When Did SIDNEY RIGDON
First Meet JOSEPH SMITH?
Reminiscences of
Darwin Atwater
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1873 Darwin Atwater statement
Amos S. Hayden's Early History of the Disciples in the Western Reserve
(Cincinnati: Chase & Hall, 1875, pg. 239)
view the transcriber's notes on this subject
MANTUA STATION, April 26, 1873.
DEAR BRO. A. S. HAYDEN:
The infant church at Mantua was left small and inexperienced. I was the only one who had been accustomed to take an active public part. There were Bro. Seth Sanford, and Bro. Seth Harmon, both very young in the Christian profession, with a number of excellent sisters. In our weak state, in the midst of so much opposition, we were poorly prepared to take care of the church. March 21, 1830, I was ordained elder, (in my youth), and Bro. Seth Harmon was ordained deacon -- Adamson Bentley officiating.
At this time, Oliver Snow, an old member of the Baptist church, united with us. His talents, age and experience, ought
to have been very useful to us, but they were more frequently exercised in finding fault with what we attempted to do,
than in assisting us. This only increased our embarrassment. Soon after this, the great Mormon defection came on us.
Sidney Rigdon preached for us, and notwithstanding his extravagantly wild freaks, he was held in high repute by many.
For a few months before his professed conversion to Mormonism, it was noticed that his wild, extravagant propensities
had been more marked. That he knew before of the coming of the book of Mormon is to me certain, from
what he said the first of his visits at my father's, some years before. He gave a wonderful description of the
mounds and other antiquities found in some parts of America, and said that they must have been made by the
Aborigines. He said there was a book to be published containing an account of those things. He spoke of
these in his eloquent, enthusiastic style, as being a thing most extraordinary. Though a youth then, I
took him to task for expending so much enthusiasm on such a subject, instead of things of the gospel. In all my
intercourse with him afterward he never spoke of antiquities, or of the wonderful book that should give account of them,
till the book of Mormon really was published. He must have thought I was not the man to reveal that to.
In the admiration of Sidney Rigdon, Oliver Snow and his family shared very largely; so, when he came with his pretended
humility, to lay all at the feet of Mormonism, it caused a great shock to the little church at Mantua. The force of this
shock was like an earthquake, when Symonds Ryder, Ezra Booth and many others, submitted to the "New
Dispensation."
Eliza Snow, afterward so noted as the "Poetess" among the Mormons, led the way. Her parents and sister, and
three or four other members of the church, were finally carried away. Two of these were afterward restored.
From this shock the church slowly recovered. Bro. Ryder returned and exposed Mormonism in its true light. The Mormon
character soon exposed itself.
Marcus Bosworth continued to preach for us. Symonds Ryder soon resumed his public labors with us, and regained the
confidence of the community.
In the year 1834, there were several additions to the church. Its growth has never been rapid. We never had very large
accessions, or very low depressions.
In 1839, we built a meeting-house at the center of Mantua, and commenced to occupy it late in the Fall. It was soon
after this that you labored for us. About this time, (January 19, 1840), John Allerton and wife, from the church at
Euclid, and Selah Shirtliff and wife united, from the church in Shalersville -- all the same day. Of the events during
your labors for the church at Mantua, in 1840 and 1841, I need not write.
After much prayerful consideration, the church ordained Selah Shirtliff and John Allerton as elders, and Seth Sanford,
deacon. This was done August 21, 1841. In the above, I should have mentioned that Walter Scott preached for us several
times. Father Thomas Campbell a number of times. Alexander Campbell once, and Bro. Alton once. Jacob Osborne several
times before our organization, and once afterward. Adamson Bentley once or more. John Henry one meeting of days.
William Hayden many times. D. ATWATER.
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ATWATER HISTORY.
