We often associate Martin Harris with the lost 116 pages of the Book of Mormon translation, the publication of the Book of Mormon, and as one of the witnesses of the Book of Mormon. When his name is discussed, it is usually mentioned that he left the Church.
But who was he? We can’t see into the hearts of people, or truly understand their thoughts or intentions, but through their words and actions we can draw certain conclusions. This post will primarily focus on the years before Martin met Joseph Smith. There is simply too much regarding Martin to address in one post, so I want to focus on who he was before be became involved with the young prophet.
What does it mean to know someone?
There is a difference between “knowing someone” and knowing “about” someone. One philosopher has called the knowledge “about” someone “impersonal knowledge,” whereas the type of knowledge that would help you to “know someone” is “personal knowledge.”1 That philosopher believes that intimate communication is the key to gaining “personal knowledge”:
“[T]here is an active element on the part of the person you come to know, and it is this aspect of knowing someone, the communication between you, that makes knowing someone so meaningful, and by extension, hard to share with a third person who isn’t in on the communication.
“This also explains why it feels special to know someone, rather than just know about them: the fact that he or she has opened up to you personally. . . . And in cases of more sensitive information, personal communication also carries a great deal of trust and vulnerability: just think of how much it means when someone tells you, ‘you’re the only person I’ve ever told this to.’
“So the next time someone complains that ‘you don’t know me,’ just reply, ‘So tell me something about yourself.'”2
In that regard, we can’t truly know Martin Harris, or any historical figure. All we can do is review the existing historical records and draw assumptions. As we try to answer that question “who was Martin Harris,” we should try and see him as the Lord does:
“Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; . . . for the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.”3
Martin’s parents
Knowing Martin begins with knowing his family. Nathan Harris and his wife Rhoda Lapham Harris bought land near Palmyra (which was then called Swift’s Landing) in 1792.4 They had six children at the time: Emer, Martin, Preserved, Solomon, Sophia, and Seville.5 Martin was born on May 18, 1783 (making him more than 20 years older than Joseph Smith), and so he was about nine years old when his family moved to Palmyra.6
Martin’s family were some of the earliest settlers in the Palmyra area, and his father, Nathan, became something of a hero in the small town. As a previously uninhabited area, the residents were plagued by wild animals. Nathan was “touted as the ‘principal early hunter’ and referred to as ‘the Nimrod’ of the settlement. He was pleased with the distinction, for he ‘loved dearly to hunt.'”7 When a large wolf began killing off the domestic livestock of the fledgling settlement, Nathan became the hero who rid the community of the threat: “While Nathan rode along on his old mare, he observed the hunted intruder crossing the road ahead, and by ‘putting the horse into a gallop, got so near that he shot and killed the wolf while his horse was under full headway.'”8
The Harris family seemed to be the center of this new community. Nathan has been described as “a public man; ready for fun on public occasions,” and as someone who “made the best of a social gathering, playing ball ‘even in his old age, with all the enthusiasm of youth.'”9
Nathan Harris was present at the first town meeting held on April 5, 1796, when the name “Palmyra” was chosen.10 He was elected to be one of sixteen “pathmasters,” which was a public office for someone assigned to oversee the improvement and maintenance of roadways.11 Nathan held various public offices in Palmyra throughout his life, including as a tax collector and constable.12
Thinking about Nathan’s status in the community, ponder Martin’s life as a teenager. Although they lived in a small town, his father held important public offices, had the reputation as a prolific hunter, and appeared to be at the center of public life. It would have been difficult for Martin to not know the reputation of his father, and I imagine that the whole family was held in esteem. So Martin grew up enjoying a life in which he had success and popularity at an early age.
