| Kirtland dissident Stephen Burnett writes excommunicated Lyman E. Johnson excoriating Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon for deceiving Church members, "filching" their money, and squandering funds. Martin Harris said the Book of Mormon witnesses saw the plates "only in vision or imagination," but later recanted §. Stephen denounced Joseph and Sidney and the Book of Mormon in the "Stone Chapel" (House of the Lord). Warren Parrish, Luke Johnson, and John Boynton (h) followed §. Kirtland Camp of 600 preparing to leave for Missouri §. Kirtland property is worthless §. Lyman claims he lost $6,000 in Safety Society money §. Joseph blamed him for the bank failure §. Martin Harris, others reject Joseph but still believe the Book of Mormon §. |
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| Stephen Burnett is no relation to Peter Hardeman Burnett, the Missouri lawyer who defended Joseph Smith in 1838 and became the first state governor of California. |
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Orange Township, Geauga
Co
Ohio 15th April 1838 |
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Burnett
Stephen Burnett (Orange Township, Geauga Co.) to Lyman E. Johnson, Apr. 15, 1838. Copy, J. Smith Letterbook-2, 64 -66. SC 1:20. At the bottom of the copy, Albert Petty and Dimick B. Huntington write, “a true copy of a letter written to Lyman E. Johnson by S. Burnette.” Their statement is dated May 24, 1838.
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Br Johnson — Dear
Sir |
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Joseph and Sidney "notorious liars"
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I have with pleasure just received your favor post marked 26th Ult
And now you see I take a large sheet that I may have ample room to write—my
heart is sickened within me when I reflect upon the manner in which we
with many of this Church have been led & the losses which we have
sustained all by means of two men in whom we place implicit confidence,
that Joseph Smith & Sidney Rigdon are notorious liars I do not hesitate
to affirm, & can prove by a cloud of witnesses & this is not
all, |
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Filched money from innocent people
Squandered their money |
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Joseph has prophecied in a public congregation lies in the name
of the Lord & by undue religious influence he has filched the monies
of the Church from their pockets and brought them nigh unto destruction,
leaving helpless innocence destitute of a comfortable support while he
has squandered the hard earnings of those to whom it justly belonged. |
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Loath to give up church
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I have reflected long and deliberately upon the history of this church & weighed
the evidence for & against it—loth to give it up— |
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Martin and the others only saw plates in vision
Final straw |
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but
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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March 25 Renounces Book of Mormon
Lying and deception |
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I therefore three weeks since in the Stone Chapel gave a full history
of the church since I became acquainted with it, the false preaching & prophecying
etc of Joseph together with the reasons why I took the course which I
was resolved to do, and renounced the Book of Mormon with the whole scene
of lying and deception practiced by J. S & S. R in this church, believing
as I verily do, that it is all a wicked deception palmed upon us unawares |
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Stone Chapel: House of the Lord
three weeks since:
March 25, 1838 |
| Warren Parrish, Luke Johnson, John Boynton |
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I was followed by W. Parrish Luke
Johnson & John Boynton
all of who Concurred with me, |
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Martin Harris regrets statement
Was picked out of him |
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after we were done speaking M. Harris arose & said he was sorry for
any man who rejected the Book of Mormon for he knew it was true, he said
he had hefted the plates repeatedly in a box with only a tablecloth or
handkerchief over them, but he never saw them, only as he saw a city through
a mountain. And said that he never should have told that the testimony
of the eight was false, if it had not been picked out of h[i]m but should
have let it passed as it was.— |
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| What do you think of book? |
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Now br Johnson if you have any thing to say in favour of the Book of
Mormon I should be glad to hear it.— — |
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| Kirtland Camp of 600 preparing to leave |
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About six hundred souls are making preparations to leave
Kirtland for Far West the first of May to be called the Camp. |
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| Property worthless |
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Property is worth nothing in Kirtland, I was told Luke [Johnson]
offered his house [65] And Lot for $100 cash, and could not get that. Marks & others
have turned out their farms to pay J S & S. R debts & take orders
upon them & the bishop at Far West for land there, but I fear for them. |
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Marks: William Marks, counselor to Joseph Smith in Nauvoo. |
| Lyman E. Johnson lost $6000 in bank notes |
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You state in your letter that you have lost six thousand dollars [in]
Kirtland paper—now I will tell you what Joseph Smith Jr told me when
he was here on his [journey] west last Sept, |
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| Joseph said Lyman did well, could pay debts |
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I asked him about you, he said you had [a] bagg of money & could
pay all of your debts if you would, I asked him if you did not loose
by the bank & he said no—not a cent, He said you never took
it for goods any longer than it would pay your debts. |
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Joseph said Lyman traded $2000 for specie
Stephen thinks it a lie |
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And after that you refused to take it, besides you loaned two thousand
