Willard Chase, son of Clark Chase and Phebe Mason, was born on February 1, 1798 in Swansea, Bristol County, Massachusetts.
Clark and Phebe Chase were married on June 20, 1792 by Elder Benjamin Mason, a Baptist minister. At that time, Oliver Chase, a relative, operated a cotton mill in Swansea. (The mill is still operating today).[1] Willard’s father was one of a hundred contributor/owners of the Troy Manufactory Mill located near Fall River in Swansea.
The Chase family sold their holdings in Swansea and Fall River between 1800 and 1802 and migrated to Western New York. Historical records place the Chase family in Western, Oneida County, New York by 1803 and in Watertown, Jefferson County, New York by 1806. In 1808, the Chase family was residing in Farmington, New York on land that was later incorporated into the town of Manchester.
The Familial Relationships
Clark Chase never became prominent in the Manchester/Palmyra area. The same could be said of his son, Willard Chase, who was not a community leader or affiliated with a prominent church in town. However, Willard was recognized as a Methodist class leader while the Smiths resided in the Palmyra area. This meant, he instructed a small segment of the local Methodist congregation in the area. Near his death, Willard was a Methodist clergyman as stated in the 1870 US Federal Census.
The Chase family was strongly united until the Joseph Smith Sr. family and Martin Harris moved from Palmyra. In the 1830s, half of the Clark Chase family (Mason, Edmund, Parley, and Lucinda) moved from Palmyra to Michigan. The other half of the family (Durfee, Willard, Sally, and Asa) remained in Western New York. A few of Clark Chase’s children married into families of our suspects—namely those of Lorenzo Saunders and Franklin Lakey.
The Affidavit of Willard Chase
The best source for learning about Willard Chase in the 1820s and his acquaintance with the Joseph Smith Sr. family is his deposition given on December 11, 1833 in Manchester before Frederick Smith, a magistrate and justice of the peace in Wayne County, New York. His deposition (affidavit) was printed in Mormonism Unvailed, and was listed as a source for the forged “Salamander Letter” written by Mark Hofmann.
Abel Chase, sixteen years younger than Willard Chase, gave a sworn statement in an 1881 interview with E. L. Kelley that the affidavit of his brother Willard Chase was “genuine.” Abel Chase signed his statement in the presence of Pliny T. Sexton and John H. Gilbert, who swore that Abel was “a man whose word is always the exact truth and above any possible suspicion.”[2]
In his own words, Willard tells of his early acquaintance with the Smiths: “I became acquainted with the Smith family, known as the authors of the Mormon Bible, in the year 1820.” (Willard was the same age as Alvin Smith.) His description of the character of Hyrum and Joseph Jr. and his sweeping generalities of the character of the Smith family in general was negative: “I have regarded Joseph Smith Jr. from the time I first became acquainted with him until he left this part of the country, as a man whose word could not be depended upon. Hiram’s character was but very little better. What I have said respecting the characters of these men, will apply to the whole family.”
Could we conclude that Willard Chase was very familiar with the Smiths? Yes! He was a near neighbor and an associate. The question is, why did Willard Chase choose to spend so much time with the Smiths when he was so against them? He claims that from his first acquaintance with the Smiths in 1820 to his last acquaintance in 1830, their character was on a downward trajectory—
After they became thorough Mormons, their conduct was more disgraceful than before. They did not hesitate to abuse any man, no matter how fair his character, provided he did not embrace their creed. Their tongues were continually employed in spreading scandal and abuse. Although they left this part of the country without paying their just debts, yet their creditors were glad to have them go rather than to have them stay, disturbing the neighborhood.[3]
The Seer Stone
In 1821, Clark Chase (father of Willard Chase) died. At age twenty-three, Willard Chase took over the management of his father’s thirty-six acre farm. (His oldest brother, Durfee Chase, turned his interest to medicine.)
In his affidavit, Willard described employing Alvin Smith and Joseph Smith Jr. to help him dig a well on his property:
In the year 1822, I was engaged in digging a well. I employed Alvin and Joseph Smith to assist me . . . After digging about twenty feet below the surface of the earth, we discovered a singularly appearing stone, which excited my curiosity. I brought it to the top of the well, and as we were examining it, Joseph put it into his hat, and then his face into the top of his hat. It has been said by Smith, that he brought the stone from the well; but this is false. There was no one in the well but myself.[4]
On May 2, 1879, Abel Chase recalled that it was Joseph who was digging the well, not Willard—“The PEEPSTONE, in which he was accustomed to look, he got of my elder brother Willard while at work for us digging a well. It was a singular looking stone and young Joe pretended he could discover hidden things in it.”[5]
Willard went on to explain the next morning, after having dug the well on his property, Joseph “came to me, and wished to obtain the stone, alleging that he could see in it.” Willard replied, “I did not wish to part with it on account of it being a curiosity, but would lend it.” Willard explained that once Joseph had the stone in his possession, “he began to publish abroad what wonders he could discover by looking in it, and made so much disturbance among the credulous part of community, that I ordered the stone to be returned to me again.”[6]
Willard told of Joseph Smith Jr. having the stone “in his possession about two years,” or until 1825, after which Hyrum Smith “came to me, and wished to borrow the same stone, alleging that they wanted to accomplish some business of importance, which could not very well be done without the aid of the stone.” Willard explained to Hyrum that the stone was of “no particular worth to me, but merely wished to keep it as a curiosity, and if he would pledge me his word and honor, that I should have it when called for, he might take it.”[7] According to Willard Chase, Hyrum took the stone and never returned it to him.
In the fall of 1826, a friend wishing to see the stone came to see Willard. Since it was in the possession of Hyrum Smith, Willard agreed to go with him “a distance of about half a mile” (in other words, the Smith log home) to see the stone. Here, the story gets pretty heated. Willard said, “But to my surprise, ongoing to Smith’s, and asking him for the stone, [Hyrum] said, ‘You cannot have it.’ I told him it belonged to me, repeated to him the promise he made me, at the time of obtaining the stone: upon which he faced me with a malignant look and said, ‘I don’t care who in the Devil it belongs to, you shall not have it.’”[8]
According to Willard Chase, it was not until April 1830 that he again asked Hyrum to return the stone. He confronted Hyrum in the presence of Martin Harris. Hyrum told Willard, “I should not have it, for Joseph made use of it in translating his Bible. I reminded him of his promise, and that he had pledged his honor to return it; but he gave me the lie, saying the stone was not mine nor never was.” At this point, Martin Harris jumped into the fray. According to Willard, Martin “flew in a rage” and took him “by the collar and said ‘I was a liar, and he could prove it by twelve witnesses.’ After I had extricated myself from him, Hiram, in a rage shook his fist at me, and abused me in a most scandalous manner.”[9] (An interesting aside which suggests history can change through the years: Mason Chase, son of Willard Chase, claimed the stone was his and that Lucy Mack Smith got the stone from Mason’s mother, Melissa Saunders Chase.)[10]
Willard Chase Version of the September 1823 Angel Moroni Account
Willard claimed that in June 1827, Joseph Smith Sr. told him an account of the angel Moroni’s visit with young Joseph Smith Jr. in 1823:
A spirit had appeared to Joseph his son, in a vision, and informed him that in a certain place there was a record on plates of gold, and that he was the person that must obtain them, and this he must do in the following manner: On the 22d of September, he must repair to the place where was deposited this manuscript, dressed in black clothes, and riding a black horse with a switch tail, and demand the book in a certain name, and after obtaining it, he must go directly away, and neither lay it down nor look behind him. They [the Smiths] accordingly fitted out Joseph with a suit of black clothes and borrowed a black horse. He repaired to the place of deposit and demanded the book, which was in a stone box, unsealed, and so near the top of the ground that he could see one end of it, and raising it up, took out the book of gold; but fearing someone might discover where he got it, he laid it down to place back the top stone, as he found it; and turning round, to his surprise there was no book in sight. He again opened the box, and in it saw the book, and attempted to take it out, but was hindered. He saw in the box something like a toad, which soon assumed the appearance of a man, and struck him on the side of his head. — Not being discouraged at trifles, he again stooped down and strove to take the book, when the spirit struck him again, and knocked him three or four rods, and hurt him prodigiously. After recovering from his fright, [Joseph] enquired why he could not obtain the plates; to which the spirit made reply, because you have not obeyed your orders. He then enquired when he could have them, and was answered thus: come one year from this day, and bring with you your oldest brother, and you shall have them.[11]
Willard Chase Version of the 1824 Angel Moroni Account
Willard goes on to explain that “Joseph went one year from that day, to demand the book, and the spirit enquired for his brother [Alvin], and he said that he was dead. The spirit then commanded him to come again, in just one year, and bring a man with him. On asking who might be the man, he was answered that he would know him when he saw him. Joseph believed that one Samuel T. Lawrence was the man alluded to by the spirit.”[12]
Samuel Tyler Lawrence—A Treasure Hunter
Samuel T. Lawrence was born in 1786 in Morris County, New Jersey. He was nineteen years older than Joseph Smith Jr. and nearly the same age as Martin Harris. Lawrence was a neighbor to both the Smiths and Willard Chase. Like Willard Chase, Lawrence was a Methodist. He was also the brother-in-law of Abner Cole, a suspect. Lawrence served as sheriff in the area.
