[Beginning of article missing] ... In the history of this county, the axe will always play a prominent part. Through its instrumentality, the forests have been razed, the desert has been made to "bloom and blossom as the rose," savagery has been made to give back before this emblem of higher civilization, and communities and cities have strung into existence. It is not a bad suggestion once made in congress that on the coat of arms of the United States be blazoned an axe, rampant, on a field, green.

As to who was the first settler in this region, history, as usual is rather vague. It is commonly believed that Leman H., and James P. Pitcher were the first to clear for themselves a place in which to work and live. Others followed in their wake and the beginning of South Dayton probably dates from the time when Robt. F. Ewing made the locality feel the impress of his splendid personality.

Concerning the early history of our village, the following has been written expecially for this anniversary number of the News:

In 1830 and 1840 there was a great Mormon excitement here, and the prevailing religions here at that time were Mormons and Methodists. The great Mormon Prophet, Joseph Smith, came here occasionally and held services in a large house which stood on the site where Mrs. Hampton Phillips' house now stands.

This building was 30 x 50 and three stories hight, and at one time nine families occupied it, mostly Mormons. This house stood for a great many years and was finally torn down by Homer Wheelock.

When the Mormons left New York state Joseph Smith went with them and the Nickersons, who owned the great house and all the land on which the village of South Dayton now stands, went with him, after selling their property to the Smith brothers of Hanover, who afterwards sold it to Homer Wheelock.

In those days peddlers used to go on horse back carrying packs on their backs. One day a peddler came with his horse and a small stock of goods. The man put up at the Mormon headquarters and was never seen to go away...


Note 1: The following is found in chapter 19 of Inez S. Davis' The Story of the Church: "In the month of September [1833], one Freeman Nickerson who had a large and prosperous farm consisting of two hundred acres on Conewango Creek, in the town of Dayton, Cattaraugus County, New York, took a journey to Kirtland with his wife. Elders had preached in his home at various times, and at length he and his wife were baptized... On the 5th of October, the Nickersons with Sidney Rigdon and Joseph Smith started for Canada."

Note 2: Joseph Smith's personal diary contains this entry: "Saturday the 12th [October 1833, came to] the house of father Nickerson... Sunday the 13th held a meeting at Freeman Nickerson['s]   had a large congregation Brother Sidney preached & I bear record to the people the Lord gave his spirit in [a] marvilous maner...

WHEN  JOE  SMITH  HATCHED  MORMONISM.

Story of the Rise of This Peculiar Religion
in Early Days of Wayne County
________

That period in Wayne county when the Erie canal was dug, and which started the prosperity of the western portion of the State is also notable as the period when "Joe" Smith of Palmyra hatched out his Mormon religion. The remarkable rise of this religion in Wayne county is a peculiar circumstance, and its early history in the county in the region of Manchester and Palmyra is worthy of careful note. Although Smith claimed to have dug up the plates from which the Mormon Bible was translated, and although the printing of the Bible was done at Palmyra, yet it is to the credit of Palmyra that people that they did not "take" to the doctrine, and aside from Martin Harris and a few others the local converts were few in number.

The following story of the rise of Mormonism is taken from a History of Wayne County, written by Prof. W. H. McIntosh.

Mormonism had its origin with the family :of Joseph Smith, Sr., who came in the summer of 1816, from Royalton, Vermont, and settled in the village of Palmyra. The family consisted of nine children, viz., Alvin, Hiram, Sophronia, Joseph, Samuel H., William, Catherine, Carlos and Lucy. Arrived at Palmyra the elder Smith opened a "cake and beer shop," as his sign indicated, and the profits of the shop, combined with occasional earnings by himself and eldest sons at harvesting, well-digging and other common employments, enabled him to provide an honest living for the family. The shop, with its confectionery, gingerbread, root-beer and such articles, was well patronized by the village and country youth, and on public occasions did a lively business. A hand-cart fashioned by Joseph Smith, Sr., was employed to peddle his wares on the streets. For two and a half years the family resided in the village, and in 1818 settled upon a wild tract of land located about two miles south of Palmyra. Anticipating a removal hither, a small log house had been built, and in this they made their home for a dozen years. The cabin contained two rooms on the ground floor, and a garret had two divisions. Some time after occupation a wing was built of slabs for a sleeping apartment.

The land thus settled was owned by non-resident minor heirs, who had a local agent to look after it; hence the squatters were not disturbed. Mr. Smith finally contracted for the land, made a small payment and occupied the tract until 1829 when the new religion was ushered into existence. The family were an exception to Vermonters, and did little to improve their state or clear the land. A short time before leaving the farm they erected the frame of a small house and partially inclosed it, and here they lived in the unfinished building until they took their departure. The old cabin was put to use as a barn. The Smiths left in 1831, and that once wild tract, the abode of the squatter family, is now a well-organized farm located on Stafford street, running south of the village. The Smiths obtained a livelihood from this lot by the sale of cordwood, baskets, birch-brooms, maple sugar and syrup, and on public days resumed the cake and beer business in Palmyra. Much the larger portion of the time of the Smiths was employed in hunting, trapping muskrats, fishing and lounging at the village. Joseph, Jr., was active in catching woodchucks, but practically ignored work.

Nocturnal depredations occurred among neighbors, and suspicion rested upon the family, but no proof of their being implicated has been adduced. "A shiftless set" was an appropriate designation to the Smiths, and Joseph, Jr., was the worst of the lot. During his minority he is recalled as indolent and mendacious. In appearance dull-eyed, tow-haired, and of shiftless manner. Taciturn unless addressed, he was not believed when he did speak. He was given to mischief and mysterious pretense, was good-natured and was never known to laugh. Having learned to read, the lives of criminals engrossed his attention, till from study of the Bible he became familiar with portions of the Scripture and especially found interest in revelation and prophecy. Revivals occurred, and Smith joined a class of probationers in the Methodist church of Palmyra, but soon withdrew.

In September, 1819, the elder Smith and his sons Alvin and Hiram, in digging a well near Palmyra, threw up a stone of vitreous though opaque appearance, and in form like an infant's foot. This stone was secured by Joseph, and turned to account as a revelator of present and future. In the role of fortune-teller, small amounts were received from the credulous, and the impostor was encouraged to enlarge his field by asserting a vision of gold and silver buried in iron chests in the vicinity. The stone was finally placed in his [hand?] to shade its marvelous brightness when its services were required. Persisting in his assertions, there were those who in the spring of 1820 contributed to defray the expenses of digging for the buried treasure. At midnight, dupes. laborers and himself, with lanterns, repaired to the hillside near the house of Smith, where, following mystic ceremony digging began by signal in enjoined silence. Two hours elapsed when just as the money-box was about to be unearthed someone spoke and the treasure vanished. This was the explanation of the failure, and it was sufficient for the party. The deception was repeated from time to time in the interval between 1820 and 1827 and, despite the illusory search for money, he obtained contributions which went towards the maintenance of the family.

A single instance illustrates the mode of procedure at a search for money. Assuming to see where treasure lay enthroned, Smith asserted that a "black sheep" was necessary, as an offering upon the ground, before the work of digging could begin. William Stafford a farmer, had a fat black wether, and agreed to furnish the sacrifice in consideration of an equitable division of the results of the venture.

The party repaired with lanterns at the appointed hour of the night to the chosen spot; Smith traced a circle, within which the wether was placed and his throat cut, the blood saturated the ground, and silently and solemnly, but with vigor, excavation began. Three hours of futile labor ended, when it was discovered that the elder Smith, assisted by a son, had taken away the sheep and laid in a stock of mutton for the family use. Such were the foolish and worse than puerile acts which served as a prelude to the crowning act in the life of Joseph Smith, -- the inauguration of Mormonism.

