The Book of Mormon and the Spaulding Manuscript

What is the Spaulding Manuscript?

The Spaulding Manuscript (also known as "Manuscript Found") is a draft of a fictional story Solomon Spaulding[BIO] wrote in about 1812.[1] The story tells of a group of Roman soldiers who are blown off course and land in North America while traveling from Rome to Britain.[2]

What does it have to do with the Book of Mormon?

In 1834, Mormon critic E. D. Howe[BIO] published Mormonism Unvailed which featured testimonies from neighbors and relatives of Solomon Spaulding saying they thought there were similarities between Spaulding's manuscript and the Book of Mormon.[3] Howe also claimed that Sidney Rigdon[BIO] had the Spaulding manuscript in his possession, wrote a draft of the Book of Mormon, and gave the draft to Joseph Smith.[BIO][4]

Critics of the Church have repeated the theory that Joseph Smith or Sidney Rigdon copied the Book of Mormon from Solomon Spaulding's book since 1834.[5]

Black and white scan of a worn handwritten document from the 1800s, Manuscript Found, or the Spaulding Manuscript. — Page 1 of 'Manuscript Found,' commonly known as the 'Spaulding Manuscript.'

Timeline of "Manuscript Found"

ca. 1809-1812

Solomon Spaulding writes "Manuscript Story."[6]

ca. 1814-1816

The "Manuscript Story" is reportedly taken to the Patterson & Lambdin print shop in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[7]

1816

Solomon Spaulding dies in Amity, Pennsylvania.[8]

July 1816

The Commonwealth newspaper publishes names of people who had mail at the post office in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, including Solomon Spaulding and Sidney Rigdon.[9]

ca. 1819-1822

Sidney Rigdon is invited to become a pastor in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[10]

1828-1829

Joseph Smith translates the Book of Mormon.[11]

March 26, 1830

The Book of Mormon is published.[12]

February 15, 1831

The Cleveland Advertiser states that "it is believed" that Sidney Rigdon is the author of the Book of Mormon.[13]

ca. 1833

Doctor Philastus Hurlbut[BIO] acquires the Spaulding manuscript.[14]

January 1834

An announcement in the Painesville Telegraph states that a committee has found that the Book of Mormon was written by Solomon Spaulding.[15]

1834

E. D. Howe publishes Mormonism Unvailed which claims the Book of Mormon is plagiarized from Spaulding's Manuscript Story.[16]

ca. 1839-1840

E. D. Howe, owner of the Painesville Telegraph, sells the newspaper and the Spaulding manuscript.[17]

1838

In the book Mormonism Exposed, Samuel Williams[BIO] claims that Sidney Rigdon used the Spaulding Manuscript to write the Book of Mormon.[18]

1839

In a letter to the Quincy Whig, Sidney Rigdon denies any knowledge of the Spaulding manuscript.[19]

1840

Benjamin Winchester,[BIO] a Latter-day Saint from Conneaut, Ohio, writes a refutation of the Spaulding manuscript theory.[20]

30 years

1870

In the book Life in Utah Mormon critic J. H. Beadle[BIO] repeats the theory that Sidney Rigdon plagiarized the Book of Mormon.[21]

1883

In a pamphlet on Mormonism, William Smith[BIO] rejects the Spaulding theory.[22]

1883

Apostle George Reynolds[BIO] writes The Myth of the "Manuscript Found".[23]

1885

L. L. Rice[BIO] donates the Spaulding Manuscript to Oberlin College.[24]

1885

The Community of Christ publishes the Spaulding Manuscript, which includes a letter from L. L. Rice that says, "No one who reads this Manuscript will give credit to the story that Solomon Spaulding was in any wise the author of the Book of Mormon."[25]

1885

William Whitsitt[BIO] writes an unpublished biography of Sidney Rigdon that claims Sidney Rigdon was the true author of the Book of Mormon.[26]

June 1885

The Santa Maria Times reports that "it has been claimed" that there is a second Spaulding manuscript which is the source of the Book of Mormon.[27]

February-April 1900

Joseph F. Smith[BIO] writes a three-part series for the Improvement Era describing the Spaulding manuscript and his meeting with L. L. Rice who owned the manuscript for a time.[28]

1909

B. H. Roberts[BIO] addresses the Spaulding-Rigdon theory and the problems with it in New Witnesses for God.[29]

1915

Non-Latter-day Saint James E. Homans[BIO] writes The Case Against Mormonism under the pseudonym Robert C. Webb. He analyzes the Spaulding manuscript theory and concludes it does not hold up.[30]

1945

Church critic Fawn Brodie[BIO] publishes her biography of Joseph Smith, No Man Knows My History, in which she briefly mentions the Spaulding theory of Book of Mormon authorship and dismisses it.[31]

June 1977

The Salt Lake Tribune reports that Solomon Spaulding's handwriting matches that of an unknown scribe for 1 Nephi[32] during the translation of the Book of Mormon.[33] However, after the initial report is made public, two of the three handwriting experts withdraw their conclusions.[34]

July 1977

Jerald Tanner,[BIO] a Church critic, states that he does not see similarities between the handwriting in the Spaulding manuscript and the Book of Mormon manuscript.[35]

1985

Mark Hofmann[BIO] purportedly discovers an 1822 deed signed by Sidney Rigdon and Solomon Spaulding, but it is later proven to be a forgery.[36]

1996

The BYU Religious Studies Center and Kent Jackson[BIO] publish facsimiles of the Spaulding Manuscript.[37]

2005

Three Latter-day Saint critics publish Who Really Wrote The Book of Mormon? The Spalding Enigma which argues in support of the Spaulding manuscript theory.[38]

2005

Matthew Roper[BIO] writes a response to Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon? The Spalding Enigma that refutes its support for the Spaulding theory.[39]

2008

Matthew Jockers,[BIO] a former Latter-day Saint, and two others publish a stylometric study concluding that the text of the Book of Mormon came mostly from Spaulding's manuscript.[40]

2011

Bruce Schaalje[BIO] et al. publish a response to the Jockers study that shows that the Jockers method is flawed because using it indicates that Oliver Cowdery,[BIO] Parley P. Pratt,[BIO] and Sidney Rigdon were likely authors of the Federalist Papers.[41]

2019

On the Mormon Stories podcast, Church critic Dan Vogel[BIO] states that he does not believe in the Spaulding-Rigdon theory.[42]

Expand Timeline

Who was Solomon Spaulding?

Solomon Spaulding attended Dartmouth College and was ordained a minister.[43] He moved to Ohio and wrote a manuscript of a fictional story about a group of Romans who landed in North America and their adventures among the Native Americans, but it was never published.[44]

He reportedly moved to Amity, Pennsylvania, where he gave the manuscript to the print shop Patterson & Lambdin, but it was never printed.[45] He died in 1816.[46]

Are there similarities between Spaulding's story and the Book of Mormon?

Yes. These include an ancient record found under a rock, large battles, and a few others (see table below).[47]

However, both critics and scholars of the Book of Mormon agree that the Spaulding manuscript was not involved in the origin of the Book of Mormon.[48]

Examples of Similarities Between the Spaulding Manuscript and the Book of Mormon

Subject[49]	Spaulding Manuscript	The Book of Mormon
An ancient text is found under a rock.	Solomon Spaulding described finding the manuscript under a rock near Conneaut, Ohio.[50]	Joseph Smith described finding the plates in a stone box hidden under a rock.[51]
A group of people travel to the American continent on a boat.	A group of Romans were sent from Rome to Britain but were blown off course by a storm. They receive a divine message that they will be saved. Soon after, the group lands in North America.[52]	Lehi's family traveled to the Americas on a ship and faced a storm as punishment for wickedness, which then subsides after they repent.[53]
Translated from an ancient language.	Spaulding wrote that the manuscript he "found" was written in Latin.[54]	The Book of Mormon says it is written in "reformed Egyptian."[55]
Pre-Columbian horses in America.	There is one reference to a character riding a horse in the Spaulding manuscript.[56]	The Book of Mormon lists horses among some of the fauna found in the Promised Land.[57]
Jesus Christ.	The Romans appoint one man to be a minister of Jesus Christ for their group.[58]	The title page of the Book of Mormon states that one of its purposes is to convince Jews and Gentiles that Jesus is the Christ.[59]
Large battles between civilizations.	The introduction to "Manuscript Found" says it is the record of the rise and fall of great civilizations.[60]	The Book of Mormon describes a great war between the Lamanites and Nephites that ended with the destruction of the Nephite civilization.[61]

Expand Table

What ended up happening to the Spaulding manuscript?

After Solomon Spaulding died in 1816, Doctor Philastus Hurlbut acquired the manuscript in 1833, and over the years, it passed through various hands until it ended up in Oberlin College in Ohio (see table below).[62]

Date	Possession of the Manuscript
ca. 1809-1812	Solomon Spaulding writes "Manuscript Found."[63]
1816	Matilda Spaulding,[BIO] Solomon Spaulding's wife, inherits Spaulding's manuscript.[64]
1833	Doctor Philastus Hurlbut acquires the Spaulding Manuscript and gives it to E. D. Howe.[65]
1839-1840	E. D. Howe sells his newspaper office and all his papers (including Spaulding’s manuscript) to L. L. Rice.[BIO][66]
1885	L. L. Rice sends “Manuscript Found” to Oberlin College.[67]
1885-Present	Oberlin College has continued to possess “Manuscript Found” since 1885.[68]

Expand Table

I've heard that there were two Spaulding manuscripts. Is that true?

Possibly, but, probably not. Some have argued that there were two manuscripts: one which was discovered in Honolulu and a second unknown manuscript which was used to write the Book of Mormon.[69][70] In Mormonism Unvailed, E. D. Howe implied that the manuscript Doctor Philastus Hurlbut found was not the same manuscript that Solomon Spaulding shared with friends and neighbors.[71]

However, Lewis L. Rice, who found the Spaulding Manuscript among his papers around 1885 reported that "Manuscript Story-Conneaut Creek" was written on an outside wrapper[72] and that there was no other manuscript.[73]

