Capt. Morgan, Masonry, Polygamy, Joseph Smith, And The Freedom Of Press

[Buckeye]

They say fact is stranger than fiction. Today I read this intriguing article at Slate.com (http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history/2015/05/masons_and_american_history_the_1826_kidnapping_allegedly_by_freemasons.single.html) which discusses the history of the rise and fall of the Anti-Masons. Key points (for this post) include:

 

• On Sept. 11, 1826, Capt. William Morgan - imprisoned on trumped up charges - was bonded to strangers and never seen again. He was presumed murdered, leaving behind a wife - Lucinda Morgan - and two children. This happened in Canadaigua, NY - roughly 20 miles south of the Joseph Smith homestead.
• The same year and in the same count, Joseph Smith faced charges for disorderly conduct. He was also courting Emma Hale (the two would be married in January 1828). A year after Capt. Morgan's death, Joseph would receive the gold plates and begin his translation.
• Capt. Morgan's death caused a uproar that reached national proportions (particularly in NY and Ohio) and led to the creation of the anti-mason movement and political party - the first "third party" in US history which, while short-lived due to being a one-issue party, would sow the field for future new parties such as the Whigs and the Republicans (the Republicans were initially a two-issue party: anti-slavery and anti-polygamy).
• The public concluded that Capt. Morgan had been murdered because he had infiltrated the masons and was preparing an expose. While upset with the murder (and widowing and orphaning), the public was most concerned that masons were planning a government take over.
• Lucinda Morgan would soon remarry a local silversmith named George Harris and then move to Indiana where the family was converted to the LDS church by Orson Pratt (http://www.wivesofjosephsmith.org/03-LucindaMorganHarris.htm)
• After their conversion to the church, the couple moved to Missouri, where they eventually opened their home to Joseph Smith for two months as he was fleeing problems in Ohio.
• In Missouri, Lucinda Morgan Harris became one of Joseph's plural wives, but continued to live with (and be married to) George Harris.
• The Harris's moved to Nauvoo with the saints and lived across the street from Joseph.
• George Harris rose to become "activing associate justice" in Nauvoo and was the presiding authority for the city council meeting on June 10, 1844, which authorized the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor. George Harris supported the destruction.
• Sometime after Joseph's death, the Harris's divorced and Lucinda joined the Catholic Sisters of Charity.

 

Like I said, fact is stranger than fiction. I'd never heard of Lucinda Morgan Harris Smith before today. I'm amazed at the array of LDS storylines that overlap with her life - trumped up charges in NY, masonry, polygamy, press destruction, etc. How odd is it that her first husband was killed by a mob for writing an expose, her third husband was killed by a mob after he destroyed a press in an attempt to avoid an expose, and her second husband was the presiding officer who approved that press destruction? Times certainly were more interesting in the early days of the church.

 

Unfortunately, this story does not contain one additional link to LDS history that one would presume: the word of wisdom. I'd hoped that the Capt. Morgan married to Lucinda was this same Capt. Morgan, but alas, the drinky fellow lived 200 years earlier:

 

[bcuzbcuz]

They say fact is stranger than fiction. Today I read this intriguing article at Slate.com

Unfortunately, this story does not contain one additional link to LDS history that one would presume: the word of wisdom. I'd hoped that the Capt. Morgan married to Lucinda was this same Capt. Morgan, but alas, the drinky fellow lived 200 years earlier:

 

I only read your post for the Capt. Morgan part. I´m very disappointed.

[HappyJackWagon]

Fascinating connections.

I had to go back and look at the infographic The Many Wives of Joseph Smith and she is definitely listed there as Wife #3 under the Polyandrous subheading.

[Buckeye]

Fascinating connections.

I had to go back and look at the infographic The Many Wives of Joseph Smith and she is definitely listed there as Wife #3 under the Polyandrous subheading.

 

Yep. It goes Emma, Fanny, Lucinda, etc. At Joseph's funeral, Lucinda was the longest-married wife other than Emma.

[stemelbow]

Fascinating connections.

I had to go back and look at the infographic The Many Wives of Joseph Smith and she is definitely listed there as Wife #3 under the Polyandrous subheading.

To be fair, it ought to be mentioned, it seems Brian Hales, for one, seems at the very least critical of the idea that Joseph and Lucinda were sealed in Missouri. Me? don't know. Not sure it matters to the point made in the OP though. They could have been, secretly.

http://josephsmithspolygamy.org/history-2/kirtland-polygamy/

However, of the thirty-five women on my list of his plural wives, I believe she is the least well documented: LucindaPendleton

Edited May 15, 2015 by stemelbow

[Buckeye]

To be fair, it ought to be mentioned, it seems Brian Hales, for one, seems at the very least critical of the idea that Joseph and Lucinda were sealed in Missouri. Me? don't know. Not sure it matters to the point made in the OP though. They could have been, secretly.

http://josephsmithspolygamy.org/history-2/kirtland-polygamy/

 

 

That's a fair point. I'm no expert on Joseph's polygamy. If she were not married until Nauvoo, that would not affect anything in the OP, but it would undermine my later conclusion that, at his funeral, Lucinda was the longest-married wife of Joseph other than Emma.

[Nevo]

• On Sept. 11, 1826, Capt. William Morgan - imprisoned on trumped up charges - was bonded to strangers and never seen again. He was presumed murdered, leaving behind a wife - Lucinda Morgan - and two children. This happened in Canadaigua, NY - roughly 20 miles south of the Joseph Smith homestead.
• The same year and in the same count, Joseph Smith faced charges for disorderly conduct.

 

Joseph's 1826 trial as a "disorderly person" took place in South Bainbridge (now Afton, NY), not Canandaigua. FWIW.

[Zakuska]

As far as polygamy is concerned... (I am for one man and one woman all the way) however one must reconcile that fact with God being cast as a Polygamist in the Bible. (eg. Back stabing Judah and her adulturess sister Israel.) So where does Polygamy fit into the restoration of what came before must be restored?

 

So Joseph Smith would have been Half a Republican.  He was right inline with Anti-Slavery meme.  (Buy slaves freedom with sale of public lands) Which I suspect played into his murder greatly. Polygamy was secret so He could have passed as a full Republican, especially with the formal position on the Church at the time, being one man one woman.

Edited May 15, 2015 by Zakuska

[bjw]

This is one part of the history of anti-masonry I never fully understood, as Morgan was said to be murdered by masons for violating the oath of secrecy, yet Lucinda married a mason following her husband's death. Not only that, but Joseph was thought of by many LDS at the time of restoring the lost elements of the ritual. It makes one wonder if maybe Lucinda wasn't more on board with masonic beliefs than her husband was. Even though women couldn't join freemasonry proper, there were plenty of auxiliary orders and esoteric organizations with similar beliefs that accepted women at the time.

[JLHPROF]

This is one part of the history of anti-masonry I never fully understood, as Morgan was said to be murdered by masons for violating the oath of secrecy, yet Lucinda married a mason following her husband's death. Not only that, but Joseph was thought of by many LDS at the time of restoring the lost elements of the ritual. It makes one wonder if maybe Lucinda wasn't more on board with masonic beliefs than her husband was. Even though women couldn't join freemasonry proper, there were plenty of auxiliary orders and esoteric organizations with similar beliefs that accepted women at the time.

 

I've always wondered about Joseph's masonry.  Was he a loyal mason?  Was he in it for political or social connections?  Was he seeing the connections that inspired the endowment revelation?  What was it that made Joseph even want to be a mason?

[Garden Girl]

I've always wondered about Joseph's masonry.  Was he a loyal mason?  Was he in it for political or social connections?  Was he seeing the connections that inspired the endowment revelation?  What was it that made Joseph even want to be a mason?

 

Back in those days, men joined the Masons regularly... i.e., I'm sure you've known that at least 13 signers of the Declaration of Independence were Masons... George Washington was a Mason, etc etc. as well as numerous other political figures and community leaders.

IMO, and spectulation, Joseph may have affiliated with the Masons in hopes of gaining acceptance or influence...  I haven't studied much about the Masons overall... except to know that it wasn't until some years later that Masonry sort of fell out of favor...

 

GG

[bjw]

I've always wondered about Joseph's masonry.  Was he a loyal mason?  Was he in it for political or social connections?  Was he seeing the connections that inspired the endowment revelation?  What was it that made Joseph even want to be a mason?

Try researching the concepts of the "Lost Word" and the idea that some blue lodge secrets are only "substitutes" until future generations may recieve the right. IMHO, it seems obvious from early Mormon writings that they saw Joseph Smith as fulfilling the Masonic prophecies as well as the Biblical. Today's LDS practices still seem to imply this, even though the church has progressed further from masonic practices over the years.

[Michael13365]

They say fact is stranger than fiction. Today I read this intriguing article at Slate.com (http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history/2015/05/masons_and_american_history_the_1826_kidnapping_allegedly_by_freemasons.single.html) which discusses the history of the rise and fall of the Anti-Masons. Key points (for this post) include:

 

• On Sept. 11, 1826, Capt. William Morgan - imprisoned on trumped up charges - was bonded to strangers and never seen again. He was presumed murdered, leaving behind a wife - Lucinda Morgan - and two children. This happened in Canadaigua, NY - roughly 20 miles south of the Joseph Smith homestead.
• The same year and in the same count, Joseph Smith faced charges for disorderly conduct. He was also courting Emma Hale (the two would be married in January 1828). A year after Capt. Morgan's death, Joseph would receive the gold plates and begin his translation.
• Capt. Morgan's death caused a uproar that reached national proportions (particularly in NY and Ohio) and led to the creation of the anti-mason movement and political party - the first "third party" in US history which, while short-lived due to being a one-issue party, would sow the field for future new parties such as the Whigs and the Republicans (the Republicans were initially a two-issue party: anti-slavery and anti-polygamy).
• The public concluded that Capt. Morgan had been murdered because he had infiltrated the masons and was preparing an expose. While upset with the murder (and widowing and orphaning), the public was most concerned that masons were planning a government take over.
• Lucinda Morgan would soon remarry a local silversmith named George Harris and then move to Indiana where the family was converted to the LDS church by Orson Pratt (http://www.wivesofjosephsmith.org/03-LucindaMorganHarris.htm)
• After their conversion to the church, the couple moved to Missouri, where they eventually opened their home to Joseph Smith for two months as he was fleeing problems in Ohio.
• In Missouri, Lucinda Morgan Harris became one of Joseph's plural wives, but continued to live with (and be married to) George Harris.
• The Harris's moved to Nauvoo with the saints and lived across the street from Joseph.
• George Harris rose to become "activing associate justice" in Nauvoo and was the presiding authority for the city council meeting on June 10, 1844, which authorized the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor. George Harris supported the destruction.
• Sometime after Joseph's death, the Harris's divorced and Lucinda joined the Catholic Sisters of Charity.

 

Like I said, fact is stranger than fiction. I'd never heard of Lucinda Morgan Harris Smith before today. I'm amazed at the array of LDS storylines that overlap with her life - trumped up charges in NY, masonry, polygamy, press destruction, etc. How odd is it that her first husband was killed by a mob for writing an expose, her third husband was killed by a mob after he destroyed a press in an attempt to avoid an expose, and her second husband was the presiding officer who approved that press destruction? Times certainly were more interesting in the early days of the church.

 

Unfortunately, this story does not contain one additional link to LDS history that one would presume: the word of wisdom. I'd hoped that the Capt. Morgan married to Lucinda was this same Capt. Morgan, but alas, the drinky fellow lived 200 years earlier:

 

[Michael13365]

They say fact is stranger than fiction. Today I read this intriguing article at Slate.com (http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/history/2015/05/masons_and_american_history_the_1826_kidnapping_allegedly_by_freemasons.single.html) which discusses the history of the rise and fall of the Anti-Masons. Key points (for this post) include:

 

• On Sept. 11, 1826, Capt. William Morgan - imprisoned on trumped up charges - was bonded to strangers and never seen again. He was presumed murdered, leaving behind a wife - Lucinda Morgan - and two children. This happened in Canadaigua, NY - roughly 20 miles south of the Joseph Smith homestead.
• The same year and in the same count, Joseph Smith faced charges for disorderly conduct. He was also courting Emma Hale (the two would be married in January 1828). A year after Capt. Morgan's death, Joseph would receive the gold plates and begin his translation.
• Capt. Morgan's death caused a uproar that reached national proportions (particularly in NY and Ohio) and led to the creation of the anti-mason movement and political party - the first "third party" in US history which, while short-lived due to being a one-issue party, would sow the field for future new parties such as the Whigs and the Republicans (the Republicans were initially a two-issue party: anti-slavery and anti-polygamy).
• The public concluded that Capt. Morgan had been murdered because he had infiltrated the masons and was preparing an expose. While upset with the murder (and widowing and orphaning), the public was most concerned that masons were planning a government take over.
• Lucinda Morgan would soon remarry a local silversmith named George Harris and then move to Indiana where the family was converted to the LDS church by Orson Pratt (http://www.wivesofjosephsmith.org/03-LucindaMorganHarris.htm)
• After their conversion to the church, the couple moved to Missouri, where they eventually opened their home to Joseph Smith for two months as he was fleeing problems in Ohio.
• In Missouri, Lucinda Morgan Harris became one of Joseph's plural wives, but continued to live with (and be married to) George Harris.
• The Harris's moved to Nauvoo with the saints and lived across the street from Joseph.
• George Harris rose to become "activing associate justice" in Nauvoo and was the presiding authority for the city council meeting on June 10, 1844, which authorized the destruction of the Nauvoo Expositor. George Harris supported the destruction.
• Sometime after Joseph's death, the Harris's divorced and Lucinda joined the Catholic Sisters of Charity.

 

Like I said, fact is stranger than fiction. I'd never heard of Lucinda Morgan Harris Smith before today. I'm amazed at the array of LDS storylines that overlap with her life - trumped up charges in NY, masonry, polygamy, press destruction, etc. How odd is it that her first husband was killed by a mob for writing an expose, her third husband was killed by a mob after he destroyed a press in an attempt to avoid an expose, and her second husband was the presiding officer who approved that press destruction? Times certainly were more interesting in the early days of the church.

 

Unfortunately, this story does not contain one additional link to LDS history that one would presume: the word of wisdom. I'd hoped that the Capt. Morgan married to Lucinda was this same Capt. Morgan, but alas, the drinky fellow lived 200 years earlier:

 

[Michael13365]

I've also been fascinated by Lucinda Morgan Harris. Are you familiar with the legend that she ended her life as a Catholic nun ministering to the wounded in the Civil War? Lucinda is a major character in my novel of Joseph's life, as seen through the eyes of his sister Sophronia. If you are interested, There is a chapter featuring Lucinda that can be previewed on Amazon:

https://www.createspace.com/Preview/1163634

[Gray]

I've always wondered about Joseph's masonry.  Was he a loyal mason?  Was he in it for political or social connections?  Was he seeing the connections that inspired the endowment revelation?  What was it that made Joseph even want to be a mason?

 

I believe one of his brothers and also his father were masons first. 

[JulieM]

I believe one of his brothers and also his father were masons first.

Joseph Smith, Sr. was a member of the Ontario Lodge No. 23 of Canandaigua, New York and Hyrum Smith was a member of Mount Moriah Lodge No. 112 in New York.

[Nevo]

I don't think Joseph Sr. was a Mason. It is often claimed that he was, but I am not convinced. And I would note that Michael Homer takes the same view in his recent book, Joseph's Temples:

 

Mervin B. Hogan, a twentieth-century Mormon Mason, claimed that Joseph Smith Sr. . . . was a Mason but there is no compelling evidence to support his assertion. There was a man name Joseph Smith who was initiated, passed, and raised in Ontario Lodge No. 23, Canandaigua, Ontario County, New York, between December 26, 1817, and May 17, 1818, but the 1820 census includes eight men with the name "Joseph Smith" including a "Joseph Smith, Jr.", who lived in Ontario County. It is unlikely that Joseph Sr. would have joined Ontario Lodge in Canandaigua, which was located approximately nine miles from Palmyra, especially when one considers that his son Hyrum joined Mount Moriah Lodge No. 112, which was located much closer to the Smith farm. In addition, no contemporary observer, including Joseph Smith Jr., Hyrum Smith, or Lucy Mack Smith, mentioned that Joseph Sr. was a Freemason. When Joseph Sr. was imprisoned in Canandaigua for an unpaid debt (in the same jail where William Morgan was incarcerated four years earlier), he met Eli Bruce (1793–1832), the former sheriff of Niagara County, New York, who was serving time in connection with Morgan's disappearance. Smith told Bruce that he had been commissioned 'by God to baptize and preach this new doctrine' and that the 'Bible is much abridged and deficient; that soon the Divine will is to be made known to all, as written in the new Bible, or Book of Mormon.' Although they had a 'long talk,' which both Bruce and Lucy Mack [smith] memorialized, neither one mentioned that Joseph Sr. was a Freemason.

 

— Michael W. Homer, Joseph's Temples: The Dynamic Relationship Between Freemasonry and Mormonism (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2014), 79–80.

 

Data from Danvers, Massachusetts between 1808 and 1827 indicates that less than 3% of lodge members joined after age 45. The vast majority joined in their twenties. According to historian Steven Bullock, "more than one-half the members of the Danvers, Massachusetts, lodge joined by age twenty-five; more than three-quarters entered the lodge before they were thirty" (Steven C. Bullock, Revolutionary Brotherhood: Freemasonry and the Transformation of the American Social Order, 1730–1840 [Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996], 208). Bullock observes that most who joined the post-Revolutionary Masonic fraternity tended to be young, ambitious, and upwardly mobile. Joseph Sr. was none of those things. Also, Masonic lodges did not initiate transients. Joseph Sr. in 1817/1818 was a recently arrived tenant farmer from Vermont who had led, in the words of one historian, a "quasi-vagrant" existence for the past decade, never staying in a place more than a couple of years (and sometimes only a couple of months), and who had been "warned out" of the last place he had lived on account of his family's poverty (see Dan Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 1:666–68).

 

For all of these reasons, I am skeptical of claims that Joseph Sr. was a Mason. He may have been, but I would like to see more evidence.

Edited May 18, 2015 by Nevo

[Buckeye]

I can't believe I left this out. Turn out that Lucinda Morgan Harris Smith played a part in another infamous episode in church history. She was the woman aggrieved by Elizabeth Godkin Marsh, wife of Thomas B. Marsh, in the "milk-strippings" incident where Thomas Marsh sided with his wife and left the church. (http://www.keepapitchinin.org/2015/05/18/she-shall-be-an-ensign-wicked-witches/)  Amazing. What will I learn next?

[ALarson]

I don't think Joseph Sr. was a Mason. It is often claimed that he was, but I am not convinced. And I would note that Michael Homer takes the same view in his recent book, Joseph's Temples:

 

 

Data from Danvers, Massachusetts between 1808 and 1827 indicates that less than 3% of lodge members joined after age 45. The vast majority joined in their twenties. According to historian Steven Bullock, "more than one-half the members of the Danvers, Massachusetts, lodge joined by age twenty-five; more than three-quarters entered the lodge before they were thirty" (Steven C. Bullock, Revolutionary Brotherhood: Freemasonry and the Transformation of the American Social Order, 1730–1840 [Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1996], 208). Bullock observes that most who joined the post-Revolutionary Masonic fraternity tended to be young, ambitious, and upwardly mobile. Joseph Sr. was none of those things. Also, Masonic lodges did not initiate transients. Joseph Sr. in 1817/1818 was a recently arrived tenant farmer from Vermont who had led, in the words of one historian, a "quasi-vagrant" existence for the past decade, never staying in a place more than a couple of years (and sometimes only a couple of months), and who had been "warned out" of the last place he had lived on account of his family's poverty (see Dan Vogel, Early Mormon Documents, 1:666–68).

 

For all of these reasons, I am skeptical of claims that Joseph Sr. was a Mason. He may have been, but I would like to see more evidence.

 

This might actually be interesting to do more research on.  I don't have an opinion really one way or the other (and I don't know if I care whether or not Joseph Smith, Sr. was a freemason), but here is something that the poster who goes by "George Miller" posted about this topic.  You are probably familiar with him, Nevo.  He's a freemason himself and has done a lot of research on the topic of Mormons and Masons:

I have been looking at what is happening in the western lodges of Freemasonry at the time. I have compiled a fair amount of data that support the notion that Joseph Smith Sr. joined Ontario Lodge No. 23 in Canadaigua. Interestingly, this lodge and its members were at the epicenter of controversial actions starting in the early 1820s and continuing throughout the Morgan Affair when the lodge filed its last return in 1825.

