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Question: What did William Stafford claim about Joseph Smith in the Hurlbut affidavits?
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Question: What did William Stafford claim about Joseph Smith in the Hurlbut affidavits?
William Stafford claimed that Joseph could see "spirits" guarding treasures
(uncle to C.R. Stafford)
- Claimed that the family of Joseph Smith, Sr. devoted a "great part of their time" to "digging for money."
- Claimed that he was told that Joseph Smith, Jr. could see "large caves" in "nearly all the hills in this part of New York."
- Claimed that Joseph could see "spirits" guarding great treasures.
- Claimed that Joseph Smith, Sr. told him that treasure could "sink" into the ground.
- Claimed that Joseph Smith, Sr. took one of his sheep on the pretense of using it to search for money by cutting its throat.
- Claimed that Joseph promised to show him the gold plates.
The claim that the Smiths were lazy is belied by objective financial data showing them to be more hard-working than most of their neighbors
The claim that the Smiths were lazy is belied by objective financial data showing them to be more hard-working than most of their neighbors. The attacks on their industry date from after they had become notorious for the Book of Mormon and the Church, and probably spring from religious hostility more than truth.
For a detailed response, see: Lazy Smiths?
William Stafford's story contradicts Peter Ingersoll's story
William Stafford's claim that Joseph promised to show him the gold plates directly contradicts Peter Ingersoll's claim that Joseph confided to him that there were no plates.
Stafford claimed that "The two Josephs and Hiram, promised to show me the plates, after the book of Mormon was translated. But, afterwards, they pretended to have received an express commandment, forbidding them to show the plates."[1]
Ingersol,on the other hand, said that Joseph confided to him that "he had no such book, and believed there never was any such book."[2]
Stafford's oldest son John: "I have heard that story [about the black sheep] but don't think my father was there at the time they say Smith got the sheep"
Stafford's oldest son John would later say "I have heard that story [about the black sheep] but don't think my father was there at the time they say Smith got the sheep. I don't know anything about it....They never stole one [a sheep], I am sure; they may have got one sometime....I don't think it [the story of the sheep] is true. I would have heard more about it, that is true." [3]
- Mark Ashurst-McGee, "Moroni as Angel and as Treasure Guardian," FARMS Review 18/1 (2006): 34–100. [{{{url}}} off-site] wiki
- Larry E. Morris, "'I Should Have an Eye Single to the Glory of God’: Joseph Smith’s Account of the Angel and the Plates (Review of: "From Captain Kidd’s Treasure Ghost to the Angel Moroni: Changing Dramatis Personae in Early Mormonism")," FARMS Review 17/1 (2005): 11–82. off-site
Notes
- ↑ "Testimony of William Stafford," Mormonism Unvailed, 240.
- ↑ "Testimony of William Stafford," Mormonism Unvailed, 236.
- ↑ William H. Kelly, "The Hill Cumorah, and the Book of Mormon," Saints' Herald 28 (1 June 1881): 167; cited in Dan Vogel (editor), Early Mormon Documents (Salt Lake City, Signature Books, 1996–2003), 5 vols, 2:121–122. The material removed by ellipses consists of questions being asked by the interviewer.