The financial success of Martin’s family
In addition to the Harris family having significant social and political influence in the community, they also became financially successful. When the family moved to Palmyra, they had to tame the previously uninhabited land and create success out of nothing. As a pre-teen when Martin’s family moved to Palymra, he would have learned all aspects of farm life: “Young Martin helped create the Harris farm in their sequestered setting. He learned the value of work and had joy in the task. Most of Martin’s time was spent doing chores indigenous to frontier life, like helping his father build the frame house, as well as a successful farm, tannery, and shoe shop. He helped him card wool, spin yarn, and weave yardage into cloth. Dipping candles, making soap, churning butter, pruning orchards, planting vegetable gardens, and weaving rags into decorative rugs also occupied his time. In addition, there were always cattle to herd, stumps to remove, cows to milk, and domestic animals to feed.”13
Martin’s formal education is uncertain. There are no attendance records for the schools in Palmyra, so there is no way to know whether Martin attended school. However, “one family biographer suggests signs of some valuable formal or informal learning: ‘The experiences and accomplishments of their later lives proclaim the ability to read with understanding, cipher with accuracy, write legibly and convincingly, and reason clearly.'”14
Due to his family’s prominence and his own personal virtues, “[a]t age twenty-five, Martin Harris had become one of Palmyra’s most eligible bachelors.”15 Despite the many opportunities for marriage, Martin determined to marry his first cousin, 16-year-old Lucy Harris.16 They were married in Palmyra on March 27, 1808.17
Following marriage, Martin continued with his family’s business interests, and was an instrument in increasing his family’s financial prosperity. Although many businesses had now come to Palmyra and were established in the Palmyra main street, Martin “appeared content to assist in managing his father’s 240 acres of farmland. Two months after his marriage, on May 22, 1808, Martin registered an earmark for domestic animals (‘a slit in the end of the left ear and the upper side of the same’), evidencing that he was then creating a livestock identity or business of his own. He would . . . establish a farming enterprise to envy. Through a series of land acquisitions from his father and brother Emer, Martin pieced together a 150-acre farm in the years 1813 and 1814.”18
Like his father, Martin was involved in community politics. At the annual Palmyra town meeting on April 2, 1811, Martin was elected an overseer of highways, the same position that his father first held. Martin served in this position on various occasions through 1829.19
Martin’s military service
On June 18, 1812, the United States Congress issued a declaration of war against Great Britain, starting the War of 1812.20 Due to the proximity to the Canadian border, local militia units (comprised of individuals ages 18 to 45) from the county in which Palmyra resided were called into service and were involved in various skirmishes against the British forces.21
Martin was enrolled as a sergeant, but when he was called to active duty in 1813, he hired a substitute to act in his stead.22 “Financing a substitute to take one’s place in the ranks was an acceptable practice of the day, and surrogates are documented in the records of the military district.”23 Despite his ability to hire a substitute, there is evidence that he was personally engaged in at least two battles.24
Martin meets Joseph and the Smith family
Joseph Smith and his family moved to Palmyra in about 1816.25 By then, Martin had a successful farm, one daughter (Lucy, born in 1809), and a son who was born in 1812 but had passed away at about 3 years old (Duty L. Harris).26 (I have seen many websites listing more children than this, but the book “Martin Harris: Uncompromising Witness to the Book of Mormon,” which is cited at length in this post, disusses these other children and demonstrates that they were not children of Martin or Lucy Harris. So by 1816, Martin had only 2 children).
As a politician, a member of one of the community’s founding families, and a thriving farmer, Martin would have known the Smith family:
“Father Smith opened a small shop on Palmyra’s Main Street and sold gingerbread, pies, boiled eggs, and root beer to paying customers. Mother Smith painted oil-cloth coverings for tables and stands that were sold to near neighbors. Father Smith and his sons worked as common laborers—gardening, harvesting, rocking up wells, and any odd jobs that paid cash or commodities under a loosely configured barter system.”27
Later in his life, Martin talked about the Smith family and how he had hired Joseph as a young boy: “Just how early Martin Harris employed young Joseph to assist him with his farm labors is not certain. In a later remembrance of that association, Martin rehearsed to Edward Stevenson that Joseph ‘was very poor, and had to work by the day for his support, and he (Harris) often gave him work on his farm, and that they had hoed corn together many a day, Brother Harris paying him fifty cents per day. Joseph, he said, was good to work and jovial and they often wrestled together in sport.’”28
Martin’s search for truth
The religious awakening of the early 19th century that was a catalyst for Joseph Smith’s search and the First Vision also influenced Martin:
“Martin Harris was not a bystander to the religious awakenings permeating the Christian sects in town. Contemporary George W. Stoddard claimed that Martin associated with five separate churches during this general era: ‘He was first an orthodox Quaker, then a Universalist, next a Restorationer, then a Baptist, next a Presbyterian.’ Palmyra Episcopal minister John A. Clark also recognized certain of Martin’s positions on religion. He acknowledged, ‘[Martin] had been, if I mistake not, at one period, a member of the Methodist Church, and subsequently had identified himself with the Universalists.’ . . . Publisher Pomeroy Tucker, who knew him best, concluded Martin was a ‘religious monomaniac, reading the Scriptures intently, and could probably repeat from memory nearly every text of the Bible from beginning to end, giving the chapter and verse in each case.’
