JUDGE  CRADLEBAUGH  ON  MORMONISM.

One of the Judges of the Territory of Utah is the Hon. John Cradlebaugh of Circleville. He was sent out by Mr. Buvhanan at the time Gov. Cumming went out. The Governor turned Mormon, opposed the Judges in their efforts to ferret out Mormon crimes, and the Judiciary were powerless. The Administration sides with Governor Cumming.

Judge Cradlebaugh lately delivered a lecture at Circleville upon Mormonism. We make an extract:

POLYGAMY.

The little education the children get consists in preparing them for the reception of polygamy. So at variance is that practice with all the instincts of humanity that it has to be pressed upon the people with great assiduity as a part of their religious duty. To prepare the women for the reception of the revolting practice it is necessary to brutalize them by destroying their modesty. The sentiment of loved is ridiculed, cavalier gallantry and attentions are laughed at; the emblematic devices of lovers and the winning kindness that with us they dote on are hooted at in Utah. The lesson they are taught, and that is inculcated above all others, is "increase and multiply," in order that Zion may be filled. The young people are familiarized to indecent exposures of all kinds; the Mormons call their wives their cattle; they choose them pretty much as they choose their cattle; and that great pibk of delicacy, Heber C. Kimball, the next in prominence, as also the next in sin, to Young, calls his women his cows.

A man is not considered a good Mormon that does not uphold polygamy by precept and example, and he is a suspected Mormon that does not practice it. The higher the man is in the church the more wives he has. Brigham Young and Heber Kimball are supposed to have each between fifty and a hundred. The reverend Mormon bishops, apostles, and the presidents of stakes have as many as they desire, and it is a common thing to see these hoary-headed old Turks surrounded by a troop of robust young wives. The common people take as many as they can support, and it is not uncommon to see a house with but two rooms inhabited by a man, his half-dozen of wives, and a proportionate number of children, like rabbits in a warren, and resembling very much the happy family that we read of -- the prairie dog, the owl, and the rabbit. Incest is common. Sometimes the same man has a daughter and her mother for wives at once; some have as wives their own nieces, and Aaron Johnson, of Springville, one of the most influential men in his parts, has in his harem of twelve women no less than five of his brothers' daughters. One Watts, a Scotchman, who is one of the church reporters, is married to his own half-sister. On her arriving in the country he applied for permission to marry her, but Brigham at first refused and settled the matter by taking her into his own harem; but in a few weeks he relented, the seal was broken, and he gave her to Watts.

The ill-assorted children -- the offspring of one father and many mothers -- run about like so many wild animals. The first thing they do, after learning vulgarity, is to wear a leather belt with a butcher-knife stuck in it; and the next is to steal from the Gentiles; then to ride animals; and as soon as they can, "by hook or by crook," get a horse, a pair of jingling Mexican spurs and a revolver, they are then Mormon cavaliers, and are fit to steal, rob, and murder emigrants. The women and girls are coarse, masculine and uneducated, and are mostly drafted from the lowest stages of society. It is but seldom you meet handsome or attractive women among them.

RECEIVING  PROSELYTES.

The missionaries, when sent on missions, if successful, are commanded to bring their proselytes with them to Zion. They are generally taken in large trains, and the arrival of one of these emigrant trains is hailed as a great event. Apparently all business in Zion is closed, and for the next few days large crowds may be seen hanging about the encampment. If some evil sinner from the Gentile world should notice the fact that the saints are not democratic in their attentions, and they hang in large squads about certain camps, and if such a vile sinner was to inquire into the reason of this, he would surely learn that those camps thus favored by the countenance of these pious saints were the camps of widows with young and marriageable daughters. Women that are young and pretty are greedily caught up by the apostles and dignitaries to swell their harems, while the old and ugly are left to care for themselves, or sometimes the prophet forces them on a reluctant husband, that he may avail himself of their labor.

The missionaries are especially charged not to select from the converts until they are brought and put into the fold. Henber Kimball, in delivering a lecture upon that subject to a lot of missionaries about to leave, uses language which I will read:

"I say," he remarks, "to those who are elected to go on missions, go [as] if you never return, and commit what you have into the hands of the Lord -- your wives, children, brethren and property. Let truth and righteousness be your motto. Don't go into the world for anything but to preach the gospel and build up the kingdom of God and gather sheep into the fold. -- You are sent out as shepherds to gather the sheep together, and remember that they are not your sheep -- they belong to him that sends you. Then don't make selection of any before they are put into the fold. You understand what that means."


Note: The above John Cradlebaugh essay was published in John W. Barber's 1861 book, Our Whole Country, in his 1865 book, The Loyal West, and in its 1867 successor, All the Western States and Territories. There is also considerable textual overlap with parts of Cradlebaugh's 1863 address, Utah and the Mormons.

From  Utah.

Brigham Young is a greater tyrant than Nicholas of Russia. I am satisfied that his downfall is at hand, for the division has already commenced. In Weber county, near Ogden City, there is a new prophet arisen by the name of Joseph Morris. He has written many books, and says there is a revelation of God against this people. He says that the judgments of God are to come upon this people, Brigham and the authorities of this church, within the year 1861, and that God is going to destroy the wicked leaders of this people. The people around him, almost all, believe in him as a true prophet of God. He lives about 80 miles from this place * * * I am of the opinion that he is the man to bring forth that bloody conflict which the prophet Joseph foresaw, for the Brighamites are already threatening him and his followers with extermination. I believe all the branches of the church where he lives have joined him * * * There is much rumor about the troops leaving Utah. They expect to be ordered to leave every day. Letters came here by the Pony Express, May 29th, that an order was issued in Washington, May 21st, to call the troops into the States from this place, and ever since the Quartermaster has been making preparations to start when the order comes, but it has not arrived. There are thousands of poor people here who wish for the troops to remain until they can obtain teams to take them away, and if the troops leave they will not know what to do. There are many, yes, very many poor families who wish they were out of Utah. No man who knows how poor people suffer in this Territory, but those who experience it... [text of a Morrisite revelation follows]


Note 1: The exact date of the above communication from RLDS Elder Isaac Sheen to the Cincinnati Commercial remains undetermined. The text is taken from a fragment of the original, and from a reprint, published in the July 17, 1861 issue of the Chicago Tribune, which begins with this editorial preface: "The Cincinnati Commercial contains a letter written by Isaac Sheen, from Fort Crittenden (formerly Camp Floyd), Utah, under date of June 18th, from which we learn that the indications and preparations for civil war in Utah are very marked..."

Note 2: See also Elder Sheen's earlier letter, published in the Saturday Evening Post, and another, in the Cincinnatti Comercial, just prior to the formal founding of the RLDS Church.

A History of the Organization and Progress of the
Latter Day Saints' Church -- The Mormon Split.

From the Chicago Journal.

There being many newspaper items afloat purporting to set forth the present condition of the Mormon Church, the various secessions, offshoots and outgrowths of the same, together with some of the tenets or dogmas of faith to which they severally hold, I thought with your permission, through the medium of the Journal to make some [statements] which may serve in a measure to correct the ideas which must [in-----ly] have been gathered from the items lately and extensively published. The organization of the church was effected April 6, 1830. At this organization here were six persons, comprising nearly the whole number then in the faith. From this organization in its subsequent spread, has come every party, faction, and organization bearing the commonly received appellation of "Mormon." Propagation of [tenets] began by the laboring of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery, who [boldly] advocated the new theories of religion, preaching from the common version of the Bible, and presenting with it, as of divine origin, the Book of Mormon, which is purported to be a history of the early settlers of the country, who came at different periods of time from the far East, one party coming over soon after the dispersion upon the plains of Shinar, and two others from Jerusalem about 600 years before Christ. These ultimately fell into unbelief, creating war among themselves, eventuating in extinction. This history was kept as a national archive, according to their custom. on plates of brass, which plates were confided from generation to generation to persons properly chosen, whose duty it was to inscribe the common history of their people upon them. These plates were so handed down to one [Moroni] the last surviving prophet, who seeing the utter extinction of his people, records the fact and hides the plates, confident of their being found and published abroad among a people who should inhabit this land. The preaching of Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery was followed by that of others, who united with them from time to time, until quite a large number of communicants were added to the faith, when a gathering was effected at Kirtland, Ohio. From this place the work of proselyting went on. The building of a temple was completed about the year 1835 [sic - 1836?], at the same time that a settlement was being made in Missouri.

In 1837. owing partly to bad financial operations, partly to defection in the church, and partly to strong intolerant persecutions. the colony at Kirtland was broken up. The settlement already begun in Jackson county, Mo., was, owing to the increase in number, exercising considerable political power. Whether used wisely or unwisely (it matters not now), this power existing gave rise to jealousy. This [resulted] in mutual acts of an offensive [or] defensive character, which resulted in bringing down upon the church, then from 10,000 to 15,000 strong in the State of Missouri, the strong arm of force. The leaders were arrested and cast into jail, from which they were released or escaped, after various terms of confinement, and the whole body of people with scarcely an exception, were driven from the State in the beginning of the winter of 1838. The persecution to which they had been subjected had made many friends for them in the young State of Illinois, and, crossing the Mississippi, they settled to and fro, until a town site was chosen at Commerce, Hancock county, Ill., just at the head of the lower or Des Moines rapids. Here the city of Nauvoo was laid out and became the centre of the church organization. From 1839 to June 26, 1844, the church continued to proselyte with marvelous success. The church had increased from a membership of six to nearly 150,000. Twice had the strong arm of violence driven them from their homes. Twice had they sought new locations. All the time had they kept up their ministerial labors, and the doctrines which they believed were being taught in very many of the countries of the earth.

In June, 1844, Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith, his brother, were killed by a mob while being held in jail awaiting trial for some offence charged against them. There was at that time in the city of Nauvoo and county of Hancock, a large population adhering to the faith, which rapidly increased in the fall of 1845 just prior to the last acts of violence which drove them from the State. It was estimated at 25,000. Subsequent to the death of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, Brigham Young became the leader of the part of the church which sought to escape from the region where so much had been endured by them; and under his leadership complaints waxed stronger and stronger, until in the summer and fall of 1846 mob violence was again triumphant, and the State of Illinois was forcibly rid of the Saints. What the history of those in Utah has been, I have no personal knowledge. I have [-------] that much has been said and written of them which is not true, while the truth must be bad enough.

Joseph Smith, when he died in 1844, was in the thirty-ninth year of his age, and at his death left a family consisting of one wife, the daughter of Isaac Hale of Harmony, Pa., to whom he was married against the wishes of her [family], [not] much of a crime now, whatever it might have been then, and five children: four boys and a girl. The girl was the daughter of one Joseph Murdock and his wife, who died in Kirtland, Ohio, and is the natural sister of one John Murdock of Salt Lake City, Utah. She was adopted by Joseph and Emma Smith, at the death of her parents [sic - mother?], and has always been one of the family. She is now the wife of Mr. John J. Middleton, a gentleman of worth in the employment of the Pilot Knob Iron Company, of St. Louis, Mo. The boys were Joseph (the writer of this article), Frederick, Alexander and David. There are three left, Frederick dying in September, 1846. Emma Smith, the mother of these boys, left Nauvoo, in common with many others; and, instead of following the fortunes of Brigham Young, went up the Mississippi on the "Uncle Toby," then commanded by Captain Grimes, of Fulton City, now the terminus of the Dixon Air-line Railroad, and in the spring of 1847 she returned to Nauvoo, where, in December, 1847, she was married to Major Lewis Crum Bidamone, and where she still resides.

The writer was born in Kirtland Ohio, November 6, 1832 -- was taken with the family from there to Missouri, thence to Nauvoo, Ill., thence to Fulton, Ill., and back to Nauvoo, where he resided without intermission till January, 1866, when he became a resident of the town of Plano, Kendall Co., Ill. I am aware, Mr. Editor, that these items of family history have only local significance, but I deemed it necessary to relate them. In 1846 and 1847, when Brigham Young and those who followed his leadership were making their way westward, a large number refused to go, and scattered into various regions of the country. This division did not occur in the separation of an organized body of disaffected men, but took place by the dropping out of individuals and families by twos, threes and dozens, and has continued up to the present time. Different individuals attempted from time to time to organize and hold these dispersed people in one body, having in view as claimed by them, a reclaiming of those gone into apostacy (meaning those who led into polygamy) and the gathering together of those remaining in the faith to which they had originally given heed. One after another of these organizations failed, the reasons for which it is not necessary to state. Suffice it to say that in 1852 none existed bearing even a fair semblance to the tenets and practice of the original body.

In 1852 a movement was begun in southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois, among the fragmentary remnants of these several organizations, together with many who had never held affinity with either, but who were anxious for the organization upon the original basis, which movement resulted in the assembling together at Amboy, Lee County, Ill., in April, 1860, of a large number of these scattered people for the purpose of effecting a permanent organization. The writer then became identified with the movement, and the organization was sufficiently effected to warrant the holding of annual and semi-annual conferences, and the transacting of such business as is called for by the exigencies of the promulgation of doctrinal tenets and the proselyting to the faith.

