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Mormonism and Wikipedia/Golden plates/Receiving
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Translating the plates |
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An analysis of the Wikipedia article "Golden plates" Updated 9/21/2011
Reviews of previous revisions of this section
December 2009
Summary: A review of this section as it appeared in Wikipedia in December 2009.Section review
Receiving the plates
From the Wikipedia article:
The next annual visit on September 22, 1827 would be, Smith told associates, his last chance to receive the plates.
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Knight (1833) , p. 3.
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
According to Brigham Young, as the scheduled final date to obtain the plates approached, several Palmyra residents expressed concern "that they were going to lose that treasure" and sent for a skilled necromancer from 60 miles (96 km) away, encouraging him to make three separate trips to Palmyra to find the plates.
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Young (1855) , p. 180.
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
During one of these trips, the unnamed necromancer is said to have discovered the location, but was unable to determine the value of the plates.
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Young (1855) , pp. 180–81.
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
A few days prior to the September 22, 1827 visit to the hill, Smith's loyal treasure-hunting friends Josiah Stowell and Joseph Knight, Sr. traveled to Palmyra, in part, to be there during Smith's scheduled visit to the hill.
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Knight (1833) , p. 3 (Saying Knight went to Rochester on business, and then passed back through Palmyra so that he could be there on September 22); Smith (1853) , p. 99 (Smith's mother, stating Knight and Stowell arrived there September 20, 1827 to inquire on business matters, but stayed at the Smith home until September 22).
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
Another of Smith's former treasure-hunting associates, Samuel T. Lawrence, was also apparently aware of the approaching date to obtain the plates, and Smith was concerned he might cause trouble.
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Knight (1833) , p. 3 (saying Lawrence was a seer, had been to the hill, and knew what was there).
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
Therefore, on the eve of September 22, 1827, the scheduled date for retrieving the plates, Smith dispatched his father to spy on Lawrence's house until dark. If Lawrence attempted to leave, the elder Joseph was to tell him that his son would "thrash the stumps with him" if he found him at the hill.
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Knight (1833) , p. 3
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
Late at night, Smith took a horse and carriage to the hill Cumorah with his wife Emma.
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Smith (1853) , p. 100; Salisbury (1895) , p. 15 (Emma "didn't see the records, but she went with him").
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
While Emma stayed behind kneeling in prayer,
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Harris (1853) , p. 164.
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
Joseph walked to what he said was the site of the Golden Plates. Some time in the early morning hours, he said he retrieved the plates and hid them in a hollow log on or near Cumorah.
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Chase (1833) , p. 246; Smith (1850) , p. 104 (Smith had cut away the bark of a decaying log, placed the plates inside, then covered the log with debris); Harris (1859) , p. 165; Salisbury (1895) , p. 15 (saying Smith "brought them part way home and hid them in a hollow log").
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
At the same time, Joseph said he received a pair of large spectacles he called the "Urim and Thummim" or "Interpreters", with lenses consisting of two seer stones, which he showed his mother when he returned in the morning.
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Smith (1853) , p. 101. Smith's friend Joseph Knight said Smith was even more fascinated by the Interpreters than the plates Knight (1833) , p. 3.
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
Over the next few days, Smith took a well-digging job in nearby Macedon to earn enough money to buy a solid lockable chest in which to put the plates.
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Smith (1853) , p. 101.
FAIR's analysis:
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Harris (1859) , p. 167.
FAIR's analysis:
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Smith (1853) , p. 102; Salisbury (1895) , p. 15 (saying that Smith's father "heard that they had got a conjurer, who they said would come and find the plates".
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
When Emma heard of this, she rode a stray horse to Macedon and informed Smith, Jr.,
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Smith (1853) , p. 103; Salisbury (1895) , p. 15.
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
who reportedly determined through his Urim and Thummim that the plates were safe. He nevertheless hurriedly rode home with Emma.
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Smith (1853) , pp. 103–104.
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
Once home in Manchester, he said he walked to Cumorah, removed the plates from their hiding place, and walked home through the woods and away from the road with the plates wrapped in a linen frock under his arm.
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Smith (1853) , pp. 104–06.
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
On the way, he said a man had sprung up from behind a log and struck him a "heavy blow with a gun." "Knocking the man down with a single punch, Joseph ran as fast as he could for about a half mile before he was attacked by a second man trying to get the plates. After similarly overpowering the man, Joseph continued to run, but before he reached the house, a third man hit him with a gun. In striking the last man, Joseph said, he injured his thumb."
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Vogel (2004) , p. 99Salisbury (1895) , p. 15; Howe (1834) , p. 246; Smith (1853) , pp. 104–06; Harris (1859) , p. 166.
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
He returned home with a dislocated thumb and other minor injuries.
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Smith (1853) , pp. 104–06 (mentioning the dislocated thumb); Harris (1859) , p. 166 (mentioning an injury to his side); Salisbury (1895) , p. 15 (mentioning the dislocated thumb and an injury to his arm).
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
Smith sent his father, Joseph Knight, and Josiah Stowell to search for the pursuers, but they found no one.
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Smith (1853) , pp. 105–06; Salisbury (1895) , p. 15.
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
Smith is said to have put the plates in a locked chest and hid them in his parents' home in Manchester.
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Smith (1853) , p. 106; Salisbury (1895) , p. 15.
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
He refused to allow anyone, including his family, to view the plates or the other artifacts he said he had in his possession, although some people were allowed to heft them or feel what were said to be the artifacts through a cloth.
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Howe (1834) , p. 264; Harris (1859) ; Smith (1884) .
FAIR's analysis:
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Smith (1853) , p. 107 (saying she saw the glistening metal, and estimating the breastplate's value at over 500 dollars).
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
The Smith home was approached "nearly every night" by villagers hoping to find the chest where Smith said the plates were kept.
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Salisbury (1895) , p. 15.
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
After hearing that a group of them would attempt to enter the house by force, Smith buried the chest under the hearth,
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Smith (1853) , p. 108; Harris (1859) , pp. 166–67.
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
and the family was able to scare away the intended intruders.
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Smith (1853) , p. 108.
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
Fearing the chest might still be discovered, Smith hid it under the floor boards of his parents' old log home nearby, then being used as a cooper shop.
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Harris (1859) , p. 167
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
Later, Smith told his mother he had taken the plates out of the chest, left the empty chest under the floor boards of the cooper shop, and hid the plates in a barrel of flax. Shortly thereafter the empty box was discovered and the place ransacked by Smith's former treasure-seeking associates,
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Smith (1853) , pp. 107–09; Harris (1859) , p. 167.
FAIR's analysis:
From the Wikipedia article:
who had enlisted one of the men's sisters to find the hiding place by looking in her seer stone.
Wikipedia footnotes:
- Smith (1853) , p. 109 The seer was the sister of Willard Chase who said she had "found a green glass, through which she could see many very wonderful things".
FAIR's analysis:
References
| Wikipedia references for "Golden Plates" |
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Further reading
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