| Book of Mormon scribe, one of the Three Witnesses,
financier of the Book of Mormon, dissident, returns to church in 1870. |
| |
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| Born |
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May 18, 1783 in Easttown, Saratoga county, New York |
|
Revelations, 9. |
| Died |
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July 9, 1875 in Clarkston, Cache county, Utah |
|
Revelations, 9. |
| Father |
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Nathan Harris |
|
Revelations, 9. |
| Mother |
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Rhoda Lapham |
|
Revelations, 9. |
| Palmyra |
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1792 settles in Palmyra, owns 240 acres. |
|
Revelations, 9. |
| Scribe |
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Book of Mormon scribe. |
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| Professor Anthon |
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February 1828 takes Book of Mormon characters to Professors Mitchell, Anthon. |
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¶ Joseph Smith–History |
| |
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April 12–June 14, 1828 Book of Mormon scribe. |
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| Wicked man |
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July [1–31], 1828 revelation rebukes Joseph Smith for trusting
Martin, who is
"a wicked man." |
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D&C 3:12 |
| May be a witness |
|
March [1–31], 1829 Martin may be one of the witnesses, but "he
shall say no more except I have seen them & they have been shone un[to]
me by the Power of God & these are the words which he shall say." |
|
D&C 5:26 |
| Instructions for the Three Witnesses |
|
June [14–30],1829 promised as one of the Three Witnesses to the
Book of Mormon that he shall obtain a view of the plates "by your
faith." |
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D&C 17:2 |
| Three Witnesses |
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June [14–30], 1829 one of the Three Witnesses. |
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| Mortgages farm |
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August 25, 1829 mortgages 151 acres to Egbert B. Grandin for $3,000 (to
print the Book of Mormon) to be paid by February 25, 1831. |
|
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Martin Harris
Joseph and Oliver |
|
[September] 1829 Thomas B. Marsh finds Martin at Grandin's printing
shop as the proof of the first sixteen pages come off the press. Martin
takes him to meet Joseph and Oliver at the home of Joseph Smith Sr. |
|
¶ Thomas
B. Marsh (h) |
| Book of Mormon on sale |
|
March 26, 1830 Book of Mormon goes on sale at Grandin
Bookstore in Palmyra, New York. |
|
Wayne Sentinel, Mar. 20, 1830. Source |
| Revelation for Martin |
|
March [26–31], 1830 revelation for Martin to keep commandments
Joseph has given, don't show the revelation to the world, don't covet
neighbor's wife or your property, pay the printer's bill for the
Book of Mormon, go out and preach. "Leave thy house and home, except when
thou shalt desire to see them." |
|
D&C 19 [BC 16] |
| Books not selling, insists on revelation |
|
March [27–29], 1830 riding home to Manchester with Joseph
Knight Sr. (swh), Joseph sees
Martin crossing the road with a load of books. Martin "says the
Books will not sell for no Body wants them[.] Joseph says I think they
will sell[.] well Says he[.] I must have a Commandment. Joseph put him
off But he insisted three or four times he must have a Commandment." During
the night, Martin feels something like a large dog jumping on him. |
|
Joseph Knight recollection in 4:20. |
| Revelation: don't covet, pay printer, preach |
|
March [28–31], 1830 in
the morning Martin reiterates he must have a commandment and goes home.
"and along in the after part of the Day Joseph and oliver Received a Commandment." D&C
19:
Don't covet your neighbor's wife or your own property. Pay the printer
for the Book of Mormon. Go out and preach. Visit home only to see your
family. |
|
Joseph Knight recollection in 4:21. |
| Baptized |
|
April 6, 1830 Oliver Cowdery baptizes Martin and Joseph
Smith Sr. and others in Crooked Brook. |
|
Accounts of Apr.
