1823. Sept. 20. Second vision; the Angel of the Lord revealed in rather a solemn way to Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., the existence of the Gold Plates, which, according to anti-Mormons, he and his brother Hyrum had been employed in forging and fabricating for some years. On the next day (22d) Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., opened the place where the Plates were deposited and saw them.
1825. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., was employed by a person called Stroude to dig for him, near Hartwich, Oswego City, N. Y. Money-diggers were then common in that part of the state, seeking the buried treasures of Captain Kidd, the buccaneer. Near Hartwich, between the years 1818-1832, lived Mrs. Spaulding, and Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., stole the “Manuscript Found” from a trunk full of papers (J. H).
1827. Jan. 18. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., married Miss Emma Hale, daughter of Isaac Hale, of South Bainbridge, Chenango Co., N. Y. This person afterward became the Cyria Electa, or Elect Lady, and ended by apostatizing and marrying a Gentile.
Sept. 22. The Golden Plates which the angel announced were taken up from the Hill Cumorah with a mighty display of celestial machinery, and the Breastplate and the Urim and Thummim were found. According to Gentiles, the latter was a “peep-stone stolen from Willard Chase.”
1828. February. Martin Harris, a farmer from whom Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., had borrowed $50 to defray expenses of printing the “Book of Mormon,” submitted a transcript of the characters to Professor Anthon and Dr. Mitchell of New York. The former pronounced them to be a “singular scroll,” and “evidently copied after the Mexican Calendar given by Humboldt.”
July. Translation of the “Book of Mormon” suspended in consequence of Martin Harris stealing (116-118?) pages of the manuscript, which were never replaced. For this reason he was not enrolled among the glorious first six converts to Mormonism.
1829. April 16. Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., saw O. Cowdery the first time. Translation of the “Book of Mormon” resumed, O. Cowdery acting as secretary.
May 15. John the Baptist ordained into the Aaronic priesthood Mr. Joseph Smith, jun., and O. Cowdery, his amanuensis, who forthwith baptized each other.
June or July. The Plates of the “Book of Mormon” were shown by the Angel of God to the three earthly witnesses—Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer, and Martin Harris.
1830. The “Book of Mormon” was translated and published, and this year is No. 1 of the Mormon Æra.