Luman Walters was born in Connecticut. In Western New York, Luman Walters was referred to as a conjuror, magician, and a fortune teller. Willard Chase and Samuel Lawrence sent for Walters, who lived about sixty miles from Palmyra in the town of Sodus to come to Palmyra and find the gold plates. Abner Cole surmised that Joseph Smith worked under the inspiration of Walters, the magician. At one point, Walters showed his employers a copy of Cicero’s Orations in Latin and claimed it was a “record of the former inhabitants of America,” telling where they deposited treasures. Pomeroy Tucker referred to him as a “pioneer Mormon disciple.” Abner Cole said that Walters was paid $3 a day for his services by the money diggers in Palmyra.[1]
Luman Walters married three times: Harriet Howard (1781-deceased), Margaret Vanzandt (1827-1890), and Betsey (1790-1846). He died on June 2, 1860. He was buried in the Shuman Cemetery in Potter, Yates County, New York.
[1] Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, pp. 39, 166; Tucker, Origin, Rise, and Progress of Mormonism, p. 24.