Who Was Martin Harris?

Martin Harris, Taken prior to July 10, 1875 by an unknown photographer

Where Science Meets the Doctrine and Covenants: Come Follow Me Lesson: January 27 – February 2: Doctrine and Covenants 3-5

The Introduction to Section 3 of the Doctrine and Covenants states: “Revelation given to Joseph Smith the Prophet, at Harmony, Pennsylvania, July 1828, relating to the loss of 116 pages of manuscript translated from the first part of the Book of Mormon, which was called the book of Lehi. The Prophet had reluctantly allowed these pages to pass from his custody to that of Martin Harris, who had served for a brief period as scribe in the translation of the Book of Mormon. The revelation was given through the Urim and Thummim.”

Section 3, verses 7 and 12-13 call Martin Harris a “wicked man.” “For, behold, you should not have feared man more than God. Although men set at naught the counsels of God, and despise his words — …And when thou 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, 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.”

Then, eight months later, the Introduction to Section 5 states:

“Revelation given through Joseph Smith the Prophet, at Harmony, Pennsylvania, March 1829, at the request of Martin Harris.”

Joseph is told in Section 5: 4, 11-15, 21, “And you have a gift to translate the plates; and this is the first gift that I bestowed upon you; and I have commanded that you should pretend to no other gift until my purpose is fulfilled in this; for I will grant unto you no other gift until it is finished…And in addition to your testimony, the testimony of three of my servants, whom I shall call and ordain, unto whom I will show these things, and they shall go forth with my words that are given through you. Yea, they shall know of a surety that these things are true, for from heaven will I declare it unto them. I will give them power that they may behold and view these things as they are; And to none else will I grant this power, to receive this same testimony among this generation, in this the beginning of the rising up and the coming forth of my church out of the wilderness—clear as the moon, and fair as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners. And the testimony of three witnesses will I send forth of my word…And now I command you, my servant Joseph, to repent and walk more uprightly before me, and to yield to the persuasions of men no more…”

Then, in verses 23-29, and 32, the Lord told Joseph about Martin Harris: “And now, again, I speak unto you, my servant Joseph, concerning the man that desires the witness — Behold, I say unto him, he exalts himself and does not humble himself sufficiently before me; but if he will bow down before me, and humble himself in mighty prayer and faith, in the sincerity of his heart, then will I grant unto him a view of the things which he desires to see. And then he shall say unto the people of this generation: Behold, I have seen the things which the Lord hath shown unto Joseph Smith, Jun., and I know of a surety that they are true, for I have seen them, for they have been shown unto me by the power of God and not of man. And I the Lord command him, my servant Martin Harris, that he shall say no more unto them concerning these things, except he shall say: I have seen them, and they have been shown unto me by the power of God; and these are the words which he shall say. But if he deny this he will break the covenant which he has before covenanted with me, and behold, he is condemned. And now, except he humble himself and acknowledge unto me the things that he has done which are wrong, and covenant with me that he will keep my commandments, and exercise faith in me, behold, I say unto him, he shall have no such views, for I will grant unto him no views of the things of which I have spoken. And if this be the case, I command you, my servant Joseph, that you shall say unto him, that he shall do no more, nor trouble me any more concerning this matter…And now, because I foresee the lying in wait to destroy thee, yea, I foresee that if my servant Martin Harris humbleth not himself and receive a witness from my hand, that he will fall into transgression…”

So, who was Martin Harris? Ronald Walker said that “…Nathan Harris, Martin's father…[a]bout 1780…left Rhode Island, where the Harrises had lived for four generations, for the opportunity of upstate New York. His first two children were born near Albany [Martin was number two, May 18, 1783], and apparently in the early 1790s, Harris and his wife, Rhoda Lapham, began to establish roots in western New York's primitive Ontario County. By 1794 Nathan had purchased for about $300 New York currency 600 acres of rich loamed soil near present-day Palmyra, New York, and began tilling the land…”1 

Nathan Harris was, “credited…with slaying the last wolf in the locality, killed as the aging Harris pursued him on a horse at full gallop. A later generation found his distinctive, large-bore musket balls ubiquitously lodged throughout the neighborhood woods.”2

Walker continued, citing several sources, “The neighborhood grew up around them. During the early years, the outlying Harris homestead was tied to the main settlement by a simple trail, one and a quarter miles long, which was later improved to a road running out of the village on the north side of Mud Creek. At first the village was called ‘Swift’s Landing or ‘Swift's Town,’ for General John Swift, the early settler and land speculator from whom the pioneers had secured their titles. As the township grew it was twice rechristened, first as ‘Toland,’ and then in 1796, after a town meeting, as ‘Palmyra, presumably more in keeping with classicism of the Federal era. Growth was steady. Less than a decade after the Harrises’ migration, the township had about 1,137 settlers. In another ten years the figure doubled.”3 

Walker stated, “He may have continued farming with Nathan until his mid-twenties, perhaps renting a portion of the land or working with his father for shares; but in 1813 he paid $800 for 121 acres situated on the north end of the farm. Three months later he added another twenty-five acres for $250. Such cash outlays, handsome for the time, testified of the young man’s talent and growing prosperity. During the next fourteen years, he secured at least another six parcels, totaling almost 120 acres at an expense of more than $1600. Fortune seemed ascendent.”4 

“He married his almost sixteen year old cousin, Lucy Harris, in 1808 [Harris was 25]. They had at least five children, three of whom lived to adulthood. Martin established his family in a white, one-and-a-half story, eight- or nine-room frame home with hemlock-boarded sheds and barns nearby... He served briefly and without injury, as first sergeant in the 39th New York Militia in the War of 1812...Palmyra consistently awarded him a series of minor offices appropriate to his growing status. Beginning in 1814 when he was forty-one, he was elected seven times as one the township's twenty-eight Overseers of Highways…Six of these years he was given the additional duty of ‘Fence Viewer,’ which provided the nominal compensation of fifty cents a day.” Harris was apparently one of the richest men “in the region”. In 1833, “Lucy…estimated their wealth at the time, both in property and money at interest, at about $10,000…”5 

“During the early 1820s, he was recognized at the local fair for the manufacture of bed ticking, coverlets, worsted stockings, and flannel, and for the best ‘pair of rose blankets.’ Harris himself occasionally played a leadership role at these fairs. One year he helped judge swine. At another he was elected one of two Palmyra managers for the Ontario Agricultural Society…”6

Walker said, “Harris also may have taken a role in the anti-Masonic crusade which swept the region in the late 1820s. At an anti-Masonic convention meeting held at Lyons, New York, (one of ten in Palmyra’s immediate vicinity), Harris was called to serve on his neighborhood’s vigilance committee. Though likely opposing the Masons’ supposed elitism and terror, Harris left behind no record of sustained anti-Masonry…At the age of thirty-five, he found himself deeply stirred by the competing claims of the religious revivalists. Some Palmyra citizens remembered Harris…[as] an orthodox Quaker…a Universalist…a Restorationer…a Baptist…a Methodist…[and] a Presbyterian…[another] villager remembered Harris's fondness for new creeds, ‘the more extravagant the better.’”7

Apparently, Harris’ version was quite different. He said that he occasionally “‘…visited Palmyra's several churches and established with churchgoers a mutual rapport.’” But he refused any “formal commitment.” He said that “‘All of the Sects called me brother because the Lord [had] enlightened me…’” “Two issues bothered him. First, trinitarian formulas seemed absurdly convoluted. They defined a God that seemed too remote…His second question involved authority. Harris doubted that any church was properly authorized to act for God. ‘I might just as well plunge myself into the water as to have any one of the sects baptize me…’”8

Even though he had no specific religious affiliation, Harris was very well versed in the Bible.  “He ‘could quote more scripture than any man in the neighborhood,’ remembered one acquaintance…He mastered entire books from the Bible and would later ‘defy any man to show me any passage of scripture that I am not posted on or familiar with’…He accused the Methodists in the neighborhood of borrowing some of his own doctrinal teachings and threatened legal action.”9 

Martin Harris had “a strong sense of mission. God, he was sure, ‘had a work for me to do”…He also perceived that great events lay at hand, which he listed in specific detail. In the future, an angel should restore godly power. He also felt that a great work of preaching and ‘gathering’ was imminent, when God would ‘set His hand again the second time to restore the kingdom of Israel.’” And apparently, “…he even sensed the possibility of the coming forth of a new book of scripture which would join the Bible in a latter-day work (M. Harris to Emerson 1870). In sum, as the Palmyra Courier (7 June 1872) later suggested, Martin ‘had read of the wonders to come in the latter day, and now believed that day had arrived, and that his peculiar fitness to act as seer and prophet, was not to be overlooked by the powers that controlled the future.’”10 

Walker said that “…whatever Harris believed and preached during the early 1820s, it was sufficiently unusual to stir neighborhood gossip and nettle the established clergy. During this time, some Palmyrans described Harris as a skeptic who was ‘not very religious’ — a charge that probably stemmed from his refusal to accept the teachings of the traditional churches…The established clergy were harsher. The Episcopalian Reverend John Clark described Harris as having ‘a manifest disputatious turn of mind’…while the Reverend Jesse Townsend, who had been installed at Palmyra's Western Presbyterian Church in 1817, found Harris an ‘unlearned conceited hypocrite’ and a ‘visionary fanatic’ (Townsend to Stiles 1833).”11

Walker stated that according to some, “He was given to a belief in dreams, ghosts, hobgoblins, ‘special providences,’ terrestrial visits of angels, [and] the interposition of ‘devils’ to afflict sinful men’. John Gilbert, the Palmyra printer, likewise found him to be ‘superstitious,’ someone who ‘pretended to see things’.”12

However, all of that said, when Harris left Palmyra for Kirtland, Ohio in 1831 (age 48), with the Latter-day Saints, the Wayne Sentinel (Palmyra, New York; 27 May 1831) wrote: “Several families, numbering about fifty souls, took up their line of march from this town last week for the ‘promised land,’ among whom was Martin Harris, one of the original believers in the ‘Book of Mormon.’ Mr. Harris was among the early settlers of this town, and has ever borne the character of an honorable and upright man, and an obliging and benevolent neighbor. He had secured to himself by honest industry a respectable fortune—and he has left a large circle of acquaintances and friends to pity his delusion.”

Susan Easton Black stated that in 1824 Martian, “…hired Father Smith and his son Hyrum. During their employ Martin learned of the prophetic calling of young Joseph. Historian Willard Bean writes: ‘Each day while they were there Martin would find excuse to bring up the matter and would ask many questions, referring frequently to the Bible to prove that heavenly messengers visiting the earth was not a new doctrine…Martin was thrilled beyond expression. He requested that he be kept posted on any new development.”13

Walker stated, “In the autumn of 1827, he completed a project or two around his property and declared himself free to assume a more leisurely pace. “My hands are altogether untied,” he announced, “I can come and go and do as I please.’ He thought about hiring a hand to handle his affairs for a year so he could do some traveling…”14 That was, conveniently, just about the time that Joseph Smith received the Gold Plates.

According to Walker, Lucy Smith recounted that her errand was, “…getting someone to help translate and publish the plates. Perhaps a few facsimiles of the characters could be taken to New York City to learn what the professors might say. Unfortunately such a trip was entirely beyond the Smiths' means. At the moment, there wasn't a shilling in the house. In their extremity, Joseph suggested that perhaps the Harrises might assist them. Would his mother visit them, convey the news about the plates, and possibly seek their assistance in getting them translated?... Lucy Smith walked north out of Palmyra on the Chapel Street road…[She] approached the Harris home with much trepidation. She mistrusted Lucy Harris. In Mother Smith's view, Martin's wife was ‘peculiar,’ ‘jealous,’ and easily provoked…Hard of hearing and unable to completely understand words and events around her, Lucy Harris tended to be suspicious. Even close friends like Lorenzo Saunders agreed, ‘She was pretty high on combativeness’…Perhaps to quiet Lucy and give her a measure of personal security, Martin had allowed her a ‘private purse’ and in 1825 placed eighty acres in her name.”15 

Apparently, according to Lucy Smith, Lucy Harris offer $200 toward publishing the book, not for any religious purpose, but as an investment; she expected that, “The publication of the golden plates promised high returns…” on her investment. But, apparently, Martin remained uncommitted. “Within a day or two after Lucy Smith's visit, Martin’s wife and daughter were at the Smiths’ cabin in Manchester seeking further information and a view of the plates. If Joseph had them, ‘she would see them,’ she announced, and if she found that they existed, she was ‘determined’ to assist in their publication.”16

According to Lucy Smith’s account, “Joseph countered with equal firmness. He could not show them to the curious as he might a secular object, he responded. The plates would be displayed only to those ‘whom the Lord should appoint to testify of them.’ As for her proffered assistance, the young prophet was brusque to the point of giving offense. ‘I always prefer dealing with men,’ he told Mrs. Harris, ‘rather than their wives’ … The interchange could not have pleased Mrs. Harris, who according to Mother Smith, regarded herself as ‘altogether superior’ to her husband's business acumen. But when later questioned by Martin, her reaction was not entirely negative. She reported that both she and her daughter had been permitted to lift the Ontario glass-box that contained the plates. They had found the container heavy…” Later, Martin also “…lifted the box containing the plates and had his earlier judgment confirmed. Their dense weight suggested lead or gold, and Martin was sure that neither Joseph nor his family had the means, even on credit, to secure either.”17

Walker stated, “…according to Joseph, the angel indirectly had a message for Martin. Joseph was instructed to look into the special stones that had accompanied the plates to learn the identity of the man who would assist him in translating and publishing the plates to the world. ‘I saw you standing before me as plainly as I do now,’ the prophet affirmed.” Mertin replied, “‘…if the Lord will show me that it is his work, you can have all the money you want.’”18 

After Martin Harris’ visit with the Smiths, which lasted until “almost noon…He went to his bedroom and, kneeling, made a covenant. If Joseph’s work was God's work, he would do his best to bring it to the world. As Martin prayed, he felt confirmation from the Lord. He later explained: ‘He then showed me that it was his work, and that it was designed to bring in the fullness of his gospel to the gentiles to fulfill his word, that the first shall be last and the last first.’ Martin made no elaborations about his revelation. He had heard no voices nor had he seen angels. In contrast with some of his other supernatural experiences, the results of this prayer were simple. God ‘showed . . . [the truth] to me by the still small voice spoken in the soul.’ He seemed at once to understand that his prayer was pivotal. He had offered the Lord a covenant and now was bound. He must assist Joseph’s work. Indeed, he ‘was under covenant to bring it forth’…Martin Harris had become a convert to the new faith.”19

Black said that Harris, “…gave fifty dollars to help defray expenses when Joseph journeyed to Harmony, Pennsylvania. He hand-carried transcribed characters from the Book of Mormon to linguists Charles Anthon and Dr. Mitchell in New York City…”20

Ironically, according to Black, “Martin was the scribe to the book of Lehi translation. Joseph wrote, ‘Mr. Harris…arranged his affairs, and returned again to my house about the 12th of April, 1828, and commenced writing for me while I translated from the plates, which we continued until the 14th of June following, by which time he had written one hundred and sixteen pages of manuscript on foolscap paper.’”21 

Black continued, “Historical recounting of the loss of the manuscript differ in detail, but scholars agree that Martin’s wife played a central role in its falling into the hands of designing men…Martin’s repentance and remorse was sincere, and in June 1829 he became one of three witnesses to the Book of Mormon (see D&C 5:23-29). The Prophet Joseph wrote that after seeing an angel and the Book of Mormon plates, ‘Martin Harris cried out…, ‘Tis enough; mine eyes have beheld…’ and jumping up, he shouted, ‘Hosannah,’ blessing God, and otherwise rejoicing exceedingly.”22

Black again, “Martin mortgaged his farmland to ensure the publication of the Book of Mormon. Eighteen months later when the mortgage fell due, he was without funds to pay the debt. Near the time he defaulted on his mortgage he and Lucy separated.”23

According to FamilySearch, Lucy Harris died in Palmyra in 1836. They had four children: Lucy Harris, born 1809, she was married in 1828 to Flanders Dyke (he died in 1880 in Wisconsin), they had five children (the children all died in Wisconsin, Nebraska or Michigan), she died in Kirtland in 1941; William was born in Palmyra in about 1815 and died there in 1819; George B. Harris was born about 1819 in Palmyra, he married Mary Jane Thompson in 1858 (it is unknown where she died) and their son, Alma Martin Harris, born in 1860, died in 1940 in Blackfoot, Idaho, George was a seaman in 1852, and was killed in action in Petersburg, Virginia 1 October 1864 (it is difficult to read more information on the hand-written letter).

The following is taken from the Joseph Smith Papers, Original Manuscript of the Book of Mormon, circa 12 April 1828–circa 1 July 1829, Historical Introduction:

“From April 1828 to July 1829, JS dictated the text of the Book of Mormon to at least seven scribes and even inscribed the equivalent of two lines himself. He began dictating about 12 April 1828 in Harmony, Pennsylvania. Martin Harris, Emma Smith, and Emma’s brother Reuben Hale served as scribes in this early effort. After two months of translation, JS and his scribes had produced a sizable manuscript. Harris wished to show the manuscript to friends and family and convinced JS to allow him to borrow it and take it home with him to Palmyra, New York. After Harris arrived home and showed the manuscript to a number of people, it was stolen, never to be recovered.”24 

“Little is known about the portion of the manuscript lost in summer 1828. According to JS, he ‘translated, by the gift and power of God, and caused to be written, one hundred and sixteen pages, the which I took from the Book of Lehi, which was an account abridged from the plates of Lehi, by the hand of Mormon; which said account, some person or persons have stolen and kept from me.’ This ‘Book of Lehi’ contained the earliest part of the Book of Mormon narrative. This narrative included the account of an ancient prophet named Lehi and his family, who traveled from Jerusalem to a new homeland. The lost portion apparently contained a history of that family’s descendants ‘down to the reign of . . . king Benjamin,’ a ruler who, according to the surviving Book of Mormon narrative, began his reign more than four hundred years after the departure of Lehi’s family from Jerusalem. Following the loss of the initial portion of the manuscript, evidence indicates that JS resumed translation where he left off—near the beginning of the book of Mosiah—and continued through the end of the book of Moroni. JS later reported that in order to replace the book of Lehi, he was inspired to translate material ‘from the plates of Nephi’ (also referred to as the small plates of Nephi), which contained a ‘more particular account’ of the lost portion of the narrative. This replaced the account by Lehi with the account of Nephi, one of his sons, along with shorter texts written later by Nephi’s relatives and by Mormon, a later compiler and editor. The replacement material consists of seven books—1 Nephi, 2 Nephi, Jacob, Enos, Jarom, Omni, and the Words of Mormon—which were arranged at the beginning of the text before the creation of a second copy of the Book of Mormon, which is commonly called the printer’s manuscript.”25 

“In the preface to the first published edition of the Book of Mormon, JS described the lost portion of the manuscript as containing 116 pages, and several other recollections also indicate it was 116 pages long. It is unknown whether the lost portion was paginated or whether it was organized into gatherings of pages. Martin Harris claimed to have served as scribe for the lost portion of the manuscript, and Emma Smith stated that she inscribed ‘a part of it,’ but it is impossible to know how much each scribe wrote.”26

“After the manuscript was lost, the translation was halted for a period of several months, after which JS resumed the work with the assistance of Emma Smith and his brother Samuel Smith, only to pause once again. In early April 1829, Oliver Cowdery, a young schoolteacher who knew JS’s family in Manchester, New York, and believed their accounts of JS’s encounters with the divine, moved to Harmony to support JS. Cowdery served as JS’s scribe for the next two months, finishing the book of Mosiah and working at least through the book of Ether. In June 1829, JS and Cowdery moved from Harmony to Fayette, New York, to continue the translation. In Fayette, JS continued to dictate the text to Oliver Cowdery but also dictated portions to John Whitmer and to another individual referred to in this volume as scribe 3 (possibly Christian Whitmer). Around the first of July 1829, JS finished the translation and asked Cowdery to create the printer’s manuscript.”27

Susan Easton Black tells the rest of Martin Harris’ story, “Martin was baptized on 6 April 1830 in the Seneca River by Oliver Cowdery…” He moved to “…Kirtland in June 1831 and by 7 June was directed by revelation to journey to Missouri (see D&C 52:24). By mid-July he was in Independence…” He served a mission, with his brother Emer Harris in 1832 in New York and Pennsylvania. “After his release he returned to Ohio, where he volunteered to march with Zion’s Camp to Missouri. After the march he was…one of three to choose the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles…Martin became a member of the first high council in Kirtland…he continued to struggle with desires for fortune and fame…”28 

According to FamilySearch, Martin married Caroline Young (1816-1888) 1 November 1836 in Kirtland, Ohio. They had seven children: Martin Harris Jr, born 1838 in Kirtland, died 1913, Lewisville, Idaho; Caroline Harris, born about 1839 in Kirtland, died before 1850 in Kirtland; Julia Lacotha Harris, born 1842 in Kirtland, died 1869 in Salt Lake City; John Wheeler Harris, born 1845 in Kirtland, died 1916 in Lewisville; Sarah Harris, born about 1849 in Kirtland, died before 1856 in Ohio; Solomon Webster Harris, born 1853 in Kirtland, died 1919 in Idaho Falls, Idaho; and Ida May Harris, born 1856 in Pottawattamie, Iowa, died 1918 in the United States (unspecified). Martin Jr. was married in 1859 in Salt Lake City; Julia Harris was married in Salt Lake City in 1860; and Solomon Harris was married in 1874 in the Utah Territory; and Ida Harris was married in 1872 in Smithfield, Utah.

Black stated, “At a conference in the Kirtland Temple in September 1837, Martin was rejected as a member of the high council. According to one account he was disfellowshipped ‘for speaking against the Prophet.’ [Apparently, at least in part, over the failure of the church's Kirtland Safety Society bank.] …he chose to estrange himself from the Church for the next thirty-two years…he maintained a residence in Kirtland and became the self-appointed care-taker of the Kirtland Temple.” He claimed, ‘I never did leave the Church; the Church left me.’”29

“At age eighty-six he requested that Brigham Young be told of his impoverished circumstances and his desire to visit Utah…’my family and children…He was rebaptized on 17 September 1870 by Edward Stevenson in the presence of five Apostles…The final testimony of Martin Harris was recorded by his grandson William Pilkington: ‘On the 9th day of July 1875…martin died on 10 July 1875 in Clarkston, Utah. He was buried with his Book of Mormon in his right hand and the Doctrine and Covenants in his left.”30

According to an unpublished manuscript copy in the possession of his descendants, “On his death bed, Harris said: ‘The Book of Mormon is no fake. I know what I know. I have seen what I have seen and I have heard what I have heard. I have seen the gold plates from which the Book of Mormon is written. An angel appeared to me and others and testified to the truthfulness of the record, and had I been willing to have perjured myself and sworn falsely to the testimony I now bear I could have been a rich man, but I could not have testified other than I have done and am now doing for these things are true.’”31 

Trent Dee Stephens, PhD

trentdeestephens.com

stephenstrent7@gmail.com

References

1.     Walker, Ronald W., Martin Harris: Mormonism's Early Convert, Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, 19:29-43, 1986, p. 30

2.     Walker, p. 31

3.     Ibid

4.     Walker, p. 31-32

5.     Walker, p. 35; Black, Susan Easton, Who’s Who in the Doctrine and Covenants, Bookcraft Salt Lake City, Utah, 1997, p. 124

6.     Walker, p. 32

7.     Walker, p. 33

8.     Ibid

9.     Walker, p. 33, 34

10.  Walker, p. 34

11.  Ibid

12.  Walker, p. 34, 35

13.  Black, p. 124

14.  Walker, p. 36

15.  Ibid

16.  Walker, p. 37, 39

17.  Walker, p. 39-41

18.  Walker, p. 41

19.  Walker, p. 41-42

20.  Black, p. 124

21.  Black, p. 125

22.  Ibid

23.  Ibid

24.  josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/original-manuscript-of-the-book-of-mormon-circa-12-april-1828-circa-1-july-1829/1#historical-intro; retrieved 25 January 2025

25.  Ibid

26.  Ibid

27.  Ibid

28.  Black, p. 125-126

29.  Black, p. 126

30.  Black, p. 126-127

31.  unpublished manuscript copy in the possession of his descendants, quoted in Eldin Ricks, The Case of the Book of Mormon Witnesses, Deseret News Press, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1971, p. 65–66.