Kinderhook Plates: Trick or Truth?

Kinderhook Plates: trick or truth?
Have you ever heard of the, Kinderhook Plates? It’s actually a very important part of Mormon history.
Hi, I’m Danny and I was an active Latter-day Saint for 6 decades. In my previous video, I addressed the claims about the Book of Abraham translation. Today, I want to follow up by discussing another problematic translation of Joseph Smith’s.
LDS Church history explains that in 1843, a man named Robert Wiley began excavating a mound in Kinderhook, Illinois and dug up six bell-shaped brass plates along with the skeletal remains of a man. This was witnessed by nine other men.
At first consideration, you might think – that could support the evidence for the gold plates of the Book of Mormon, if they discovered those plates. That is what those men thought when they found these brass Kinderhook plates. The plates had an ancient appearance with writing on both sides of them that looked like hieroglyphics.
In fact, when the plates were taken to Nauvoo and shown to Joseph Smith, he remarked that the figures or writing on them was similar, to what was on the Book of Mormon gold plates – referring to Reformed Egyptian. Smith claimed that by the gift of revelation, he would be able to translate those plates – just like he did the Book of Mormon.
The exciting story of finding the Kinderhook Plates and drawings of the six plates was published in the Times and Seasons – the Church’s official newspaper. Joseph was an editor of the paper and surely, he wouldn’t not have allowed the story to be printed if it wasn’t true. Right?
(Facsimiles of all twelve sides)
News of the Kinderhook plates was written about in the Nauvoo, Illinois newspaper, Times and Seasons p. 186-187 which states the following, “We learn there was a Mormon present when the plates were found, who it is said, leaped for joy at the discovery, and remarked that it would go to prove the authenticity of the Book of Mormon – which it undoubtedly will.”
In time, Joseph Smith claimed that he did translate a portion of the plates. In the LDS History of the Church, vol. 5, page 372, Joseph Smith is documented as saying, “I insert fac-similes of the six brass plates found near Kinderhook. I have translated a portion of them and find they contain the history of the person with whom they were found. He was a descendant of Ham, through the loins of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and that he received his kingdom from the Ruler of heaven and earth.” The biblical Ham was a son of Noah, who in Mormon theology is believed to have carried on the “blood of Cain.” That is a belief associated with the Book of Abraham 1:21-27. And in the history of the Latter-day Saints, it was used to justify racial discrimination and the exclusion of Black people from certain religious practices like holding the priesthood and temple blessings.
On May 1, 1843, William Clayton (Joseph Smith’s trusted personal secretary) makes a journal entry about the Kinderhook plates, “I have seen six brass plates which were found in Adams (Pike) County by some persons who were digging in a mound. They found a skeleton about 6 feet from the surface of the earth which was 9 feet high. The plates were on the breast of the skeleton. They were covered with ancient characters of language containing from 30 to 40 on each side of the plates.”
On May 7, 1843, Apostle Parley Pratt comments on the Kinderhook plates: “Six plates having the appearance of brass have lately been dug out of a mound by a gentleman in Pike Co. Illinois. They are small and filled with engravings in Egyptian language and contain the genealogy of one of the ancient Jaredites back to Ham the son of Noah.”
Then, a decade after Joseph Smith’s death – on April 25, 1856, W. P. Harris, who was one of the nine witnesses to the discovery of the Kinderhook plates, wrote a letter in which he admits the plates were all forgeries. He states that “I was present with a number at or near Kinderhook and helped to dig at the time the plates were found. I made an honest affidavit to the same. Since that time, Bridge Whitten said to me that he cut and prepared the plates and he and Robert Wiley engraved them themselves. Wilbourn Fugate appeared to be the chief, with R. Wiley and B. Whitten.” (The Book of Mormon? by James D. Bales, pp. 95-96).
How do we know that Mr. Harris, who wrote THAT letter, was telling the truth about the plates, being a forgery?
BECAUSE on June 30, 1879, Wilbourne Fugate, who was mentioned as chief of the nine witnesses, wrote a letter to James Cobb in Salt Lake City, telling him that the Kinderhook plates were a hoax intended to trick Joseph Smith into translating the plates. He admitted his part in the hoax that the plates were faked, and explained the process of how they were uncovered and brought to Joseph Smith . That letter can be found in the LDS September 1962 Improvement Era magazine entitled, “Letter of W. Fugate, as cited in The Kinderhook Plates” by Welby W. Ricks. Mr. Fugate states, “I received your letter in regard to those plates and will say in answer that they are a humbug, gotten up by Robert Wiley, Bridge Whitten and myself. We read in Pratt’s prophecy that ‘Truth is yet to spring out of the earth.’ We concluded to prove the prophecy by way of a joke.”
So, whatever became of those plates? During the Civil War the plates were thought to be lost. They were later placed in a museum in St. Louis, which was afterwards destroyed by fire. However, sometime in the 1960’s, Wilford Poulson, a professor at Brigham Young University, found one of the original plates #5 in the Chicago Historical Society Museum. After examining the plate, Professor Poulson believed it to be a forgery.
