In the year eighteen hundred and twenty-four my ’s family met with a great affliction by the death of my eldest brother . In the month of October eighteen hundred and twenty-five I hired with an old gentleman, by the name of who lived in county State of New York. He had heard something of a silver mine having been opened by the Spaniards in Susquehannah county State of Pennsylvania, and had previous to my hiring with him been digging in order if possible to discover the mine. After I went to live with him he took me among the rest of his hands to dig for the silver mine, at which I continued to work for nearly a month without success in our undertaking, and finally I prevailed with the old gentleman to cease digging after it. Hence arose the very prevalent story of my having been a money digger.

During the time that I was thus employed I was put to board with a Mr. of that place; it was there that I first saw my wife (his daughter) . On the eighteenth of January eighteen hundred and twenty-seven we were married while yet I was employed in the service of .

Owing to my still continuing to assert that I had seen a vision persecution still followed me, and my ’s ’s family were very much opposed to our being married. I was therefore under the necessity of taking her elsewhere so we went and were married at the house of Squire Tarbill, in South Bainbridge Chenango county, New York. Immediately after my marriage I left ’s and went to my ’s and farmed with him that season.

At length the time arrived for obtaining the , the , and the breastplate; on the twenty-second day of September, one thousand eight hundred and twenty-seven, having went as usual at the end of another year to the place where they were deposited, the same heavenly messenger delivered them up to me, with this charge that I should be responsible for them: that if I should let them go carelessly or through any neglect of mine I should be cut off; but that if I would use all my endeavors to preserve them, until he the messenger should call for them, they should be protected.

I soon found out the reason why I had received such strict charges to keep them safe, and why it was that the messenger had said that when I had done what was required at my hand, he would call for them; for no sooner was it known that I had them than the most strenuous exertions were used to get them from me; every stratagem that could be invented was resorted to for that purpose; the persecution became more bitter and severe than before, and multitudes were on the alert continually to get them from me if possible; but by the wisdom of God they remained safe in my hands until I had accomplished by them what was required at my hand, when according to arrangements the messenger called for them, I delivered them up to him and he has them in his charge until this day, being the second day of May, one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.

The excitement however still continued, and rumor with her thousand tongues was all the time employed in circulating tales about my ’s family, and about myself. If I were to relate a thousandth part of them it would fill up volumes. The persecution however became so intolerable that I was under the necessity of leaving , and going with my to Susquehannah county in the State of Pennsylvania: while preparing to start (being very poor and the persecution so heavy upon us that there was no probability that we would ever be otherwise,) in the midst of our afflictions we found a friend in a gentleman by the name of , who came to us and gave me fifty dollars to assist us in our afflictions. was a resident of Wayne county, in the State of New York, and a farmer of respectability; by this timely aid was I enabled to reach the place of my destination in , and immediately after my arrival there I commenced copying the characters of the plates. I copied a considerable number of them, and by means of the Urim and Thummim I translated some of them, which I did between the time I arrived at the house of my ’s in the month of December, and the February following. Some time in this month of February the aforementioned, Mr. came to our place, [p. 772]