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Question: What do the Hurlbut affidavits say about the Spalding manuscript and the Book of Mormon?
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Contents
- 1 Question: What do the Hurlbut affidavits say about the Spalding manuscript and the Book of Mormon?
- 1.1 Hurlbut's affidavits regarding the Spalding manuscript consist of interviews with family and associates of Solomon Spalding
- 1.2 Most of the Spalding-related affidavits make very similar claims, such as the repeated statements that "Nephi" and "Lehi" figured prominently in Spalding's story
- 1.3 The Spalding theory requires that Sidney Rigdon secretly meet Joseph Smith before the organization of the Church
Question: What do the Hurlbut affidavits say about the Spalding manuscript and the Book of Mormon?
Hurlbut's affidavits regarding the Spalding manuscript consist of interviews with family and associates of Solomon Spalding
Claimant | Claims |
---|---|
Artemas Cunningham |
|
Nahum Howard |
|
Henry Lake |
|
John Miller |
|
Oliver Smith |
|
John Spalding(Brother of Solomon Spalding) |
|
Martha Spalding(wife of Solomon Spalding) |
|
Aaron Wright |
|
Commentary
Most of the Spalding-related affidavits make very similar claims, such as the repeated statements that "Nephi" and "Lehi" figured prominently in Spalding's story and that the person making the claim had "recently" read the Book of Mormon and recognized it as being similar to Spalding's work. The recovered Spalding manuscript, however, bears no resemblance to any of these claims. For this reason, critics who support the Spalding theory have assumed the existence of a second Spalding manuscript, despite absolutely no evidence to support this.
The Spalding theory requires that Sidney Rigdon secretly meet Joseph Smith before the organization of the Church
The Spalding theory requires that Sidney Rigdon secretly meet Joseph Smith before the organization of the Church, and provide him with the Book of Mormon manuscript. John Stafford, oldest son of William Stafford was asked about this:
- Q — If young Joseph — Smith , Jr. — was as illiterate as you say, Doctor, how do you account for the Book of Mormon?
- A — "Well, I can't; except that Sidney Rigdon was connected with them."
- Q — Was Rigdon ever around there before the Book of Mormon was published?
- A — "No; not as we could ever find out. Sidney Rigdon was never there, that Hurlbut, or Howe, or Tucker could find out."
- Q — Well; you have been looking out for the facts a long time, have you not, Doctor?
- A — "Yes; I have been thinking and hearing about it for the last fifty years, and lived right among all their old neighbors there more of the time."
- Q — And no one has ever been able to trace the acquaintance of Rigdon and Smith, until after the Book of Mormon was published, and Rigdon proselyted by Parley P. — Pratt, in Ohio?
- A — "Not that I know of.""
- — John Stafford, cited in William H. Kelly, "The Hill Cumorah, and the Book of Mormon," Saints' Herald 28 (1 June 1881): 167.[1]
See also:
- Matthew Roper, "The Mythical "Manuscript Found" (Review of: Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon? The Spalding Enigma)," FARMS Review 17/2 (2005): 7–140. off-site
Notes
- ↑ Dan Vogel (editor), Early Mormon Documents (Salt Lake City, Signature Books, 1996–2003), 5 vols, 2:123–124.)