In the summer of 1827 a stranger appeared, and made frequent visits at the Smith cabin. Smith announced a vision wherein an angel had appeared and promised the revelation of a true and full gospel, which should supersede all others. Again the angel: appeared to Smith, and revealed "That the American Indians were a remnant of the Israelites, who, after coming to this country, had their prophets and inspired writings; that such of their writings as had not been destroyed were safely deposited in a certain place made known to him, and to him only, that they contained revelation in regard to the last days; and that if he remained faithful, he would be the chosen prophet to translate them to the world."

Fall came, and Smith assumed the role of a prophet. He told his family, friends and believers that upon a fixed day he was to proceed alone to a spot designated by an angel, and there withdraw from the earth a metallic box of great antiquity, -- in short, a hieroglyphic record of the lost tribes and original inhabitants of America. This mystic volume Smith alone could translate, and power was given him as the Divine agent. The expectant revelation was duly advertised, when the prophet, with spade and napkin, repaired to the forest, and at the end of some three hours returned with some object encased in the napkin. The first depository of the sacred plates was under the heavy hearthstone of the Smith cabin. Willard Chase, a carpenter and joiner, was solicited to make a strong chest wherein to keep the golden. book in security, but no payment being anticipated. the interview was fruitless. Later, a chest was procured and kept in the garret. Here Smith consulted the volume upon which no other could look and live. William T. Hussy and Ashley Vanduzer, intimates of Smith, resolved to see the book, and were permitted to observe its shape and size under a piece of canvas. Smith refused to uncover it, and Hussy, seizing it, stripped off the cover and found -- a tile brick. Smith claimed to have sold his visitors by a trick, and, treating them to liquor the matter ended amicably. A huge pair of spectacles were asserted to have been found with the book, and these were the agency by which the translation was to be effected. A revelation of a Golden Bible, or Book of Mormon, was announced, and the locality whence the book was claimed to have been taken has since been known as "Mormon Hill," and is located in the town of Manchester. Smith described the book as "consisting of metallic leaves or plates resembling gold, bound together in a great volume by three rings running through one edge of them; the leaves opening like ordinary paper book." Translation began, and the result was shown to ministers and men of education. The "Nephites" and "Lamanites," were outlined as the progenitors of the American Aborigines. The Bible was evidently the basis of the work, and sections of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Matthew were almost bodily employed. Smith, being unable to write, sat behind a blanket and evidently read to his scribe whose name was Oliver Cowdery, who had been a schoolmaster, and wrote at dictation. It was desirable to get the manuscript into print. George Crane of Macedon, a Quaker, and a man intelligence, was shown several quires of the "translations." His opinion was asked and his aid solicited. Mr. Crane advised Smith to give up the scheme, or ruin would result to him and, as is well known, the Friend spoke prophetically.

Followers may be obtained for any creed. He formed an organization denominated "Latter-Day Saints." They are enumerated as Oliver Cowdery, Samuel Lawrence, Martin Harris, Preserved Harris, Peter Ingersoll, Charles Ford, George and Dolly Proper, of Palmyra, Ziba Peterson, Calvin Stoddard and wife, Sophronia, of Macedon, Ezra Thayer of Brighton, Leeman Walters of Pultneyville, Hiram Page of Fayette, David Whitmer, Jacob Whitmer, as well as Christian, John and Peter, Jr., of Phelps, Simeon Nichols of Farmington, William, Joshua, and Gad Stafford, David and Abram Fish, Robert Orr, K. H. Quance, John Morgan, Orrin and Caroline Rockwell and Mrs. S. Risley and the Smith family. A man named Parley P. Pratt from Ohio stepped off a canal boat at Palmyra and joined the organization. Martin Harris desired the new book printed and avowed to his wife his intention of incurring the expense. She knew that the result would be a loss of the farm, and while her husband slept, secured and burnt the manuscript. The burning she kept secret, and Smith and Harris, fearing that they might be produced, dared not rewrite the manuscript. Again translation was effected, this time within a cave dug in the east side of the forest hill and guarded by one or more disciples. In June, 1829, Smith, accompanied by his. brother, Hiram, Cowdery and Harris, called on Egbert Grandin, publisher of the Wayne Sentinel, at Palmyra, and inquired the cost of an edition of three thousand copies. An estimate was furnished but publication refused. An application to Thurlow Weed, of the Anti-Masonic Inquirer, at Rochester, met a like rebuff, and Harris was advised "not to beggar his family." Elihu F. Marshall, a book publisher of Rochester, gave terms. Mr. Grandin was again visited, and: a contract was made whereby for three thousand dollars five thousand copies of the Book of Mormon were printed, bound and delivered in the summer of 1830. Harris gave bond and mortgage in security for payment. John H. Gilbert did the type-setting and press-work, and retained a copy of the book in the original sheets. Harris and his wife separated. She received eighty acres of land and occupied her property in comfort until her death. The mortgaged farm was sold in 1831. It is land located a mile and a half north of Palmyra. Anticipating profits from the sale of the work. Smith obtained cloth for a suit of clothing from the store of David S. Aldrich of Palmyra, and in November, 1829, went to northern Pennsylvania, where he was married by Sidney Rigdon, after the Mormon ritual, to a daughter of Isaac Hale.

In June, 1830, the organization took place. Smith read and expounded some passages of the new Bible, and then installed his father as "Patriarch and President of the Church .of Latter Day Saints," while Harris and Cowdery were invested with limited authority. Baptism was administered by Smith to Cowdery, and Harris, and their baptisms were conducted by Cowdery. The pool where the rite was celebrated was formed by obstructing a brook near the place of assembly. Smith was not baptized, he averring that brother Rigdon had performed the ceremony in Pennsylvania.

A few days elapsed, and a party of about a dozen went to Fayette, and similar observances in the presence of a congregation of about thirty persons, followed. Sidney Rigdon, a renegade Baptist clergyman, resident in Ohio, had so far kept in the background. He now came to Palmyra, as the first regular Mormon preacher. All the churches were closed to him, but the hall of the Palmyra Young Men's Association was opened, and a small audience assembled to hear the first discourse. The attempt was never repeated by Rigdon or any other of his creed in Palmyra. In the summer of 1830, the Mormon founders removed to Kirtland, Ohio, and from Rigdon's former congregation increased their number, till over one hundred persons had embraced Mormonism. The imposture was now under headway and the "prophet" and his followers had departed from Western New York, and with them we had done. It remains to account for the production of the Book of Mormon, which, however heterogeneous, has nevertheless evidence of scholastic ability in the design. Its authorship is attributed to Rev. Solomon Spaulding, who in 1793, having graduated from college, settled in Cherry Valley, and thence removed to Ohio. The region in which he settled abounded in ancient mounds, of whose builders no knowledge is existing. Mr. Spaulding beguiled his hours in a fanciful sketch of their origin, and the race which then existed. The work was entitled, "The Manuscript Found," and was completed in 1812. The manuscript was sent to a Mr. Patterson at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with the idea of joint publication. It was not printed, and in 1816 was reclaimed by the author, who died in 1827 [sic] at Amity, New York. The manuscript was "missed or stolen" from the widow, and the "Book of Mormon" came into notice. It is believed that Sidney Rigdon, a printer at work for Patterson, had copied the manuscript and brought it into Smith's possession.

From the plot of shrewd, unprincipled men a creed had gone out whose disciples grew strong by persecution, crossed the great plains to Salt Lake, and then founded a community which enrolled its thousands of followers, and set at defiance moral law and national authority. Foreign converts, halting from the train at Palmyra, gaze upon Mormon Hill with open-mouthed awe and wonder as the pilgrims at an eastern shrine, and the pioneers who knew the Smiths and their deception, look on in pity and contempt. They depart and join the "saints" -- now in their evil days -- the period of their dissolution.


Note 1: The above excerpt from W.H. McIntosh's 1877 "History of Wayne County" was paraphrased primarily from Pomeroy Tucker's 1867 book.

Note 2: The town of Fairport is today a southeastern suburb of Rochester. In 1917 it was still a detached village, just across the county line from Wayne County.

Onondaga Valley Home May Have Housed
Original of Mormon Bible in Manuscript
________

Doubters Say Faith is Based on Imaginative Tale
Written by Former Resident of Village

________

And it came to pass that after we had sailed for the space of many days we did arrive at the promised land; and we went forth upon the land, and did pitch our tents, and we did call it the promised land.

So it is stated in the first book of Nephi, eighteenth chapter and twenty-third verse of the Book of Mormon, that being the description of the landing of the lost tribe of Israel on the shores of America in the year 589 B. C.

All this, and much more, was engraved on plates and hid in a hill near Manchester, Ontario county, to be discovered September 21, 1823, by Joseph Smith, Jr., according to the belief of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, better known as Mormons.

Those plates, translated, became the Book of Mormon or Mormon Bible, which is accepted today as infallible by more than 600,000 believers in its teachings and that Joseph Smith was inspired by God to dig in the hill.

Smith Farmhand at Valley.

The 600,000 believe that "It came to Pass" as the first Mormon said it did, there are others who assert Joseph Smith worked as a farm-hand at Onondaga Valley when he was a youth, an employee of William H. Sabine, and that while he was there Solomon Spaulding's writings, "The Manuscript Found," were in a trunk in that house. There are those who assert "The Manuscript Found" was purloined -- but not by Smith -- printed and labeled "The Book of Mormon."

The house, built in 1817, in which for three years was the old trunk and in the trunk, "The Manuscript Found," still stands at 9 Academy green, Onondaga Valley, and in the house now lives Mrs. Thomas W. Meachem, granddaughter of William H. Sabine.

It is a mooted subject; Mormons will and have denied it, but strong circumstantial evidence has been gathered to show that Solomon Spaulding's manuscript was the basis of the Mormon: Bible, and, for three years before it fell into the hands of men who foisted it upon a gullible and superstitious following that which is now known as the Mormon Bible lay, with a lot of other papers, in a trunk in the Sabine home, now the residence of Mrs. Meachem.

Spaulding Once Clergyman.

Solomon Spaulding was born at Ashford, Conn., in 1761. He married Matilda Sabine, only sister of Squire Sabine, as the early settler of Onondaga Valley was known. Spaulding engaged in various occupations and professions, at times being a clergyman and school principal and finally part owner of an iron foundry at what is now Conneaut, O., where, at that time, Indian mounds were opened and many relics found.

Spaulding wrote much, and these discoveries set him to writing a fanciful and fictitious history of an ancient race in America, which he described as the lost tribe of Israel, his narrative being written in the familiar Biblical phraseology, with "and it came to pass" so frequently Interjected those who read the manuscript declared this repetition made the thing ridiculous.

In the first chapter of the book of Nephi of the Mormon Bible are eight times that "it came to pass," in the second chapter 11 times and in the third chapter 15 times, "and from there on is a succession all through the book of the phrase, "and it came to pass."

Widow at Onondaga.

Spaulding moved to Pennsylvania, his "Manuscript Found" still unpublished, and died in 1816. Then it was his widow came to live with her brother at Onondaga; Valley, brining the old hair covered trunk full of papers. She then went to Hartwlck, Otsego county, marrying again in 1820, and the trunk was taken there.

It is believed the manuscript was copied while it was in the hands of a printer in Pittsburgh, before Spaulding's death, there being much circumstantial evidence to bear out this theory.

In 1830 Smith, founder of Mormonism, established headquarters at Kirtland, O.,. and proselyting was carried on in that state, while Smith went about peddling his Bible for $1 a copy. There was a meeting at Conneaut, at which selections from the Bible were read, and Spaulding's old neighbors there at once declared it to be the fiction story of the lost tribe of Israel, written by and read to them by Solomon Spaulding.

Copied by Rigdon.

Sidney Rigdon was at Conneaut when Spaulding was writing his Manuscript Found." He was working in the printing shop in Pittsburgh when the manuscript was there, and it was said by Spaulding that Rigdon copied it there. Rigdon became associated with Smith later, and he has been referred to as "the compelling genius of Mormonism."

In 1834 D. P. Hurlburt went to the home of Spaulding's widow, then remarrled, and obtained the manuscript by presenting a letter from Squire Sabine and saying he washed to compare it with the Mormon Bible to determine whether they were the same. It was not returned altho a promise had been given, and was said to have been burned. It is asserted by those who contend Spaulding's manuscript to have been the basis of the Mormon Bible this was done to destroy all evidence.

Mormons Mistreated.

Nevertheless, Mormonism grew and despite persecutions of its adherents. A temple was built [sic] at Independence, Mo., but the Mormons were forced to leave in 1838. Then they founded Nauvoo, Ill. Mormons everywhere were mobbed and mistreated. A battle waged at Carthage, Ill., June 27, 1844, and, after several had been killed and when death, seemed certain for him, Joseph Smith flung himself from a high window.

Thus died the founder of the Mormon faith, the man who as boy had been a farm-hand at Onondaga Valley, and who, in that day, claimed the gift of a seer. with his divining rod finding treasures, and being called upon to search with his supposed miraculous power the depths of that sugar loaf hill which was so long a landmark on the edge of St. Agnes, cemetery, now almost disappeared, its sand and gravel hauled away for building material.

In 1848 the Mormons migrated to Salt Lake valley, Utah, led by Brigham Young, who there, as a result of a vision, declared it to be the promised land. Mormonism and polygamy flourished, until enforcement of a law against it curbed the system of a man marrying as many women as he could support.

But Mormonism has slowly gained ground since Joseph Smith proclaimed the finding of the gold plates in the hill near Manchester, when his family were living a poverty stricken life at Palmyra, and today it has more than 600,000 adherents, despite the more generally accepted belief Solomon Spaulding wrote their Bible, unintentionally as such and only as a piece of fiction.

Mormonism paid its founders. Joseph Smith had to work as a farm hand no longer after he found the Bible. He had to go about no more with his divining rod.

"And it came to pass," when Brigham Young, died, August 20, 1877, he left 19 wives, 57 children and $1,000,000.

None of which might have happened had Squire Sabine used Spaulding's manuscript to have started a blaze on a frosty morning in the fireplace of the old house at Onondaga Valley in which, his granddaughter still lives.


Note: The above story appear to rely upon the speculation of writers on Mormonism from the time of Jonathan B. Turner onward, coupled with a few stories preserved in the Sabine family. Ellen E. Dickinson produced some similar explanations in 1884. But the fanciful account of a very young Joseph Smith, Jr. working for Mr. Sabine and then stealing the text of Sabine's late brother-in-law has no evidence upon which to rest. The tradition of Joseph Smith, Jr. having lived in the neighborhood of William H. Sabine appears to be apocryphal.

FIRST  MORMON  WORKED  HERE.
________

Smith once Farmhand at Onondaga Valley
________

This part of the country, tho it is far from Utah, is interested in the centennial of Mormonism or the founding of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, for the founder, Joseph Smith, was a farm-hand at Onondaga Valley when he was a youth.

He worked for William H, Sabine and the old Sabine house, built in 1817, is now occupied by Mr. Sabine's great-granddaughter, Mrs. Thomas W, Meachem. It is at 9 Academy green, back of the Onondaga Valley Presbyterian church.

