Memory and Lucy Mack Smith – Part I

Much has been made—and still is—about Lucy Mack Smith’s history of her son, Joseph, in which she comments that Joseph used the term “hill Cumorah” before he obtained the plates. Her book, which Heartland theorists use to verify that Joseph Smith knew the name of the hill as Cumorah, she wrote in 1845 (Chapter 23, page 104 of Lucy Mack Smith, History, 1845), about a word-for-word conversation that took place in 1827 (“Joseph Obtains the Plates,” which she dated as September 20, 1828, though the date was later crossed out and 1827 entered).

The importance of this seemingly minor point is understood when discussing the location of the Land of Promise with Heartland and Great Lake theorists, who use this point to justify, in part, their theory of a one hill Cumorah and that the hill in western New York is the same hill as that mentioned in the Book of Mormon.

Her book was first published between 1845 and 1853, after Lucy Mack Smith, shortly following the death of Joseph in 1844, worked on it into 1845, dictating her recollections and family story to Nauvoo schoolteacher, record keeper and educator Martha Jane Coray, who then, with her husband, compiled books of notes and other sources into a manuscript, which was then copied. One copy was given to apostle Brigham Young and the other stayed with Lucy Mack Smith in Nauvoo. 

Eventually, apostle Orson Pratt (left) writer, historian, mathematician and philosopher, obtained Lucy's copy and published it in Liverpool in 1853, to great controversy (Lavina Fielding Anderson, "The Textual History of Lucy's Book," Signature Books,  2001). The History of Joseph Smith by His Mother is a biography of the Latter Day Saint prophet Joseph Smith, according to Lucy Mack Smith. It was originally titled Biographical Sketches of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, and His Progenitors for Many Generations and was published by Orson Pratt in Liverpool in 1853.

But how accurate is Lucy Mack Smith’s memory after approximately 20 years of a singular and simple conversation and only a small part of a discussion between Joseph and his father, while in his mother’s presence.

Meaning no disrespect to Joseph’s mother, we need to keep in mind that Lucy Mack Smith included in her book a number of word-for-word comments that took place many years before she dictated it to Coray. However, it should be noted that in her work, Lucy Mack Smith also dictates numerous full word-for-word exact conversations between people that were held in which she was not present, such as those of her husband and neighbors, between he and people who called upon him, between he and Joseph Smith’s wife Emma, or actions taken between Emma and Joseph many miles away, and what people specifically did once she was gone from their presence, as well as her own conversations, word for word, with various people and family members 20 years earlier.

As an example, Lucy writes of this event where Joseph in despair complained to she and Joseph’s father that “I have taken the severest chastisement, that I have ever had in my life,” and Joseph Smith Sr. became irritated thinking it was another attack from a neighbor, Joseph replied: “Stop, father, stop. It was the angel of the Lord—as I passed by the hill of Cumorah, where the plates are, the angel of the Lord met me and said, that I had not been engaged enough in the work of the Lord; that the time had come for the record to be brought forth; and, that I must be up and doing, and set myself about the things which God had commanded me to do,” and seeing that his father was still concerned, Joseph added, “give yourself no uneasiness concerning the reprimand that I have received; for I now know the course that I am to pursue; so all will be well.”
It would also not be uncommon for a person to insert a descriptive word that later became known (the name of the hill where the plates were uncovered) when reciting such a conversation from memory for better clarification. Thus, “as I passed by the hill where the plates are,” could well have become “as I passed by the hill of Cumorah, where the plates are.” This obviously would be how the information would be remembered and better understood. As an example, in the same written account, in the following sentence to the above, Lucy wrote: “It was also made known to him at this interview, that he should make another effort to obtain the plates on the 22^nd of the following September; But this he did not mention to us at that time.” Nor did she know of it at the time—it was something that became known later that, in retrospect, or speaking after the fact, as she was doing nearly 20 year later, she inserted for additional information and clarification.

It should also be understood that the past was very different than from today in such matters as recording information. According to Church historians like Willard Richards (far ledt), Orson Pratt, and B. H. Roberts (left), there seems little doubt that the methods employed in the 1830s and 1840s lacked such capability for exactness when recounting events. In addition, it has often been stated that early Church histories did not include the name "Cumorah" originally, but sometimes were added later for clarification once the hill became so known. In fact, numerous items have been added by Historians to histories, documents, etc., in order to clarify and make their understanding clearer to later readers.

An example of this is found in the several journal descriptions of the finding of the Zelph skeleton during the march of Zion’s Camp. The current edition of the “History of the Church,” suggests a first-hand account by the Prophet Joseph wherein he said that by way of revelation he learned that the bones belonged to a “white Lamanite” named Zelph who was a warrior under the prophet Onandagus who was “known from the hill Cumorah or eastern sea to the Rocky mountains” and that he was killed “during the last great struggle of the Lamanites and Nephites” (HC 2:79).

This account, however, is not a first-hand report from the Prophet. In typical 19th-century fashion, the official “history” comprised details from a variety of journal entries but was written as if Joseph, himself, were authoring the history. Willard Richards, who was responsible for compiling the events into one narrative, made some alterations that affected how future generations understood the details of the event. Of the seven accounts of the event only one mentions “Cumorha” while the other six do not. By the time our current version of the compilation came to be, some details that are not supported by all of the six accounts were included into print. 

The statement of Wilford Woodruff (left) that mounds in the area had been built “probably by the Nephites and Lamanites” became an implied certainty when Richards left out the word “probably.” The mere “arrow” of the three earliest accounts became an “Indian Arrow,” and finally a “Lamanitish Arrow.” The phrase “known from the Atlantic to the Rocky Mountains,” became “known from the Hill Cumorah” or “eastern sea to the Rocky Mountains.” The statement that the battle in which Zelph was killed occurred “among the Lamanites” became “with the Lamanites” and also “final great battle between the Nephites and Lamanites.” Some of the accounts claim that the Zelph bones belonged to a man of large stature, whereas other accounts claim that he was “short” and “stout” (Deseret News, “Faith,” December 27, 2010).

As for the value of all these reports, and the final claim by some current theorists that the Zelph event proves the Book of Mormon occurred in the Heartland of North America, the Apostle John A. Widtsoe remarked, “This is not of much value in Book of Mormon geographical studies, since Zelph probably dated from a later time when Nephites and Lamanites had been somewhat dispersed and had wandered over the country” (Improvement Era, July 1950, 547).