In September 1962, President of the BYU Archaeological Society, Welby Ricks welcomed the discovery as a vindication of Joseph Smith’s work. He wrote, “A recent rediscovery of one of the Kinderhook plates, which was examined by Joseph Smith, Jun., reaffirms his prophetic calling and reveals the false statements made by one of the finders. The plates are now back in their original category of genuine. Joseph Smith, Jun., stands as a true prophet and translator of ancient records by divine means and all the world is invited to investigate the truth which has sprung out of the earth not only of the Kinderhook plates, but of the Book of Mormon as well.”
It seems there are a lot of opinions and ideas about whether, or not those plates were real. How was this debate going to be settled? Using applied science!
In 1980, LDS scholar Stanley P. Kimball was permitted to perform destructive tests on the #5 plate. He described the results of the tests in the LDS Church publication, The Ensign, August 1981, pp. 66-70. The article says, “A recent electronic and chemical analysis of metal plate brought in 1843 to the prophet Joseph Smith appears to solve a previously unanswered question in Church history, helping to further evidence that the plate is what its producers later said it was – a nineteenth-century attempt to lure Joseph Smith into making a translation of ancient-looking characters that had been etched into the plates. As a result of these tests, we conclude that the plate is not of ancient origin. We conclude that the plate was made from a true brass alloy (copper and zinc) typical of the mid-nineteenth century; whereas the ‘brass’ of ancient times was actually bronze, and alloy of copper and tin.” This confirmed that Mr. Fugate’s story of creating a hoax was correct, after all.
If Joseph Smith said he translated a portion of the plates, I wonder what was written on them? What was the English translation? If Smith had not been killed in June 1844, it is very possible he might have published a finished translation of all six of the counterfeit plates. Wouldn’t that have been interesting if the Mormon Church had included the translation in its canon of scripture – only later to be proven as another hoax.
What is the Church’s position on Kinderhook plates issue today? The Church defended the authenticity of the plates and Joseph’s translations of them since their discovery in 1843 up to 1980 – 137 years and included it in their History of the Church. However, following the destructive testing, the Church backed off its claim that the plates were real. Now the Church claims it was all a hoax, and that Joseph never fell for it. But Smith did make the claim that he could translate the ancient writings on the plates. And in fact, he did translate some of them.
This was another incident where Joseph Smith could have proven himself a prophet of God by telling creators of the plates that they were fake – set to make him look like a fraud. But instead, he incorrectly claims to have translated a portion of them. Just like with the Book of Abraham translation, Joseph Smith has been proven wrong again. The only reason the Church abandoned its defense of the plates is that science forced their hands.
It’s the same reason the Church was forced to change the introduction of the Book of Mormon after scientific DNA proved the Native Americans were not descended from Middle Eastern Jews migrating to the Americas in 600 BC. Instead, they are descended from peoples in Asia crossing the land bridge of the Bering Strait. A change was made (unannounced) to the Introduction page of the Book of Mormon in 2006. Up to that time, it read: “After thousands of years, all were destroyed except the Lamanites, and they are the principal ancestors of the American Indians.” Now the Introduction reads: “and they are among the ancestors of the American Indians.”
Every LDS Church president since Joseph Smith could have also used their power as prophets, seers, and revelators to determine that the plates were a hoax. But instead, they insisted the letter from Fugate proclaiming the plates to be a fraud – was, itself a lie.
It should be obvious that Smith’s work on these fraudulent plates casts serious doubt upon his credibility as a translator of other ancient records like, the Book of Mormon and the Book of Abraham. We already know from the Church’s Gospel Topical Essay titled: “Translation and Historicity of the Book of Abraham” that the Rosetta Stone proved it was not a true translation of ancient Egyptian papyri. The Church now admits that, as I explained in my previous video.
After disproving the Kinderhook plates and the Book of Abraham translation – are we now supposed to trust Joseph Smith when he claims to have translated the Book of Mormon, written in an unknown language in Reformed Egyptian from a – rock in a hat? If it sounds like 19th Century fan fiction – I strongly suggest it is just that.
Why are we to believe the LDS Church has any direct revelation from God, when they continue to fall for frauds time and time again? Does the name Mark Hoffman come to mind? In the early 1980s, Mark W. Hofmann was a rare documents dealer and skilled forger who exploited LDS Leaders, when the Church paid hundreds of thousands of dollars on historical documents that were completely fabricated. Just like Joseph Smith, the 15 modern-day prophets, seers, and revelators of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints lacked discernment, inspiration, and vision when it came to critical issues effecting truth.
They seem to have no ability to discern when they are being duped. Today’s LDS prophet has no more ability to see ahead or around corners (Covid pandemic come to mind?) than you or me. And that has been proven time and time again.
I ask: Why can’t Yeshua and the Bible be enough for the Latter-day Saints? Along with the Holy Spirit – I testify they are all I need to discern truth.
Thanks again for watching. You can find more videos on You Tube or, at Talking to Mormons. com.
Until Next time, God Bless!