Read More Difficult Questions

174 Primary Sources

Footnotes

BIOSolomon Spaulding
Solomon Spaulding (alt. Spalding) (1761-1816) was an American author who, from 1809 to 1812, worked on a historical fiction about a Roman discovery of the Americas. This unfinished manuscript is sometimes called "The Oberlin Manuscript" or "Honolulu Manuscript." This text was published by the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1885 and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1886 and 1920 under the name Manuscript Found. One early theory of Book of Mormon origins (still popular in some circles today) is that this manuscript was used as a source by Joseph Smith to produce the Book of Mormon.
BIOE. D. Howe
Eber Dudley Howe (1798–1885) was an Ohio newspaper editor and journalist who authored an early influential anti-Mormon book: Mormonism Unvailed [sic]. Howe was a vocal opponent of the Latter-day Saints in the pages of his newspaper the Painesville Telegraph. Along with Doctor Philastus Hurlbut (1809–1883), he formulated the Solomon Spaulding theory of the origin of the Book of Mormon.
BIOSidney Rigdon
Sidney Rigdon (1793–1876) was a Campbellite minister in Pennsylvania but joined the Church in 1830. He was a gifted orator and served as a member of Joseph Smith's First Presidency. He ran as Joseph Smith's vice presidential candidate in 1844. After Joseph Smith's death, he claimed to be Joseph Smith's successor in opposition to the Quorum of the Twelve. He was excommunicated and went on to establish "The Church of Jesus Christ" in Friendship, New York, where he lived until his death.
BIOJoseph Smith, Jr.
Joseph Smith (1805–1844) organized The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Born in Sharon, Vermont, he began to experience visions of deity and angels at a young age. One vision featured the Angel Moroni, who revealed the location of gold plates with an account of ancient Americans. He translated this record and published it as The Book of Mormon. He continued to receive revelations throughout his life which serve as the foundation for the Church's doctrine today. He led the Latter-day Saints across the country from New York to Illinois. In 1844, he was martyred while awaiting trial in Carthage, Illinois.
BIODoctor Philastus Hurlbut
Doctor Philastus Hurlbut (February 3, 1809–June 16, 1883), was an early Church member and critic. Hurlbut was born in Vermont and given Doctor as a first name. Hurlbut became a Methodist Episcopal preacher in New York, was baptized in the church sometime between 1832 and 1833, and ordained an elder by Sidney Rigdon in 1833. Later that year he was excommunicated. In 1834, Eber D. Howe published information that Hurlbut collected about Joseph Smith and his family in Mormonism Unvailed. Hurlbut and Howe also claimed that Smith and Rigdon had based the Book of Mormon on Solomon Spaulding's lost manuscript. Hurlbut was ordained an elder in the Salem United Brethren Church of Gibsonburg, but was later suspended from the ministry.
BIOSamuel Williams
Samuel Williams (1802-1887) was born in Connellsville, Pennsylvania. He was ordained in Somerset, Pennsylvania, and became the pastor of a Baptist Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1827. The majority of his life he spent preaching and building congregations throughout Pennsylvania and Ohio. He self-published the pamphlet Mormonism Exposed in 1842.
BIOBenjamin Winchester
Benjamin Winchester (1817-1901) was an early Mormon convert and active church missionary before leaving the faith over doctrinal disputes. Born in Lindy's Lane, Pennsylvania, to Stephen Winchester and Nancy Case, he moved with his family to Kirtland, Ohio, after they joined the Mormon Church in 1833. Winchester participated in Zion's Camp march in 1834, attended the School of the Prophets, and was ordained a Seventy in 1835. In Philadelphia, he led the local church, published works including a history of the priesthood and the newspaper The Gospel Reflector. He married Mary Hannah Stone in 1840, and they had five children. Disagreements with church leadership and opposition to plural marriage led to his excommunication in 1844. After briefly supporting Sidney Rigdon’s movement, Winchester owned a cigar shop in Pittsburgh from 1846 to 1854 before settling in Council Bluffs, Iowa, where he worked in brick making and farming until his death in 1901.
BIOJ. H. Beadle
John Hanson Beadle (March 14, 1840—January 15, 1897) served in the Civil War, after which he earned a law degree from the State University of Michigan and then pursued a journalism career. He spent one year as editor of the Salt Lake Reporter, and later published a book extremely critical of Mormonism.
BIOWilliam Smith
William Smith (1811–1893) was a brother of Joseph Smith and served as one of the original members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. William became the Church's patriarch following Hyrum Smith's death in 1844. William was excommunicated when he publicly accused Brigham Young of covertly practicing polygamy.
BIOGeorge Reynolds
George Reynolds (January 1, 1842–August 9, 1909) was a general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was born in Marylebone, England, and joined the Church in 1856. He emigrated to Utah in 1865. He served as a secretary to the First Presidency and held various other leadership positions within the church, including serving as a member of the Church Historian’s Office. He was also an author, editor, and scholar, having written several important works, including The Story of the Book of Mormon and A Dictionary of the Book of Mormon, which were influential in the church's educational efforts. Reynolds is most famous for being the defendant in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Reynolds v. United States (1879). He was selected by the Church to test the constitutionality of anti-polygamy laws. Reynolds was convicted of bigamy, and the case ultimately upheld the federal government's right to legislate against polygamy, setting a precedent for future legal actions against the practice. He died from meningitis in Salt Lake City on August 9, 1909.
BIOL. L. Rice
Lewis L. Rice was an experienced newspaper editor and abolitionist who notably managed The Cleveland Whig and The Cleveland Gazette. Beyond his editorial roles, Rice served as the private secretary to Ohio Governor Chase and later as the Superintendent of Public Printing in Columbus, Ohio. He is particularly remembered for his connection to the Spaulding papers, which he acquired in 1839. Recognizing their potential historical significance, Rice transferred these papers to Oberlin College in 1884, where they were used to discredit claims of plagiarism against the Book of Mormon.
BIOW. H. Whitsitt
William Heth Whitsitt (1841-1911) was a Baptist minister and scholar. Born near Nashville, Tennessee, he graduated from Union University in 1861 and served as a Confederate chaplain during the Civil War. He furthered his studies in Europe and began teaching at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in 1872, becoming its president in 1895. He researched the history of the Latter-day Saint movement and wrote an unpublished biography of Sidney Rigdon. Controversy over his research on Baptist history led to his resignation in 1899. Whitsitt then taught at Richmond College in Virginia until 1910. He passed away on January 20, 1911.
BIOJoseph F. Smith
Joseph F. Smith (1838–1918) was born in Far West, Missouri to Hyrum and Mary Fielding Smith. At age 15, he was called to serve his first mission to the Sandwich Islands under the direction of apostle Parley P. Pratt. During the 1858-59 session of the Utah territorial legislature, he served as the sergeant-at-arms. He served another mission for the Church in Great Britain from 1860 to 1863.
Smith was ordained an apostle by Brigham Young in July 1866. He served as a counselor in the First Presidency under John Taylor, Wilford Woodruff, and Lorenzo Snow. He became the president of the Church in 1901. Smith issued the Second Manifesto, declaring that any church officer who performed a plural marriage would be excommunicated, alongside the couple themselves. He also received what is now canonized as section 138 of the Doctrine and Covenants, a vision of the spirit world in 1918.
BIOB. H. Roberts
Brigham Henry Roberts (1857-1933) was born in Warrington, Lancashire, England, to Benjamin Roberts and Ann Everington. Roberts emigrated from England in 1866 and crossed the plains to Salt Lake City. He was baptized in 1867 and settled in Bountiful. Roberts served a mission to Iowa and Nebraska, then was transferred to Tennessee in 1880. He served as president of the Eastern States Mission from 1922 to 1927 and as one of the seven Presidents of the Seventy from 1888 until his death. Roberts was an early and prolific writer on Mormonism, best known for A Comprehensive History of the Church and Studies of the Book of Mormon.
BIOJames E. Homans
James E. Homans (1865-1949) born in New York City, New York. Homans graduated from the Harvard Divinity School in 1889. He wasn't ordained but was an Episcopalian in practice, an author, and a friend to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He wrote the book The Case Against Mormonism (under the pseudonymn Robert C. Webb), published in 1915 to defend the church from some common anti-Mormon claims popular common at the time. Homans wrote several other works in defense of the Latter-day Saints and their beliefs.
BIOFawn Brodie
Fawn McKay Brodie (September 15, 1915–January 10, 1981) was an American biographer and historian best known for her controversial and influential biography of Joseph Smith No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith (1945). She received a bachelor's degree in English literature from the University of Utah in 1934 and a master's degree from the University of Chicago in 1936. Her biographical work is noted for its psychological approach and critical perspective on its subjects. In May 1946, Brodie was excommunicated from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for her work critical of Joseph Smith. Brodie married Bernard Brodie, a military strategist and scholar, and they had three children. She died of lung cancer in 1981.
BIOJerald Tanner
Jerald Dee Tanner (June 1, 1938–October 1, 2006) was an American writer known for his critical publications on The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He, along with his wife Sandra, co-founded the Utah Lighthouse Ministry, which is dedicated to examining and challenging the teachings and historical claims of the Church. Tanner was raised in the Church but began to question its doctrines and history during his teenage years. In 1959 he married Sandra McGee, and together they published notable works critical of the Church including Mormonism: Shadow or Reality? and The Changing World of Mormonism. He died on October 1, 2006.
BIOMark Hofmann
Mark W. Hofmann (born 1954) is known for committing forgeries of historical documents and for murderer. Raised in Salt Lake Valley, Hofmann initially pursued a career in medicine before turning to historical document dealing and forgery, particularly of Mormon documents. His forgeries were initially deemed authentic and caused significant controversy. As suspicions arose about the authenticity of his documents, he constructed bombs to silence potential accusers. In 1985, his actions led to the murder of two individuals. Arrested in 1986, Hofmann was convicted on two counts of communications fraud and admitted to the bombings following a plea bargain in 1987. He is currently serving a life sentence in Utah State Prison.
BIOKent P. Jackson
Kent Jackson (b. 1949) received a PhD in Near Eastern studies from the University of Michigan. He taught classes on the Old Testament, New Testament, and Pearl of Great Price at BYU from 1980-2017. He published numerous books, chapters, and articles on Biblical studies and Latter-day Saint history.
BIOMatthew Roper
Matthew Roper is a Research Scholar at the Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship at Brigham Young University. He holds a BA in History and an MA in Sociology from Brigham Young University. Roper has a longstanding interest in the Book of Mormon, publishing extensively on topics such as warfare, Lehite social structure, and Book of Mormon geography. He compiled the Harold B. Lee Library’s electronic collection of nineteenth-century publications about the Book of Mormon. His research focuses on Book of Mormon authorship and the intellectual history of Latter-day Saint scripture.
BIOMatthew L. Jockers
Matthew L. Jockers is a research scientist at Apple, focusing on personalization and recommendations for Apple Books, Podcasts, and Video. Prior to joining Apple in 2021, he had a 25-year academic career, ending as Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences and Professor of English and Data Analytics at Washington State University. Jockers co-founded three tech startups and a cultural non-profit. His research includes computational text analysis, highlighted in his book “Macroanalysis: Digital Methods and Literary History,” and studies in Irish and Irish-American literature. He also co-directed the Stanford Literary Lab and has extensive experience in systems administration, database design, and web development.
BIOG. Bruce Schaalje
G. Bruce Schaalje (1953-present) is originally from Lethbridge, Alberta. He studied mathematics at Brigham Young University, received a master’s in Zoology at Brigham Young University, a master’s in Biostatistics from University of Washington, and a PhD from North Carolina State University in Statistics and Biomathematics. He previously worked as a research scientist for Agriculture Canada in Alberta for 12 years before becoming a professor of Statistics at Brigham Young University. While at Brigham Young University he also served as both undergraduate and graduate program coordinator for the Statistics Department. In addition to his work on mixed linear statistical modeling, he has published several articles on statistical authorship analysis in the Book of Mormon.
BIOOliver Cowdery
Oliver Cowdery (1806–1850) was a scribe for the Book of Mormon and served as one of the Book of Mormon's Three Witnesses. In 1838, he was excommunicated from the church for a number of reasons, including encouraging lawsuits against the Church and defaming Joseph Smith by accusing him of adultery. He returned to the faith near the end of his life and never denied his testimony of the Book of Mormon's veracity.
BIOParley P. Pratt
Parley Parker Pratt (1807–1857) was born in Burlington, Otsego County, New York. He joined Sidney Rigdon's congregation (Campbellites) in 1829 and was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1830. Pratt served as an early apostle in the Church. He served missions in the United States and abroad. He was a writer, editor, poet, publisher, teacher, and legislator. He also explored and surveyed what is now known as Parley's Canyon. In 1857, Hector McLean, the former husband of Pratt's plural wife, Eleanor McLean, killed him while Pratt was serving a mission in Arkansas.
BIODan Vogel
Daniel Arlon Vogel (b. 1955) is an independent researcher and author known for his critical examinations of early Mormon documents and the life of Joseph Smith. His notable work, Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet intertwines psychological interpretations and the familial influences on Smith, particularly the religious divisions within his family. Along with this biography, Vogel has compiled the multi-volume Early Mormon Documents.
BIOMatilda Sabin Spaulding Davis
Matilda Sabin Spaulding Davison (1767–1846) was the widow of Solomon Spaulding. After Spaulding's death, she remarried to a Dr. Davison. Matilda played a crucial role in the controversy over the origins of the Book of Mormon by providing Doctor Philastus Hurlbut with her late husband's manuscript, which Hurlbut used to support the Spaulding theory. She publicly expressed her belief that the manuscript was the basis for the Book of Mormon, a view that influenced early anti-Mormon sentiment. She died in 1846 in Connecticut.
BIOJames H. Fairchild
James H. Fairchild (1817-1902) was the third president of Oberlin College. Born in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, he moved to Ohio as a child. Fairchild graduated from Oberlin in 1838 and later held various professorships before becoming president in 1866. An abolitionist, he participated in the Oberlin-Wellington Rescue of 1858. Fairchild married Mary Fletcher Kellogg in 1841. He wrote a history of Oberlin College published in 1883 and several philosophical works. He served as acting president again from 1896 to 1898 and died in 1902.
BIOD. H. Bays
Davis H. Bays (1839-1905) was an American author and critic of the Latter-day Saint movement, best known for his 1897 book The Doctrines and Dogmas of Mormonism: Examined and Refuted. Born in Matta Gorda, Texas, on March 5, 1839, Bays moved with his family to Nauvoo, Illinois, at age fifteen, and later to Beaver Island in Lake Michigan before settling in Council Bluffs. Bays died away on October 24, 1905, in Persia.
BIOSandra Tanner
Sandra McGee Tanner (born January 14, 1941) is an American writer known for her critical examination of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Along with her late husband, Jerald Tanner, she co-founded the Utah Lighthouse Ministry, an organization dedicated to researching and challenging the teachings and historical claims of the Church. She was born into a family with a strong Latter-day Saint background, with her great-great-grandfather being Brigham Young. She was raised in the Church but began questioning its teachings in her teenage years. In 1959, Sandra married Jerald Tanner, who shared her interest in investigating the history and doctrines of the Church. The couple collaborated extensively in their research and publications, becoming well-known and controversial figures. Sandra and Jerald have co-authored numerous books, pamphlets, and articles critically examining the Church, including notable works such as Mormonism: Shadow or Reality? and The Changing World of Mormonism.
BIOArthur Chris Eccel
Arthur Chris Eccel (born 1955) is a scholar specializing in Semitic languages and the sociology and history of religion. He earned his BA in Classics at the University of Utah, an MA in Semitic Languages from Harvard, and a PhD in Sociology from the University of Chicago. Eccel has taught in the US, Egypt, and Lebanon and held research positions at the American University in Cairo and the American Research Center in Egypt. His key publication is Egypt, Islam and Social Change: Al-Azhar in Conflict and Accommodation. Eccel also served 21 years as a U.S. Diplomat in the Middle East, enhancing his expertise in Arabic. His research spans Mormon studies, Islamic studies, and Biblical higher criticism.
[1]↩︎
In Mormonism Unvailed, Solomon Spaulding's brother reported that Solomon moved to Conneaut, Ohio in 1809 and that three years later he visited Solomon and:
He then told me had he been writing a book, which he intended to have printed, the avails of which he thought would enable him to pay all his debts. The book was entitled the “Manuscript Found,” of which he read to me many passages.
Thus, it appears that Solomon Spaulding wrote his manuscript sometime between his arrival in Conneaut, Ohio in 1809 and 1811 or 1812.
- In Mormonism Unvailed E. D. Howe suggests that the Book of Mormon is plagiarized from Solomon Spaulding's manuscript.
