Matilda Spalding Revisited | |
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1. Interview with Jesse Haven, 1839.
Letter from John Haven in the Quincy Whig, published by Benjamin Winchester in The Origin of the Spaulding Story, Concerning the Manuscript Found, 1840.
A CUNNING DEVICE DETECTED
It will be recollected that a few months since an article appeared in several of the papers, purporting to give an account of the origin of the Book of Mormon. How far the writer of that piece has effected his purposes, or what his purposes were, in pursuing the course he has, I shall not attempt to say at this time, but I shall call upon every candid man to judge in this matter for himself; I shall content myself by presenting before the public the other side of the question, in the letter which follows.
Copy of a letter written by Mr. John Haven, of Holliston, Middlesex county, Mass., to his daughter, Elizabeth Haven, of Quincy, Adams county, Ill.
Your brother Jesse passed through Monson, where he saw Mrs. Davison, and her daughter, Mrs. M'Kinestry, and also Dr. Ely, and spent several hours with them; during which time he asked them the following questions, viz: Did you, Mrs. Davieson, write a letter to John Storrs, giving an account of the origin of the Book of Mormon? Answer. I did not. Ques. Did you sign your name to it? Ans. I did not; neither did I ever see the letter till I saw it in the Boston Recorder: the letter was never brought to me to sign. Quest. What agency had you in having this letter sent to Mr. Storrs? Ans. D. R. Austin came to my house and asked me some questions; took some minutes on paper, and from these wrote the letter. Ques. Is what is written in the letter true? Ans. In the main it is. Ques. Have you read the Book of Mormon? Ans. I have read some in it. Ques. Does Mr. Spaulding's manuscript and the Book of Mormon agree? Ans. I think some of the names are alike. Ques. Does the manuscript describe an Idolatrous or a religious people? Ans. An Idolatrous people. Ques. Where is the manuscript? Ans. Dr. P. Hulbert came here and took it, and said he would get it printed, and let me have one half of the profits. Ques. Has Dr. P. H. got the manuscript printed? Ans. I received a letter, stating that it did not read as they expected, and they should not print it. Ques. How large is Mr. Spaulding's manuscript? Ans. About one-third as large as the Book of Mormon. Question to Mrs. M'Kinestry. How old were you when your father wrote the manuscript? Ans. About five years of age. Ques. Did you ever read the manuscript? Ans. When I was about twelve years old I used to read it for diversion. Ques. Did the manuscript describe an Idolatrous or a religious people? Ans. An Idolatrous people. Ques. Does the manuscript and the Book of Mormon agree? Ans. I think some of the names agree. Ques. Are you certain that some of the names agree? Ans. I am not. Ques. Have you ever read any in the Book of Mormon? Ans. I have not. Ques. Was your name attached to that letter which was sent to Mr. Storrs by your order? Ans. No. I never meant that my name should be there.
You see by the above questions and answers, that Mr. Austin in his great zeal to destroy the Latter Day Saints, has asked Mrs. Davieson a few questions, and then wrote a letter to Mr. Storrs in his own language. I do not say, that the above questions and answers were given in the form that I have written them, but these are the substance of the questions asked, and the answers given [Note: this sentence is worded differently than the version published in the Times and Seasons, January 1840]. Mrs. Davieson is about seventy years of age, and somewhat broke.
This may certify, that I am personally acquainted with Mr. Haven, his son and daughters, and am satisfied that they are persons of truth. I have also read Mr. Haven's letter to his daughter, which has induced me to copy it for publication, and I further say, the above is a correct copy of Mr. Haven's letter.
A. Badlam.
2. Interview with Ellen Dickinson, 3 April 1880. Published in Scribner's Monthly, August 1880.
Washington, D.C., April 3rd, 1880.
So much has been published that is erroneous concerning the "Manuscript Found," written by my father, the Rev. Solomon Spaulding, and its supposed connection with the book, called the Mormon Bible, I have willingly consented to make the following statement regarding it, repeating all that I remember personally of this manuscript, and all that is of importance which my mother related to me in connection with it, at the same time affirming that I am in tolerable health and vigor, and that my memory, in common with elderly people, is clearer in regard to the events of my earlier years, rather than those of my maturer life.
During the war of 1812, I was residing with my parents in a little town in Ohio called Conneaut. I was then in my sixth year. My father was in business there, and I remember his iron foundry and the men he had at work, but that he remained at home most of the time and was reading and writing a great deal. He frequently wrote little stories, which he read to me. There were some round mounds of earth near our house which greatly interested him, and he said a tree on the top of one of them was a thousand years old. He set some of his men to work digging into one of these mounds, and I vividly remember how excited he became when he heard that they had exhumed some human bones, portions of gigantic skeletons, and various relics. He talked with my mother of these discoveries in the mound, and was writing every day as the work progressed. Afterward he read the manuscript which I had seen him writing, to the neighbors and to a clergyman, a friend of his, who came to see him. Some of the names that he mentioned while reading to these people I have never forgotten. They are as fresh to me today as though I heard them yesterday. They were Mormon, Maroni, Lamenite, Nephi. We removed from Conneaut to Pittsburgh while I was still very young, but every circumstance of this removal is distinct in my memory. In that city my father had an intimate friend named Patterson, and I frequently visited Mr. Patterson's library with him, and heard my father talk about books with him. In 1816 my father died at Amity, Pennsylvania, and directly after his death my mother and myself went to visit at the residence of my mother's brother William H. Sabine, at Onondaga Valley, Onondaga County, New York. Mr. Sabine was a lawyer of distinction and wealth, and greatly respected. We carried all our personal effects with us, and one of these was an old trunk, in which my mother had placed all my father's writings which had been preserved. I perfectly remember the appearance of this trunk, and of looking at its contents. There were sermons and other papers, and I saw a manuscript, about an inch thick, closely written, tied with some of the stories my father had written for me, one of which he called, "The Frogs of Wyndham." On the outside of this manuscript were written the words, "Manuscript Found." I did not read it, but looked through it and had it in my hands many times, and saw the names I had heard at Conneaut, when my father read it to his friends. I was about eleven years of age at this time.
After we had been at my uncle's for some time, my mother left me there and went to her father's house at Pomfret, Connecticut, but did not take her furniture nor the old trunk of manuscripts with her. In 1820 she married Mr. Davison, of Hartwicks, a village near Cooperstown, New York, and sent for the things she had left at Onondaga Valley, and I remember that the old trunk, with its contents, reached her in safety. In 1828, I was married to Dr. A. McKinstry of Hampden County, Massachusetts, and went there, to reside. Very soon after my mother joined me there, and was with me most of the time until her death in 1844. We heard, not long after she came to live with me - I do not remember just how long - something of Mormonism, and the report that it had been taken from my father's "Manuscript Found"; and then came to us direct an account of the Mormon meeting at Conneaut, Ohio, and that, on one occasion, when the Mormon Bible was read there in public, my father's brother, John Spaulding, Mr. Lake and many other persons who were present, at once recognized its similarity to the "Manuscript Found," which they had heard read years before by my father in the same town. There was a great deal of talk and a great deal published at this time about Mormonism all over the country. I believe it was in 1834 that a man named Hurlburt came to my house at Monson to see my mother, who told us that he had been sent by a committee to procure the "Manuscript Found" written by the Rev. Solomon Spaulding, so as to compare it with the Mormon Bible. He presented a letter to my mother from my uncle, Wm. H. Sabine, of Onondaga Valley, in which he requested her to loan this manuscript to Hurlburt, as he (my uncle) was desirous "to uproot (as he expressed it) this Mormon fraud." Hurlburt represented that he had been a convert to Mormonism, but had given it up, and through the "Manuscript Found," wished to expose its wickedness. My mother was careful to have me with her in all the conversations she had with Hurlburt, who spent a day at my house. She did not like his appearance and mistrusted his motives, but having great respect for her brother's wishes and opinions, she reluctantly consented to his request. The old trunk, containing the desired "Manuscript Found," she had placed in the care of Mr. Jerome Clark of Hartwicks, when she came to Monson, intending to send for it. On the repeated promise of Hurlburt to return the manuscript to us, she gave him a letter to Mr. Clark to open the trunk and deliver it to him. We afterwards heard that he had received it from Mr. Clark, at Hartwicks, but from that time we have never had it in our possession, and I have no present knowledge of its existence, Hurlburt never returning it or answering letters requesting him to do so. Two years ago, I heard he was still living in Ohio, and with my consent he was asked for the "Manuscript Found." He made no response although we have evidence that he received the letter containing the request. So far I have stated facts within my own knowledge. My mother mentioned many other circumstances to me in connection with this subject which are interesting, of my father's literary tastes, his fine education and peculiar temperament. She stated to me that she had heard the manuscript alluded to read by my father, was familiar with its contents, and she deeply regretted that her husband, as she believed, had innocently been the means of furnishing matter for a religious delusion. She said that my father loaned this "Manuscript Found" to Mr. Patterson, of Pittsburg, and that when he returned it to my father, he said: "Polish it up, finish it, and you will make money out of it." My mother confirmed my remembrances of my father's fondness for history, and told me of his frequent conversations regarding a theory which he had of a prehistoric race which had inhabited this continent, etc., all showing that his mind dwelt on this subject. The "Manuscript Found," she said, was a romance written in biblical style, and that while she heard it read, she had no special admiration for it more than other romances he wrote and read to her. We never, either of us, ever saw, or in any way communicated with the Mormons, save Hurlburt as above described; and while we have no personal knowledge that the Mormon Bible was taken from the "Manuscript Found," there were many evidences to us that it was and that Hurlburt and the others at the time thought so. A convincing proof to us of this belief was that my uncle, William H. Sabine, had undoubtedly read the manuscript while it was in his house, and his faith that its production would show to the world that the Mormon Bible had been taken from it, or was the same with slight alterations. I have frequently answered questions which have been asked by different persons regarding the "Manuscript Found," but until now have never made a statement at length for publication.
(Signed)
M. S. McKinstry.Sworn and subscribed to before me this 3rd day of April, A.D. 1880, at the city of Washington, D.C.
Charles Walter, Notary Public.
3. Letter to James Cobb, 31 August 1880
Shelter Island, Aug. 31 /80
Mr. Cobb
Sir
I never before heard or understood that my father assumed to have found metal plates from which he translated "Manuscript Found" or that he was guided by a vision. I have no recollection of ever seeing "Smith", or that he ever worked for my "Uncle Sabine", and if he had, he would have had no access to any portion of Mr. Sabine's house, as his kind help occupied a special dwelling.I distinctly recollect visiting a library with my father, which my mother told me was "Mr. Patterson's." The building was a large one, and over the door was a bust of what seemed to me at the time, as a beautiful lady, and impressed my childish fancy. I distinctly remember seeing in a chair in the center of the room, a large, heavy man of florid complexion. There was an other person in the room, and my father had a long conversation with him.
Hurlbut may have received in addition to "Manuscript Found" some fragment tied up with the bundle, which fragment he passed over to Mr. Howe, retaining the one of real importance for personal use. Mr. Patterson, if you remember visited Mr. Hurlbut armed with written authority from myself and children for the delivery of the document in question, and I feel that any communication from myself to "Mr. H." would be of no avail. If he stole the papers, he would not criminate himself by owning it.
In conclusion, I would say, that all I know, or can recollect, in regard to the whole matter, is comprised in my sworn statement in the "Scribner Article," and that nothing further was authorized or exaggerated by me.
Respectfully Yours,
M. S. McKinstry
4. Letter to A. B. Deming, 2 November 1886
Washington, Nov. 2nd, '86
Mr. A. B. Deming,
Dear Sir,I have read much of the Manuscript Story Conneaut Creek which you sent me. I know that it is not the Manuscript Found which contained the words "Nephi, Mormon, Maroni, and Laminites." Do the Mormons expect to deceive the public by leaving off the title page - Conneaut Creek - and calling it Manuscript Found and Manuscript Story?
Mrs. M. S. McKinstry
5. Letter to A. B. Deming, 31 October 1887
Dear Sir:
I have carefully read the Rice Spalding manuscript ("Manuscript Story") you gave me. It is not the "Manuscript Found," which I have often seen. It contained the words "Lehi," "Lamonia," "Nephi," and was a much larger work.Respectfully,
Mrs. McKinstry
October 31, 1887
Washington, DC