It’s time to debunk the Spalding Theory. Some people continue to believe that Joseph Smith plagiarized the Book of Mormon from an earlier work by Solomon Spalding. First I’ll give some background on Solomon Spalding. Check out our conversation…

Here some key facts about Solomon Spalding.

  • Born February 20, 1761 in Ashford, CT
  • Served in Continental Army during Revolution
  • Class of 1785, Dartmouth College (NH)
  • Ordained Congregationalist Preacher 1787 in Windham, CT
  • 1799 moved to Conneaut, OH and started writing novel which came to be known as “Manuscript Found.”
  • Moved to Pittsburgh due to War of 1812.
  • Died October 20, 1816 in Amity, Pennsylvania about 40 miles from Pittsburgh

According to the Spalding Theory, Sidney Rigdon allegedly obtained Spalding’s manuscript somehow (it is never explained how and there is nothing tying the two together.) But at any rate, assuming the above is true, Sidney surreptitiously gave the manuscript to Joseph Smith sometime before 1827, despite no record of meeting between any of the three men.

Sidney Rigdon joined Joseph Smith’s church Nov 14, 1830 (7 months after the founding) & always denied any role in writing Book of Mormon. The earliest New York publication linking Rigdon with Book of Mormon authorship was the 1 September 1831 issue of the New York Courier and Enquirer, reprinted in the 29 October 1831 Hillsborough Gazette (Ohio)….’There is no doubt but the ex-parson from Ohio {Rigdon} is the author of the book which was recently printed and published in Palmyra, and passes for the new Bible.’ Let’s examine the 2 biggest promoters of the theory: Doctor Philastus Hurlbut and E.D. Howe.

Doctor Philastus Hurlbut (Feb 3, 1809 – June 16, 1883)

  • Former Methodist minister, joined Joseph Smith’s Church of Christ sometime in 1832 or 1833.
  • Excommunicated from the Joseph Smith’s church on charges of sexual immorality June 1833
  • Collected Affidavits in Palmyra denouncing Joseph Smith
  • In 1834, Hurlbut was arrested for allegedly threatening Smith’s life.
  • Hurlbut became embroiled in controversy when he threatened to (quoting from page 136 of the Sidney Rigdon biography),

Hurlbut threatened he would “wash his hands” in the prophet’s blood. In January 1834, Smith filed a legal complaint bringing Hurlburt to trial on 1 April.  The court found him guilty, fined him $200, and ordered him to keep the peace for 6 months. The notoriety surrounding Hurlbut, compounded by an embarrassing incident when his wife was discovered in bed with Judge Orris Clapp, tarnished his image.  He sold his research to Eber D. Howe, editor of the Painesville Telegraph, who held a long-term grudge against Mormonism for converting his wife and daughter.

Eber D. Howe (June 9, 1798 – Nov 10, 1885)

  • Founder and editor of the Painesville Telegraph, in 1822
  • Published first anti-Mormon book, “Mormonism Unvailed” in 1834
  • Strong abolitionist, home used as station for Underground Railroad

Doctor Philastus Hurlbut (or Hurlburt) discovered the manuscript. According to Fawn Brodie on page 144 of her book
No Man Knows My History,

Now to his bitter chagrin he found that the long chase had been vain; for while the romance did concern the ancestors of the Indians, its resemblance to the Book of Mormon ended there.  None of the names found in one could be identified in the other;  the many battles which each described showed not the slightest similarity with those of the other, and Spaulding’s prose style, which aped the eighteenth-century British sentimental novelists, differed from the style of the Mormon Bible as much as Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded different from the New Testament.

•Fawn Brodie, “No Man Knows My History”, Alfred A. Knopf Books, (1945), page 144

Disappointed in this source, and unable to get any confirming evidence from Joseph’s neighbors in western New York, Hurlbut had to be content with insinuating that Sidney Rigdon, who had once lived in Pittsburgh, was somehow responsible for getting the Spaulding manuscript into Joseph Smith’s hands.