“By his own admission, Martin acknowledged investigating a number of religious sects during the revivals. By 1818, however, his immediate investigations ceased. In that year, he declared himself an ‘un-churched Christian,’ claiming a divine manifestation to him by the Spirit of the Lord. Glimpses of his vision are few. However, the words of Martin spoken to Edward Stevenson on Sunday, September 4, 1870, in Salt Lake City remain to recount this singular divine manifestation. Martin related: ‘[I]n the year 1818 = 52 years ago I was Inspired of the Lord & Tought of the Spirit that I Should not Join Eny Church although I Was anxiousley Sought for By meny of the Sectarians[.] . . . Other Sects the Episcopalians alsoe [sic] tried me.'”29
Martin learns about the plates
During the years that Joseph Smith was receiving heavenly training (1823 to 1827), Martin was continuing to grow his wealth and good name. “Whether collecting monies for a new cause, honing his agricultural skills, or projecting good fortune upon Palmyra in the construction of the Erie Canal, Martin was aware of what was going on locally and a participant in community affairs. Orlando Saunders named him ‘one of the first men of the town.’ Evidence of Martin’s prosperity was his construction of a spacious one-and-one-half-story frame home. Thomas L. Cook stated that the process of securing a home and outbuildings began early: ‘When Martin Harris first came into possession of the farm, he built a frame house he painted white, which was one and one-half stories high. Across the way [east side of the road] he built his barn and sheds and covered them with rough hemlock boards.’ It is apparent that Cook is describing the passage of several years, during which these facilities were gradually added to the farm as described.”30
Martin had become a good friend of the Smith family, and after Joseph obtained the plates, he decided to share the details with Martin;
“The Smiths had determined that Martin Harris needed to know more than just the heresy circulating in Palmyra; he needed to know the truth of the matter. After all, he was the family’s ‘confidential friend.’ Young Joseph asked his mother to go to the Harris home and tell Martin to come and meet with him. The errand appeared simple enough, but not for Mother Smith. She wrote, ‘This, indeed, was an errand which I much disliked, as Mr. Harris’s wife was a very peculiar woman, one that was natuarlly [sic] of a very jealous disposition; besides this, she was rather dull of hearing, and when anything was said that she did not hear distinctly, she suspected that it was some secret, which was designedly kept from her.’ Mother Smith said to Joseph, ‘I would rather not go, unless I could have the privilege of speaking to her first upon the subject. To this he consented, and I went according to his request.'”31 Lucy, Martin’s wife, would prove to be a significant opponent to Joseph’s work and Martin’s involvement. More will be said of that in later posts.
Upon hearing of the Joseph’s experience, Martin was immediately intrigued, and wanted to investigate to hear more of the story:
“As his investigation began, Martin spoke with members of the Smith household ‘separately, that I might get the truth of the matter.’ After being satisfied that their accounts harmonized, he lifted the box in which the plates were kept. He concluded that it contained some sort of metal, either lead or gold. ‘I knew that Joseph had not credit enough to buy so much lead,’ said Martin. He stated: I left Mr. Smith’s about eleven o’clock and went home. I retired to my bedroom and prayed God to show me concerning these things, and I covenanted that if it was his work and he would show me so, I would put forth my best ability to bring it before the world. He then showed me that it was his work, and that it was designed to bring in the fullness of his gospel to the gentiles to fulfill his word, that the first shall be last and the last first. He showed this to me by the still small voice spoken in the soul. Then I was satisfied that it was the Lord’s work, and I was under a covenant to bring it forth.'”32
Martin’s lifelong testimony of the Book of Mormon
The story of Martin Harris is one of sacrifice. He sacrificed everything for his testimony of the Book of Mormon. He became one of the three witnesses of the Book of Mormon, and he witnessed to the truthfulness of that book for the rest of his life.