By 1825, Samuel T. Lawrence had garnered a reputation as a treasure hunter. His name was linked in historical records as part of a company of “money diggers.” Also named in the records as “money diggers” were Joseph Smith Sr., Joseph Smith Jr., Hyrum Smith, George Proper, Josiah Stowell, and Alva Beaman.[13] Martin Harris recalled a tale of an encounter between the “money diggers” and a “treasure guardian” told to him by Samuel Lawrence. The tale goes like this—“While they were digging, a large man who appeared to be eight or nine feet high, came and sat on the ridge of the barn, and motioned to them that they must leave. They motioned back that they would not; but that they afterwards became frightened and did leave.” Palmyra resident Joseph Capron recalled that when the company of money diggers “discovered” a chest of gold watches that were “in the possession of the evil spirit,” Samuel Lawrence, “with a drawn sword in his hand, marched around to guard any assault which his satanic majesty might be disposed to make.”[14]
By all accounts, Lawrence wanted to get rich by finding treasure. He believed that through magic and mystical powers, treasures could be found.
Willard Chase Version of the 1825 Angel Moroni Account
Willard Chase tells of Samuel Lawrence going with Joseph Smith to the hill and of being shown “where the treasure was.” According to Willard, Samuel Lawrence asked Joseph “if he had ever discovered anything with the plates of gold; he said no: he then asked him to look in his stone, to see if there was anything with them. He looked, and said there was nothing; he told him to look again, and see if there was not a large pair of specks with the plates; he looked and soon saw a pair of spectacles, the same with which Joseph says he translated the Book of Mormon.”[15]
Willard Chases describes Events in 1825–1826
In 1825, Willard Chase was courting Melissa Saunders (sister of Lorenzo Saunders). They were married on January 26, 1826 in Palmyra.
Willard tells of Joseph making a journey to Harmony, Pennsylvania, and forming an acquaintance with Emma Hale. By 1826, Joseph wanted to marry Emma but was “destitute of means” to travel again to Pennsylvania. Hoping to “raise money,” he told Samuel Lawrence that “on the bank of the Susquehanna River, [there was] a very rich mine of silver, and if he would go there with him, he might have a share in the profits; that it was near high water mark and that they could load it into boats and take it down the river to Philadelphia, to market.” Lawrence questioned Joseph about trying to deceive him. Joseph assured him that his words were true, for he had “seen it with [his] own eyes.” Joseph promised that if Lawrence did “not find it so when we get there, I will bind myself to be your servant for three years. By these grave and fair promises Lawrence was induced to believe something in it, and agreed to go with him.”[16]
When Joseph Smith and Samuel Lawrence arrived in Pennsylvania, Joseph wanted Lawrence “to recommend him to Miss [Emma] H[ale], which he did.” As the story unfolds, Lawrence “wished to see the silver mine, and he and Joseph went to the river, and made search, but found nothing.” Willard then tells of Emma’s parents being opposed to “the match” and of Joseph and Emma eloping.
When it came to returning to the hill, Willard explained that by 1826, Joseph had “altered his mind” and Samuel Lawrence was “not the right man” to take with him to the hill.[17]
Wooden Box for the Plates
Willard Chase claimed that before Joseph Smith ever went to the hill to meet with the angel Moroni in September 1827, he asked him to—
. . . make him a chest, informing me that he designed to move back to Pennsylvania, and expecting soon to get his gold book, he wanted a chest to lock it up, giving me to understand at the same time, that if I would make the chest he would give me a share in the book. I told him my business was such that I could not make it: but if he would bring the book to me, I would lock it up for him. He said that would not do, as he was commanded to keep it two years, without letting it come to the eye of anyone but himself. This commandment, however, he did not keep, for in less than two years, twelve men said they had seen it.
I told him to get it and convince me of its existence, and I would make him a chest; but he said, that would not do, as he must have a chest to lock the book in, as soon as he took it out of the ground. I saw him a few days after, when he told me that I must make the chest. I told him plainly that I could not, upon which he told me that I could have no share in the book.[18]
In 1833, suspect Peter Ingersoll mentioned Willard Chase and the chest in his affidavit published in Mormonism Unvailed—
Notwithstanding, [Joseph Smith] told me he had no such book, and believed there never was any such book, yet, he told me that he actually went to Willard Chase, to get him to make a chest, in which he might deposit his golden Bible. But, as Chase would not do it, he made a box himself, of clap-boards, and put it into a pillow case, and allowed people only to lift it, and feel of it through the case.[19]
Joseph Smith is fearful of Samuel Lawrence
In September 1827, Joseph Knight Sr. recalled that Joseph Smith Jr. was afraid that Samuel Lawrence would try to interfere with his receiving the plates. Joseph Smith Sr. went to Lawrence’s house on September 21, 1827 to stop him from going to the hill and ambushing Joseph. It should be noted that Samuel Lawrence never left his house that night. Lucy Mack Smith recalled her husband’s visit to the Lawrence house, writing that “he could overhear their conversation” and they were “devising many plans and schemes to find ‘Joe Smith’s gold bible.’” Reportedly, the wife of Samuel Lawrence warned her husband: “‘Sam, Sam,’ said she. ‘You are cutting your own throat.’”[20] Samuel Lawrence claimed the plates were partially his because he had gone to the hill in search of treasure with Joseph Smith.
Willard Chase Version of the 1827 Angel Moroni Account and Attempts to Safeguard the Gold Plates
Willard claimed that Joseph came to his house and told him the following convoluted tale about receiving the gold plates—
On the 22d of September [1827], [Joseph] arose early in the morning, and took a one horse wagon, of someone that had stayed overnight at their house, without leave or license; and, together with his wife, repaired to the hill which contained the book. He left his wife in the wagon, by the road, and went alone to the hill, a distance of thirty or forty rods from the road; he said he then took the book out of the ground and hid it in a tree top, and returned home.
He then went to the town of Macedon to work. After about ten days, it having been suggested that someone had got his book, his wife went after him; he hired a horse, and went home in the afternoon, staid long enough to drink one cup of tea, and then went for his book, found it safe, took off his frock, wrap it round it, put it under his arm and run all the way home, a distance of about two miles. He said he should think it would weigh sixty pounds, and was sure it would weigh forty.
On his return home, he said he was attacked by two men in the woods, and knocked them both down and made his escape, arrived safe and secured his treasure. — He then observed that if it had not been for that stone, (which he acknowledged belonged to me,) he would not have obtained the book. A few days afterwards, he told one of my neighbors [Peter Ingersoll] that he had not got any such book, nor never had such an one; but that he had told the story to deceive the d--d fool, (meaning me,) to get him to make a chest. His neighbors having become disgusted with his foolish stories, he determined to go back to Pennsylvania, to avoid what he called persecution. His wits were now put to the task to contrive how he should get money to bear his expenses.[21]
Attempts of Willard Chase to Steal the Gold Plates
On September 9, 1827, the wife of Willard Chase gave birth to Luther M. Chase. Twelve days after his birth, Joseph Smith had possession of the gold plates. Willard sought to take the plates from Joseph by using the talents of his sister Sally and her peep-stone. On November 12, 1884, Lorenzo Saunders, brother-in-law to Willard Chase, talked of the peep-stone—
I have seen her peep stone a hundred times; It was a little bit of stone & it was green & she would hold it before light. It was thirty years ago:—after I left there I cannot tell you whether the peep stone was used or not . . . as I told Jo. Smith when he dug one out of a well on Chases Farm in the Shape of a baby’s foot. They dug that hole for money. Chases and Smiths altogether was digging. I knew all about the stone; Edmund Chase told me all about it. He lives here now, this side of Kalamazoo. He is a man older than I am.”[22]
Physician John Stafford of Manchester claimed that Sally (Sallie) used the peep-stone to locate hidden treasure.[23] This photograph is supposedly the stone that Sally used.
Sally claimed that by looking through her greenish stone, she could see money and locate lost objects. She would do this by placing the stone in a hat and holding it up to her face. Willard dug where Sally claimed money or lost objects were located.
In late September or early October 1827, Sally Chase claimed that she could see the precise place where Joseph Smith had hidden the Gold Bible (Joseph Smith Sr.’s cooper’s shop). Following Sally’s directions, a mob (the word mob suggests more than her brother Willard or his friends) tore up the floor of Joseph Smith Sr.’s cooper’s shop thinking they would find the plates.[24]
Not finding the gold plates, Willard Chase and Samuel T. Lawrence sent for Luman Walters—a conjurer, magician, and fortune teller living in Sodus, New York, about sixty miles from Palmyra. Walters was paid three dollars a day to find the Gold Bible. Walters showed Willard Chase and Samuel Lawrence a Latin copy of Cicero’s Orations and claimed it was a record of the former inhabitants of America and told where ancient treasures were located.
Of Walters coming to Palmyra at the behest of Willard Chase and Samuel Lawrence, Lucy Mack Smith wrote,
My husband soon learned that ten or twelve men were clubbed together, with one Willard Chase, a Methodist class leader, at their head. And what was still more ridiculous, they had sent sixty or seventy miles for a certain conjurer to come and divine the place where the plates were secreted. The next morning my husband concluded to go among the neighbors to see what he could learn with regard to their plans. The first house he came to he found the conjuror and Willard Chase, together with the rest of the clan. Making an errand, he sat down near the door, leaving it a little ajar. They stood in the yard near the door and were devising plans to find “Joe Smith’s gold Bible.” The conjuror was much animated, though he had traveled sixty miles the previous day and night.[25]
The Year 1828
Willard Chase held many opinions about Martin Harris, none positive except for noting his wealth. Willard had seen Martin go into a rage during a conversation with Hyrum Smith about returning the seer stone. Willard told of Martin seeing young Joseph Smith Jr. on the streets of Palmyra and being told by him, “I have a commandment from God to ask the first man I meet in the street to give me fifty dollars, to assist me in doing the work of the Lord by translating the Golden Bible.” Willard next wrote, “Martin being naturally a credulous man, hands Joseph the money.”[26]
Willard even knew of Martin going to Harmony, Pennsylvania in the spring 1828 and returning to Palmyra with a fabricated tale of Emma Smith “going to be delivered of a male child in June 1828” and that when the child was “two years old” the child would “translate the Gold Bible.” Willard told of Martin prophesying that one day he (meaning Willard) would “see Joseph Smith Jr. walking through the streets of Palmyra, with a Gold Bible under his arm, and having a gold breastplate on, and a gold sword hanging by his side.”[27]
On June 14, 1828, Martin Harris carried the 116 pages to Palmyra. He had the manuscript in his possession for three weeks (until about July 7, 1828). During those weeks, Martin Harris showed the manuscript to any “prudent” person who called. Would Willard Chase be considered a prudent person in 1828? No! Prudent means “acting with or showing care and thought for the future.” Willard displayed little thoughtfulness in his actions.
Willard lives out the Remainder of His Days in Palmyra
In 1833, Willard’s thirty-six acres in Manchester were valued at $400. He was assessed $1.02 in taxes for Lot 1. In 1835, Willard was assessed $1.36 in taxes for Lot 28, which consisted of forty acres and was valued at $920. That same year, Willard was granted a deed from Uriah Betts.[28]
Willard was listed in the 1840 US Federal Census as residing in Palmyra. He had in his household one male age 5-9, one male age 10-14, one male age 40-49, one female age 30-39, one person in agriculture, and one person in professional engineering. In 1841, Willard granted a deed to Joseph Johnstone.[29] In 1845, Willard granted a deed to Isaac T. Holmes.[30]
By 1860, Willard was listed in the US Federal Census as still living in Palmyra at age sixty-two. He claimed his occupation was clergyman of the Methodist Church. His household members included his wife Melissa Chase age 59, and his son Clark Chase, age 28. Melissa Chase died on December 6, 1861 in Palmyra at age sixty-one.[31] Willard was listed on the 1864 US Tax Assessment List as being taxed $1.