out of the bank which you never paid but exchanged a large amount with
a broker in St Louis at 5 per cent for specie when you and Luke went west
last fall and you bought land, hired a house built &c, this however
I believe to be a lie amongst the rest. |
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Store debt |
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As respect my temporal concerns, I am at present much embarrassed
in consequence of that store concern, |
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| Mr. Amy |
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Mr. Amy has never paid a cent but
kept out of my way so that I have not seen him since last fall, |
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Stephen paid $6,000 or $7,000
Being sued for $1,600 or $1,700 more
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we have
paid six or seven thousand hundred dollars & are now sued for the
remainder which is near sixteen hundred dollars and I do not know but
we shall have to sell out altogether, |
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Hopes to have $4,000 left
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if we should at a tolerable fair
rate we should have about four thousand dollars left, |
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| Opportunity in West? |
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I rather think
I shall go west if there is an opportunity to do well, I wish you would
write respecting the country and to what advantage I could lay out my
money if I should come there, |
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| A. Barney owes Stephen $100 |
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I believe I wrote you that I had a note of one hundred dollars made by
A Barney & signed over by Ebzr [Ebenezer] Robinson—Barney has run away
like other lickskillets & if there is any chance to get any thing if
I should send the note to you I wish you would write write in your next— |
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| Pratts in the East |
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Parley Pratt (h) was in Boston and Orson [Pratt]
going to New York about six weeks since, nothing of late from Orson
Hyde— |
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| Early spring |
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the spring has been remarkably forward so much so that the lake navigation
opened in March, |
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| Some dissenters accept Book of Mormon |
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there are in Kirtland Esqrs Smalling, Coe, Harris and
others who still believe the Book of Mormon &c but discard Joseph & Mr
Coe proposed an investigation of the subject, and Par[r]ish took up on the
negative, but I have not heard how they got along with it, |
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Original: Parish |
If witnesses didn't see plates
Nothing can prove Book of Mormon
We relied on Isaiah and Ezekiel to prove |
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I am well satisfied for myself that if the witnesses whose names
are attached to the Book of Mormon never saw the plates as Martin admits
that there can be nothing brought to prove that any such thing ever existed
for it is said on the 171 page of the book of covenants that the three
should testify that they had seen the plates even as J S Jr & if they saw them spiritually or in in vision with their eyes shut—J S Jr never saw
them in any other light way & if so the plates were only visionary
and I am well satisfied that the 29 & 37 Chaps of Isai[a]h & Ezek[i]el
together with others in which we depended to prove the truth of the book
of Mormon have no bearing when correctly understood but are [66] entirely
irrelevent— |
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171 page: 1835 D&C 42
"Behold I say unto you, that you must rely upon my word, which if you do,
with full purpose of heart, you shall have a view of the plates, and also of
the breastplate, the sword of Laban, the Urim and Thummim, which were given to
the brother of Jared upon the mount, when he talked with the Lord face to face,
and the miraculous directors which were given to Lehi while in the wilderness,
on the borders of the red sea; and it is by your faith that you shall obtain
a view of them, even by that faith which was had by the prophets of old.
"And after that you have obtained faith, and have seen them with your eyes,
you shall testify of them, by the power of God; …
"Wherefore, you have received the same power, and the same faith, and the same
gift like unto him; " 1835 D&C 42:1–2, 3 // D&C 17:1–3, 5, 7 |
| Each man to his opinions |
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but if any man differs from me I can adopt the language
of Josephus, he is at liberty to enjoy his opinions without any blame
from me— |
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we are all well in usual health, my respects to your family & all
our old friends, I am with respect yours &c |
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S. Burnett |
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I shall expect a letter in due time |
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P.S. please direct your letters, P. M Burnetts cornrs Cay [Cuyahoga] Co O[hio] |
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| Zion's Watchman |
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I send you Zion's watchman printed at NY— 29 March & I
would invite your attention to W Parrish's letter contained in the same— |
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La Roy Sunderland, editor of
the Methodist Zion's Watchman, published an eight-part article,
January–March 1838. Source
In April, just before leaving New York for Far West, Parley P. Pratt responds
with Mormonism Unveiled: Zion's Watchman Unmasked, and Its Editor, Mr.
L. R. Sunderland, Exposed: Truth Vindicated: the Devil Mad, and Priestcraft
in Danger! Source;
Crawley bibiography
Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church, Volume One 1830-1847. Peter Crawley. Provo: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1997.
, 78. |
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We the undersigned certify this to be a true copy of a letter written
to Lyman E Johnson by S Burnette— |
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Albert Petty
Dimick B. Huntington |
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May 24th 1838 |
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Stephen Burnett
Kirtland Apostacy
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