By taking a glance at Joseph Smith Jr.'s genealogical history we can find much religious confusion, showing an aura of faiths, superstitions, and philosophical ideas. Asael Smith, Joseph's Grandfather was a Christian Universalist, with his unorthodox ideas, and relativistic train of thought he passed down a belief void of any spiritual significance. In a letter written to his children he writes, "I would not wish to point any particular form to you; but first I would wish you to search the Scriptures and consult sound reason..." (1)
Solomon Mack, Joseph's maternal grandfather, was converted to Christianity much later in his life. After his conversion Solomon wrote a book called "A Narrative of the Life of Solomon Mack." In this he speaks about his visions and voices he had been hearing, these were the events leading up to his conversion. Smith's Uncle, Jason Mack was a "seer" and started his own religious quasi-communistic society, leading thirty families, directing them economically and spiritually. (2) Along with Joseph's rich folk-religious genealogy we discover both Joseph Sr. and Lucy Mack Smith having several accounts of visions. Some would say that this is the perfect recipe for disaster.
Joseph Smith Jr. was a natural born leader and many recognized he had a very creative imagination from a very early age. As Joseph's family moved from town to town due to their financial instability, the Smith's found themselves in Palmyra, New York, in the heart of the "Burned-Over District" and only miles from the epicenter of the Second Great Awakening. (3) The term "Burned-Over" comes from the idea that this area was so heavily evangelized to that there was no "fuel" left to "burn." Religious revival and debate was thick in the air in Palmyra, where young Joseph would find himself engaged in the hype.
At this same time numerous farmers and townspeople were confused about oddly shaped mounds they had been finding on their farms, fields, and properties. Farmers all over were trying to explain these mounds and their origin. What they didn't know is that these mounds were burial and ceremonial structures formed by early Native Americans. Farmers who were unhappy with their virtually useless rocky land began fantasizing about buried treasure found in these mounds that would compensate them for their losses due to the lack of crops. This trend grew quickly and farmers where buying into this get-rich-quick idea, so much so that they were willing to use supernatural powers to find riches. Both upset with their rocky farm, Joseph Sr. and Joseph Jr. were not an exception to the treasure digging craze. A Palmyra newspaper in 1821 reported that diggers on the Erie Canal had unearthed "several brass plates" along with skeletons and fragments of pottery." (4) This being several years before Joseph's claim of unearthing plates. Some local newspapers were circulating the idea that these were pyramids of the Americas and that those buried in them were Egyptian, or of Jewish decent. This would explain Joseph's interest in "translating" the Book of Abraham, and the Book of Mormon. One record claimed to be written in "Reformed Egyptian" and the other written in Hebrew.
A brew of religious perplexity among ancestry, society and self, Smith sought to answer not only those questions, but also the questions of the mound builders. Smith is known most for influencing the culture around him, but it could be said that the culture really influenced him. "For the book [of Mormon] can best be explained, not by Joseph's ignorance nor by his delusions, but by his responsiveness to the provincial opinions of his time." - Fawn M. Brodie (5)
(1) This letter was dated April 10, 1799 See Topsfield Historical Society Colections, Vol. 8 pp. 92-4.
(2) Lucy Smith: Biography Sketches of Joseph Smith the Prophet and His Progenitors for Many Generations (Livingpool, England, 1853), pp. 21,52.
(3) "The Enduring Vision" 6th Edition Vol. 1 Boyer, Clark, Kett, Salisbury, Sitkoff, Woloch. p. 309
(4) Fawn M. Brodie "No Man Knows My History" the life of Joseph Smith p. 35
(5) Fawn M. Brodie "No Man Knows My History" the life of Joseph Smith p. 69
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