One of the first and chief objects of this reorganization of the elements of the original church was, and has been, the reclaiming of those who have plunged into error and vice, and the recalling of those who, supposing that there was no other way, followed the lead of ambitious and [unscrupulous ?] men, who flourished for a time and then failed. Another object, from the prosecution of which there has been no cessation, has been, and now is, an open. fearless, hostile and unyielding opposition to the doctrines of polygamy and others of like demoralizing tendencies, held and taught by Brigham Young and his adherents. The cause assigned for the opposition is this: The testimonials of all concur in freeing Joseph Smith and Hyrum Smith from the accusation of being the originators and promulgators of that doctrine, and, further that there is no sort of foundation for believing those evil doctrines to have been a part of the doctrines of the original church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.   JOSEPH SMITH.


Notes: (forthcoming)

(For the Geauga Democrat.)
Early  History  of  Auburn

A sketch of the early history of the town of Auburn, in the County of Geauca, and State of Ohio, Written by Wm. Crafts, giving a sketch of his journey here from the State of New York, his purchase, his return home in October, 1815; also of his journey and arrival here, with his family, the following spring, of the year 1816; also something of his pioneer life after arriving here, which is as follows:

I, Wm. Crafts, started on foot, with my pack on my back, from the town of Gorham, county of Ontario and State of New York, on Tuesday, the first dav of August, 1815, for the New Connecticut Western Reserve, in the State of Ohio, for the purpose of buying a piece of wild land to clear up and make me a home. Traveled west to Buffalo. There I saw some of the effects of the war of 1812, the enemy having burnt the place. Some of the chimneys of the houses yet remained standing, and Buffalo looked small and rather desolate; so I passed on, more or less on the beach of Lake Erie, for 25 miles; then, done with the Lake, came on to Erie, Penn.; next came to the town of Conneaut, Ashtabula County, Ohio; from there came to Esq. Jesse Ladd's in the town of Madison, then Geauga County, now Lake. Mr. Ladd then kept tavern. I found him and his famlly to be very good, kind people, and, I being rather unwell, put up with him. Was there, on and off, for about two weeks. Went as far west as Chagrin. now Willouhby; came back and looked up land in Madison; did not get suited; wild land was held, off of the Ridge Road in Madison, at about four dollars per acre, and, as I had not much to buy with, I made up my mind to go south; consequently, as Mr. Ladd was going to Painesville, ten miles, he carried me there with him. Then I took the road for Chardon, our noble County Seat. Found, I think, not more than two or three houses on the way, after I left the old Warren road. Arrived in Chardon about four o'clock in the afternoon. The dwelling houses and Court House were all composed of logs at that time. Not a framed house there. Norman Canfield was digging a well where the tavern is now kept, south of the Court House, and I think he kept there at that time. Captain Edward Paine and others were there, standing about the well, and I inquired how far it was to the next house south, on the newly cut out State Road. They said it was six miles to Judge Stone's; that I could travel the new road through Munson on foot, or ride through on horseback, but teams did not pass. Accordingly, I left, and pursued my journey, and reached Judge Stone's a little after sundown, and glad was I for it seemed a long ways for me to travel without passing a house, and so near night that I did not know but that I should have to stay in the woods. I stayed with Mr. Stone over night; found him to be a really friendly, intelligent man, as he always has been ever since.

The next morning I left, and pursued my journey south. The first house I came to was Samuel Barker's; the next was Lemuel Punderson's grist mill and mill house for the miller to live in, that tended the mill: the next was Lemuel Punderson's dwelling house; the next was Joshua M. Burnett's; the next was Mr. Coe's, near a certain brook. He was a cloth-dresser; had done a small business there, but did not follow it. The next was Benager Bradley's, on the south side of said brook. He was a turner, chair and wheel-maker. The next was Bildad Bradley's. He had sold out to Joshua M. Burnett, and had gone about 20 or 30 rods south of the south line of Newbury, and had built on the then new State Road in the then new township No. 6, in the eighth range of townships, now Auburn, and was the first settler in town.

Now we will date September the first, 1815. The next was the body of a house raised by Mr. John Jackson, which stood a little south of where Gilbert Richards now lives, and on the same side of the road. He (Jackson) and Zadock Reuwee had been in and bought, and had gone back to Massachusetts for their families, and were going to move on that same fall. The next house on the road was Priest Jones', beyond Mantua Corners. There was no building on the corners at that time. So it appears that, in traveling from Chardon to Mr. Jones', in Mantua, Portage County, a distance of 18 or 19 miles, I found but 8 houses on the road, including Judge Stone's, and the distance from Bradley's to Jones' was nearly eight miles without a house.

Now as I am through this description of this long streak of travel, and so few houses,and the distance between them, I must go back and pursue my journey, in order to obtain the object of my pursuit, which was to buy land, and, as I traveled along through this new town, by where Jackson had raised his house, as above stated, I found myself in an extensive windfall, in which grew a solid mass of blackberry briers, very high, and so thick that it seemed as though a wild animal could not get through them, and they hung very full of berries, so that it was fine picking, but I did not like to buy in the windfall, so I went on about one-third of the way across the town, and came into timbered land, traveled across the next or middle third of the town in going south, and liked the land all the way first rate. The nice little streams of livina water, the excellent and great amount of rail and saw timber, the handsome face and laying of the land, all combined, pleased me very much. The last third of the town I liked tolerably well, but not so well as the middle on all accounts. So I passed on the Mantua Corners, took the center road, and went east to Captain Bosworth's and put up for night. I made inquiry of the Captain who owned this land I had passed through in this new town back in Geauga County, and whether it was for sale, and he directed me to go see Judge Amzl Atwater, of Mantua, for information; and, accordingly, I did the next morning. He directed me back to Lemuel Punderson, in Newbury; thought he could tell me all about it, and perhaps had the acrency of it. So I returned back; found such to be the fact. Mr. Punderson had the agency of selling this very land that I liked so well. He went and showed me the land, showed me the bounds. This tract extended from north to south, across the center or middle third of the town, and was nearly two miles in length and one mile in width, containing 1,176 acres of land according to the original survey, and belonged to William Ely, of the city of Hartford, in the State of Connecticut, and the State Road ran through it length-wise; consequently, it could be divided with east and west lines across the tract, and make several good farms, which would be situated upon both sides of the road, and the price was two dollars and a half per acre to take a part, or two and a quarter to take the whole tract; and, as I hardly knew where the best selection could be made on the tract for a farm, I concluded to take the whole tract, knowing at the same time I was not able to pay for it, but wishing to secure it, in hopes I could get some acquaintance or relative to come with me from the State of New York, settle on it, and form a neighborhood. So I bargained for it, made a small payment, passed writings, and, returning on foot the same way I came, got home the first of October. I was twenty-six years old the twenty-first day of December following, 1815. -- I was seventy-eight the twenty-first day of December.

My next business was to make ready to move to Ohio with my family the following winter, and, in order to do this, it became necessary for me to marry my second wife, and I did marry the Widow Hayes on the 9th day of January, 1816; she being nearly 4 years younger than I was, and had had the misfortune to lose her companion, as I also had mine. We were left, each of us, with a little son, a little over three years old, and with only 21 days difference in their ages. This done, it was a great step towards getting ready for the journey. I could not get any one to agree to come here and buy the land and make a settlement, as I wished, but my brother-in-law, Mr. Amaziah Keyes, of Palmyra, Ontario County, was favorable to coming, but had not sold but let his son Joseph come with me to help me, a youngster of about 17 or 18 years old, and he agreed to come out the June following, and see how he liked, and John Crafts, another nephew of mine, about the same age, came with us. I calculated to come by sledding. but, as it was a cold, frozen winter and but very little snow, I could not; waited for snow until the 16 th day of February, 1816; then started with an ox team and wagon, and drove a cow with us. The ground being frozen, we drove on well until we got nearly to Buffalo, when it began to rain and thaw. Got this side of Buffalo, and, having nowhere else to drive, we drove on to the ice, the water on the ice being nearly to the cattle's knees. It looked dangerous, but other people drove there, and we drove there until night, when we drove off the ice and put up at Barker's tavern, eight miles this side of Buffalo. The weather changed that night, and it was very cold. The next morning, we took the ice road again, with no water in the way, and drove on cheerfully. I was driving the team myself, noticed the track was beat in a circular form on my left; looked straight forward, and could see where they turned out: it appeared to be glare ice to drive straight ahead. Not being used to the lake, and drivincg on the ice and my team being well shod, I thought I would drive straight ahead, and not make this turn, and, as I was driving along rather carelessly, the first I knew the ice was cracking all around the wheels of my wagon. I looked forward, and, to my great astonishment, there was a terrible air-hole, and the water was roiling and boiling like a pot. I hawed on to the beaten track very suddenly, and, through the mercy of God, we escaped being drowned in the lake. We drove on till night, put up at Cash's tavern, 25 miles this side of Buffalo. We had now done driving on the lake. The weather changed again, so that the next morning it was thawing, raining and snowing, so that we remained there till after noon: then I yoked up my team, and drove on in company with some movers who were going into Pennsylvania. We drove through what was called the four mile woods, and came to Cattaraugus Creek. It was thawing all the while, but the ice and frost bore us up through the roads. The water ran swiftly down the creek on the lee. There were men at work cutting out the ice in the scow or boat, to ferry people across. We asked them if we could cross safely on the ice. They said we could if we drove in a certain direction, one team at a time. We drove in the water up to the cattle's knees, but crossed safely. It was night, and we all put up at Brownell's tavern on the other side of the creek. The next morning was very clear and warm. -- Brownell observed I had the advantage of those other teams, for I had wheels and they had runners. We left those teams there, and saw no more of them; pursued our journey till we came to Erie, Pennsylvania. Had a freezing and thawing, breaking up time, all the way from the time we left the creek above mentioned, till we came to the end of our journey. Could not travel more than ten or fifteen miles a day.

We left Erie, and came on to Conneaut, Ashtabula County, Ohio; from there to Madison, Geauga County; there we put at my old fiiend Ladd's; from there to Painesville, ten miles; from there to John Murray's, four miles. There we put up for the niaht, there being no tavern, but we fell in good hands. I left my family and team there at Murray's, and came on to Mr. Punderson's, in Newbury, to hire a team and man to go and put on forward of mine, and help me through the woods to the end of my journey. I hired a man by the name of Burke. He took his team and went out with me; got there in the afternoon. I was desirous to go on, and we put on our teams, and started; had left the old Warren road, got about two miles into the woods towards Chardon, and I discovered something out of order about the wagon; stopped the team, and behold, the tire being thin, it was broken on the hind wheel, and the felloe knocked off. It was evening. The moon shone very bright, but we could not go any farther. Therefore we had to return back to the last house we had left, which was two miles through the woods in the evening, so we turned our team and cow forward. Burke took one of the little boys and I the other. The older boys having come out with me were at Punderson's. My wife took as much bed clothing as she could well carry, for they had not much bedding at the house where we were going. So back we went, stayed there over night, went next moming to my wagon, took off my broken wheel, and carried it to Murray, requesting him to get repaired, borrowed one of him, and put it on to the waaon. It suited well, and we started; got to Chardon that day, and put up for night. The next morning we started, drove through Burton and part of Newbury, and finally to Mr. John Jackson's, in our noble new town, now called Auburn, this being the end of our journey, until we could build a house to go into, and, on Tuesday, the 12th of March, 1816, the next day, we looked out a house spot, and rested a little from our journey, which wanted only four days of a month to perform, in the very worst kind of traveling. The day following, which was Thursday, we commenced cutting our house timber, and the next Thursday, a week, we moved into it, and there we remained, without upper floor, door or table, till we had four acres chopped, cleared off and planted, on the east side of the road about the house, and five acres chopped on the west side of the road for wheat, which took till July. Then, while the brush was drying, I took my team, went to Burton, bought one hundred feet of lumber, made a table and door, put up shelves against the house, hewed chestnut plank for the lower and upper floors, and began to feel at home. Our nearest neighbors south were John Harrnon, Reed & Messenger, in Mantua, which was three miles. They had moved in since I was in, the fall before. Our nearest neighbors north were two miles, to Mr. Jackson's, the place where we stopped. Those were our neighbors the first season, except some men who kept house without their wives.

Our two little boys, that we brought in with us, grew up to manhood years ago, and are still living. Daniel M. Crafts, my son, was 55 years old the 15th day of September or October, 1867; lives in Troy, about a mile east of me. Chester G. Hayes is my wife's son. He was 55 years old the 4th day of October, 1867; is proprietor of the hotel at Auburn Corners; about one-third of a mile west of me. We have had six children since we moved into this town, three sons and three daughters, whose names are as follows: Jeremiah Crafts was born on the 28th day of October, 1816, he being the first child born in this town. Edward Crafts and Hosea Crafts are the boy's names. Almira, Harriet, and Eveline are the girls' names. Harriet we buried many years ago. Edward is on the old farm, and the others not far off, with the exception of Almira. She is gone to the State of Illinois. Thus it appears we have lived here more than a half century, have reared up a family, gone through all the hardships and privations incident to the settling of a new country, and, through the blessing of our Heavenly Father, we still live and are able to take care of ourselves.

