Timeline of Events Leading to the Loss of the Pages

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June 14-July 7, 1828 

Background:

On the first Tuesday in April at the Presbyterian meetinghouse in the Village of Palmyra at 10 o’clock, the officers of Palmyra met for elections. On that date, the officers of interest are:

April 9, 1828 Flanders Dyke purchases from Dr. Gain Robinson “1 oz. eye water and vial – 31” (Account Book of Dr. Gain Robinson)

April 12, 1828 Martin Harris “arranged his affairs, and returned” to the Smith home in Harmony “about the 12th of April, 1828.” 

Immediately after Martin’s departure, Lucy Mack Smith, informs us that Lucy Harris had gone from house to house, telling her grievances, and declaring that Joseph Smith was practising [sic] a deception upon the people, which was about to strip her of all that she possessed, and that she was compelled to deposit a few things away from home in order to secure them. So she carried away her furniture, linen, and bedding; also other movable articles, until she nearly stripped the premises [Martin’s house] of everything that could conduce either to comfort or convenience, depositing them with those of her friends and acquaintances, in whom she reposed sufficient confidence to assure her of their future safety.

Abt. April 15, 1828.As soon as Martin returned to Harmony, he commenced writing as Joseph Smith translated the Book of Lehi. 

William Pilkington reported Martin’s declaration of Lucy’s contempt for the Prophet, and recounted the conditions:

Martins Wife said that Joe Smith was deluded, and crazy, and [she] was unalterably opposed to her Husband having anything to do with him. She was terrible bitter against Joseph Smith, and forbid her husband having anything to do with him. But he knowing by this time that it was true persisted in helping the Prophet[.] [A]fter the Translation commenced his wife wanted him to ask Joseph “Joe as she called him” if he would let him bring the manuscript home with him so that she could see it. Martin loved his Wife and wanted to satisfie her in relation to the matter. (William Pilkington (1860–1942), Autobiography and statements 1934–39, MS 1041, fd. 1, p. 15, Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City.)

May 8, 1828 Martin’s eldest daughter, Lucy, is married to Flanders Dyke by Reverend Blakesley in the town of Palmyra. (See “Married,” Wayne Sentinel, May 9, 1828, p. 2, col. 5.) The newspaper notice read: “Married—In this town, yesterday [May 8, 1828], by the Rev. Mr. Blakesley, Mr. Flanders Dike, to Miss Lucy Harris.”

May 13, 1828 There was a property transaction made on November 29, 1825, deeding eighty acres to Lucy Harris by Martin Harris through Peter Harris. It was not officially recorded until May 13, 1828. It is then that Lucy begins to gather her furniture, etc. from close friends and moves into the house at 2827 Macedon Center Road (a Macedon Township line sign is on the west border of the property). The west side of the existing home is the original house. The 80 acres Lucy owned is lying on the north side of the road. (See Martin Harris to Peter Harris, November 29, 1825, recorded May 13, 1828, Wayne County Land and Property Deeds, book 5, 531–32, Wayne County Historical Office, Lyons, New York; and Peter Harris to Lucy Harris, November 29, 1825, recorded May 13, 1828, Wayne Co., New York Land and Property Deeds, vol. 5, pp. 530–31.) 

May 13, 1828 Flanders Dyke purchased by “Credit 1 oz. ep. Cinnamon vial – 19.” (Account Book of Dr. Gain Robinson). 

May 13, 1828 Lemuel Durfee’s Account Book reads: “Joseph Sr. & Harrison Smith Dr. to three barrels of Cider the Liqure at $3.38.”

Mid May – June 14, 1828 Upon returning to the Smith homestead in Harmony, Martin scribed the remainder of the book of Lehi translation as dictated by the Prophet Joseph Smith. Their work comprised a total of 116 foolscap pages or the English translation of one book from a series of ancient books inscribed on the gold plates. The 116 pages probably represented five complete “gatherings” of pages. (See Jack M. Lyon and Kent R. Minson, “When Pages Collide: Dissecting the Words of Mormon,” BYU Studies Quarterly 51, no. 4 (20012): 120–36.) Lyon and Minson provide evidence that the lost 116 pages also included the first chapter of Mosiah and most of the second chapter. The end of the original chapter 2 is now included in Words of Mormon, verses 12–18. The Book of Mosiah currently begins with what would have been Mosiah chapter 3. 

Martin asked the third time for permission to take the manuscript to Palmyra. William Pilkington wrote, “Joseph again took the Urim and Thummim and Enquired of the Lord.” Martin then mused, “I found out Willie that the Lord could get out of patience as well as a human, but this time, Joseph was told that at his own peril he was [to] let Martin take them.” (Pilkington, Autobiography and statements, 16.)

The response to Martin’s third plea was positive—but conditional. Joseph explained to him that only a limited number of family members were to view the manuscript, namely “his brother, Preserved Harris, his own wife [Lucy Harris], his father [Nathan Harris] and his mother [Rhoda Lapham Harris], and a Mrs. Cobb [widow Polly (Mary) Harris], a sister to his wife.” Joseph Smith stipulated that it was imperative that he bind himself in a solemn covenant that he would not vary from this agreement. Martin agreed to the specified conditions. He entered into a written covenant with Joseph “in a most solemn manner that he would not do otherwise than had been directed . . . [and] required of him.” 

Martin carried with him 116 pages of dictation for the desired enlightenment of selected family members. He had the manuscript in his possession for some three weeks or until about July 7, 1828. 

It is assumed that soon after his arrival in Palmyra, he fulfilled a portion of the covenant made with Joseph by showing the manuscript to his wife and the named family members. It is further assumed that upon seeing the manuscript, Lucy was placated to a degree, just as Martin had hoped. Not an assumption is that Martin locked the foolscap papers in her bureau, which would give Martin and Lucy ease of access to the manuscript (See Smith, Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith, 129–30). As to the reactions of Martin’s extended family to the manuscript—parents, his brother Preserved, and Lucy’s sister Polly Cobb—nothing appears to have been written on the subject.

Let us exam what is known of those three weeks—

June 14, 1828 Martin “took the writings, and went his way,” about two months after the translation process had begun. Martin carried with him 116 pages of dictation. 

June 15, 1828 Emma Smith gave birth to her first child, “a son, which, however, remained with her but a short time before it was snatched from her arms by the hand of death.” The “Infant Son” was later given the name of Alvin after Joseph’s oldest brother, Alvin Smith. The name and birth date of this son was recorded as “Alvin Smith June 15th 1828,” in “Joseph and Emma Smith Family Bible, Family Record, Births.”

Abt. June 17, 1828 It is assumed that soon after Martin’s arrival in Palmyra, he fulfilled a portion of the covenant made with Joseph Smith by showing the manuscript to his wife and the named family members. Upon seeing the manuscript, it is further assumed that Lucy was placated to a degree, just as Martin had hoped. She allowed Martin to lock the foolscap papers in her bureau. The bureau had to be located in her house on Macedon Center. (See Smith, Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith, 129–30; Anderson, Lucy’s Book, 420.) As to the reactions of Martin’s extended family—parents, his brother Preserved, and Lucy’s sister Polly Cobb—to the manuscript, nothing appears to have been written on the subject.

Initially, Martin kept the covenant he had made and was most circumspect in showing the manuscript only to the prescribed family members. 

Mid-June 1828 Martin took Lucy to visit her relatives, some ten to fifteen miles distance from Palmyra. Martin’s stay with Lucy’s relatives was brief, for he had pressing business matters and a jury duty obligation in town. As he made preparations to return to Palmyra, his wife, wishing to extend her visit, declined to accompany him. Martin journeyed home by himself. 

Once at home, a very particular friend of his made him a visit, to whom he related all that he knew concerning the Record. The man’s curiosity was much excited, and, as might be expected, he earnestly desired to see the manuscript. Martin was so anxious to gratify his friend, that, although it was contrary to his obligation, he went to the drawer to get the manuscript, but the key was gone. He sought for it some time, but could not find it. Resolved, however, to carry his purpose into execution, he picked the lock. (Smith, Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith, 130; Anderson, Lucy’s Book, 421.)

In so doing, Martin marred Lucy’s bureau which was in her home on Macedon Center. He made no effort to repair the damage. 

Not wanting to be inconvenienced again, I believe Martin took the manuscript to his own house and placed it in his own set of drawers for safekeeping.

Here’s an issue. The bureau would not have been in his own home. He would have gone into the home of his estranged wife, Lucy. A friend might have noticed him going into the home, his buggy/horse, and stopped. The friend would likely have lived close to the Lucy Harris home. As Lucy moves to the new home, she is surrounded by Quakers named Durfee. Lucy is a Quaker herself. In fact, she is buried in the Gideon Durfee Cemetery (only her grave marker is in the Palmyra City Cemetery). When I greet somebody at church, I say “brother” or “sister.” When a Quaker greets someone, they say “friend.” The quote about the “particular friend” is from the writings of Lucy Mack Smith. She seldom uses the word “friend” in her writings about Palmyra. Assuming that the “particular friend” Martin wants to impress is a Quaker, the one Quaker with big money in Palmyra is Lemuel Durfee. (I gathered much information on the Durfees in Palmyra.) 

Having broken his covenant by showing the manuscript to one not named or approved by the Lord, it was probably easier the second time to do the same. In fact, as the days passed and Lucy delayed her return, Martin showed the manuscript to any “prudent” person who called [at his home] or as Joseph Smith wrote, “Notwithstanding . . . the great restrictions which he had been laid under, and the solemnity of the covenant which he had made with me, he did show them to others.”(History of the Church, 1:21; see Smith, Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith, 130.) 

Neighbors and friends, who saw the manuscript in the Harris home, cautioned Martin about being defrauded. 

When Lucy returned to her home, she had more to say than any neighbor or friend. When she saw “the marred state of her bureau, her irascible temper was excited to the utmost pitch, and an intolerable storm ensued, which descended with the greatest violence” upon Martin. (Smith, Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith, 130; Anderson, Lucy’s Book, 421.)  

June 18, 1828 Lemuel Durfee’s Account Book reads: “Credit by Hiram & Harison Smiths a hoeing one day a piece.”

June 20, 1828 Lemuel Durfee’s Account Book reads: “Joseph and Harison Smiths Dr. To the Liqure of three barrels of cidar at 9/0 per barrel $3.38.”

June 24, 1828 The Mount Moriah Masonic Lodge of Palmyra announced that their membership had grown to 59. Leading member of the lodge was Thomas Rogers II.

June 30, 1828 Martin and his wife, Lucy, conveyed one quarter of an acre from a lot in Palmyra to Flanders for the sum of $200. (New York, Wayne County Land and Property Deeds, 1829–30, 7:26–27.)

Early July 1828 Jonathan Hadley, age 19, becomes the sole editor of the Palmyra Freeman. He is the first publisher to write an article against Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. He had previously been an apprentice to Thurlow Weed.

July 3, 1828 Marriage of Polly Harris Cobb (sister of Lucy Harris that had been living with her) to William Parker in Palmyra. 

About July 5, 1828 In Harmony, Joseph Smith anxiously attended his wife, Emma, whose life had been despaired of following the birth and loss of their baby. When his wife recovered, Joseph turned his concerns to Martin, who “had been absent nearly three weeks, and Joseph had received no intelligence whatever from him, which was altogether aside of the arrangement when they separated.” (Smith, Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith, 125; Anderson, Lucy’s Book, 412.) 

Though much fatigued by his watchful care of Emma, Joseph determined to journey to his family home in Manchester, call for Martin, and recover the manuscript. After a harrowing trip by stagecoach and an exhausting twenty-mile walk through the night, assisted by a compassionate stranger from the stagecoach, Joseph arrived at his father’s frame home in Palmyra. (Smith, Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith, 125–27; Anderson, Lucy’s Book, 412–17.)

July 7, 1828 Mother Smith reported that as soon as Joseph came into the house, he requested that Martin be summoned at once.” Anticipating his quick response, at 8 a.m. victuals were set on the table. The Smiths “waited till nine, and he came not—till ten, and he was not there—till eleven, still he did not make his appearance.” It was not until “half-past twelve” that Martin was seen “walking with a slow and measured tread towards the house, his eyes fixed thoughtfully upon the ground.” When he reached the gate in the yard, “he stopped, instead of passing through, and got upon the fence, and sat there some time with his hat drawn over his eyes.” (Smith, Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith, 128; Anderson, Lucy’s Book, 417.)

When he entered the house, he sat down at the table next to those who were already seated. “He took up his knife and fork as if he were going to use them, but immediately dropped them.” Seeing this, Hyrum Smith asked, “Martin, why do you not eat; are you sick?” Martin pressed “his hands upon his temples” and cried with “a tone of deep anguish, ‘Oh, I have lost my soul! I have lost my soul!’” Joseph, who was seated at the table, jumped to his feet and asked, “Martin, have you lost that manuscript? Have you broken your oath, and brought down condemnation upon my head, as well as your own?”

“Yes, it is gone,” replied Martin, “and I know not where.”

“Oh, my God!” said Joseph, clinching his hands. “All is lost! all is lost! What shall I do? I have sinned—it is I who tempted the wrath of God. I should have been satisfied with the first answer which I received from the Lord; for he told me that it was not safe to let the writing go out of my possession.” He wept and groaned, and walked the floor continually.

At length he told Martin to go back and search again.

“No,” said Martin, “it is all in vain; for I have ripped open beds and pillows, and I know it is not there.”

Where did he do this damage? I don’t believe Martin could have done such damage in the home of his estranged wife Lucy. I think he did the damage to his own home on Maple Ave. What do you think? Meanwhile, back to the narrative.

“Then must I,” said Joseph, “return to my wife with such a tale as this? I dare not do it, lest it should kill her at once. And how shall I appear before the Lord? Of what rebuke am I not worthy from the angel of the Most High?” (Smith, Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith, 128–29; Anderson, Lucy’s Book, 418–19.)

Lucy Mack Smith, a firsthand observer, recalled that Martin Harris suffered both temporally and spiritually for the violation of his sacred trust. A visible rebuke for his transgression was witnessed the very day he confessed to Joseph the loss of the manuscript. Mother Smith believed it was not a mere coincidence that a “dense fog spread itself over his fields, and blighted his wheat while in the blow, so that he lost about two-thirds of his crop, whilst those fields which lay only on the opposite side of the road, received no injury whatever.” Lucy Mack Smith wrote, “I well remember that day of darkness, both within and without. To us, at least, the heavens seemed clothed with blackness, and the earth shrouded with gloom.” (Smith, Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith, 131; Anderson, Lucy’s Book, 422–23.)

July 7, 1828 How does Joseph spend the afternoon after the loss of the pages? Lemuel Durfee’s Account Book reads: “Credit by J. Smith & Rockwell by hoeing the three days.” This is confusing for it suggests that Joseph Smith had been in Palmyra for three days which would put the breakfast at his Father’s home on July 5.

Once Joseph knew the pages were lost, a shaken and grieving Joseph Smith departed for his Harmony home to face the consequences of such a disastrous loss. Joseph believed that someone or some persons had stolen the manuscript and that “by stratagem they got them away” from Martin.(History of the Church, 1:21.) He would ultimately declare in the preface to the published work of the Book of Mormon that “many unlawful measures [had been] taken by evil designing persons to destroy me, and also the work.” (Joseph Smith, preface, 1830 edition of the Book of Mormon.)

July and August 1828 after the Three Weeks

July 9, 1828 The Account Book of Dr. Gain Robinson, who ran a pharmacy in Palmyra, Flanders Dyke paid off debt to Robinson. “By Cash to balance 1 of 1 25.”

July 19, 1828 The Account Book of Dr. Gain Robinson tells that Joseph Smith purchases six items from Robinson. Including ½ pound white lead, ¼ pound vermillion. The total cost of the items was $1.75. 

July 20, 1828 Lemuel Durfee’s Account Book reads: “Jos. Smith & Harrison Cr. By work binding Wheat one day of William and three days of Harrison work.”

Back at his Pennsylvania homestead, Joseph’s rebuke was swift—he at first lost the right to translate as the gold plates and Urim and Thummim were immediately taken from him by the angel. Soon, however, the Urim and Thummim were again placed in his hands that he might receive a revelation through that instrument. A severe chastisement was then pronounced by the Lord:

For although a man may have many revelations, and have power to do many mighty works, yet if he boasts in his own strength, and sets at naught the counsels of God, and follows after the dictates of his own will and carnal desires, he must fall and incur the vengeance of a just God upon him. . . .