[2]↩︎
The first chapter of "Manuscript Found" begins:
My name was <is> Fabius The family name I sustain is Fabius, being decended from the illustrius General of that name—I was born at Rome & received my tuition education under the tuition of a very Le<a>rned Master... One day [Constantine] says to me—Fabius yo[u] [—] go to Brittain & carry an important] [—] to the general of our army there [—] [p. 7] sail in a vessel & return when she return[s.]
It goes on to describe how the ship was blown off course, but after a divine voice promises their safety, Fabius and the crew landed in North America.
- Encyclopedia of Mormonism entry for the Spaulding Manuscript.
- Chapter 1 of "Manuscript Found" introduces the author as a Roman sent to Britain who was blown off course.
[3]↩︎
For example, John Spaulding said that his brother Solomon's story was about one of the lost tribes of Israel that traveled to North America and separated into two nations. He asserted:
I have recently read the Book of Mormon, and to my great surprize I find nearly the same historical matter, names, &c. as they were in my brother’s writings. I well remember that he wrote in the old style, and commenced about every sentence with "and it came to pass,” or “now it came to pass,” the same as in the Book of Mormon, and according to the best of my recollection and belief, it is the same as my brother Solomon wrote, with the Exception of the religious matter. —By what means it has fallen into the hands of Joseph Smith, Jr. I am unable to determine.
Aaron Wright, a neighbor of the Spauldings, said:
The historical part of the Book of Mormon, I know to be the same as I read and heard read from the writings of Spalding, more than twenty years ago; the names more especially are the same without any alteration. He told me his object was to account for all the fortifications, &c. to be found in this country, and said that in time it would be fully believed by all, except learned men and historians.
- In Mormonism Unvailed E. D. Howe suggests that the Book of Mormon is plagiarized from Solomon Spaulding's manuscript.
[4]↩︎
Howe said that Sidney Rigdon received the Spaulding manuscript from a Pittsburg printer so that the manuscript could "be embellished, altered, and added to, as he might think expedient; and three years’ study of the bible we should deem little time enough to garble it, as it is transferred to the Mormon book."
He added:
And where could a more suitable character be found than Jo Smith, whose necromantic fame and arts of deception, had already extended to a considerable distance?... We therefore, must hold out Sidney Rigdon to the world as being the original “author and proprietor” of the whole Mormon conspiracy, until further light is elicited upon the lost writings of Solomon Spalding.
- In Mormonism Unvailed E. D. Howe suggests that the Book of Mormon is plagiarized from Solomon Spaulding's manuscript.
[5]↩︎
For example, several nineteenth-century newspapers and magazines repeated the Spaulding theory. J. H. Beadle and Charles A. Shook published exposes that upheld the Spaulding theory.
In the twenty-first century, a study published in Literary and Linguistic Computing concluded that Spaulding was the primary source of the Book of Mormon text. A book written by Wayne Cowdery, Howard Davis, and Arthur Vanick in 2007, Who Really Wrote the Book of Mormon? The Mormon Enigma then re-popularized the Spaulding theory. And in 2024 the podcast Mormon Discussion Inc. released a two-part series circulating the Spaulding theory.
[6]↩︎
In Mormonism Unvailed, Solomon Spaulding's brother reported that Solomon moved to Conneaut, Ohio in 1809 and that three years later he visited Solomon and:
He then told me had he been writing a book, which he intended to have printed, the avails of which he thought would enable him to pay all his debts. The book was entitled the “Manuscript Found,” of which he read to me many passages.
Aretmas Cunningham reported:
In the month of October, 1811, I went from the township of Madison to Conneaut, for the purpose of securing' a debt due me from Solomon Spalding. I tarried with him nearly two days, for the purpose of accomplishing my object, which I was finally unable to do. I found him destitute of the means of paying his debts. His only hope of ever paying his debts, appeared to be upon the sale of a book, which he had been, writing.
It appears that Solomon Spaulding wrote his manuscript sometime between his arrival in Conneaut, Ohio in 1809 and 1811 or 1812.
- In Mormonism Unvailed E. D. Howe suggests that the Book of Mormon is plagiarized from Solomon Spaulding's manuscript.
[7]↩︎
The earliest record of this claim is found in E. D. Howe's Mormonism Unvailed. Howe stated that Solomon Spaulding's widow told him that Spaulding took his manuscript to the Patterson & Lambdin print shop when they lived in Pittsburgh.
However, Howe also noted, "Whether it was ever brought back to the house again, she is quite uncertain."
- In Mormonism Unvailed E. D. Howe suggests that the Book of Mormon is plagiarized from Solomon Spaulding's manuscript.
[8]↩︎
The first known record of Spaulding's death date is found in "Mormonism Unvailed." It reported:
From [Spaulding's widow] we learned that Spalding resided in Pittsburgh about two years, when he removed to the township, of Amity, Washington Co. Pa. where he lived about two years, and died in 1816.
- In Mormonism Unvailed E. D. Howe suggests that the Book of Mormon is plagiarized from Solomon Spaulding's manuscript.
[9]↩︎
The Pittsburgh newspaper, The Commonwealth, reported a list of local people who had mail in the local post office. Among those listed are Solomon Spaulding and Sidney Rigdon.
- A Pittsburgh newspaper, The Commonwealth, reports that Sidney Rigdon and Solomon Spaulding had letters at the Pittsburgh post office at the same time.
[10]↩︎
According to a short biography in the Times and Seasons in 1843:
[Sidney Rigdon] was requested by the First Baptist Church of the city of Pittsburgh, to take the pastoral charge of said Church, which invitation he accepted, and in February, A.D. 1822, he left Warren, Trumball county, and removed to that city and entered immediately upon his pastoral duties, and continued to preach to that Church with considerable success.
In an unpublished manuscript biography of Sidney Rigdon, John Wickliff Rigdon, Sidney Rigdon's son, said that his father moved to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and lived with a pastor. He then "procured a license to preach and he preached his first sermon at Pittsburgh at the age of twenty seven and he continued to preach the gospel from that time adopting it as his profession."
John Rigdon noted this was in March 1819, which makes it unclear when Sidney Rigdon began preaching in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
- The Times and Seasons includes a biography of Sidney Rigdon's early life in the history of Joseph Smith.
- John W. Rigdon's biography of Sidney Rigdon reports that he began preaching in Pittsburg in 1819.
[11]↩︎
The Joseph Smith Papers website described the translation of the Book of Mormon as follows:
From April 1828 to July 1829, [Joseph Smith] dictated the text of the Book of Mormon to at least seven scribes and even inscribed the equivalent of two lines himself. He began dictating about 12 April 1828 in Harmony, Pennsylvania. Martin Harris, Emma Smith, and Emma’s brother Reuben Hale served as scribes in this early effort.
After a lengthy break, Joseph resumed translation in April 1829 with Oliver Cowdery as his main scribe. They finished the entirety of the text in July 1829.
- The Joseph Smith Papers website gives a historical introduction to the original Book of Mormon manuscript and its translation process.
[12]↩︎
On March 26, 1830 the Wayne Sentinel published the title page of the Book of Mormon along with this announcement:
The above work, containing about 600 pages, large Duodecimo, is now for sale, wholesale and retail, at the Palmyra Bookstore, by HOWARD & GRANDIN. Palmyra, March 26, 1830.
- Announcement of selling of the Book of Mormon in the Wayne Sentinel.
[13]↩︎
The Cleveland Advertiser wrote:
Rigdon was formerly a disciple of Campbell's and who it is said was sent out to make proselytes, but is probable he thought he should find it more advantageous to operate on his own capital, and therefore wrote, as it is believed the Book of Mormon, and commenced his pilgrimage in the town of Kirtland, which was represented as one of the extreme points of the Holy Land.
- The Cleveland Advertiser claims Sidney Rigdon wrote the Book of Mormon.
[14]↩︎
E. D. Howe reported that an unnamed messenger was sent to find Spaulding's widow. She said that if the manuscript still existed it would be in New York. The messenger traveled there and found it in a trunk of the widow's belongings.
In December 1833, the Wayne Sentinel reported that Doctor Philastus Hurlbut had been collecting affidavits in Ohio and New York that proved Joseph Smith plagiarized a manuscript to write the Book of Mormon. Next month in January 1834, the Painesville Telegraph reported that Hurlbut had discovered that Solomon Spaulding was the true author of the Book of Mormon.
[15]↩︎
The Telegraph's announcement said:
The result of this enquiry so far as it has proceeded has been partially laid before the public in this vicinity by Mr. Hurlbut -- and the Committee are now making arrangements for the Publication and extensive circulation of a work which will prove the "Book, of Mormon" to be a work of fiction and imagination, and written more than twenty years ago, in Salem [Conneaut], Ashtabula County, Ohio, by Solomon Spalding, Esq., and completely divest Joseph Smith of all claims to the character of an honest man, and place him at an immeasurable distance from the high station which he pretends to occupy.
This announcement was reprinted in other newspapers including the Free Elector.
- A committee in Kirtland, Ohio announces that they gathered information tying Solomon Spaulding to the Book of Mormon.
[16]↩︎
Based on the testimonies he collected, E. D. Howe concluded:
At the same time, we think that facts and data have been elicited, sufficient, at least to raise a strong presumption that the leading features of the “Gold Bible” were first conceived and concocted by one Solomon Spalding, while a resident of Conneaut, Ashtabula county, Ohio. . . . We therefore, must hold out Sidney Rigdon to the world as being the original “author and proprietor” of the whole Mormon conspiracy, until further light is elicited upon the lost writings of Solomon Spalding.
- In Mormonism Unvailed E. D. Howe suggests that the Book of Mormon is plagiarized from Solomon Spaulding's manuscript.
[17]↩︎
L. L. Rice purchased the Painesville Telegraph from E. D. Howe. In an 1885 letter to Joseph Smith III, he explained:
The Spaulding Manuscript in my possession came into my hands in this wise. In 1839-40 my partner and myself bought of E. D. Howe the Painesville Telegraph, published at Painesville, Ohio. The transfer of the printing department, types, press, &c., was accompanied with a large collection, of books, manuscripts, &c., this manuscript of Spaulding among the rest. So, you see, it has been in my possession over forty years. But I never examined it, or knew the character of it, until some six or eight months since. The wrapper was marked, "Manuscript Story — Conneaut Creek." The wonder is, that in some of my movements, I did not destroy or burn it with a large amount of rubbish that had accumulated from time to time.
- The Community of Christ reprinted two letters from L. L. Rice to Joseph Smith III about the Spaulding manuscript.
[18]↩︎
In Mormonism Exposed, Samuel Williams claimed:
Stronger proof could not be asked, than the corroborating expressed by Mr. Spaulding to his friends, of coming to this city to publish his novel, and of his taking it to Patterson's printing office, of the intimacy between Rigdon and Lambdin &c. But in addition to the circumstantial evidence, we have the positive proof, by a number of persons, that the historical parts of the Morman Bible and Mr. Spaulding's novel, are precisely the same.
- Samuel Williams claims that Sidney Rigdon used Solomon Spaulding's manuscript to write the Book of Mormon.
[19]↩︎
Rigdon wrote:
In your paper of the 18th inst. I see a letter signed by somebody, calling herself Matilda Davidson, pretending to give the origin of Mormonism, as she is pleased to call it, by relating a moonshine story about a certain Solomon Spalding, a creature with the knowledge of whose earthly existence, I am entirely indebted to this production; for surely, until Doctor Philastus Hurlburt informed me that such a being lived, at some former period, I had not the most distant knowledge of his existence.
- Sidney Rigdon denies knowledge of the Spaulding manuscript.
[20]↩︎
Benjamin Winchester asserted that E. D. Howe interviewed former neighbors of Solomon Spaulding who told him that Spaulding wrote a novel, but none of them had any notion that the Book of Mormon came from that novel. A Mr. Jackson told Howe:
that there was no agreement between them; for, said he, Mr. S[paulding]'s manuscript was a very small work, in the form of a novel, saying not one word about the children of Israel, but professed to give an account of a race of people who originated from the Romans, which Mr. S. said he had translated from a Latin parchment that he had found. The Book of Mormon, he added, purports to be written by a branch of the house of Israel; is written in a different style, and altogether different; for this reason Mr. Jackson refused to lend his name to the lie, and expressed his indignation and contempt at the base and wicked project to deceive the public.
- Benjamin Winchester explains the origin of the Spaulding theory of Book of Mormon authorship.
[21]↩︎
Beadle, repeating the story of Spaulding's manuscript, reported that Mrs. Spaulding said that the manuscript was stolen from her, and said that Sydney Rigdon and Joseph Smith copied and added to the Spaulding story. He concluded:
But the true theory no doubt is, that the writing of Spaulding was taken by Smith, Rigdon, Cowdery and others, as the suggestion and idea of their work; but was greatly modified and interpolated by them, leaving sufficient characteristics to be recognized by the Spaulding witnesses, who were left solely to their memory for a comparison with the "Book of Mormon," recognizing what was in it, and forgetting much that was not included.
- J. H. Beadle asserts that the Book of Mormon came from the Spaulding manuscript.
[22]↩︎
William Smith said:
The story that Joseph Smith made up his revelation of the Book of Mormon out of a romance written by one Solomon Spaulding, like many other falsehoods told on the character of the Prophet, by the deceitful and lying stupidity of the people of the age in which we live, must fall to the ground with the rest of their refuge of lies.
- William Smith rejects the idea that Joseph Smith wrote the Book of Mormon using the Spaulding manuscript.
[23]↩︎
In The Myth of the "Manuscript Found," George Reynolds refutes the claims that Joseph Smith used Solomon Spaulding's "Manuscript Found" to write the Book of Mormon.
Reynolds' book was written before the actual manuscript was discovered and published, so he relied on descriptions from sources like Howe's Mormonism Unvailed, which claimed that the story was about the lost Ten Tribes arriving in North America.
Reynolds disputes these claims by highlighting the differences between the Book of Mormon and the purported content of the "Manuscript Found," particularly emphasizing that the Book of Mormon does not focus on the Ten Tribes.
- George Reynolds argues against the Spaulding theory.
[24]↩︎
In 1885 L. L. Rice, the then-owner of the Spaulding manuscript, sent a letter to Joseph Smith III telling him:
You may be at rest as to my putting the manuscript into the possession of any one who will mutilate it, or use it for a bad purpose. I shall have it deposited in the Library of Oberlin College, in Ohio, to be at the disposal for reading of any one who may wish to peruse it; but not to be removed from that depository. My friend, President Fairchild, may be relied on as security for the safe-keeping of it.
- The Community of Christ reprinted two letters from L. L. Rice to Joseph Smith III about the Spaulding manuscript.
[25]↩︎
The introduction to the RLDS publication of the Spaulding manuscript begins with a letter from L. L. Rice to Joseph Smith III in which he says:
Upon reflection, since writing the foregoing, I am of the opinion that no one who reads this Manuscript will give credit to the story that Solomon Spaulding was in any wise the author of the Book of Mormon. It is unlikely that any one who wrote so elaborate a work as the Mormon Bible, would spend his time in getting up so shallow a story as this, which at best is but a feeble imitation of the other. Finally I am more than half convinced that this is his only writing of the sort, and that any pretence that Spaulding was in any sense the author of the other, is a sheer fabrication. It was easy for anybody who may have seen this, or heard anything of its contents, to get up the story that they were identical.
- The Community of Christ reprinted two letters from L. L. Rice to Joseph Smith III about the Spaulding manuscript.
[26]↩︎
W. H. Whitsitt's manuscript laid out how he believed Sidney Rigdon became the owner of the Spaulding manuscript, plagiarized it to write the Book of Mormon, and collaborated with Joseph Smith to print the Book of Mormon.
He did not add any new evidence to these claims but instead used the pre-existing claims and testimonies to create his narrative.
[27]↩︎
The Santa Maria article said:
Mr. Fairchild writes Joseph Smith (son of the founder of Mormonism and leader on the anti-polygamic Mormons): “Certainly the manuscript I saw was not the source of the Book of Mormon.” He adds, however, that since the discovery was made public it has been claimed that there were two manuscripts by Spaulding, one on the Indian and the other on the Hebrew tribes, the former being that discovered in Honolulu and the latter the source of the original J. Smith's inspiration. Nothing, however, seems to have been heard or circulated about any second manuscript until after the first (so termed) was discovered, which gives the hypothesis a decidedly ex post facto smack that some may call “fishy.”
- The Santa Maria times reports the finding of the Spaulding manuscript and the circulation of the claims of a second manuscript.
[28]↩︎
Joseph F. Smith recounted his meetings with L. L. Rice, who possessed the Spaulding manuscript, and their discussions about its contents and its lack of resemblance to the Book of Mormon. Smith emphasized the disappointment this discovery brought to those who had hoped to discredit the Book of Mormon by linking it to Spaulding's manuscript. He concluded that the manuscript's publication disproves any connection between Spaulding's work and the Book of Mormon, reinforcing its divine origin.
Regarding meeting L. L. Rice, he said:
Mr. L. L. Rice himself, an old editor, literary man, and well-read in the history of the Latter-day Saints, and possessor of the "Manuscript Story," as he repeatedly told me, firmly believed it to be the only writings of Solomon Spaulding, and the veritable "Manuscript Found" from which it had been (and surprising to say, still is) claimed the Book of Mormon was derived
[29]↩︎
Roberts concluded his arguments against the Spaulding-Rigdon theory by saying:
Another point at which the Spaulding theory goes to pieces is in the utter inability of its advocates to bring together the parties to the conspiracy in which the Book of Mormon is supposed to have had its origin. They fail even to bring Joseph Smith in contact with the Spaulding manuscript; they also fail to connect Sidney Rigdon with the manuscript; they fail to bring together Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, previous to the publication of the Book of Mormon. In all these things, vital to the maintenance of their theory, they fail. Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon, until after the publication of the Book of Mormon, are from 200 to 300 miles apart, with no means of communication or of collaboration, which would be necessary if the Spaulding theory were correct.
- B. H. Roberts addresses the Spaulding theory.
[30]↩︎
Robert Webb stated:
At any rate another line of “affidavits” is presented by numerous inconspicuous persons stating that Rigdon had had or had shown them some manuscript or had stated that some book was to appear about ancient America which would ‘‘make a stir’’ etc. Some one must have been extremely industrious or extremely fortunate in his searches to unearth so many accusers of Mr. Rigdon... Such “affidavits” as this establish nothing.
- Robert C. Webb explains problems with the Spaulding theory.
- Robert C. Webb critiques the theory that Sidney Rigdon stole a manuscript to create the Book of Mormon.
[31]↩︎
Brodie wrote:
THE SPAULDING-RIGDON theory of the authorship of the Book of Mormon is based on a heterogeneous assortment of letters and affidavits collected between 1833 and 1900. When heaped together without regard to chronology, as in Charles A. Shook's True Origin of the Book of Mormon, and without any consideration of the character of either Joseph Smith or Sidney Rigdon, they seem impressive. But the theory is based first of all on the untenable assumption that Joseph Smith had neither the wit nor the learning to write the Book of Mormon, and it disregards the fact that the style of the Book of Mormon is identical with that of the Mormon prophet's later writings, such as the Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price, but is completely alien to the turgid rhetoric of Rigdon's sermons.
- Fawn Brodie explains the Spaulding theory of Book of Mormon authorship.
- Fawn Brodie concludes that the Spaulding-Rigdon theory is not supported by the historical evidence.
[32]↩︎
The Joseph Smith Papers website explains that the original manuscript of the Book of Mormon has the "handwriting of Oliver Cowdery, John Whitmer, one unidentified scribe, and JS."
In their comparison of Spaulding's handwriting with that of the unknown scribe from the Book of Mormon, the Tanners noted that the handwriting of the unknown scribe appears in 1 Nephi chapters 4 through 12.
- The Joseph Smith Papers website gives a historical introduction to the original Book of Mormon manuscript and its translation process.
- The Tanners describe dissimilarities between the Spaulding Manuscript and pages of the Book of Mormon manuscript.
[33]↩︎
On June 26, 1977, The Salt Lake Tribune reported that Howard A. Davis, Donald Scales, and Wayne L. Cowdery had obtained photocopies of a portion of 1 Nephi that was transcribed by an unknown scribe.
They showed these pages and samples of Solomon Spaulding's writing to handwriting analysts (Howard Doulder, Henry Silver, and William Kaye) who agreed that the handwriting in both samples was the same.
- Russell Chandler reports that hand writing analysts found a connection between Spaulding's writing and an unknown scribe of the Book of Mormon.
[34]↩︎
In September 1977, the Los Angeles Times reported that two of the analysts (Doulder and Silver) retracted their support of similarities between the texts.
A handwriting expert, who now disagrees with two other analysts and his own earlier opinion, said Friday certain disputed pages in the Book of Mormon and a novel by a 19th-century minister-novelist were written by "different authors." The four-page finding of Howard Doulder, submitted Sept. 15 but made known only Friday, appears to throw doubt upon the claims of three South California researchers who hired the handwriting experts. ... Silver later backed out of the case, saying he had been misquoted by the press and that information he submitted had been "misused."
- The Los Angeles Times reports that Howard Doulder and Henry Silver retracted their statements that Solomon Spaulding's handwriting was in the Book of Mormon.
[35]↩︎
The Ogden Standard-Examiner reported that Jerald Tanner was allowed to examine pages from the Book of Mormon manuscript and compared them to the Spaulding manuscript. Tanner said that he did not find any similarities between the two texts.
Later, in their book Did Spalding Write the Book of Mormon? the Tanners explained this further and showed examples of differences between the handwriting in the manuscripts.
- The Tanners describe dissimilarities between the Spaulding Manuscript and pages of the Book of Mormon manuscript.
- Ogden Standard-Examiner reports that Jerald Tanner does not believe the Book of Mormon came from the Spaulding Manuscript.
[36]↩︎
In his book Victims: The LDS Church and the Mark Hofmann Case, historian Richard Turley wrote:
When [Hugh] Pinnock described the Spalding-Rigdon document that Hofmann allowed him to copy the previous July 14, his visitors said the document was originally dated 1792 and then altered to 1822. Also, they said, the Spalding who purportedly signed the document died in 1816, making it impossible for him to have signed it six years later. Furthermore, they said, he preferred spelling his name "Spaulding."
- Richard E. Turley, Jr. reports on a forged document clearly connecting Sidney Rigdon and Solomon Spaulding made by Mark Hofmann.
[37]↩︎
In his introduction, Kent Jackson said:
Because the Spaulding manuscript has been part of Latter-day Saint history since 1834—however undeserved its role in that history may be—the Religious Studies Center at Brigham Young University has thought it appropriate to bring it to life again so readers can be aware of its content. A few critics of LDS history and beliefs still hold to the claim that this was the source or the inspiration for the Book of Mormon, a notion that was invented by Philastus Hurlbut himself. This publication will hopefully put that idea to rest forever. ... The present volume is an unedited facsimile transcription of “Manuscript Found.” Its production required many hours of work with the manuscript itself, supplemented by photographs, microfilm photographs, and photostatic images provided by the Oberlin College archives.
- Kent P. Jackson introduces 'Manuscript Found,' providing an overview of its history and significance, and explains the process he followed to edit and transcribe the document for publication.
[38]↩︎
The Spalding Enigma is a 428-page narrative retelling of the evidence for the Spaulding theory of Book of Mormon authorship authored by Wayne L. Cowdrey, Howard A. Davis, and Arthur Vanick.
In the book, the authors suggest that they have new evidence that strengthens the case for the Spaulding theory. They state that their book is intended to be an impartial statement of the facts:
The purpose of this volume is to present the facts for all to see in a purely critical form, free from the dogmatic pronouncements of the church on high.
- Cowdrey, et al. say that they will present new and old evidence for the Spaulding theory.
[39]↩︎
Roper introduces The Spalding Enigma as an attempt by its authors to suggest a naturalistic (i.e., non-revelatory) origin for the Book of Mormon. He notes their incredulity regarding why Latter-day Saints have not given more credence to the Spaulding theory. He goes on to say:
While faithful Latter-day Saints have always defended the Book of Mormon and been critical of all naturalistic theories, it has been critics of Mormonism who have been primarily responsible for the acceptance (and then rejection) of the Spalding theory. The reason is that Latter-day Saints already have an explanation for the Book of Mormon, and so the quest for a plausible naturalistic alternative is an unbeliever’s affair. Why, one must ask, have most recent critics of the Book of Mormon rejected the Spalding theory? In my view, Cowdrey, Davis, and Vanick have not dealt effectively with the most important objections to it.
- Matthew Roper argues that there is not convincing evidence of two Spaulding manuscripts.
[40]↩︎
The study by scholars Matthew L. Jockers, Daniela M. Witten, and Craig S. Criddle concluded:
Our results indicate that likely nineteenth century contributors were Solomon Spalding, a writer of historical fantasies; Sidney Rigdon, an eloquent but perhaps unstable preacher; and Oliver Cowdery, a schoolteacher with editing experience. Our findings support the hypothesis that Rigdon was the main architect of the Book of Mormon and are consistent with historical evidence suggesting that he fabricated the book by adding theology to the unpublished writings of Spalding (then deceased).
In a follow-up study in 2013, Matthew Jockers defended his 2008 findings.
- Matthew L. Jockers, et al publish a study concluding that Spaulding and Rigdon are the main contributor to the Book of Mormon.
- Matthew L. Jockers follows up his 2008 study with a new study defending his findings.
[41]↩︎
Schaalje et al.'s study said:
To further illustrate the problem of probability inflation, we created an artificial authorship attribution problem in which the style of the test texts was deliberately chosen to be far different from those of all training authors. As training data, we computed 130 literary features for word blocks from six nineteenth-century authors connected with early Mormonism: Joseph Smith, early Sidney Rigdon (1831–46), late Sidney Rigdon (1863–73), Solomon Spalding, Oliver Cowdery, and Parley P. Pratt (see Appendices A and B). As test data, we calculated the same features for the 51 Federalist papers authored by Alexander Hamilton. We then naively used the closed-set NSC procedure to calculate posterior probabilities and classifications for the Hamilton texts (as if they were anonymous). The 130 literary features included relative frequencies of 93 non-contextual words, 35 word-pattern ratios (Hilton 1990), and 2 vocabulary richness measures (Holmes 1992).
- Using Jocker's method G. Bruce Schaalje, et al. find false attribution of the Federalist Papers to Mormon writers.
[42]↩︎
Dan Vogel argued that the Spaulding manuscript theory, which suggests the Book of Mormon was based on a manuscript by Solomon Spaulding, is unfounded. He explained that the manuscript obtained by critic Philastus Hurlbut did not resemble the Book of Mormon and the testimonies of Spaulding's associates were influenced by their reading of the Book of Mormon, leading to discrepancies and constructed memories.
Vogel also dismisses the theory that Sidney Rigdon transferred the manuscript to Joseph Smith, stating:
For this all to work you have to have a conspiracy, massive conspiracy not only does Sidney Rigdon have to be in the conspiracy but Pratt has to be in the conspiracy. And the conspiracy widens that you keep on going with trying to explain how all these things take place, so anyway I do not support the Spaulding theory as Joseph Smith's source.
- Dan Vogel explains the Spaulding theory and why he does not believe it.
[43]↩︎
Jacob H. Parker gave an overview of Solomon Spaulding in the May 17, 2024 Dartmouth Review:
Like many Dartmouth students of this early period, he traveled up from Connecticut to the College, graduating with the Class of 1785. Shortly after graduating, he was ordained a Congregationalist minister in 1787 in Connecticut, and, over the course of his life, he slowly moved west.
- Jacob H. Parker explains the Spaulding-Rigdon theory in the Dartmouth Review.
[44]↩︎
In Mormonism Unvailed John Spaulding (Solomon's brother) is quoted describing Solomon's life:
Solomon Spalding was born in Ashford, Conn, in 1761, and in early life contracted a taste for literary pursuits. After he left school, he entered Plainfield Academy, where he made great proficiency in study, and excelled most of his classmate. He next commenced the study of Law, in Windham county, in which he made little progress, having in the mean time turned his attention to religious subjects. He soon after entered Dartmouth College, with the intention of qualifying himself for the ministry, where he obtained the degree of A. M. and was afterwards regularly ordained... In a few years he failed in business, and in the year 1809 removed to Conneaut, in Ohio. The year following, I removed to Ohio, and found him engaged in building a forge. I made him a visit in about three years after; and found that he had failed, and considerably involved in debt. He then told me had he been writing a book, which he intended to have printed, the avails of which he thought would enable him to pay all his debts. The book was entitled the “Manuscript Found,” of which he read to me many passages.
- In Mormonism Unvailed E. D. Howe suggests that the Book of Mormon is plagiarized from Solomon Spaulding's manuscript.
[45]↩︎
In Mormonism Unvailed, E. D. Howe claimed that Solomon Spaulding's widow told him that:
While they lived in Pittsburgh, she thinks it was once taken to the printing office of Patterson & Lambdin; but whether it was ever brought back to the house again, she is quite uncertain: if it was, however, it was then with his other writings, in a trunk which she had left in Otsego county, N. Y.
He reported that he talked with Patterson and learned that many manuscript books were kept in the print shop. He asserted that Lambdin and Sidney Rigdon were friends and concluded that Lambdin must have given Rigdon Spaulding's manuscript.
- In Mormonism Unvailed E. D. Howe suggests that the Book of Mormon is plagiarized from Solomon Spaulding's manuscript.
[46]↩︎
In 1834 Mormonism Unvailed Solomon Spaulding's death was reported as taking place in 1816. Subsequent descriptions of Solomon Spaulding have repeated this.
[47]↩︎
In the August 1942 edition of The Christian Soldier newsletter, theologian James D. Bales listed similarities between the Book of Mormon and the Spaulding manuscript including:
- Both are said to have been found under a rock.
- Both are translated from an ancient language.
- Both mention Jesus Christ.
- Both mention a group of people caught in a storm until they pray.
- Both mention horses.
In his essay listing similarities between the Spaulding manuscript and the Book of Mormon, M. D. Bown acknowledged a range of similarities, from tenuous to more certain.
- James D. Bales lists similarities between the Book of Mormon and the Spaulding manuscript.
- M. D. Bown explains the different kinds of similarities he found between the Spaulding manuscript and the Book of Mormon.
[48]↩︎
Some Latter-day Saints examples include a pamphlet by Benjamin Winchester, a newspaper article by E. Cecil McGavin, a book by Francis W. Kirkham, and a BYU devotional by Tad R. Callister.
Some critics of the Church have also rejected the theory, including Fawn Brodie, Jerald and Sandra Tanner, and Dan Vogel.
[49]↩︎
For lists of similarities between Spaulding's "Manuscript Found" and the Book of Mormon, see M. D. Bown's essay "One Hundred Similarities Between The Book Of Mormon and The Spaulding Manuscript" and James D. Bales's "Book of Mormon and Spaulding Manuscripts."
- M. D. Bown lists 100 similarities he saw between the Spaulding manuscript and the Book of Mormon.
- James D. Bales lists similarities between the Book of Mormon and the Spaulding manuscript.
[50]↩︎
The introduction to "Manuscript Found" reads:
As I was walking and forming vario[us] conjectures respecting the character situatuation & numbers of those people, who far exceeded the present race of Indians in works of art & inginuety I hapned to tread on a flat stone. This was <at> a small distance from the fort; & it lay on the top of a smal[l] mound of Earth exactly horizontal— The face of it had a singular appearance... Here I noticed a big fla[t] stone fixed in the form of a doar, I imm[e]diatly tore it down & Lo a cavity wit[h]in the wall presented itself—it being about three feet in diamiter from side to side & about two feet high Within this cavity I found an earthan Box with a Box <cover> which shut it perfect[ly] tite— The Box was two feet in length one & half in breadth & one & three inche[s] in diameter. My mind filled with awful sensations which crowded fast upon me would hardly permit my hands to remove this venerable deposit, but curiosity soon gained the assendan[ ] the box was taken & raised to open [—] When I had removed the Cover I f[ound] that it contained twenty eig[ht —] of parchment. & that when [— —] [p. 3] appeared to be manuscrips written in eligant hand with Roman Letters & in the Latin Language.
- Spaulding's "Manuscript Found" starts with an account of the record being found under a rock.
[51]↩︎
In the 1838 account of his history, Joseph said:
Under a stound stone of considerable size, lay the plates deposited in a stone box, This stone was thick and rounding in the middle on the upper side, and thinner towards the edges, so that the middle part of it was visible above the ground, but the edge all round was covered with earth. Having removed the earth off the edge of the stone, and obtained a lever which I got fixed under the edge of the stone, and with a little exertion raised it up. . . . The box in which they lay was formed by laying stones together in some kind of cement, in the bottom of the box were laid two stones crossways of the box, and on these stones lay the plates and the other things with them.
- Joseph Smith describes the area where he found the golden plates.
[52]↩︎
"Manuscript Found" described the journey this way:
Preparation was made instantly & we sailed... Soon the whole Crew became lost & bewildered—They knew not the direction for <to> the rising Sun or polar Star—for the heavens were covered with clouds; & darkness had spread her sable mantle over the face of the raging deep... At length a Mariner stept [—] [p. 9] the midst & proclaimed. Attend O friends & listen to my words—A voice from on high hath penetrated my soul & the inspiration of the Almighty hath bid me proclaim—Let your sails be wide spread & the gentle winds will soon waft you into a safe harbor—A Country where you will find hospitality... On the fifth day after this we came [in] sight of Land—we entered a spaious [riv]er—& continued sailing up the [—] many leagues until we came [p. 10] in view of a Town—Every heart now palpitated with joy—& loud shouts of gladness expressed the inthusiastic transports of our souls.
- Chapter 1 of "Manuscript Found" introduces the author as a Roman sent to Britain who was blown off course.
[53]↩︎
The story of Lehi's family's sea voyage is found in 1 Nephi 18:6-14.
And it came to pass after we had all gone down into the ship, and had taken with us our provisions and things which had been commanded us, we did put forth into the sea and were driven forth before the wind towards the promised land... And it came to pass that after they had bound me insomuch that I could not move, the compass, which had been prepared of the Lord, did cease to work. Wherefore, they knew not whither they should steer the ship, insomuch that there arose a great storm, yea, a great and terrible tempest, and we were driven back upon the waters for the space of three days; and they began to be frightened exceedingly lest they should be drowned in the sea; nevertheless they did not loose me. And on the fourth day, which we had been driven back, the tempest began to be exceedingly sore.
