According to Joseph Smith, before his death, Moroni buried the plates containing the genealogical record of his people, The Nephites. At that time, of course, the map of the United States did not exist as it would in the time of Joseph Smith. According to Smith’s claim, he was eventually instructed to attend a hill in a well-known location. He was personally familiar with the hill as it was close to his home. It is known as the Hill Cumorah. At the appointed time he journeyed there to find the angel Moroni waiting for him. He would subsequently make the trip for four successive years — on the anniversary date of the angel Moroni’s initial visit to his bedroom. On the fourth year’s visit he was permitted to remove the plates. He was instructed that no one must know of their existence, for many would attempt to steal them. The angel instructed him to protect the plates at all cost as his mission to translate them was divinely appointed.
Joseph Smith’s family were believers in prophecies and practiced religious folk magic. His grandparents had claimed to see visions, and stated that they had had dreams which they believed to be from God. His family read the Bible and prayed daily. Like the Catholics with crucifixes, Indians with eagle feathers, etc., Joseph Smith’s family attributed divine protection to all objects designated by their folklore. This was a common practice of the day. Small farming communities often believed in witchcraft and sorcery as well. Rituals were often performed to ward off the negative effects of these phenomena. These practices were popular among those who did not ascribe to a particular creed or attend church meetings regularly. Such was the case with Joseph Smith’s family.
Joseph Smith was an avid treasure seeker and, indeed, used what he referred to as “seer stones” to aid him in his endeavours. It was upon one of his attempts to find buried treasure that he boarded with the Hale family on their farm in Pennsylvania. Here he met Emma Hale, and he eloped with her. Her parents disapproved of their new son-in-law’s treasure hunting business.
Joseph Smith had involved himself with several partners in his initiatives. Upon word that he had found golden plates, there was much animosity among them. They felt that they had been cheated by Smith. Joseph Smith had taken no one with him the day he uncovered the plates except for his wife, Emma.
As he dug into the earth on Hill Cumorah, he made contact with a large rock out crop. After unearthing it, he found a stone box containing the genealogical plates. He also states that other items were contained within; specifically, the breastplate worn by the priest, seer stones, and the Urim and the Thummim, which appeared in the stone box that was unearthed due to the apparent accompanying of them when the ancient family of Lehi (mentioned in Part 1) crossed over the Atlantic Ocean from Jerusalem. Accordingly he claims that the latter two, along with guidance and revelation from the Holy Spirit, were what enabled him to translate the script which he classified as revised Egyptian.
Because of the intense persecution that Joseph Smith faced, it was decided that he and his wife would relocate from upstate New York to Pennsylvania. Here he met an affluent neighbor by the name of Martin Harris. Taking Harris into his confidence, Smith revealed his possession of the plates, but did not show them to him. Harris says that he took some copied symbols which Joseph Smith had given him, to a few local scholars. One of them authenticated the symbols. This scholar, Charles Anthon later recanted his statement after hearing that the plates were obtained from an angel…. according to Harris. The year was 1827.
Over the course of the next year Martin Harris began to doubt Joseph Smith. He had never seen the golden plates, although a manuscript of translations did exist. Harris convinced Smith to allow him to take the only copy with him to show some of his family. Harris claims he lost the manuscript. It was never recovered. Joseph Smith then apparently lost the ability to translate citing it as punishment for parting with the translation to date. After a few months his ability was evidently restored. In the interim his wife gave birth to a stillborn son.
Although his “gift” of transnational ability had been restored in the fall of 1828, Joseph Smith did not resume this work until the spring of 1829. At this time he met Oliver Cow dry, who became his scribe. They then moved back to New York State where Cowdry’s friend Peter Witmer joined the effort.
Later, the translation began to speak in terms of the creation of an institutional church. Baptism was a requirement and so Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdrey baptized each other. Five years later, in documents which emerged at this time, they claimed to have experienced a visitation from John the Baptist, who conferred the Aaronic priesthood upon them. He instructed them that this priesthood authority was necessary in order to baptize. The translation itself was completed around July 1 of 1829.
Joseph Smith realized that the story of the Golden plates was quite remarkable. In order to make his story more believable to would-be converts, he had 11 male members of his circle; including members of his own family, sign a document swearing that they had seen and even handled these plates. This was despite the fact that Joseph Smith himself had stated that the angel had taken the plates away at the termination of the translation effort.
The translation became known as The Book of Mormon. It was published in March of 1830, and was financed by Martin Harris who mortgaged his farm. Small branches of the church formed in Colville, Palmyra, and Fayette, New York. The publishing along with the establishment of this new church drew praise and criticism of Joseph Smith. There were those who remembered well his gold digging philandering accompanied by his trial for fraud in 1826. Albeit, many new members were baptized and confirmed during this time, and the church grew. Many threats from a growing angry mob were levied on the new Mormon Church, and against Smith himself. This resulted in another move. Later Joseph Smith would state that it was during this time that he was visited by Peter, James, and John, who conferred the title and authority of the Melchisedec priesthood upon him. Subsequently all males in the LDS church would even eventually ascribe to these two priesthoods.
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One