In about 1838 he separated from the Church and became embittered toward the Church and Joseph Smith. After Joseph Smith’s death in 1844, various people vied for control of the Church. One of those people was James Strang, who founded the Strangites. Martin eventually joined with them, and decided to serve a mission in England. In preparing for that mission, he spoke with a friend Joseph Tuttle, who recollected that “Martin told him of his mission to England saying that it was his intent to ‘destroy the work [of ‘Mormonism’] as far as everything pertaining to it except the connection [Harris] had with the Book of Mormon.’ According to Tuttle, he tried to persuade him against this line of action, but Martin said his ‘mind was fully made up that he would deliver a course of lectures against Mormonism.'”33
However, when arriving in England, Martin preached to a group of Latter-day Saints (who were called by the Strangites as “Brighamites”) and his determination to preach against the Church turned instead to a heartfelt testimony of the Book of Mormon:
“[W]hen Harris arrived in England, he ‘rented a hall; had large circulars posted, announcing that Martin Harris, one of the three special witnesses to the Book of Mormon, would . . . lecture to the people, exposing Mormonism; and all were invited to come and hear.’ ‘I remember,’ said Martin Harris [to Tuttle upon returning from England], ‘of announcing my subject to the people, and of feeling a pain at my heart when I saw that little handful of Saints sitting before me, and realized that what I had to say would be as death to them; but I know of nothing more, I can tell you of nothing which occurred until [after speaking] I found myself surrounded by those Saints, who, with streaming eyes and broken utterances, were thanking me for the glorious manner in which I had defended the faith, and the powerful testimony I had borne to the truth of the work.’
“Martin’s strong testimony of the Book of Mormon resonated with certain of the faithful in England. He was more interested in conveying that conviction than in proselytizing on behalf of Strangism.”34
Martin eventually moved to Utah and rejoined the Church. In 1874 he spoke with an English emigrant named William Pilkington who spoke of his interactions with Martin:
“One dark night after we had been in our new home a few days a knock came on the Door while we were all singing the Songs of Zion. we stopped singing and Father opened the Door. A Strange man walked in, he was given a Chair and he set down. He said what is your name? Father promptly told him our name was Pilkington, he said are you Emmigrants? he was told that we had just Emmigrated from England[.] he said he wanted to hire a Boy to go and live with him for one year. My Brother Richard and I were sitting together on the right of the stranger. he looked at us and said [‘]I think this one will do, . . . he then asked me if I would like to go and live with him for a year. he said he had just sold out his Property in Smithfield, and was going to a place acros[s] the Valley Cal[l]ed Clarkston. Father asked him how much he would give Willie to work for him a year, he thought a little while and then said, I will give Willie a Two year old Heffer and his board and clothes if he will work for me[.] I asked Father what he thought about the proposition. he said it was all right. I could go and work for him a year, and for me to be a good Boy. I put on my Coat and Hat, kissed Father, Mother and all the rest of the family and went with him.
“When young Pilkington first entered the Harris home that evening, Martin Jr. gave him a pan of milk and some bread to eat, showed him his bed on the floor and retired to his own bed. He soon discovered in the dim light the form of a man in the corner of the room. The figure beckoned him to sit close and they entered a conversation. Learning the young boy’s name, the man said, ‘Now Willie tomorrow night after your Chores are done. and we have had supper, and all the folks have gone to bed, I want you to sit down in this chair, close to mine, for I have lots to tell you.’ The next night Pilkington recalled, ‘The old gentleman then sat down in his arm chair, put his elbow on the arm of the chair and crooked his finger as he did scores of times afterwards, and that was a signal for me to bring another chair along side of his.’ Martin then asked, Willie did you ever go to Sunday School? I promptly told him yes Sir! What class were you in? I was in the Book of Mormon class. his eyes sparkled and his whole body seemed to reviberate. he seemed like a changed being. he was very excited, trembling. as I gazed in his eyes, he said Did you ever read the Book of Mormon? Yes Sir! Well if you have read the Book of Mormon, What is the first reading in the Preface of the Book that you find? After a little thinking. I said, the first reading in the Book of Mormon is the Testimony of Three Men testifying to the whole World that they saw an Angel come down from Heaven. that they saw the Gold Plates. from which the Book of Mormon was translated. and the angel told them that the Translation was correct and we bare record that Joseph Smith is a true Prophet of God. and that there [sic] names will forever go befor the World testifying that the Book of Mormon is True. he then said I know now Willie that you have read that glorious Book. Willie: I am going to ask you one more question? What was those three men’s names? I told him they were Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and Martin Harris.
“It was then that Martin (who had not yet identified himself) told Pilkington of his role in the coming forth of the Book of Mormon. Pilkington reminisced: ‘This little old man, then 92 years of age of whome In my mind I had likened to Rip Van Winckle. whose whole being at this time was wonderful to behold. all lit up with the Spirit of God whoes Eyes, now were sparkling who’s whole being was transformed. stood up before me on that memorable occasion and putting his walking cane in his left hand streightened up and striking his Breast with his right hand. Exclaimed ‘I Am Martin Harris.’ Can anyone imigane my feelings. standing there before one of the Three Witnesses to the Authenticity of the Book of Mormon, a man who had the privilidge of standing before Angels. a man who[se] Eyes beheld the Golden Plates a man who’es Ears heard the voice of God from Heaven declare that the Book was Translated correct. and commandid him to Testifie to all the World. that it was correct I say again; can you imagan, me a mear Boy, not yet 14 years of age until the next month November [his birthday was November 13, 1860] as this was October of the year 1874.’
“‘From that time on until his death’ Pilkington wrote, ‘he never tired of telling me of the beauties of the Gospel. and Especially about the Early rise of the Church. and the trials and tribulations that beset the Prophet Joseph Smith and himself.’ Pilkington added, ‘I talked to him hundreds of times, and he would always tell me that he wanted me to tell the people what he had told me.’ He also affirmed, ‘While my name is not Harris I became one of the family by living with them so long’ William then recalled, ‘In his talks with me he would say: ‘Now, Willie, I am not going to live very long and after I am dead I want you to tell the people what I have told you, for it is all true.’’ And he would hold up his right hand and swear that he was telling the truth. ‘Yes, Grandpa, I will surely tell the people what you have told me for I know you have told me the truth.’ To Vern C. Poulter, William later declared, ‘If I had a voice strong Enough, and could stand on a hill high Enough, I would like to bare my Testimony to the whole World, because I know by the Spirit of God that that man told me the truth.’”35
Who was Martin Harris?
I think if Martin Harris himself were to tell us about his life, he would want us to know that he was a witness of the Book of Mormon. Despite the fact that he left the church, became antagonistic toward Joseph Smith, and even had designs to “destroy Mormonism,” he consistently and powerfully testified of the Book of Mormon. He gained riches and success, but gave it all up to publish the Book of Mormon and to help establish the Church. His wife had bitter feelings toward the Church, so Martin’s zealous testimony of the Book of Mormon cost him his marriage.
We could say that Martin was prideful and became angry when he didn’t receive prominent callings that he thought he should have. We could say that Martin’s wealth was what caused his separation from Joseph Smith, as he refused to contribute to the Kirtland Safety Society, causing a rift between him and Joseph. But for all his weaknesses, Martin kept his promise: he provided the funds for the publication of the Book of Mormon, and spent his entire life testifying of the truthfulness of that work. He covenanted with God that he would help to bring forth the Book of Mormon, and he kept that covenant.
References
- Mark D. White Ph.D., “What It Means to Know Someone,” Psychology Today, December 21, 2010, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/maybe-its-just-me/201012/what-it-means-know-someone. ↩︎
- White, “What It Means to Know Someone.” ↩︎
- 1 Samuel 16:7. ↩︎
- Susan Easton Black and Larry C. Porter, “Martin Harris: Uncompromising Witness of the Book of Mormon,” 2018, BYU Studies, Provo, Utah, Kindle edition, 40. ↩︎
- Black, 40. ↩︎
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- “Joseph Smith’s Childhood,” https://discoverfaithinchrist.com/joseph-smiths-childhood/. ↩︎
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