It is a singular coincidence, too, that in this house was a trunk in which was the manuscript of a story written by Solomon Spaulding, who married Matilda Sabine, the squire's sister, and left her a widow in 1816, tho she married again in 1820. His story was a fictitious history of the lost tribe of Israel, the narrative concerning its coming to America.

Joseph Smith was born in Vermont in 1805 and was 11 years old when the family came thru New York state, and finally located at Palmyra. According to his story he began having visions in 1820, and in 1823 was revealed the place where inscribed gold plates were hidden in a Palmyra hill. In 1827 he was allowed to translate them, using a miraculous pair of spectacles called Urim and Thummim, their use only permitting translation.

The Book of Mormon was printed in 1830, a story of the lost tribe of Israel, which came to America. Thereupon a church was organized at Fayette, Seneca county, on April 6, 1830, which is the centennial being celebrated. The sect built churches in Ohio, Illinois and Missouri, but its adherents met with opposition, and Joseph Smith was killed by a mob at Carthage, Ill., in 1844.

In 1847 Brigham Young led a pioneer band of 153 persons into Utah, as "the promised land," and established Salt Lake City. The city grew; the church grew, but Mormonism had a hard road to travel. Many of its teachings were opposed, such as polygamy. The church has abandoned many early practices, with later "revelations," and today Mormons are accepted as people who have the same right as all other Americans, "freedom to worship God" as they will.


Note: Since Joseph Smith, Jr. was born at the end of 1805, he was probably a few months shy of being "11 years old when the family came thru" the Syracuse area late in 1816. There is no reason to suppose that the young boy then stopped to work for William H. Sabine -- months before his sister came from Pittsburgh to live there -- or that the boy ever returned to Onondaga county in later years to hire himself out there as a farm-hand. By the time Smith reportedly was having visions in the Palmyra area, the personal belongings of Spalding's widow were evidently out of the Sabine house and moved her new residence in Cooperstown, Otsego Co., NY. Later, during the 1820s, the widow's effects were mobed again -- to nearby Hartwick, in the same county. It seems entirely inconceivable that Joseph Smith, Jr. purloined Spalding's text, either from its first temporary resting place in Onondaga Co., or from its later repository in Otsego Co.

Joseph Smith, Mormonism Founder,
Was Once Farm Hand in Onondaga;
Golden Tablets Idea Conceived Here
______

Smith as Youth Practiced 'Divining Rod Art
in Onondaga Valley
______

Worked for Sabine
Learned of Spaulding's 'The Manuscript Found'
in Sabine's Employ

BY CHESTER B. BAHN

A century and 10 years ago, a youth of possibly 20 summers, professing to be able through the employment of "divining rods" to locate hidden treasure, made his appearance in Onondaga County.

He was a strange youth, strange in appearance, with his dull eyes and flaxen hair, strange in behavior, and stranger still in his talk. His antecedents were little known, he had few, if any, intimates, and his periods of "hiring out" were both infrequent and brief.

One of his employers was William H. Sabine of Onondaga Valley, then known as Onondaga Hollow. Mr. Sabine was an eminent attorney, a brother-in-law and a law partner of Judge Joshua Forman, whose name is written large in county and State history. The stranger's stay with the Sabines as "hired man" was short, but no more so than his stay elsewhere; he was the proverbial rolling stone.

This inability to "stay put" eventually sent him to the Onondaga County Jail, then located at Onondaga Hill, for "vagrancy and debt." Before and after, he was engaged to "locate" water with sticks of witch-hazel, and there is a further local tradition that he was employed as a "seer" to seek for gold in one of Onondaga's hills.

Eventually, as strangely as he had appeared, he dropped from sight and the "Hollow" knew him no more. That was a century and ten years ago.

---

... Joseph Smith... the founder of Mormonism was the strange youth who a century an 10 years ago worked for Onondaga farmers as teamster and field laborer when he felt like it, but who spent the greater part of his time solemnly practicing the mystic art of the "divining-rod."

... To what extent incidents of his childhood influenced the later revelations of Mormonism's founder no one can safely say, but that they undoubtedly had something to do with his role of prophet seems certain. Long before the Smiths left the Green Mountain State to settle in Palmyra, his parents, convinced that one of their children was destined to be a religious leader, had selected Joseph as the instrument of Providence.

Mrs. Smith, it is recorded, "took in washings" for families in the vicinity, while the children sold products from their garden, made maple sugar in season for marketing, and wove baskets which were peddled in Palmyra.

In light of Mrs. Smith's superstitious nature, it is not surprising that she should win local notoriety as a "fortune teller." Or, too, that her son should claim miraculous powers. One of the first mystic instruments he introduced was the famous "Peek Stone," supposedly discovered on the property of Clark Chase, near Palmyra.

Through it, Joseph professed to work wonders. He could, he declared, see buried treasures of gold and silver, trace stolen and lost articles, and tell where water was to be found. The "Peek Stone" was supposedly most efficient at night, and Joseph soon attracted to himself a small body of followers who accompanied him here and there on his expeditions.

One writer, describing Smith's activities at this time, declares the "When Joe wanted fresh meat for his family, he gave out that it would be necessary to insure success by having a black sheep killed as a sacrificial offering, before going to work."

It was about this time that Mormonism's founder suddenly left his usual haunts, to reappear in Onondaga. He was away from Palmyra about four years, spending the interval in various other places, Chenango and Broome counties in New York and Pennsylvania border points among them.

This four-year absence looms large in any careful study of Smith's later career as a prophet and founder of a new religion, and supposed events during it even more closely link Mormonism and Onondaga than the mere presence here of Joseph.

While Smith was in the employ of "Squire" Sabin, the latter's household included his sister, the widow of the Rev. Solomon Spaulding. The cleric, a graduate of Dartmouth, had been forced to leave the ministry by ill-health, and some time prior to his death was interested in an iron foundry at Conneaut, O.

During his period of residence in Ohio, the Rev. Mr. Spaulding was moved to investigate some earth-mounds near his home. The excavations revealed evidences of a prehistoric race, and confirmed his belief that the American continent had once been inhabited by a people possessing the refinements of civilization.

Inspired by what the earth-mound had given up after the passage of untold centuries, the Rev. Mr. Spaulding began to write a romance. He adopted the most antique style of composition, imitating the Scriptures, and drawing upon his knowledge of the classics and histories for names and material. More important still, he pretended that he was merely translating the hieroglyphical writing on some golden plates which his workmen had discovered in the mound.

To the volume, he gave the title "The Manuscript Found." The story purported to narrate the peopling of the continent by the lost tribes of Israel. To them and their leaders, the Rev. Mr. Spaulding gave singular names -- names then to be found nowhere else in literature -- among them Mormon, Moroni, Lamanite and Nephi.

"The Manuscript Found" attracted unusual attention, and the Rev. Mr. Spaulding was finally led to submit it for publication to a Mr. Patterson, a Pittsburgh publisher. It was, however, never printed, and the original manuscript was in Mrs. Spaulding's possession, it is claimed, at the time Joseph Smith was working for her brother in Onondaga.

There are other reasons as well why "The Manuscript Found," with its singular names, its daring theme and its purported golden plate origin, was to later give Joseph Smith and the church he founded no little trouble.

Working for Patterson, when the Spaulding manuscript was under consideration was a young printer, Sidney Rigdon, who had suddenly bobbed up from nowhere. It was the Spaulding family's direct charge, later, that Rigdon, who was to become a Mormon preacher, carefully copied "The Manuscript Found."

It was presumably left for Parley P. Pratt, itinerant peddler, destined to figure in Mormon history as "The Archer of Paradise," to bring together Joseph Smith, already aware of the existence of "The Manuscript Found," through gossip in the Sabin family, and Rigdon. Mrs. Ellen E. Dickinson, kinswoman of the Rev. Mr. Spaulding and Squire Sabin makes the definite statement in her own book, "Smith is known to have had a copy of the Spaulding manuscript in his possession about the year 1820, or at the time these three met.

