Joseph Smith and money digging

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Criticism

Critics insist that Joseph Smith's engagement in "money digging" or looking for buried treasure shows itself as a blot on his character. Furthermore, critics argue that Joseph's initial religious experiences were related to "treasure seeking," and only later did he "retrofit" a religious explanation. (Critics argue, for example, that Moroni was originally conceived of as a treasure guardian by Joseph, and only later came to be seen as a divine messenger, an angel.)

Response

In the young Joseph Smith's time and place, "money digging" was a popular, and sometimes respected activity. When Joseph was 16, the Palmyra Herald printed such remarks as:

• "digging for money hid in the earth is a very common thing and in this state it is even considered as honorable and profitable employment"
• "One gentleman...digging...ten to twelve years, found a sufficient quantity of money to build him a commodious house.
• "another...dug up...fifty thousand dollars!"^[1]

Given the financial difficulties under which the Smith family laboured, it would hardly be surprising that they might hope for such a reversal in their fortunes! Richard Bushman has compared the Smith's attitude toward treasure digging with a modern attitudes toward gambling, or buying a lottery ticket. Bushman points out that looking for treasure had little stigma attached to it among all classes in the 17th century, and continued to be respectable among the lower classes into the 18th and 19th.^[2]

These attitudes toward money-digging changed later in the century, and certainly became a liability for Joseph among the educated and sophisticated, such as newspaper publishers and clergy. His use of a seer stone provided further ammunition for his critics.

Claims that Joseph "retrofitted" his visions with religious trappings after the fact often beg the question, and ignore crucial evidence. In fact, the earliest accounts treat the matter as religious; this is true even of skeptical newspaper reports, as well as a Smith family letter which shows that Joseph or his father considered Moroni "the Angel of the Lord" as early as 1828.^[3]

Joseph and those around him may have also seen some aspects of Moroni in a "treasure guardian" role (and he certainly did guard something of both material and spiritual value—the gold plates) but this seems to have been a secondary conclusion, as they interpreted Joseph's experience through their own preconceptions and understanding.

However, Moroni's status as an angel and messenger from God, is well attested in the early sources. Interestingly, the "treasure guardian" motif becomes more common and distinct in later sources, especially those gathered by enemies of Joseph, who sought to discredit him through ridicule and association with the (increasingly disreputable) practice of "treasure digging."^[4]

The Hofmann forgeries gave great emphasis to the "money-digging" and "occult" aspects of Joseph's experience, and they unfortunately shaded a good deal of the initial scholarly discussion surrounding these issues. Hofmann's documents made the case "air-tight," so to speak, and so other clues along the way were given more weight. When the Hofmann documents collapsed, some authors were not willing to abandon the shakey interpretive edifice they had constructed.^[5]

Conclusion

Joseph and his family were involved in seeking for treasure. This was a common and accepted practice in their culture, though the Smiths do not seem to have been involved to the extent claimed by some of the exaggerated attacks upon them by former neighbours. The earliest documents strongly suggest, however, that Joseph and those close to him always understood Moroni as an angelic messenger, with a divine role.

Endnotes

1. [note] Palmyra Herald (24 July 1822); cited in Russell Anderson, "The 1826 Trial of Joseph Smith," (2002 FAIR Conference presentation.) FAIR link
2. [note]  Richard L. Bushman, "Joseph Smith Miscellany," (Mesa, Arizona: FAIR, 2005 FAIR Conference) FAIR link
3. [note]  Mark Ashurst-McGee, "Moroni as Angel and as Treasure Guardian," FARMS Review 18/1 (2006): 34–100. [{{{url}}} off-site] wiki  (Key source)
4. [note] Larry E. Morris, "'I Should Have an Eye Single to the Glory of God’: Joseph Smith’s Account of the Angel and the Plates (Review of: "From Captain Kidd’s Treasure Ghost to the Angel Moroni: Changing Dramatis Personae in Early Mormonism")," FARMS Review 17/1 (2005): 11–82. off-site  (Key source)
5. [note]  Stephen E. Robinson, "Review of D. Michael Quinn Early Mormonism and the Magic World View (1987)," Brigham Young University Studies 27 no. 4 (Date?), 88. PDF link; see also John Gee, "Review of Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, revised and enlarged edition, by D. Michael Quinn," FARMS Review of Books 12/2 (2000): 185–224. [{{{url}}} off-site]; William J. Hamblin, "That Old Black Magic (Review of Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, revised and enlarged edition, by D. Michael Quinn)," FARMS Review of Books 12/2 (2000): 225–394. [{{{url}}} off-site]; Rhett S. James, "Writing History Must Not Be an Act of Magic (Review of Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, revised and enlarged edition, by D. Michael Quinn)," FARMS Review of Books 12/2 (2000): 395–414. [{{{url}}} off-site]

