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Journal of Undergraduate Research

Keywords

Martin Harris, Book of Mormon, Mormon studies, trail

College

Religious Education

Department

Church History and Doctrine

Abstract

Though unjustly remembered by some mainly as the man who lost the first 116 pages of the Book of Mormon, Martin Harris was an instrumental character in helping to bring about the Book of Mormon and the beginning of the LDS Church. Not only is he one of the three witnesses to the book, but he was also a benefactor, scribe, financier, and missionary for the new church. After he helped to convert his brother Emer to the gospel, they served together as missionaries from 1832-1833 in northern Pennsylvania. Recently, Mark Nelson discovered court documents of a trial involving Martin Harris in 1833 while thus serving as a missionary with his brother. This court case gives new light to an otherwise little-known chapter in the life of Martin Harris. Thanks to a letter written by Emer we know that the brothers should have left their mission sooner but were delayed by Martin’s imprisonment. Originally when this letter was transcribed by Harris biographers, Emer was quoted as stating that Martin was imprisoned on a “fals charge of standen” at the beginning of 1833. When Mark Nelson discovered the actual court cases he found that the word “standen” was in reality an error in transcription with the correct word being slander, giving a greater understanding as to why Martin was imprisoned.

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