City records have Joseph Smith Sr. as being in Palmyra in April 1817 and April 1818. Bushman records that Joseph Smith Sr. and his boys were hiring themselves out for work during this period. During the winter months there would not have been any farm work, and Joseph Smith Sr. didn't run a business in Palmyra until 1820, so Joseph Smith Sr. would have likely had to travel a little bit further afield for work. The most likely spot to head for work would have been Canandaigua which was the county seat and only 15 miles from Palmyra [eight miles from the Smith families future homestead]. We know that the piece of land that Joseph Smith Sr. bought was from land brokers in Canandaigua, so it is likely that Joseph Smith Sr. was spending a fair amount of time in Canandiagua in 1817-18 when a Joseph Smith was inducted into Ontario Lodge No. 23 in December of 1817.

 

He may have written more on this topic (this was posted in 2010 on another forum).  If not, it appears that there are still some questions regarding this.   

Edited May 18, 2015 by ALarson

[Nevo]

This might actually be interesting to do more research on.  I don't have an opinion really one way or the other (and I don't know if I care whether or not Joseph Smith, Sr. was a freemason), but here is something that the poster who goes by "George Miller" posted about this topic.  You are probably familiar with him, Nevo.  He's a freemason himself and has done a lot of research on the topic of Mormons and Masons.

 

Yes, I'm familiar with "George Miller." He and I have exchanged views on this point on two message boards (including this one) and via email. He knows more about Freemasonry and the history of the Palmyra and Canandaigua lodges than I'll ever know. I respect his opinion and understand his reasons for supposing that Joseph Sr. was a Mason. I remain skeptical but he could be right. It may be that Joseph Sr.'s age and lowly socioeconomic status were no impediment at all; that his drinking habits were not outside the norm for Masons at the time; that certain peculiarities of Palmyra's Mount Moriah lodge made Canandaigua a preferred option in spite of the greater distance. So, yes, there are still questions.

[bjw]

These are some interesting ideas to research, but when it comes to the topic of Mormonism, it is all a question of who knew "what" when? Lucinda plays a major role in this because her first husband is said to have been killed by masons, yet she went on to marry another mason. I think the question is not necessarily who all besides JS was a mason, but who knew anything beyond blue lodge masonry that could have influenced mormonism (York and Scottish Rite, Elus Cohen, Rosicrucian, Martinist, etc)

I know this has come up in other threads, but I think if a motive for Lucinda marrying Joseph Smith can be shown as her disagreeing with her former husband and wanting to keep her esoteric minded beliefs, and it can be proven none of the appendage bodies had been added to the blue lodge in their areas yet (as Greg Kearney has asserted), this may turn into a major argument in support of the claims of Mormonism.

[ALarson]

Yes, I'm familiar with "George Miller." He and I have exchanged views on this point on two message boards (including this one) and via email. He knows more about Freemasonry and the history of the Palmyra and Canandaigua lodges than I'll ever know. I respect his opinion and understand his reasons for supposing that Joseph Sr. was a Mason. I remain skeptical but he could be right. It may be that Joseph Sr.'s age and lowly socioeconomic status were no impediment at all; that his drinking habits were not outside the norm for Masons at the time; that certain peculiarities of Palmyra's Mount Moriah lodge made Canandaigua a preferred option in spite of the greater distance. So, yes, there are still questions.

I agree.

 

How about Hyrum Smith?  Is there more conclusive evidence that he joined the Freemasons in New York?

[Nevo]

How about Hyrum Smith?  Is there more conclusive evidence that he joined the Freemasons in New York?

 

Yes. Masonic records in both Nauvoo and Palmyra attest to this.

[DonBradley]

Nevo,

 

Great information.

 

What about JS, Sr. joining Masonry prior to coming to New York? Is the option really that he was initiated in Canandaigua or wasn't a Mason?

 

Don