127 epigraph, 527n1 (PB)

• Did Joseph claim, as David Whitmer said he did, that "[s]ome revelations are of God: some revelations are of man: and some revelations are of the devil?"

• This is actually David Whitmer's recollection of something that he claimed Joseph said to him 50 years earlier.
• It contradicts the documents upon which is it supposedly based.
• Did Joseph Smith attempt to sell the Book of Mormon copyright?

• David Whitmer, An Address to All Believers in Christ, 31.
• DC 46꞉7

127-8, 528n5 (PB)

• Did Joseph say that "[f]ifty-six years should wind up the scene" before the second coming of Jesus Christ?

• Joseph Smith prophesied the Second Coming to be in 1890

• History of the Church, 2:182. Volume 2 link
• History of the Church, 5:336. Volume 5 link

128-9, 528n10 (PB)

• Were the revelations published in the 1835 Doctrine and Covenants "amended, added to, excised, and in some cases assigned different historical settings" as claimed by Michael Marquardt?

• Doctrine and Covenants textual changes

• H. Michael Marquardt, The Joseph Smith Revelations: Text & Commentary, xv.

129, 529n14-15 (PB)

• Did Joseph break Ohio law by marrying Newel Knight to "undivorced Lydia G. Baily," despite having no license to perform marriages in Ohio?

•  The author's claim is false: No law was broken, and marriage certificates were issued by the state of Ohio; no license was required.
• Any religious leader had a right to perform marriages in Ohio.
• Ohio marriages illegal?

• D. Michael Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power (Signature Books, 1994), 88..

129, 529n17 (PB)

• Did Joseph perform marriages for people who had not obtained marriage licenses from the State of Ohio?
• Does History of the Church claim that instead, they were only married "according to the rules and regulations of the Church of the Latter-day Saints?"

•  Misrepresentation of source: Joseph gave couples marriage certificates?
•  The author's claim is false: Ohio marriages illegal?

• History of the Church, 2:377–378. Volume 2 link

129, 529n16 (PB)

• Was Kirtland, as Fawn Brodie claimed, "full of converts who had left behind them spouses who could not be persuaded to join the church?"

• The author includes a direct, attributed quote from Brodie's book, however, this upon examining the source one finds that this is only Brodie's own opinion—She does not provide a source to back up this claim.

• Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 183. ( Index of claims )

529n16 (PB)

•  Author's quote: Disruptions of the family unit and marriage break-ups are often seen among religious groups termed "cults."
•  Author's quote: [E]x-Mormons have reported that LDS leaders/counselors commonly encourage divorce when the spouse of a faithful Mormon forsakes the faith."

•  The author's claim is false: Church leaders do not advise divorce under these circumstances.
• Note that the author takes the opportunity to classify the Church as a "cult" based upon this supposition.
• Loaded and prejudicial language

• No sources provided for this claim.

130, 530n22 (PB)

• Did Levi Lewis claim that Joseph tried to seduce Eliza Winters in 1830?

• Eliza Winters claims
• The Hurlbut affidavits—Levi Lewis

• Levi Lewis, Susquehanna Register, May 1, 1834 reprinted in Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, 268.

131, 530n23-24 (PB)

• Were LDS men encouraged to take plural wives "of the Lamanites and Nephites" in order to make them "white, delightsome and just?"

• Native Americans to become "white and delightsome" through polygamous marriage?

• Marquardt, 375.
• Jerald and Sandra Tanner, The Changing World of Mormonism (Moody Press, 1979), 210.( Index of claims )

132 (PB)

•  Author's quote: "Although Smith never took any Lamanites as wives, he did begin establishing what would gradually become a fairly large harem of young girls and women taken from his flock of 'white and delightsome' disciples."

• Age of wives
• Sarcasm
• Loaded and prejudicial language

• No source provided.

132, 530-531n29-36 (PB)

• Joseph's first polyamous marriage was with Fanny Alger.

• Fanny Alger

• Andrew Jenson, 233.
• Benjamin F. Johnson, letter to George S. Gibbs, 1903.
• Richard S. Van Wagoner, Mormon Polygamy: A History (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1989), 6-7.
• Todd Compton, In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1997), 31-34. ( Index of claims )

133, 531n37-40 (PB)

• Did William McLellin report that Joseph and Fanny were found "in the barn together alone...?"

