎ - $5 in 1828 equates to about $170 in 2026. ↩︎
- Not surprisingly, this bank, the Kirtland Safety Society, also collapsed and left the investors empty-handed. ↩︎
- Most interesting among these dabblings to modern Church Members would probably be Martin’s dalliance with the Strangites, a Wisconsin break-off that formed after Joseph’s death, which also claimed to have ancient plates, a translation, and for whom Martin also bore solemn witness. ↩︎
- Rhett S. James, “Harris, Martin.” ↩︎
- Christopher Hitchens, God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything (New York: Twelve, 2007). ↩︎
Harris Family Witnesses
Lucy Harris, 1833
As originally published in Mormonism Unvailed (sic) by Eber D. Howe, 1834.
Being called upon to give a statement to the world of what I know respecting the Gold Bible speculation, and also of the conduct of Martin Harris, my husband, who is a leading character among the Mormons, I do it free from prejudice, realizing that I must give an account at the bar of God for what I saw.
Martin Harris was once industrious and attentive to his domestic concerns, and thought to be worth about ten thousand dollars. He is naturally quick in his temper and in his mad-fits frequently abuses all who may dare to oppose him in his wishes. However strange it may seem, I have been a great sufferer by his unreasonable conduct. At different times while I lived with I’m, he has whipped, kicked, and turned me out of the house. About a year previous to the report being raised that Smith had found gold plates, he became very intimate with the Smith family , and said he believe Joseph could see in his stone any thing he wished.
After this he apparently became very sanguine in his belief, and frequently said he would have no one in his house that did not believe in Mormonism; and because I would not give credit to the report he made about the gold plates, he became more austere towards me. In one of his fits of rage he struck me with the but end of a whip, which I think had been used for driving oxen, and was about the size of my thumb, and three or four feet long. He beat me on the head four or five times, and the next day turned me out of door twice, and beat me in a shameful manner.–
The next day I went to the town or Marion, and while there my flesh was black and blue in many places. His main complaint against me was that I was always trying to hinder his making money.
When he found out that I was going to Mr. Putnam’s in Marion, he said he was going too, that they had sent for him to pay them a visit. On arriving at Mr. Putnam’s, I asked them if they had sent for Mr. Harris; they replied they knew nothing about it; he, however, came in the evening. Mrs. Putnam told him never to strike or abuse me any more; he then denied ever striking me; she was however convinced that he lied, as the marks of his beating me were plain to be seen, and remained more than two weeks. Whether the Mormon religion be true or false, I leave the world to judge, for its effects upon Martin Harris have been to make him more cross, turbulent, and abusive to me. His whole object was to make money by it. I will give one circumstances win proof of it. One day, while at Peter Harris’ house, I told him he had better leave the company of the Smiths as their religion was false; to which he replied, if you would let me alone, I could make money by it.
It is in vain for the Mormons to deny these facts; for they are all well known to most of his former neighbors. The man has now become rather an object of pity; he has spent most of his property, and lost the confidence of his former friends. If he had labored as hard on his farm as he has to make Mormons, he might now be one of the wealthiest farmers in the country. He now spends his time in traveling through the country spreading the delusion of Mormonism and has no regard whatever for his family.
With regard to Mr. Harris being intimate with Mrs. Haggard, as has been reported, it is but justice to myself to state what facts have come within my own observation, to show whether I had any ground for jealousy or not. Mr. Harris was very intimate with this family, for some time previous to their going to Ohio. They lived a while in a house which he had built for their accommodation and here he spent the most of his leisure hours; and made her presents in a private manner, and frequently when he went there, he would pretend to be going to some of the neighbors, on an errand, or to be going into the fields–After getting out of sight of the house, he would steer a straight course for haggard’s house, especially if Haggard was from home. At times when [Mr.] Haggard was [away] from home, he would go there in the manner above described and stay till twelve or one o’clock at night, and sometimes until day light.
If his intentions were evil, the Lord will judge him accordingly, but if good, he did not mean to let his left hand know what his right hand did. The above statement of facts, I affirm to be true.
LUCY HARRIS
Henry Harris, 1833
Editorial note: Henry William Harris was Martin and Lucy’s second child and oldest son.
As originally published in Mormonism Unvailed (sic) by Eber D. Howe, 1834.
I, Henry Harris, do state that I became acquainted with the family of Joseph Smith, Sen. about the year 1820, in the town of Manchester, N. York. They were a family that labored very little–the chief they did, was to dig for money. Joseph Smith Jr. the pretended Prophet, used to pretend to tell fortunes he had a stone which he used to put in his hat, by means of which he professed to tell people’s fortunes.
Joseph Smith, Jr. Martin Harris and others, used to meet together in private, a while before the gold plates were found, and were familiarly known by the name of the “gold Bible company.” They were regarded by the community in which they lived as a lying and indolent set of men and no confidence could be placed in them.
The characters of Joseph Smith Jr. for truth and veracity was such, that I would not believe him under oath. I was once on a jury before a Justice’s Court and the Jury could not, and did not believe his testimony to be true. After he pretended to have found the gold plates, I had a conversation with I’m, and asked him where he found them and how he came to know where they were. He said he had a revelations from God that told him they were hid in a certain hill and he looked in his stone and saw them I the place of deposit; that an angel appeared and told him he could not get the plates until he was married, and that when he saw the woman that was to be his wife, he should know her, and she would know him. He then went to Pennsylvania, got his wife, and they both went together and got the gold plates–he said it was revealed to him, that no one must see the plates but himself and wife.
I then asked him what letters were engraved on them, he said italic letters written in an unknown language and that he had copied some of the words and sent them to Dr. Mitchell and Professor Anthem of New York. By looking on the plates he said he could not understand the words, but it was made known to him that he was the person that must translate them, and on looking through the stone was enabled to translate.
After the Book was published, I frequently bantered him for a copy. He asked fourteen shillings a piece for them; I told him I would not give so much; he told me he had had a new revelation that they might be sold at ten shillings a piece.
State of Ohio, Cuyhoga County, Ss:
Personally appeared before me, Henry Harris, and made oath in due form of law, that the foregoing statements subscribed by him are true.
JONATHAN LAPHAM
Justice of the Peace.
Palmyra, Warne Co. N.Y. 11th mo. 28th 1833
Abigail Harris, 1833
Editorial note: Abigail Cook Harris married Lucy Harris’ brother Peter Harris.
As originally published in Mormonism Unvailed (sic) by Eber D. Howe, 1834.
In the early part of the winter in 1828, I made a visit to Martin Harris and was joined in the company by Jos. Smith, sen. and his wife. The Gold Bible business, so-called, was the topic of conversation, to which I paid particular attention that I might learn the truth of the whole matter.–They told me that the report that Joseph, jun. had found golden plates, was true and that he was in Harmony, Pa. translating them–that such plates were in existence, and that Joseph, jun. was to obtain them, was revealed to him by the spirit of one or the Saints that was on this continent, previous to its being discovered by Columbus. Old Mrs. Smith observed that she thought he must be a Quaker, as he was dressed very plain. They said that the plates he then had in possession were but an introduction to the Gold Bible–that all of them upon which the bible was written, were so heavy that it would take four stout men to load them into a cart–that Joseph had also discovered by looking through his stone, the vessel in which the gold was melted from which the plates were made, and also the machine with which they were rolled; he also discovered in the bottom of the vessel three balls of gold, each as large as his fist.
The old lady [Lucy Mack Smith] said also, that after the book was translated, the plates were to be publicly exhibited–admittance 0-5 cents. She calculated it would bring in annually an enormous sum of money–that money would then be very plenty, and the book would also sell for a great price, as it was something entirely new–that they had been commanded to obtain all the money they could borrow for present necessity, and to repay with gold.
The remainder was to be kept in store for the benefit of their family and children. This and the like conversation detained me until about 11 o’clock. Early the next morning, the mystery of the Spirit being like myself (one of the order called Friends) was revealed by the following circumstance: The old lady took me into another room, and after closing the door, she said, “have you four or five dollars in money that you can lend until our business is brought to a close? the spirit has said you shall receive fourfold.” I told her that when I gave, I did it not expecting to receive again–as for money I had none to lend. I then asked her what her particular want of money was; to which she replied “Joseph wants to take the stage and come home from Pennsylvania to see what we are all about.” To which I replied, he might look in his stone and save his time and money. The old lady seemed confused and left the room, and thus ended the visit.
In the second month following, Martin Harris and his wife were at my house. In conversation about Mormonites she observed, that she wished her husband would quit them as she believed it was all false and a delusion. To which I heard Mr. Harris reply : “What if it is a lie; if you will let me alone I will make money out of it!”
I was both an eye and an ear-witness of what has been stated above, which is now fresh in my memory, and I give it to the world for the good of mankind. I speak the truth and lie not, God bearing me is witness.
ABIGAIL HARRIS
Martin Harris, 1859
Editorial Note: This post focuses on the published statements of the Harris family members beyond Martin. However, these lesser-known interviews describe several key early interactions between Joseph and the Harris family, so I wanted to include it in full for the reader’s reference.
Originally published in “Mormonism–II,” TIffany’s Monthly 5, in August 1859
Joel Tiffany: The following narration we took down from the lips of Martin Harris, and read the same to him after it was written, that we might be certain of giving his statement to the world. We made a journey to Ohio for the purpose of obtaining it, in the latter part of January, 1859. We did this that the world might have a connected account of the origin of Mormonism from the lips of one of the original witnesses, upon whose testimony it was first received. For it will be remembered that Martin Harris is one of the three witnesses selected to certify to the facts connected with the origin of that revelation.
Mr. Harris says: Joseph Smith, jr., found at Palmyra [Manchester], N.Y., on the 22d day of September, 1827, the plates of gold upon which was recorded in Arabic, Chaldaic, Syriac, and Egyptian, the Book of Life, or the Book of Mormon. I was not with him at the time, but I had a revelation the summer before, that God had a work for me to do. These plates were found at the north point of a hill two miles north of Manchester village. Joseph had a stone which was dug from the well of Mason Chase, twenty-four feet from the surface.
In this stone he could see many things to my certain knowledge. It was by means of this stone he first discovered these plates. In the first place, he told me of this stone, and proposed to bind it on his eyes, and run a race with me in the woods. A few days after this, I was at the house of his father in Manchester, two miles south of Palmyra village, and was picking my teeth with a pin while sitting on the bars. The pin caught in my teeth, and dropped from my fingers into shavings and straw. I jumped from the bars and looked for it. Joseph and Northrop Sweet also did the same. We could not find it.
I then took Joseph on surprise, and said to him–I said, “Take your stone,” I had never seen it, and did not know that he had it with him. He had it in his pocket. He took it [out] and placed it in his hat–the old white hat–and placed his face in his hat. I watched him closely to see that he did not look [to] one side; he reached out his hand beyond me on the right, and moved a little stick, and there I saw the pin, which he picked up and gave to me. I know he did not look out of the hat until after he had picked up the pin.
Joseph had had this stone for some time. There was a company there in that neighborhood, who were digging for money supposed to have been hidden by the ancients. Of this company were old Mr. Stowel[l]–I think his name was Josiah–also old Mr. Beman, also Samuel Lawrence, George Proper, Joseph Smith, jr., and his father, and his brother Hiram Smith. They dug for money in Palmyra, Manchester, also in Pennsylvania, and other places. When Joseph found this stone, there was a company digging in Harmony, Pa., and they took Joseph to look in the stone for them, and he did so for a while, and then he told them the enchantment was so strong that he could not see, and they gave it up. There he became acquainted with his future wife, the daughter of old Mr. Isaac Hale, where he boarded. He afterwards returned to Pennsylvania again, and married his wife, taking her off to old Mr. Stowel[l]’s, because her people would not consent to the marriage. She was of age, Joseph was not.
After this, on the 22nd of September, 1827, before day, Joseph took the horse and wagon of old Mr. Stowel[l], and taking his wife, he went to the place where the plates were concealed, and while he was obtaining them, she kneeled down and prayed. He then took the plates and hid them in an old black oak tree top which was hollow. Mr. Stowel[l] was at this time at old Mr. Smith’s, digging for money. It was reported by these money-diggers, that they had found boxes, but before they could secure them, they would sink into the earth. A candid old Presbyterian told me, that on the Susquehannah flats he dug down to an iron chest, that he scraped the dirt off with his shovel, but had nothing with him to open the chest; that he went away to get help, and when they came to it, it moved away two or three rods into the earth, and they could not get it.
There were a great many strange sights. One time the old log school-house south of Palmyra, was suddenly lighted up, and frightened them away. Samuel Lawrence told me that while they were digging, a large man who appeared to be eight or nine feet high, came and sat on the ridge of the barn, and motioned to them that they must leave. They motioned back that they would not; but that they afterwards became frightened and did leave. At another time while they were digging, a company of horsemen came and frightened them away. These things were real to them, I believe, because they were told to me in confidence, and told by different ones, and their stories agreed, and they seemed to be in earnest–I knew they were in earnest.
