Martin Harris

1783–1875 (92 years)

Hometown: Eastown, New York

Biography

Martin Harris was one of the Three Witnesses to the Book of Mormon and a crucial financial backer of its publication. A prosperous farmer from Palmyra, New York, Harris mortgaged his farm to pay for the printing of the Book of Mormon—a sacrifice that demonstrates his commitment to Joseph Smith’s claims.

Harris is associated with the “lost 116 pages”—manuscript pages he borrowed to show his skeptical wife, which then disappeared. This incident led to a significant revision in translation procedures and is addressed in LDS scripture.

Harris testified that an angel showed him the golden plates, a testimony he maintained throughout his life despite his complicated relationship with the church. He was excommunicated in 1837 during the Kirtland crisis but was rebaptized in 1842. He eventually fell away again and joined several other Mormon factions over the years.

Excommunicated December 16, 1837, during the Kirtland crisis. He was rebaptized on November 7, 1842, but later affiliated with various Mormon splinter groups. Finally rebaptized into the Utah LDS church on September 17, 1870, and moved to Utah, where he maintained his Book of Mormon witness until death.

In 1870, at age 87, Harris moved to Utah and was rebaptized into the main LDS church. He spent his final years in Utah, continuing to testify to the reality of his witness experience. He died in 1875 and is remembered primarily as a witness whose testimony persisted despite estrangement from the church.

Wives (2)

Martin Harris was a polygamist with 2 marriages. 1 of these wives were teenagers at the time of marriage.

Marriage Age Comparison

2 wives · Ages at marriage

Her age His age Teenage bride (<18)
#NameMarriage DateHer AgeHis AgeAge DiffChildren
1 Lucy Harris ⚠ Mar 27, 1808 152494
2 Caroline Young Nov 1, 1836 1853357

Children (11)

With Lucy Harris (4 children)

With Caroline Young (7 children)

  1. Martin Harris Jr. (b. Jan 28, 1838)
  2. Caroline Harris (b. Jan 1, 1839)
  3. Julia Lacotha Harris (b. Apr 29, 1842)
  4. John Wheeler Harris (b. Jul 1, 1845)
  5. Sarah Harris (b. Jan 1, 1849)
  6. Solomon Webster Harris (b. Dec 1, 1854)
  7. Ida May Harris (b. May 27, 1856)

Related Posts (20)

