View source for Mormonism and Wikipedia/Martin Harris

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{{Resource Title|An analysis of the Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)"}}
{{FAIRAnalysisWikipedia
|title=Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)
|wikipedialink=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Harris_%28Latter_Day_Saints%29
|uplink=
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== ==
{{FairMormonBlogBar
|link=http://www.fairblog.org/2013/01/23/wikipedias-deconstruction-of-martin-harris/
|author=Roger Nicholson
|title=Wikipedia’s Deconstruction of Martin Harris
|publication=FairMormon Blog
|date=23 January 2013
|summary=Upon reading the Wikipedia article about Martin Harris, we encounter quite a contrast from those things that we learn in church. The first thing that we learn about Martin is that he “was a prosperous farmer,” and that his neighbors “considered him both an honest and superstitious man.” The article then goes on in detail to note that Harris’s “imagination was excitable,” that he “once imagined that a sputtering candle was the work of the devil,” and that he was considered “a visionary fanatic.” The article continues by stating that “his belief in earthly visitations of angels and ghosts gave him the local reputation of being crazy,” and that “he was a great man for seeing spooks.” It is easy to see which aspects of Harris’s life the Wikipedia article attempts to emphasize. There are a few token mentions of honesty and prosperity, followed by extensive recitations of Harris’s superstitious qualities.
}}
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
'''Martin Harris''' (May 18, 1783 &ndash; July 10, 1875) underwrote the first printing of [[The Book of Mormon]] and also served as one of [[Three Witnesses]] who testified that they had seen the [[Golden Plates]] from which [[Joseph Smith]] said the Book of Mormon had been translated.
|authorsources=
|response=
*{{WikipediaCorrectNoSource}}
}}
{{information}}

== Early life==

===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
Martin Harris was born in [[Eastown, New York|Eastown]], [[New York]], the second of the eight children. According to historian [[Ronald W. Walker]], little is known of his youth, "but if his later personality and activity are guides, the boy partook of the sturdy values of his neighborhood which included work, honesty, rudimentary education, and godly fear."
|authorsources=
*{{Harvnb|Walker|1986|p=31}}
|response=
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}
}}
{{information}}

===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
In 1808, Harris married his cousin [[Lucy Harris]]. 
|response=
*{{WikipediaCITE}}We have no reason to believe that this is incorrect, however a source documenting the kinship between Harris and his wife would be good to have.
}}

===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
Until 1831, Harris lived in [[Palmyra (town), New York|Palmyra, New York]], where he was a prosperous farmer. Harris's neighbors considered him both an honest and superstitious man. 
|authorsources=
*More "than a dozen of Harris's Palmyra contemporaries left descriptions of the man that describe his honor, honesty, industry, peacefulness, and respectability, his hard-headed Yankee shrewdness and his wealth." {{Harv|Walker|1986|p=35}}
|response=
*{{Detail|Book of Mormon/Witnesses/Character}}
}}
{{progaganda|Note that the main body of the article states that Martin was "honest and superstitious," while the supporting citation only describes his "honor, honesty, industry, peacefulness, and respectability, his hard-headed Yankee shrewdness and his wealth." Also note that the subsequent paragraphs launch immediately into discussions of Martin's "superstitions," while totally ignoring any examples of his "honesty, industry, peacefulness, and respectability, his hard-headed Yankee shrewdness and his wealth". The Wikipedia article is attempting to portray Martin's superstitions and the most important part of his character, while ignoring everything else.}}

===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
A biographer wrote that Harris's "imagination was excitable and fecund." For example, Harris once imagined that a sputtering candle was the work of the devil.
|authorsources=
*"Once while reading scripture, he reportedly mistook a candle's sputtering as a sign that the devil desired him to stop. Another time he excitedly awoke from his sleep believing that a creature as large as a dog had been upon his chest, though a nearby associate could find nothing to confirm his fears. Several hostile and perhaps unreliable accounts told of visionary experiences with Satan and Christ, Harris once reporting that Christ had been poised on a roof beam." {{Harv|Walker|1986|pp=34–35}}
|response=
*{{Detail|Book of Mormon/Witnesses/Character}}
}} 

