Monthly Archives: December 2024

The Kinderhook Kinder-Surprise

In Kinderhook, Illinois, about 50 miles south of Nauvoo, six bell-shaped brass plates were found when digging up a burial mound on a farmer’s land. He had allegedly dreamed about finding treasure in the mound and a dig was started. Some small plates with ancient-looking inscriptions were found and word spread quickly to the Mormons, …

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"Although this account appears to be the writing of Joseph Smith, it is actually an excerpt from a journal of William Clayton... Where the ideas written by William Clayton originated is unknown." - Ensign, August 1981. Kinderhook Plates Brought to Joseph Smith Appear to Be a Nineteenth-Century Hoax, Stanley B. Kimball, professor of history at Southern Illinois University. wasmormon.org
"Although this account appears to be the writing of Joseph Smith, it is actually an excerpt from a journal of William Clayton... Where the ideas written by William Clayton originated is unknown." - Ensign, August 1981. Kinderhook Plates Brought to Joseph Smith Appear to Be a Nineteenth-Century Hoax, Stanley B. Kimball, professor of history at Southern Illinois University.
"A recent electronic and chemical analysis of a metal plate (one of six original plates) brought in 1843 to the Prophet Joseph Smith in Nauvoo, Illinois, appears to solve a previously unanswered question in Church history, helping to further evidence that the plate is what its producers later said it was—a nineteenth-century attempt to lure Joseph Smith into making a translation of ancient-looking characters that had been etched into the plates." - Ensign, August 1981. Kinderhook Plates Brought to Joseph Smith Appear to Be a Nineteenth-Century Hoax, Stanley B. Kimball, professor of history at Southern Illinois University. | wasmormon.org
"A recent electronic and chemical analysis of a metal plate (one of six original plates) brought in 1843 to the Prophet Joseph Smith in Nauvoo, Illinois, appears to solve a previously unanswered question in Church history, helping to further evidence that the plate is what its producers later said it was—a nineteenth-century attempt to lure Joseph Smith into making a translation of ancient-looking characters that had been etched into the plates." - Ensign, August 1981. Kinderhook Plates Brought to Joseph Smith Appear to Be a Nineteenth-Century Hoax, Stanley B. Kimball, professor of history at Southern Illinois University.
Contemporaneous sources say very little about Joseph Smith’s encounter with the Kinderhook plates, which occurred over a span of just a few days in 1843. Joseph apparently examined the plates and, according to his clerk William Clayton, remarked that they contained “the history of … a descendant of Ham through the loins of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” Joseph evidently did not attempt a revelatory translation as he had done with the Book of Mormon plates, but rather appears to have compared the symbols on the Kinderhook plates with other ancient artifacts in his possession. - LDS Website, Church History Topics: Kinderhook Plates https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/kinderhook-plates | wasmormon.org
Contemporaneous sources say very little about Joseph Smith’s encounter with the Kinderhook plates, which occurred over a span of just a few days in 1843. Joseph apparently examined the plates and, according to his clerk William Clayton, remarked that they contained “the history of … a descendant of Ham through the loins of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” Joseph evidently did not attempt a revelatory translation as he had done with the Book of Mormon plates, but rather appears to have compared the symbols on the Kinderhook plates with other ancient artifacts in his possession. - LDS Website, Church History Topics: Kinderhook Plates https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/history/topics/kinderhook-plates
"The Kinderhook Plates, sketched by an unknown artist, and published in the periodical Times and Seasons at Nauvoo in 1843. Reproduced here from the Documentary History of the Church, volume 5, pages 374-376. The six brass plates were found near Kinderhook, in Pike County, Illinois, on April 23, 1843." - The Improvement Era, September 1962. The Kinderhook Plates, Welby W. Ricks, President, University Archeological Society, BYU. Page 658. wasmormon.org
"The Kinderhook Plates, sketched by an unknown artist, and published in the periodical Times and Seasons at Nauvoo in 1843. Reproduced here from the Documentary History of the Church, volume 5, pages 374-376. The six brass plates were found near Kinderhook, in Pike County, Illinois, on April 23, 1843." - The Improvement Era, September 1962. The Kinderhook Plates, Welby W. Ricks, President, University Archeological Society, BYU. Page 658.