The following year, the revival spirit swept over the country, and the Methodist, Baptist and Presbyterian churches in Palmyra sought for converts. Five members of the Smith family saw the light in the Presbyterian Church, and Joseph was about to join the Methodist congregation when he claimed to have had a vision... Smith's reputation as the possessor of strange powers grew magically, and it is recorded that he could "cast out devils and heal the sick." Or so those who came under his influence believed. At this same time, Smith made frequent references to golden plates he had been directed to unearth by a heavenly messenger...

In a period when religious excitement was the rule and not the exception, the "Book of Mormon" naturally attracted wide attention, and it had a sufficient sale to qualify as a "best seller" of the day.

The first Mormon church was founded at the house of Peter Whitmer... In June 1830, Fayette was the scene also of the initial Mormon conference. Thirty professed members of the faith attended.

While Mormonism was making none too steady gains in the place of its conception, its peculiar message was soon being carried out into the "Gentile" world by its elders. Undoubtedly, the fact that Palmyra and Fayette were none too distant from Onondaga, where "The Manuscript Found" and its story were familiar to many, had something to do with Central New York's coldness.

So it is not remarkable that "the prophet," as word came back of the success met by the wandering missionaries in Ohio, declared he had a "revelation" concerning a New Jerusalem in the West.

"The First Hegira" to Kirtland, O., or "Sheinar, selected by Rigdon, who was already on the scene preparing the way, followed. It was a long, hard journey, but with visions of a "Promised Land" at the end, the faithful made no complaint as they drove their heavily laden wagons overland.

Approximately 1,000 converts, testifying to the eloquence of Rigdon, Pratt, and other elders, awaited "the prophet" on his arrival at Kirtland. This was in 1832, or the year after the first Mormons had settled there...

... Illinois, too, was destined... It was at Carthage, Ill., that Joseph Smith and Hyrum, his brother, were murdered by a mob. As one writer aptly says, "He had lived long enough for his fame, and died when he could be called a martyr.

A struggle for leadership followed. It terminated with the supremacy of Brigham Young, who had hastened to Illinois from Boston, and the banishment of Rigdon, who vainly had sought to seize Smith's sceptre.

It was Young as "First President" of the church who delivered his rival over to the "buffetings of the devil for a thousand years" in the [name] of the Lord.


Note: Although the writer, Mr. Bahn, speaks of "local tradition" saying that Joseph Smith, Jr. "was employed as a 'seer' to seek for gold in one of Onondaga's hills," and appears to cite Sabine family recollections from a century past, the account given above remains almost totally undocumented and almost totally unreliable. Evidently the writer derived much of his information from the equally unreliable amateur historian, Ellen E. Dickinson. The recollections of some in the extended Sabine-Spalding, claiming that Joseph Smith, Jr. once worked for William H. Sabine, may have been in the family for several generations, but they are founded upon no hard and fast proofs. Whatever evidence may have ever existed, placing Smith in Onondaga at an early date, appears to have been lost and forgotten long ago, as is generally the case for this sort of "folklore."

HISTORIC  HOME  IN  VALLEY

Mechem House Was Built in 1816.

By DAVID WALLACE.

Far out in the Valley, called for many a year, Onondaga Hollow, sits the Meachem home which has a history of the most romantic sort. Its exact location is 9 Academy Green, just off Seneca Turnpike, and it nestles back among the trees with a quiet, satisfied air.

It has not been occupied since last December, when Mrs. Thomas W. Meachem died, and an auction sale of furnishings was held there yesterday, but it has not been abandoned, for just down the driveway, at 7 Academy Green, stands its nearest relative, another charming home built in the most modern manner.

That is occupied by Joseph Forman Sabine Meachem, head of the family now...

The old house was built in 1816, and while it now seems far from the center of town, its setting was at that time the most aristocratic of various hamlets in this locality. It could have called itself "uptown" with perfect justice because not until decades after it had been put up did the city of Syracuse come into being. Clinton Square and all of what is now downtown were then just salt marshes.

One of the family's connections, Joshua Forman, is known as the founder of Syracuse. In fact he has been called the city's "inventor." for he was one of the moving figures in getting the Erie Canal put through, then had the legislature pass laws which lowered the level of Onondaga Lake and drained the marshes.

William H. Sabine, the great-grandfather of J. F. Sabine Meachem, erected the house, and it has been in the family's possession ever since.

Joseph F. Sabine, son of the builder, was born in this house and lived there for some time. Later, while his twin brother kept the house he moved downtown... The family carries on, but what final disposition will be made of the old house lies in the hands of J. F. Sabine. He has not offered it for sale as yet...


Notes: (forthcoming)

"The Gunny Sack"

by Gerald (Gunny) Gunthrup

It seems that the conductor of this column slipped up the other day in mentioning that the "thesis for the Mormon Bible is believed to have been written [at] Cherry Valley by the Rev. Solomon Spaulsing.

In calling our attention to the error, Elders Neil H. Larsen and Max J. Narney of 16 Division Street, pen that "We realize that it is often referred to as the Mormon Bible but the Bible that the Church accepts is the King James version of the Holy Bible."

"The main issue," according to the Elders, "is its connection with the manuscript written by Solomon Spaulding. For many years the story was circulated that Sidney Rigdon obtained the manuscript of a book written by one Rev. Spaulding, and that after this manuscript had been worked over somewhat, Sidney Rigdon placed it in the hands of Joseph Smith to publish as the Book of Mormon."

"Historical research has shown that Sidney Rigdon did not hear of Mormonism or the Book of Mormon until after the Book had been published. He accepted the Gospel and became a member of the Church on Nov. 14, 1830, eight months after the publication of the Book. Although he became separated from the Church in later life he always declared that he knew nothing of the Book of Mormon until it had been published."

"The actual discovery of the Spaulding manuscript was made in 1882 [sic] by President Fairchild of Oberlin College. This manuscript, a novel dealing with the early inhabitants of the American continent, is now in possession of Oberlin College, and has been printed and circulated widely. An examination of it will show that there is no similarity to the Book of Mormon."


Notes: (forthcoming)

"The Mormon Exiles"

(under construction)

 


Note: The lengthy historical article features a considerable amount of information related to the Rev. Sidney Rigdon and the early history of the Mormons.

Palmyra Cave Mormon 'Holy Ground?'

By LOU ZEIGLER

PALMYRA -- A cave that may have been used ny Mormon prophet Joseph Smith about 150 years ago is being uncovered by a local farmer. Smith, who was born in Palmyra founded the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon). Children discovered the cave about 11 years ago, but eventually mud and dirt blocked the entrance. Bulldozers have cleared the cave opening after the farmer decided last week to investigate the 20-foot long cave,

"I really think I've got something here," said Andrew H. Kommer, the farmer on whose land the cave is located.

The cave is about 7 feet high and 8 feet wide and is carved into a rock-hard clay hillside. It is about a quarter mile off Miner Road south of Palmyra. Yesterday Kommer and two other men prepared to protect the cave from the public by installing 1 1/2 inch iron bars and locked doors. Kommer, 60, who is not a Mormon, said that "ever since my childhood I have heard rumors about a cave." Kommer purchased his Palmyra farm in 1952. Shortly afterward he hired a bulldozer operator to uproot bushes on the hill, he said.

"This was done in the fall," he said. "During the following spring the rains washed the soil down the hill and a small cavity developed on the east side of the hill. I became aware of the opening by some children in the neighborhood who had been scouting around on the slope of the hill."

The children walked through the hole and into the cave, They reported the discovery to their parents.