===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
An acquaintance said that Harris claimed to have seen [[Jesus]] in the shape of a deer and walked and talked with him for two or three miles.
|authorsources=
*John A. Clark letter, August 31, 1840 in ''EMD'', 2: 271: "No matter where he went, he saw visions and supernatural appearances all around him. He told a gentleman in Palmyra, after one of his excursions to Pennsylvania, while the translation of the Book of Mormon was going on, that on the way he met the Lord Jesus Christ, who walked along by the side of him in the shape of a deer for two or three miles, talking with him as familiarly as one man talks with another." According to two Ohio newspapers, shortly after Harris arrived in Kirtland he began claiming to have "seen Jesus Christ and that he is the handsomest man he ever did see. He has also seen the Devil, whom he described as a very sleek haired fellow with four feet, and a head like that of a Jack-ass." Vogel,''EMD'' 2: 271, note 32.
|response=
*{{WikipediaNPOV|editor=John Foxe|wikipedialink=http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Martin_Harris_(Latter_Day_Saints)&diff=96179363&oldid=95658041}}Note that the letter cited is dated ten years ''after'' the publication of the Book of Mormon. This "acquaintance" is describing his perception of Martin Harris well ''after'' Martin's claim to have witnessed an angel and the gold plates. Yet, the Wikipedia editor has placed this description in the section on Martin's "Early life," before the section titled "Book of Mormon witness."
*{{Detail|Book of Mormon/Witnesses/Character}}

}}

===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
The local [[Presbyterian]] minister called him "a visionary fanatic." 
|authorsources=
*{{Harvnb|Walker|1986|p=34-35}}
|response=
*{{WikipediaNPOV|editor=John Foxe|wikipedialink=http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Martin_Harris_(Latter_Day_Saints)&diff=96179363&oldid=95658041}}The Presbyterian minister called Martin a "visionary fanatic" ''after'' the publication of the Book of Mormon. This man is describing his perception of Martin Harris well ''after'' Martin's claim to have witnessed an angel and the gold plates. Yet, the Wikipedia editor has placed this description in the section on Martin's "Early life," before the section titled "Book of Mormon witness."
*{{Detail|Book of Mormon/Witnesses/Character}}
}}

===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
A friend, who praised Harris as being "universally esteemed as an honest man," also declared that Harris's mind "was overbalanced by 'marvellousness'" and that his belief in earthly visitations of [[angel]]s and [[ghost]]s gave him the local reputation of being crazy.
|authorsources=
*Pomroy Tucker Reminiscence, 1858 in ''Early Mormon Documents'' 3: 71.
|response=
*{{WikipediaNPOV|editor=John Foxe|wikipedialink=http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Martin_Harris_(Latter_Day_Saints)&diff=96179363&oldid=95658041}}Pomroy Tucker felt that Martin had been deceived by Joseph Smith. The description of Martin that he gives here was published 28 years ''after'' the publication of the Book of Mormon. This man is describing his perception of Martin Harris well ''after'' Martin's claim to have witnessed an angel and the gold plates. Yet, the Wikipedia editor has placed this description in the section on Martin's "Early life," before the section titled "Book of Mormon witness."
*{{Detail|Book of Mormon/Witnesses/Character}}
}}

===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
Another friend said, "Martin was a man that would do just as he agreed with you. But, he was a great man for seeing spooks."
|authorsources=
*Lorenzo Saunders Interview, November 12, 1884, ''Early Mormon Documents'' 2: 149.
|response=
*{{WikipediaNPOV|editor=John Foxe|wikipedialink=http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Martin_Harris_(Latter_Day_Saints)&diff=96179363&oldid=95658041}}Lorenzo Saunders felt that Martin had been deceived by Joseph Smith. The description of Martin that he gives here was published 54 years ''after'' the publication of the Book of Mormon. This man is describing his perception of Martin Harris well ''after'' Martin's claim to have witnessed an angel and the gold plates. Yet, the Wikipedia editor has placed this description in the section on Martin's "Early life," before the section titled "Book of Mormon witness."
*{{Detail|Book of Mormon/Witnesses/Character}}
}}

