Much is spoken of Doctor Hurlbut collecting affidavits for the first anti-Mormon book, Mormonism Unvailed. As we connect the dots in his brief life sketch, we learn of the man as a Church member with familial ties and youthful beginnings in Western New York.
“Doctor” was his given name, not a title. In 1885, Maria Sheldon Woodbury Hurlbut, stated, “His parents named him ‘Doctor’ because he was the seventh son.”
In 1818 at age nine, Doctor Hurlbut moved from Vermont to Ontario County, New York, settling near Penn Yan, about 34 miles from Palmyra. From 1820 to 1826, he attended school in Penn Yan. During those years, he had close relatives living in Palmyra.
Convert to LDS Church/Excommunicated
By 1829 at age twenty, Doctor Hurlbut was residing in Jamestown, New York, a distance of 162 miles from Palmyra. There, he became a class leader and exhorter in the Methodist Episcopal Church. Although he appeared to parishioners as a religious man, by 1831 he was excommunicated from the Methodist Episcopal Church for adultery (even though he was not married).
Seeking a new Church with more liberal views, Doctor Hurlbut got caught up in the message of the Restoration. He entered baptismal waters in Jamestown in late 1832. Soon after his baptism, he journeyed to Kirtland to meet the Prophet Joseph Smith. In March 1833, Joseph wrote—
conversed with [Doctor Hurlbut] considerable about the book of Mormon. . . . According to my best recollection, I heard him say, in the course of conversing with him, that if he ever became convinced that the book of Mormon was false, he would be the cause of my destruction.
Sidney Rigdon ordained Doctor Hurlbut an elder on March 18, 1833. The next day, he was called on a mission to the east with Daniel Copley. While passing through Albion, Ohio, he met a former acquaintance of the late Solomon Spalding (1761–1816) who claimed the Book of Mormon was copied from an Indian romantic novel written decades earlier by his old friend Solomon Spalding. Doctor Hurlbut journeyed to Conneaut, Ohio to meet the widow and brother of Solomon Spalding. In interviews that followed, he learned more about the Spalding manuscript.
Doctor Hurlbut hurried back to Kirtland. In his absence, on June 3, 1833 he had been excommunicated for immorality, or what was reported as “unchristian conduct with women.” He appealed the decision to the Council of High Priests on the basis that “justice was not done me.” His Church membership was reinstated on June 21, 1833. Two days later, a general council heard testimony from Solomon Gee and others that they had heard Doctor Hurlbut boast of having “deceived Joseph Smith’s God, or the Spirit which he is actuated.”[1] He was again excommunicated.[2]
Lectures against Joseph Smith and the Church in Kirtland
After being cut off from the Church, Doctor Hurlbut delivered an anti-Mormon lecture in Kirtland. An anti-Mormon committee, consisting of citizens of Geauga County, Ohio, hired him to “collect data that would prove the ‘Book of Mormon’ to be a work of fiction and complete[ly] divest Joseph Smith of all claims to the character of an honest man . . . and to search for the Spalding Manuscript to discredit the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith.”
With donations from the anti-Mormon committee and monies from Grandison Newell, Doctor Hurlbut had the means to go on an extensive research circuit through Ohio, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and New York. On this research trip, he tracked down the papers of Solomon Spalding stored at a cousin’s house in Otsego County, New York. He took the manuscript with him.[3]
The fact that he took the manuscript away from the Spalding family suggests that he would take other documents if presented to him. Doctor Hurlbut passed the Spalding Manuscript to E. D. Howe. In 1884, the Spalding Manuscript was found in Honolulu among the papers of Lewis L. Rice, a former partner of E. D. Howe.[4]
On his research trip to the east, Doctor Hurlbut stayed the longest in Palmyra. From November to mid-December 1833, he lectured in Palmyra and collected statements from local residents. Palmyra resident Cornelius R. Stafford recalled that Doctor Hurlbut spoke at the local schoolhouse and took statements from those in the audience about the flawed character of the Smiths. That Doctor Hurlbut had an agenda in Palmyra was obvious to Benjamin Saunders, who said that he “came to me but he could not get out of me what he wanted; so he went to others.”[5] The Wayne Sentinel printed on December 6, 1833, “Doct P. Hurlbut was in the community” in “behalf of the people of Kirtland for the purpose of investigating the origin of the Mormon sect.”
Most Latter-day Saint historians view the research efforts of Doctor Hurlbut in Palmyra as “muck raking.” Every idle story, every dark insinuation which at that time could be thought of and unearthed was pressed into service to gratify this man’s personal desire for revenge, and to aid the enemies of the Prophet Joseph Smith in their attempt to destroy his influence and overthrow the Restoration movement.
Doctor Hurlbut was No Stranger to Palmyra
Recall that Doctor Hurlbut grew to manhood in Penn Yan, 34 miles from Palmyra. He had relatives scattered throughout Western New York.