But remember, God is merciful; therefore, repent of that which thou hast done which is contrary to the commandment which I gave you, and thou art still chosen, and art again called to the work. . . .

When thou [Joseph] deliveredst up that which God had given thee sight and power to translate, thou deliveredst up that which was sacred into the hands of a wicked man [Martin Harris],

Who has set at naught the counsels of God, and has broken the most sacred promises which were made before God, and has depended upon his own judgment and boasted in his own wisdom. . . .

Nevertheless, my work shall go forth, for inasmuch as the knowledge of a Savior has come unto the world, through the testimony of the Jews, even so shall the knowledge of a Savior come unto my people. (D&C 3: 4, 10, 12–13, 16)

The Prophet received a second revelation pertaining to the lost 116 pages, which now appears in Doctrine and Covenants section 10. In the 1981 Doctrine and Covenants edition, Section 10 is dated “the summer of 1828.” However, in the 2013 edition, a most interesting insertion has been made in the section heading, which favors the likelihood of the revelation being received at a later date, “around April 1829.” But the new section heading also allows for the possibility of a split revelation in which a portion of the text may have been received earlier in “the summer of 1828.” This new dating dimension reads:

Revelation given to Joseph Smith the Prophet, at Harmony, Pennsylvania, likely around April 1829, though portions may have been received as early as the summer of 1828. Herein the Lord informs Joseph of alterations made by wicked men in the 116 manuscript pages from the translation of the book of Lehi, in the Book of Mormon. These manuscript pages had been lost from the possession of Martin Harris, to whom the sheets had been temporarily entrusted. (See the heading to section 3.) The evil design was to await the expected retranslation of the matter covered by the stolen pages and then to discredit the translator by showing discrepancies created by the alterations. That this wicked purpose had been conceived by the evil one and was known to the Lord even while Mormon, the ancient Nephite historian, was making his abridgment of the accumulated plates, is shown in the Book of Mormon (see Words of Mormon 1:3–7). The dating sequence involving Doctrine and Covenants 10 has long been a subject of minute examination (Among such studies are the works of Robert J. Woodford, “The Historical Development of the Doctrine and Covenants,” 3 vols. (PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1974), 1:199–216; Max H Parkin, “A Preliminary Analysis of the Dating of Section 10,” in The Seventh Annual Sidney B. Sperry Symposium: The Doctrine and Covenants (Provo, Utah: Religious Instruction, Brigham Young University, 1979), 68–84).

Within the dating parameters indicated in the heading above, the Prophet was warned and instructed:

Behold, they have sought to destroy you; yea, even the man in whom you have trusted has sought to destroy you.

And for this cause I said that he is a wicked man, for he has sought to take away the things wherewith you have been entrusted; and he has also sought to destroy your gift.

And because you have delivered the writings into [Martin’s] hands, behold, wicked men have taken them from you. . . .

And, behold, Satan hath put it into their hearts to alter the words which you have caused to be written, or which you have translated, which have gone out of your hands.

And behold, I say unto you, that because they have altered the words, they read contrary from that which you translated and caused to be written;

And, on this wise, the devil has sought to lay a cunning plan, that he may destroy this work:

For he hath put into their hearts to do this, that by lying they may say they have caught you in the words which you have pretended to translate. (D&C 10:6–8, 10–13)

As a course correction to thwart the designs of the adversary, Joseph was given a counter plan:

And now, verily I say unto you, that an account of those things that you have written, which have gone out of your hands, is engraven upon the plates of Nephi;

Yea, and you remember it was said in those writings that a more particular account was given of these things upon the plates of Nephi.

And now, because the account which is engraven upon the plates of Nephi is more particular concerning the things which, in my wisdom, I would bring to the knowledge of the people in this account—

Therefore, you shall translate the engravings which are on the plates of Nephi, down even till you come to the reign of king Benjamin, or until you come to that which you have translated, which you have retained;

And behold, you shall publish it as the record of Nephi; and thus I will confound those who have altered my words. (D&C 10:38–42)

Simply stated, the Lord directed the Prophet Joseph not to retranslate the lost 116 manuscript pages drawn from the book of Lehi, but rather he was to substitute in their place the unabridged small plates, a second record kept by Nephi.