Now I have finished what I have to write respecting my own history, for the present, but shall allude to it agaln occasionally, as I proceed with the progress of the settlement of the town. When I moved into town, Bildad Bradley had taken down his house and moved it on to the next lot west, because he could not hold the land on the road. There he lived to the great age of 85 years, and died about two years ago, his wife having died some years previous. John Jackson & Zadock Reuwee moved in town with their families, and Rensselaer Granger, a young man, came in with Mr. Jackson as his hired man. Jackson built a frame barn in the fall of 1816, this being the first frame in town. These three families settled in the north part of the town, I think on what was called the Mills Tract. Wm. Crafts' family was the fourth, and settled on the Ely Tract, as before stated. Perhaps it will be well for me to note some of the tracts of land in this town. as I shall have occasion to allude to them in reference to the settlers. And, first, the south third of the town with lines running from east to west across the town, was called the Atwater Tract, the owner living [in the] East, which was not for sale for many years after the town commenced settling. The middle third was owned by different individuals, as follows: Commencing with Solomon Cowles' Tract of 1,177 acres, bounded on the east line of the town; next the Ely Tract of 1,176 acres; next the Kirtland Tract of 2,400 acres. On this tract is the center of the town. Next the Root Tract of 1,000 acres; next the Miller Tract of 1,000 acres, extending to the west line of town. The north third was owned by Judce Mills and others. I cannot tell who they all were. And now a little concerning myself. -- As I was not successful in gettincy men to come from the East, and, taking this Ely Tract with me, as I wished, after I had been in town awhile, I made a proposition to Mr. Punderson to rescind the bargain we made the fall before, on the following terms: First that I would reserve 200 acres on the south end of the tract for Mr. Keyes, as he had sent his son in with me; next, I would take for myself 400 acres, the north line of which is 32 rods, north of the center of the east and west center road, now runninc, through the town of Auburn, this road not being laid out, it brought the four corners on my farm, which is now called Auburn Corners. Punderson having agreed to the above proposition, we took up our first agreement and made a new one. Shortly after this, Mr. David Smith and Mr. Morgan Orton came in from the State of Connecticut, and bought of Punderson the remainder of the Ely Tract. Smith, I think, bought 100 acres on the north-east corner, on the east side of the road. Orton's lay in an L, that opposite D. Smith's on the west side of the road, and that joining Wm. Crafts' on both sides of the road. About the same time Ethan Brewer came in from Massachusetts. and bought west on the Root Tract, near where May's Mill now stands. With no laid out road, only a foot-path which led to Aurora, the above named all commenced laboring and planting for the purpose of raising provision in this town, in the spring, of 1816. Nothing had been raised before. Orton was not married. Smith and Reuwee kept bachelors' hall at this time, but I think in October, the same fall of 1816, they bought on their wives from the East: then we began to think we had neighbors. Benjamin Woods came in from Palmyra, New York, I think in the month of November, 1816, and moved in Ellhu Mott. He settled in Newbury. Mr. Woods came down to our town with Punderson, looked west on the Root Tract, but wanted to buy on the road, as there was no other road in town. I told him I thought Morton Orton would sell, and went with him to Orton. They soon made a bargain, and Woods returned home to Palmyra, but came back here late the same fall, and brought four men with him, whose names are as follows: Charles Hinkley, Amasa Turner, Philip Ingler and James Benjamin. These men all came to look for land. Mr. Woods, although considerably advanced in years, was very ambitious. He cut, split, hewed and raised a log house in a short time, and then returned. On the 19th of February, '17. Mr. Woods, Charles Hinkley, and Amasa Turner all arrived here with their families, with ox teams, by sledding. Mr. Woods soon put his house in order and moved in. Hinkley and Turner bought north on the Mills Tract, built their houses and moved in. The fore part of the month of March following, (in '17,) Amaziah Keyes and John Cutler came in with their families. Keyes bought and built his house on the south end of the Ely Tract, which I reserved for him. Cutler bought west, at the center of the Kirtland Tract, built and settled there: had a hired man by the name of David Walker, who afterwards married and settled in Newbury. These five families, I think, were all that settled in town in the spring of 1817.

The two towns of Auburn and Bainbridge being set together to organize and do town business, as a town, on the first Monday of April, 1817, we rallied all the forces we could n both towns, and met at Ethan Brewer's in Auburn. We organized. Enos Kingslely, of Bainbridge, acted as Clerkm and we elected Ethan Brewer, of Auburn, Justice of the Peace, he being the first Justice in town. The names of some of the electors from Bainbridge are as follows: Two brothers by the name of Smith. George and Robert, David McConoughey and son Porter, Gamaliel Kent and sons, Mr. Henry and sons, and some more, but I cannot recollect their names. I will now proceed with the settlement. Geo. W. Antisdale came on from Farmington, Ontario County, New York, in June, 1817. and bought on the Kirtland Tract, as did also Pardon Wilber, and Joseph Bartholomew bought on the Root Tract. Benjamin Woods went East, and moved on Lewis Finley and John Bosworth. In the fall of the same year, (1817,) Bosworth settled on the south-west corner of Woods' land, on the Ely Tract. He was a professor of religion and member of the Baptist Church an exhorter, and frequently carried on meetings when there was no minister present. His son Luther soon married. and settled east of the State road, and towards the northeast corner of the town. Lewis Finley settled north-west, I think on the Mills Tract. Pardon Wilber and Bartholemew moved in late in the fall of the same year, (1817,) with their families, built houses on the land they bought, as above stated, and moved in. George W. Antisdale, Roger W. Antisdale, his brother, Arnold Harrington and Abraham Gilmore all moved in with their families in February, 1818. The Antisdales settled on the Kirtland Tract. Harrington and Gilmore settled, I think, on the south part of the Root Tract. George W. Antisdale was a man somewhat in years, and had a large famlly, his oldest son being nearly of age, and had a hired man. He commenced business, but was taken sick and died within two years after coming in. His wife married again, lost her second husband, and is still living in the town of Troy, an old lady of 85 years of acre. Elliot Crafts and Jeremiah White came in the spring of 1818, from Ontario, N. Y., bought, built, returned back, and moved in with their families in the fall of the same year. About this time, Austin Richards moved in from Massachusetts, with his family, bought and settled in the north part of the town, on the Mills Tract. A little previously to this time, (1818,) Daniel Wheelock, Lorin Snow and John Morey, all young men, came in from Massachusetts, and afterwards married and settled in this town. Rensselaer Granger, Jackson's hired man, as before stated, also married and settled in this town, raised a family, buried his wife, sold his farm, and has gone to Michigan, and married again. Luther Bosworth, who married and settled in this town, as before stated, also buried his wife, married again, and has moved to Michigan.

Philip Ingler, I liked to forgot, moved in about this time, (1818,) with his family, and settled at the center of the town. He could procure wild meat in the woods, for he was a great hunter. He afterwards moved to Auburn Corners, where he lost his life in the. following manner: He was a man that sometimes drank a little too much, perhaps, for his own good. Whether that was the case with him at this time, we don't know. He was in Mantua, as Amasa Turner's who lived there at that time, and kept tavern; started for home near night, Got into Auburn woods, on the Atwater Tract, and somehow got out of the way of travel on the turnpike road, with his knees in the ditch, and his elbows on the bank. There he was, with a black coat on, his back towards the road, asleep, and his little dog about him. David Eggleston was coming home from Mantua that evening. I think it was in October. It was a comfortable evening, and the moon shone bright. He got along to where Mr. Ingler lay, with his back rounded up towards the road, and his dog guarding him and growling. Eggleston took him to be a bear, went back to Turner's, got a young man by the name of Robinson to load his rifle with two balls, and come with him to kill this supposed bear. They came alone up, found Mr. Ingler quietly asleep in the same position he was when Eggleston left him, and, without further reflection, consideration or deliberation, Robinson drew up, pulled, and his gun snapped; overhauled, pulled actain, and his gun went off, the two balls entering the back of Mr. Ingler. He rolled over, and exclaimed, "O God!" and expired. The above statement I suppose to be correct. I was not there myself, and did not see it, but had it from others, and suppose it is true. I helped lay out Mr. Ingler myself, found the two balls entered his back about midway, near the backbone. One came out above or below the collar bone, I do not remember which. The other we did not find. Thus died Mr. Ingler, in a lamentable way, to the sorrow and grief of his wife, friends and neighbors.

(Concluded next week.)


Notes: (forthcoming)

(For the Geauga Democrat.)
Early  History  of  Auburn
(Concluded.)

About this time, ('18 or '19,) Ephraim Wright came in from Farmington, Ontario County, N. Y., and bought out John Cutler at the Center, who moved away West; moved back into Newbury, lost his wife, married acyain, settled, and lived there till he died, a few years ago. Wright moved in with his family about the time, as above stated; lived there at the Center, till about the year 1835, and sold out to Captain Gilbert Hinkley, brother to Charles Hinkley, and father to Charles D. Hinkley and Jerome Hinkley, both now living in Auburn. Captain Hinkley moved into Auburn with his family, which was quite numerous, lived there till 1844, and died. His wife is still living with her son Charles, an old lady of about 80 years of age. Wright moved to Michigan, bought, and lived there until a few years ago. He lost his wife, married again, and still lives there; has reached the great age of nearly or quite 80 years. He was a wonderfully smart man with an axe. Jonathan P. Bartholomew, I think, came in from the State of New York, in the year 1819. He was a young man, and a blacksmith by trade. He bought a small place, I think on the Root Tract; went back, married and moved in. He worked in his shop and on his place. As he was an early settler, and the first blacksmith in town, and the inhabitants were very few and scattering, he had not constant employment in his shop. His intention was, as soon as convenient, to buy land enough for a farm, so as to make farming his principal business for a livelihood; accordingly, when the Atwater Tract came for sale, he sold where he was, and bought a lot of a hundred acres; moved on to it, cleared all that was necessary, built a large two story house, frame barn, and all other necessary buildings; worked very hard on his farm and in his shop; raised a large family. Three of his sons, I think, were in the army during the late war. He was taken sick and died about the close of the war. One of his sons lives on the farm with his mother, the widow; two others live in this town, and the rest have gone West. Roswell Rice was also a blacksmith by trade, and son-in-law to Amaziah Keyes. He moved into town in June, 1819; bouaht four acres on one of the corners now called Auburn Corners; built a house and shop, worked there a few years, sold and moved to Mantua, as that was as old settled town, and a better place for his business. He worked at his trade, and remained there a considerable number of years, till his father and mother Keyes died; then he bought out the heirs of the estate, and moved back to Auburn; settled on the old farm, gave up working at his trade, and carried on dairying till he died, the 11th day of February, 1861. His wife also died the 31st of December, 1863.

Henry Canfield moved in, I think, with his family, in the fall of the year 1820; built and moved on to the land he had previously bought, and which I think is situated on the south-east corner of the Root Tract, and through which runs a creek called Bridge Creek, and on which was a mill-seat. Mr. Canfield's intention was to build a saw-mill on his land when he bought, which he did, and got it running, I think, late in the fall of the year 1822. This was the first mill in town. We were all very thankful to have a saw-mill, for we needed one very much. Mr. Canfield was a good carpenter, and a very industrious man. He built a frame house and barn, made improvements, and run his mill for several years, and then sold to his brother, William Canfield, who lived in the State of New York; but, some time during the time above stated, he met with a very bad accident. He was at a log raising, went to step over a log, had got his left foot over and his right foot up, so that the toe of his boot was nearly or quite at the center of the log. At that instant, another log rolled against his heel, and jammed his foot up endwise, and injured his ankle. This hurt was of such a nature that it could not be cured. His foot never came in good shape again. He had a shoe or boot made and shaped on purpose for it, and used to walk with a cane. Notwithstanding this misfortune, some of his boys becoming men-grown to help him, and he being ambitious, he bought a mill-seat at the Cuyahooa Rapids, in the town of Hiram, Portage County, built a dam across the river and a saw-mill, and was doing business successfully, when he was charged with flowing the marsh lands up the river, and a suit was commenced against him. He stood the test, and came off conqueror, but, as he was alone to fight so many, and as there was so much prejudice acainst him on account of his mill-dam being there, he sold and moved on to the State Road in Mantua. He lived there a number of years, and at length moved back into Auburn, and settled on the Atwater Tract. His house was burned 10 or 12 years ago, but he built again, and lives there to this day. His foot, ankle and leg growing more and more affected, and more and more painful, until the injury terminated in a running sore, and affected the whole limb to his knee, his sufferings were so great that it seemed as though he could not live under them. At length he sent to Cleveland for a surgeon, who, on examination, concluded to amputate it, with this view, that, if he died under the operation, death would be preferable to so much suffering, and he might possibly live; and he took it off above the knee, dressed it, and it was a long time setting well; but, at last, it has healed up sound, and the old gentleman, who has reached almost 80 years of age, is out of pain and patient under his misfortune. His wife, an old lady, died the 16th of last December, aced 80 years. Thus I have given you a faint description of the sufferings of this unfortunate man, which afflicted him, I think, for more than thirty years.