6, 1830; Inventing,
157–159;
Knight recollection, 37. |
| Wife abuse |
¶ |
[June 22, 1830] It has been reported that one if the "Gold Bible" witnesses
has been in the habit of whipping and otherwise mal-treating his wife for
the sole purpose of making her a proselyte to the faith according to JO
SMITH. |
|
Palmyra Reflector, June 22, 1830. Source |
|
¶ |
[December 6, 1830] The manner in which one of the "GOLD BIBLE" witnesses
treats his wife, and how he uses "weighty arguments," to
bring her over to the faith according to JO SMITH, has come to hand, but
as we understand, a legal investigation may hereafter take place, we shall
lay the article on the shelf for the present. In the intrim however, we
feel bound to give it as our humble opinion, that a man who will maltreat
the wife of his bosom, under such circumstances, should be driven from
the society of MEN. |
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Palmyra Reflector, Dec. 6, 1830. Source |
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Wife, represented by Lyman Cowdery, Esq. of Arcadia, takes Martin to
court. |
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| Honest but credulous |
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[December 28, 1830] … and a worthy, honest but credulous farmer
was found willing to be ruined by defraying the expense of publishing the Book
of Mormon,
as was to be expected, fell dead-born from the press. |
|
Rochester Republican, Dec. 28,
1830. Source |
| Joseph writes Martin to come to Kirtland |
|
February 22, 1831 Joseph writes Martin to come to Kirtland immediately
to select land for himself and brethren, bring copies of the Book of Mormon. |
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Joseph Smith to Martin Harris, Feb. 22,
1831 |
| Leaves New York
for Kirtland |
|
[March 12, 1831] Martin Harris, the head man here as respects
property, left here a few days ago on a sojourn to your country, having
received a special command thither forthwith. |
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Letter perhaps written by Abner Cole and
one other in Palmyra, Mar. 12, 1831, PT,
Mar. 22, 1831. Source |
| Testifies in Painesville bar |
¶ |
Martin Harris, another chief of the Mormon impostors,
arrived here last Saturday [March 12, 1831] from the bible quarry in
New York. He immediately planted himself in the bar-room of the hotel,
where he soon commenced reading and explaining the Mormon hoax … Curiosity
soon drew around thirty or forty spectators, and all who presumed to
question his blasphemous pretentions, were pronounced infidels. He was
very flippant, talking fast and loud, in order that others could not
interpose an opinion counter to his. Every idea that he advanced, he
knew to be absolutely true, as he said, by the spirit and power of God.
In fine, the bystanders had a fair specimen of the Mormon slang … The
meeting was closed, by a request of the landlord that the prophet should
remove his quarters, which he did, and declaring, that all who believed
the new bible would see Christ within fifteen years, and all who did
not would absolutely be destroyed and dam'd. |
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PT, Mar. 15, 1831. Source |
| |
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I have yet
to determine when returns to New York. |
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| Leaves New York for Ohio |
|
[May 27, 1831] Several families, numbering about fifty souls, took up
their line of march from this town last week for the "promised land," among
whom is Martin Harris, one of the original believers in the "Book
of Mormon." Mr. Harris was among the early settlers of this town,
and has ever borne the character of an honorable and upright man, and an
obliging and benevolent neighbor. He had secured to himself by honest industry
a respectable fortune—and he has left a large circle of acquaintances
and friends to pity his delusion. |
|
Wayne Sentinel, May 27, 1831.
Source |
| High Priesthood |
|
June 3–6, 1831 ordained to the High Priesthood by Lyman
Wight (h) (swh). |
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¶ Minutes
of June 3–6, 1831 |
| Leave Kirtland |
|
June 19, 1831 leaves for Missouri with Sidney
Rigdon, Martin Harris, Joseph
Coe, Edward Partridge, W.
