-- Mar 1830
Book of Mormon Published, 588 pages. 5,000 copies costing $3,000. Sale price $1.75. Joseph Smith listed as Author and Proprietor. Printed by E. B. Grandin (Publisher of Wayne Sentinel) and funded by Martin Harris who mortgaged 240 acres to Grandin for 18 months (the note was due Feb 5, 1831 and 151 acres of it later sold to Thomas Lakey). Describes 3 migrations from middle east, 2^nd and 3^rd around 600 BC. Addresses every religious issue being debated in the New York area in the 1820s [per Alexander Campbell]. Jacob 2:23 - prohibits polygamy. Contains Greek names and terms. Describes several crops and animals that were not introduced to the Americas until after the 1400s. Has events similar to and/or phrases nearly identical to those found in: The preface to the King James Bible' 21 chapters of Isaiah, The Maccabees (from the Apocrypha), James Adair's History of the American Indians, Josephlus' Wars of the Jews, Ethan Smith's View of the Hebrews, Shakespeare's Macbeth and Ha
mlet. (1)
-- Mar 10, 1830
[Lucy Mack Smith] A Presbyterian committee calls on Lucy, Hyrum, and Samuel about their eighteen months of nonattendance. Lucy apparently misremembers this visit as occurring the previous fall. (2)
-- about Mar 14, 1830
[Joseph Smith] Palmyra, New York. Joseph Smith wrote what became the preface to the first edition of the Book of Mormon. (3)
-- Mar 19, 1830
[Black History] The Book of Mormon is published,
The dark skin is equated with a curse which was a result of rebellion, "And he had caused the cursing to come upon them, yea, even a sore cursing, because of their iniquity. For behold, they had hardened their hearts against him, that they had become like unto a flint; wherefore, as they were white, and exceedingly fair and delightsome, that they might not be enticing unto my people the Lord God did cause a skin of blackness to come upon them", cf. 2 Ne. 5:21.
The dark skin is explicitly presented as a "mark", a "curse... because of...transgression" and as a means of separating different cultures, "And the skins of the Lamanites were dark, according to the mark which was set upon their fathers, which was a curse upon them because of their transgression and their rebellion against their brethren, who consisted of Nephi, Jacob, and Joseph, and Sam, who were just and holy men. And their brethren
sought to destroy them, therefore they were cursed; and the Lord God set a mark upon them, yea, upon Laman and Lemuel, and also the sons of Ishmael, and Ishmaelitish women. And this was done that their seed might be distinguished from the seed of their brethren, that thereby the Lord God might preserve his people, that they might not mix and believe in incorrect traditions which would prove their destruction", cf. Alma 3:6-8.
It also states that it was "against [Nephite civil] law" to hold slaves, cf. Alma 27:9 and Mosiah 2:13. (4)
Ad: Book of Mormon available within the week. Wayne Sentinel (Palmyra), Mar. 19, 1830. (5)
[Lucy Mack Smith] The completed Book of Mormon is advertised for sale in this and the next three issues of the Wayne Sentinel: 2, 9, and 26 March. The complete run of 5,000 copies is not finished until the summer of 1831. (2)
-- about Mar 21, 1830
[Joseph Smith] Manchester, New York. Joseph Smith received Doctrine & Covenants 19, a revelation to Martin Harris concerning repentance and the Atonement of Jesus Christ. (3)
-- 1830 [26-31] March
[Joseph Smith] Joseph Jr. arrives in Manchester with Joseph Knight, Sr.; a commandment is given for Harris (BC 16; LDS D&C 19; RLDS D&C 18). [MANCHESTER,] (6)
-- Mar 26, 1830
[Financial] Just days prior to the meeting at which Joseph Smith would formally organize the church, the first 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon are printed in Palmyra, N.Y., by E.B. Grandin. The total cost of the printing is $3,000, initially deferred by a mortgage agreement between Grandin and Martin Harris. In 1831, Harris sold 151 acres of his farm to settle the terms of the agreement. (7)
The Book of Mormon is published, each copy selling for $1.25. Young, a practicing Methodist who has moved to the area near Palmyra with his wife, reads the Book shortly after publication and will be baptized as a Mormon two years later. (8)
[Joseph Smith] The Book of Mormon is first advertised for sale. A few days later Joseph Smith (hereafter Smith) gives Oliver Cowdery (hereafter Cowdery) the brown "seer stone" with which Joseph Smith discovered the gold plates (according to Brigham Young) and translated the Book of Mormon into English (according to Smith's wife Emma, Cowdery's wife Elizabeth, Martin Harris, David Whitmer, Hyrum Smith, and William Smith who witnessed the translation process). Joseph Smith had previously used this seer stone in his family's quest for enchanted treasure. (9)
-- Mar 26, 1830-31
Joseph and Joseph Knight arrive in Manchester. (5)
-- March 26-31, 1830
[Revelations] Manchester, New York. Doctrine and Covenants 19. For Martin Harris. Christ has power over Satan. All must repent or suffer endless (God's) torment. Keep commandments Joseph has given. Don't show this revelation to the world. Don't covet your neighbor's wife or your own property. Pay the printer's bill for the Book of Mormon. Go out and preach. Visit home only to see your family.
Book of Commandments 16 heading: A commandment of God and not of man to you, Martin, given (Manchester, New-York, March 1830,) by him who is eternal:.
1835 Doctrine and Covenants 44 heading: A commandment of God and not of man to Martin Harris, given (Manchester, New-York, March 1830,) by him who is eternal:.
Book of Commandments 16. (10)
-- Mar 29, 1830
[Lucy Mack Smith] Lucy, Hyrum, and Samuel H. Smith are suspended from the Presbyterian church for nonattendance. (2)
Footnotes:
1 - http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dgv482t8_0d5hdn5cv
2 - Lucy's Book: A Critical Edition of Lucy Mack Smith's Family Memoir, Edited by Lavina Fielding Anderson, 2001, Signature Books
3 - BYU Studies Journal, volume 46, no. 4: A Chronology of the Life of Joseph Smith
4 - http://www.xtimeline.com/events.aspx?q=Bif200802111550260291166
5 - http://saintswithouthalos.com/dirs/d_c.phtml
6 - Inventing Mormonism:Tradition and the Historical Record, H. Michael Marquardt Wesley P. Walters. A Chronology of Mormon Origins, p.xxvi
7 - http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/282148/
8 - http://www.pbs.org/mormons/timeline/
9 - D. Michael Quinn, The Mormon Hierarchy: Origins of Power, Appendix 7: Selected Chronology of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1830-47"
10 - http://saintswithouthalos.com/s/_dc.phtml
LDS History
A lighter version of this blog:
http://lds-church-history.blogspot.com/
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http://mormon-chronicles.blogspot.com/
Clair Barrus
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