Further reading

• Richard L. Anderson, “Joseph Smith’s New York Reputation Reappraised,” Brigham Young University Studies, vol. 10, no. 3, Spring 1970, 283–314 (content of Hurlbut ‘affidavits’ / Stafford, Chase, Ingersoll, Deming ‘affidavits’ – money digging / other Smith family with seerstone). Available on the BYU Studies website.
• Richard L. Anderson, “The Mature Joseph Smith and Treasure Searching,” Brigham Young University Studies, vol. 24, no. 4, Fall 1984, 489–560 (money-digging; Salem treasure hunting episode; fraudulent 1838 Missouri treasure hunting revelation; Wood Scrape; “gift of Aaron”; “wand or rod”; Heber C. Kimball rod and prayer; magic; occult; divining lost objects; seerstone; parchments; talisman). Available on the BYU Studies website.
• Richard L. Anderson, “The Alvin Smith Story: Fact and Fiction,” Ensign, August 1987, 58- (Salamander Letter / Magic; Chase affidavit; Saunders memories; rumored Oliver Cowdery history).
• Richard L. Anderson [review of Rodger I. Anderson, Joseph Smith’s New York Reputation Reexamined], FARMS Review, vol. 3, no. 1, 1991, 52–80 (seerstones; magic; money-digging; animal sacrifice; ‘faculty of Abrac’).
• Davis Bitton [review of John L. Brooke, The Refiner’s Fire] Brigham Young University Studies, vol. 34, no. 4, 1995, 182–. Available on the BYU Studies website.
• Matthew B. Brown, “Revised or Unaltered?: Joseph Smith’s Foundational Stories,” 2006 FAIR Conference lecture (debunks the “Walters the Magician” rumor floating around Palmyra, New York) [not yet posted to the FAIR website].
• William J. Hamblin, Daniel C. Peterson, and George L. Mitton, “Mormon in the Fiery Furnace Or, Loftes Tryk Goes to Combridge” [review of John L. Brooke, The Refiner’s Fire], FARMS Review, vol. 6, no. 2, 1994, 3–58 (Hermeticism; Masonry - shorter version of article in BYU Studies, vol. 34, no. 4, 1995, 167-).
• William J. Hamblin, “‘Everything is Everything’: Was Joseph Smith Influenced by Kabbalah?” [review of Lance S. Owens, “Joseph Smith and Kabbalah: The Occult Connection”], FARMS Review, vol. 8, no. 2, 1996, 251–325.
• Marvin S. Hill, “Money-Digging Folklore and the Beginnings of Mormonism: An Interpretive Suggestion,” Brigham Young University Studies, vol. 24, no. 4, Fall 1984, 473–88. Available on the BYU Studies website.
• Stephen D. Ricks and Daniel C. Peterson, “Joseph Smith and ‘Magic’: Methodological Reflections on the Use of a Term,” in Robert L. Millet, ed., To Be Learned Is Good If . . . (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1987), 129–47.
• Matthew P. Roper, “Joseph Smith and ‘Magic’” [section in a review of Tanner and Tanner, Answering Mormon Scholars], FARMS Review, vol. 9, no. 1, 1997, 87–145.
• Ronald W. Walker, “The Persisting Idea of American Treasure Hunting,” Brigham Young University Studies, vol. 24, no. 4, Fall 1984, 427–59. Available on the BYU Studies website.
• Ronald W. Walker, “Joseph Smith: The Palmyra Seer,” Brigham Young University Studies, vol. 24, no. 4, Fall 1984, 461–72. Available on the BYU Studies website.
• Benson Whittle [review of Michael Quinn, Mormonism and the Magic World View, 1st ed.] Brigham Young University Studies, vol. 27, no. 4, Fall 1897, 105–21. Available on the BYU Studies website.
• William A. Wilson [review of Michael Quinn, Mormonism and the Magic World View, 1st ed.], Brigham Young University Studies, vol. 27, no. 4, Fall 1897, 96–104. Available on the BYU Studies website.