"A recent rediscovery of one of the Kinderhook plates which was examined by Joseph Smith, reaffirms his prophetic calling... Joseph Smith, pronounced them genuine and translated a part of them... This much remains, Joseph Smith, stands as a true prophet and translator of ancient records by divine means and all the world is invited to investigate the truth which has sprung out of the earth not only of the Kinderhook plates, but of the Book of Mormon as well." - The Improvement Era, September 1962. The Kinderhook Plates, Welby W. Ricks, President, University Archeological Society, BYU. Pages 636-637, 656, 658, 660. | wasmormon.org
"A recent rediscovery of one of the Kinderhook plates which was examined by Joseph Smith, reaffirms his prophetic calling... Joseph Smith, pronounced them genuine and translated a part of them... This much remains, Joseph Smith, stands as a true prophet and translator of ancient records by divine means and all the world is invited to investigate the truth which has sprung out of the earth not only of the Kinderhook plates, but of the Book of Mormon as well." - The Improvement Era, September 1962. The Kinderhook Plates, Welby W. Ricks, President, University Archeological Society, BYU. Pages 636-637, 656, 658, 660.
Another set of plates have been found in Pike county, in this State; they were dug out of a large mound, fifteen feet from the summit, by a company of persons, fifteen in number, who all affirm to the fact of their situation when found. There were six in number, about three inches in length, and two and a half broad at one end, and one inch broad at the other, being something of the form of a bell, about the sixteenth of an inch thick, with a hole in the small end of each, fastened together with a ring, apparantly of iron or steel, but which was so oxidised as to crumble to pieces when handled. The plates are evidently brass, and are covered on both sides with hyerogliphics. They were brought up and shown to Joseph Smith. He compared them in my presence with his Egyptian alphabet, which he took from the plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated, and they are characters. He therefore will evidently the same be able to decipher them. There can be no doubt but they are a record of some kind, buried with an individual, centuries ago; a skeleton was found with them-some of the bones in such a state of preservation as to show the size of the individual, whose height must have been eight and a half teet. You may expect something very remarkably pretty soon. - Late and Interesting from the Mormon Empire on the Upper Mississippi, Letter from "A Gentile" (Sylvester Emmons) published in New York Herald, Tuesday, May 30, 1843. Library of Congress, Washington, DC. | wasmormon.org
"Another set of plates have been found in Pike county, in this State; they were dug out of a large mound, fifteen feet from the summit, by a company of persons, fifteen in number, who all affirm to the fact of their situation when found. There were six in number, about three inches in length, and two and a half broad at one end, and one inch broad at the other, being something of the form of a bell, about the sixteenth of an inch thick, with a hole in the small end of each, fastened together with a ring, apparantly of iron or steel, but which was so oxidised as to crumble to pieces when handled. The plates are evidently brass, and are covered on both sides with hyerogliphics. They were brought up and shown to Joseph Smith. He compared them in my presence with his Egyptian alphabet, which he took from the plates from which the Book of Mormon was translated, and they are characters. He therefore will evidently the same be able to decipher them. There can be no doubt but they are a record of some kind, buried with an individual, centuries ago; a skeleton was found with them-some of the bones in such a state of preservation as to show the size of the individual, whose height must have been eight and a half teet. You may expect something very remarkably pretty soon." - Late and Interesting from the Mormon Empire on the Upper Mississippi, Letter from "A Gentile" (Sylvester Emmons) published in New York Herald, Tuesday, May 30, 1843. Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
One of the six original Kinderhook Plates created by counterfeiters in southwestern Illinois who hoped to discredit Latter Day Saints leader Joseph Smith in 1843. The plates were manufactured bearing a fabricated ancient language and buried near the town of Kinderhook, Illinois. The hucksters hoped Smith would translate the gibberish and reveal himself as a fake. - Chicago History Museum, Kinderhook plate | wasmormon.org
One of the six original Kinderhook Plates created by counterfeiters in southwestern Illinois who hoped to discredit Latter Day Saints leader Joseph Smith in 1843. The plates were manufactured bearing a fabricated ancient language and buried near the town of Kinderhook, Illinois. The hucksters hoped Smith would translate the gibberish and reveal himself as a fake. - Chicago History Museum, Kinderhook plate
A brief account of the Discovery of the Brass Plates recently taken from a mound near Kinderhook, Pike County, Illinois. Singular discovery—materials for another Mormon book. The contents of the Plates, together with a Fac-simile of the same, will be published in the “Times and Seasons,” as soon as the translation is completed. - The first facsimiles of the Kinderhook plates appeared in a broadside published on June 24, 1843, by the Nauvoo Neighbor | wasmormon.org
A brief account of the Discovery of the Brass Plates recently taken from a mound near Kinderhook, Pike County, Illinois. Singular discovery—materials for another Mormon book. The contents of the Plates, together with a Fac-simile of the same, will be published in the “Times and Seasons,” as soon as the translation is completed. - The first facsimiles of the Kinderhook plates appeared in a broadside published on June 24, 1843, by the Nauvoo Neighbor.