- The Book of Mormon describes Lehi's family traveling to the Americas in a ship.
[54]↩︎
The introduction to "Manuscript Found" states:
When I had removed the Cover I f[ound] that it contained twenty eig[ht —] of parchment. & that when [— —] [p. 3] appeared to be manuscrips written in eligant hand with Roman Letters & in the Latin Language.
- Spaulding's "Manuscript Found" starts with an account of the record being found under a rock.
[55]↩︎
Mormon 9:32 says:
32. And now, behold, we have written this record according to our knowledge, in the characters which are called among us the reformed Egyptian, being handed down and altered by us, according to our manner of speech.
- Mormon says that his record is written in "reformed Egyptian."
[56]↩︎
The only reference to horses in "Manuscript Found" reads, "Hamboon mounted on an eligant Horse richly caparosened, rode thro’ the encampment—proclaiming aloud ev<e>ry man to his Station, seize your arms & prepare for battle."
- Spaulding's "Manuscript Found" mentions a character riding a horse.
[57]↩︎
1 Nephi 18:25 reads:
25. And it came to pass that we did find upon the land of promise, as we journeyed in the wilderness, that there were beasts in the forests of every kind, both the cow and the ox, and the ass and the horse, and the goat and the wild goat, and all manner of wild animals, which were for the use of men. And we did find all manner of ore, both of gold, and of silver, and of copper.
- The Book of Mormon says that there are horses in the Promised Land.
[58]↩︎
The Spaulding manuscript states:
As we all professed . . . to beleive in the religion of Jesus Christ we unanimously chose Trojanus the mate of the ship, a pious good man, to be our minister to lead our devotions every morning & evening & on the Lords day.
- The Romans in Spaulding's "Manuscript Found" choose a man to be a minister of Jesus Christ.
[59]↩︎
The title page of the Book of Mormon reads:
An account written by the hand of Mormon upon plates taken from the plates of Nephi. Wherefore, it is an abridgment of the record of the people of Nephi, and also of the Lamanites... And also to the convincing of the Jew and Gentile that Jesus is the Christ, the Eternal God, manifesting himself unto all nations
- The title page of the Book of Mormon says that it is written to convince Jews and Gentiles that Jesus is the Christ.
[60]↩︎
The introduction of the manuscript reads:
Gentle Reader, tread lightly on the ashes of the venerable dead—Thou must know that this Country was <once> inhabited by great & powerful nations. [C]onsiderably civilized—& skilled in the arts [—]ts of war, & that on ground wher thou 1—] treadest many an hard fou a bloody [p. 4] Battle hath been faught & heroes by thousand have been made to bite the dust.
- Spaulding's "Manuscript Found" starts with an account of the record being found under a rock.
[61]↩︎
Mormon 6:7-11 describes the battles that ended the Nephite civilization.
And it came to pass that my people, with their wives and their children, did now behold the armies of the Lamanites marching towards them; and with that awful fear of death which fills the breasts of all the wicked, did they await to receive them. And it came to pass that they came to battle against us, and every soul was filled with terror because of the greatness of their numbers. And it came to pass that they did fall upon my people with the sword, and with the bow, and with the arrow, and with the ax, and with all manner of weapons of war. And it came to pass that my men were hewn down, yea, even my ten thousand who were with me, and I fell wounded in the midst; and they passed by me that they did not put an end to my life. And when they had gone through and hewn down all my people save it were twenty and four of us, (among whom was my son Moroni) and we having survived the dead of our people, did behold on the morrow, when the Lamanites had returned unto their camps, from the top of the hill Cumorah, the ten thousand of my people who were hewn down, being led in the front by me.
- Mormon describes the final battles before the end of the Nephite civilization.
[62]↩︎
In Mormonism Unvailed E. D. Howe reported that Hurlbut received the Spaulding manuscript from his widow, and that he received the manuscript from Hurlbut. Later, Howe sold his newspaper office and papers to L. L. Rice. Rice discovered the Spaulding manuscript among the papers in 1885 and gifted it to Oberlin College.
- In Mormonism Unvailed E. D. Howe suggests that the Book of Mormon is plagiarized from Solomon Spaulding's manuscript.
- The Community of Christ reprinted two letters from L. L. Rice to Joseph Smith III about the Spaulding manuscript.
[63]↩︎
In Mormonism Unvailed, Solomon Spaulding's brother reported that Solomon moved to Conneaut, Ohio in 1809 and that three years later he visited Solomon. He noted,
He then told me had he been writing a book, which he intended to have printed, the avails of which he thought would enable him to pay all his debts. The book was entitled the “Manuscript Found,” of which he read to me many passages.
So it appears that Spaulding wrote his story sometime between 1809 when he initially moved to Ohio and 1812 when his brother visited him.
- In Mormonism Unvailed E. D. Howe suggests that the Book of Mormon is plagiarized from Solomon Spaulding's manuscript.
[64]↩︎
In 1839 the Daily National Intelligencer reported that Matilda Spaulding said:
At length the manuscript was returned to its author, and soon after we removed to Amity, Washington county, Pa., where Mr. S. deceased in 1816. The manuscript then fell into my hands and was carefully preserved. It has frequently been examined by my daughter, Mrs. McKenstry, of Monson, Mass., with whom I now reside, and by other friends.
- The Daily National Intelligencer reprints an article from the Boston Daily Advertiser reporting that Doctor Philastus Hurlbut found Spaulding's manuscript.
[65]↩︎
Solomon Spaulding's great-niece, Ellen Dickinson, interviewed both Doctor Philastus Hurlbut and E. D. Howe. Both men told her that Hurlbut gave Howe the manuscript, even though Hurlbut had not received permission from Spaulding's widow to do so. They also stated that they were unsure if they had the original manuscript and they believed that the Mormons had destroyed the Spaulding manuscript.
- Ellen E. Dickinson interviews Doctor Philastus Hurlbut about the Spaulding manuscript.
- Ellen E. Dickinson relates an interview with E. D. Howe about the Spaulding manuscript.
[66]↩︎
In a letter to Joseph Smith III, L. L. Rice explained:
The Spaulding Manuscript in my possession came into my hands in this wise. In 1839-40 my partner and myself bought of E. D. Howe the Painesville Telegraph, published at Painesville, Ohio. The transfer of the printing department, types, press, &c., was accompanied with a large collection, of books, manuscripts, &c., this manuscript of Spaulding among the rest. So, you see, it has been in my possession over forty years. But I never examined it, or knew the character of it, until some six or eight months since. The wrapper was marked, "Manuscript Story — Conneaut Creek." The wonder is, that in some of my movements, I did not destroy or burn it with a large amount of rubbish that had accumulated from time to time.
- The Community of Christ reprinted two letters from L. L. Rice to Joseph Smith III about the Spaulding manuscript.
[67]↩︎
L. L. Rice told Joseph Smith III:
You may be at rest as to my putting the manuscript into the possession of any one who will mutilate it, or use it for a bad purpose. I shall have it deposited in the Library of Oberlin College, in Ohio, to be at the disposal for reading of any one who may wish to peruse it; but not to be removed from that depository.
- The Community of Christ reprinted two letters from L. L. Rice to Joseph Smith III about the Spaulding manuscript.
[68]↩︎
In the introduction to his facsimile edition of “Manuscript Found,” Kent Jackson wrote:
The manuscript arrived at Oberlin College in 1885, when it was sent to James H. Fairchild, president of the college, by L. L. Rice, who had possessed it since 1839. Since it arrived in Oberlin, it has been housed under archival conditions and has been well preserved.
- Kent P. Jackson introduces 'Manuscript Found,' providing an overview of its history and significance, and explains the process he followed to edit and transcribe the document for publication.
[69]↩︎
For example:
- While Theodore Schroeder and Henry Sheldon did not say that there were two separate manuscript stories, they did claim that there were multiple drafts. They alleged one was used to write the Book of Mormon and another was the manuscript L. L. Rice found.
- Charles A. Shook said that Spaulding wrote two stories: one about a group of Romans in North America and another detailing the origins of the Native Americans.
- Thomas Gregg concluded that the Spaulding manuscript found in Hawaii was not the same manuscript used to write the Book of Mormon.
- William Whitsitt believed Spaulding had two or three drafts of his story that Sidney Rigdon then used to write the Book of Mormon.
[70]↩︎
To differentiate between the two hypothetical manuscripts they have been given the names "Manuscript Story" and "Manuscript Found." The former describes the known manuscript found in Hawaii because someone had written "Manuscript Story" on the wrapping around the manuscript.
The title "Manuscript Found" is then used to describe the unknown second manuscript which allegedly aligns more closely with the narrative of the Book of Mormon.
[71]↩︎
Howe wrote:
The trunk referred to by the widow, was subsequently examined, and found to contain only a single M. S. book, in Spalding’s hand-writing, containing about one, quire of paper. This is a romance, purporting to have been translated from the Latin, found on 24 rolls of parchment in a cave, on the banks of Conneaut Creek, but written in modern style, and giving a fabulous account of a ship’s being driven upon the American coast, while proceeding from Rome to Britain, a short time previous to the Christian era, this country then being inhabited by the Indians. This old M. S. has been shown to several of the foregoing witnesses, who recognise it as Spalding’s, he having told them that he had altered his first plan of writing, by going farther back with dates, and writing in the old scripture style, in order that it might appear more ancient. They say that it bears no resemblance to the "Manuscript Found."
- In Mormonism Unvailed E. D. Howe suggests that the Book of Mormon is plagiarized from Solomon Spaulding's manuscript.
[72]↩︎
L. L. Rice told Joseph Smith III the following:
The Spaulding Manuscript in my possession came into my hands in this wise. In 1839-40 my partner and myself bought of E. D. Howe the Painesville Telegraph, published at Painesville, Ohio. The transfer of the printing department, types, press, &c., was accompanied with a large collection, of books, manuscripts, &c., this manuscript of Spaulding among the rest. So, you see, it has been in my possession over forty years. But I never examined it, or knew the character of it, until some six or eight months since. The wrapper was marked, "Manuscript Story — Conneaut Creek."
- The Community of Christ reprinted two letters from L. L. Rice to Joseph Smith III about the Spaulding manuscript.
[73]↩︎
L. L. Rice told Joseph Smith III:
My opinion is, from all I have seen and learned, that this is the only writing of Spaulding, and there is no foundation for the statement of Deming and others, that Spaulding made another story, more elaborate, of which several copies were written, one of which Rigdon stole from a printing-office in Pittsburg, etc.
- The Community of Christ reprinted two letters from L. L. Rice to Joseph Smith III about the Spaulding manuscript.
[74]↩︎
For example:
- In 1837, Trumpet and Universalist Magazine called it "highly probable, that [the Book of Mormon] was done by Sidney Rigdon."
- In 1839, Alexander Campbell expressed his support for the Spaulding-Rigdon theory in The Millennial Harbinger.
- British author Frederick Marryatt claimed in his 1846 book that Sidney Rigdon received the Spaulding manuscript from Lambdin while living in Pittsburg.
- In 1907, Theodore Schroeder claimed that Rigdon stole the manuscript and showed it to individuals on two occasions.
- A 2024 two-part podcast by Mormon Discussion Inc. repeated the claims of the Spaulding-Rigdon theory including the claim that some believed that Spaulding told them that Rigdon stole the manuscript.
[75]↩︎
In her book No Man Knows My History, Fawn Brodie stated:
Many writers, however, still believed that a second Spaulding manuscript was the true source of the Book of Mormon, and labored indefatigably to prove it. Before examining their evidence, it should be noted that if, as seems most likely, there was only one Spaulding manuscript, there were certain similarities between it and the Book of Mormon which, though not sufficient to justify the thesis of common authorship, might have given rise to the conviction of Spaulding's neighbors that one was a plagiarism of the other. Both were said to have come from out of the earth; both were stories of colonists sailing from the Old World to the New; both explained the earthworks and mounds common to western New York and Ohio as the result of savage wars. John Miller had spoken of "humorous passages" in Spaulding's work, which would certainly apply to the "Manuscript Story," but not to the utterly humorless Book of Mormon.
- Fawn Brodie explains the origins of the claims that there were two Spaulding manuscripts.
[76]↩︎
The June 8, 1839 edition of the Quincy Whig printed a letter from Sidney Rigdon where he said, "If I were to say that I ever heard of the Rev. Solomon Spalding, and his hopeful wife, until Dr. P. Hurlburt wrote his lie about me, I should be a liar like unto themselves."
In 1908 the Deseret News reprinted an interview that Sidney Rigdon's son had with him:
"You are an old man," he said, "and you will soon pass away, and I wish to know if Joseph Smith, in your intimacy with him for fourteen years, has not said something to you that led you to believe he obtained that book in some other way than what he had told you." To this appeal by the son, Sidney Rigdon replied: "My son, I can swear before high heaven that what I have told you about the origin of that book is true. your mother and sister, Mrs. Athalia Robinson, were present when that book was handed to me in Mentor, Ohio, and all I ever knew about the origin of that book was what Parley P. Pratt, Oliver Cowdery, Joseph Smith and the witnesses who claimed they saw the plates have told me, and in all of my intimacy with Joseph Smith he never told me but the one story, and that was that he found it engraved upon the gold plates in a hill near Palmyra, New York, and that an angel had appeared to him and directed him where to find it; and I have never, to you or to any one else, told but the one story, and that I now repeat to you."
- Sidney Rigdon denies knowledge of the Spaulding manuscript.
- The Deseret Evening News reports that the Spaulding theory is still being perpetuated.
[77]↩︎
The Times and Seasons reported that Sidney Rigdon was born in Pennsylvania, raised in Ohio, and moved to Pittsburgh to be a pastor.
Solomon Spaulding moved to the Pittsburgh area sometime between 1814 and 1816 and died in Amity, Pennsylvania, in 1816.
- The Times and Seasons includes a biography of Sidney Rigdon's early life in the history of Joseph Smith.
- In Mormonism Unvailed E. D. Howe suggests that the Book of Mormon is plagiarized from Solomon Spaulding's manuscript.
[78]↩︎
The Pittsburgh newspaper The Commonwealth reported that both Sidney Rigdon and Solomon Spaulding had mail at the local post office in July 1816.
- A Pittsburgh newspaper, The Commonwealth, reports that Sidney Rigdon and Solomon Spaulding had letters at the Pittsburgh post office at the same time.
[79]↩︎
E. D. Howe speculated:
We are, then, irresistibly led to this conclusion:—that Lambdin, after having failed in business, had recourse to the old manuscripts then in his possession, in order to raise the wind, by a book speculation, and placed the "Manuscript Found,” of Spalding, in the hands of Rigdon, to be embellished, altered, and added to, as he might think expedient; and three years’ study of the bible we should deem little time enough to garble it, as it is transferred to the Mormon book. The former dying left the latter the sole proprietor, who was obliged to resort to his wits, and in a mirculous way to bring it before the world; for in no other manner could such a book be published without great sacrifice.
- In Mormonism Unvailed E. D. Howe suggests that the Book of Mormon is plagiarized from Solomon Spaulding's manuscript.
[80]↩︎
For example, in his 2024 book How The Book of Mormon Came to Pass, former Latter-day Saint and church critic Lars Nielsen claimed:
For months, Rigdon had been desirous to make Smith’s acquaintance and look him straight in the eye, but it would be difficult for him to leave his wife, children, and flock for very long. . . . Better for Pratt to meet with Smith first and attempt to discern whether it continued to be consistent with the LORD’s will that Smith come to Ohio. Consequently, in the summer of 1826, Rigdon dispatched Pratt to return to Palmyra and have an audience with Smith.
- Lars Nielsen claims that Sidney Rigdon used Parley P. Pratt to collude with Joseph Smith to write the Book of Mormon.
[81]↩︎
In 1838, Parley P. Pratt wrote a refutation of the Spaulding theory of Book of Mormon authorship. He asserted that he first learned about the Book of Mormon during the summer of 1830. He reported:
About the 15th of October, 1830, I took my journey, in company with Elder O. Cowdery, and Peter Whitmer, to Ohio. We called on Elder S. Rigdon, and then for the first time, his eyes beheld the "Book of Mormon;" I myself, had the happiness to present it to him in person. He was much surprised, and it was with much persuasion and argument, that he was prevailed on to read it, and after he had read it, he had a great struggle of mind, before he fully believed and embraced it; and when finally convinced of its truth, he called together a large congregation of his friends, neighbors, and brethren, and then addressed them very affectionately, for near two hours, during which time, both himself and nearly all the congregation were melted into tears.
- Parley P. Pratt explains how he introduced Sidney Rigdon to the Book of Mormon.
[82]↩︎
Spaulding's "Manuscript Found" tells the story of a shipload of Romans who accidentally landed in North America and their subsequent adventures among the Native Americans.
On the other hand, the Book of Mormon states that it is a record of the Nephites, Lamanites, and Jaredites and that its intended purpose is to testify that Jesus is the Christ.
[83]↩︎
Both Latter-day Saints (e.g., Bruce Blumell) and non-Latter-day Saints (e.g., Dan Vogel, James Fairchild, and Robert Webb) have noted that the testimonies collected by Doctor Philastus Hurlbut were given about twenty years after the witnesses heard Spaulding's story.