W. Phelps, and Algernon S. Gilbert and
his wife. They travel by wagon, canal, and stage to Cincinnati. Then
by steamer to Louisville to St. Louis. Walk to Independence. |
|
MH C-1, 126 // Papers 1:356. |
| Called upon to consecrate |
|
August 1, 1831 Martin to be an example by dedicating his
property to the Lord in Zion. |
|
D&C 58:35 |
| Attends dedication of the site for the House
of the Lord |
|
August 3, 1831 attends dedication of the site of the House
of the Lord in Independence with Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Frederick
G. Williams, Oliver Cowdery, Joseph
Coe, Newel
Knight, W. W. Phelps, Ezra
Booth, and Peter Whitmer
Jr. Joseph lays a stone at the northeast corner of the planned structure. |
|
J. Whitmer, 86–87; TS 5, no. 5 (Mar. 1, 1844): 450.
Ezra Booth was disappointed with the ceremony. Ezra
Booth Letters (4–6) |
| Substantial farmer, flighty talker, sensible, hard worker |
|
[August 31, 1831] Harris also one of the fathers of Mormonism
was a substantial farmer near Palmyra—full of passages of the scriptures—rather
wild and flighty in his talk occasionally—but holding a very respectable
character in his neighborhood for sobriety, sense and hard working. |
|
"Mormonism—Religious Fanaticism—Church
and State Party," Morning Courier and New-York Enquirer, Aug. 31, 1831.
Source |
| Great talker, extravagant boaster |
¶ |
[October 20, 1831, Ezra Booth:] Martin Harris is what may
be called a great talker, and an extravagant boaster; so much so, that
he renders himself disagreeable to many of his society. The money he has
expended, and the great things he has done, form a considerable topic of
his conversation; he understands all prophecies, and knows every thing
by the spirit, and he can silence almost any opposer by talking faster,
and louder than he can: or by telling him, "I know every thing and
you know nothing: I am a wise man and you are a fool;" and in this
respect, he stands a fair sample of many others in the church. |
|
¶ Ezra
Booth Letters (1–3) |
| Book of Commandments profits |
|
November 12, 1831 to receive a share of the profits from
the sale of Book of Commandments. |
|
D&C 70
¶ Minutes of Nov. 11–12, 1831 |
| United Firm |
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April 26, 1832 charter member of the United Firm. |
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¶ D&C
82:11
Minutes of April 26, 1832 |
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[Martin Harris] has frequent fits of prophecying, although they are not held in very high repute among his brethren. A specimen of his prophetic powers we subjoin. They were written for the special information of a friend of his who placed them upon the wall of his office, and are in these words: |
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¶ |
Within four years from September 1832, there will not be one wicked person left in the United States; that the righteous will be gathered to Zion, and that there will be no President over these United States after that time.
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¶ |
MARTIN HARRIS |
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¶ |
I do hereby assert and declare that in four years from the date hereof, every sectarian and religious denomination in the United States, shall be broken down, and every Christian shall be gathered unto the Mormonites, and the rest of the human race shall perish. If these things do not take place, I will hereby consent to have my hand separated from my body. |
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¶ |
MARTIN HARRIS |
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Lucy's affidavit
Beat her
An object of pity
No regard for family |
|
[November 29, 1833, Lucy Harris:] Martin Harris was once
industrious attentive to his domestic concerns, and thought to be worth
about ten thousand dollars. He is naturally quick in his temper and in
his mad-fits frequently abuses all who may dare to [255] oppose him in
his wishes. … In one of his fits of rage he struck me with the but
end of a whip ... He beat me on the head four or five times, and the next
day turned me out of doors twice, and beat me in a shameful manner. … His
main complaint against me was, that I was always trying to hinder his making
money. … [256] … One day, while at Peter Harris' house, I told
him he had better leave the company of the Smiths, as their religion was
false; to which he replied, if you would let me alone, I could make money
by it. … The man has now become rather an object of pity; he has spent
most of his property, and lost the confidence of his former friends. … He
now spends his time in travelling through the country spreading the delusion
of Mormonism, and has no regard whatever for his family. |
|
Mormonism unvailed, 254–256 // Early documents 35–36. Lucy also details behavior that led her
to believe Martin was having an affair with Mrs. Haggard sometime before
he moved to Kirtland. |
| Sidney charges Martin with smearing Joseph |
|
February 12, 1834 at a meeting of high priests and elders in Kirtland,
Sidney charges Martin with telling Esqr A. C. Russell that Joseph "drank
too much liquor when he was translating the Book of Mormon and that he
wrestled with many men and threw them &c." |
|
¶ Minutes
of February 12, 1834 |
| Exalting himself
above Joseph |
|
[Martin also] exalted himself above
bro. Joseph, in that he said bro. Joseph knew not the contents of the book
of Mormon until it was translated. Bro. Martin but that he himself knew
all about it before it was translated. |
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| Martin promises
to do better |
|
Martin responds that said Joseph
drank too much before the Book of Mormon was translated. He also
admits "that his mind was darkend and that he had said many things
inadvertently calculateingd to wound the feelings of his brethren and
promised to do better." The council forgives him—with "much
good advice." |
|
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| Kirtland high council |
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February 17, 1834 named to the first
high council of Kirtland. |
|
Minutes
of February 17, 1834 |
| Travel alone as missionary |
|
February 20, 1834 missionaries are called. Martin to "travel alone
whenever he travels." |
|
Minutes
of February 20, 1834 |
| United Firm distribution |
|
April 23, 1834 United Firm breaks up because
of the duplicty, or suspected duplicity, of some. In the distribution of
assets, Martin receives John Johnson land.
He is to "devote his moneys for the proclaiming of my words" as Joseph
directs. |
|
¶ D&C
104:24, 26 |
| Three Witnesses select the Twelve |
|
February 14, 1835 Joseph, David, Martin,
and Oliver meet with members of Zion's Camp. The Three Witnesses select
twelve men to be apostles: Lyman
E. Johnson, Brigham Young, Heber
C. Kimball, Orson
Hyde, David W. Patten (h), Luke
S. Johnson, William E. McLellin, John F. Boynton (h), Orson
Pratt, William Smith, Thomas
B. Marsh (h), and Parley P. Pratt (h).
The Three Witnesses bless the first three. |
|
Minutes of February
14, 1835 |
| Meets with Smith men |
|
January 1, 1836 joins Uncle John
Smith, Joseph Smith Sr.
and Hyrum Smith to resolve differences between Joseph Jr. and
William Smith. |
|
¶ Debating
School Incident, 1835–1836 |
| Justice of the peace boots Martin out |
|
[1836] There was a distillery opposite the Temple, and I never saw so
much drunkenness elsewhere. I threatened to complain to the State authorities.
While quarreling, a Mormon woman drew a butcher knife through Mrs. Ellis's,
a Methodist woman's hand. Joe Smith took sides, and Jacob Bump, with Martin
Harris, came to the trial. I told Jo, Martin told me a certain day that
he found the plates of the Book of Mormon; Martin said I lied. I told him
he must not say that again in my house. He said God never made a man who
could harm him. I took him by the shoulder and pulled him to the floor
on his hands and feet, and walked him to the door. I took him by the collar
and seat of the breeches and threw him out and kicked him. Jo said he was
sorry I did not hear him through. Martin was very kind to me ever after.
I got the name of the Fighting Justice. |
|
"Statement of J. C. Dowen," Jan.
2, 1885, original, Mormonism Collection, A. B. Deming, Chicago Historical
Society Library. Source |
| Excommunicated |
|
December 1837 excommunicated during the last week of the
year. According to John Smith, 28 persons
were excommunicated during the week. In addition to Martin, the 28 included
Joseph Coe, Luke and Lyman Johnson, John Boynton (h), and Warren Parrish. |
|
John Smith to George A. Smith, Journal history,
Jan. 1, 1838.
|
| Only saw the plates in vision |
|
[Early 1838] … when I came to hear Martin Harris state
in a public congregation that he never saw the plates with his natural
eyes only in vision or imagination, neither Oliver nor David & also
that the eight witnesses never saw them & hesitated to sign that
instrument for that reason, but were persuaded to do it, the last pedestal
gave way, in my view our foundations was sapped & the entire superstructure
fell [in] a heap of ruins, … |
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¶ Stephen Burnett |
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| Rebaptized |
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November 6, 1842 rebaptized, but does not travel west with Brigham Young. |
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| Strangite |
|
August 7–10, 1846 attends conference of new Church of Christ headed
by James J. Strang. Stake is organized. Martin is a member of the high
council. |
|
"Kirtland," Voree Herald, Sept.
1846. Source |
| Strang mission |
|
1846 serves mission to England. |
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| McLellin's church |
|
January 1847 joins William E. McLellin in organizing new Church
of Christ. |
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| Mormons gone to the devil |
¶ |
[November 1849:] We received yesterday a visit from Martin Harris … he
no longer goes with the Mormons, saying that they "have gone to the devil
just like other people." He abandoned them fifteen years ago, when they
assumed the appelation of "Latter Day Saints," and bore his testimony against
them by declaring that "Latter Day Devils" would be a more appropriate
designa[t]ion. |
|
"A Mormon Apostle," Rochester Daily American, Nov. 16, 1849.
Source |
| Itinerant preacher |
¶ |
… At present he professes to have a mission from God, in fulfillment
of which he wanders about preaching to "all who will feed him." When this
essential condition is not performed by his hearers, he shakes off the
dust from his feet and leaves for more hospitable quarters. Mr. H. is exceedingly
familiar with the Scripture[s], and discourses theology in his peculiar
way, with the fluency and zeal of a devotee. |
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| Caroline to Utah |
|
1856 wife Caroline (niece of Brigham Young) leaves Martin to gather to
Utah. |
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| William Swartzell's church |
|
September–October, 1857 supports William
Swartzell's church in Kirtland. |
|
Origins, 575. |
| Joins William Smith |
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1858 joins William Smith in organizing new church in Kirtland. |
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| Deranged |
|
Martin Harris remained in Kirtland twenty-five or thirty years after the Mormons left. His mind, always unbalanced on the subject of Mormonism, had become so demented that he thought himself a bigger man than Smith, or even Christ, and believed that most of the prophecies in the Old Testament referred directly to him. One day, when working for me, he handed me a leaflet that he had got printed, taken from some of the prophets, telling of a wonderful person that should appear and draw all men after him. I looked it over and returned it to him. He said, “Who do you think it refers to?” I said, “Why, of course, it refers to you.” He looked very much pleased, and said, “I see you understand the scriptures.” In 1867 or 1868, while acting as township trustee, complaint was made to me that Martin Harris was destitute of a home, poorly clothed, feeble, burdensome to friends, and that he ought to be taken to the poor-house. I went down to the flats to investigate, and found him at a house near the Temple, with a family lately moved in, strangers to me. He seemed to dread the poor-house very much. The lady of the house said she would take care of him while their [45] means lasted, and I was quite willing to postpone the unpleasant task of taking him to the poor-house. Everybody felt sympathy for him. He was willing to work and make himself useful as far as his age and debility would admit of. Soon after that he was sent for and taken to Salt Lake, which was the only act of sympathy I ever knew of the Mormons bestowing on any of their dupes who had been ruined by them. |
|
Crary reminiscence, 44–45. |
| Utah, rebaptized |
|
August 1870 arrives in Utah and is rebaptized. |
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| Endowed |
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September 1870 receives endowment |
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Reminiscences about Martin Harris |
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Before going to Utah
Good farmer
|
|
Martin Harris, who furnished the money to pay for publishing the "Book
of Mormon," worked off and on for fifteen or twenty years for me.
His judgement about farming was good. When we had finished hoeing the corn
he would raise his hands toward the field and pronounce a blessing and
say he was sure of a good crop with his blessing. |
|
Stephen H. Hart, NTAM 1,
no. 2 (Apr. 1888): 3, col. 3.
"Mr. Hart is one of Mentor's best citizens, and resides in an elegant
brick house on his farm about one mile south and in full view of the Garfield
place." A. B. Deming (publisher of Naked Truths), same column. |
| Martin and the devil |
|
One night he went upstairs to bed without a light, but soon came down
and said the devil had stirred his bed. My wife went upstairs with the
light and found that the bed was all right; Martin said the devil had made
it all right. There was a pile of bedding we supposed he had felt of instead
of the bed. One night he fell down-stairs; he said the devil came to his
bed and he had a tussel with him and the devil threw him downstairs. Every
wrong he attributed to the devil. |
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| Expects to be translated |
|
Martin claimed he would renew his age and be translated like Enoch. He
said people would provide for his wants, because he was a prophet of the
Lord. |
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| Can't stop talking Mormonism |
|
When old and unable to work he frequently came to my house, and would
follow my wife about the house and talk Mormonism to her several days at
a time. When she could endure it no longer, she would ask him if the Lord
told him to marry Caroline Young, his second wife, who left him and went
to Utah. He always became angry at that and would leave. |
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| Saw plates by the eye of faith |
|
Martin, when closely questioned about the plates from which the "Book
of Mormon" purports to have been taken, would say he saw the plates
by the eye of faith. |
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| Thinks he is a prophet |
|
He often compared himself to Enoch, Elijah, Paul and other Bible persons. |
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| Insane? |
|
I never doubted that he was insane on Mormonism. |
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| Insane? |
¶ |
Martin Harris was an exceedingly credulous man, his every thought was
a revelation to him. He wanted to ride with me to Painesville. I told him
he might if he would not speak on Mormonism. This he agreed to but I had
frequently to check him. He was a perpetual talker. He claimed he had a
revelation when he first came to Kirtland for him to go to Missouri, and
obtain an Lamanite Indian squaw for a wife to aid them in propagating Mormonism.
Martin told me soon after Joseph, the prophet, left Kirtland, that, two
years before, he had told him that as his wife had left him he needed a
woman as other men. Jo named two who lived at his house who would accommodate
him. Jo usually had several women at his house. All the time Martin was
in Kirtland boys eight years and older would gather about him and dispute
with, and annoy him in various ways. Martin claimed to be Elijah and when
greatly annoyed would curse them. The boys would say, "Go up old bald
head, now fetch on your bears."
|
|
Rev. S. F. W., col. 6. |
| Insane? |
¶ |
The last years of his stay in Kirtland he suffered extreme poverty and
would have been much better off in the poor-house. I told my nephew, Bishop
Orson F. Whitney, from Salt Lake City, when he visited me and other leading
Mormons, it was a disgrace for them to permit Martin who was one of the
three witnesses and had spent his estate in promulgating Mormonism, to
suffer as he did. Soon after they took him to Utah, where he lived a few
years and died, aged ninety-three. |
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Families |
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| Wife |
|
Lucy Harris (b. 1792 in Smithfield, Providence Co.,
Rhode Island; md. March 27, 1808 in Palmyra, New York; d. 1836 in Kirtland)
|
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¶ Ancestry.com
|
| Children |
|
Duty L.
George W.
Lucy |
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| Wife |
|
Caroline Young, b. May 1816 in Hector, Schuyler Co.,
New York (daughter of John Young)
md. Martin Harris, November 1, 1836
(7 children); left Martin to go West
md. John Catley Davis, January 16,
1860 in Salt Lake City (one child, Joseph Harris, b. November 19, 1860)
d. January 19, 1888 in Lewisville, Jefferson Co.,
Idaho
|
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¶ Ancestry.com |
| Children |
|
Martin (b. January 28, 1838 in Kirtland)
Daughter (about 1839 in Kirtland)
Caroline (b. about 1840 in Kirtland)
Julia Lacothia (b. April 29, 1842 in Kirtland)
John Wheeler (b. July 11, 1845 in Kirtland)
Sarah (b. 1849 in Kirtland)
Solomon Webster (b. December 1, 1854 in Kirtland)
Ida May (b. May 27, 1856 in Pottawattamie County, Iowa) |
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Biographies
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