Elijah Canfield, next brother younger to the above mentioned Canfield, came into town, when or soon after he bought 50 acres of land near where the mill was built; went on to it, and lives on it to this day. He had only one child, Wm. Canfield, who bought the mill property of his brother Henry, as above stated; sold to a man by the name of Jude May, and May turned the water out of its natural course through a ditch, which he cut through the bank on the west side of the creek, and erected a saw-mill and grist-mill, which are in running order to this day.

Samuel Moore, of Mantua, was married to Betsey Keyes, by Ethan Brewer, Esq., at the bride's father's, in Auburn, about the 25th of November, 1817, they being the first couple married in town. Morgan Orton, who sold his farm to Benjamin Woods, as above stated, bought again west, on the Kirtland Tract, on the center road. The said Orton was married to Rebecca Moore, by the Rev. Elder Humphrey of Burton, at William Craft's in Auburn, in the winter of '19. This, I think, was the second marriage in town. Mr. Orton was a very industrious, hard-laboring man. After marriage, he moved on to his new farm of more than two hundred acres, made a good clearing, sold part of his farm to his brother-in-law, Harris, helped Harris build a saw-mill on a branch of Bridge Creek, above mentioned, which was on his farm; built a frame barn, was getting along well, but sold again, and moved back on the Ely Tract on the State Road, it being part of that which David Smith bought in the spring of 1816; built a frame house and bam, had a good orchard, and all well improved, sold again about ten or twelve years ago, and moved West to Iowa, bought land there, built a frame house, was improving and getting along well, when he was taken sick and died, about two vears ago. Thus I have written a little of the history of this hard-laboring man, who perhaps bought and sold too often for his own good.

John Crafts and Joseph Keyes, who came with me, when I moved here, soon married and settled in this town. John married East, in New York, brought his wife here, settled on a small farm of fifty acres on the Kirtland Tract, labored there a few years, and was taken sick and died. He was the first adult person buried in town. Willis Woods and Joseph Keyes married sisters by the name of Colvin, in this town. Keyes lived here many years, but not lives in the town of Burton; moved there 8 or 10 years ago; has grown old, but he and his wife are still able to take care of themselves. Willis Woods, oldest son of Benjamin Woods, was well settled on the State Road, on part of the land which his father bought of Morgan Orton, on the Ely Tract; cleared up his farm, set out a good orchard, built a frame house and barn, sold out many years ago, for about $14. per acre, moved to the State of Michicran, bought wild land, and was chopping in the woods when killed by accident by the fall of a tree. Thus ended the life of this unfortunate man, in consequence of the imprudent course he took, as we think, in movina away; but some say men's bounds are set, and they cannot pass them.

As Ethan Brewer was the first Justice of the Peace in town, I will now proceed to notice some of the others, as they were elected. John Jackson was next elected after Brewer. He held the office one or two terms; was taken sick and died. David Smith was our first Postmaster. He was elected Justice of the Peace is succession to Jackson, but, being an old man, did not like the office, and resigned. Pardon Wilbur, I think, was next elected. He held the office a term or two, and the next elected was Charles Hinkley. He also held the office one or two terms, and I think the next in was George Wilbur, son of Pardon Wilbur. He did not hold the office, I think, more than one term. The next was Austin Richards. He was re-elected, served many years, and gave good satisfaction. The next was David Smith, Jr., son of David Smith, above mentioned. He also served many years, generally well approved.

I will now proceed to say something about the schools in town. We have built five school-houses in school-district No. 2, on and near Auburn Corners, three of which were log and two frame houses. The first was built on the road north of the Corners, in the fall of 1818, and school kept in it the followina winter, ('19,) by Charles Hodkins. This was the first school kept in town. The next was a split and hewed log house, built on the south-east corner, where Mayhew's store now stands. This house was burned. How it took fire we do not know. The next was a log house by the edge of the woods west of the Corners. This house was built there for the accommodation of the people at the Center. The district being divided a few years after, those people built them a frame house at the Center, and we also built us a frame house on the center road, about one-third of a mile east of the Corners. These four houses were built voluntarily and by subscription. The school-house now in use, west of the Corners, was built by a tax, the law making it necessary. All this time, there were other districts formed and school-houses built all over town, as the people required.

I will now say something in regard to the ministerial labors, and by whom performed, in the early history of this town. For the first two or three years, we had not much preaching, only occasionally a missionary passing through world give us a discourse, till about '20 or 21. Elder Plympton, then a young man of great energy, held meetings frequently at the center of the town. There was a great stir amone, the people. Some professed to have their sins remitted, and be made happy in the Lord. He was a Methodist minister. About this time, there was a Baptist minister by the name of Abbott, who preached to the people, and I think established a church of the close communion Baptist order. There were also other Baptist and Methodist ministers preaching occasionally in log school-houses and in private houses, wherever the people could best be convened. Soon after this time, a Methodist minister moved his family into town, by the name of William Brown. He labored faithfully. There was a great revival. The people, many of them, became converted, and he established a church. This Methodist church built a meeting house at the center of the town. Shortly after this, there was a church organized and established in town, called the Disciple Church. They also built a meeting house at the center of the town. In about the year 1835 or 1836, there was a Free-will Baptist Church organized and established in town. They also built a little west of Auburn Corners. The Methodist and Baptist churches, beina, somewhat diminished, they both held meetings at the Baptist house, each one every other week, alternately. Thus I have given a short sketch of the rise, progress and declension of professed Christian churches in this town, from their early settlement to the present time.

I will now record something of the fatal effects of the burning of houses. On or near the last of November, 1817, Zadock Reuwee's house was burned. Mr. Reuwee was not at home. Mrs. Reuwee left her house, and her child of about two years old asleep, all safe, as she supposed, and went north, perhaps half or three-fourths of a mile, to a neighbor's house, of an errand; stayed but a few minutes. On her return home, she, to her astonishment, discovered her house was on fire. She made all possible speed, reached the scene, and some others got there about the same time, but, alas; they were too late. Neither house nor child could be saved. The bones of this child were buried at the center of the town. Elder Seward, of Aurora, performed the funeral services. This was the first funeral in town. A few years after, another scene of a like kind occurred. Cornelius Bowerman built a house in the north-east part of the town, where it was all new; had chopped and heaped brush all about as was usual in those days. When it became dry, in the spring of the year, he went out to burn brush. Mrs. Bowerman, to be very careful, went out to watch the house outside, that it should not take fire, and all her family were out except her youngest child, about a year old, which was in the house asleep, and it appears the fire blew under the house, and set it afire on the inside. They discovered the smoke, or something was not right, ran and opened the door, and the flames burst out. The child could not be saved, but perished in the flames, to the sorrow and grief of parents and friends. Walter McLouth, a man of a family, and somewhat in years, lived on the center road, west of the center of Auburn; was in bed on the 9th of April, 1843. His house took fire in the night, and he and two children, one of his own and another that lived with him, all perished in the flames. His wife and three children were saved. A man by the name of Johnson lived west of the State Road, of the Atwater Tract. About the year 1846 or 1847, he had a house burned with two children in it. The particulars I cannot tell. There was also a man by the name of King, who lived on the State Road, on the Atwater Tract, who, about the year '50, had a house burned with two children in it. About the year 1840, Erastus Eggleston had a little boy, who fell off the high log the kettles hung against into a kettle of boiling sap, and was scalded to death.

Now, as I have finished this short history of the first settlement of the town of Auburn, I will notice some of the deaths of the first settlers. Bildad Bradley and his wife died, as before mentioned. The exact time of their deaths is not given. John Jackson died January 13th 1824. His wife died August 3rd, 1861. Zadock Reuwee died August 25th, 1842. His wife is still living. William Crafts and his wife and the widow Reuwee are the only three now living of the heads of the first four families that settled in town. Charles Hinkley died on the 25th of March, 1842. His wife died on the 31st of July, 1866. Amaziah Keyes died on the 10th of February, 1824. His wife died Nov. 12th, 1840. Roswell Rice died on the 11th of February, 1861. His wife died on the 31st of December, 1863. Pardon Wilbur sold here in Auburn, and moved to Chardon, and died there many years ago; I cannot give the date. His wife is still living. Austin Richards also sold and moved to Chardon, and died there on the 14th of January, 1867, aged 77 years. His wife is still living. David Smith died Nov. 19th 1852, aged 89 years. His wife died Nov. 22d, 1854, alged 82 years. Benj. Woods died Feb. 27th 1853, aged 83 years. His wife died January 28th, 1834, aged 62 years. William Crafts mother, an old lady, when she came into town, died December 17th, 1832, aged nearly 88 years. Mrs. Everett was also an old lady when she came into town, and drew a pension. She died November 6th, 1861, aged 94 years, 8 months, and 24 days. Oliver Snow died on the 5th of August, 1841, aged 93 years. His wife died on the 24th of December, 1836, aged 85 years. Moses Maynard died on the 16th of October, 1865, aged 98 years and three months. His wife is still living being now 90 years old. Ethan Brewer sold here, as we understand, and moved to Wisconsin.

AUBURN, Feb. 1868.


Notes: (forthcoming)

END OF A CELEBRATED CHARACTER.

The Founder of the Campbellites and the Author
of the "Book of Mormon."

The Albany Evening Times of December 21st, contains an interesting summary of the life and labor of a Pittsburgher 'eccentric' Sidney Rigdon, who, it appears is dying at Friendship, Allegheny county, New York. The Times says:

This man, although attracting, at the present time, but little public attention, has had an eventful public career. He was really the founder of what is known as the Campbellite Christian faith, He was urging the non-sectarian idea of Christianity when Campbell first sought to give it a place in the world as an organized church. Mr. Rigdon finally lost faith in the religion of his adoption, abandoned the pulpit, devoted himself to journalism and the study of geology. In the latter he was he was astonishingly proficient. While thus engaged the pretended revelations of Joe Smith attracted the public attention. They were not long in finding a defender in Sidney Rigdon, and the "Golden Bible," or the book of Mormon, we have no doubt, is the product of his mind and pen. He became an active Mormon and went with Smith to Kirtland, Ohio, and thence to Nauvoo, Illinois, where he ranked in the church only second to Smith. When the polygamy: revelation came, Rigdon promptly declined to accept it as part of his faith and left the Mormon city for his old home at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

For many years past he has resided at Friendship, Allegheny county in this state, with his children, who are settled there. He is a man far advanced in years, And one who, in his relations with the world, has, probably, no enemy. With all his erratic changes and adventures in connection with religious matters, he has been a profound thinker, a ready and graceful writer, and a man of enlarged and varied information. It was difficult to suggest a subject of any importance, with which he was not remarkably familiar, and which he could not make himself extremely interesting in discussing.

What his religious faith has been during the late years of his, we do not think his most intimate friends have any means of knowing. His lips have been a sealed book upon that subject. That Joe Smith could never have succeeded in organizing the Mormon church, or giving to the world the Book of Mormon without the aid of Sidney Rigdon we do not believe. It was his clear and comprehensive mind that brought that form out of chaos, whether for good or evil is for the future to determine. In all his private relations we believe his life has been singularly blamless, and unexceptionable.


Notes: (see next article, below)

Death of Sidney Rigdon.

The death of Sidney Rigdon, one of Joseph Smith's associates in the establishment of Mormonism is announced. He was born in St. Clair township, Alleghany county, Pennsylvania, February 19, 1793. "The Book of Mormon" which Smith pretends to have discovered through a divine revelation, was claimed immediately after its publication as the work of Rev. Solomon Spalding, written by him during a residence in Ohio in 1810-11-12. Mr. Spalding's widow, in a statement published in Boston in 1839, declared that in 1812 the manuscript was placed in a printing office in Pittsburgh with which Sidney Rigdon was connected. Rigdon, she charged, copied the manuscript, and the fact of his having made such a copy was known to many persons in the office. Subsequently the original manuscript was returned to Mr. Spaulding, who died in 1816, leaving it in the possession of his widow, by whom it was preserved until after the publication of "The Book of Mormon," when she sent it to Conneaut, where it was publicly [compared] with Joe Smith's pretended revelation. Soon after getting possession of his copy, Rigdon quitted the printing office and began to preach certain new doctrines peculiar to himself, and very similar to those afterward incorporated in "The Book of Mormon." He did not make much progress, however, until 1829, when he became acquainted with Joe Smith. It is asserted that Smith obtained a copy of Spaulding's manuscript through Rigdon's agency, and that he read it from behind the blanket to his amanuensis, Oliver Cowdery, making such additions and alterations as suited the purpose of Rigdon and himself. Immediately after the publication of "The Book of Mormon," the fraud was detected, and the true nature of the work made known by Mr. Spaulding's widow and many of his relatives and friends. In spite of this disclosure, however, Smith and Rigdon had the impudence to stick to the story of the revelation, and succeeded in getting converts to the new religion. At first they had rather hazy ideas as to the nature and design of the Church they were about to establish, and were rather inclined to teach that the millennium was close at hand; that the Indians were to be speedily converted; and that America was to be the final gathering place of the Saints, who were to assemble at New Zion or New Jerusalem, somewhere in the interior of the continent. They soon managed to surround themselves with enough converts to constitute the Mormon Church, which was first regularly organized at Manchester, N. Y., April 6, 1830. Smith, directed by a revelation, led the whole body of believers to Kirtland, Ohio, in January, 1831. Here converts were rapidly made, and a wider field being necessary, Smith and Rigdon went out in search of a suitable locality upon which to establish themselves. They fixed upon Independence, Jackson county, Mo., and Smith dedicated a site for a new temple. Rigdon continued to act with Smith, and to follow all the fortunes and misfortunes of the Mormon Church until the death of the prophet, when he aspired to be his successor. Upon Brigham Young, however, descended the mantle of Joe Smith and Rigdon becoming contumacious, was cut off from the communion of the faithful, was cursed, and was solemnly delivered over to the devil, "to be buffeted in the flesh for a thousand years." Thus ended Rigdon's connection with Mormonism; and after being thus driven out of the Church which he did so much to found, he fell out of public notice and was heard of no more.