I have seen 6 brass plates which were found in Adams County by some persons who were digging in a mound They found a skeleton about 6 feet from the surface of the earth which was 9 foot high [tracing of plate] The plates were on the breast of the skeleton. This diagram shows the size of the plates being drawn on the edge of one of them. They are covered with ancient characters of language containing from 30 to 40 on each side of the plates. Prest J. has translated a portion and says they contain the history of the person with whom they were found & he was a descendant of Ham through the loins of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and that he received his kingdom from the ruler of heaven & earth. - William Clayton's Journal, Joseph Smith's Official Scribe and Secretary, May 1, 1843 | wasmormon.org
I have seen 6 brass plates which were found in Adams County by some persons who were digging in a mound They found a skeleton about 6 feet from the surface of the earth which was 9 foot high [tracing of plate] The plates were on the breast of the skeleton. This diagram shows the size of the plates being drawn on the edge of one of them. They are covered with ancient characters of language containing from 30 to 40 on each side of the plates. Prest J. has translated a portion and says they contain the history of the person with whom they were found & he was a descendant of Ham through the loins of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and that he received his kingdom from the ruler of heaven & earth. - William Clayton's Journal, Joseph Smith's Official Scribe and Secretary, May 1, 1843
"I have seen 6 brass plates which were found... in a mound... covered with ancient characters of language containing from 30 to 40 on each side of the plates. President Joseph has translated a portion and says they contain the history of the person with whom they were found & he was a descendant of Ham through the loins of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and that he received his kingdom from the ruler of heaven & earth." - William Clayton's Journal, Joseph Smith's Official Scribe and Secretary, May 1, 1843 | wasmormon.org
"I have seen 6 brass plates which were found... in a mound... covered with ancient characters of language containing from 30 to 40 on each side of the plates. President Joseph has translated a portion and says they contain the history of the person with whom they were found & he was a descendant of Ham through the loins of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and that he received his kingdom from the ruler of heaven & earth." - William Clayton's Journal, Joseph Smith's Official Scribe and Secretary, May 1, 1843
"Six plates having the appearance of Brass have lately been dug out of the mound by a gentleman in Pike Co. Illinois. They are small and filled with engravings in Egyptian language and contain the genealogy of one of the ancient Jaredites back to Ham the son of Noah. His bones were found in the same vase (made of Cement). Part of the bones were 15 ft. underground. A large number of Citizens have seen them and compared the characters with those on the Egyptian papyrus which is now in this city." - Parley P. Pratt letter of May 7, 1843 | The Ensign, August 1981, page 73 | wasmormon.org
"Six plates having the appearance of Brass have lately been dug out of the mound by a gentleman in Pike Co. Illinois. They are small and filled with engravings in Egyptian language and contain the genealogy of one of the ancient Jaredites back to Ham the son of Noah. His bones were found in the same vase (made of Cement). Part of the bones were 15 ft. underground. A large number of Citizens have seen them and compared the characters with those on the Egyptian papyrus which is now in this city." - Parley P. Pratt letter of May 7, 1843 | The Ensign, August 1981, page 73
"I insert facsimiles of the six brass plates found near Kinderhook, in Pike county, Illinois, on April 23, by Mr. Robert Wiley and others, while excavating a large mound. They found a skeleton about six feet from the surface of the earth, which must have stood nine feet high. The plates were found on the breast of the skeleton and were covered on both sides with ancient characters. I have translated a portion of them, and find they contain the history of the person with whom they were found. He was a descendant of Ham, through the loins of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and that he received his kingdom from the Ruler of heaven and earth." - History of the Church, 5:372-378 | wasmormon.org
"I insert facsimiles of the six brass plates found near Kinderhook, in Pike county, Illinois, on April 23, by Mr. Robert Wiley and others, while excavating a large mound. They found a skeleton about six feet from the surface of the earth, which must have stood nine feet high. The plates were found on the breast of the skeleton and were covered on both sides with ancient characters. I have translated a portion of them, and find they contain the history of the person with whom they were found. He was a descendant of Ham, through the loins of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and that he received his kingdom from the Ruler of heaven and earth." - History of the Church, 5:372-378 I have translated a portion of them, and find they contain the history of the person with whom they were found. He was a descendant of Ham, through the loins of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and that he received his kingdom from the Ruler of heaven and earth.History of the Church, 5:372-378

