Joe Smith's Youthful Days

 Joe Smith's Youthful Days

Bainbridge Republican, Bainbridge, NY, August 23, 1877

Half a century ago there lived on a farm in Afton, Chenango County [NY], then called South Bainbridge, a good settler named Isaiah Stowell.  He was strait and strong in dogma and filled the responsible position of Deacon in the Presbyterian Church to the edification of all people. By hard work and frugality Deacon Stowell accumulated a moderate competency and his large family of broad-shouldered sons and rosy cheeked daughters were the envy of the neighborhood.  But like many other good men, the Deacon had his little weakness and would make haste to be rich.  There was no Stock Exchange in those days, or he might have "gone broke on Jersey Central."  As it was, he contented himself with the faith (and practice) that untold sums of gold had been hidden in the earth by some extinct tribes of Indians or highwaymen or something of the sort and that it was to be his especial good luck to find all this gold.  Northern Pennsylvania, near Lanesboro and Susquehanna, was believed by him to be the gold bearing region, and with assistants and the proper tools he made frequent journeys to the wild country about Starrucco Creek and spent weeks in delving in the rocky mountain side at the rise of the Blue Ridge range.  During his searches Deacon Stowell and his party camped out in the woods, living upon the provisions he brought from his home in the fertile Chenango Valley and the game that filled the region in abundance. The concealed wealth that occupied his sleeping and waking thoughts he never found, but his constant failure and fresh outlays of money did not dampen his ardor.  His family and the members of his Church remonstrated with him, but to no purpose.

It's during one of his digging excursions near Lanesboro that Deacon Stowell heard of the remarkable powers which Joseph Smith, a young fellow who had lived near Great Bend, about twenty miles south on the Susquehanna River, was reported to possess.  Smith, it was said, could see objects which lay fifty feet below the surface of the earth with entire distinctness.  At this time, his father, a poverty-stricken man, had removed with his family from Great Bend to the neighborhood of Palmyra, N.Y., and left only the fame of the son behind.  But the stories told by the country folks were enough to fire the imagination of Deacon Stowell, and he was determined to secure the assistance of young Smith at all odds. Stocking a wagon with enough provisions to last him for the journey, the Deacon harnessed a team and started for Palmyra.  Young Joe Smith, who afterwards became the Mormon Prophet, was at this time about twenty years old, and the neighbors looked upon him as ungodly and to be avoided.  His spare moments were occupied in meditation, and he very rarely joined his boyish acquaintances in their rustic sports.  He pretended to possess the power of second sight and had no hesitation in saying that he had been brought into the world by God to work out certain plans of the Almighty on earth.  It is said that he was regular at his meals, however arduous his solitary wrestlings in spirit, and his preoccupation probably had a good deal to do with his father's poverty.

Deacon Stowell became Smith's disciple at once and Smith told him the story of a wonderful stone he had found.  According to this story, Smith, when quite a boy heard of a young girl living within a few miles of his father's house, who possessed a magic glass, by looking into which she could see objects that were invisible to others.  Young Joe was seized with an irresistible desire to see this wonderful glass and obtained that boon.  The glass was put into a hat to exclude the light, and the boy gazed. For a long time, he saw nothing, but finally a speck appeared with assumed the proportions of a small stone seemingly a long way off. The stone grew brighter and brighter, until it finally glowed like a calcium light or - since this was 1820 - like the sun at noonday.  At last, the glass showed him that the stone was hidden under the roots of a small tree on the south side of Lake Erie, not far from the boundary line between New York and Pennsylvania.  Often afterwards Smith looked in the glass seeing only the same sight, and after thinking and pondering on the subject for several years, determined to find the stone. Equipped with a few shillings in cash and a bundle of provisions, he started on foot toward the West. When money and food gave out, he supplied himself by working at farmhouses on the way until he was able to renew his travels. After walking 150 miles he found himself at the mouth of a creek which he remembered seeing in the glass.  A farmer lent a pick and shovel, and he soon found the tree and the magic stone. The latter he carried to the creek, washed the dirt from its smooth surface and gazed "into" it. To his great joy he found that he was possessed of an all-seeing eye, whose vision penetrated water and annihilated space. the stone was of the size of a hen's egg, curved in the shape of a high-instepped shoe, and was composed of layers of different colors passing diagonally through it.  Joseph returned his borrowed tools, and with a glad heart turned toward the rising sun and walked home.

The good Deacon used his powers of entreaty so well that young Smith agreed to return with him and aid in the search for gold.  Meantime Deacon Stowell purchased a farm at Susquehanna and moved his family there from Afton. The young prophet was installed therein not exactly to the satisfaction of the other members of the family.  Smith, by the aid of his magic stone, ascertained that many years before a band of robbers had buried a box of treasure in certain flat lands on the deacon's farm.  To protect this treasure, Smith said, the robbers had by sacrifice laid a charm upon it, so that it could not be recovered except by faith and certain talismanic influences.  The diggers prepared themselves for work by fasting and prayer for several days.  Smith assured the Deacon that it was utterly useless for him to begin digging without an absolute faith that the labor would be successful.  When the Deacon had banished all his doubts the party went to work with awe in the presence of the charm.  A few feet from the surface a shovel in the hands of the Deacon touched a hard substance and hastily throwing back the dirt he discovered the top of a square wooden chest, bound with hoops of iron.  But while Smith, Stowell and their assistant, one Thompson, were gazing with awe and wonder on the sight, the box gradually sank in the ground and was soon gone.  They dug and uncovered it again, and it disappeared again.  This was kept up till it ceased to be amusing, and Smith was called upon to dispel the charm.  He gave Deacon Stowell some instructions.  The latter, sending his Presbyterian training to the wind, went to his stockyard and selected a ewe lamb, the finest in the fold, with pure white skin and fleece.  It was washed until it was perfectly spotless.  Meanwhile darkness settled down over the Susquehanna Valley, and the rites of the propitiation of the demon who guarded the treasure was carried on by the light of a single lantern.  The lamb was brought to the edge of the pit and a bowl placed in readiness to catch its blood.  The Deacon got upon his knees and prayed, probably to the demon, while Smith drew the sacrificial butcher knife across the lamb's throat and then moved in circles about the pit, sprinkling the blood around it.  Then the party resumed their picks and shovels but couldn't even find the top of the box anymore.

Deacon Stowell and Joe Smith kept up this circus in various promising places for a while, but the Deacon never got any hidden treasure and slowly but surely was spending the competence he had amassed.  His sons became very much incensed against Smith, alleging that he had unlimited control over the actions of their father and caused him to foolishly squander his property.  In February 1856, the sons caused Joe's arrest as a vagrant, and the trial occurred before Albert Neely, esq., father of Bishop Neely, of Maine. The country folks for miles around attended the trial. The affidavits of the sons were read, and the prophet was put upon the stand.  He testified to but little concerning the charge on which he was arrested, but gave the history of his youthful days, told about the finding of the magic stone, and claimed to possess all the powers which the Deacon believed to reside in him. The magic stone was exhibited in court.  Joseph Smith, Sr., the father of the prophet, who is described as having been a most disreputable looking person, testified in his son's behalf describing his wonderful success as a seer.  Deacon Stowell also testified in the prophet's behalf and gave many circumstances corroborative of the supernatural powers possessed by the young man.  Young Smith, he said, could see things fifty feet below the surface of the ground as plainly as he could see the articles on the judge's table. 

"Deacon Stowell, do I understand you as swearing before God, under the solemn oath you have taken, that you believe that?"

"Do I believe it?" was the reply.  "Do I believe it!  No; it is not a matter of belief.  I positively know it to be true."

Thompson, one of the employees of Deacon Stowell, related the story of the mysterious sinking of the box told above.  Smith was discharged mainly on the testimony of Deacon Stowell and he continued to reside in the neighborhood.  About four years after, it is said, Smith, by the aid of his magic stone, found the Book of Mormon. This Elder Pratt, of the Mormon Church, says it was when he was but fourteen years old, but the people of Susquehanna say he was nearer twenty-five.