Alleged Sexual Impropriety between Joseph Smith and

The Stowell Sisters

Another allegation against the Prophet was leveled by researcher Dan Vogel in 2002 in his Early Mormon Documents series. Although the event occurred in 1830, it appears Vogel was the first to report “testimony” from that time period accusing Joseph Smith of impropriety. Vogel writes: “His [Joseph Smith’s] July 1830 trial in South Bainbridge included testimony accusing him of improper conduct with two of Josiah Stowell’s daughters, Miriam and Rhoda.”[1]

In fact, no trial records are extant and I have been unable to identify any “testimony” matching Vogel’s description. When dealing with the episode in his 2004 biography Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet, Vogel speculates as to why the Broome County prosecutor might have asked the two women to testify, but does not cite any actual “testimony accusing him [Joseph Smith] of improper conduct.”[2]

Joseph Smith recalled the incident in 1842:

“The court was detained for a time, in order that two young women (daughters to Mr. Stoal) with whom I had at times kept company; might be sent for, in order, if possible to elicit something from them which might be made a pretext against me. The young women arrived and were severally examined, touching my character, and conduct in general but particularly as to my behavior towards them both in public and private, when they both bore such testimony in my favor, as left my enemies without a pretext on their account.”[3]

This account was corroborated by a visit from Joseph Smith’s non-Mormon attorney to Nauvoo fourteen years later. John S. Reed recalled:

“Let me say to you that not one blemish nor spot was found against his character; he came from that trial, notwithstanding the mighty efforts that were made to convict him of crime by his vigilant persecutors, with his character unstained by even the appearance of guilt.”[4]

Richard L. Bushman observed: “Considering how eager the Palmyra neighbors were to besmirch Joseph’s character, their minimal mention of moral lapses suggest libertinism was not part of his New York reputation.”[5] Marvin Hill concurred: “[It is a] fact that none of the earliest anti-Mormon writers, neither Dogberry or E.D. Howe, charge Smith with sexual immorality.”[6]

Summary

Vogel’s printed reference to “testimony” appears to be based upon assumption, rather than manuscript documentation.[7] Regardless, historical evidence has been found indicating that Joseph Smith was completely exonerated in this episode. No immoral activity was discovered or prosecuted.

[1] Dan Vogel, ed., Early Mormon Documents, Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1996, 4:206 fn 9; Vogel seems certain regarding the daughters identities and it appears that he is probably correct, but no records naming them as participants have been found. See Jessee, Dean C., ed. The Papers of Joseph Smith: Volume 1, Autobiographical and Historical Writings. Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1989, 254, n. 2.

[2] Dan Vogel, Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet, Salt Lake City: Signature Book, 2004, 512-14.

[3] Joseph Smith, Jr., “History of Joseph Smith,” Times and Seasons, 4:41. See also Dan Vogel, ed., Early Mormon Documents, Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1996, 1:118.

[4] John S. Reed, “Some of the remarks of John S. Reed, Esq., as delivered before the state convention,” Times and Seasons, Vol.5, p.550-551 (June 1, 1844).

[5] Richard L. Bushman, Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling, New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2005, 323; see also Rodger I. Anderson, Joseph Smith’s New York Reputation Reexamined, Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1990. In reviewing all of the available derogatory statements concerning Joseph Smith during the New York period, Anderson documents no allegations of sexual misconduct with the exception of the E. D. Howe’s third-hand report, which is briefly mentioned on pages 149-50 of the 173 page book. See also John L. Brooke, The Refiner’s Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644-1844, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994, 181.

[6] Marvin S. Hill, “Secular or Sectarian History? A Critique of No Man Knows My History,” Newell G. Bringhurst ed., Reconsidering No Man Knows My History: Fawn M. Brodie and Joseph Smith in Retrospect, Logan, Utah: USU Press, 1996, 80. [80-93] .

Similarly Reverend William Harris in his 1841 Mormonism portrayed; it errors and absurdities exposed, and the spirit and designs of its authors made manifest, (Warsaw, Illinois: Sharp and Gamble, 1841), accuses Joseph Smith of setting up his religion, “for the gratification of his own vanity and selfishness,” but makes no accusation of sexual misconduct within its 64 pages.

[7] A fisherman may cast his hook into a pond whether he has seen fish in the pond or not. Therefore it would be incorrect to assume there is fish in a pond simply because someone is fishing there. Similarly, the Broome County prosecutor may have been fishing for “testimony” against Joseph Smith. Therefore to assert that “testimony” existed based upon the observation that the prosecutor questioned the two women is going beyond the evidence.