Joseph did not dig for these plates. They were placed in this way: four stones were set up and covered with a flat stone, oval on the upper side and flat on the bottom. Beneath this was a little platform upon which the plates were laid; and the two stones set in a bow of silver by means of which the plates were translated, were found underneath the plates.
These plates were seven inches wide by eight inches in length, and were of the thickness of plates of tin; and when piled one above the other, they were altogether about four inches thick; and they were put together on the back by three silver rings, so that they would open like a book. The two stones set in a bow of silver were about two inches in diameter, perfectly round, and about five-eighths of an inch thick at the centre; but not so thick at the edges where they came into the bow. They were joined by a round bar of silver, about three-eighths of an inch in diameter, and about four inches long, which, with the two stones, would make eight inches. The stones were white, like polished marble, with a few gray streaks. I never dared to look into them by placing them in the hat, because Moses said that “no man could see God and live,” and we could see anything we wished by looking into them; and I could not keep the desire to see God out of my mind. And beside, we had a command to let no man look into them, except by the command of God, lest he should “look aught and perish.” These plates were usually kept in a cherry box made for that purpose, in the possession of Joseph and myself. The plates were kept from the sight of the world, and no one, save Oliver Cowdrey, myself, Joseph Smith, jr., and David Whitmer, ever saw them. Before the Lord showed the plates to me, Joseph wished me to see them. But I refused, unless the Lord should do it.
At one time, before the Lord showed them to me, Joseph said I should see them. I asked him, why he would break the commands of the Lord? He said, you have done so much I am afraid you will not believe unless you see them. I replied, “Joseph, I know all about it. The Lord has showed to me ten times more about it than you know.”–Here we inquired of Mr. Harris–How did the Lord show you these things? He replied, “I am forbidden to say anything how the Lord showed them to me, except that by the power of God I have seen them.” Mr. Harris continues: I hefted the plates many times, and should think they weighed forty or fifty pounds. When Joseph had obtained the plates, he communicated the fact to his father and mother. The plates remained concealed in the tree top until he got the chest made. He then went after them and brought them home. While on his way home with the plates, he was met by what appeared to be a man, who demanded the plates, and struck him with a club on his side, which was all black and blue. Joseph knocked the man down, and then ran for home, and was much out of breath. When he arrived at home, he handed the plates in at the window, and they were received from him by his mother. They were then hidden under the hearth in his father’s house. But the wall being partly down, it was feared that certain ones, who were trying to get possession of the plates would get under the house and dig them out.
Joseph then took them out, and hid them under the old cooper’s shop, by taking up a board and digging in the ground and burying them. When they were taken from there, they were put into an old Ontario glass box. Old Mr. Beman sawed off the ends, making the box the right length to put them in, and when they went in he said he heard them jink [clink], but he was not permitted to see them. He told me so.
The money-diggers claimed that they had as much right to the plates as Joseph had, as they were in company together. They claimed that Joseph had been [a] traitor, and had appropriated to himself that which belonged to them. For this reason Joseph was afraid of them, and continued concealing the plates. After they had been concealed under the floor of the cooper’s shop for a short time, Joseph was warned to remove them. He said he was warned by an angel. He took them out and hid them up in the chamber of the cooper’s shop among the flags [flax]. That night some one came, took up the floor, and dug up the earth, and would have found the plates had they not been removed. These things had all occurred before I talked with Joseph respecting the plates. But I had the account of it from Joseph, his wife, brothers, sisters, his father and mother. I talked with them separately, that I might get the truth of the matter.
The first time I heard of the matter, my brother Presarved [Preserved] Harris, who had been in the village of Palmyra, asked me if [I] had heard about Joseph Smith, jr., having a golden bible. My thoughts were that the money-diggers had probably dug up an old brass kettle, or something of the kind. I thought no more of it. This was about the first of October, 1827. The next day after the talk with my brother, I went to the village, and there I was asked what I thought of the Gold Bible? I replied, The Scripture says, He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is foolishness unto him. I do not wish to make myself a fool. I don’t know anything about it. Then said I, what is it about Joe’s Gold Bible? They then went on to say, that they put whiskey into the old man’s cider and got him half drunk, and he told them all about it. They then repeated his account, which I found afterwards to agree substantially with the account given by Joseph. Then said I to them, how do you know that he has not got such gold plates? They replied, “Damn him! angels appear to men in this enlightened age! Damn him, he ought to be tarred and feathered for telling such a damned lie!” Then I said, suppose he has told a lie, as old Tom Jefferson said, it did [not] matter to him whether a man believed in one god or twenty. It did not rob his pocket, nor break his shins. What is it to us if he has told a lie? He has it to answer for [it] if he has lied. If you should tar and feather all the liars, you would soon be out of funds to purchase the material.
