The Hurlbut affidavits

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Criticism

Many of Joseph Smith’s friends and neighbors signed affidavits that accused him and his family of being lazy, indolent, undependable treasure-seekers.

Source(s) of the criticism

• Rodger I. Anderson, Joseph Smith's New York Reputation Reexamined, (Salt Lake City, UT: Signature Books, 1990).
• Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 17–18.
• Eber D. Howe, Mormonism Unvailed (Painesville, OH: Telegraph Press, 1834)
• Grant Palmer, An Insider's View of Mormon Origins, (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 2002), 228.
• Dan Vogel, Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet, (Salt Lake City, Utah; Signature Books, 2004)

Response

Many critics cite a collection of affidavits from Joseph Smith’s neighbors which claim that the Smith family possessed a number of character flaws. These affidavits were collected by “Doctor” Philastus Hurlbut,^[1] who had been excommunicated from the Church on charges of "unvirtuous conduct with a young lady."^[2] Hurlbut sold this material to Eber D. Howe, who published it in his anti-Mormon book Mormonism Unvailed in 1834.

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Conclusion

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Endnotes

• [note] "Doctor" was not a title—It was Hurlbut's actual given name.
• [note] Benjamin Winchester, The origin of the Spalding story, concerning the Manuscript Found; with a short biography of Dr. P. Hulbert, the originator of the same; and some testimony adduced, showing it to be a sheer fabrication, so far as in connection with the Book of Mormon is concerned. (Philadelphia: Brown, Bicking & Guilbert, Printers, 1834), p. 5.

Further reading

FAIR wiki articles

• Joseph Smith and money digging

FAIR web site

• FAIR Topical Guide: