Joseph Smith's Pre-1830 Education
74 Primary Sources
Date | Summary | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Apr 12, 1819 | GH describes the basics of 19th century school as "reading, writing, and arithmetic." | Gideon Hawley Non-LDS | Direct | |
Jan 1829 - | In 1829, JS describes the translation of the Record of Nephi. | Joseph Smith, Jr. LDS | Scribed Verbatim Direct | |
Oct 22, 1829 | A letter from JS to OC, scribed by FGW. | Joseph Smith, Jr. LDS | Scribed Verbatim | |
Jan 15, 1831 | Phelps comments on limited education of Joseph, Harris, et al. | E. D. Howe Critic | 2nd Hand Reprint | |
Feb 1, 1831 | PR describes translation of BOM, highlights JS's lack of education. | Palmyra Reflector LDS | Unsourced Journalism | |
Mar 3, 1831 | Letter from JS to HS, with spelling mistakes. | Joseph Smith, Jr. LDS | Scribed Verbatim Direct | |
Mar 9, 1832 | AL describes how he will run as a representative and uses his legal knowledge to bolster his campaign. | Abraham Lincoln Non-LDS | Direct Reprint | |
Jun 1, 1832 | JS educated in reading/writing basic math. | Frederick G. Williams LDS | Scribed Verbatim Direct | |
Jun 1832 | JS obtained the plates in 1827 and commenced translating them then. | Joseph Smith, Jr. LDS | Scribed Verbatim Direct | |
Aug 4, 1832 | William McLellin: Joseph published the BOM in 1830. | William McLellin LDS | Holograph 2nd Hand | |
Dec 31, 1832 | Joseph states that he was deprived of a benefit of an education and was instructed only in the basics of reading, writing, and arithmetic. | Joseph Smith, Jr. LDS | Scribed Verbatim | |
1834 | Commentary on public schools during JS's time. | J. Orville Taylor Non-LDS | Secondary | |
1834 | J. Orville Taylor provides commentary on public schools during Joseph's time. | J. Orville Taylor Non-LDS | Direct | |
May 1, 1834 | Susquehanna Register reprints Isaac Hales's recollection that Joseph didn't go to school often. | Isaac Hale Critic Non-LDS | Direct Reprint | |
1839 | Mulholland records the account of the BOM translation; Joseph used instruments he called U&T. | Joseph Smith, Jr. LDS | Scribed Summary | |
Dec 31, 1840 | Orson Pratt records that schooling was available to Joseph. | Orson Pratt LDS | Direct Unsourced | |
Jun 15, 1842 | CH rebuts TPA, calls JS "without education or genius" with "a little low cunning." | Cleveland Herald | Reprint Journalism | |
Dec 31, 1842 | Orson Hyde writes in a German tract that Joseph did not receive an education. | Orson Hyde LDS | 2nd Hand | |
1844 - | Lucy Mack Smith reports that Smith family read revolutionary literature. | Lucy Mack Smith LDS | Scribed Verbatim Direct | |
Jun 8, 1844 | JS could not write well | Joseph Smith, Jr. LDS | Scribed Verbatim | |
Dec 31, 1844 | Luc Mack Smith reports that Joseph didn't like books in her memoirs. | Lucy Mack Smith LDS | Scribed Verbatim | |
Dec 31, 1844 | Lucy Mack Smith describes Hyrum Smith's education. | Lucy Mack Smith LDS | Scribed Verbatim | |
1845 | Lydia Gates Mack, mother of Lucy Mack Smith, taught school and was an accomplished woman. | Solomon Mack Non-LDS | Scribed Verbatim | |
1845 | Lucy Mack Smith records how Smith family educated their children. | Lucy Mack Smith LDS | Scribed Verbatim | |
1845 | LS describes how her husband taught school during the winter-time. | Lucy Mack Smith LDS | Scribed Verbatim Direct | |
1845 | LMS recalls that JS Sr. taught school. | Lucy Mack Smith LDS | Scribed Verbatim Late | |
1845 | LS describes how Hyrum went to an academy in Hanover. | Lucy Mack Smith LDS | Scribed Verbatim Direct | |
1845 | LMS highlights JS's farm labors. | Lucy Mack Smith LDS | Scribed Verbatim 2nd Hand | |
1845 | JS worked as a day laborer. | Lucy Mack Smith LDS | Scribed Verbatim 2nd Hand | |
1845 | Lucy Mack says that Oliver Cowdery taught school at the district school when the Smith family arrived in Harmony. | Lucy Mack Smith LDS | Scribed Verbatim | |
1848 | WA says JS could barely read and could only really write his name | William I. Appleby LDS | 2nd Hand | |
1851 | OT writes that JS was "possessed of less than ordinary intellect." | Orsamus Turner Critic Non-LDS | Direct | |
Aug 14, 1859 | OP describes JS's limited education. | Orson Pratt LDS | Unsourced Late | |
Feb 11, 1861 | Abraham Lincoln records that he wrote his own farewell speech from Springfield, demonstrating his literacy. | Abraham Lincoln Non-LDS | Scribed Verbatim Direct | |
Dec 31, 1867 | Pomeroy Tucker asserts that Joseph was unlearned and spent more time outside. | Pomeroy Tucker Critic Non-LDS | 2nd Hand Late | |
Dec 31, 1867 | Pomeroy Tucker reports that Joseph knew a lot of stories. | Pomeroy Tucker Critic Non-LDS | Secondary | |
1867 | Pomeroy Tucker highlights how LDS have used Joseph's lack of education to defend the Book of Mormon. | Pomeroy Tucker Critic Non-LDS | Late Secondary | |
1867 | According to TP, JS was illiterate c. ~1830. | Pomeroy Tucker Critic Non-LDS | 2nd Hand Secondary | |
1869 | MT's first book for comparison to the age of JS translating the BOM. | Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens) Critic Non-LDS | Direct | |
Dec 31, 1869 | Gazetteer and Business Directory prints reports that Joseph attended a little bit of school. | Hamilton Child Non-LDS | Journalism | |
Aug 31, 1878 | In a letter to James T. Cobb, William S. Sayre claims that Joseph Smith, Sr. was educated. | William S. Sayre | 2nd Hand Reprint Late | |
Oct 1, 1879 | ES on JS as being a poor at dictation and writing. | Emma Hale Smith Disaffected | Scribed Verbatim Direct Late | |
Dec 29, 1880 | Joseph Smith had a limited education | Simon Smith LDS | Direct Reprint | |
Feb 11, 1881 | SS tells MF that JS's education was "very limited." | Simon Smith LDS | 2nd Hand Reprint | |
Dec 31, 1883 | Smith family knew Joseph did not have proper education. | William Smith Disaffected | Direct Late | |
Dec 31, 1883 | William Smith reports that although Joseph did not have a common education, he had a high regard for truth. | William Smith Disaffected | Direct | |
Feb 27, 1884 | CB says he went to school with JS. | Clark Braden Non-LDS | Scribed Verbatim Late | |
Sep 1, 1884 | Benjamin Saunders reports to William H. Kelley that that Joseph had little education. | William H. Kelley LDS | Scribed Verbatim Reprint Late | |
1884 | SP says that JS had a poor reputation as a student in school. | Clark Braden Non-LDS | Direct Late | |
Jan 1, 1887 | HS was much more educated than JS. | Mrs. S. F. Anderick Non-LDS | Direct | |
Jun 27, 1887 | S.F. Anderick, in a statement, reports that Hyrum Smith was able to teach school, Joseph was not. | Mrs. S. F. Anderick Critic | Direct Reprint Late | |
Jan 1888 | Isaac Butts, in a statement, states that Joseph went to school. | A. B. Deming Critic Non-LDS | Direct Reprint Late | |
Sep 8, 1892 | JHG notes that the original manuscript of the BOM didn't have punctuation. | John Hulbert Gilbert Critic Non-LDS | Direct Late | |
1901 | AJ describes how OC taught school in the district school in Manchester, Ontario county, N.Y.. | Andrew Jenson LDS | Secondary | |
Dec 31, 1901 | Lyman Stowell reports that Joseph went to school. | Wilbur F. Stowell Non-LDS | 2nd Hand Late | |
1902 | Asael Smith gives address to Joseph Smith Sr. to give his children a good education, if possible. | Joseph Fielding Smith LDS | Direct | |
1906 | JWR says SR had high-quality education. | John W. Rigdon LDS | Direct | |
1908 | Biography of Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain). | John W. Leonard Non-LDS | Secondary | |
1911 | Evelyn M. Wood says Joseph might have been taught his letters in around 1810. | Evelyn M. Wood Lovejoy Non-LDS | 3rd Hand Late Secondary | |
1911 | Junius F. Wells reports that Joseph went to a school on Dewey Hill. | Evelyn M. Wood Lovejoy Non-LDS | Secondary | |
Jul 1, 1922 | Joseph Smith went to school and was not as ignorant as some portrayed him. | H. S. Salisbury | Secondary | |
Dec 31, 1956 | JS went to school in East Palmyra with the Terry family. | Mr. and Mrs. Terry Lund Non-LDS | Unsourced Late | |
1992 | Bruce A. Van Orden reports that Hyrum Smith went to school much earlier than Joseph. | Bruce A. Van Orden LDS | Secondary | |
1995 | Historian DHD says that Abraham Lincoln had less than one year of schooling by age fifteen. | David Herbert Donald Non-LDS | Secondary | |
1995 | David Herbert Donald describes 19th-century education for Abraham Lincoln. | David Donald Herbert Non-LDS | Secondary | |
1995 | AL had an urgency to become a lawyer in 1834 and self-studied to become one. | David Herbert Donald Non-LDS | Secondary | |
1995 | AL was sought after to write letters for his neighbors as few could write well at that time. | David Herbert Donald Non-LDS | Unsourced Secondary | |
Dec 2001 | Kyle Walker, in a PhD thesis, discusses Joseph Smith Sr. working as a school teacher. | Kyle R. Walker LDS | Secondary | |
Dec 31, 2006 | HS had access to Dartmouth educational ideas. | Richard K. Behrens | Secondary | |
Aug 14, 2010 | TMTH&M says MT(SC) was educated until the fifth grade. | The Mark Twain House & Museum Non-LDS | Secondary | |
Aug 14, 2010 | TMTH&M summarizes the publication of MT's first book. | The Mark Twain House & Museum Non-LDS | Secondary | |
Dec 2, 2013 - | An exhibit summarized by DCL recounts the history of Moor's Charity school. | Dartmouth College Library Non-LDS | Secondary | |
2014 | The RDOCS gives biographical and academic details of John S. | Rutgers Database of Classical Scholars Editorial Committee Non-LDS | Secondary | |
2015 | Charles Dudley Warner's notes from autobiography of Samuel Clemens concerning his education. | Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens) Non-LDS | Direct Reprint |