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Joseph Smith in Chenango County New York and Its Alleged Court Record

By Francis W. Kirkham Ph.D.

JOSEPH SMITH

WHERE did the Prophet Joseph Smith spend his time after his first vision in May 1820 to about July 1, 1829, when the writing of the manuscript of the Book of Mormon was completed? What did he do? Who were his companions? Where and what did he read and study? Did he attend school? Did he come under the influence of persons or books that can in any way explain the writing or the contents of the Book of Mormon?

The Prophet tells us in his story what he did. The Prophet's mother, Oliver Cowdery, John Reid, an attorney, all bear witness to the fact that Joseph Smith went to Chenango County, New York, to work. Undoubtedly, the Prophet had related the account of the visit of Moroni, for Mr. Reid wrote concerning the arrest and trial, and his defense of Joseph Smith in 1830, making this assertion: "This, Mr. Chairman, is a true history of the first persecution that came upon General Smith in his youth among professed Christians. ..." (Italics, author's.)

The first reference in the county papers to the Prophet's influence appears to have been in November 1831 and December 1832, when "two or three wretched zealots of Mormonism created much excitement, and made some proselytes in a remote district on the borders of this county and Lazarne. The new converts then propose removing to 'the promised land,' near Painesville, Ohio." (Appendix, History of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Stocker.)

The writer thus declares that the first reference in the county papers concerning Joseph Smith came after the Church was organized, and at the time which Joseph Smith in his own records in 1830 states that he was arrested because of his religious activities. No mention is made of an arrest or a court record before this time.

In 1883, Daniel S. Tuttle, missionary bishop of Idaho and Utah, wrote an article for the New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge regarding the "Mormons." (New York, 1883, Vol. II, pp. 1575-1581.)

After describing the contents of the Book of Mormon, and summarizing the early life of Joseph Smith, Bishop Tuttle wrote:

This was on September 22, 1823 (the first visit to Joseph Smith of Moroni, the immortal messenger) and from this time on, he avers, his days and nights were filled and his life was guided, by "visions," "voices," and "angels."

The Hill Cumorah was about four miles from Palmyra, between that town and Manchester. Here, in the fall of 1827, he claims he exhumed the golden plates. For more than two years, by the aid of the "Urim and Thummim" found with them, he was engaged in translating their contents into English. In March 1830, the translation was given into the printer's hands. This is his history of himself. In what light he appeared to others may be gathered from the following extract, never before published, from the records of the proceedings before a justice of the peace of Bainbridge, Chenango County, New York: