Martin Harris (May 18, 1783 – July 10, 1875) was an early convert to the Latter Day Saint movement who financially guaranteed the first printing of the Book of Mormon and also served as one of Three Witnesses who testified that they had seen the golden plates from which the Book of Mormon had been translated.
Early life Harris was born in Easton, New York, the second of the eight children born to Nathan Harris and Rhoda Lapham. According to historian Ronald W. Walker, little is known of his youth. When he was 9, his family moved to Palmyra (then known as Swift's landing), where his father bought 600 acres of land. On March 27, 1808, Harris married his first cousin Lucy Harris. Between 1809 and 1822, they would have four children together.
Harris served with the 39th regiment of the New York State Militia of Ontario County, New York in the War of 1812. He was an orderly sergeant, and when he was called for active duty in 1813, he hired a substitute to serve in his place for a period of three months. It was registered that Harris served 9 days of active duty, during which time he served as a private. Five of those days came when he helped secure Sodus Point following a skirmish in 1813, and four of those came from the battle of Pultneyville, in which he protected the village from British landing in 1814.
Until 1831, Harris lived in Palmyra, New York, where he was a prosperous farmer. Harris was very involved in the community, being elected multiple times to be the overseer of Palmyra highways and to the Wayne county committee on Vigilance. Harris's neighbors considered him "honest," "industrious," "benevolent," and a "worthy citizen."Richard Lloyd Anderson, Investigating the Book of Mormon Witnesses (Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret Book, 1981) pp. 96–98. . On Harris's departure from New York to gather with Mormons in Ohio, the local paper wrote: "Mr. Harris was among the early settlers of this town, and has ever borne the character of an honorable and upright man, and an obliging and benevolent neighbor. He had secured to himself by honest industry a respectable fortune—and he has left a large circle of acquaintances and friends to pity his delusion."
Pre-Mormon religious activity According to a family friend, "In his early life, he [Martin] had been brought up a Quaker, and then took to Methodism as more congenial to his Nature". Despite that, he and his parents were never official members of the Religious Society of Friends, the Quaker organization.
Accounts from acquaintances of Harris assert he was well-versed in the Bible, and "could quote more scripture than any man in the neighborhood". One acquaintance recalled that Harris had mastered entire books from the Bible, and would "defy any man to show me any passage of scripture that I am not posted on or familiar with". However, he had refrained from any formal church affiliation, and his resistance to accept the teachings of traditional churches irritated ministers.
Around the age of 35, Harris had a religious awakening influenced by itinerant preachers during the Second Great Awakening, and reportedly started attending churches occasionally. Acquaintances described him as being "tossed to and fro" by the differing views of the revivalists, "the more extravagant the better." One anti-Mormon source later claimed Harris changed denominations at least five times before becoming a Mormon: "first an orthodox Quaker, then a Universalist, next a Restorationer, then a Baptist, next a Presbyterian, and then a Mormon." However, non-Mormon historian Dan Vogel notes that "there is no evidence that formally connects Harris with the Baptist or Presbyterian churches."
Early interaction with Smith
The Smith family moved to Palmyra in 1816, and in 1824, Harris employed Joseph Smith Sr., to dig a well and a cistern. During this period, Harris had identified himself as an "un-churched Christian". Smith Sr. reportedly told Harris about the gold plates in 1824. Harris later recounted the first time he saw Joseph Smith use a seer stone, when the latter used it to locate a lost object for Harris.
Role in Anthon transcript
Because Harris wanted assurance of the Book of Mormon's authenticity, Smith transcribed characters from the golden plates to a piece of paper, perhaps the one now known as the Anthon transcript, but there is much to cast doubt on this document being the original as both Harris's and Anthon's accounts describe it differently. In the winter of 1828, Harris took the transcript of characters to New York City, where he met with Charles Anthon, a professor of linguistics at Columbia College. The two men's accounts of the meeting conflict on almost every point. Harris's account is recorded in Smith's History of the Church.History of the Church 1:20; also reproduced as Joseph Smith–History 1:64–65. According to the account, Harris said that Anthon gave him a certificate verifying the authenticity of the characters and the translations, but that when Anthon learned that Smith claimed to have received the plates from an angel, he took the certificate back and tore it to pieces. Anthon, for his part, gave written accounts in 1834 and 1841. Despite the years in between, both accounts are in good agreement, but there is a contradiction as to whether he had given Harris a written opinion about the transcript or not. In both accounts, Anthon maintained that he told Harris that he (Harris) was a victim of a fraud and not to get involved. In either case, the episode apparently satisfied Harris's doubts about the authenticity of the golden plates and the translation enough to mortgage his farm to have the book printed. Harris's wife continued to oppose his collaboration with Smith.
In both of Anthon's accounts, he states that Harris visited him again after the Book of Mormon was printed and brought him a copy, which Anthon refused to accept. Anthon records that he again advised Harris he had been defrauded and should go straight home and ask to examine the plates locked in the chest, but Harris responded that he could not look at the plates or he and his family would be cursed.
Scribe to Joseph Smith
In February 1828, Harris traveled to Harmony, Pennsylvania to serve as a scribe while Smith dictated the translation of the golden plates. By June 1828, Smith and Harris's work on the translation had resulted in 116 pages of manuscript."The Life and Ministry of Joseph Smith", Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith (2011, Salt Lake City, Utah: LDS Church), xxii–25.
Harris asked Smith for permission to take the 116 pages of manuscript back to his wife to convince her of its authenticity; Smith reluctantly agreed. After Harris had shown the pages to his wife and some others, the manuscript disappeared while he was serving jury duty. The loss temporarily halted the translation of the plates, and when Smith began again, he used other scribes, primarily Oliver Cowdery.
The first extant written revelation to Joseph Smith, dated July 1828, refers to Smith's delivering the 116 pages to Harris. Addressing Smith, the revelation says: "thou deliveredst up that which was sacred, into the hands of a wicked man, who has set at nought the counsels of God, and has broken the most sacred promises, which were made before God, and has depended upon his own judgement, and boasted in his own wisdom."Book of Commandments ch. 1.
Book of Mormon financier Nevertheless, Harris continued to support Smith financially. The translation was completed in June 1829. By August, Smith contracted with publisher E. B. Grandin of Palmyra to print the Book of Mormon. Harris mortgaged his farm to Grandin to ensure payment of the printing costs, and he later sold of his farm to pay off the mortgage. In March of 1830, Smith announced a revelation to Harris: "I command you, that thou shalt not covet thine own property, but impart freely to the printing of the book of Mormon." He warned, "Misery thou shalt receive, if thou wilt slight these counsels: Yea, even destruction of thyself and property. Impart a portion of thy property; Yea, even a part of thy lands and all save the support of thy family. Pay the printer's debt." Harris gave Grandin's printing office $3,000 () for the Book of Mormon to be published and available for purchase shortly thereafter.
Witness to the golden plates
As the translation neared completion, Joseph Smith said he received a revelation from God that three men would be called as special witnesses to the existence of the golden plates. Harris, along with Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer, was chosen as one of the Three Witnesses.
In the words of David Whitmer, one of the other two witnesses, "It was in the latter part of June, 1829... Joseph, Oliver Cowdery and myself were together, and the angel showed them [the plates] to us.... [We were] sitting on a log when we were overshadowed by a light more glorious than that of the sun. In the midst of this light, but a few feet from us, appeared a table upon which were many golden plates, also the sword of Laban and the directors. I saw them as plain as I see you now, and distinctly heard the voice of the Lord declaring that the records of the plates of the Book of Mormon were translated by the gift and power of God."David Whitmer, interview with the Kansas City Journal, June 1, 1881, in Lyndon Cook, ed., David Whitmer Interviews: A Restoration Witness (Orem, Utah: Grandin Book, 1991), 63.
Joseph Smith and Martin Harris had a similar experience, and as the manuscript was prepared for printing, Cowdery, Whitmer, and Harris signed a joint statement that has been included in each of the more than 120 million copies of the Book of Mormon printed since then. It reads in part:
"And we declare with words of soberness, that an angel of God came down from heaven, and he brought and laid before our eyes, that we beheld and saw the plates, and the engravings thereon; and we know that it is by the grace of God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, that we beheld and bear record that these things are true."
In 1839, Smith indicated that Harris's experience in seeing the plates occurred separately from that of Whitmer and Cowdery.Joseph Smith–History, 1839. The Three Witnesses's attestation was printed with the book, and it has been included in nearly every subsequent edition.
Marital conflict In part because of their continued disagreement over the legitimacy of Smith and the golden plates, and because of the loss of his farm, Harris and his wife separated. Lucy Harris was described by Lucy Mack Smith as having an "irascible temper." Lucy Harris wrote that Martin Harris had beaten her "at different times." She is the only known source of the claim that her husband may have committed adultery with a neighboring "Mrs. Haggard."Lucy Mack Smith, 1853, in
High Priest Harris was baptized by Oliver Cowdrey into the Church of Christ, which Smith organized, in Fayette, New York on April 6, 1830, the same day that it was organized.
In 1830, Harris prophesied, '"Jackson would be the last president that we would have; and that all persons who did not embrace Mormonism in two years' time would be stricken off the face of the earth.' He said that Palmyra was to be the New Jerusalem, and that her streets were to be paved with gold.".