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“Not one of the Three Witnesses [Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, or Martin Harris] ever denied his testimony of the Book of Mormon.” - Michael R. Morris, The Last Witness of the Three Witnesses, The New Era, January 2020 | [Oliver Cowdery] arose and addressed the audience present, admitted his error and implored forgiveness, and said he was sorry and ashamed of his connection with Mormonism. | “Smith, having become worldly and proud, has been forsaken of the Lord, and has become a knave and impostor.” - Martin Harris | “If you believe my testimony to the Book of Mormon; God spake to me again by his own voice from the heavens, and told me to separate myself from among the Latter Day Saints.” - David Whitmer | wasmormon.org “As to his present relation to the Mormons—Martin Harris believes that the work in its commencement was a genuine work of the Lord, but that Smith, having become worldly and proud, has been forsaken of the Lord, and has become a knave and impostor. He expects that the work will be yet revived, through other instrumentalities. This we had sometime since from Harris himself, and it has been repeated to us within the last week by a brother of his.” - Martin Harris, Financier of the Book of Mormon and Witness of Gold Plates Painesville Telegraph, Volume 7: 1841 June 30, No 26, Page 3 | wasmormon.org "The Anthon Transcript was a sheet of paper, thought to be lost, upon which Joseph Smith copied sample “reformed Egyptian” characters from the plates of the Book of Mormon. In the winter of 1828, Martin Harris showed these characters to Dr. Charles Anthon of Columbia College, and hence the name... [Anthon] maintained that he told Harris that he (Harris) was a victim of a fraud. Modern research suggests that, given the state of knowledge of Egyptian in 1828, Anthon’s views would have been little more than opinion... [The Anthon Transcript] contains seven horizontal lines of characters apparently copied from the plates. David Whitmer, who once owned the document, said it was this text that Martin Harris showed to Charles Anthon. However, this claim remains uncertain because the transcript does not correspond with Anthon’s assertion that the manuscript he saw was arranged in vertical columns. Even if the document is not the original, it almost certainly represents characters either copied from the plates in Joseph Smith’s possession or copied from the document carried by Harris. Twice in late 1844, after the Prophet’s martyrdom, portions of these symbols were published as characters that Joseph Smith had copied from the gold plates." Anthon Transcript. Danel W. Bachman. BYU Studies | wasmormon.org “David Whitmer, Oliver Cowdery, and Martin Harris, are too mean to mention; and we had liked to have forgotten them.” - Joseph Smith | wasmormon.org "I was well acquainted with Martin Harris, who was often at my house for days at a time. I have questioned him much about the plates from which the “Book of Mormon” purports to have been translated. He never claimed to have seen them with his natural eyes, only spiritual vision." - Reuben P. Harmon, a neighbor of Martin Harris in Kirtland, Ohio | Martin Harris, Witness of the Gold Plates | wasmormon.org "A sensible and religious gentleman in Palmyra put the following question to Harris: 'Did you see these plates?' Harris replied that he did. 'But did you see the plates and the engravings on them with your bodily eyes?' Harris replied, 'Yes, I saw them with my eyes; there were shown unto me by the power of God, and not of man.' 'But did you see them with your natural, bodily eyes, just as you see this pencil case in my hand? Now say no or yes to this.' Harris replied, 'I did not see them as I do that pencil case, yet I saw them with the eye of faith; I saw them just as distinctly as I see anything around me, though at the time they were covered over with a cloth.'" - Martin Harris, Witness of the Gold Plates | wasmormon.org Martin was in the office when I [John H. Gilbert, typesetter for most of the Book of Mormon] finished setting up the testimony of the three witnesses, I said to him, “Martin, did you see those plates with your naked eyes?” Martin looked down for an instant, raised his eyes up, and said, “No, I saw them with a spiritual eye.” - Martin Harris, Witness of the Gold Plates | wasmormon.org Stephen Burnett claimed that Martin Harris denied having seen the plates “with his natural eyes.” Citing the language of the revelation, Burnett asserted that to see by God’s power meant that the witnesses viewed the plates only “in vision or imagination.” Harris felt misrepresented and immediately attempted to clarify his earlier statement. Struggling to put the transcendent experience into words, he stated, according to Burnett, that he saw the plates as if he “saw a city through a mountain.” - Martin Harris, Witness of the Gold Plates | wasmormon.org "Be it known... that we... have seen the plates. And we also know that they have been translated by the gift and power of God, for his voice hath declared it unto us; wherefore we know of a surety that the work is true. And we also testify... an angel of God came down from heaven, and he brought and laid before our eyes, that we beheld and saw the plates, and the engravings thereon; and we know that it is by the grace of God... that we beheld and bear record that these things are true. And it is marvelous in our eyes." - Testimony of Three Witnesses Martin Harris, Oliver Cowdery, and David Whitmer | wasmormon.org “The other instrument, which Joseph Smith discovered in the ground years before he retrieved the gold plates, was a small oval stone, or “seer stone.” As a young man during the 1820s, Joseph Smith, like others in his day, used a seer stone to look for lost objects and buried treasure... Some people have balked at this claim of physical instruments used in the divine translation process, but such aids to facilitate the communication of God’s power and inspiration are consistent with accounts in scripture. Martin Harris sat across the table from Joseph Smith and wrote down the words Joseph dictated. Harris later related that as Joseph used the seer stone to translate, sentences appeared.” - Book of Mormon Translation, Gospel Topic Essay The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2013 | wasmormon.org "Joseph Smith used at least one other seer stone in translating the Book of Mormon, often placing it into a hat in order to block out light. According to Joseph’s contemporaries, he did this in order to better view the words on the stone... according to Martin Harris, Joseph also used one of his seer stones for convenience during the Book of Mormon translation... Over the years, artists have sought to portray the Book of Mormon translation, showing the participants in many settings and poses with different material objects. Each artistic interpretation is based upon its artist’s own views, research, and imagination, sometimes aided by input and direction from others." - Joseph the Seer, Richard E. Turley Jr. Liahona, October 2015. Still shows incorrect depictions but blames artistic interpretations (and direction from others) for the discrepancy. | wasmormon.org “Three of us took some tools to go to the hill and hunt for more boxes of gold or something, and indeed we found a stone box. We got quite excited about it and dug carefully around it, and by some unseen power it slipped back into the hill.” - Martin Harris, One of the Three Witnesses, Scribe to Joseph Smith, Book of Mormon Financier The Last Testimony of Martin Harris, The Instructor, October 1930, Vol 65, No 10 | wasmormon.org joseph smith and martin harris seer stones from south park cartoon image or book of mormon translation process from south park, Joseph smith with his head in a hat looking at a peep stone and dictating to martin harris with the caption "And that's how the book of mormon was written" joseph smith putting stones into hat to read to martin harris in book of mormon translation from south park