• Fanny Alger and William McLellin

• Todd Compton, In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1997), 35. ( Index of claims )
• Ann Elza Web Young, Wife No. 19, 66-67.

133, n42 (PB)

• Was the inclusion of the statement on marriage in the 1835 D&C was "an attempt to cover-up the Smith-Alger affair" as the author claims?

• 1835 Doctrine and Covenants denies polygamy
• Fanny Alger: affair or marriage?
• Loaded and prejudicial language
• Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Mind reading

• D&C 1835, 251.

135, 531n45 (PB)

• Did land specuation in Kirtland "consume" the "thoughts of nearly every Saint, including [Joseph] Smith?"

• The citation does not support the author's assertion that this involved "nearly every Saint, including Smith."
• The endnote quotes Kimball as saying, "we were much grieved to see the spirit of speculation prevailing in the church..." Kimball doesn't say anything about Joseph Smith's involvment. He does state that, "all seemed determined to become rich; in my feelings they were artificial or imaginary riches." A more complete quote is included in the endnote.
• Mind reading

• Heber C. Kimball, "History of Heber Chase Kimball by his own Dictation," 47-48 quote in Jessee, 397-398.

135, 531n46-48 (PB)

• Joseph is claimed to have owned one hundred and forty acres of land near the Kirtland temple lot in addition to four acres of business property.

• This was Church land which Joseph held in trust.
• Use of sources: Joseph owned 144 acres in Kirtland
• Criticism of Mormonism/Books/Presentism

• Robert Kent Fielding, "The Growth of the Mormon Church in Kirtland, Ohio," Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Indiana University, 1957, typed copy, 202-204. 206-208, 211-212. Quoted in Jerald and Sandra Tanner, The Mormon Kingdom, vol. 1, 9.
• Unfortunately, the primary sources used by Fielding and Tanner are not provided.

531n48 (PB)

• Was Isaac McWithy brought before the church's High Council on charges of "insolence" after refusing to sell his land to Joseph Smith for $3000?

• Notable omissions: Isaac McWithy tried for insolence

• History of the Church, 2:446. Volume 2 link

135 (PB)

•  Author's quote: "Smith decided to solve his economic dilemma by establishing a bank for the purpose of land speculation."

• Loaded and prejudicial language

136, 532n51 (PB)

• Did Joseph Smith claim that "God told him" to establish the bank in Kirtland?

• The author paraphrases Brodie's assertion that "The bank was said to have been established by a revelation from God..."
• Brodie can provide no evidence, save an angry apostate after the fact, who contradicted his own testimony. Why do contemporary sources say that Joseph did not tell them what the Lord said?
• Use of sources: Warren Parrish and Kirtland Safety Society "revelation"
• Kirtland Safety Society

• Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 195. ( Index of claims ), citing Warren Parrish, letter dated March 6, 1838, Zion's Watchman, March 24, 1838

136, 532n54 (PB)

• Was the Kirtland anti-bank backed only by boxes "filled with 'sand,lead, old iron, stone, and combustibles" as claimed by Fawn Brodie?

• This quote is from Brodie, who in turn cites three hostile anti-Mormon sources: Wilhelm Wyl, Mormon Portraits Volume First: Joseph Smith the Prophet, His Family and Friends (Salt Lake City: Tribune Printing and Publishing Co., 1886), 36. [1886], Oliver Olney, Absurdities of Mormonism Portrayed, p. 4 [1843], and E.G. Lee, The Mormons, or Knavery Exposed, p. 14 [1841].
• Who do none of the contemporary complaints about the bank include these charges? Why do they only appear years later?
• Kirtland Safety Society

• Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 196-197. ( Index of claims )

136, 532n56 (PB)

• Is it true that "[e]veryone's pockets bulged with bills" in Kirtland after the bank was established as asserted by Fawn Brodie?

• The author quotes Brodie's opinion. Brodie provides no citation to back up the assertion that "everyone's pockets bulged with bills."

• Fawn M. Brodie, No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1945), 196. ( Index of claims )