241
No doubt wonder has been expressed many times in the family connection that Aunt Miriam Pond [1788-1870] should have
"gone with the Mormons," especially since Judge [Amzi] Atwater, her older brother and natural advisor (he was the
acknowledged counsellor of his sisters and, indeed of all the Ohio kindred) urged to the contrary,
and her nephew, Darwin Atwater, elder of the newly-formed Disciple Church, of which she was a member since Sept. 16,
1827, steadfastly exhorted the members to stand firm against the Mormon delusion. It must be remembered that several men
of good standing and great influence gave in their adhesion to the new faith. First of all was the preacher, Sidney
Rigdon (who undoubtedly was a fellow-conspirator with Joe Smith, and perhaps the real originator of the fraud),
then there was Oliver Snow, a Baptist since 1809, later in the Disciple Church, a farmer of property and intelligence;
and Rev. Ezra Booth of the Methodist Church,
a bright and well-informed man, whose daughter, Almeda, a score of years later, became a prominent teacher at Hiram and
an associate of President Garfield in that noted school; and last, but not least, Symonds Rider, of Hiram, the young
preacher who had come out to profess his faith when Elder Thomas Campbell (father of Alexander) preached May 25, 1828,
in Jotham Atwater's barn. All these had great weight. Then we must bear in mind that the astonishing account of the
finding by Smith, under the direction of an angel of God, of the box buried in a hill at Manchester, New York,
containing the golden plates of this new dispensation seemed to have strong testimony, since Cowdry, Whitmer, Harris and
others testified that they had seen the plates; that the leaders appeared to speak in other tongues, especially the
Indian dialects, and positively claimed the power to work miracles, and appeared to prove it by Mrs. Johnson, of Hiram,
who showed her arm which had been withered and useless, but at the command of the prophet had been restored "whole as
the other."
"The Portrait," 4 page 64, has this helpful passage:
"It is difficult to comprehend the intense excitement and commotion produced by the tales of these marvels.
Especially were the New Disciple churches shaken by the course of Rigdon; and all the more
so, when it was known that he in no way changed or varied from his old faith and preaching, and that the new
revelation was but a supplement of the old, -- a realization of the pouring out of the spirit in these last days.
[It was also said that the text of the new and marvellous book explicitly sustained the special views and dogmas
of their churches.] Those outside of all church organizations, as well as the members of established
sects, were under a degree of excitement which cannot be appreciated at this remote time."
The people who were being duped could not look behind the scenes, as "The Portrait" enables us to do, and behold the
mask of piety thrown off and rightly see the bare-faced imposition which was being practiced upon the incredulity by a
vulgar deceiver.
"The Portrait," page 78,
after exhibiting Smith as acting before his followers the role of the prophet with some dignity,
presents him behind the scenes:
__________
4 "The Portrait, A Romance of the Cuyahoga Valley," by A. G. Riddle, ex-congressman.
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ATWATER HISTORY.
"Ha, Sid, old fellow," slapping the still astonished Rigdon on the shoulder, "what so you say to that -- rather goodish,
eh?" "It will do, I think," replied the latter laughing faintly. "But I tell you what," gravely, "that light on the
other side of the creek was rather shallow and won't bear repeating." "Oh, well, it won't be necessary to claim anything
for that if there is anything said about it. Cotton-wicking and turpentine don't cost much. But I was devilish afraid
that Olny would give tongue with his unknown jargon -- 'Shalang, shala, shale, shalo.' God, I'd give something for an
interpreter of that." "Let's have none of that here," said Rigdon decidedly. "Nor will it do to attempt such another
performance in this neighborhood. There are cool, shrewd heads all about us here."
"What's the prospect with the Atwaters and the Snows and Deacon Carman (Harmon)," asked Smith.
"I've some hopes of the Snows; Uncle Oliver is long-headed, but then he is wrong-headed, and we'll catch him in that.
If we do, the family will follow. As for young Atwater, he and the younger Campbell married sisters,
you know." "I'd like to try Alexander himself," said Joe, a little assertively. "You'd wither under his glance
like a plucked pumpkin blossom in August," said Rigdon contemptuously. "His eye is like an eagle's, and he is as form
and clear as rock crystal."
