Criticism of Mormonism/Books/No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith/Chapter 14

Response to claims made in "Chapter 14: Disaster in Kirtland"


Claims made in "Chapter 13: My Kingdom is of this World"
A work by author: Fawn Brodie
 Claims made in "Chapter 15: The Valley of God"

195

Claim
  • The Kirtland Safety Society was said to have been established by "a revelation from God," and that it would "grow and flourish, and spread from the rivers to the ends of the earth, and survive when all others should be laid in ruins."

Author's source(s)
  • Warren Parrish, letter dated March 6, 1838, published in Zion's Watchman March 24, 1838.
Response

197

Claim
  • The assets backing the Kirtland Safety Society's notes were actually boxes filled with "sand, lead, old iron, stone and combustibles."

Author's source(s)
  • Wilhelm Wyl, Mormon Portraits Volume First: Joseph Smith the Prophet, His Family and Friends (Salt Lake City: Tribune Printing and Publishing Co., 1886), 36.
  • Oliver H. Olney, The Absurdities of Mormonism Portrayed (Hancock County, IL: N.p., 1843), 4.
  • Cyrus Smalling letter in E. G. Lee, The Mormons, or Knavery Exposed (Frankford, Philadelphia: Webber & Fenimore, 1841), 14. off-site Full title
Response

197

Claim
  • Warren Parrish claimed that the Kirtland "bank" assets were less than Joseph claimed.

Author's source(s)
  • Warren Parrish, letter to Zion's Watchman, published March 24, 1838.
  • Cyrus Smalling letter in E. G. Lee, The Mormons, or Knavery Exposed, p. 14.
Response

198

Claim
  • The Kirtland Safety Society "bank" was operating illegally.

Author's source(s)
  • Trial record in Chardon, Ohio courthouse, Vol. U, p. 362.
Response

198

Claim
  • Warren Parrish could not have taken $25,000 because the bank didn't have that much.

Author's source(s)
  • Elder's Journal, August 1838, p. 56.
Response

199

Claim
  • Joseph "prophesied" that the bank notes would be "as good as gold."

Author's source(s)
  • Wilhelm Wyl, Mormon Portraits Volume First: Joseph Smith the Prophet, His Family and Friends (Salt Lake City: Tribune Printing and Publishing Co., 1886), 35.
Response

199

Claim
  • Brigham Young exchanged his Kirtland bank notes for gold years later in Salt Lake City.

Author's source(s)
  • No source provided.
Response

205

Claim
  • The Three Witnesses Whitmer, Harris and Cowdery pledged loyalty to a young girl who claimed to be able to see the future in a black stone.

Response
 FAIR WIKI EDITORS: Check sources
Retrieved from "https://www.fairlatterdaysaints.org/answers/index.php?title=Criticism_of_Mormonism/Books/No_Man_Knows_My_History:_The_Life_of_Joseph_Smith/Chapter_14&oldid=130468"