"It happened about 11 years ago," said Donald Nichols, father of one of the children involved. Nichols yesterday helped Kommer and Gerald Henderson at Palmyra fasten bars and doors to the cave. Over the past decade the hole leading to the cave filled with dirt.

"I have always hoped to learn what might exist underground at that particular spot," said Kommer yesterday. He said a bulldozer was hired to do work on his farm last week and that he decided to have the dozer dig near the cave site.

The cave was built so that water would drain away from it. The walls and ceiling of the cave appear to have been dug or picked by hand. According to Kommer, a few years ago a Mormon visiting Palmyra tried to reach the cave but was stymied by the concrete-like hillside.

An article in the New York Herald on June 25, 1893, told of the cave being located on the hill. A landslide had made the cave inaccessible to the public. The Mormon prophet had evidentually constructed doors to the cave, which have since rotted, the article said. In digging this week some rotten door planks were uncovered.

The unearthing of the cave this week may clear up a mystery about the exact location of the cave. According to a book written in the 1920s by historian Thomas Cook, "no trace of the old Joe Smith cave can be found."


Note 1: A photograph accompanying the above article bears this caption: "Andrew Kommer, right, assisted by Don Nichols, left, and Gerald Henderson, enclose entrance to cave that may have been used by Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

Note 2: Palmyra editor Abner Cole was perhaps the first person to publicize Joseph Smith's excavation exploits south of Palmyra. According to Dan Vogel, Cole was particularly interested in Smith's activities around what later came to be called "Miner's Hill," because he had owned that piece of property a few years before the proto-Mormons dug their tunnel into the hillside: "The Locations of Joseph Smith's Early Treasure Quests," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 27 (Fall 1994) pp. 204-207. In his Reflector for Jan. 18, 1831, Cole contrasts the prophetic careers of Smith and "the impostor of Mecca," noting that "Mahomet... retired to a cave in mount Hara, where he... [received] passages which he pretended had been revealed to him by the ministering angel." In his issue of Feb. 14, 1831 Mr. Cole says a little about the Smith family's money-digging and mentions the money-diggers' claims that "great treasures" of the "Ancient inhabitants" of the region "remained secure" from theft "in large and spacious chambers" in the earth, in and around Ontario county, New York. In his 1830 "Book of Pukei" satires, Cole makes further mention of the local money-diggers' preoccupation with " treasures, hidden in the bowels of the earth," but he does not specifically refer to their activities at Miner's Hill.

Note 3: The next writer to offer significant relevant comments on the Ontario county digging was reporter James G. Bennett of the New York City  Morning Courier and Enquirer. In that paper's issue for Aug. 31, 1831 Bennett informed his readers, that "A few years ago the Smith's... caught an idea that money was hid in several of the hills which give variety to the country between the Canandaigua Lake and Palmyra... the Smith's and their associates commenced digging, in the numerous hills... in the town of Manchester... On the sides & in the slopes of several of these hills, these excavations are still to be seen." To this report, Bennett added the strange intelligence, that a "famous Ohio man made his appearance" in the midst of the New York money-diggers -- a "Henry Rangdon or Ringdon" -- and that when "this person" (the Rev. Sidney Rigdon) "appeared among them, a splendid excavation was begun in a long narrow hill, between Manchester and Palmyra... Ringdon partly uniting with them in their operations." How much truth may reside in this story, it is difficult to say; but from 1831 forward there were certain people who declared that Sidney Rigdon was more or less secretly connected with the mysterious hillside excavations made south of the Smith home.

Note 4: Eber D. Howe's 1834 book, Mormonism Unvailed, was written and published at a considerable distance away from the Ontario digs, but Howe's associate, D. P. Hurlbut, in 1833, managed to collect a few scraps of useful information in the Palmyra area. In a statement signed by 51 citizens of Palmyra, those local folks certified that the Smiths "spent much of their time in digging for money which they pretended was hid in the earth; and to this day, large excavations may be seen in the earth, not far from their residence, where they used to spend their time in digging for hidden treasures." William Stafford, a Manchester resident interviewed by Hurlbut, testified that the Smiths "would say, also, that nearly all the hills in this part of New York, were thrown up by human hands, and in them were large caves" and that in these hidden hill chambers were "large gold bars and silver plates." In examining the 1833 statements collected by Hurlbut, the modern reader gains the impression that the Mormon Smith family asserted that practically every pile of glacial gravel in their neighborhood was an ancient Nephite mound, full of secret chambers, accessible only by tunneling in from the outside.

Note 5: Although local residents in the Manchester area knew, from an early day, that Joseph Smith, Jr. and his diggers had tunneled into Miner's Hill, further publication of information on the cave construction appears to have been lacking until Pomeroy Tucker's Origin, Rise, and Progress of Mormonism came out in 1867. Tucker wrote about Joseph Smith's money digging and occasional concealment in dark chambers, as early as May 26, 1858, but he did not provide any specific details regarding the cave in Miner's Hill until his 1867 book was published. On pp. 48-49 of that work, Tucker reports: "The work of [Book of Mormon] translation this time [1829] had been done in the recess of a dark artificial cave, which Smith had caused to be dug in the east side of the forest-hill near his residence, now owned by Mr. Amos Miner... [others said he] only went into the cave to pay his spiritual devotions and seek the continued favor of Divine Wisdom. His stays in the cave varied from fifteen minutes to an hour or over -- the entrance meanwhile being guarded by one or more of his disciples... This excavation was at the time said to be one hundred and sixty feet in extent... [with] a substantial door of two-inch plank, secured by a corresponding lock. From the lapse of time and natural causes the cave has been closed for years, very little mark of its former existence remaining to be seen. Like James G. Bennett before him, Tucker introduced the secretive presence of Sidney Rigdon into his telling of the Mormon story. Although Tucker's account allows for the possibility that Rigdon occasionally "hid up" his reverend self in the Miner's Hill cave, the writer does not specifically make that claim -- nor does he offer much in the way of evidence demonstrating Rigdon's secret presence among the Smiths in New York or Pennsylvania.

Note 6: Most subsequent accounts of Smith's Miner's Hill tunnel appear to have been directly or indirectly influenced by Tucker's 1867 account. One narrative not dependent upon Tucker was an 1861 British novel, that put Smith and Rigdon together, operating both money and scriptural counterfeiting schemes, by torch-light, inside just such a cave -- the novel even supplies a fanciful illustration of the nefarious business. A more substantive account was offered as supplementary evidence by Rev. Clark Braden in the 1884 Braden-Kelley Debate, conducted in Kirtland, Ohio. Rev. Braden quotes Samantha Stafford Payne thusly: "She was a schoolmate of Smith. His reputation was bad... After Smith came back from Pennsylvania, his followers dug a cave in a hillside not far from here. They conducted the work of getting up Mormonism in it. I was in it once. It can be seen to-day. The present owner of the farm, Mr. Miner, dug out the cave, which had fallen in. The cave had a large, heavy plate door and a padlock on it. The neighbors broke it open one night, and found in it a barrel of flour, some mutton, some sheep pelts, and two sides of leather..." Braden probably quoted Samantha's testimony from a now lost article published in the Michigan Cadillac Weekly News of April 6, 1880. A Samantha Payne affidavit, dated June 29, 1881, was published in the Ontario County Times of July 27, 1881, but it contains no mention of Miner's Hill.