==Book of Mormon witness==
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
In 1828, [[Joseph Smith, Jr.]], another resident of Palmyra, said he had obtained a record of ancient inhabitants of the Americas engraved on [[golden plates]] and that he had been directed by the [[angel Moroni]] to translate this work. Harris assisted Smith both financially and by serving as his scribe. Mormon tradition holds that through the use of [[Urim and Thummim]] and/or a [[Seer stones in Mormonism|seer stone]], Smith saw a translation of the writing on the plates and dictated the words to Harris.
|authorsources=
*No source provided
|response=
*{{Detail|Joseph Smith/Seer stones}}
}}

===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
Because Harris desired assurance of the work's authenticity, Smith transcribed characters from the plates to a piece of paper, perhaps the one now known as the [[Anthon transcript]]. Harris took this document to [[New York City]], where he met with [[Charles Anthon]], a professor of linguistics at [[Columbia College of Columbia University|Columbia College]]. Although Harris and Anthon later told conflicting versions about their encounter, the episode apparently satisfied Harris's doubts about the authenticity of the [[Golden Plates]].
|authorsources=
*See ''EMD'' 4: 377-86.
|response=
*{{Detail|Book of Mormon/Translation/Anthon transcript}}
}}
{{information}}

===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
Nevertheless, Harris's wife continued to oppose his collaboration with Smith. After translating the first [[Lost 116 pages|116 pages]] of the manuscript, Harris asked Smith for permission to take the manuscript back to his wife in order to convince her of its authenticity. Smith reluctantly agreed. After Harris had shown the pages to Lucy and some others, the manuscript disappeared.
|authorsources=
*Doctrine and Covenants 3
|response=
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}
}}

===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
The loss temporarily halted the translation of the plates, and when Smith began again, he used other scribes, primarily [[Oliver Cowdery]]. Nevertheless, Harris continued to support Smith financially, and as the translation neared completion, Smith revealed that three men would be called as "special witnesses" to the existence of the Golden Plates. Harris, along with Cowdery and [[David Whitmer]], was one of these [[Three Witnesses]], although Joseph Smith clearly indicated that Harris's experience occurred separately from that of Whitmer and Cowdery.
|authorsources=
*''Joseph Smith-History'', 1839.
|response=
*{{Detail|Book of Mormon/Witnesses}}
}}
{{information}}

===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
Harris's attestation above what was implied to have been a joint testimony was printed with the book, and it has been included in nearly every subsequent edition.
|authorsources=
*No source provided
|response=
*{{WikipediaNPOV|editor=John Foxe|wikipedialink=http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Martin_Harris_(Latter_Day_Saints)&diff=117356385&oldid=117354392}}The phrasing "what was implied to have been a joint testimony" is pejorative. All three men's names appeared below the testimony, therefore it ''was'' a joint testimony. Harris never disputed or denied that it was.
}}

===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
In part due to their continued disagreement over the legitimacy of Joseph Smith and the golden plates, and because of the loss of his farm, which he had mortgaged to publish the Book of Mormon,
|authorsources=
*In March 2007, Russell Martin Harris, great-great-grandson of Martin Harris, gave a leather wallet, said to have been the one that carried Harris's money to the printer, to the LDS Church so that the wallet could be displayed at the Museum of Church History and Art in Salt Lake City. [http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-mormon-wallet,0,824927.story AP story.]
|response=
*{{WikipediaCITE}}
}}

===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
Harris and his wife separated. [[Lucy Harris]] was described by [[Lucy Mack Smith]] as a woman of "irascible temper," but Harris may also have abused her. [[Lucy Harris]] also suggested that her husband may have committed adultery with a neighboring "Mrs. Haggart."
|authorsources=
*Lucy Mack Smith, 1853, in ''EMD'' 1: 367; "Lucy Harris statement," in ''EMD'', 2: 34-36: "In one of his fits of rage he struck me with the butt end of a whip, which I think had been used for driving oxen, and was about the size of my thumb, and three or four feet long.  He beat me on the head four or five times, and the next day turned me out of doors twice, and beat me in a shameful manner....Whether the Mormon religion be true or false, I leave the world to judge, for its effects upon Martin Harris have been to make him more cross, turbulent and abusive to me." In March 1830, a revelation from Smith warned Harris not to "covet thy neighbor's wife." ''D&C'' 19: 25.
|response=
*{{WikipediaOR|editor=John Foxe|wikipedialink=http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Martin_Harris_(Latter_Day_Saints)&diff=100474309&oldid=99740903}}The wiki editor has taken information from two sources (one of them, the D&C, a primary source) in order to forward the assertion that Martin Harris committed adultery with a neighbor, yet neither source provides any evidence to confirm this. Wikipedia editors are not allowed to interpret primary sources, and must quote secondary sources only.
}}

