Joseph Capron, son of Jeremiah Capron and Jerusha Hartshorn, was born on December 3, 1792 (1791) in Preston, New London County, Connecticut. He married Sabra Avery in 1810. They were the parents of seven children.
Joseph Capron was a neighbor of the Joseph Smith Sr. family. He lived south of the Smiths on Stafford Road.[1] Joseph corroborated with ministers and others in the community to make young Joseph Smith renounce his story of the “vision.” He also had conversations with Joseph Smith Sr. in the winter of 1828 about the Book of Mormon. He later claimed that Joseph Smith Sr. left Palmyra without paying his debts.[2] His affidavit was printed in Mormonism Unvailed.[3]
His son, Henry Capron, visited Joseph Smith Jr. in Kirtland, Ohio on November 30, 1835. Of that visit, the Prophet Joseph wrote, “This afternoon Henry Capron called to see [me], Mr. Capron is an old acquaintance of [mine] from Manchester, New York. [I] showed him the ancient records and explained them to him.”[4]
Joseph Capron died on September 30, 1874 in Manchester, New York. He was buried in the Palmyra City Cemetery.
[1] Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 2:24–25.
[2]Ivan J. Barrett, Young Joseph (RIC Publishing, 1981), p. 53; Walker, United by Faith, p. 8.
[3] Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, pp. 347, 363.
[4] “Henry Capron.” Joseph Smith Papers.