Note 7: The publication of statements like those made by Samantha Payne stirred some Mormon elders to conduct interviews among the Smith's old neighbors and publish the more or less favorable results in their own periodicals. The RLDS Saints' Herald of June 1, 1881 contains a number of these generally positive reminiscences regarding the Mormon Smith family. However, since the interview texts were censored prior to publication, the unpublished interviewers' notes (now in the Dan Vogel document series) should be consulted to obtain more accurate and complete readings. Lorenzo Saunders saw the Smiths digging in Miner's Hill prior to the close of 1825. Saunders also told one interviewer that Smith informed him that it was "in a cave, where I began the first translation of the inspired pages." Ezra Pierce recalled that Abel Chase had visited "the cave with the Smiths where the sheep bones were found." He added, "people used to think they were making counterfeit money" in the tunnel -- which, by 1881, was "all caved in." Major John H. Gilbert said that Smith and his helper(s) "translated" the Book of Mormon "in a cave;" but he probably took this idea from Tucker's book. Nevertheless, Elder George Reynolds reprinted Gilbert's allegation in his "Joseph Smith's Youthful Life," published in the Juvenile Instructor for Oct. 1, 1882, and Elder Rudolph Etzenhouser repeated the same in his 1894 book, From Palmyra to Independence. See also George Q. Cannon's acknowledgement of the mysterious cave in his July 5, 1873 Juvenile Instructor piece, "Visit to the Land and Hill of Cumorah."

Note 8: Around the turn of the century the old neighbors' recollections of events at Miner's Hill began to take on a surrealistic tone. Following Tucker's 1867 lead, the survivors and their interviewers seemed convinced that Joseph Smith did his Book of Mormon translation in a hidden chamber, such as the one he dug in Miner's Hill. Palmyra historian Thomas Cook says, in his Palmyra and Vicinity, that Smith encountered his ministering angel in "a cave. There he would meet him and reveal to him the hieroglyphics on the golden plates." Walter H. McIntosh, in his History of Wayne Co., N. Y., states that the final stage of the Book of Mormon translation "was effected... within a cave dug in the east side of the forest hill." Accounts by Daniel Hendrix were published in 1899 and 1905, in which he asserted that "The copy for the Book of Mormon was prepared in a cave that Smith and others dug... on Gold Hill... Some one of the converts was constantly about the mouth of the cave, and no one but Smith and Alvin [sic, Oliver?] Cowdry... were allowed to go through the mouth of the cave. Rigdon had some hopes of converting me, and I was permitted to go near the door, but not so much as to peep inside. Smith... read aloud, and Cowdry, who was seated on the other side of a screen or partition in the cave, wrote down the words as pronounced by Joe."

Note 9: Perhaps the most whimsical reconstruction of events inside Miner's Hill was the account penned by the Rev. Dr. William H. Whitsitt, in his 1891 manuscript, "Sidney Rigdon, The Real Founder of Mormonism." On pp. 394-396 Whitsitt says: "Lucy Smith declares that... 'my husband, Samuel and Hyrum retired to a place where the family were in the habit of offering up their secret devotions to God'... likely the cave that is mentioned by Pomeroy Tucker, who says that Smith had caused a dark artificial cave to be dug in the east side of the forest hill near his residence, now owned by Mr. Amos Miner. Mr. Tucker adds that Joseph was accustomed to spend some of his time in this cave, of which the entrance was meanwhile guarded by one or more of his disciples... [here] it would be easy for Sidney [Rigdon] to secrete himself ... [and] When the eight fresh witnesses were duly assembled in this favorable situation, Mr. Rigdon would experience no special embarrassment in playing the role of an angel... It may be supposed that Rigdon had the entire [Spalding] manuscript at hand in a... rear portion of the cave... [where] the witnesses were invited to inspect... the matter... Lucy Smith reports... 'the angel again made his appearance to Joseph, at which time Joseph delivered up the plates into the angel's hands'... [this] signifies that Sidney came forward from the recesses of the cavern to which he had recently retired took.... the manuscript, and set forth on his journey back to his home in Mentor Ohio." On pp. 515-516 Whitsitt adds the following to his reconstruction: "Lucy Smith declares... the family were ejected... during the Spring of 1829, and went to reside with their son Hyrum Smith... in Manchester...Hither was brought... the recently completed manuscript of the Book of Mormon; here was prepared the curious artificial cave... for the purpose of guarding that treasure from harm... hence were carried from day to day that portion of the copy... [which was] safe to intrust to the printers... The homestead is now said to be owned by Mr. Amos Miner..." Whitsitt is obviously wrong in many particulars of time and space -- but he still manages to offer his readers a fascinating tale of Sidney Rigdon's intrigues in the artificial cave.

Mormons Find No Cave Link

PALMYRA -- Authorities of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City announce that no apparent record has been found to indicate a cave recently uncovered near Palmyra was dug by Mormon prophet Joseph founder of the Church. Hill Cumorah is two miles south of the cave uncovered on Miner's Hill by Andrew Kommer, a Palmyra farmer. A spokesman for the church -- [the] church's historian could not find any apparent record of Joseph Smith ever having dug such a [cave]. He said the only reference to such a cave in Church history was made in a speech by Brigham Young in 1877. Young said he was told that the gold plates on which the Book of Mormon was written were contained in a cave on Hill Cumorah, now the site of this church's annual pageant. A local history written in the 1920s and an article which appeared in the New York Herald in 1893 said there was a cave on holy ground on Miner's Hill. The reporter said he visited the cave. According to those reports, [the] Mormon angel Moroni instructed Smith to dig a cave at the hill and to translate the plates there.

The cave found by Kommer is seven feet by eight, the approximate size of the cave referred to in the newspaper article. The newspaper article and book descriptions of the cave are considered legend rather than authenticated stories by the church. The Church spokesman said Smith translated the gold plates in many places throughout the area in the 1820s.


Note: Esentially the same article appeared in the Syracuse Herald Journal on Monday, May 6, 1974.

Cave Dug by Mormon Prophet, Church Founder

PALMYRA -- Mormon leaders in Salt Lake City, Utah, are playing it down, but Palmyra dairy farmer Andrew Kommer says he thinks he's "got something" and has already begun taking measures to protect it. Last week Kommer brought bulldozers to a site on Miner's Hill, on Miner Road, to uncover a cave that he says was dug by prophet and founder of the Mormon Church, Joseph Smith, 150 years ago.

A bulldozed path leads the way to the side of the hill where Kommer and two workers spent most of last week clearing the cave and erecting iron bars to "keep the sightseers from hurting themselves."

An official in the Mormon historian's office in Utah said no records could be found to indicate that Joseph Smith dug the caves in Question. But a local history written by historian Thomas Cook in the 1920s said that Smith dug several caves in search of holy ground in which to translate the hieroglyphics found on golden plates containing the text of the Book of Mormon. According to Cook's account, Smith was told by a guardian angel that the first two caves he dug were not on holy ground. A third site, on the east side of Miner's Hill, was satisfactory to the Angel Moroni, so Smith dug a forty-foot cave. Doors were fastened and "every evening, just a twilight, for the next three months he visited the cave, always accompanied by two or more, but always entering the cave alone."

"For several years this cave remained practically intact. After it had commenced to fall in, Wallace W. Miner, a grandson of Amos Miner, the owner of the hill at that time, partly restored the old cave. The grandson, who is now over eighty years of age, owns and occupies the farm, but no trace of the old Joe Smith cave can be found," the early 1920[s] account reports.

A New York Herald newspaper article in June, 1893 also makes reference to the site. The reporter said he visited Cave Hill "where the Mormon plates were translated * * * exactly halfway between Mormon Hill and Palmyra." Miner's hill is about halfway between Hill Cumorah and Plamyra.

He said the cave was still sound and partly visible, but the "earth has been washed down by storms and the opening to the cave nearly filled so that it cannot be entered at present."

Jim Young, 26; 171 Canandaigua Road, Palmyra said when he was "12 or 13" he and another boy, Dick Van Haneghan, discovered the cave on Miner's Hill while exploring. He said they could crawl a "few feet" into the cave on their hands and knees, but could not stand up or penetrate further than that.

