Kinderhook plates: Examining a nineteenth-century hoax, The

Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Summer 2003 by Peters, Jason Frederick

During the early part of the 1850s, the church began to re-establish itself in the Salt Lake Valley. While these new surroundings brought unexpected obstacles, the reaffirmation of church doctrine and tradition brought the unity the church needed. Incorporated into this redefinition of church history was the story of the Kinderhook plates. Although Smith had never officially commented on the plates during the excitement the plates caused in Nauvoo, many other important members of the church had. And since Smith never declared the plates a hoax, the story was taken at face value. A broadside resembling the Neighbor publication appeared as part of apostle Orson Pratt's 1851, A Series of Pamphlets.55 The 1852 work, The Mormons: or Latter-day Saints by Henry Mayhew viewed the "glyphs" on the plates as proof that the original golden plates of the Book of Mormon were definitely not an anomaly.56 This opinion was taken further in Mormonism: Its leaders and designs by John Hyde, Jr. The 1857 work compared the glyphs of the plates with the descriptions of those on the original golden plates and found the two similar. Thus, Mormon scholars used the Kinderhook plates as an example with which to prove the authenticity of the original golden plates.57 Hyde was so sure of the connection that a tracing of one of the plates appeared on the cover of his book.

The church's decision to publish a serialized history of the Mormon church in the 1850s furthered the belief in the authenticity of the Kinderhook plates. Smith had started his own chronology years before, but had to give up the task when the business of Nauvoo and the church eliminated the necessary time. Published in the Deseret News, the serialized history was compiled through the journals of others, especially Smith's personal scribes, and was changed, for continuity's sake, to look as if Smith had written it himself. In most cases it helped to fill blank spots in the chronology but, in the case of the plates, it inadvertently led to further controversy. William Clayton's journal of 1 May 1843 stated that "President J." had translated some of the glyphs on the plates. In the Deseret News of 3 September 1856, the journal, changed to Smith's point of view, read: "I have translated a portion of them ... ." Because the authenticity of the plates was not in question at the time, the article was not questioned either. Another Mormon publication, the Millennial Star, even reprinted the article on 15 January 1859.58 With no official statement from Smith except his secretary's altered journal, the plates were taken as fact and became a non-issue for the church.

Back in Pike County, the interest in the incident had died down. The Mormons had left Nauvoo and many Mormon congregations in western Illinois had followed them. The Mormon church south of Kinderhook was abandoned and was later moved for use as a warehouse.59 By 1850, Robert Wiley had left Kinderhook for medical school in St. Louis, Missouri.60 Blacksmith Bridge Whitten had left Pike County in the late-1840s for the Alton, Illinois area.61 The only conspirator left in the area was fifty-year old Wilburn Fugate, with his wife and six children.62 In Kinderhook itself the story of the plates was just a humorous story that Fugate kept between himself and his family.63