Fawn Brodie, “No Man Knows My History”, Alfred A. Knopf Books, (1945), page 449

In January 1835, Howe sold the paper to his brother for $600, but the newspaper folded later that year.  A man by the name of L.L. Rice purchased the assets of the Painesville Telegraph in 1839-40. Many documents came with the purchase, but Rice did not view them at the time.  Rice later moved to Honolulu, Hawaii.  In the 1880s, James Fairchild, president of Oberlin College in Ohio suggested that Rice look through the documents in search of pre-Civil war slavery information.  It was at this point that the Spaulding document was discovered.  Rice notes “There is no identity of names, of person, or places; and there is no similarity of style between them.” Rice told Joseph III in 1885:

“I am of the opinion that no one who reads the Manuscript will give credit to the story that Solomon Spaulding was in any wise the author of the Book of Mormon.  Finally, I am more than half convinced that this is his only writing of the sort, and that any pretence that Spaulding was in any sense the author of the other, is a sheer fabrication.  It is easy for anybody who may have seen this, or heard anything of its contents, to get up the story that they were identical.”

It should be noted that this is the exact document Hurlbut found, as it contains his signature in the back of the manuscript.

Just Read the Manuscript!

There are some surprising similarities between the way the novel says “Manuscript Found” was discovered and Joseph’s account of how he retrieved the golden plates. The introduction states the author (Spalding) found “a flat stone.” Raised it with a lever. One of the interesting things is how many words are misspelled.

  • Stone leads to a cave with a “doar.”
  • “My mind filled with awful sensations which crowded fast upon me would hardly permit my hands to remove this venerable deposit,”
  • It contains 28 “rolls of parchment” written in “eligant hand with Roman Letters & in the Latin Language.”
  • p 12 – “waters of the Mississippy”
  • p 14 – “inhabited by Europians”
  • p 15 – “How be extracated from the insatiable jaws of a watry tomb.” (not only bad spelling, but bad grammar)
  • p 17 – “Their King then stept forward”
  • p 17 – “performing many odd jesticulations.”
  • p 19 – “timber which we hued on two sides”
  • p 20 – “healthy bucksom lassies” (note-they were from “Brittian”)

Main Characters

  • P 14 – Fabius, Constantine (yes the emperor of Rome)
  • p 19 – Lucian, Trojanus
  • p 20 – Droll Tom
  • p 23 – Deliwanucks (not Lamanites)
  • Ohans or Ohians (not Nephites)
  • Sciota and Kentuck Indians

The Storm

  • “arrived near the coast of Britain when a tremendous storm arose & drove us into the midst of the boundless Ocean.  Soon the whole crew became lost & bewildered.  They knew not the direction for to the rising Sun or polar Star, for the heavens were covered with clouds; & darkness had spread her sable mantle over the face of the raging deep.  Their minds were filled with consternation and despair. & unanimously agree that What could we do?  How be extricated from the insatiable jaws of a watry tomb.  Then it was that we felt our absolute dependence on the Almighty & gracious Being who holds the winds & floods in {illegible} hands.  From him alone could we expect deliverance.

I won’t read the whole thing. You can check out the video for more of the book, but suffice it to say, it bears only superficial resemblances to the Book of Mormon.

Reactions to the Theory

I’m amazed at the number of people that still embrace the theory, despite the fact that Fawn Brodie, Richard Van Wagoner, and Dan Vogel, who are hardly apologists, think the theory is complete garbage. Even Hurlbut & Howe knew the manuscript they found in 1833 was not the source of the Book of Mormon. Hurlbut’s signature is in “Manuscript Found” which was given to Joseph Smith III! So, they invented a second manuscript that must have been the source because (in their minds), Joseph was clearly too stupid to have written it. And thus the conspiracy theory continues.

Do you know people who believe this theory? Why do you think it is the conspiracy theory that will never die?