So Aunt Pond and five of the children, Everett, Oscar, Linus and Newton, and dughter Lois, followed the "Prophet." The
story of their hardships, partly told by the letter (now in possession of A. Atwater, Bloomington, Ind.) of Oliver Snow,
from Far West, Mo., Jan., 1839, to his friend Judge Atwater, and partly by the letters of the Pond brothers, is a sad
one... Oscar lived to write of the mob that killed Joe Smith, June, 1844, and Everet lived to know of the election of
the strong and vigorous leader, Brigham Young, and the excommunication of the contumacious Rigdon, and perhaps of the
departure of the Mormon vanguard for Salt Lake in 1847. Being left penniless and destitute, Aunt Pond was gald to accept
the aid ($50?) of her brother to get back to her Ohio kindred...
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ATWATER HISTORY.
... One inquiry of Jason [Atwater] (letter to Amzi, 1832) has a strange sound in this remote age. After inquiring about
the Mormons, he wrote,
"I should like to know the truth on this point and also whether the sect called
Campbellites or Rigdonites is increasing."
The strangeness now appears from the fact that Rigdon (who had been a Baptist preacher and had
imbibed some of the views of Alexander Campbell) turned out to be be the real originator of Mormonism, while
no theologian exposed that fraud more strongly than did Mr. Campbell, no body of people more vigorously resisted the
spread of the delusion than his associates.
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ATWATER HISTORY.
...
THE RUDOLPH FAMILY.
Mrs. Lucretia Rudolph Garfield, widow of the President, in a letter to the author of these notes, date of Dec. 28, 1900,
gives this account of her people:
"... a Colonel ____ Rudolph come to America about the beginning of the eighteenth... century. He settled in Maryland...
He had two sons, Tobias as Jacob. The latter had several sons, one of whom was my grandfather, John Rudolph. He (John)
left Maryland... and came to Garrettsvile [Ohio] about 1805 or 06... I cannot give the dates of births and marriages
except of my father [Zeb Rudolph]. He was born Feb. 23, 1803, and was married Oct. 7, 1830."
... The Garretsville above mentioned was a new settlement in Ohio about 36 miles southeast of Cleveland... THis place
was six or seven miles east of Amzi Atwater's farm.
The Rudolph family were members of the Baptist church and helped to organize a church of that faith in the village in
1808. When the Reformation preached by Alexander Campbell spread through northern Ohio
ATWATER HISTORY.
299
twenty years later, nearly or quite all of the Rudolphs and Atwaters and the Baptist churches in the country regions
generally accepted the doctrine.
As the Rudolph and Atwater families attended church together, probably first at Garretsville, certainly later at Mantua,
the young folks became acquainted... they were all members of the Baptist church at Garrettsville up to this time. In
Hayden's "History of the Disciples in the Western Reserve,"
page 237, occurs this passage: "That portion of the members
who maintained the sufficiency of the revealed will of God for all purposes of "faith and practice, formed a church
in Mantua, January 27, 1827, on the principle of faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and obedience to him as taught
in His Word." There were nine members at the beginning and eighteen were added the first year. Of this little church,
Zeb Rudolph and Darwin Atwater were chosen teachers May 24, 1828, and John Rudolph one of the deacons. These selections
were made under the advice of "Father" Thomas Campbell....
2882. Darwin7 (Amzi6, Enos5, Jacob4, Jonathan3,
Jonathan2, David1), b. Sept. 11, 1805; m. Harried Clapp, Sept. 14, 1829...
ATWATER HISTORY.