In Mormonism Unvailed, Spaulding's family and neighbors also recalled that the Book of Mormon contained many names (e.g., the names Nephi and Lehi) and story elements from Spaulding's manuscript (e.g., the Lost Ten Tribes traveling to America); however, since then, no manuscripts have been found that connect the names or stories found in the Book of Mormon to the only known copy of Spaulding's "Manuscript Story."
[84]↩︎
In a letter to Joseph Smith III after finding the Spaulding manuscript L. L. Rice said:
Upon reflection, since writing the foregoing, I am of the opinion that no one who reads this Manuscript will give credit to the story that Solomon Spaulding was in any wise the author of the Book of Mormon. It is unlikely that any one who wrote so elaborate a work as the Mormon Bible, would spend his time in getting up so shallow a story as this, which at best is but a feeble imitation of the other. Finally I am more than half convinced that this is his only writing of the sort, and that any pretence that Spaulding was in any sense the author of the other, is a sheer fabrication. It was easy for anybody who may have seen this, or heard anything of its contents, to get up the story that they were identical.
- The Community of Christ reprinted two letters from L. L. Rice to Joseph Smith III about the Spaulding manuscript.
[85]↩︎
Spaulding's "Manuscript Found" tells the story of a shipload of Romans who accidentally landed in North America and their subsequent adventures among the Native Americans.
On the other hand, the Book of Mormon states that it is a record of the Nephites, Lamanites, and Jaredites and that its intended purpose is to testify that Jesus is the Christ.
[86]↩︎
Latter-day Saints (e.g., Bruce Blumell) and non-Latter-day Saints (e.g., Dan Vogel, James Fairchild, and Robert Webb) have acknowledged that the testimonies collected by Doctor Philastus Hurlbut were given about twenty years after the witnesses heard Spaulding's story. They suggest that the memories of Spaulding's manuscript story among his family and friends might have been influenced by their more recent exposure to excerpts of the Book of Mormon.
[87]↩︎
The testimonies in Mormonism Unvailed rely on the memories of Spaulding's family and neighbors. They recalled that the Book of Mormon contained many names (e.g., the names Nephi and Lehi) and story elements from Spaulding's manuscript (e.g., the Lost Ten Tribes traveling to America). However, since then no manuscripts have been found that connect the names or stories found in the Book of Mormon to the only known copy of Spaulding's "Manuscript Story."
[88]↩︎
E. D. Howe claimed, "We have been credibly informed that he [Sidney Rigdon] was on terms of intimacy with Lambdin." However, he does not indicate who gave him this credible information.
Latter-day Saint critic Arthur Chris Eccel disputes this, arguing that the line of reasoning connecting Sidney Rigdon to the Spaulding manuscript requires a chain of deductions starting from an unproven hypothesis that Joseph Smith plagiarized a Book of Mormon precursor text from Rigdon.
In his refutation, he stated, "Each subsequent claim relies on the previous, making the entire argument speculative. This is as fallacious as it gets."
- Arthur Chris Eccel gives a refutation of the Spalding-Rigdon theory.
- In Mormonism Unvailed E. D. Howe suggests that the Book of Mormon is plagiarized from Solomon Spaulding's manuscript.
[89]↩︎
E. D. Howe conjectured:
He resided in this vicinity about four years previous to the appearance of the book, during which time he made several long visits to Pittsburgh, and perhaps to the Susquehannah, where Smith was then digging for money, or pretending to be translating plates.
Sidney Rigdon denied this accusation, stating, "All I ever knew about the origin of that book was what Parley P. Pratt, Oliver Cowdery, Joseph Smith and the witnesses who claimed they saw the plates have told me."
Since then, Latter-day Saint and non-Latter-day Saint historians have not found any evidence connecting Rigdon and Smith before their known first meeting in 1830.
[90]↩︎
Fawn Brodie explored this issue in the following way:
Protagonists of the theory do not explain why, if Rigdon wrote the Book of Mormon, he was content to let Joseph Smith found the Mormon Church and hold absolute dominion over it throughout the years, so secure in his position that he several times threatened Rigdon with excommunication when Rigdon opposed his policies.
Rigdon was called to be Joseph Smith's counselor in the first presidency soon after his conversion; however, he did not challenge Joseph Smith's place as the head of the Church.
- Fawn Brodie concludes that the Spaulding-Rigdon theory is not supported by the historical evidence.
- Sidney Rigdon is called to be Joseph's counselor.
[91]↩︎
In an 1839 letter to the Quincy Whig, Sidney Rigdon said:
I see a letter signed by somebody, calling herself Matilda Davidson, pretending to give the origin of Mormonism, as she is pleased to call it, by relating a moonshine story about a certain Solomon Spalding, a creature with the knowledge of whose earthly existence, I am entirely indebted to this production; for surely, until Doctor Philastus Hurlburt informed me that such a being lived, at some former period, I had not the most distant knowledge of his existence.
In 188 The Deseret Evening News reported an interview between Sidney Rigdon and his son during which Sidney said:
My son, I can swear before high heaven that what I have told you about the origin of that book is true... In all of my intimacy with Joseph Smith he never told me but the one story, and that was that he found it engraved upon the gold plates in a hill near Palmyra, New York, and that an angel had appeared to him and directed him where to find it; and I have never, to you or to any one else, told but the one story, and that I now repeat to you.
- Sidney Rigdon denies knowledge of the Spaulding manuscript.
- The Deseret Evening News reports that the Spaulding theory is still being perpetuated.
[92]↩︎
Fawn Brodie noted:
The theory is based first of all on the untenable assumption that Joseph Smith had neither the wit nor the learning to write the Book of Mormon, and it disregards the fact that the style of the Book of Mormon is identical with that of the Mormon prophet's later writings, such as the Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price, but is completely alien to the turgid rhetoric of Rigdon's sermons.
The study "Reassessing Authorship of the Book of Mormon" by Jockers, Witten, and Criddle used statistical analysis to suggest contributions from Solomon Spalding, Sidney Rigdon, and Oliver Cowdery to the Book of Mormon, with Rigdon being a key figure. Conversely, Schaalje's study "Extended Nearest Shrunken Centroid Classification" adapted this method to better handle diverse text sizes and open author sets and yielded different results.
[93]↩︎
In 1885, the Santa Maria Times reported:
Nothing, however, seems to have been heard or circulated about any second manuscript until after the first (so termed) was discovered, which gives the hypothesis a decidedly ex post facto smack that some may call “fishy.”
Latter-day Saint scholar Sidney Sperry said:
Despite the fact that the one and only Spaulding manuscript was found, we occasionally hear of some critic who claims that the Book of Mormon is based, at least in part, on another Spaulding manuscript, more antique in style than the other, but now lost. This theory, or a variation of it, was made possible, of course, by E. D. Howe's implying that there was a second Spaulding manuscript. We need pay little attention to those persons who use this theory. Let them first produce the manuscript in question; then we shall be glad to consider their claims.
Matthew Roper pointed out that many of the statements used to support the theory of a second manuscript come from late secondary sources.
[94]↩︎
In June 1977, the Salt Lake Tribune reported that three handwriting analysts had found similarities between samples of Spaulding's writing and an unknown scribe of the Book of Mormon. However, later that same year two of those analysts retracted their support.
Additionally, Latter-day Saint critic Jerald Tanner examined the Book of Mormon manuscript in the Church History Library. He stated that he did not find any similarities between Spaulding's handwriting and that of the unknown scribe of the Book of Mormon.
[95]↩︎
Both Latter-day Saint and non-Latter-day Saint scholars and critics agree that "Manuscript Found" contains no significant religious material. Analysis by figures such as L. L. Rice and James H. Fairchild, who have directly examined the manuscript, alongside Latter-day Saints like Joseph F. Smith, supports the view that Spaulding's text is devoid of the religious themes and doctrinal narratives prevalent in the Book of Mormon.
[96]↩︎
Concerning the assumptions one has to make for the Spaulding manuscript theory to work, Arthur Chris Eccel says:
For a researcher who feels he has very strong stylistic evidence for his hypothesis, there can be the temptation to feel so sure that the hypothesis is true that it can be used to prove the contingencies. This line of reasoning proceeds as follows. Since Smith plagiarized a Spalding-Rigdon BOM-precursor text (or so this research thinks he has shown), therefore "Rigdon must have provided it." Since he did, therefore "Rigdon must have known Smith or Cowdery." Since he did, he must have had a manuscript to provide. Since he did, "Rigdon must have found the time to dedicate himself to produce such a text." Since he did, "he had so much interest in the native American issues that he was motivated to do so." This mode of argument continues all the way down the chain to therefore, "Spalding wrote a history featuring Israelites." In this approach, the unproven hypothesis proves the chain of contingent premises upon which it rests. This is as fallacious as it gets.
- Arthur Chris Eccel gives a refutation of the Spalding-Rigdon theory.
[97]↩︎
For the Spaulding theory to work, it would take a conspiracy involving Sidney Rigdon, Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, and Parley P. Pratt. There is no historical evidence that supports this and, as many have pointed out, maintaining this secrecy would be unlikely. For instance, Sidney Rigdon consistently denied any knowledge of or involvement with the Spaulding manuscript until the end of his life.
[98]↩︎
The Salt Lake Tribune wrote:
The first expert to be consulted was Henry Silver. He told the Los Angeles Times: "It is my definite opinion that all of the questioned handwriting... were written by the same writer known as Solomon Spaulding." . . . Doulder told the Times, "This is one and the same writer," assuming that the photocopied material he was furnished is a true copy of the original documents in Salt Lake. . . . Kaye, in an opinion written Aug. 27, 1976, said it was his "considered opinion and conclusion that all of the writings were executed by Solomon Spaulding."
- Russell Chandler reports that hand writing analysts found a connection between Spaulding's writing and an unknown scribe of the Book of Mormon.
[99]↩︎
The Los Angeles Times reported that handwriting analysts Howard Doulder and Henry Silver had retracted their statements supporting the conclusion that Spaulding's handwriting matched that of an unknown Book of Mormon scribe.
- The Los Angeles Times reports that Howard Doulder and Henry Silver retracted their statements that Solomon Spaulding's handwriting was in the Book of Mormon.
[100]↩︎
In the book Did Spalding Write the Book of Mormon?, Tanner wrote:
Before showing some of the dissimilarities between the Book of Mormon manuscript and Solomon Spalding’s manuscript, it is only fair to state that there are similarities between the two. Some of them, in fact, are very impressive. (The word “that,” for instance, is similar in both manuscripts.) Nevertheless, we feel that the dissimilarities far outweigh the similarities.
- The Tanners describe dissimilarities between the Spaulding Manuscript and pages of the Book of Mormon manuscript.
- The Joseph Smith Papers website gives a historical introduction to the original Book of Mormon manuscript and its translation process.
[101]↩︎
Scholars Matthew L. Jockers, Daniela M. Witten, and Craig S. Criddle published their research as "Reassessing Authorship of the Book of Mormon Using Delta and Nearest Shrunken Centroid Classification."
They used two methods to analyze each chapter of the Book of Mormon individually in order to determine its author based on seven possible authors (Joseph Smith, Solomon Spalding, Sidney Rigdon, Oliver Cowdery, Parley P. Pratt, Isaiah (from the Bible), and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (as a control)).
The study noted:
Our results indicate that likely nineteenth century contributors were Solomon Spalding, a writer of historical fantasies; Sidney Rigdon, an eloquent but perhaps unstable preacher; and Oliver Cowdery, a schoolteacher with editing experience. Our findings support the hypothesis that Rigdon was the main architect of the Book of Mormon and are consistent with historical evidence suggesting that he fabricated the book by adding theology to the unpublished writings of Spalding (then deceased).
- Matthew L. Jockers, et al publish a study concluding that Spaulding and Rigdon are the main contributor to the Book of Mormon.
[102]↩︎
G. Bruce Schaalje, Paul J. Fields, Matthew Roper, and Gregory L. Snow wrote "Extended Nearest Shrunken Centroid Classification: A New Method For Open-Set Authorship Attribution of Texts of Varying Sizes."
In it, they noted:
The nearest shrunken centroid (NSC) methodology, originally developed for high-dimensional genomics problems, was recently applied in a stylometric study. Although NSC has many advantages, stylometric problems usually differ from genomics problems in several important ways: texts are of a wide range of sizes, a large series of texts are often the subjects for classification, and most importantly the set of candidate authors cannot usually be assumed to be closed. Consequently, na ̈ıve application of NSC methodology can produce misleading results. We extend the NSC methodology for more general application to stylometry. Reanalysis of the Book of Mormon using the open-set NSC method produced dramatically different results from a closed-set NSC analysis.
- Schaalje, et. al conclude that Jocker, et. al's conclusion that the majority of the Book of Mormon came from the Spaulding manuscript is incorrect.
[103]↩︎
In the 2011 paper "Extended Nearest Shrunken Centroid Classification: A New Method For Open-Set Authorship Attribution of Texts of Varying Sizes," G. Bruce Schaalje, Paul J. Fields, Matthew Roper, and Gregory L. Snow explained:
As test data, we calculated the same features for the 51 Federalist papers authored by Alexander Hamilton. We then naively used the closed-set NSC procedure to calculate posterior probabilities and classifications for the Hamilton texts (as if they were anonymous). The 130 literary features included relative frequencies of 93 non-contextual words, 35 word-pattern ratios (Hilton 1990), and 2 vocabulary richness measures (Holmes 1992). Early or late Rigdon was falsely chosen as the author of 28 of the 51 Hamilton texts with inflated posterior probabilities ranging as high as 0.9999 (Fig. 2). Pratt was falsely chosen as the author of 12 of the papers, and Cowdery was falsely chosen as the author of the remaining 11 papers. These results dramatically demonstrate the danger of misapplying closed-set NSC.
Matthew Jockers, one of the authors of the original study, published a follow-up study in 2013 that reiterated his initial findings. He wrote:
Nothing in this current research moves me to change my opinion about the necessity of excluding Smith as an author-candidate in Book of Mormon authorship analysis, at least until such time as new, authenticated Smith documents are available.
In 2018, Arthur Eccel, a Mormon scholar and critic of the church, concluded:
Sophisticated content analysis has been done in an attempt to provide independent evidence for the conclusion of the Spalding-Rigdon hypothesis. The results are far from proof, and are refuted by other equally good statisticians.
[104]↩︎
Fairchild made this assessment in a journal published by the Western Reserve Historical Society in 1886.
- James H. Fairchild summarizes and criticizes the Spaulding theory.
[105]↩︎
Davis Bays was critical of the Latter-days Saints' claims; however, he also criticized the Spaulding theory in his 1897 book The Doctrines And Dogmas Of Mormonism Examined And Refuted.
- D. H. Bays recounts the Spaulding manuscript theory and calls it a "failure."
[106]↩︎
Fawn Brodie made this criticism in her 1945 biography of Joseph Smith, No Man Knows My History.
- Fawn Brodie concludes that the Spaulding-Rigdon theory is not supported by the historical evidence.
[107]↩︎
The Ogden Standard-Examiner made this report on July 8, 1977.
- Ogden Standard-Examiner reports that Jerald Tanner does not believe the Book of Mormon came from the Spaulding Manuscript.
[108]↩︎
Jerald and Sandra Tanner made this conclusion in their book Did Spalding Write the Book of Mormon?
- The Tanners describe dissimilarities between the Spaulding Manuscript and pages of the Book of Mormon manuscript.
[109]↩︎
Arthur Chris Eccel said this in his 2018 book Mormon Genesis.
- Arthur Chris Eccel gives a refutation of the Spalding-Rigdon theory.
[110]↩︎
Dan Vogel argues that the Spaulding manuscript theory, which suggests the Book of Mormon was based on a manuscript by Solomon Spaulding, is unfounded. He explains that the manuscript obtained by critic Philastus Hurlbut did not resemble the Book of Mormon and the testimonies of Spaulding's associates were influenced by their reading of the Book of Mormon, leading to discrepancies and constructed memories. Vogel also dismisses the theory that Sidney Rigdon transferred the manuscript to Joseph Smith.
- Dan Vogel explains the Spaulding theory and why he does not believe it.
[111]↩︎
Parley P. Pratt responded to assertions that the Book of Mormon was copied from the Spaulding manuscript in his 1838 pamphlet Mormonism Unveiled.
- Parley P. Pratt criticizes newspapers that report the Spaulding theory as a fact.
[112]↩︎
Sidney Rigdon’s earliest known response to the claim that he copied or stole the Spaulding manuscript is found in the Quincy Whig June 8, 1839.
- Sidney Rigdon denies knowledge of the Spaulding manuscript.
[113]↩︎
In 1908 the Deseret Evening News reported that Sidney Rigdon testified of the veracity of the Book of Mormon to his son John W. Rigdon in an interview at the end of his life.
- The Deseret Evening News reports that the Spaulding theory is still being perpetuated.
[114]↩︎
From B. H. Roberts' chapter "The Spaulding Theory of the Origin of the Book of Mormon" in his New Witnesses for God.
- B. H. Roberts addresses the Spaulding theory.
[115]↩︎
President Gordon B. Hinckley made this statement during the October 1993 general conference.
- Gordon B. Hinckley voices his rejection of both the Solomon Spaulding and View Of The Hebrews theories for the origins of the BOM.
[116]↩︎
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland said this during his October 2009 general conference talk "Safety for the Soul."
- Jeffrey R. Holland mentions Solomon Spaulding in a General Conference talk.
[117]↩︎
From Tad R. Callister's November 2016 BYU Speech "The Book of Mormon: Man-Made or God-Given?"
- Tad R. Callister discusses Solomon Spaulding and View Of The Hebrews in a BYU speech.