In 1870, Willard was listed in the US Federal Census as being seventy-two years old. At the time, there were only two members in his household—his sister Sally Chase, who never married, and himself. His real estate value was $1,500. His dwelling number was 337. It does not appear that Willard was taking care of Sally—quite the opposite. Lorenzo Saunders, who claimed that Pomeroy Tucker was interviewing Palmyra residents, who had known the Joseph Smith Sr. family in the 1820s, claimed that “Pomeroy Tucker never called on Willard Chase for evidence.” He thought the reason Tucker never called on him was because Willard had paralysis and was “not competent to give testimony.”[32]
Death of Willard Chase
On March 10, 1871, Willard died after a brief illness at his residence on Fayette Street in Palmyra. “Mr. Chase had been infirm for many years. The immediate cause of his death was congestion of the lungs.” [33] His funeral was conducted by Reverend Mr. Adams. Willard Chase was buried in the Palmyra City Cemetery.
Children of Willard and Melissa Chase
1. Luther M. Chase (September 9, 1827–March 24, 1884). He married Emil Foster (1830–1870) on February 12, 1852. He later married Mary Case (born 1838) on March 26, 1873 in Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania.
2. George Washington Chase (1830). He was born in Palmyra.
3. Clark S. Chase (1831–May 14, 1878). He was born in Palmyra. He married Helen Porter Williams (1831–1872). He was buried in the Palmyra City Cemetery.
[1] Records of Swansea, Massachusetts.
[2] Abel Chase Interview with E. L. Kelly in 1881, in Von Wymetal, Mormon Portraits, pp. 230–231.
[3] Willard Chase Affidavit, in Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, pp. 240–248.
[4] Willard Chase Affidavit, in Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, pp. 240–248.
[5] Abel Chase Interview, in Von Wymetal, Mormon Portraits, pp. 230–231.
[6] Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, pp. 240–248.
[7] Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, pp. 240–248.
[8] Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, pp. 240–248.
[9] Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, pp. 240–248.
[10] Abel Chase Interview, in Von Wymetal, Mormon Portraits, pp. 230–231.
[11] Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, pp. 240–248.
[12] Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, pp. 240–248.
[13] Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic Worldview, pp. 39, 41, 162.
[14] Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic Worldview, pp. 39, 41, 162; Smith, History of Joseph Smith by his Mother, p. 102; Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, pp. 340–342; Porter, “A Study of the Origins of the LDS Church in New York and Pennsylvania,” p. 97; Tucker, Origin, Rise, and Progress of Mormonism, p. 24; Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 2:153.
[15] Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, pp. 240–248.
[16] Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, pp. 240–248.
[17] Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, pp. 240–248.
[18] Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, pp. 240–248.
[19] Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, pp. 232–237.
[20] Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1845, in Joseph Smith Papers.
[21] Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, pp. 240–248.
[22] Lorenzo Saunders Interview with E. L. Kelley, November 12, 1884, pp. 8–9.
[23] Richard L. Bushman, Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1984), p. 70.
[24] See Smith, History of Joseph Smith by his Mother, p. 108; Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic Worldview, p. 41; Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1845, Joseph Smith Papers.
[25] Smith, History of Joseph Smith by his Mother, p. 102; Walker, United by Faith, p. 105, Bushman, Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism, pp. 69–70, 72; Porter, “A Study of the Origins of the LDS Church in New York and Pennsylvania,” p. 80; Tucker, Origin, Rise, and Progression of Mormonism, p. 18; Charles Augustus Shook, The True Origins of the Book of Mormon (Cincinnati, OH: Standard Publishing Company, 1914), p. 131.
[26] Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, pp. 240–248.
[27] Howe, Mormonism Unvailed, pp. 240–248.
[28] Ontario County, NY Grantee Deed Index, 1789–1845.
[29] Ontario County, NY Grantee Deed Index, 1789–1845.
[30] Ontario County, NY Grantee Deed Index, 1789–1845.
[31] “Died—Chase,” Palmyra Courier, December 16, 1861.
[32] Lorenzo Saunders Interview, September 17, 1884; Hiram Jackway, Interview 1881; Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 3:87.
[33] Palmyra Courier, March 17, 1871.