Basically, the two maps compare a "proposed map" constructed by Holley from the internal descriptions of the Book of Mormon and comments, over the years by Latter-day Saint scholars, with a map showing actual place names on maps of the area around Palmyra, New York, where the Book of Mormon originally was published.
The first map is the "proposed map," constructed from internal comparisons in the Book of Mormon, of such features as "The Narrow Neck of Land" which was a day-and-a-half-journey (which Holley considered to be roughly 30 miles) separating two great seas. There is also much about the Hill Onidah, the Hill Ramah, and the City of Angola—all place names in the land of Joseph Smith's youth.
As an example, in the Book of Mormon there is a chief captain under Moroni’s command named Teancum. At the time of Joseph Smith, there was a Shawnee Indian Chief named Tecumseh, who fought and Holley claimed he died along Holley’s narrow neck of land helping the British in the War of 1812. Today the Canadian city Techumseh, south of Lake St. Clair, is named after him.
However, these “facts” stated by Holley and used by James R. Spencer to try and make a parallel between names in the scriptural record and names in upstate western New York region when Joseph Smith was growing up, are simply not accurate. The Indian Chief Techumseh was killed in the Battle of the Thames between Moraviantown and Thamesville on October 5, 1813, at the opposite end of Lake Erie and 142 miles from Holley’s narrow neck of land, and 300 miles from where Joseph Smith grew up on the opposite side of Lake Erie.
In fact, Techumseh was born in western Ohio, grew up in northern Alabama, and settled in east-central Indiana, later moving to Michigan to fight with the British in the War of 1812. It can hardly be said that his name is associated with upstate New York where Joseph Smith grew up. Besides, Joseph would have been only 7 or 8 when Tecumseh became well known some 300 miles from Palmyra, and not likely known by Joseph at any time.
In addition, drawing a parallel between Teancum and Techumseh (which means “panther passing across” in Shawnee) can hardly be supported. A closer name would be that of Tecun Uman of Guatemala who was killed by the Spanish in 1524 in the Battle of El Pinal, and was named Guatemala’s national hero in 1960. The problem is, some type of match to names is not difficult to make, given enough time, territory and knowledge.
Another comparison Holley tried to make is between the names Lehigh and Lehi. However, and not widely known among Latter-day Saints, is that the name Lehigh dates back to 1812, before the Book of Mormon, is the name of a county in eastern Pennsylvania, a little north of Philadelphia, and was derived from the Lehigh River, which in turn got its name from the Delaware Indian term Lechauweki or Lechauwekink, meaning “where there are forks.” (Charles R. Roberts, "Place Names of Lehigh County and Their Origin," Proceedings: Lehigh County Historical Society, 1936). However, it is almost 300 miles from Palmyra in New York where Joseph Smith grew up.
Another name is Angola, a small community north of Palmyra, near Buffalo, that received its name “Angola” in 1854 when a post office was established there, and “Evans Station” was changed to Angola. This is hardly a Book of Mormon connection. Another is Hellam and Helam. Hellam is a small township in southern Pennsylvania near the Maryland border dating to 1736, 250 miles from Palmyra. The chances that Joseph Smith would have known of this tiny township is most unlikely since there would have been no connection between these two regions.
Another is the name Boaz, however, the only U.S. town by this name is in West Kentucky, and was named for a plantation owner in 1854. It is also the name of a community (post office) in West Virginia dating to 1878. The hamlet of Alma, New York, was named after a Latin word for “nourishing,” and a city in Germany, given the New York hamlet in 1854, though this area along the Pennsylvania border was first settled in 1833 as “Honeoye Corners,” a name that continued until around 1843.
The tiny unincorporated community in central eastern Ohio called Jacobsburg was laid out in 1815 and named for its founder, Jacob Calvert (A. T. McKelvey, Centennial History of Belmont County, Ohio, and Representative Citizens, 1903), and by 1833 contained one tavern, two stores, a physician, sundry mechanics and about 120 inhabitants. At 372 miles from Palmyra, it is hardly a place Joseph Smith would have heard about prior to the printing of the Book of Mormon in 1830.
Zarahemla, New York, does not exist, though Holley placed it on his map. The location he shows is Palmyra, which was never called or referred to as Zarahemla except in more modern times, usually by ill-informed non-member critics. There was a town so named in Iowa, across from Nauvoo, so named by Joseph Smith and its reference can be found in D&C 125, in 1841; however, this was never intended to be the same Zarahemla mentioned in the Book of Mormon.
Oneida and Onidah. Oneida, in central New York, just east of the Finger Lakes, was part of the Oneida Indian tribe during the colonial era. The Oneida were one of the original Five Nations of the Iroquois League. The village of Oneida was formed in 1848 as part of the larger town of Lenox, though it formed separately in 1896. It seems reasonable that Joseph Smith would have known of the Oneida Indian tribe.
(See the next post, “Theories—The problem with Speculation – PtII,” for more of the so-called city and people names between what we find in the Book of Mormon and what existed in the area of Joseph Smith when he translated the plates to see how speculation leaves the wrong impression about the past)
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