FAIR is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing well-documented answers to criticisms of the doctrine, practice, and history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Difference between revisions of "Joseph Smith/Early Smith family history/Lazy Smiths"
m (New page: {{FirstVisionPortal}} ==Criticism== {{main|Early Smith family history/Lazy Smiths}} Critics claim that Joseph Smith and his family were lazy, shiftless, and sought to make a living withou...) |
m |
||
| Line 6: | Line 6: | ||
===Source(s) of the criticism=== | ===Source(s) of the criticism=== | ||
| − | * | + | * {{CriticalWork:Anderson:New York Reputation|pages=2—3}} |
| + | * {{CriticalWork:Howe:Mormonism Unvailed|pages=multiple}} | ||
| + | ** [[The Hurlbut affidavits]] | ||
| + | |||
==Response== | ==Response== | ||
| + | |||
| + | The claims of a "lazy" Smith family come largely from the [[The Hurlbut affidavits|Hurlbut-Howe affidavits]], published in ''Mormonism Unvailed'', the first anti-Mormon book. | ||
| + | |||
| + | Were the Smiths truly lazy? Some research sought to address this question,{{ref|enders.1}} and Daniel C. Peterson summarized the results: | ||
| + | |||
| + | :Working from land and tax records, farm account books and related correspondence, soil surveys, horticultural studies, surveys of historic buildings, archaeological reports, and interviews with agricultural historians and other specialists—sources not generally used by scholars of Mormon origins—Enders concludes that, on questions of testable fact, the affidavits cannot be trusted. | ||
| + | |||
| + | :The Smiths' farming techniques, it seems, were virtually a textbook illustration of the best recommendations of the day, showing them to have been, by contemporary standards, intelligent, skilled, and responsible people. And they were very hard working. To create their farm, for instance, the Smiths moved many tons of rock and cut down about six thousand trees, a large percentage of which were one hundred feet or more in height and from four to six feet in diameter. Then they fenced their property, which required cutting at least six or seven thousand ten-foot rails. They did an enormous amount of work before they were able even to begin actual daily farming. | ||
| + | |||
| + | :Furthermore, in order to pay for their farm, the Smiths were obliged to hire themselves out as day laborers. Throughout the surrounding area, they dug and rocked up wells and cisterns, mowed, harvested, made cider and barrels and chairs and brooms and baskets, taught school, dug for salt, worked as carpenters and domestics, built stone walls and fireplaces, flailed grain, cut and sold cordwood, carted, washed clothes, sold garden produce, painted chairs and oil-cloth coverings, butchered, dug coal, and hauled stone. And, along the way, they produced between one thousand and seven thousand pounds of maple sugar annually. "Laziness" and "indolence" are difficult to detect in the Smith family.{{ref|peterson.1}} | ||
==Conclusion== | ==Conclusion== | ||
| Line 13: | Line 26: | ||
==Endnotes== | ==Endnotes== | ||
| − | + | #{{note|enders.1}}Donald L. Enders, "The Joseph Smith, Sr., Family: Farmers of the Genesee," in ''Joseph Smith: The Prophet, the Man, ed. Susan Easton Black and Charles D. Tate Jr.'' (Provo, UT: BYU Religious Studies Center, 1993), 213—25. | |
| + | #{{note|peterson.1}} Daniel C. Peterson and Donald L. Enders, "Can the 1834 Affidavits Attacking the Smith Family Be Trusted?" in ''Pressing Forward with the Book of Mormon: The FARMS Updates of the 1990s'', ed. John W. Welch and Melvin J. Thorne (Provo, UT: FARMS, 1999), 286—87. | ||
==Further reading== | ==Further reading== | ||
| Line 24: | Line 38: | ||
===External links=== | ===External links=== | ||
| + | *{{FR-16-1-1}}<!--Mitton Editor's intro--> | ||
{{FirstVisionLinks}} | {{FirstVisionLinks}} | ||
===Printed material=== | ===Printed material=== | ||
{{FirstVisionPrint}} | {{FirstVisionPrint}} | ||
Revision as of 19:55, 3 January 2009
Contents
Criticism
Critics claim that Joseph Smith and his family were lazy, shiftless, and sought to make a living without labor.
Source(s) of the criticism
- Rodger I. Anderson, Joseph Smith's New York Reputation Reexamined (Salt Lake City, UT: Signature Books, 1990), 2—3.
- Eber D. Howe, Mormonism Unvailed (Painesville, OH, 1834), multiple. (Affidavits examined)
Response
The claims of a "lazy" Smith family come largely from the Hurlbut-Howe affidavits, published in Mormonism Unvailed, the first anti-Mormon book.
Were the Smiths truly lazy? Some research sought to address this question,[1] and Daniel C. Peterson summarized the results:
- Working from land and tax records, farm account books and related correspondence, soil surveys, horticultural studies, surveys of historic buildings, archaeological reports, and interviews with agricultural historians and other specialists—sources not generally used by scholars of Mormon origins—Enders concludes that, on questions of testable fact, the affidavits cannot be trusted.
- The Smiths' farming techniques, it seems, were virtually a textbook illustration of the best recommendations of the day, showing them to have been, by contemporary standards, intelligent, skilled, and responsible people. And they were very hard working. To create their farm, for instance, the Smiths moved many tons of rock and cut down about six thousand trees, a large percentage of which were one hundred feet or more in height and from four to six feet in diameter. Then they fenced their property, which required cutting at least six or seven thousand ten-foot rails. They did an enormous amount of work before they were able even to begin actual daily farming.
- Furthermore, in order to pay for their farm, the Smiths were obliged to hire themselves out as day laborers. Throughout the surrounding area, they dug and rocked up wells and cisterns, mowed, harvested, made cider and barrels and chairs and brooms and baskets, taught school, dug for salt, worked as carpenters and domestics, built stone walls and fireplaces, flailed grain, cut and sold cordwood, carted, washed clothes, sold garden produce, painted chairs and oil-cloth coverings, butchered, dug coal, and hauled stone. And, along the way, they produced between one thousand and seven thousand pounds of maple sugar annually. "Laziness" and "indolence" are difficult to detect in the Smith family.[2]
Conclusion
ddd
Endnotes
- [note] Donald L. Enders, "The Joseph Smith, Sr., Family: Farmers of the Genesee," in Joseph Smith: The Prophet, the Man, ed. Susan Easton Black and Charles D. Tate Jr. (Provo, UT: BYU Religious Studies Center, 1993), 213—25.
- [note] Daniel C. Peterson and Donald L. Enders, "Can the 1834 Affidavits Attacking the Smith Family Be Trusted?" in Pressing Forward with the Book of Mormon: The FARMS Updates of the 1990s, ed. John W. Welch and Melvin J. Thorne (Provo, UT: FARMS, 1999), 286—87.
Further reading
FAIR wiki articles
FAIR web site
External links
- George L. Mitton, "Editor's Introduction," FARMS Review 16/1 (2004): xi–xxxii. off-site