His first known relatives in Palmyra were John Hurlbut III (1760–1813) and Hannah Millet Hurlbut (1768–1858), who moved with their young family to Palmyra in 1795. John Hurlbut III was known as “captain” and considered a prominent citizen of the fledgling community when he established the first distillery in town. On Independence Day in 1799, John Hurlbut III toasted, “May we cultivate the vine and sheaf in the new world, and furnish the old with Bread.”[6] Wanting to have a newspaper advertise his distillery, he convinced the printer of the Ontario Gazette to distribute his paper for 14 shillings a year in Palmyra.
There is an historical record of a conversation between John Hurlbut III and Martin Harris. Young Martin Harris was hired to cut twenty-five cords of wood for Zebulon Williams, a near neighbor of John Hurlbut III. Williams was angry about the place where Martin cut the wood. Captain John Hurlbut, overhearing the conversation, replied, “The time will come when wood will be worth something.” Zebulon Williams answered, “I do not believe it.” Martin Harris replied, “What a fool to suppose that wood will be worth anything in Palmyra.”[7]
In 1812, John Hurlbut III had a home built for his family next to the distillery. The Hurlbut family lived on Carroll Street which intersects Main Street.[8] They were near neighbors to Nathaniel Beckwith, Abner Cole, George Beckwith, and Dr. Alexander McIntyre—all men of high standing.[9] It is not a stretch to suggest that Doctor Hurlbut knew the men of high standing in Palmyra years before he came to town seeking affidavits against Joseph Smith.
John Hurlbut III died on January 10, 1813 from an epidemic that raged in Palmyra. He died intestate. Letters of administration were issued to Hannah Hurlbut and Ira Shelby.[10] His widow and his sons remained in Palmyra.
Three sons of John Hurlbut III—relatives and contemporaries of Doctor Hurlbut—were residing in Palmyra in 1828 when the 116 pages were stolen—Jeremiah was age thirty-seven, John IV was age twenty-nine, and Charles was age twenty-one.
Jeremiah Hurlbut is of interest because of a lawsuit initiated against him by Joseph Smith Sr. and his son Alvin Smith.
Doctor Hurlbut returns to Kirtland
When Doctor Hurlbut returned to Kirtland in mid-December 1833, he again lectured against Joseph Smith and the Restoration. This time his lecturing was more damaging for he used materials gathered on his research trip from old acquaintances of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Joseph and other Church leaders countered his claims and interjected a view of his immoral character and “indiscretions with women.”
In December 1833, the bitterness of Doctor Hurlbut’s criticisms became so outrageous and threatening that Joseph Smith approached John C. Dowen, a local justice of the peace. Dowen recalled that “the Mormons urged me to issue a writ against [Doctor Hurlbut]. I did, as recorded in my docket, Dec. 27, 1833 on complaint of Joseph Smith, warrant returnable to [Justice] William Holbrook, esq. at Painesville Ohio.”[11] On January 4, 1834, Doctor Hurlbut appeared before Judge Holbrook and requested a continuance, which was granted.
On January 11, 1834, Joseph Smith and other Church leaders prayed, “The Lord would grant that our brother Joseph might prevail over his enemy, even Doctor P. Hurlbut, who has threatened his life . . . that the Lord would fill the heart of the Court with a spirit to do justice, and cause that the law of the land may be magnified in bringing him to justice.”[12]
Difficulties between the Prophet Joseph Smith and Doctor Hurlbut reached a climax in March 1834 when Doctor Hurlbut threatened Joseph’s life, swearing that he would wash his hands in Joseph Smith’s blood. Doctor Hurlbut was arrested. A preliminary hearing was held over three days—January 13 to 15, 1834. Judge Dowen recalled, “Over 50 witnesses were called” and that “Hurlbut said he would kill Jo Smith.” Judge Dowen thought the threat “meant he would kill Mormonism.” Doctor Hurlbut was bound over to appear at the next session of court in Chardon, Ohio, about 12 miles south of Painesville.
The case was heard from April 2 to 3, 1834. The Geauga County Court of Common Pleas found that “the same complainant had ground to fear that the said Doctor P. Hurlbut would beat or kill him, or destroy his property” and therefore set bail at $200 and charged Doctor Hurlbut to keep the peace.[13]
The Printing of Mormonism Unvailed
In January 1834, Doctor Hurlbut and his supporters consulted about the possibility of producing a publication of the documents and affidavits collected in New York and elsewhere. E. D. Howe recalled that Doctor Hurlbut “came to me to have the evidence he had published. I bargained to pay him in books.”[14] Doctor Hurlbut sold his collected affidavits and other material to Eber D. Howe, who published the affidavits in Mormonism Unvailed in 1834.
Critics of the Prophet Joseph Smith are selective in their acceptance of Doctor Hurlbut’s affidavits. They readily accept affidavits that attack the character of the Smith family, yet admit that some “judicious prompting” by Doctor Hurlbut may have been involved in those affidavits that were gathered to support the Spalding theory. Mormonism Unvailed was released for sale in November 1834.
For his efforts, “[Doctor] Hurlbut was given four or five hundred copies of the book by Howe as payment.” There was later a falling out between Howe and Hurlbut over subscription tactics and volume sales.[15]
What the collected works of Hurlbut in Mormonism Unvailed say about the 116 pages
Doctor Hurlbut was only a researcher, not the writer of the 290 page Mormonism Unvailed. His research occupies only forty pages of that work. While in Palmyra, Doctor Hurlbut collected fourteen statements—twelve from individuals, one from eleven residents of Manchester combined, and one from fifty-one residents of Palmyra. The statement signed by fifty-one citizens of Palmyra was likely written by Doctor Hurlbut and presented for consideration at the schoolhouse in Palmyra.
Although Doctor Hurlbut collected a statement from Lucy Harris, the estranged wife of Martin Harris, there is no comment in her statement about the 116 pages. Isaac Hale, the father-in-law of Joseph Smith, tells of Martin Harris writing down “the interpretation” of Joseph’s dictation and concludes, “It was said, that Harris wrote down one hundred and sixteen pages, and lost them.” In Mormonism Unvailed, there is the Lorenzo Saunders’ account of Lucy burning the manuscript but this is not from Doctor Hurlbut. It is an 1884 Kelley interview with Saunders. Bottom line, nothing in the affidavits against Joseph Smith, Martin Harris, and Mormonism collected by Doctor Hurlbut suggests any new information about the loss of the 116 pages.
Doctor Hurlbut moves from Place to Place
At age twenty-five, Doctor Hurlbut married Maria Sheldon Woodbury on April 29, 1834 in Ashtabula County, Ohio.[16] There is no record of Doctor Hurlbut and his wife affiliating with Joseph Smith or the Church after 1834. Doctor Hurlbut took his bride to Gerard Township, Pennsylvania. By 1836, they had returned to Ohio and were living in Gibsonburg, Ohio. There is a Hurlbut Street in Gibsonburg named for him.[17]In that small agrarian community, Doctor Hurlbut joined the Salem United Brethren Church and was ordained an elder.
In 1847, he was appointed to the board of trustees of the Otterbein College in Westerville, Ohio. In 1851, he was excommunicated from the United Brethren Church. In 1852, he was suspended permanently from the ministry.
By 1860, Doctor Hurlbut, now a farmer by trade, had moved his family to Madison Township in Ohio. He had a personal wealth of $500 and a real wealth of $3,200.[18] Doctor Hurlbut died in June 1883 in Madison at age seventy-four.[19] He was buried in the West Union Cemetery in Madison.
[1] Kirtland Council Minute Book, p. 22.
[2] Dale W. Adams, “Doctor Philastus Hurlbut; Originator of Derogatory Statements about Joseph Smith, Jr.,” John Whitmer Historical Association Journal 20 (2000), pp. 78–79; David W. Grua, “Joseph Smith and the 1834 D. P. Hurlbut Case,” BYU Studies 44, no. 1 (2005), pp. 34–35.
[3] Dickinson, New Light on Mormonism, p. 22.
[4] See E. D. Howe Papers.
[5] Lorenzo Saunders interview with Kelley, September 1884, p. 29.
[6] Verna Hurlbut, “A Small Branch of the Hurlbut Family Tree,” August 1992. In author’s possession.
[7] In John Hurlbut File. In author’s possession.
[8] Hurlbut, “A Small Branch of the Hurlbut Family Tree.”
[9] Hurlbut, “A Small Branch of the Hurlbut Family Tree,” p. 85.
[10] Hurlbut, “A Small Branch of the Hurlbut Family Tree.”
[11] J. C Dowen Affidavit, January 2, 1885, in Deming Collection.
[12] Grua, “Joseph Smith and the 1834 D. P. Hurlbut Case,” BYU Studies 44, no. 1 (2005), pp. 34–35.
[13] Ohio v. Dr. P. Hurlbut, April 9, 1834, Book M. p. 193. Geauga County Courthouse, Chardon, OH.
[14] Howe affidavit, April 8, 1885.
[15] Adams, “Doctor Philastus Hurlbut: Originator of Derogatory Statements,” pp. 84–85.
[16] Marriage certificate in Ashtabula County Genealogical Society, in Probate Court—Marriage Consents, Applications, & Returns.
[17] Adams, “Doctor Philastus Hurlbut: Originator of Derogatory Statements,” pp. 84–85.
[18] US Federal Census, 1860.
[19] “Doctor Philastus Hurlbut,” Find a Grave Index.