Note 1: It must have created a strange feeling in the old man, when Sidney Rigdon heard reports of his own death in the first weeks of 1873. Besides the article reprinted in the Defiance Democrat, other, similar notices and obituaries appeared throughout the American press. One notable example was the Rigdon death notice published in the columns of the RLDS Saints' Herald of Jan. 15, 1873 which was prefaced by the editorial warning: "We cannot vouch for the truth of the statement that Mr. Rigdon is dead." The New York Herald of Dec. 26, 1872 presented a somewhat more reliable report regarding the aged Mormon: "Sidney Rigdon, the reputed author of Joe Smith's Mormon Bible, has been stricken with paralysis at his home in Alleghany county, N. Y."

Note 2: President Rigdon lingered on for another three and a half years following his stroke of November, 1872, before passing on to his great (?) reward. It is a telling fact that little was recalled by the 1870's of his many contributions to Mormonism -- other than that he had been accused of stealing the basis for the Book of Mormon, from the writings of Solomon Spalding.

                               For the Telegraph.

SOLOMON  SPALDING  AND  THE  BOOK  OF  MORMON.
_______

Mr. Editor:
I was reading quite lately in the papers the oft repeated story of the origin of the Book of Mormon. I have long believed that it was substantially true. It is said it was written by one Solomon Spalding a disabled or retired Congregational minister, as a sort of romance founded on the evidence afforded that our country had once been inhabited by a race of people more civilized, and distinct, from the Indian tribes found on its discovery by Columbus. It being a popular theory about that time, these were the lost tribes of Israel, and the probable Mound Builders.

This manuscript, it is said, either before or after Mr. Spalding's death, was taken to a printing office at Pittsburg, where Sydney Rigdon got hold of it and with Joseph Smith and others, published it as found in a miraculous manner in Palmyra, New York. This Mr. Spalding, it is said, lived at an early day at Conneaut, and had a forge or trip hammer in the valley on the creek. This was confirmed to the present writer some years ago by the late Col. Robert Harper, of Harpersfield. He said, when a young man, he spent some time at Conneaut, and well remembered Mr. Spalding and his wife. He spoke of him as somewhat singular, living in a long, low, shanty-like building of boards. In one end was his forge, while in the other he lived with his wife, and kept a kind of grocery store. He said, in common with other young men, he often spent his evenings there. He distinctly remembered one night -- they had been playing cards for amusement; when about to leave he needed something to wrap up his cards, when Mrs. Spalding brought to him a leaf of some manuscript. Upon making some remark about the propriety of his using it, she remarked it was only a piece of the Doctor's novel. This led him to ask if her husband was writing a novel; when she said yes; upon the first inhabitants who lived upon this continent. And upon examination he found this to be the character of the scrap of the manuscript she had given him. All this in connection with what has been published before, and the fact of such remarkable remains in the neighborhood of Conneaut, leads to the probable conclusion that Solomon Spalding wrote the Book of Mormon in substance at least, & probably while living at Conneaut.

I have written in the hope that there were persons still living at Conneaut, or in the vicinity, that knew Mr. Spalding; who can confirm the above, and more than this, can affirm they knew Mr. Spalding to be the author of the book, such as it is.

If there are any such persons, I think it would be promotive of the truth to publish it; at least it would serve to preserve and establish a historical fact. Therefore I am prompted to ask that all such communications shall appear in your columns, or in the Conneaut paper, from which no doubt you would cheerfully copy. Hoping that both the editor of the TELEGRAPH and Conneaut Reporter will feel an interest in the matter, I am yours truly,
                  H. HOLLIS.
  Greencastle, Indiana.



Note: This article in the Telegraph was followed up two weeks later with some recollections of "Dr. Daniel M. Spencer, a resident of Kingsville."

The Book of Mormon.
_______

A correspondent of the Ashtabula Telegraph, writing from Greencastle, Indiana says in support of the belief that one Solomon Spalding who once lived in Conneaut was the author of the Book of Mormon, that the late Col. Robert Harper, when a young man was frequently at the said Spalding's, in Conneaut; that Harper told him (the correspondent) that he, Harper, had seen a page of manuscript, admitted by Spalding's wife to have been written by him, remarking farther that her husband was engaged upon a novel, the subject of which was the first inhabitants of this continent, &c. The correspondent seeks farther information upon this subject.

Not long after the appearance of the Book of Mormon, Dr. Daniel M. Spencer, a resident of Kingsville, in a conversation of our hearing, and at our father's house, in this town, said that he was well acquainted with Spalding when he lived in Conneaut; had been at his house often and had read manuscripts written by Spalding; that the matter contained in said manuscripts was touching the lost tribes of Israel, their wanderings and final settlement on this continent; that he saw and read the pages of Spalding's fanciful writings at different times and read much of them. He declared that not only the subject matter of Spalding's novel was incorporated in the Book of Mormon, but much of it was a literal transcript, to the best of his knowledge, after reading the contents of both. His declarations were made when Mormonism first made its monstrous pretensions when the public mind was stirred upon the subject and they made a very formidable impression upon our mind. Dr. Spencer had a decided taste for antiquarian research and speculation, and those who knew him will not wonder that he was interested in Spalding's vagaries about the "lost tribes," Mound Builders &c. -- As the correspondent suggests, some of the older citizens of Conneaut must have some knowledge upon this subject not yet made public.


Note: Two such "older citizens," implicitly solicited above, did eventually come forth with their recollections, published in the newspapers a few years later. See the 1885 account provided by William H. Leffingwell, and the less convincing 1901 reminiscence of Mrs. Diadama Chittenden. Jasper Jesse Moss, a Disciples of Christ Elder, also provided some similar details in 1878-80.

Rumpus  in  the  Camp  of  Israel.
______

(under construction)

Notes: (forthcoming)

MORMONISM.
______

ISAAC ERRETT -- Dear Sir: In the STANDARD of March 25th is quite a lengthy article headed "Rumpus in the Camp of Israel," in which the writer (whoever he is) makes many statements void of truth...

(under construction)

Notes: (forthcoming)

MORMON  LITERATURE.
______

In reply to a correspondent who desires to be informed as to the history of the Mormons, we give the following references, to direct inquirers along the line of authors whose works are most frequently referred to us. Books will be mentioned in order of the dates of publication; those marked * are rare or scarce. The names of those from whom the principal Mormon works may be obtained will also be given.

1830. -- * "First edition of the Mormon Bible, Joseph Smith, Author and Proprietor, Grandin, Palmyra, New York. This first edition is the one on which Smith and Harris thought to make $3,250.

Some time before its publication, Mrs. Harris destroyed one hundred and sixteen pages of the manuscript! Smith's explanation of the missing pages was given in the preface; but the explanation was worse than the loss of Nephi, and now that preface is omitted in the editions of Brigham Young and the Josephite Bible venders at Plano, Ill.

1831. -- * In the Evangelical Inquirer (bound with Scott's Evangelists). the letter of Thos. Campbell to Sidney Rigdon. Mr. Rigdon joined the Mormon Church in 1830 (before he had read the Smith Bible through), and at once defied the world! Thos. Campbell sent a communication to the Dayton [sic, Painesville?] Telegraph -- and a copy to Rigdon, per Messrs. Moor and Goddell. Rigdon tore up Campbell's letter and declined all public discussion! (Letter and propositions in Howe.)

1831. -- Millennial Harbinger, in which Alexander Campbell gives a ten page notice of Smith and the Mormon Bible, exposing to the satisfaction of every Biblical scholar and all common sense readers, the shallowness of the imposture, its falsities, contradictions, absurdities and wickedness. Campbell's refutation may be replied to but can not answered; it subverts the very foundations of Mormonism, and shows that Smith and his associates were the most impudent of knavish atheists. (Mil. Harbingers at this office.)

1834. -- * Howe's "Mormonism Unvailed." Very scarce -- only to be found in private libraries or occasionally at Woodward's, 78 Nassau St., N. Y. This book is ably written. It contains particular accounts of the Smiths while residents of New York; the affidavits of the people of Palmyra and Manchester against Smith and his confederates; their advent into Ohio; Kirtland Mormonism; the doings of Rigdon, Cowdery and Harris; the letter of Thos. Campbell, and a series of letters from Ezra Booth (reprinted from the Ohio Star.)

1839. -- * Pamphlet by John Corrill. This can only be obtained from Woodward, or the pamphlet antiquarians. Corrill was a good writer; he gives an explicit account of his conversion in 1830; experiences as an elder; his discovery of the fraud -- and his apostasy from the Mormon faith in 1839.

This pamphlet corroborates largely the expose of Howe; and convincingly shows up the aims and ends of Smith and Rigdon -- money PLACE, POWER!

1842. -- * Mormonism in All Ages by Prof. Turner, of Illinois College. This is a historical, scriptural and philosophical expose of Mormonism; and contains a startling biographical chapter on the Mormon leaders. This book contains, also, square yards of undeniable facts, and the extracts are from the publications of Smith himself. Turner had a copy of Smith's "Book of Commandments," which the Church suppressed. Throughout the work there is a "flow and force" that kills Mormons and Mormonism; and although scarce, it is worth hunting up and reading in every community afflicted with Mormon preachers. It may be had from second-hand book dealers in the principal cities, or of Woodward, 78 Nassau.

1842-44. -- "Peter Cartwright's Autobiography," to be had in any Methodist community, or from the booksellers generally. This contains an interesting interview between Cartwright and Smith; and gives in unvarnished terms the Prophet's characteristics, knavery, profanity, lewdness and general badness,

1844. -- Brown's "History of Illinois." High-handed proceedings of the Nauvoo Mormons; killing of Smith, etc. To be had from booksellers, St. Louis, Chicago.

1844. -- * Ford's "Hist. of Illinois," This is scarce and valuable. It contains Gov. Ford's official relations with the Mormons; shows up their disregard for law, and their frequent attempts to make a bad theocracy override the sovereignty and laws of the State and general government; it gives the details of Smith's assassination at Carthage, and establishes the fact that the Mormons were not driven from Illinois "for righteousness' sake!"

1844. -- * Rigdon's "Messenger and Advocate" (bound pamphlets). Scarce. This is seldom to be found. It is Rigdon's last, wild effort to beat Brigham Young and establish himself as Pope of the Mormons! It contains substantial proof against Smith as a polygamist; and gives almost positive proof that Rigdon, instead of being a convert to Mormonism, was himself a confederate of Smith in planning the scheme and writing the Mormon Bible!

1846-54. -- * Pamphlets, by Van Duzen and wife, disclosing the lewd mysteries given by Smith, in 1841-42-43, and performed by Young and Apostles in the Temple at Nauvoo, 1845-5. (To be had possibly from Woodward, 78 Nassau.)

1850. -- "Mackey's Work" (London). A valuable work and well done. This shows the Mormon Sermon as delivered in England; the working of miracles, "casting three hundred and eighteen devils out of one woman!" Also, Smith's political papers; his nomination for the Presidency; together with Kane's Essay, and the well authenticated narratives of travelers through the Nauvoo Camp. (Robt. Clarke & Co., Cin.).

1852. -- Lieut. Gunnison, U. S. A., A valuable work, now republished at Philadelphia. This contains incontrovertible arguments against Smith and the Nauvoo apostles as polygamists and law breakers. It is said Gunnison lost his life for writing this book.

1852-3. -- "Mormons at home," by Mrs. B. G. Ferris, wife of the Secretary of Utah. This woman went to Utah before polygamy was proclaimed; she knew nothing of the Mormons before entering Salt Lake Valley, but discovered, in less than six months, that whatever may be charged as to Mormon lewdness, apostolic duplicity, deplorable degradation and general badness, is but a mild expression of bad facts. (To be had from booksellers).

1856. -- "Hall's Pamphlet," on Mormon counterfeiting, infanticide, polygamy and things worse. For writing this pamphlet, Hall's life was threatened; he expressed a fear that Mormon emissaries would accomplish their purpose, and left Cincinnati for Washington City -- to give information to the authorities as to the designs of Mormon leaders. He has never been heard of since; inquiry fails to elicit any information concerning him!"

1857. -- "Fifteen Years Among the Mormons," by Ettie Coray Smith; republished by Belknap. This exposes the polygamy of Smith at Nauvoo; Young's complicity in several Utah murders, and the heart-rending details of Mountain Meadows Massacre, (concerning which, Gunter's Bill, now before Congress). Good book, to be had from dealers generally.

