Mormonism and Wikipedia/Joseph Smith, Jr./Early years

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An analysis of Wikipedia article "Joseph Smith"



A FairMormon Analysis of Wikipedia: "Joseph Smith"
 A work by a collaboration of authors (Link to Wikipedia article here) 		Founding a church (1827–30)
The name Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.. Wikipedia content is copied and made available under the GNU Free Documentation License.
The article has remarkable balance right now. Any attempts to deliberately add Mormon POV will both spark an edit war and in the end degrade the literary quality of the current article because of the difficulty of clearing the corpses from the battlefield when it concludes. Improvements in this article are more likely to come from deletions than additions.
—Editor "John Foxe," 13 January 2009 off-site
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I think Smith is handled with kid gloves in this article. There needs to be more emphasis on the fraudulent means that he used to start his religion and also the emphasis on sex at the end of his life.
—Editor "John Foxe," posting using his banned sockpuppet "Hi540," 13 January 2009 off-site
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Reviews of previous revisions of this section

19 May 2009

Summary: A review of this section as it appeared in Wikipedia on 19 May 2009.

Section review

Early years (1805–1827)  Updated 9/3/2011

Main article: Early life of Joseph Smith, Jr.

The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

Joseph Smith, Jr. was born on December 23, 1805, in Sharon, Vermont to Lucy Mack Smith and her husband Joseph, a merchant and farmer.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

  •  Correct, per cited sources

The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

After a crippling bone infection at age eight, the younger Smith hobbled on crutches as a child.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

  •  Correct, per cited sources

The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

In 1816–17, the family moved to the western New York village of Palmyra

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

  •  Correct, per cited sources

The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

and eventually took a mortgage on a 100 acre farm in nearby Manchester town.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response


The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

During the Second Great Awakening, the region was a hotbed of religious enthusiasm.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response


The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

Although the Smith family was caught up in this excitement,

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

  •  Violates Wikipedia: Citing sources off-site— There is either no citation to support the statement or the citation given is incorrect.
    Violated by COgden —Diff: off-site
    The citation used to support this assertion doesn't support the claim that the Smith family was caught up in "this excitement" of "religious enthusiasm," instead implying that the Smith family was associated with "divining and counterfeiting." The citation is mismatched to the assertion in the main body text.


The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

they disagreed about religion.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

  •  Correct, per cited sources


The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

Joseph Smith may not have joined a church in his youth,

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

  •  Correct, per cited sources
  • From Lapham's 1870 account (47 years after the events described) we seem some interesting oddities. Lapham is paraphrasing an interview with Joseph Smith, Sr. Note that this account is being given almost 30 years after Joseph Smith, Jr. published the story of the First Vision and visit by Moroni.

After this, Joseph spent about two years looking into this stone, telling fortunes, where to find lost things, and where to dig for money and other hidden treasure. About this time he became concerned as to his future state of existence, and was baptized, becoming thus a member of the Baptist Church. Soon after joining the Church, he had a very singular dream; but he did not tell his father of his dream, until about a year afterwards. He then told his father that, in his dream, a very large and tall man appeared to him, dressed in an ancient suit of clothes, and the clothes were bloody.

The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

but he participated in church classes

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

and read the Bible. With his family, he took part in religious folk magic,

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

a common practice at the time.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

  •  Correct, per cited sources
  • From the cited source,

At this time the revivals of western New York's so-called "Burned-over District" were bringing thousands out of private folk religion and into organized churches, whose clergy opposed folk magic.


The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

Like many people of that era,

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

  •  Correct, per cited sources
  • Quinn quotes Bushman on page 137:

Standing on the margins of instituted churches, they [the Smiths] were as susceptible to the neighbors' belief in magic as they were to the teachings of orthodox ministers.

The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

both his parents and his maternal grandfather had visions or dreams that they believed communicated messages from God.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

Smith later said that he had his own first vision in 1820, in which God told him his sins were forgiven

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

and that all the current churches were false.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response


The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

The Smith family supplemented its meager farm income by treasure-digging,

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

  • From the cited source,

Some neighbors also said that in "1819 or '20, they [the Smith family] commenced digging for money for a subsistence." Other neighbors specified that during "the spring of 1820" Joseph Jr. was extremely active in the treasure-quest.

The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

likewise relatively common in contemporary New England

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

though the practice was frequently condemned by clergymen and rationalists and was often illegal.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

Joseph claimed an ability to use seer stones for locating lost items and buried treasure.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

To do so, Smith would put a stone in a white stovepipe hat and would then see the required information in reflections given off by the stone.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

In 1823, while praying for forgiveness from his "gratification of many appetites,"

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

  •  Correct, per cited sources
  • Note that D. Michael Quinn postulates that Joseph "once made an extraordinarily candid reference to his sexual struggle from 1820 to 1823" based upon the "gratification of many appetites" quote in Joseph's 1838 account, but the account itself says nothing about a "sexual struggle."
  • For an analysis of D. Michael Quinn's critical work, see A FAIR Analysis of Early Mormonism and the Magic World View.

The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

Smith said he was visited at night by an angel named Moroni, who revealed the location of a buried book of golden plates as well as other artifacts, including a breastplate and a set of silver spectacles with lenses composed of seer stones, which had been hidden in a hill near his home.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

  •  Correct, per cited sources
  • It should be noted that the hill near Joseph Smith's home was not named "Cumorah" at this point in time. The name was only applied later after the publication of the Book of Mormon.

The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

Smith said he attempted to remove the plates the next morning but was unsuccessful because the angel prevented him.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

  •  Correct, per cited sources

The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

During the next four years, Smith made annual visits to the hill, only to return without the plates because he claimed that he had not brought with him the right person required by the angel.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

  •  Correct, per cited sources
  • From the cited source Bushman:

Stories circulated of a requirement to bring Alvin to the hill to get the plates; and when he died, someone else. Emma, it was said, was designated as a key. The stories have a magical flavor, but other stories have the angel warning Joseph about greed and the evildoings of the money-diggers, as if the messenger was moving him away from his treasure-hunting ways.

The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

Meanwhile, Smith continued traveling western New York and Pennsylvania as a treasure seeker and also as a farmhand.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

In 1826, he was tried in Chenango County, New York, for "glass-looking," the crime of pretending to find lost treasure.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

  •  Violates Wikipedia: Citing sources off-site— There is either no citation to support the statement or the citation given is incorrect.

    Joseph never claimed to have found lost treasure. He was tried for attempting to find lost treasure using a stone.
  • For a detailed response, see: Joseph Smith/Legal trials/1826 glasslooking trial

The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

While boarding at the Hale house in Harmony, he met Emma Hale and, on January 18, 1827, eloped with her because her parents disapproved of his treasure hunting.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

  •  Correct, per cited sources
  • Joseph and Emma eloped because her father would not allow them to be married due to his disapproval of Joseph's treasure seeking activities.

The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

Claiming his stone told him that Emma was the key to obtaining the plates,

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

  •  Violates Wikipedia: Citing sources off-site— There is either no citation to support the statement or the citation given is incorrect.

    Joseph never claimed that his stone "told" him anything. He used to stone to obtain information.
  • Bushman, p. 54:

Emma, it was said, was designated as a key.

The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

Smith went with her to the hill on September 22, 1827. This time, he said, he retrieved the plates and placed them in a locked chest.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

  •  Correct, per cited sources

The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

He said the angel commanded him not to show the plates to anyone else but to publish their translation, reputed to be the religious record of indigenous Americans.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

Joseph later promised Emma's parents that his treasure-seeking days were behind him.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

Although Smith had left his treasure hunting company, his former associates believed he had double-crossed them by taking for himself what they considered joint property.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

They ransacked places where a competing treasure-seer said the plates were hidden,

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

The author(s) of the Wikipedia article on Joseph Smith[1] make(s) the following claim:

and Smith soon realized that he could not accomplish the translation in Palmyra.

Author's sources:

FAIR's Response

Wikipedia and anti-Mormon literature
Key sources
  • Roger Nicholson, "Mormonism and Wikipedia: The Church History That 'Anyone Can Edit'," Interpreter: A Journal of Mormon Scripture 1/8 (14 September 2012). [151–190] link
Wiki links
Online
Navigators


Notes

  1. ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.28 1.29 1.30 1.31 1.32 1.33 Due to the nature of wikipedia, articles can change. This analysis applies to the article as it stood circa September 2011.
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