Critic	Date	Statement
James H. Fairchild[BIO]	1892	“The manuscript has no resemblance to the ‘Book of Mormon,’ except in some very general features. There is not a name or an incident common to the two. It is not written in the solemn Scripture style... The names of persons are entirely original, quite as remarkable as those in the ‘Book of Mormon,’ but never the same-such as Bombal, Kadocam, Lobaska, Hamboon, Ulipoon, Lamesa, etc.”[104]
Davis Bays[BIO]	1897	“The writer has examined a certified copy of this remarkable document, and to say he was surprised is to express it moderately. Instead of exhibiting the qualities of a scholarly mind, as we had been led to believe it would do, quite to the contrary, it bears every mark of ignorance and illiteracy, and is evidently the product of a mind far below the average, even in the ordinary affairs of life. A twelve-year-old boy in any of our common schools can tell a better story and couch it in far better English. The Spaulding story is a failure. Do not attempt to rely upon it — it will let you down.”[105]
Fawn Brodie[BIO]	1945	“The [Spaulding-Rigdon] theory is based first of all on the untenable assumption that Joseph Smith had neither the wit nor the learning to write the Book of Mormon, and it disregards the fact that the style of the Book of Mormon is identical with that of the Mormon prophet's later writings, such as the Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price, but is completely alien to the turgid rhetoric of Rigdon's sermons.”[106]
Jerald[BIO] and Sandra Tanner[BIO]	1977	“Jerald Tanner, a Salt Lake City anti-Mormon publisher, says he was allowed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormon) on Thursday to see documents that convinced him novelist Solomon Spaulding could not have written part of the Book of Mormon manuscript.”[107]
Jerald[BIO] and Sandra Tanner[BIO]	1977	“We feel that even if a hundred handwriting experts said that the Book of Mormon pages and the Spalding manuscript were written by the same hand, there are still serious historical problems which would have to be explained before the theory could be accepted.”[108]
Arthur Chris Eccel[BIO]	2018	“For a researcher who feels he has very strong stylistic evidence for his hypothesis, there can be the temptation to feel so sure that the hypothesis is true that it can be used to prove the contingencies. This line of reasoning proceeds as follows. Since Smith plagiarized a Spalding-Rigdon BOM-precursor text (or so this research thinks he has shown), therefore ‘Rigdom must have provided it.’ Since he did, therefore ‘Rigdon must have known Smith or Cowdery.’ Since he did, he must have had a manuscript to provide. Since he did, ‘Rigdon must have found the time to dedicate himself to produce such a text.’ Since he did, ‘he had so much interest in the native American issues that he was motivated to do so.’ This mode of argument continues all the way down the chain to therefore, ‘Spalding wrote a history featuring Israelites.’ In this approach, the unproven hypothesis proves the chain of contingent premises upon which it rests. This is as fallacious as it gets.”[109]
Dan Vogel[BIO]	2019	“For this all to work you have to have a conspiracy, massive conspiracy not only does Sidney Rigdon have to be in the conspiracy but Pratt has to be in the conspiracy. And the conspiracy widens that you keep on going with trying to explain how all these things take place, so anyway I do not support the Spaulding theory as Joseph Smith's source.”[110]

Church Leader	Date	Statement
Parley P. Pratt	1838	"But that ridiculous story, (concerning Solomon Spalding's Manuscript Found, converted by Sidney Rigdon, into the "Book of Mormon") published at first as a probability, without a shadow of truth; a lie, which never had any credit among the honest and intelligent part of community in the West...I here offer my testimony on this subject; as I was a personal actor In the scenes which brought S. Rigdon into an acquaintance with the "Book of Mormon," and into connection with the Church of Latter Day Saints."[111]
Sidney Rigdon	1839	"If I were to say that I ever heard of the Rev. Solomon Spalding, and his hopeful wife, until Dr. P. Hurlburt wrote his lie about me, I should be a liar like unto themselves. Why was not the testimony of Mr. Patterson obtained to give force to this shameful tale of lies; the only reason is, that he was not a fit tool for them to work with; he would not lie for them; for if he were called on, he would testify to what I have here said."[112]
Sidney Rigdon	Reported in 1908	"I can swear before high heaven that what I have told you about the origin of that book is true. Your mother and sister, Mrs. Athalia Robinson, were present when that book was handed to me in Mentor, Ohio, and all I ever knew about the origin of that book was what Parley P. Pratt, Oliver Cowdery, Joseph Smith and the witnesses who claimed they saw the plates have told me, and in all of my intimacy with Joseph Smith he never told me but the one story, and that was that he found it engraved upon the gold plates in a hill near Palmyra, New York, and that an angel had appeared to him and directed him where to find it; and I have never, to you or to any one else, told but the one story, and that I now repeat to you."[113]
B. H. Roberts	1909	"The theory, however, fails by dint of its own inconsistencies, and by the discovery and publication of the manuscript with which the theory started ; and that in another way, and in addition to the fact that there is no incident, or name, or set of ideas, common to the two productions."[114]
Gordon B. Hinckley	1993	"It is strange to me that unbelieving critics must still go back to the old allegations that Joseph Smith wrote the book out of ideas gained from Ethan Smith’s View of the Hebrews and Solomon Spaulding’s manuscript. To compare the Book of Mormon with these is like comparing a man to a horse."[115]
Jeffrey R. Holland	2009	"For 179 years this book has been examined and attacked, denied and deconstructed, targeted and torn apart like perhaps no other book in modern religious history—perhaps like no other book in any religious history. And still it stands. Failed theories about its origins have been born and parroted and have died—from Ethan Smith to Solomon Spaulding to deranged paranoid to cunning genius. None of these frankly pathetic answers for this book has ever withstood examination because there is no other answer than the one Joseph gave as its young unlearned translator. In this I stand with my own great-grandfather, who said simply enough, ‘No wicked man could write such a book as this; and no good man would write it, unless it were true and he were commanded of God to do so.’”[116]
Tad R. Callister	2016	"When I was in my twenties, I saw a notice from the Church History Department that stated that a copy of the Solomon Spaulding manuscript could be purchased for a dollar. I ordered a copy and... found no meaningful relationship whatsoever between the two books."[117]