1857. -- "Mormonism, Leaders and Designs," by Elder John Hyde. The author was converted in England, went as Missionary to France; thence to Salt Lake by the way of Nauvoo. Finding himself wickedly deceived, he left and published his experiences.

The book is, by Mormon confession, more than an expose of bad character. It commences on Smith's "learning of the Jews in the language of the Egyptians," and shows that the Book of Mormon is not a translation from golden plates, or any thing else; but a rehash of the Spaulding novel, supplemented by bad plagiarisms from the New Testament, in which even the errors of King James; translation are incorporated!: (To be had from Woodward, New York).

1867-68-70. -- "The Prophet and Harem," by Mrs. Judge Waite; "Utah and the Mormons," by J. H. Beadle; "Origin of Mormonism," by Pomeroy Tucker; "Rocky Mountain Saints," by Elder Stenhouse. These works may be obtained from Perry & Morton, Vine street, Cincinnati, O. Mrs. Waite's "Prophet and Harem" gives a political history of Utah, together with the good, bad and indifferent particulars of the "Young" family. It is a good book, correct and reliable.

The work by Beadle, (Commercial's correspondent) is voluminous on all points from Palmyra to Salt Lake City, and may be relied on as particularly exact. The large work, by Stenhouse, contains all that is necessary for any one to know about Mormonism.

It contains Smith's broadest draw upon human credulity, a translation of the Book of Abraham, with parallel columns by Remy and Brenchley of Paris.

Tucker's "Origin of Mormonism" is the best in print. The author was editorially connected with Grandin, who printed the first edition of the Mormon Bible, in 1830; he was well acquainted with the Smiths, Cowdery and Harris; he accumulated the evidence that Rigdon was the "mysterious stranger" who aided Smith, 1828-9-30, in getting up the imposture; and his statements, upon personal observation, are corroborated by the best citizens of Palmyra and Manchester.

1875. -- "My Life in Bondage," by Ann Eliza Young. This book is now being read throughout the nation, and, as thirty thousand copies were sold in four months, it is likely that the authoress will, in history, hold her place with reference to Mormonism and its overthrow, as Mrs. Stowe and "Uncle Tom's Cabin" to American slavery. The parents of Ann Eliza (as she is called), Mr. and Mrs. Chauncey Webb, embraced Mormonism at Kirtland, Ohio, in the beginning; they suffered through the Missouri persecutions and went overland in the exodus of 1847. Ann Eliza was born in Nauvoo; her parents were sincere in their acceptance of "celestial marriage," and are, today, witnesses to the earnest labors of their child, who by voice and pen is doing so much to dispel the delusion which blighted their lives!

Tucker's book shows the beginning of Mormonism; Mrs. Young's late work shows its maturity, and we are glad to say, promises its speedy destruction!


Notes: (forthcoming)

America Discovered by the Welsh.
______

There is a curious interest in the various evidences brought forward in behalf of the discovery of America before Columbus, and the present volume furnishes interesting food for thought in its industrious presentation of the claims of the Welsh, whose connection with this continent is placed as early as 1170. In his introduction, the author, Rev. Benjamin F. Bowen, tells a story which illustrates the confusion of ideas in regard to the early settlers of this country. A clergyman learning that Mr. Sabin, the antiquarian, would give a large price for an Indian Bible, brought him a Welsh one, which, in his ignorance, he supposed to be the real thing. It appears that the two languages bear a marked resemblance to each other. The origin of the Welsh is traced to the banks of the Euphrates and Tigris, and the evidence of their occupancy of various parts of the earth is set forth. Being a migratory race, dwelling in the British Islands in the time of Homer, and with strong seafaring propensities, their voyaging to America with the facilities afforded by the ocean currents is regarded as not unreasonable. The voyages of Prince Madoc are then recounted with other evidence illustrating his claims to the discovery. Narratives by the Rev. Morgan Jones and the Rev. Charles Beatty, who traveled in this country in the middle of the last century, are given to show that some tribes of Indians spoke Welsh. The western mounds are then traced to the Welsh, whose migrations to that region are dwelt upon; the dispersion of these Welsh Indians is narrated, and the names connected with them are cited in support of the author's theory. The experiences of various prominent persons are brought forward in this behalf; the Welsh blood and characteristics being traced among various tribes and peoples on this continent, while claims of the Welsh in connection with the revolution and as associated with eminent public characters of the latter days, are set forth. The book will be read with interest by persons desirous of ubvestigating the subject, whatever may be their conclusion as to the strength of the evidence contained in it. -- St. Azziz.


Note: The book mentioned above was Rev. B. F. Bowen's 1876 America Discovered by the Welsh, (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippencott & Co.)

DEATH  OF  SIDNEY  RIGDON.
______

This somewhat notorious man died recently, at Friendship, Allegany county, N. Y., in the eighty-fourth year of his age. He was a native of Western Pennsylvania; entered the ministry of the Baptist church when a young man, and, in Pittsburgh, gained considerable reputation as a pulpit orator. Leaving the Baptists, he came among the Disciples when they were a feeble folk, and was for a time the associate of Alexander Campbell and Walter Scott. Mr. Campbell, however, never fully gave him his confidence, but looked upon him as a man of restless ambition who sought to conceal his motives under an affected zeal for reformation. Mr. C. several times told us that he never would feel that Mr. Rigdon was frank and candid with him, as a co-worker ought to be. We had it, long ago, from the oldest members of the church in Pittsburgh, that Rigdon, while with them, did his best to convert them to communism and to the doctrines that miracles and new revelations ought to be found in the church. It is thus evident that, at that time, he was concocting the Mormon scheme, and this, in connection with what was afterwards ascertained of the existence of Mr. Spalding's manuscript in a Pittsburgh printing office where Rigdon could have access to it, early satisfied us that he had much to do in the creation of the Mormon imposture. In Ohio, he was somewhat known among our churches, but his success in leading away the disciples when he went over publicly to Mormonism, was not what he anticipated. He afterwards figured largely among the Mormons at Kirtland, O., in Missouri, and at Nauvoo, Ill. Failing to obtain the leadership after the death of Joseph Smith, he next attempted, we believe, the organization of a separate church; but faiing in this, went into retirement, spending the rest of his days mostly in the Genesee valley, N. Y. From his neighbors we have several times learned that he was a quiet citizen, much esteemed for his social virtues, and altogether reticent concerning his Mormon adventures. It is said he devoted himself mainly to the study of Geology and to lecturing on that science. Whether he has left anything behind him, revealing to the inside history of Mormonism; we do not know; but presume from his persistent reticence during life, that he has carried his secret knowledge with him to the grave. He was wrecked through an insane ambition. Let all self-seekers take notice.


Notes: (forthcoming)

PIONEER  MORMON  DEAD.
______

We gave last week a brief notice of the death of Sidney Rigdon. His connection with Mormonism was such that it is of historical importance to preserve a record of his life and character, and we are able to give, from trustworthy sources, a fuller statement of the main facts in his career than will probably appear in any other paper, and such as will furnish desired information to the public.

Sidney Rigdon, the establisher of Mormonism, is dead -- laid away in the quiet of his last sleep, in the village graveyard, at Friendship, Alleghany county, New York. Mr. Rigdon was born in Pennsylvania, 1793, and died July 14th, in the eighty-fourth year of his age . The death of this man is an item of interest in Mormon history. To his exertions the Latter-day Saints may rightly attribute the establishment of their church, and at his grave the anxious inquirer may cease to inquire concerning the strange secrecies of his life and stranger mysteries which envelop the origin of the Mormon Bible.

Until his twenty-sixth year, Sidney Rigdon lived in and around the city of Pittsburg, and later about the year 1822, he had charge of the Baptist church in that city. In 1824 a union was effected between this body and the church to which Walter Scott ministered -- a portion of the former, however, dissenting and forming a separate Baptist church.

He thus became identified with the Reformation as plead for by Alexander Campbell, and in 1827 he appears in northeastern Ohio as co-laborer with Walter Scott. At this time he was favorably known for his scriptural learning, his advocacy of church reforms, the fluency and force of his pulpit oratory, and for an ambition which, at times, so uncontrollably possessed him as to put the man beside himself. Among the religious notions which he sought to propagate among the Disciples, may be mentioned the following: first Communism; and second, Miracles and Gifts of the Spirit; and third, New Revelations. These were, a few years later, the salients of all the Mormon sermons. They were obnoxious to the Disciples and were cautiously introduced. In association with Alexander Campbell, and Walter Scott, he for a time indulged his ambition in being ranked as third man in the Reformation. In the year 1827, however, Walter Scott received an appointment from the Mahoning Association, which for the time seemed to bar the way to the gratification of Mr. Rigdon's ambition, and he left, nothing much being heard of him beyond the village of Mentor, and a few other points on the Reserve until the year 1830, when he appeared as the front speaker and ablest defender of Joseph Smith and Mormonism. The Book of Mormon was printed by Grandin, at Palmyra, in 1830; and certainly before Rigdon had time to read it or examine into its authenticity, he appeared in the Hall of the Young Men's Association, Palmyra, where he preached a strong sermon from Nephi, ch. iv. This effort was not well received; but he remained in the neighborhood a short time, and, assisted by Smith and Cowdery, baptized a few converts. Returning to Mentor, near Kirtland, Ohio, Mr. Rigdon and Parley P. Pratt commenced the advocacy of the new religion with such seeming earnestness that many were at once converted; the Smiths came over from Palmyra, and a church was established; many persons of means were induced to cast in their all for the upbuilding of the Lord's cause and the advance of the Millennium. Smith had no plot nor plan; Rigdon furnished the brains, Pratt the eloquence, and Harris the money, to carry important measures through. For a while things went on swimmingly, Smith and Rigdon had frequent revelations; there was a babbling of divers tongues; the community was inundated with religious fanaticism.

The imposture well under way, Smith and Rigdon gave a bread-and-butter phase to their proceedings. Revelations were always ready to purpose, and a mill was built -- a church mill.

Joseph and Sidney fattened on the choicest grindings, the people taking the bran; property sites were marked, Joseph and Sidney taking generally the corner lots. Soon the pious priests were tarred and feathered for bad conduct. They also started a bank, put out stacks of bills, lined their pockets, became full-handed and impudent. When Jones came in with a carpet-bag full of Kirtland bills, Rigdon cooly informed him that they didn't redeem! Finding themselves duped and swindled, many of the best members apostatized and applied to the courts for redress. This put the prophet-bankers upon the wing -- Smith and Rigdon escaping between two days with a sheriff's posse at their heels! Emboldened by their success, they went to the most audacious lengths in Missouri; Smith became defiant, and Rigdon indulged in the most inflammatory speech-making. In his well known "Salt Sermon," he not only advised casting out, but treading under foot, all who should dissent from the plans of Joseph and himself; and in one of his orations, delivered on the Fourth of July, he defiantly proclaimed a war of extermination against that people who should deny their Mormon rights or meddle with their concerns!

Much of the trouble in Missouri was caused by Rigdon's flow of fight and fury; and after being opposed, whipped, jailed, and threatened with extermination, the Saints were chased from the State into Illinois -- where they built Nauvoo. After quieting his nerves and recovering somewhat from the scourgings inflicted by the Missouri mobs, Rigdon penned his famous Memorial to the Pennsylvania Assembly, asking that honorable body to take some action in behalf of the exiled saints.

Relief could scarcely be expected on such a presentation; the writer certainly had little ground for expectation; but it was what the irate apostle wanted -- a good opportunity to display his drastic grammar, and put permently before the people a tirade upon the unregenerate Missourians.

At Nauvoo, Rigdon was postmaster, lawyer, philosopher and saint! A visitor there in 1843 thus describes him:

"Sidney Rigdon, one of the Counselors, prophet seer and revelator, is forty-two years of age, five feet nine inches high, weighs one hundred and sixty five pounds (before his avoirdupois was reduced by Missouri persecutions his weight was two hundred and twelve pounds). He is a mighty man in Israel, of varied learning, and extensive and laborious research. There is no divine in the West more deeply learned in biblical literature and the world's history than he. His oratory is fervidly eloquent, his language chaste, and his reasoning conclusive. Any city would be proud of such a man. By his proclamation thousands have heard the glad tidings and obeyed the word of God; but he is now in the 'sere and yellow leaf,' and his silvery locks fast ripening for the grave."

On laying the corner stone of the Nauvoo Temple, Rigdon was orator of the day; and before an immense concourse of people he delivered the great speech of his life -- a masterly performance in all the force and accomplishments of natural and acquired oratory. As before remarked, Rigdon's abilities were of the versatile sort; and soon after the dedication of the Temple site, we find him in the municipal court of Nauvoo, leading counsel for the defendant, Joe Smith, who was arrested by Higbee on the charge of slander -- in which all the parties appeared to more or less disadvantage in the roles of liars, defamers, seducers and adulterers.

This and other trials uncovered a swamp of immoralities in the Nauvoo Church; and, whatever the versatile abilities of Rigdon, it plainly appeared that as prophet, seer, revelator and orator, he had not been very successful in the inculcation and establishment of sound morality.

