Sandra Tanner discusses one of the most intriguing episodes in Mormon history: her early inquiry into the missing 1832 First Vision account. (She didn’t know it was missing at the time. The account was allegedly ripped out of the Joseph Smith journal by Church Historian Joseph Fielding Smith. This pursuit led Sandra directly into correspondence with Joseph Fielding Smith, then Church Historian, concerning what she believed was the original, definitive record of Joseph Smith’s earliest spiritual experience.

The Path to Critical Inquiry

Sandra Tanner’s journey into questioning Mormon orthodoxy was significantly shaped by her mother, who was already deep into researching early Mormonism in the late 1950s. Sandra’s mother insisted on finding chapter and verse for religious claims, refusing to simply take the word of “the brethren” or rely solely on church manuals, often disrupting Sunday school classes with her inquisitive mind.

Sandra’s first met Jerald Tanner in the 1950s. He introduced her to David Whitmer’s thinking and the ideas of Pauline Hancock’s group, the Church of Christ-Bible & Book of Mormon). This set the stage for intense study.

A major focal point of this research was the nature of God and how the changing views of God affected the narrative of the First Vision. Sandra noted that the Book of Mormon, in its earliest form, presented a view of God that did not align with the current Mormon understanding of a separate Father and Son.

Conflicting First Vision Narratives

As Sandra, Jerald, and her mother poured over available documents, they focused on inconsistencies surrounding the First Vision:

  1. Fawn Brodie’s Observation: The first edition of No Man Knows My History had raised the issue that the earliest references to an experience before the 1823 angel Moroni visitation often seemed to refer only to an angel or messenger, not the Father and Son.
  2. The Historical Record Change: Sandra’s aunt acquired a copy of Andrew Jensen’s Historical Record (from the 1880s), which contained an account where Joseph went into the woods to pray and a “messenger, an angel” appeared to him. However, her aunt’s copy was a later reprint (circa 1890 or 1891) that changed the text to say “the Christ appears to him,” raising questions about when the shift occurred and why the Father was excluded in that version.

Sandra and her associates reasoned that if the First Vision story was constantly evolving, they needed to see the genesis of the account.

The Letter & Missing 1832 First Vision Account

In the early 1960s (circa 1961), Sandra, Jerald, and her mother formulated a letter outlining these historical questions to be sent to then-Church Historian, Joseph Fielding Smith. Sandra simply assumed that an initial written account must exist and requested a photocopy of the “original Joseph Smith handwritten account of the First Vision”.

Little did Sandra know that some people, like her friend Lamar Peterson, did know about a “strange account” (the 1832 version) that had been shown to him by Levi Edgar Young, who was sworn to secrecy by Joseph Fielding Smith.

Sandra’s request, though based on assumption, might have caused immediate alarm in the Church Historian’s Office. Sandra speculates that Joseph Fielding Smith had previously cut the 1832 account out of the ledger book because he realized it was problematic. When Smith received Sandra’s letter, he may have assumed she possessed insider knowledge. To get ahead of any arguments about hiding evidence, Smith subsequently taped the pages back into the ledger book.

“I think he cut it out back in the time of Levi Edgar Young. I mean, this is my assumption that at that time he cut it out because he realized it was problematic and he didn’t want anyone else coming across this.”

Joseph Fielding Smith’s Rebuke

Joseph Fielding Smith did not send Sandra the document she requested. Instead, he wrote back to her bishop (Bishop Warren Kennedy). When the bishop read the response to Sandra, the letter was highly critical, asserting that if the “young woman would stop listening to the enemies of the church and seek for a testimony instead, she wouldn’t have these kind of questions“. Smith went on to call Sandra out for her “apostate spirit”.

Crucially, Smith ended the letter with a curious line: ” if I showed her such a thing would that even convince her”.

Sandra realized later that this specific wording was used because Smith knew that the 1832 account—which primarily details Christ appearing to Joseph (not the Father and Son)—would not convince her to return to the mainstream narrative but would actually reinforce her argument about the shifting view of God.

The controversy over the 1832 account, however, did eventually enter official channels. Joseph Fielding Smith utilized Paul Cheesman’s BYU thesis in 1965 as the official mode for publication, allowing the church to place the account on the record and refute arguments that they were hiding history.