Are Nephites or Lamanites The Principal or Among Ancestors of Native Americans? DNA Answers

The research into Native American DNA conclusively demonstrates that the ancestors of American Indians migrated from Asia, not the Middle East. This has profound implications for the claims of the Book of Mormon. For decades, the Book of Mormon described Lamanites as the “principal ancestors” of American Indians—a key narrative aligning with Joseph Smith’s teachings …

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“Honest investigators will conclude that there are so many evidences that the Book of Mormon is an ancient text that they cannot confidently resolve the question against its authenticity, despite some unanswered questions that seem to support the negative determination.... It is our position that secular evidence can neither prove nor disprove the authenticity of the Book of Mormon. Its authenticity depends, as it says, on a witness of the Holy Spirit.” - Dallin H. Oaks, LDS Apostle, On The Historicity of the Book of Mormon, 1993 | wasmormon.org
“Honest investigators will conclude that there are so many evidences that the Book of Mormon is an ancient text that they cannot confidently resolve the question against its authenticity, despite some unanswered questions that seem to support the negative determination.... It is our position that secular evidence can neither prove nor disprove the authenticity of the Book of Mormon. Its authenticity depends, as it says, on a witness of the Holy Spirit.” - Dallin H. Oaks, LDS Apostle, On The Historicity of the Book of Mormon, 1993
"The Book of Mormon is not primarily a historical record that looks to the past. Rather, this volume of scripture looks to the future and contains important principles, warnings, and lessons intended for the circumstances and challenges of our day. Hence, the Book of Mormon is a book about our future and the times in which we do now and will yet live." - David A. Bednar, LDS Apostle, October 2024 | wasmormon.org
"The Book of Mormon is not primarily a historical record that looks to the past. Rather, this volume of scripture looks to the future and contains important principles, warnings, and lessons intended for the circumstances and challenges of our day. Hence, the Book of Mormon is a book about our future and the times in which we do now and will yet live." - David A. Bednar, LDS Apostle, October 2024
The book was written by many ancient prophets by the spirit of prophecy and revelation. Their words, written on gold plates, were quoted and abridged by a prophet-historian named Mormon. The record gives an account of two great civilizations. One came from Jerusalem in 600 B.C. and afterward separated into two nations, known as the Nephites and the Lamanites. The other came much earlier when the Lord confounded the tongues at the Tower of Babel. This group is known as the Jaredites. After thousands of years, all were destroyed except the Lamanites, and they are (the principal)/(among the) ancestors of the American Indians. - Book of Mormon, Introduction 1981 vs 2006 | wasmormon.org
The book was written by many ancient prophets by the spirit of prophecy and revelation. Their words, written on gold plates, were quoted and abridged by a prophet-historian named Mormon. The record gives an account of two great civilizations. One came from Jerusalem in 600 B.C. and afterward separated into two nations, known as the Nephites and the Lamanites. The other came much earlier when the Lord confounded the tongues at the Tower of Babel. This group is known as the Jaredites. After thousands of years, all were destroyed except the Lamanites, and they are (the principal)/(among the) ancestors of the American Indians. - Book of Mormon, Introduction 1981 vs 2006
"Latter-day Saints are not asked to blindly accept everything they hear. We are encouraged to think and discover truth for ourselves. We are expected to ponder, to search, to evaluate, and thereby to come to a personal knowledge of the truth. We seek for truth wherever we may find it." - Dieter F. Uchtdorf, LDS Apostle, January 13, 2013 BYU Devotional | wasmormon.org
"Latter-day Saints are not asked to blindly accept everything they hear. We are encouraged to think and discover truth for ourselves. We are expected to ponder, to search, to evaluate, and thereby to come to a personal knowledge of the truth. We seek for truth wherever we may find it." - Dieter F. Uchtdorf, LDS Apostle, January 13, 2013 BYU Devotional
“I don’t want to try to tell you how to do this, but I would recommend you don’t try to write down things that any of us say. I would suggest to you that that totally misses the mark. What you should write down are the things that only you hear that are being delivered to you very specifically by the power of the Holy Ghost.” - David A. Bednar, LDS Apostle, Missionary Devotional, August 26, 2021 | wasmormon.org
“I don’t want to try to tell you how to do this, but I would recommend you don’t try to write down things that any of us say. I would suggest to you that that totally misses the mark. What you should write down are the things that only you hear that are being delivered to you very specifically by the power of the Holy Ghost.” - David A. Bednar, LDS Apostle, Missionary Devotional, August 26, 2021