The charges made by one writer (Mayhew), that Rigdon was an advocate of spiritual wifeism, are undoubtedly false. It can only be said that he may have been non-committal, and that Smith presumed beyond legitimate presumption when he attempted the seduction of one of Rigdon's relatives. It is known that a coldness ensued between Smith and his chief counselor because of this affair.

When Smith was killed (1844) Rigdon put in at once for the vacant place, he being the next eligible person according to rank and revelation. Others aspired to Smith's place -- among whom [was] Brigham Young. This designing man made good use of his recent successes, and put prominently forward before the Assembly the coldness between Joseph and Sidney. He charged the great Counselor with designing a split in the church, waning in faith, and declared his revelations to be from the devil -- and never from God!

Young was successful in his attack on Rigdon; the latter's friends were intimidated, and, with less than a hundred adherents he could only rant and rave in prophetic folly, assert a new revelation in support of his claims, and threaten to tell, if his demands were not agreed to. This threat to tell it all only threw him into lower contempt. Brigham Young openly jeered, informing the Assembly that if Sidney Rigdon ever attempted an expose, he would cut his own head off at the first stroke!"

Brigham knew exactly what he was saying. He knew that Rigdon could expose only by exposing himself as the original designer of the imposture, or as a private power behind Smith in the inculcation of communism and polygamy! On motion, Rigdon was excommunicated -- "handed over to the buffetings of Satan for a thousand years;" and the people said, Amen!

In worst disgrace the fallen Counselor left Nauvoo for Pittsburg, where he published for awhile the Messenger and Advocate -- and through his sub writers, Savary, Pry, Gregg, [Beal] and others, attempted to blast the Nauvoo theocracy and raise himself to the head of the Mormon Church. He was signally unsuccessful, and in 1846-7, he moved to Friendship, Allegany Co., New York, where he resided until his death.

For thirty years he has been reticent, refusing to discourse at all upon his Mormon adventures.

He was approached by the messengers of Young and Plano Joseph, but he refused to converse or answer any communication which in any way would bring him into public notice in connection with the Mormon Church of to-day. It was his daily custom to visit the Post Office, get the daily papers, read and converse upon the chief topics of the day. He was a genial companion, a good citizen, and respected by all who knew him. He often engaged in a friendly dispute with the local ministers, and always came out first best on New Testament doctrinal matters.

Patriarchal in appearance, and kindly in address, he was often approached by citizens and strangers, with a view of obtaining something of the unworded mysteries of his life; but citizen or stranger and persistent reporter, all alike failed in eliciting any information as to his knowledge of the Mormon imposture, the motives of his early life, or the religious faith, fears and hopes of his declining years. Once or twice he spoke excitedly, in terms of scorn, of those who attributed to him the manufacture of the Mormon Bible; but beyond this, nothing. Hos library was small; he left no manuscripts, and refused persistently to have a picture of himself taken. It can only be said that he was a compound of ability, versatility, honesty, duplicity and mystery.

The Masonic fraternity conducted the services over his lifeless body, and a kind of community followed Rigdon and his untold secrets to the quiet of an unmarked grave.


Note: The above obituary was written by Standard Editor, Isaac Errett (who came from the Pittsburgh congregation expelled by Rigdon in 1823), with input from Disciple sources familiar with the church at Mentor and with Sidney Rigdon's last days at Friendship. For more Rigdon obituaries see the western New York papers for July, 1876 as well as the July 18th issue of the Pittsburgh Telegraph.

THE SAINTS.
________

Their Troubles In this Vale of Tears --
Crickets and Other Bugs Till They
Can't Rest -- The Sort of Citizen that the
Average Mormon Is.

Special Correspondence of the LEADER.

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH,    
February 1, 1877.    

Elder Orson Pratt, the Historian of the Mormon Church, gave me to-day some very interesting statements concerning the Latter Day Saints. It appears that their greatest afflictions have been caused by crickets, grasshoppers and Gentiles. The crickets -- large as a man's thumb -- came down from the mountains and destroyed some of their crops, and left many of their people destitute. Again in 1863, the grasshopper, like the Chinaman, individually harmless but collectively a scourge, destroyed the crops of the Saints and Gentiles alike in nearly the whole territory. Still later came the ungodly Gentile with his mining tools and unsaintly ways familiarly culling the great prophet and leader, Old Brig., inquiring with mock solicitude after his mother-in-law, and in a thousand ways pushing the iron into the Society soul. All social and political questions resolve themselves into Mormon and anti-Mormon, and are often fought out in a Jesuitical and unscrupulous manner. The fertile soil of these valleys has enabled the Saints to prosper, but the rich ores in the mountains will be their ruin as a Church.

If the mining interests had been developed ten years earlier, the Mormon question would have been settled before this. So far as I have observed, the average Mormon is industrious and stupid, with a blind faith in his leaders, giving one-tenth of his earnings without a murmur to the Church. A majority of them appear to be foreigners, and are scattered in settlements in nearly every part of Utah. Eider Pratt informed me that they number about one hundred and fifty thousand, and have been anxiously waiting for the constitutional privileges of a State, an advantage that the Mormons would have turned to good account for their interest had Utah been made a State ten years ago. There are two buildings, perhaps three, in Salt Lake of peculiar interest to the visitor:

First -- the Tabernacle, like an immense oblong wooden bowl bottom up, on great pillars or abutments. It is 230 feet long by 130 feet wide, and will comfortably seat 12,000 people. No Brooklyn disaster can befall an audience of Latter Day Saints, for the numerous doors between the stone piers will let thirteen thousand people out of the building in less than two minutes.

The second building of interest to the gaping Gentile is the Palace of Amelia, built for Brigham's favorite wife. It is nearly completed, and is not surpassed in elegance by any house on Euclid avenue. The third building of interest is Brigham's home -- a long house with its porches and cozy nooks -- suggestive of comfort and happiness.

With awe-struck wonder the Puritanic traveler will gaze at that paternal roof, with its vast combinations of wifely and natural interests, its overwhelming mother-in-law exigencies and possibilities. Mr. Babbates' calculating and difference engine is nowhere in figures to that house with its nineteen wives and seventy children, with their heterogeneous emotions.

   KARL.


Notes: (forthcoming)

Brigham  Young.
______

Brigham Young, who died on the 29th ult. of inflammation of the bowels, was born in Vermont, June 1, 1801. His father was a small farmer, and Brigham enjoyed very few advantages in the way of education. While yet quite a biy he was apprenticed and learned the trade of a painter and glazier. During his early youth he developed strong religious proclivities and united with the Baptist Church, and it is even said occasionally preached about the country as he traveled working at his trade.

In 1832 he was ordained an Elder of the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints," having been converted to the Mormon faith a short time previously, and began his peculiar and celebrated career as a preacher in the Mormon settlement at Kirtland, Ohio. Since that time he has been closely indentified with the rise, spread, and interior history of this religion, being for most of the time practically the "Church" itself.

The church had already been started as an organization in Manchester, N. Y., and in 1831 reemoved, with all its members, to Kirtland, Ohio, under the leadership of Joseph Smith. At the period of Young's ascension, the government of the church consisted of a Presidency, of which Smith, Rigdon and Frederick G. Williams were the incumbants. His telents and shrewdness speedily made him prominent, and in February, 1835, a further step in the organization was made by the institution of twelve apostles, and he was ordained one of the twelve and sent forth with the other apostles. His field of labor was the Eastern States, and he was signally successful in making converts.

In 1836 a large and costly temple, which had been for three years in process of building, was consecrated at Kirtland, and 1837 Orson Hyde and Heber C. Kimball were sent as missionaries to England. In 1838, the bank at Kirtland having failed, Smith and Rigdon fled to Missouri in the night, hotly pursued by their creditors.

The Prophets were soon surrounded by the faithful in Missouri, and the colony throve of a while notwithstanding the enmity of the Missourians. This broke out at last in a fiece contest, and the Saints to the number of 15,000 took refuge in Illinois. The town of Nauvoo was started under a charter from the Legislature of Illinois. When the revelation of celestial marriage became public, a great deal of indignation was felt even in Nauvoo, and serious disturbances took place, the result of which was that Smith and his brother Hyrum were thrown into prison at Carthage, Ill., where they were murdered by a mob June 27, 1844.

Smith's death caused great agitation and confusion among his followers, but the Council of the twelve apostles unanimously elected Brigham Young, and from that day to the day of his death the history of Brigham Young and the history of Mormonism are one.

In 1845 the Legislature of Illinois revoked the charter of Nauvoo, and the Saints determined to emigrate beyond the Rocky Mountains. In February, 1846, the first emigrants cross the ice-bound Mississippi, stopped a while in Iowa, and then marched under strict discipline across the great wilderness. BRigham Young arrived in the Salt Lake Valley July 24, 1847, and the main body of the Mormons in the fall of 1848.

Salt Lake City was soon founded, an emigration fund established, and settlers poured in from all over the world. In 1850 the Government admitted the new Territory under the name of Utah, and commissioned Brigham Young as Governor and Indian Agent. District Judges were also appointed by the Federal authority, but these were regarded with great dislike by the President of the church and the Saints generally, and were finally driven out of the country in 1851.

Brigham Young was now suspended from his office of Governor and Col. Steptoe appointed in his stead. He arrived in Utah in 1854, but found it prudent to withdraw from the country. The Mormon President said boldly at this time; "I am and will be Governor, and no power can hinder me until the Lord Almighty says" 'Brigham, you need not be Governor any longer.'" During the ensuing year collisions between the church and Federal officials became so frequent that the whole of the latter were forced to leave the Territory. A new Governor, Alfred Cummings, was appointed in 1857, as also a new Superintendent of Indian Affairs; beisdes a force of 2,500 was sent under Gen. Harney to enforce obedience to the national laws. Brigham Young attacked the supply trains anmd forced the expedition to winter at some distance from Salt Lake. Early next year negotiations were had, and the Mormons submitted to teh Federal authority.

A nominal regard for the supreme authority of the General Government has been maintained ever since the time alluded to, but there was and is but one law or authority recognized by the Mormons, and that is the church, through its hierarchy.

Brigham Young was assisted in the Presidency by Daniel C. Wells and Heber C. Kimball, with twelve apostles and two bodies of the priesthood, but, while the doctrines of the church give some authority, as a matter of fact everything and everybody over the length and breadth of the great Territory of Utah has bowed to the iron will of Brigham Young.

There are many dark and bloody pages in the history of the Mormon occupation of Utah, the most terrible and notorious of the list being the Mountain Meadow massacre, for which John D. Lee suffered death but a little while ago. The general history of that deed is so fresh in the minds of the people that it is unnecessary to speak of the details beyond the implication of Brigham Young in the crime. It is more than probable that had Brigham lived, the onus of that massacre would have been fixed upon him legally, even as he has borne it morally for many years. Evidence in the hands of the authorities is said to fix upon him beyond peradventure the instigation of the whole fiendish job, and there has been a growing determination on the part of the Government lately to bring him to justice.

Yest despite all that is charged against him there is a side to the late prophet's character which demands some attention. He found the greater part of the country occupied by his people as a wilderness, without rain, without verdure. He introduced a comprehensive system of irrigation, which has changed that wilderness, for the most part, to a garden. The public works of his capital are creditable, and the natural prosperity of the Mormons as a community is not only wonderful in itself, but still more wonderful in that it is so much due to this one man's perseverence, ability and unconquerable will.


Notes: (forthcoming)

"ST.  JOHN'S  ROD."
______

The Counterfeiter Wingate and Genesis of Mormonism
Facts Hitherto Unpublished.
______

I have long intended to give to the publications some well attested facts in regard to the origin of Mormonism, antedating its usually recognized beginnings, but have hitherto neglected it. These facts exist in a thoroughly reliable form, and came into my possession directly from an eye and ear witness -- a man of superior intelligence, caution and discrimination. My uncle, the Rev. Laban Clark, D. D., founder of the Wesleyan University, in whose family it was my privilege to spend nearly four years, entered the Methodist ministry in the autumn of 1800, and for a number of years traveled large circuits in Vermont. Mr. Clark was a very acute observer, of superior practical judgment, and possessed a very accurate memory. The following statement has been compiled from data several times repeated to me in personal conversations, and from a manuscript sketch prepared by him about twenty years before his death, and is believed by those who knew Mr. Clark well to be worthy of the fullest confidence.

In the year 1801 Mr. Clark traveled in the western part of Vermont, visiting the settlements from Bennington county to the Missisquoi Bay, and even the adjoining settlements in Lower Canada. In the latter part of the Autumn, while in St. Albans, he heard of a man from Rutland who had passed through that section relating marvelous accounts of wonderful things accomplished near Rutland by persons who had found "St. John's Rod." Several families in St. Albans were much excited by the story. Dr. Clark pacified the people, and advised them to pay no attention to such marvels. About the first of November he attended a quarterly meeting in Salisbury, Vt., where, to his surprise, the story of "the rods" met him in a new form. A number of men had obtained rods by which they claimed to be able to find roots and herbs curing all diseases. Several persons were in attendance at this quarterly meeting who had been to "the rod men" and obtained syrups, salves, etc. Mr. Clark was very incredulous and treated the story as a hoax. Sometime in December he visited Poultney, Vt., where he found quite a stir among the people, from a report that two young women had been following the rods during a cold night, when the ground was covered with snow, with no other garments than were usually worn in the house, and that they had passed over rocks and ledges difficult for men to pass in the day-time. The next evening his appointment was at Mr. D.'s, in Middletown, Vt. After closing the meeting he learned that Mr. D.'s daughter was one of the young women who had been led by "the rods" through the snow, etc., that Mr. D. was a strong believer in the efficacy of "the rods," and that they would work in his hands.

