Lucy Harris

Lucy Harris (née Hill; 1792–1836) was the wife of Martin Harris, and an early skeptic of the translation of the Book of Mormon's golden plates.

Biography

Early life

Lucy Harris was born on May 1, 1792 at Smithfield, Providence, Rhode Island.[1] She was the daughter of Rufus Harris and Lucy Hill, who were affiliated with but not members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers). She married Martin Harris on March 27, 1808, in Palmyra, New York. She had become partially deaf by the year 1827.

Harris and the Book of Mormon

Early on during the translation of the Book of Mormon Harris became frustrated with her husband, Martin (and skeptical of Joseph Smith), because of how much he was helping Smith with the translation of the Book of Mormon. She questioned Smith personally about the plates and demanded to see them. He told her, "he was not permitted to exhibit them to any one except those whom the Lord should appoint to testify of them." This did not resolve her concern and she persisted in demanding to see the plates.[2]

Martin and Lucy Harris home in Palmyra Township, Wayne County, New York.

In order to convince Lucy that they were translating an ancient book of scripture, Martin Harris asked Smith to instead let him borrow the first 116 pages of the translation of the Book of Mormon. Smith said that these pages of the translation of the Book of Mormon were a translation from the Book of Lehi. At Harris's insistence (and despite Smith saying he was warned not to by the Lord), Smith reluctantly loaned the pages to Harris. The manuscript was subsequently lost, and a variety of theories as to its disappearance have arisen. Some Mormons believe that Lucy hid them from Smith after they had been altered,[3] or that they were given to friends, otherwise disposed of in some way, or that they were stolen from the Harris's house.

When Harris approached Smith and told him what happened, Smith became angry with himself for not heeding "the Lord's admonition" not to loan the manuscript to Harris and left to go and pray. Subsequently, Smith lost the ability to translate "for a season" while he went through a "repentance process." Ultimately, Smith claimed to receive a revelation wherein he was instructed not to retranslate the portion of the golden plates the 116 pages were taken from "because wicked men had stolen the pages and altered them, hoping to discredit Joseph when he translated them again and the two manuscripts didn’t match because of their alterations."[3] Instead, the material would be replaced with Nephi's Abridgment of his father's record.[4][5] However, according to Lucy Mack Smith, Lucy Harris did give Joseph 28 dollars to go towards the translation and publication of the plates, claiming that she had received a vision testifying of their truth, as well as being shown the physical plates.[6]

Later life

In part due to the continued disagreement with her husband over the legitimacy of Joseph Smith and the golden plates, and because of the loss of his farm, which he had mortgaged to publish the Book of Mormon, in 1830 Harris and her husband separated.[7] Lucy Harris was described by her detractor Lucy Mack Smith as a woman of "irascible temper," but Harris may also have abused her. Lucy Harris also suggested that her husband may have committed adultery with a neighboring "Mrs. Haggart."[8][9] She died in 1836 just six years after her separation from Martin. She was 44 at the time of her death.[10]

Allegations by the Smith family

According to the journal of Joseph Smith’s mother, Lucy Mack Smith, Mrs. Harris expressed once that she "missed her husband," but after Mrs. Smith informed Mrs. Harris that he left to accompany Joseph Smith and to take the Egyptian characters to the East to "call on all the professed linguists... in giving a translation of the characters," Mrs. Harris "became highly exasperated, and charged me with planning the whole affair."[11] After contending briefly with Mrs. Harris, Mrs. Smith reported, "'Now, stop' said I, 'do you know that we have never asked you for money or property? and that if we had been disposed to take advantage of your liberality, could we not have obtained at least, two hundred and seventy dollars of your cash?' She answered in the affirmative, notwithstanding she went home in a great rage, determined to have satisfaction for the treatment which she had received. In a short time Mr. Harris returned, and his wife's anger kindled afresh at his presence, insomuch that she prepared a separate bed and room for him, which room she refused to enter."[11]

In a later report by Mrs. Smith, she described Mrs. Harris's reaction upon her discovery of damage to a chest of drawers, a consequence of Martin's decision to pick the lock (when he was unable to locate the key) to show the manuscript pages to a friend: "When Mrs. Harris returned, and discovered the marred state of her [chest of drawers], her irascible temper was excited to the utmost pitch, and an intolerable storm ensued, which descended with the greatest violence upon the devoted head of her husband."[12]

In popular culture

• Lucy Harris is portrayed in the comedy series South Park in the episode "All About the Mormons?", in which she expresses her skepticism of Joseph Smith's claims by hiding Smith's original manuscript, arguing that he should be able to reproduce it if it was really dictated to him by God.[13] While the musical interlude during the rest of the episode consists of a voice singing "dum-dum-dum," during the interludes of the portions of the story involving Lucy Harris, the same voice sings "smart-smart-smart."
• Author Christopher Hitchens references Harris's theft of the first hundred and sixteen pages of Smith's manuscript and her challenge to him to reproduce them in his 2007 book God is not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, saying, "Determined women like this appear far too seldom in the history of religion."[14]

References

1. Harris, Lucy. "Vital record of Rhode Island, 1636-1850 : a family register for the people, Arnold, Volume 3, Smithfield Births, page 100".
2. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
3. Richter, Kimberly (September 2012), "The Book of Mormon: From Plates to Press", New Era
4. Doctrine and Covenants 3
5. Doctrine and Covenants 10
6. Smith, Lucy Mack (1845). Lucy Mack Smith, History.
7. Cook, Thomas L. (1930). Palmyra and Vicinity. Palmyra Courier-Journal. p. 206.
8. Lucy Mack Smith, 1853, in EMD (Early Mormon Documents) 1: 367; "Lucy Harris statement," in EMD, 2: 34-36: "In one of his fits of rage he struck me with the butt end of a whip, which I think had been used for driving oxen, and was about the size of my thumb, and three or four feet long. He beat me on the head four or five times, and the next day turned me out of doors twice, and beat me in a shameful manner....Whether the Mormon religion be true or false, I leave the world to judge, for its effects upon Martin Harris have been to make him more cross, turbulent and abusive to me."
9. In March 1830, a revelation from Smith warned Harris not to "covet thy neighbor's wife." (Doctrine and Covenents 19:25)
10. Rhett Stephens James, “Lucy Harris: Toward a Compassionate Reinterpretation,” Nauvoo Journal 9/1 (1997): 49—58
11. Lucy Mack Smith. History of the Prophet Joseph Smith by his mother Lucy Mack Smith. p. 114.
12. Lucy Mack Smith. History of the Prophet Joseph Smith by his mother Lucy Mack Smith. pp. 122–123.
13. Parker, Trey (2003-11-19). "All About The Mormons Transcript". The Internet Movie Script Database (IMSDb). Fox/South Park Studios. Retrieved 2010-12-28.
14. Hitchens, Christopher (April 27, 2007). "Exclusive excerpts from Christopher Hitchens' God Is Not Great". Slate.