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.
The Hurlbut affidavits
This article is a draft. FairMormon editors are currently editing it. We welcome your suggestions on improving the content.
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
Background
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. In addition to the Hurlbut affidavits, Mormonism Unvailed contained the first presentation of the Spalding theory of Book of Mormon origin. It is interesting to note that the Spalding theory was also based upon some of the affidavits gathered by Hurlbut. Some critics, such as Fawn Brodie, are selective in their acceptance of Hurlbut's affidavits—They readily accept affidavits that attack the character of the Smith family, yet admit that some "judicious prompting" by Hurlbut may have been involved in those affidavits that were gathered to support the Spalding theory.[3]
Howe's bias is evident throughout the book. He introduces the Smith family with the following:
- All who became intimate with them during this period, unite in representing the general character of old Joseph and wife, the parents of the pretended Prophet, as lazy, indolent, ignorant and superstitious—having a firm belief in ghosts and witches; the telling of fortunes; pretending to believe that the earth was filled with hidden treasures, buried there by Kid or the Spaniards.[4]
Affidavits
Conclusion
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.
- [note] Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 446–447.
- [note] Eber D. Howe, Mormonism Unvailed (Painesville, OH: Telegraph Press, 1834), p. 11.
Further reading
FAIR wiki articles
FAIR web site
- FAIR Topical Guide: