Mormon History
Matilda Spaulding McKinstry's Testimony - 1880
Scribner’s Monthly – August 1880
The Book of Mormon
From
my earliest childhood there has been a tradition in my family that the Mormon
Bible was taken from a manuscript written by my great-uncle, the Rev. Solomon
Spaulding. Recently, while in Washington, D.C., I had the pleasure of meeting
for the first time Mrs. M.S. McKinstry, the only child of Mr. Spaulding, and
received from her lips full confirmation of the story. Mrs. McKinstry is a
remarkably intelligent and conscientious woman, of about seventy-five years of
age. She has lived for fifty years in Monson, Massachusetts, and has a son, who
is a well-known physician at Long Meadow, near Springfield; in the same State,
and a son-in-law, Mr. Seaton, chief clerk in the Census Bureau, Washington, D.C.
Soon after the first excitement on the subject of Mormonism, Mr. Spaulding's
widow and daughter were interviewed by the reporter of a Boston newspaper; but
the following statement, taken on oath from Mrs. McKinstry, is the first full
statement of the subject, and the only attempt ever made by Mr. Spaulding's
family to set this matter right.
In order to give the statement its full force, it will be necessary to prelude
it by a slight explanation of some facts bearing upon the subject. Solomon
Spaulding was born at Ashford, Connecticut, in 1761, graduated at Dartmouth
College in 1785, studied divinity, preached a few years and then, from
ill-health, gave up the ministry. He was a peculiar man, of fine education,
especially devoted to historical study, and with a great fondness for
the writing of romances. In 1812 he resided in Conneaut, Ashtabula
county, Ohio. In the vicinity there are several earth-mounds, which
excited his curiosity and fired his imagination. He was one of the
earliest persons, if not the very first, in that part of the country to
become interested in these curious monuments of a past civilization. He
caused one of the mounds near his house to be explored, and discovered
numerous portions of skeletons and other relics.
This discovery suggested to him the subject for a new romance, which he
called a translation from some hieroglyphical writing exhumed from the
mound. This romance purported to be a history of the peopling of
America by the lost tribes of Israel, the tribes and their leaders
having very singular names -- among them Mormon, Maroni, Lamenite,
Nephi. The romance the author called " Manuscript Found." This all
occurred in 1812, when to write a book was a distinction, and Mr.
Spaulding read his manuscript from time to time to a circle of admiring
friends. He determined finally to publish it, and for that purpose
carried it to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to a printer by the name of
Patterson. After keeping it awhile, Mr. Patterson returned it,
declining to print it. There was, at this time, in this printing-office
a young man named Sidney Rigdon, who twenty years later figured as a
preacher among the Saints.
In 1823, Joseph Smith, -- a disreputable fellow who wandered about the
country professing to discover gold and silver and lost articles by
means of a "seer stone," -- gave out that he had been directed in a
vision to a hill near Palmyra, New York, where he discovered some gold
plates curiously inscribed. In 1825, he called upon Mr. Thurlow Weed,
who was the proprietor of a newspaper in Rochester, New York, and asked
him to print a manuscript, as appears from the following statement,
which has never before been given to the public:
MR. THURLOW WEED'S STATEMENT.
NEW YORK, April 12th, 1880.
In 1825, when I was publishing the "Rochester Telegraph," a man
introduced himself to me as Joseph Smith, of Palmyra, New York, whose
object, he said, was to get a book published. He then stated he had
been guided by a vision to a spot he described, where, in a cavern, he
found what he called a golden bible. It consisted of a tablet which he
placed in his hat, and from which he proceeded to read the first
chapter of the Book of Mormon.
I listened until I became weary of what seemed to me an
incomprehensible jargon. I then told him I was only publishing a
newspaper, and that he would have to go to a book publisher, suggesting
a friend who was in that business. A few days afterward Smith called
again, bringing a substantial farmer with him named Harris. Smith
renewed his request that I should print his book, adding that it was a
divine revelation, and would be accepted, and that he would be accepted
by the world as a prophet. Supposing that I had doubts as to his being
able to pay for the publishing, Mr. Harris, who was a convert, offered
to be his security for payment. Meantime, I had discovered that Smith
was a shrewd, scheming fellow who passed his time at taverns and stores
in Palmyra, without business, and apparently without visible means of
support. He seemed about thirty years of age, was compactly built,
about five feet eight inches in height, had regular features, and would
impress one favorably in conversation. His book was afterward published
in Palmyra. I knew the publisher, but cannot at this moment remember
his name. The first Mormon newspaper was published at Canandaigua, New
York, by a man named Phelps, who accompanied Smith as an apostle to
Illinois, where the first Mormon city, Nauvoo, was started.
(Signed) THURLOW WEED.
In 1830, the Mormon Bible was printed at Palmyra, New York, by E. R. Grandin.
Two years later, the Mormon religion seemed to be gaining ground. A band of
thirty were settled at Kirtland, Ohio. Later, these converts, with large
accessions to their numbers, went to Missouri, from which place they were
expelled. They then crossed the river and made a settlement at Nauvoo, in
Illinois. In 1845 they removed to Salt Lake, where their numbers have enormously
increased.
Joe Smith seems to have lacked the inventive genius common to religious
fanatics. He followed the story of Mr. Spaulding with almost servile closeness.
Mr. Spaulding's book purported to be a translation from some metal plates found
in the earth-mound to which he had been guided by a vision.
This was precisely Smith's story. As the new-made prophet could scarcely lay
claim, with any hope of credence, to sufficient learning to translate the
hieroglyphical writing, he added to the original story the Urim and Thummim, --
the great spectacles which he professed to have found in a stone box, together
with the golden plates, and by means of which he could decipher the mysterious
characters.
Smith had now become a prophet, and a he proceeded forthwith to add his peculiar
tenets in regard to marriage, etc. to original manuscript.
The statement of Mrs. McKinstry is as follows: MRS. MATILDA SPAULDING MCKINSTRY'S
STATEMENT REGARDING THE "MANUSCRIPT FOUND":
WASHINGTON, D. C., April 3d, 1880.
So much has been
published that is erroneous concerning the "Manuscript Found," written
by my father, the Rev. Solomon Spaulding, and its supposed connection
with the book, called the Mormon Bible, I have willingly consented to
make the following statement regarding it, repeating all that I
remember personally of this manuscript, and all that is of importance
which my mother related to me in connection with it, at the same time
affirming that I am in tolerable health and vigor, and that my memory,
in common with elderly people, is clearer in regard to the events of my
earlier years, rather than those of my maturer life.
During the war of 1812, I was residing with my parents in a little town
in Ohio called Conneaut. I was then in my sixth year. My father was in
business there, and I remember his iron foundry and the men he had at
work, but that he remained at home most of the time and was reading and
writing a great deal. He frequently wrote little stories, which he read
to me. There were some round mounds of earth near our house which
greatly interested him, and he said a tree on the top of one of them
was a thousand years old. He set some of his men to work digging into
one of these mounds, and I vividly remember how excited he became when
he heard that they had exhumed some human bones, portions of gigantic
skeletons, and various relics. He talked with my mother of these
discoveries in the mound, and was writing every day as the work
progressed. Afterward he read the manuscript which I had seen him
writing, to the neighbors and to a clergyman, a friend of his, who came
to see him. Some of the names that he mentioned while reading to these
people I have never forgotten. They are as fresh to me to-day as though
I heard them yesterday. They were "Mormon," "Maroni," "Lamenite,"
"Nephi."
We removed from Conneaut to Pittsburgh while I was still very young,
but every circumstance of this removal is distinct in my memory. In
that city my father had an intimate friend named Patterson, and I
frequently visited Mr. Patterson's library with him, and heard my
father talk about books with him. In 1816 my father died at Amity,
Pennsylvania, and directly after his death my mother and myself went to
visit at the residence of my mother's brother William H. Sabine, at
Onondaga Valley, Onondaga County, New York. Mr. Sabine was a lawyer of
distinction and wealth, and greatly respected. We carried all our
personal effects with us, and one of these was an old trunk, in which
my mother had placed all my father's writings which had been preserved.
I perfectly remember the appearance of this trunk, and of looking at
its contents. There were sermons and other papers, and I saw a
manuscript, about an inch thick, closely written, tied with some of the
stories my father had written for me, one of which he called, "The
Frogs of Wyndham." On the outside of this manuscript were written the
words, "Manuscript Found." I did not read it, but looked through it and
had it in my hands many times, and saw the names I had heard at
Conneaut, when my father read it to his friends. I was about eleven
years of age at this time.
After we had been at my uncle's for some time, my mother left me there
and went to her father's house at Pomfret, Connecticut, but did not
take her furniture nor the old trunk of manuscripts with her. In 1820
she married Mr. Davison, of Hartwicks, a village near Cooperstown, New
York, and sent for the things she had left at Onondaga Valley, and I
remember that the old trunk, with its contents, reached her in safety.
In 1828, I was married to Dr. A. McKinstry of Monson, Hampden county,
Massachusetts, and went there to reside. Very soon after my mother
joined me there, and was with me most of the time until her death in
1844. We heard, not long after she came to live with me -- I do not
remember just how long -- something of Mormonism, and the report that
it had been taken from my father's "Manuscript Found;" and then came to
us direct an account of the Mormon meeting at Conneaut, Ohio, and that,
on one occasion, when the Mormon Bible was read there in public, my
father's brother, John Spaulding, Mr. Lake and many other persons who
were present, at once recognized its similarity to the "Manuscript
Found," which they had heard read years before by my father in the same
town. There was a great deal of talk and a great deal published at this
time about Mormonism all over the country. I believe it was in 1834
that a man named Hurlburt came to my house at Monson to see my mother,
who told us that he had been sent by a committee to procure the
"Manuscript Found" written by the Reverend Solomon Spaulding, so as to
compare it with the Mormon Bible. He presented a letter to my mother
from my uncle, William H. Sabine, of Onondaga Valley, in which he
requested her to loan this manuscript to Hurlburt, as he (my uncle) was
desirous "to uproot" (as he expressed it) "this Mormon fraud." Hurlburt
represented that he had been a convert to Mormonism, but had given it
up, and through the "Manuscript Found," wished to expose its
wickedness. My mother was careful to have me with her in all the
conversations she had with Hurlburt, who spent a day at my house. She
did not like his appearance and mistrusted his motives; but, having
great respect for her brother's wishes and opinions, she reluctantly
consented to his request. The old trunk, containing the desired
"Manuscript Found," she had placed in the care of Mr. Jerome Clark of
Hartwicks, when she came to Monson, intending to send for it. On the
repeated promise of Hurlburt to return the manuscript to us, she gave
him a letter to Mr. Clark to open the trunk and deliver it to him. We
afterwards heard that he had received it from Mr. Clark, at Hartwicks,
but from that time we have never had it in our possession, and I have
no present knowledge of its existence, Hurlburt never returning it or
answering letters requesting him to do so. Two years ago I heard he was
still living in Ohio, and with my consent he was asked for the
"Manuscript Found." He made no response although we have evidence that
he received the letter containing the request. So far I have stated
facts within my own knowledge. My mother mentioned many other
circumstances to me in connection with this subject which are
interesting, of my father's literary tastes, his fine education and
peculiar temperament. She stated to me that she had heard the
manuscript alluded to read by my father, was familiar with its
contents, and she deeply regretted that her husband, as she believed,
had innocently been the means of furnishing matter for a religious
delusion. She said that my father loaned this "Manuscript Found" to Mr.
Patterson, of Pittsburgh, and that when he returned it to my father, he
said: "Polish it up, finish it, and you will make money out of it." My
mother confirmed my remembrances of my father's fondness for history,
and told me of his frequent conversations regarding a theory which he
had of a prehistoric race which had inhabited this continent, etc., all
showing that his mind dwelt on this subject. The "Manuscript
Found," she said, was a romance written in Biblical style, and that
while she heard it read she had no especial admiration for it more than
for other romances he wrote and read to her. We never, either of us,
ever saw, or in any way communicated with the Mormons, save Hurlburt,
as above described, and while we had no personal knowledge that the
Mormon Bible was taken from the "Manuscript Found," there were many
evidences to us that it was, and that Hurlburt and others at the time
thought so. A convincing proof to us of this belief was that my uncle,
William H. Sabine, had undoubtedly read the manuscript while it was in
his house, and his faith that its production would show to the world
that the Mormon Bible had been taken from it, or was the same with
slight alterations. I have frequently answered questions which have
been asked me by different persons regarding the "Manuscript Found,"
but until now have never made a statement at length for publication.
(Signed) M. S. MCKINSTRY.
Sworn and subscribed to before me this 3d day of April, A. D. 1880, at the city of Washington, D. C.
CHARLES WALTER, Notary Public.
I wrote this statement at Mrs. McKinstry's dictation, and was obliged
to change it and copy it four times before she was satisfied so anxious
was she that no word nor expression should occur in it to which she
could not solemnly make oath.
About forty years ago, affidavits were made by John Spaulding, the
brother. and Mr. Lake, the partner of Mr. Solomon Spaulding, and
afterward published, containing the statement that they had heard the
author read his manuscript in 1812, and that there was a striking
similarity between it and the Book of Mormon; but these affidavits
cannot now be found. There is no possible way of finding out what
Hurlburt did with the manuscript which he carried away, since he has ignored the
letter of application which was personally put into his hands. There was a
report to the effect that he sold it to the Mormons for $300, and that they then
destroyed it.
The question remains: how did Smith become possessed of the "Manuscript Found"?
Rigdon, who was in Patterson's office while the manuscript was lying there, had
ample opportunity of copying it, and as he was afterward a prominent Mormon
preacher and adviser of Smith, this is not improbable. Smith, however, could
easily have possessed himself of the manuscript if he had fancied it suitable to
his purposes, for it is understood that he was a servant on the farm, or
teamster for Mr. Sabine, in whose house the package of manuscript lay exposed in
an unlocked trunk for several years. At all events, it is evident that Smith had
access to the manuscript, since both stories are alike, -- the peculiar names
occur nowhere else but in these two books, -- and that Mr. Spaulding's romance
had been read by a number of people in 1812, while the Mormon Bible was not
published till 1830, and not heard of earlier than 1823. Out of the curious old
romance of Solomon Spaulding, and the ridiculous "seer-stone" of Joseph Smith,
has grown this monstrous Mormon State, which presents a problem that the wisest
politician has failed to solve, and whose outcome lies in the mystery of the
future.