Jerald and Sandra Tanner received an apostolic scolding by LeGrand Richards over the First Vision! By the early 1960s, Sandra and Jerald Tanner were deep into critical analysis of Mormon history, having transitioned from struggling Utah Mormons to committed followers of a Christ-focused faith centered on the Bible and the Book of Mormon. This new path led them to join Pauline Hancock’s “Basement Church” in Independence, Missouri, formally known as the Church of Christ (Bible & Book of Mormon).

While Jerald had previously traveled to Independence and was baptized, Sandra eventually went by train to meet the group. She was baptized by Pauline in the summer of 1960, making a profession of faith in Christ and affirming her belief in the Book of Mormon. Pauline, described as a lovely woman, was very convinced of her position and served as the preacher for the group, though she never claimed the title of prophet.

This period of adherence to the “Whitmerite” view—rejecting revelations past 1830 and scrapping “Aaronic & Melchizedek priesthood ideas”—was short-lived as the Tanners’ historical questions mounted. Their quest soon took a dramatic turn, involving a top church leader and a disputed document.

Letter to the Brethren

In June 1960, just before moving from California to Salt Lake, Sandra sent a formal letter to all the apostles announcing that she was leaving the LDS Church. Her letter detailed several critical issues, including problems with the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants changes, differences in the doctrine of God over time, and the evolving narrative of the First Vision. She noted that earlier references to the First Vision seemed to speak of an “angel” or “messenger”, not the Father and the Son, suggesting the latter was a later change.

Apostle LeGrand Richards responded to Sandra’s letter, attempting to prove her wrong. He claimed that his great-grandfather, Joseph Lee Robinson, wrote in his diary in 1841 that Joseph Smith had told him he saw the Father and the Son. Richards reasoned that such an early reference would undermine Sandra’s claim of a shifting narrative.

Confrontation over Microfilm & Apostolic Scolding

The Tanners arranged a meeting with Apostle Richards at the Church Office Building in Salt Lake City to see the original document. Richards was immediately “miffed” when Sandra brought Jerald, who he perceived as a “doubting Thomas.”

Instead of the original diary, Richards presented them with a typed extract containing the crucial two lines about the Father and Son. Jerald immediately pointed out that this was not the whole page and was not the actual diary. When Jerald asked to turn back the microfilm to check the date and context of the excerpt, Richards refused, accusing the Tanners of “questioning everything” he showed them.

The confrontation escalated dramatically in the genealogical building, where Richards had taken them to view the film. Richards seized the film from the reader, declaring to the staff: “These people are not to see this. If they come back in, you’re not to get this out to show it to them. They’re just troublemakers. They do not have authority to see this again.” Jerald and Richards stomped out of the room arguing, while everyone in the room watched the shocking spectacle of someone arguing with an apostle.

Unmasking the 1841 Diary

Richards’ efforts to suppress the film failed. After months of checking, Sandra eventually returned downtown. She filled out a call card using the film number she had previously written down. The girl at the desk noted the card had been pulled from the catalog but retrieved the film anyway, assuming Sandra was authorized since she had the number.

Sandra quickly turned to the relevant entry and discovered the truth: the document was not Joseph Lee Robinson’s 1841 diary, but rather his memoirs, written 40 years later in Utah in the 1880s. This discovery rendered the testimony unreliable as an early historical account, reinforcing the Tanners’ conclusion that the Church leadership was willing to suppress or misrepresent historical evidence to maintain the official narrative.

The End of the Church of Christ

Meanwhile, the faith community that had baptized Sandra was facing its own crisis.

Pauline Hancock had suffered from breast cancer. During a trip to Salt Lake, she had shown Jerald and Sandra the open wound under her arm to ensure they would be witnesses that she truly had cancer. She was praying for healing, but prepared for either outcome, stating that if she didn’t get healed, it would be due to her own “lack of faith”, not a mark against God.

Pauline Hancock died of her cancer in the summer of 1962.

Around the same time, the Tanners concluded they could no longer accept the Book of Mormon, based on their intensive studies of its internal structure, archaeology, and chronology, deciding that “historically it just doesn’t make it.” They ultimately set the book aside.

When the Tanners sent their material questioning the Book of Mormon to the Church of Christ leadership (the Wilcoxes had taken over after Pauline died), they did not realize Pauline had already passed away.

Following Pauline’s death, her “Basement Church” dissolved. Some families who wanted to hold onto the Book of Mormon joined other splinter groups, while others decided to “follow Christ and stick with the Bible.”

Did you know she wrangled with apostles? What are your thoughts?