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Peter Ingersoll (ca 1789 - April 22, 1867) was an early acquaintance of Joseph Smith, the founder of Mormonism.[1] Pomeroy Tucker listed Ingersol as one of the earliest members of the church.[2]

In 1833, Ingersoll gave a sworn statement denouncing Joseph Smith.

Biography

Peter Ingersoll, a teamster, was the son of Francis Ingersol (b. 1758).[3] Peter was born in Washington County, New York around 1789. He married Catherine Todd (1787-June 6, 1858) and they had at least nine children.[4] Peter Ingersoll was listed in Williamson in the 1810 census and he was listed in the 1820 census as a resident of Tompkins County.[5]


Beginning in 1822, Ingersoll was an early neighbor and acquaintance of Smith family.[6] Ingersoll owned land which was adjacent to the Smith farm.[7]

In August 1827, Ingersoll, a teamster, was hired by Joseph Smith to accompany him to Pennsylvania and transport Emma's furniture back to Manchester. During that trip, Ingersoll witnessed an argument between Joseph Smith and his father-in-law

Isaac Hale.[8][9]

Ingersoll and his family were listed in the 1830 census of Palmyra (under the name "Peter Ingerson").[7]

In 1833, Ingersoll was contacted by a disaffected former Mormon Doctor Philastus Hurlbut[10] who had traveled to Palmyra, New York to interview witnesses.[11] As a result, Ingersoll issued a sworn affidavit discussing his purported experiences with Smith. The next year, Ingersoll's affidavit was first published in Eber D. Howe's Mormonism Unvailed, which has been called the "first anti-Mormon book".[12]

In his 1833 affidavit, Ingersoll claimed that Joseph Smith had admitted to him that the gold plates were a hoax. Ingersoll claims Smith recalled an incident where he carried home several quarts of "white sand" tied up in his frock. His family asked what he was carrying. According to Ingersoll's story, Smith recalled: "‘[I] happened to think of what I had heard about a history found in Canada, called the golden Bible; so I very gravely told them it was the golden Bible. To my surprise, they were credulous enough to believe what I said. [...] I have got the damned fools fixed, and will carry out the fun.'”[13] Ingersoll's account of the gold plates being an "unpremeditated" "prank"[14] is contradicted by "ample evidence that Smith had been talking about the gold plates some time before".[15]

In 1867, Pomeroy Tucker wrote a book describing Ingersoll as a "respectable citizen of Palmyra who had believingly taken some part in Smith's money digging operations and was at first inclined to put faith in his Golden Bible".[16] In contrast, Ingersoll claims that he "had frequent invitations to join the [money-digging] company, but always declined being one of their number."[17] Author Rodger Anderson speculates that Ingersoll fabricated his testimony "as a way of striking back at Smith for his own gullibility in swallowing a story he later became convinced was a hoax".[18][19]

Ingersoll died in 1867 near Pontiac.[7]

In 1884, neighbor Lorenzo Saunders gave an interview discussing Ingersoll. Saunders reportedly claimed that Ingersoll introduced him to Sidney Rigdon in 1827.[20] Mainstream scholarship has not found evidence to support this claim.[21] (see Spalding-Rigdon hypothesis)

  1. ^ Avery, Lillian Drake (2006*). A genealogy of the Ingersoll family in America, 1629-1925: Comprising descendants of Richard Ingersoll of Salem, Massachusetts, John Ingersoll of Westfield, Mass., and John Ingersoll of Huntington, Long Island. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. OCLC 2314258
  3. ISBN 9780521565646
    .
  4. ^ Avery, Lillian Drake (2006*). A genealogy of the Ingersoll family in America, 1629-1925: Comprising descendants of Richard Ingersoll of Salem, Massachusetts, John Ingersoll of Westfield, Mass., and John Ingersoll of Huntington, Long Island. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ISBN 9780521565646
    .
  6. ^ https://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V27N03_211.pdf
  7. ^
    ISBN 1-56085-072-8
  8. ISBN 9780786484034
    .
  9. ^ "Joseph Smith's Reputation – 04 -". Retrieved 19 September 2014.
  10. ^ "Doctor" was his given name, not a title
  11. ISBN 9780199897643. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help
    )
  12. FARMS Review, 16 (1), Maxwell Institute
    : 254–257.
  13. ^ "Joseph Smith's Reputation – 04 -". Retrieved 19 September 2014.
  14. ^ Anderson's characterization
  15. ^ "Joseph Smith's Reputation – 04 -". Retrieved 19 September 2014.
  16. ^ Tucker, Pomeroy (1867). Origin, rise, and progress of Mormonism: Biography of its founders and history of its church. Personal remembrances and historical collections hitherto unwritten. By Pomeroy Tucker.
  17. ISBN 9780521565646
    .
  18. ^ "Joseph Smith's Reputation – 04 -". Retrieved 19 September 2014.
  19. ^ "Fullscreen - Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship". Retrieved 19 September 2014.
  20. ^ "EXHIBIT A". Retrieved 19 September 2014.
  21. ^ Matthew Roper, and Paul Fields. "The Historical Case against Sidney Rigdon's Authorship of the Book of Mormon". Maxwell Institute, Brigham Young University. Retrieved 28 April 2012.
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