Kommer said he had known about the cave "all along" and had wanted to uncover it, but had not had the chance until now. "The dairy business is a little slow, and I'm partially retired, so I thought I'd take a look under," he said.

Reporters inspected the cave shortly after supports had been added and bars erected at the mouth of the cave which is about six feet high at the largest point in the middle and 10-12 feet long.

Kommer said he may sell the land to the Mormons if they are interested or may allow tourists, who flock 200,000 strong along nearby Canandaigua Road to Hill Cumorah to see the annual "America's Witness For Christ" (Mormon Pageant), to view the site. Tourists will not be allowed into the cave.


Notes: (forthcoming) on Monday, May 6, 1974.

Pageant in Palmyra Nears

The epic story of the [1977] version of the Hill [Cumorah Pageant]

Again this [year] the pageant will be under the direction of Dr. Harold I. Hansen of Brigham Young University. This will be his last year after directing every pageant since its humble beginning in 1937. It has been hailed as most elaborate religious outdoor pageant in the Brilliant staging and lighting have combined with music of such majesty as to thrill hundreds of thousands. The outdoor stage with its open cover of stars literally comes alive. The pageant begins with a with a little-known but fascinating story of Christianity in ancient According to Mormon the events portrayed in the pageant began in 600 B.C. the records of those events lay hidden in Hill Cumorah until until 1827. These records first came to light when a young Joseph Smith unearthed the plates. He translated and published the ancient records. The Book of Mormon. The records tell of a people who left Jerusalem about 600 years before the time of Christ. Following a prophet of [God] they made their way to a new and unknown the American continent.

Now known as the Book of the records witness that Jesus is the [Christ] and that his gospel is here to be enjoyed by all who will partake. The pageant carries that message.


Note: The above text contains several errors -- it will be updated when a legible copy of the clipping is obtained for transcription.

A Small Chocolate-colored Stone Gave him
the Vision to Start a Faith.

Joseph Smith was the son of a farmer. He lived near Palmyra at a time when myths were believed. He had this hardened piece of the earth he carried in his britches. It was called a seer stone by [some, and] a peep stone by others. Joseph said him the gift of seeing hidden treasures in the bowels of the earth in its [-------] it would reveal the most enduring of treasures for Joseph. Some people said they remembered the day in 1822 when the stone showed [up]. A [man ----- ----] was engaged in digging a well. I employed Alvin and Joseph to assist me after digging about 20 feet below the surface of the [ground] we discovered a singularly appearing [stone] which excited my curiosity. I brought it to the top of the [well] and as we were examining Joseph put it in his hat and then his face into the top of [his hat]. The next morning he came to me and wished obtain the alleging that he could see in [the stone].

The stone had the shape of a high-in- stepped shoe. It was about as big as the small egg of a hen. It was composed of layers of different colors passing diagonally through it. Chocolate in one person and very hard and smooth. Joseph was not alone in his belief. Money-digging was a passion in that strip of land between Ontario and the canal. Buried treasure guarded by spirits was spoken of. It is still spoken of. People spoke of Joseph too. It was he could find not only treasure but lost possessions. Someone [said] he found a pin in a pile of shavings with the help of the stone. Word got around about this boy who looked into his hat. There was an old gentleman in Chenango County by the name of Josiah Stowell. He farmed on both sides. of the Susquehanna around Bainbridge and farther south in Pa. He heard Joseph could [see] things invisible to the natural [eye].He heard too about a silver mine opened by the Spaniards around Harmony. He wanted Joseph to come to the river valley and get the treasure for him. Joseph wrote Josiah [a--- -----] should not dig more until you first discover if any valuables remain. You know the treasure must be guarded by some clever spirit and if such is discovered so also is the treasure. So do take a hazel stick one yard long being new cut and leave it [just] in the middle and lay it asunder on the mine so that both inner parts of the stick may look one right against the other one inch distant. there is treasure after a while you shall [see] them draw and Join together again of themselves. Let me know how it [---- ----].

Later Joseph went to see about the treasure himself. He and Josiah's dug the silver mine at which I continued to work for nearly a [month] without success in our undertaking... I finally prevailed with the old gentleman to cease digging after [---] in the river country around South which became the village of Afton after Joseph [----- ------] a visitor is told the [-----] and even the envy and [---- --] felt for the man...

[In one story] he announced he was going to walk on water. Some local lads discovered planks hidden under the water of a local pond. They removed the supports. When Joseph tried [his miracle] he [fell] into the water.

We also have the record of Joseph's trial as a disorderly person. This came about a few months after he abandoned Josiah Stowell's empty holes in the ground. Some of the diggers were [----- and] they brought Joseph up on charge before the Bainbridge justice of the peace. Josiah Stowell was positively [----- ---] knew the prisoner [could and] professed the art of seeing those valuable treasures through the medium of said stone... he did not exactly find but got a piece of which resembled... he thinks that he and prisoner had.... for buried [treasure]... and prisoner said that it was in a certain root of a stump five feet from the surface of the and with it would be found a tail-feather said Stowell and prisoner thereupon commenced [-----] found a tail-feather but money was [---- ---] [---- ----] that he supposed the money had moved Howard Stowell swore Joseph had looked into a [hat] to tell where A chest of dollars were buried in Windsor [-----] marked out .size of chest in [-----]

Jonathan Thompson told the court Joseph used his hat in another search for a buried chest. he had been put into the ground by two Indians who quarreled. One killed the other and threw the body into the pit with the trunk. When Jonathan and Joseph they failed because of an trunk kept settling away from under them while digging they continued constantly moving yet the trunk kept about the same distance from them other prisoner said that it appeared to him that salt might be found at Bainbridge and that he is certain that prisoner can divine things by means of said stone and as prisoner looked into his hat to tell him about some money witness lost 16 years ago and that he described the man that witness supposed had taken and... disposition of the court record... thereupon the Court finds the defendant Joseph may have stopped digging for money then.

He didn't stop dreaming. The stone stayed in his pocket. The visions began. In a short another sort of gold was found. This happened in a [------] near Ontario County. It was said if it were not for his [-----] this would not have happened. An angel appeared to Joseph and [----- ----] [where they golden and] gave me directions how to obtain [-------] According to [------] the plates contained the history of an early civilization of our hemisphere and an appearance of the resurrected Christ. Joseph dictated his revelations to a secretary. Sometimes this was his [--------] who he met while working for the Stowells. The manuscript grew over many [years] Joseph moved farm to Pennsylvania to upstate New York. One witness left us an account of how Joseph worked in a farm house at the north end of Seneca [Lake] [He] would put the seer stone into a [hat] and put his face into the [hat] drawing it closely around his face to exclude the [light] and in the darkness the spiritual light would shine [then a] piece of something resembling a parchment would appear and on that appeared the writing. One character at a time would [appear] and under it was the interpretation in English. Brother Joseph would read off the English to his principal scribe and when it was written down and repeated by Brother Joseph to see if it was [correct] then it would disappear and another character with the interpretation would [appear].

Joseph's The Book of [Mormon] was published in 1830 at Palmyra. [In] April he began The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. From that he was known as Joseph the prophet. Fourteen years [later] he was assassinated by a mob at Ill. The church today has nearly 6 million members around the [world]... [these] people, we call them Mormons, return to Ontario County and the other places Joseph lived when he was a.boy. They hold a pageant at the drumlin south of Palmyra which they know as Hill Cumorah. The houses Joseph lived in have been turned into [------] which Mormons call shrines. And in a safe in Salt Lake in the office of the first president of the [Church] rests another souvenir. Joseph's chocolate in color [peep stone]...


Notes: (forthcoming)