Jesse Townsend described Joseph's translation of the BOM as done in secret.
- Type
- Letter
- Source
- Jesse Townsend Non-LDS
- Hearsay
- Holograph2nd Hand
- Reference
Jesse Townsend, Letter to Elisha Camp, August 16, 1834, Camp Family Papers, #891, Box 1, Folder, 7, Cornell University Special Collections in John W. Welch, "Documents of the Translation of the Book of Mormon" in John W. Welch, ed., Opening the Heavens: Accounts of Divine Manifestations, 1820-1844, 2nd ed. (Provo, UT: BYU Studies, 2011), 209
- Scribe/Publisher
- N/A
- Audience
- Elisha Camp
- Transcription
The Smiths used Martin [Harris]’s money freely—some other men, who had a great dislike to honest labor, about that time, joined Joe in his acts of deception. In that reinforcement was a ready writer by name [Oliver] Cowdry and a Whitney who declared he had once been in heaven, who assisted Joe in writing the Book of Mormon, as a pretended translation of the Golden Plates which Smith affirmed he had been directed by the Spirit of the Lord to dig from the earth. The whole was done in the most secret manner. At the same time, Smith affirmed that it would be immediate death for any one to see those plates besides himself & the writers of the Book of Mormon.
- Citations in Mormonr Qnas
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