== LDS High Priest ==

===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
Harris became an early member of the [[Church of Christ (Latter Day Saints)|Church of Christ]], which Joseph Smith organized on April 6, 1830. On June 3, 1831, at a conference at the headquarters of the church in [[Kirtland, Ohio]], Harris was ordained to the office of [[High Priest (Latter Day Saints)|High Priest]] and served as a missionary in the Midwest, [[Pennsylvania]], and New York.
|response=
*{{WikipediaCorrectNoSource}}
}}

===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
On February 17, 1834, Harris was ordained a member of Kirtland [[High council (Mormonism)|High Council]], which was then the chief judicial and legislative council of the church. In response to the conflicts between Mormons and non-Mormons in [[Missouri]], Harris joined what is now known as [[Zion's Camp]] and marched fruitlessly from Kirtland to [[Clay County, Missouri]]. Afterwards, Harris &mdash; along with [[Oliver Cowdery]] and [[David Whitmer]] &mdash; ordained a "traveling High Council" of twelve men that eventually became the [[Quorum of the Twelve]] Apostles.
|authorsources=
*Joseph Smith, B.H. Roberts (ed.), (1902) ''History of the Church'', '''2''':186-87.
|response=
*{{WikipediaNPOV|editor=John Foxe|wikipedialink=http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Martin_Harris_(Latter_Day_Saints)&diff=97927275&oldid=97926796}}The wiki editor is assigning a value to the Zion's Camp experience, and he added the word "fruitlessly" to the existing text. Many future leaders of the Church came from that march. Although it did not achieve its intended purpose (to retake Missouri lands), it is not correct to label it "fruitless."
}}

===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
(Some early church leaders claimed that Harris, like [[Joseph Smith, Jr.]] and [[Oliver Cowdery]], was ordained to the priesthood office of [[Apostle (Latter Day Saints)|apostle]];
|authorsources=
*See, e.g., Heber C. Kimball, [http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/JournalOfDiscourses3/image/100504_171240_ep029_Va_M230_J82_v06.pdf ''Journal of Discourses'' '''6''':29].
|response=
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}
*From the cited source {{JDfairwiki|vol=6|disc=4|start=29}}:
<blockquote>
Peter comes along with James and John and ordains Joseph to be an Apostle, and then Joseph ordains Oliver, and David Whitmer, and Martin Harris; and then they were ordered to select twelve more and ordain them.
</blockquote>
}}

===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
however, there is no record of this ordination, and Harris—as with Cowdery—was never a member of the [[Quorum of the Twelve Apostles]].)
|authorsources=
*No source provided
|response=
*There is no ''extant'' record of this ordination.
}}

===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
Lucy Harris died in the summer of 1836, and on November 1, 1836, Harris married Caroline Young, the 22-year-old daughter of [[Brigham Young|Brigham Young's]] brother, John. Although he was thirty-one years older than his new wife, Harris and Caroline had seven children together.
|response=
*{{WikipediaCITE}}
}}

===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
In 1837, dissension arose in Kirtland over the failure of the church's [[Kirtland Safety Society]] bank. Harris called it a "fraud" and was among the dissenters who broke with Smith and attempted to reorganize the church. Led by [[Warren Parrish]], the reformers excommunicated Smith and [[Sidney Rigdon]], who relocated to [[Far West, Missouri]].
|authorsources=
*In 1838, Joseph Smith called the [[Three Witnesses]] Cowdery, Harris, and Whitmer "too mean to mention; and we had liked to have forgotten them." B.H. Roberts, ed. ''History of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints'' (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1905), 3: 232.
|response=
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}
*{{Detail|Kirtland Safety Society}}
*{{Detail|Warren Parrish}}
}}

===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
Parrish's church in Kirtland took control of the [[Kirtland Temple|temple]] and became known as ''The Church of Christ''. In its 1838 articles of incorporation, Harris was named one of the church's three trustees. By 1839, Parrish and other church leaders had rejected the [[Book of Mormon]] and consequently broke with Harris, who continued to testify to its truth. By 1840, Harris returned to communion with Smith's church, which had subsequently relocated to [[Nauvoo, Illinois|Nauvoo]], [[Illinois]].
|response=
*{{WikipediaCorrectNoSource}}
}}

== Strangite, Whitmerite, Gladdenite, Williamite, Shaker==
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
Even before he had become a Mormon, Harris had changed his religion at least five times.
|authorsources=
*Harris had been a Quaker, a Universalist, a Restorationist, a Baptist, a Presbyterian, and perhaps a Methodist. {{Harv|Walker|1986|pp=30–33}}
|response=
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}
}}

===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
After [[Death of Joseph Smith, Jr.|Smith's death]], Harris continued this earlier pattern, remaining in Kirtland and accepting [[James J. Strang]] as Mormonism's new prophet, a prophet with his own set of supernatural [[Voree Plates|plates]] and witnesses to authenticate them.
|authorsources=
*In August 1846, Harris traveled on a mission to [[England]] for the [[Strangite]] church.
|response=
*{{WikipediaCITE|editor=John Foxe|wikipedialink=http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Martin_Harris_(Latter_Day_Saints)&diff=96181573&oldid=96180666}}There was no "supernatural" component to the story of Strang's plates. None of Strang's witnesses claimed to have seen an angel.
*{{Detail|Book of Mormon/Witnesses/Strangite parallels}}
}}

===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
By 1847, Harris had broken with Strang and accepted the leadership claims of fellow Book of Mormon witness, [[David Whitmer]]. Mormon [[Apostle (Latter Day Saints)|Apostle]] [[William E. M'Lellin]] organized a Whitmerite congregation in Kirtland, and Harris became a member. By 1851, Harris accepted another Latter Day Saint factional leader, [[Gladden Bishop]], as prophet and joined Bishop's Kirtland-based organization.
|authorsources=
*{{Harvnb|Walker|1986|pp=29–30}}
|response=
}} 

===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
In 1855, Harris joined with the last surviving brother of Joseph Smith, [[William Smith (Mormonism)|William Smith]] and declared that William was Joseph's true successor. Harris was also briefly intrigued by the "Roll and Book," a supernatural scripture delivered to the [[Shakers]].
|authorsources=
*[http://www.google.com/search?q=cache:uJfQDiG6XsQJ:www.lightplanet.com/mormons/response/bom/Witnesses_Roper.htm+%22Martin+Harris%22+Shaker&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=15 A pro-Mormon defense of Harris's behavior with regard to the Shakers]. Harris never actually joined the Shakers; they advocated celibacy, and Harris was married. But [[Phineas H. Young]] told Brigham Young that Harris' testimony of Shakerism was "greater than it was of the Book of Mormon." Letter of Phineas H. Young to Brigham Young, Dec. 31, 1844.
|response=
}} 

===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
By the 1860s, all of these organizations had either dissolved or declined. In 1856, his wife Caroline left him to gather with the Mormons in Utah while he remained in Kirtland and gave tours of the temple to curious visitors.
|authorsources=
*''EMD'', 2: 258.
|response=
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}
*This is an editor's comment.
}}

==Rebaptism into the LDS faith==

===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
In 1870, at age 87, Harris moved to the [[Utah Territory]] and shortly thereafter was rebaptized into [[The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]] (LDS Church).  Harris, who had been left destitute and without a congregation in Kirtland, accepted the assistance of members of the LDS Church, who raised $200 to help him move west to Utah. Harris lived the last four and a half years of his life with relatives in [[Cache Valley]]. He died on June 10, 1875 in [[Clarkston, Utah|Clarkston]], [[Utah]] and was buried there. A pageant about Harris called "Martin Harris, The Man Who Knew", sponsored by LDS Church, is performed every other year in August in [[Clarkston, Utah|Clarkston]].
|authorsources=
*[http://www.martinharrispageant.org/ Martin Harris Pageant]
|response=
*{{WikipediaCITE}}
}}

== Testimony to the Book of Mormon ==
===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
Although he was estranged from the LDS Church for most of his life, Harris continued to testify to the truth of the [[Book of Mormon]]. Nevertheless, at least during the early years, Harris "seems to have repeatedly admitted the internal, subjective nature of his visionary experience."
|authorsources=
*Vogel, ''EMD'', 2: 255.
|response=
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}
*The comment is from the editor of the volume, Dan Vogel.
}}

===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
The foreman in the Palmyra printing office that produced the first Book of Mormon said that Harris "used to practice a good deal of his characteristic jargon and 'seeing with the spiritual eye,' and the like." 
|authorsources=
*[[Pomeroy Tucker]], ''Origin, Rise, and Progress of Mormonism'' (New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1867), 71 in ''EMD'', 3: 122.
|response=
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}
*{{Detail|Book of Mormon/Witnesses/"Eye of Faith" and "Spiritual Eye" statements by Martin Harris}}
}}

===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
John H. Gilbert, the typesetter for most of the book, said that he had asked Harris, "Martin, did you see those plates with your naked eyes?" According to Gilbert, Harris "looked down for an instant, raised his eyes up, and said, 'No, I saw them with a spiritual eye."
|authorsources=
*John H. Gilbert, "Memorandum," 8 September 1892, in ''EMD'', 2: 548.
|response=
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}
*From the cited source (''Early Mormon Documents'' 2:548):
<blockquote>
I said to him,&mdash;"Martin, did you see those plates with your naked eyes?" Martin looked down for an instant, raised his eyes up, and said, "No, I saw them with a spir[i]tual eye."
</blockquote>
}}
{{information|John Gilbert did indeed state this in 1892, 42 years after the Book of Mormon was published}}
{{:Question: Did Martin Harris tell people that he only saw the plates with his "spiritual eye"?}}

===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
Two other Palmyra residents said that Harris told them that he had seen the plates with "the eye of faith" or "spiritual eyes."
|authorsources=
*Martin Harris interviews with John A. Clark, 1827 & 1828 in ''EMD'', 2: 270; Jesse Townsend to Phineas Stiles, 24 December 1833, in ''EMD'', 3: 22.
|response=
}}
{{:Question: Did Martin Harris tell people that he did not see the plates with his natural eyes, but rather the "eye of faith"?}}
{{:Question: Why would Martin Harris use the phrases "eye of faith" or "spiritual eye" to describe his visionary experience?}}
{{:Question: Do Martin Harris's statements related to the "spiritual eye" or "eye of faith" contradict the reality of his witness?}}

===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
In 1838, Harris is said to have told an Ohio congregation that "he never saw the plates with his natural eyes, only in vision or imagination."
|authorsources=
*Stephen Burnett to Lyman E. Johnson, 15 April 1838 in ''EMD'', 2: 291.
|response=
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}
*Note that the wiki editor uses this same citation several paragraphs later.
*Editor Dan Vogel notes: Harris repeatedly declared that he had seen the plates with his "spiritual eyes," or in vision. The word "imagination" is likely that of Burnett.
*Stephen Burnett in his letter felt that Joseph Smith had "filched the monies of the Church from their pockets and brought them nigh unto distruction. (sic)" He goes on to speak of Martin Harris and the other witnesses. From the cited source (''Early Mormon Documents'' 2:290-92
<blockquote>
...but when I came to hear Martin Harris state in a public congregation that he never saw the plates with his natural eyes only in vision or imagination, neither Oliver [Cowdery] nor David [Whitmer] & also that the eight witnesses never saw them & hesitated to sign that instrument for that reason, but were persuaded to do it, the last pedestal gave way, in my view our foundations was sapped & the entire superstructure fell a heap of ruins.
</blockquote>
}}

===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
A neighbor of Harris in Kirtland, Ohio, said that Harris "never claimed to have seen [the plates] with his natural eyes, only spiritual vision."
|authorsources=
*Reuben P. Harmon statement, c. 1885, in ''EMD'', 2: 385.
|response=
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}
*From the cited source (''Early Mormon Documents'' 2:385):
<blockquote>
I have questioned him much about the plates from which the "Book of Mormon" purports to have been translated. He never claimed to have seen them with his natural eyes, only spiritual vision. He said it was impossible for the prophet Joseph to get up the "Book of Mormon," for he could not spell the word Sarah. He had him repeat the letters of the word. He was a very illiterate man.
</blockquote>
}}

===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
In March 1838, disillusioned church members said that Harris had publicly denied that neither he nor the other Witnesses to the ''Book of Mormon'' had ever seen or handled the golden plates—although he had not been present when Whitmer and Cowdery first claimed to have viewed them—and they claimed that Harris's recantation, made during a period of crisis in early Mormonism, induced five influential members, including three Apostles, to leave the Church.
|authorsources=
*Stephen Burnett to Luke S. Johnson, 15 April 1838, in Joseph Smith's Letterbook, ''Early Mormon Documents'' 2: 290-92.
|response=
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}
*This is the same exact citation used two paragraphs earlier. This make it appear that there were two different events, when in reality both paragraphs are referring to the same event.
*Stephen Burnett in his letter felt that Joseph Smith had "filched the monies of the Church from their pockets and brought them nigh unto distruction. (sic)" He goes on to speak of Martin Harris and the other witnesses. From the cited source (''Early Mormon Documents'' 2:290-92
<blockquote>
...but when I came to hear Martin Harris state in a public congregation that he never saw the plates with his natural eyes only in vision or imagination, neither Oliver [Cowdery] nor David [Whitmer] & also that the eight witnesses never saw them & hesitated to sign that instrument for that reason, but were persuaded to do it, the last pedestal gave way, in my view our foundations was sapped & the entire superstructure fell a heap of ruins.
</blockquote>
}}

===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
Even at the end of his long life, Harris said that he had seen the plates in "a state of entrancement."
|authorsources=
*Metcalf in ''EMD'', 2: 347.
|response=
*{{WikipediaNPOV|editor=John Foxe|wikipedialink=http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Martin_Harris_(Latter_Day_Saints)&diff=96180666&oldid=96179363}}The phrase "even at the end of his long life" is pejorative. The wiki editor is attempting to show that Harris wasn't quite sure what he saw, despite his numerous statements attesting to having seen the actual physical plates. Note the editor's edit summary: "addition of some non-faith promoting material."
*From the cited source (''Early Mormon Documents'' 2:347):
<blockquote>
In about three days I went into the woods to pray that I might see the plates. While praying I passed into a state of entrancement, and in that state I saw the angel and the plates."
</blockquote>
*Editor Dan Vogel notes that the Metcalf interview is at variance with other accounts of this event, which state that Harris had his vision of the angel and the plates the same day as Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer.
}}

===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
Nevertheless, in 1853, Harris told one David Dille that he had held the forty- to sixty-pound plates on his knee for "an hour-and-a-half" and handled the plates with his hands, "plate after plate."
|authorsources=
*Martin Harris interview with David B. Dille, 15 September 1853 in ''EMD'' 2: 296-97.
|response=
*{{WikipediaNPOV|editor=John Foxe|wikipedialink=http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Martin_Harris_(Latter_Day_Saints)&diff=96180666&oldid=96179363}}The sentence as it is structured in Wikipedia is disingenuous. The cited source says nothing about the weight of the plates, and the wiki editor conflates the event during which Martin held the plates on his knee with Martin's later encounter with the plates as a witness. The wiki editor has taken the statement about Harris holding the plates on his knee for an hour and a half and attempted to use this for the purpose of implying that the plates would have been too heavy had Harris been telling the truth. It is also not made clear that the handling of the plates occurred during Martin's experience as one of the Three Witnesses. Note the editor's edit summary: "addition of some non-faith promoting material." The material certainly does not need to be faith-promoting, but the editor is "stacking the deck" in this case.
*From the cited source (''Early Mormon Documents'' 2:297):
<blockquote>
I was the right-hand man of Joseph Smith, and I know that he was a Prophet of God. I know the Book of Mormon is true...''And you know that I know that it is true.'' I know that the plates have been translated by the gift and power of God, for his voice declared it unto us; therefore I know of a surety that the work is true. For...did I not at one time hold the plates on my knee an hour-and-a-half, whilst in conversation with Joseph, when we went to bury them in the woods, that the enemy might not obtain them? Yes, I did. And as many of the plates as Joseph Smith translated I handled with my hands, plate after plate."
</blockquote>
}}

===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
Even later, Harris affirmed that he had seen the plates and the angel with his natural eyes: "Gentlemen," holding out his hand, "do you see that hand? Are you sure you see it? Or are your eyes playing you a trick or something? No. Well, as sure as you see my hand so sure did I see the Angel and the plates."
|authorsources=
*Martin Harris interview with Robert Barter, c. 1870 in ''EMD'', 2: 390.
|response=
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}
*From the cited source (''Early Mormon Documents'' 2:390):
<blockquote>
Gentlemen...do you see that hand? Are you sure you see it? Or are your eyes playing you a trick or something? No. Well, as sure as you see my hand so sure did I see the Angel and the plates. Brethren, I know I saw and heard these things, and the Lord knows I know these things of which I was spoken are true."
</blockquote>
*There are additional statements from Martin Harris not mentioned in Wikipedia in which he states that he saw the angel and the plates. {{Detail|Martin Harris/Statements}}
}}

===== =====
{{IndexClaimItemShort
|title=Wikipedia article "Martin Harris (Latter Day Saints)" (1/18/2011 revision)
|claim=
The following year Harris affirmed that "No man heard me in any way deny the truth of the Book of Mormon [or] the administration of the angel that showed me the plates."
|authorsources=
*Letter of Martin Harris, Sr., to Hanna B. Emerson, January 1871, Smithfield, Utah Territory, ''Saints' Herald'' 22 (15 October 1875):630, in ''EMD'' 2: 338. See also Richard Lloyd Anderson, ''Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses'' (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Company, 1981), 118.
|response=
*{{WikipediaCorrect}}
*Martin's complete statement, given four years prior to his death, is somewhat more powerful that the excerpt quoted in the Wikipedia article would indicate. From the cited source (''Early Mormon Documents'' 2:338), Martin Harris writes the following in a letter to H. B Emerson, dated January 1871. Emerson asked Martin if he went to England to "lecture against 'Mormonism'" Martin responded, ":
<blockquote>
I answer emphatically, No, I did not;&mdash;no man ever heard me in any way deny the truth of the Book of Mormon, the administration of the angel that showed me the plates; nor the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, under the administration of Joseph Smith Jun., the prophet whom the Lord raised up for that purpose, in these the latter days, that he may show forth his power and glory. The Lord has shown me these things by his Spirit&mdash;by the administration of holy angels&mdash;and confirmed the same with signs following, step by step, as the work has progressed, for the space of fifty-three years.
</blockquote>
}}

== Citations ==
*{{Citation
 | last       = Walker
 | first      = Ronald W.
 | authorlink = Ronald W. Walker
 | title      = Martin Harris: Mormonism's Early Convert
 | journal    = [[Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought]]
 | volume     = 19
 | issue      = 4
 | month      = Winter
 | year       = 1986
 | pages      = 29–43
 | url        = http://content.lib.utah.edu/u?/dialogue,16259
}}.

== Further reading ==
* [[Richard L. Anderson]], ''Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses'', (Salt Lake City: [[Deseret Book]], 1989).
* [[Susan Easton Black]], ''Who's Who in the Doctrine & Covenants'' (1997) ISBN 1-57008-292-8
* [http://www.nathanharrisfamily.org/ Nathan Harris and Rhoda Lapham Family, parents of Martin Harris], annotated genealogy.
* William O. Lewis III, [http://gapages.com/harrim1.htm "Martin Harris," on Grampa Bill's G.A. Pages]
* {{cite journal
 | author= H. Michael Marquardt,
 | title = ''Martin Harris: The Kirtland Years, 1831-1870''
 | journal = [[Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought]]
 | volume= 35
 | issue = 3
 | year = Fall 2002
 | ref= harv
 }}
* [[Dallin H. Oaks]], [http://www.lightplanet.com/mormons/conferences/99_apr/oaks_martin.htm "The Witness: Martin Harris"]
* {{cite journal
 | author= Edward Stevenson,
 | title= One of the Three Witnesses: Incidents in the Life of Martin Harris,
 | journal= [[Millennial Star|The Latter Day Saints' Millennial Star]],
 | volume= 44
 | year=1882
 | pages=78–79, 86–87
 | url=http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cgi-bin/docviewer.exe?CISOROOT=/MillennialStar3&CISOPTR=17556&CISOSHOW=10511
 | ref= harv
 }}
* Ron Romig, ''Martin Harris's Kirtland'' (John Whitmer Books, 2007) ISBN 1934901040
* [[Dan Vogel]], "Introduction to Martin Harris Collection," in ''Early Mormon Documents'' (Salt Lake City: [[Signature Books]], 1998), 2: 253-59.
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