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Fact-Checking Bushmanâs Innuendo with Real Data
A careful analysis of the sources used by Bushman in Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonismâas well as other progressive scholarshipâreveals that one book appears repeatedly as an authority for the new narrative: Mormonism Unvailed [sic], published in 1834 by Eber D. Howe.
When first released in 1834 by Howe, Mormonism Unvailed included purported affidavits and research collected by Latter-day Saint dissenter Doctor Philastus Hurlbut, who was excommunicated from the Church for immorality less than two years after joining. Hurlbut bragged that âhe had deceived Joseph Smith; God, or the Spirit by which he is actuated,â and swore that he would have his ârevengeâ and would âwash his hands in Joseph Smithâs blood.â
With that motivation, Hurlbut found support from an anti-Mormon committee who funded him to gather any conceivable evidence to prove the Book of Mormon was a âwork of fiction and imagination,â and to âcompletely divest Joseph Smith of all claims to the character of an honest man, and place him at an immeasurable distance from the high station which he pretends to occupy.â
Hurlbut journeyed back East to find, or perhaps manufacture, any acquaintance of the Smiths during the time they lived in New York and Pennsylvania, who would be willing to excoriate and defame the Smith family. Hurlbut returned to Ohio with his so-called âaffidavitsâ; but before they could be published, the State of Ohio convicted him on a charge of endangering Joseph Smithâs life, and his wife was caught having an affair with a leading member of the Mentor Baptist church. With his reputation as a man of unstable and shady character, and unable to publish himself, Hurlbut delivered his material to E. D. Howe, the anti-Mormon printer who would act as a proxy in the publishing of Mormonism Unvailed.
Eventually, Howe would renounce his Christian faith and embrace the growing movement of Spiritualism. As for Hurlbut, many later suspectedâand provided evidence and testimony for the assertionâthat he robbed and murdered Garrit Brass of Mentor, Ohio, in addition to several other thefts and crimes.
Mormonism Unvailed contained page after page of slanderous material, claiming that the Smith family was lazy, alcoholic, involved in ritual magic and treasure digging, had engaged in occultic animal sacrifice, and a litany of other charges. Upon its publication, Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, and other leaders denounced the book as âall the rediculous [sic] stories that could be invented,â and for many decades, faithful Latter-day Saint historians regarded Hurlbutâs affidavits and Howeâs publication as nothing worthy of consideration.
Hurlbutâs affidavits initially constituted the bedrock for the anti-Mormon attacks on Joseph Smithâs characterâhowever, over the past few decades, these controversial allegations have become the foundation for progressive reinterpretations of Joseph Smith. Professor Daniel C. Peterson referred to the affidavits as âan anti-Mormon treasure trove to which generations of critics have turned and returned for years.â Succeeding critics of Joseph Smith built on the foundation laid by Hurlbut and the publisher of Mormonism Unvailed, E. D. Howe. Without Hurlbutâs affidavits, this new imageâfirst painted by, and then later adopted by progressivesâmelts away without support. For years, there have been two competing and entirely contradictory voices: the impugning stories told by the apostates, and the acclamatory accounts given by the faithful followers of Joseph Smith. How can we know which of these polarized voices is true?
Fact-Checking the âAffidavitsâ with Real Data
Mormonism Unvailedâs affidavits present allegedâbut extremely suspect and contradictoryâsigned testimonials from many neighbors of the Smith family who claimed to have been eyewitness to scandalous secrets. According to these accounts, members of the Smith family were reportedly lazy, indolent, beggarly fortune tellers who believed in ghosts and witches; they were an ignorant, superstitious family with no discipline or vested interest in earning an honest income to sustain themselves. Joseph Capronâs affidavit imputed that Joseph Smith and âthe whole of the family of Smiths, were notorious for indolence, foolery and falsehood. Their great object appeared to be, to live without work.â Henry Harris testified that âJoseph Smith, Jr. the pretended Prophet, used to pretend to tell fortunes; he had a stone which he used to put in his hat, by means of which he professed to tell peopleâs fortunes.â Was the Prophet indolent and deceptiveâan apathetic, inattentive laggard? Could this be proven or disproven with verifiable and quantifiable data?
In 1993, Donald L. Enders published his careful analysis of the available historical data with the intent of fact-checking Mormonism Unvailed and other slanderous reports, circulated early on against Joseph Smith and his family. Enders realized that by evaluating the scientific data, he could likely either authenticate, or disprove, their accounts. In this trailblazing research, he examined â[l]and and tax records, farm account books and correspondence, soil surveys, and interviews with archeological reports, historic building surveys and interviews with agricultural histor...