The Kinderhook plates
There was a town in Illinois called Kinderhook, where some people allegedly found 6 ancient brass plates. They were excited to see if someone could translate them, so they brought them to Joseph Smith for translation. Joseph thought it was a trap. He started to translate but then stopped abruptly. The whole story is fascinating and can be found in one of the churches Ensign Articles found HERE.
A statement signed by W. P. Harris, M.D., of Barry, Pike County, informed the Times and Seasons readers of the discovery:
“On the 16th of April last a respectable merchant by the name of Robert Wiley, commenced digging in a large mound near this place: he excavated to the depth of 10 feet and came to rock; about that time the rain began to fall, and he abandoned the work. On the 23d he and quite a number of the citizens with myself, repaired to the mound, and after making ample opening, we found plenty of rock, the most of which appeared as though it had been strongly burned; and after removing full two feet of said rock, we found plenty of charcoal and ashes; also human bones that appeared as though they had been burned; and near the eciphalon [correctly spelled “encephalon,” or head] a bundle was found that consisted of six plates of brass, of a bell shape, each having a hole near the small end, and a ring through them all, and clasped with two clasps, the ring and clasps appeared to be of iron very much oxidated, the plates appeared first to be copper, and had the appearance of being covered with characters. It was agreed by the company that I should cleanse the plates: accordingly I took them to my house, washed them with soap and water, and a woolen cloth; but finding them not yet cleansed I treated them with dilute sulphuric acid which made them perfectly clean, on which it appeared that they were completely covered with hieroglyphics that none as yet have been able to read.”
“Circumstances are daily transpiring which give additional testimony to the authenticity of the Book of Mormon. … The following … will, perhaps have a tendency to convince the sceptical, that such things [metal plates] have been used, and that even the obnoxious Book of Mormon, may be true.”
By 1912, however, at least two items of evidence had come to light indicating that the Kinderhook plates were not authentic. One was a letter written in 1855 (but not published until 1912) by Dr. W. P. Harris—the same W. P. Harris who authored the statement that appeared in the Times and Seasons article. In this letter he wrote that in 1843 he had accepted the discovery of the plates as genuine. “I washed and cleaned the plates and subsequently made an honest affidavit to the same,” he said. “But since that time, Bridge Whitton [a blacksmith in Kinderhook, Illinois] said to me that he cut and prepared the plates and he (B. Whitton) and R. Wiley engraved them themselves, and that there was nitric acid put upon them the night before they were found to rust the iron ring and band. And that they were carried to the mound, rubbed in the dirt and carefully dropped into the pit where they were found.”
PERSONAL THOUGHTS
The problem for me is that the church accepted them as doctrine and swore they were authentic for almost 100 years until the mid 1940s when some Chicago Historical Society got a hold of the plates. They did some tests on them and found them to be complete fakes. Why did the church swear by them until they were disproved 100 years later? I thought Joseph Smith felt that he was being caught in a trap, so he didn’t translate them. It all doesn’t make sense to me. Kind of sounds similar to the blacks and the priesthood incident (see topic on left).
Also, after looking at the History of the Church reference, it appears that Joseph admits that he translated a portion of the Kinderhook Plates. There's arguments for and against this theory, but if it was all a hoax, how could he translate these plates when in fact they were made up?
A statement signed by W. P. Harris, M.D., of Barry, Pike County, informed the Times and Seasons readers of the discovery:
“On the 16th of April last a respectable merchant by the name of Robert Wiley, commenced digging in a large mound near this place: he excavated to the depth of 10 feet and came to rock; about that time the rain began to fall, and he abandoned the work. On the 23d he and quite a number of the citizens with myself, repaired to the mound, and after making ample opening, we found plenty of rock, the most of which appeared as though it had been strongly burned; and after removing full two feet of said rock, we found plenty of charcoal and ashes; also human bones that appeared as though they had been burned; and near the eciphalon [correctly spelled “encephalon,” or head] a bundle was found that consisted of six plates of brass, of a bell shape, each having a hole near the small end, and a ring through them all, and clasped with two clasps, the ring and clasps appeared to be of iron very much oxidated, the plates appeared first to be copper, and had the appearance of being covered with characters. It was agreed by the company that I should cleanse the plates: accordingly I took them to my house, washed them with soap and water, and a woolen cloth; but finding them not yet cleansed I treated them with dilute sulphuric acid which made them perfectly clean, on which it appeared that they were completely covered with hieroglyphics that none as yet have been able to read.”
“Circumstances are daily transpiring which give additional testimony to the authenticity of the Book of Mormon. … The following … will, perhaps have a tendency to convince the sceptical, that such things [metal plates] have been used, and that even the obnoxious Book of Mormon, may be true.”
By 1912, however, at least two items of evidence had come to light indicating that the Kinderhook plates were not authentic. One was a letter written in 1855 (but not published until 1912) by Dr. W. P. Harris—the same W. P. Harris who authored the statement that appeared in the Times and Seasons article. In this letter he wrote that in 1843 he had accepted the discovery of the plates as genuine. “I washed and cleaned the plates and subsequently made an honest affidavit to the same,” he said. “But since that time, Bridge Whitton [a blacksmith in Kinderhook, Illinois] said to me that he cut and prepared the plates and he (B. Whitton) and R. Wiley engraved them themselves, and that there was nitric acid put upon them the night before they were found to rust the iron ring and band. And that they were carried to the mound, rubbed in the dirt and carefully dropped into the pit where they were found.”
PERSONAL THOUGHTS
The problem for me is that the church accepted them as doctrine and swore they were authentic for almost 100 years until the mid 1940s when some Chicago Historical Society got a hold of the plates. They did some tests on them and found them to be complete fakes. Why did the church swear by them until they were disproved 100 years later? I thought Joseph Smith felt that he was being caught in a trap, so he didn’t translate them. It all doesn’t make sense to me. Kind of sounds similar to the blacks and the priesthood incident (see topic on left).
Also, after looking at the History of the Church reference, it appears that Joseph admits that he translated a portion of the Kinderhook Plates. There's arguments for and against this theory, but if it was all a hoax, how could he translate these plates when in fact they were made up?
REFERENCES
- https://www.lds.org/ensign/1981/08/kinderhook-plates-brought-to-joseph-smith-appear-to-be-a-nineteenth-century-hoax?lang=eng
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinderhook_plates
- http://www.mormonthink.com/kinderhookweb.htm
- https://rsc.byu.edu/archived/no-weapon-shall-prosper/did-joseph-smith-translate-kinderhook-plates
- https://byustudies.byu.edu/content/volume-5-chapter-19
- http://www.fairmormon.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Don-Bradley-Kinderhook-President-Joseph-Has-Translated-a-Portion-1.pdf
- http://cesletter.com/debunking-fairmormon/kinderhook-plates.html