I then thought of the words of Christ, The kingdom divided against itself cannot stand. I knew they were of the devil’s kingdom, and if that is of the devil, his kingdom is divided against itself. I said in my heart, this is something besides smoke. There is some fire at the bottom of it. I then determined to go and see Joseph as soon as I could find time. A day or so before I was ready to visit Joseph, his mother came over to our house and wished to talk with me. I told her I had no time to spare, she might talk with my wife, and, in the evening when I had finished my work I would talk with her. When she commenced talking with me, she told me respecting his bringing home the plates, and many other things, and said that Joseph had sent her over and wished me to come and see him. I told her that I had a time appointed when I would go, and that when the time came I should then go, but I did not tell her when it was. I sent my boy to harness my horse and take her home. She wished my wife and daughter to go with her; and they went and spent most of the day. When they came home, I questioned them about them. My daughter said, they were about as much as she could lift. They were now in the glass-box, and my wife said they were very heavy. They both lifted them. I waited a day or two, when I got up in the morning, took my breakfast, and told my folks I was going to the village, but went directly to old Mr. Smith’s.
I found that Joseph had gone away to work for Peter Ingersol[l] to get some flour. I was glad he was absent, for that gave me an opportunity of talking with his wife and the family about the plates. I talked with them separately, to see if their stories agreed, and I found they did agree. When Joseph came home I did not wish him to know that I had been talking with them, so I took him by the arm and led him away from the rest, and requested him to tell me the story, which he did as follows. He said: “An angel had appeared to him, and told him it was God’s work.” Here Mr. Harris seemed to wander from the subject, when we requested him to continue and tell what Joseph then said. He replied, Joseph had before this described the manner of his finding the plates. He found them by looking in the stone found in the well of Mason Chase. The family had likewise told me the same thing. Joseph said the angel told him he must quit the company of the money-diggers. That there were wicked men among them. He must have no more to do with them. He must not lie, nor swear, nor steal. He told him to go and look in the spectacles, and he would show him the man that would assist him. That he did so, and he saw myself, Martin Harris, standing before him. That struck me with surprise. I told him I wished him to be very careful about these things. “Well,” said he, “I saw you standing before me as plainly as I do now.” I said, if it is the devil’s work I will have nothing to do with it; but if it is the Lord’s, you can have all the money necessary to bring it before the world. He said the angel told him, that the plates must be translated, printed and sent before the world. I said, Joseph, you know my doctrine, that cursed is every one that putteth his trust in man, and maketh flesh his arm; and we know that the devil is to have great power in the latter days to deceive if possible the very elect; and I don’t know that you are one of the elect. Now you must not blame me for not taking your word. If the Lord will show me that it is his work, you can have all the money you want.
While at Mr. Smith’s I hefted the plates, and I knew from the heft that they were lead or gold, and I knew that Joseph had not credit enough to buy so much lead. I left Mr. Smith’s about eleven o’clock and went home. I retired to my bedroom and prayed God to show me concerning these things, and I covenanted that if it was his work and he would show me so, I would put forth my best ability to bring it before the world. He then showed me that it was his work, and that it was designed to bring in the fullness of his gospel to the gentiles to fulfill his word, that the first shall be last and the last first. He showed this to me by the still small voice spoken in the soul. Then I was satisfied that it was the Lord’s work, and I was under a covenant to bring it forth. The excitement in the village upon the subject had become such that some had threatened to mob Joseph, and also to tar and feather him. They said he should never leave until he had shown the plates. It was unsafe for him to remain, so I determined that he must go to his father-in-law’s in Pennsylvania.
He wrote to his brother-in-law Alvah Hale, requesting him to come for him. I advised Joseph that he must pay all his debts before starting. I paid them for him, and furnished him money for his journey. I advised him to take time enough to get ready, so that he might start a day or two in advance: for he would be mobbed if it was known when he started. We put the box of plates into a barrel about one-third full of beans and headed it up. I informed Mr. Hale of the matter, and advised them to cut each a good cudgel and put [them] into the wagon with them, which they did. It was understood that they were to start on Monday; but they started on Saturday night and got though safe. This was the last of October, 1827. It might have been the first of November.
Available for Download: the Harris Family Witness Statements
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