Footnotes

1. [1]

   By contrast, the source text for Revelation, Mar. 1829 [D&C 5], is the earliest extant copy of any of JS’s revelations.

2. [2]

   JS History, vol. A-1, 9–10; Preface to Book of Mormon, ca. Aug. 1829.

3. [3]

   JS History, vol. A-1, 9; JS History, ca. Summer 1832, 5. Lucy Harris had recently traveled to Harmony to see the plates herself but left in anger when JS would not allow it. Martin and Lucy Harris likely had a troubled marriage prior to Martin’s involvement with JS and the translation of the plates. In the spring of 1828 Martin and Lucy finalized a jointure agreement giving Lucy her marital or dower interest. The document by which Martin deeded Lucy’s portion of the property to her (by way of her brother Peter Harris) bears an 1825 date but was recorded and filed in May 1828. Since Lucy opposed Martin’s involvement in the translation, she may have pressured him into executing this agreement to protect her interests because she feared that he would offer financial support for the translation and printing of the Book of Mormon, which he in fact did. (Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 6, [8]–[10]; Wayne Co., NY, Deed Records, 1823–1904, vol. 5, pp. 530–532, 29 Nov. 1825, microfilm 478,782, U.S. and Canada Record Collection, FHL.)

   U.S. and Canada Record Collection. FHL.

4. [4]

   JS History, ca. Summer 1832, 5.

5. [5]

   JS History, vol. A-1, 9; see also Revelation, Mar. 1829 [D&C 5:3]. While JS’s 1832 history said that Harris agreed to show the manuscript to only four people, JS’s later history named five people: “his brother. Preserved Harris, his own wife, his father [Nathan Harris], and his mother [Rhoda Lapham Harris], and a Mrs [Mary (Polly) Harris] Cobb a sister to his wife.” (JS History, vol. A-1, 9; compare JS History, ca. Summer 1832, 5–[6].)

6. [6]

   Sophia Lewis reportedly said that she was present at the birth and that the baby was stillborn. Lucy Mack Smith, not present at the birth, wrote that the baby “was very soon snatched from her [Emma’s] arms and borne aloft to the world of spirits.” Although the birth and death of this baby are recorded in JS’s family Bible under the name of “Alvin Smith,” this information was recorded in the Bible decades after the event by someone other than JS or Emma. The baby’s gravestone does not give him a name but reads, “An Infant Son of Joseph and Emma Smith.” (Sophia Lewis, Statement, in “Mormonism,” Susquehanna Register, and Northern Pennsylvanian [Montrose, PA], 1 May 1834, [1]; Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 7, [1]; JS Family Bible; Photograph of Tombstone, 1907, George Edward Anderson, Glass Plate Negative Collection, 1897–1927, CHL; see also JS History, 1834–1836, 9; and Joseph Smith III, “Last Testimony of Sister Emma,” Saints’ Herald, 1 Oct. 1879, 289.)

   Susquehanna Register, and Northern Pennsylvanian. Montrose, PA. 1831–1836.

   JS Family Bible / Joseph Smith Family Bible, ca. 1831–1866. Private possession. Copy of genealogical information in Joseph Smith Sr. Family Reunions Files, 1972–2003. CHL.

   Anderson, George Edward. Glass Plate Negative Collection, 1897–1927. CHL. PH 725. A selection of photographs from this collection are available in Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, T. Jeffery Cottle, and Ted D. Stoddard, ed., Church History in Black and White: George Edward Anderson’s Photographic Mission to Latter-day Saint Historical Sites; 1907 Diary, 1907–8 Photographs (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1995).

   Saints’ Herald. Independence, MO. 1860–.

7. [7]

   Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 7, [1]–[2].

8. [8]

   Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1845, 128.

9. [9]

   Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 7, [6]–[7].

10. [10]

    JS History, vol. A-1, 10.

11. [11]

    Knight, Reminiscences, 4; Joseph Smith III, “Last Testimony of Sister Emma,” Saints’ Herald, 1 Oct. 1879, 289; see also Blackman, History of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, 104.

    Knight, Joseph, Sr. Reminiscences, no date. CHL. MS 3470.

    Saints’ Herald. Independence, MO. 1860–.

    Blackman, Emily C. History of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. From a Period Preceding Its Settlement to Recent Times. . . . Philadelphia: Claxton, Remsen and Haffelfinger, 1873.

12. [12]

    Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1844–1845, bk. 7, [9], [11]. JS’s later history said the plates and the Urim and Thummim were taken from him twice, the first time (as noted above) after he wearied the Lord in requesting that Harris be allowed to take the manuscript. Then, after the angel returned the Urim and Thummim and JS obtained through it the revelation presented here, “both the plates, and the Urim and Thummin were taken from me again.” After “a few days” they were given back and another revelation explained that “because you delivered up so many writings, which you had power to translate, into the hands of a wicked man, you have lost them, and you also lost your gift at the same time, nevertheless it has been restored unto you again: therefore, see that you are faithful and go on unto the finishing of the remainder of the work as you have begun.” Lucy Mack Smith explained that the plates, and presumably the Urim and Thummim, were returned “on the 22 of september [1828].” (JS History, vol. A-1, 10–11; Revelation, Spring 1829 [D&C 10:1–3].)