301
... Darwin Atwater was an unusally grave and concientious young man. This characteristic became more marked as he early
turned his mind to religious meditation and doctrine. He was baptized, probably at Garrettsville, by Elder Thomas Miller,
a zealous Baptist minister, in February, 1822. For a time he kept a book in which he noted down his reflections on
Christian duty. Later he recorded, in topical form, quotations from scriptures and from ministers whom he heard from
time to time -- Alexander Campbell, Walter Scott, Adamson Bently, Matthew Clapp, Marcus Bosworth and others. These were
often his guests, at first at his father's, and later at his own home. At the age of sixteen he taught a small school
near his uncle Jotham's. At seventeen (1822-3) he attended an academy at Warren. Here he heard the strong and vigorous
Adamson Bently preaching in a Baptist church such views as Alexander Campbell advocated: The New Testament
scriptures, not the ancient law of Moses, as a guide; Christ, the Son of God (not a creed), the Confession of Faith;
immediate obedience to His commands, not a waiting by the penitent one for miraculous proof of pardon; "Repent and be
baptized for the remission of sins," as the true exhortation to the sinner. This wide variation from the common
Baptist teaching favorably impressed him. Later (probably the summer of 1823) he attended the "school of the preachers"
at Chardon, where he heard Alexander Campbell for the first time. "His superiority to the unlearned Baptist preachers"
was quite manifest. In January, 1827, he took part in organizing in Mantua a church (as stated under "The Rudolph
Family,") in accordance with these views.(This church now, after about three-quarters of a century, is one of the
strongest country churches in that region.)
The following May he and Zeb Rudolph, under the advice of Elder Thomas Campbell, were chosen "teachers" of the
congregation. It was in December of this year [1827] that these two young church leaders went out to
Mentor, Ohio (thirty miles away on the Lake Erie shore), to study the Bible with Sidney Rigdon, who temporarily had his
home there, while he visited several churches. This man was a talented and forcible Baptist preacher, who for
some months had been taking up and preaching the views of Campbell. The young men knew him to be able and clear in
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ATWATER HISTORY.
argument and versed in the Bible. We may well imagine they had some misgivings, however, as to his genuine piety and
sincerity. But they felt the necessity of diligent study and preparation for the duties to which, in their youth, they
had been chosen. These earnest students were probably much disappointed as to aid from their teacher. Rigdon had for
years been in possession of the noted Spaulding manuscript, setting forth the romance which told of the derivation of
the American Indians from memebers of the "Lost Tribes" of Israel. Some time before this he had probably decided to
bring it out in some fraudulent way. Years afterward Darwin Atwater wrote thus: "That he knew before of the coming of
the book of Mormon, is to me certain from what he said the first of his visits at my father's, some years before. He
gave a wonderful description of the mounds and other antiquities found in some parts of America, and said that they must
have been made by the Aborigines. He said there was a book to be published containing an account of
those things. He spoke of these in his eloquent, enthusiastic style, as being a thing most extraordinary. Though
a youth then, I took him to task for expending so much enthusiasm on such a subject." (Hayden's History of the Disciples,
p. 239.) By January, 1828 [sic - 1827?], Rigdon was probably
figuring with Joe Smith to have the golden plates found in the hill at Manchester, N. Y., and to translate them by the
aid of the "Urim and Thummim" spectacles, or it may be he left that part of the deception wholly to Smith's invention.
(see Introduction to Book of Mormon; also pages 241 and 242 of this book.)
In Mrs. Garfield's letter (previously quoted in these notes) she says:
"I often heard my father speak of the winter [1827-28] your father and he spent in Mentor studying the Bible with Sidney
Rigdon. I have heard him say that they were a good deal puzzled with Mr. Rigdon's absences from home, of which he never
gave any adequate reason, and of his preocuppied manner. His course later explained it to their satisfaction...." It was
while he was at Mentor, that winter, that Darwin Atwater met Harriet Clapp, and he was probably present at the evening
meeting held by Adamson Bently in February [sic - March?] of that year [1828], when Harriet and her younger brother
Matthew made profession of faith, their sister Phebe and brother Milton being at the time at Burton Academy, the latter
preparing to enter Yale in the fall. Zeb Rudolph may have returned home from Mentor before that. He was one of
the best of men, and Darwin Atwater found in him a most worthy associate and fellow-worker in the church and a friend
for life. His talented and cultured daughter, Lucretia Rudolph, by her marriage with James A. Garfield came to the most
honorable position in the nation, which she filled with the highest grace and dignity. Her father spent his old age with
her and died October, 1897, at the age of 94 years.
Harriet Clapp Atwater was a woman of noble and rather classic face; quiet, yet affectionate disposition; fond of her
family and friends, but not inclined to leave home for much visiting, except at the old Mentor home and among loved ones
that once gathered there....
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