When the people retired Mr. Clark inquired into the strange affair. Mr. D. seemed willing to communicate. He seriously believed that the rods possessed a mysterious power; that marvelous things could be accomplished by them; that, according to Isaiah, God would cause his people, in the latter days, "to pass under the rod," when the latter day glory should be ushered in; that this was soon to take place; that their rods were the seals with which the 144,000 were to be sealed by the servants of God; that the lost tribes of Israel were to be gathered by them from their scattered condition, and that vast numbers of the present inhabitants of this country were Israelites, but had lost their pedigree, and knew not that they were of the house of Jacob. By these rods they would be designated and brought into the New Jerusalem, soon to be built in this country. At this stage of the conversation Mr. Clark asked to be permitted to see Mr. D.'s rod. After a short absence he returned with it, and lifting it up, said: "If Mr. Clark is a Jew let the rod point toward him." It moved and twisted in his hands and pointed toward Mr. Clark.

"Well," said Mr. Clark, "If I am a Jew, I should like to know what tribe I belong to. Ask if I am of the tribe of Naphtali." He did so, but the rod would not move. Mr. Clark then said: "Try Zebulon." He did so, but it moved not. Mr. Clark said: "On the whole, I think that I belong to the tribe of Joseph." He put the question and the rod directly came down with apparent force. "I thought so," said Mr. Clark, "for my father's name was Joseph." Mr. Clark then understood the mystery of the working of the rod -- that it moved "as the imagination of the mind affected the nervous action." After hearing all that Mr. D. had to say, Mr. Clark believed the whole affair a delusion.

In four weeks Mr. Clark visited this place again, where he was to preach in the evening. About the middle of the afternoon Mr. D. came to the house where Mr. Clark was stopping. His appearance being very dejected and melancholy, Mr. Clark inquired after his family, and what could be the matter. With a heavy sigh he replied: "Oh, the judgments of God are abroad in the earth!" "What do you mean?" said Mr. Clark. Mr. D. replied: "We have appointed to-morrow as a day of fasting and prayer, and want you to be with us." Mr. Clark answered: "I dare not; I am afraid of you. I do not know what you have connected with it." The next morning, finding some gentlemen of character and standing going to the meeting, Mr. Clark concluded to go. Reaching the place about noon, he found Mr. W., an aged New Light minister, had been lecturing in the forenoon on the prophecies, and was to preach again in the afternoon. He spoke from Rev. xv 4, dwelling chiefly on the words, "Thy judgments are made manifest." He was excited, incoherent and indefinite. Mr. Clark consented to preach in the evening. While at Mr. D.'s house, for tea, Mr. Clark noticed unusual movements, and, on leaving the house, saw a paper on the door with these words: -- "Christ our passover was sacrificed for us;" but made no inquiries about it. He preached a practical discourse that evening, to a large audience, telling them that he had no new revelation to bring. As soon as his sermon was closed there were strange movements in the outer room. Several men commenced to work with rods, and to run to and fro. Mr. Clark out on his overcoat and prepared to go to Mr. D.'s for the night, but was persuaded to remain with the people. Very soon they were all ordered out of the house, and they took up a line of march, some crying, some sighing, and others saying, "I never expected to see such things." They were conducted to an old house that had been fitted up as a school-house. A fire had been made, and all entered with much confusion. Some were alarmed, and none more so than the old minister. At his request Mr. Clark called the people to order, prayed with them, and recommended religious conversion. But the "rod-men" said that their rods had given them to understand that there would be an earthquake that night. This was what had agitated the minds of the people. They spent the whole night in that place, Mr. Clark quieting the people and directing their minds to healthful themes until the morning dawned.

Returned to Mr. D.'s, Mr. Clark noticed that their crockery had been placed in the middle of the floor, to prevent its being broken by the earthquake. Soon two of the leading "rod-men" came in, and said they had found out their mistake -- that the fasting indicated by the rods was not in view of an earthquake, but was the fast to be regularly observed on the fourteenth day of the first month until the Jews go into the New Jerusalem, and the Latter Day glory shall be ushered in. Mr. Clark heard their story with a silent reserve, concluding that the last error was worse than the first; but that [it] would enable them to keep up the delusion and carry out some plan of mischief. He began to suspect that there was some person out of sight who was the leading spirit of their operations, and that the others were victims of duplicity.

Owing to a change in the plan of the circuit, it was eight weeks before Mr. Clark visited Mr. D.'s again. In March he found only a small attendance at his meeting, and at its close the people quietly retired, none of the family even making an allusion to the former affairs. But Mr. Clark's suspicions were fully aroused that his friend D. was liable to be made the victim of some villainous attempt upon his credulity, and he resolved if possible to deliver him from the snare. Taking him aside, Mr. Clark asked him how they were succeeding with their rods. With much animation, he answered: "We are doing wonders. The rods have power over all enchantments. There are large quantities of silver and gold concealed in the earth. much of which is under enchantment, which the rods can remove, so that it can be easily obtained." He further said that "the rods, in the hands of certain individuals, had power to move silver and gold invisibly in the earth, and that they were collecting it into a common field, where they would be able to get it in any quantity that should be wanted." He went on to say that "the glorious day was fast approaching in which great work would be performed; that the Latter Day saints were about to be gathered; that they would build a holy city, the New Jerusalem, somewhere in this country, and, they would have gold enough to pave the streets." Mr. Clark asked if the gold and silver were in coin or in its native state. He said it was "both one and the other." Mr. Clark then inquired if they had any man who understood the art of refining gold. He answered: "Yes, we have a man who is well skilled in the art, but he keeps himself secreted in the woods." Mr. Clark asked if he knew his name. He replied, "Yes, his name is Wingate."

Mr. Clark then became satisfied that Wingate was the moving agent in the whole affair, and discovered at once the nature and design of the operations. He knew of Wingate's movements in the northern part of the State, and after a little reflection, concluded to open the eyes of Mr. D. Addressing him seriously, he said:

"I fear there is counterfeiting going on, and that you will be drawn into it, and will be ruined in character and property."

He started with a shudder. Mr. Clark then said:

"I think I can tell you how you can detect it in season to escape, if you are watchful. If my fears are well founded they will call on you and others for a sum of money, and they will want it in specie."

Mr. D. replied, "They have done it already."

"And did you furnish it?" inquired Mr. Clark.

Mr. D. replied evasively.

Mr. Clark then addressed him secretly, warning him to put away his rod and quit those people or he would be a ruined man. Mr. Clark took leave of Mr. D. for another four weeks' tour around his circuit, but with many anxious thoughts for the welfare of that family.

The name of Wingate convinced Mr. Clark that the whole affair of the rods, and the scheme of building up the New Jerusalem, was gotten up for the purpose of aiding a set of counterfeiters; for a few years before a man of that name was detected in the act of making counterfeit dollars by two young men of his acquaintance in the town of Bradford, Vt. The implements and the coin he was making were taken and held by the town authorities, but Wingate escaped into New Hampshire. Further inquiries satisfied him that it was the same man who was deceiving the people in the vicinity of Poultney and Middletown. On his next visit to Mr. D.'s, Mr. Clark had the pleasure of knowing that he had rescued his friend from the delusion and the snare of the counterfeiters.

These are the simple facts of what Mr. Clark saw and heard, as carefully detailed by him. Soon after Wingate and his adherents were detected in their counterfeiting operations, Wingate was arrested and put into the Rutland jail, and the gang was dispersed.

About 1827 or 1828 Mr. Clark heard the story of Joe Smith's finding the "Golden Bible," while hunting for minerals with his rod. It at once brought to his mind Wingate's rods, but without suspicion of any connection between the two parties. Mr. Clark says:

"I viewed it as a specimen of the same kind of imposition and knavery, but the scene of Smith's operations being at a distance from that of Wingate's, I paid little attention to it. When the Mormons commenced building in Ohio, and sent out men to preach the doctrine of the Latter Day Saints, and that they were about to build a temple where the saints were to be gathered, I could not resist the conviction that there must be some connection between their movements and what I had known about thirty years before in Vermont. In 1838 I visited Ohio, where I met Mr. Ezra Booth, who had been acquainted with Joe Smith and had traveled with him until convinced of his knavery and blasphemous pretensions. From him I learned the striking similarity of Smith's methods and those of the 'rod-men' in Vermont. Subsequently I saw in the papers a notice of the death of Smith's mother, stating that she had formerly resided in Rutland county, Vt., and I also learned from the Rev. Tobias Spicer, who had resided in Poultney, that Sidney Rigdon, Smith's high-priest and revelator, was from Rutland county, and must have been acquainted with Wingate's doctrine of the Latter Day Saints, the gathering of the lost tribes of Israel, his method of obtaining gold, etc. Having, to my satisfaction, ascertained that the Smiths and Rigdon families were from the neighborhood where I had witnessed Wingate's imposition, I have no doubt that the seeds of Mormonism were sown by that notorious counterfeiter. Rigdon was in Pittsburgh about 1823-4, where he professed to be studying this new Bible for three years, but was in fact studying Spaldin's 'found manuscript,' and translating Smith's 'Golden Bible.'"

Such is the clear and unvarnished account of the remote beginnings of that monstrous system of Mormon imposture, as related by the Rev. Dr. Laban Clark. Believing that it will contribute something toward a fuller exhibit of the history of Mormonism and its essence, I herewith commit it to the public. -- Rev. Daniel Dorchester, in Boston Advertiser.


Note 1: The Rev. Daniel Dorchester III (1827?-1907?) and the Rev. Laban Clark (1778-1868) are both listed as Methodist ministers in Nathan Bangs' 1841 History of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Vol. III (1816-1828) In bk. 5, chp. 9, of that volume Rev. Bangs lists Clark as a preacher in the New York Conference and Dorchester as a preacher in the New England Conference of the Church -- later Pastor at Natick, MA (apparently the same Rev. Daniel Dorchester who served as US Superintendent of Indian Schools in 1889-4). Rev. Dorchester's account in the Boston Advertiser was reported and reprinted in several other 1879 newspapers besides the Christian Standard. The Aug. 15, 1879 issue of the Saints' Herald reprinted a summary of Dorchester's account, taken from the Chicago Alliance of June 21, 1879, along with a rebuttal (published a few days later in the same paper) written by RLDS Elder T. E. Stafford. Stafford argues: "neither Mr. Dorchester nor the Rev. Mr. Clark is aware of what constitutes Mormonism... [which] never knew anything about St. John's rod." Evidently Stafford was unaware of the Book of Commandments section in which the Lord confirms Oliver Cowdery's gift of working with just such a divining rod -- a skill he and/or his father probably acquired while living in Wells, Rutland Co., Vermont.

Note 2: See the May 28, 1828 issue of the Vermont American for more information on the rodsmen and strange events centered upon Middletown at the turn of the century. The account given there does not mention the "Wingate" (Paine Wingate?) spoken of by Rev. Clark, but instead calls the hidden director of the divining rod believers "Mugwump." Barnes Frisbie first associated the name of Mr. Wingate with proto-Mormonism in his 1867 book, History of Middletown, Vermont. Because Frisbie mixes his own information on a man called "Winchell" with information from derived from Rev. Laban Clark (he was also Daniel Dorchester's uncle) about a man named "Wingate," Historian Michael Quinn later accepted Frisbie's notion that Wingate was the same person as Winchell. The names of both men have also been confused with "Walters the Magician," an alleged associate of the Joseph Smith, Sr. family during the Smiths' money-digging days. According to John L. Brooke, author of The Refiner's Fire, these three men (Justus Winchell, Paine/Payne Wingate, and Luman Walters) were actually three different individuals.

Note 3: That accumulations of buried precious metals moved about underground was a common belief in New England and New York prior to 1830. Several reports in newspapers from this era speak of buried treasures moving about under the earth, and thus eluding seizure by treasure hunters. In some of these reports the buried gold and silver was said to have slipped about, under the ground, having been propelled by supernatural means -- apparently by guardian spirits, the powers of divining rods, etc. Joseph Smith, Sr. reportedly believed in such "slippery treasures." See also the following excerpts from the Book of Mormon: "And these Gadianton robbers, who were among the Lamanites, did infest the land, insomuch that the inhabitants thereof began to hide up their treasures in the earth; and they became slippery, because the Lord had cursed the land, that they could not hold them, nor retain them again" (Mormon 1:18, LDS) "And behold, the time cometh that he curseth your riches, that they become slippery, that ye cannot hold them... Yea, in that day ye shall say: O that we had remembered the Lord our God in the day that he gave us our riches, and then they would not have become slippery that we should lose them; for behold, our riches are gone from us... Yea, we have hid up our treasures and they have slipped away from us, because of the curse of the land... for behold the land is cursed, and all things are become slippery, and we cannot hold them." (Heleman 13:31-36, LDS)