Doctor Philastus Hurlbut

Doctor^[1] Philastus Hurlbut (February 3, 1809 – June 16, 1883)^[2] was a 19th-century Latter Day Saint dissenter. Hurlbut is best known for his collection of affidavits which in 1834 were published in Eber D. Howe’s anti-Mormon book Mormonism Unvailed [sic]. The purpose of these affidavits was to produce damaging evidence related to the character of Joseph Smith, Jr., the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement, Smith's family, and his associates.

Hurlbut had previously been excommunicated from the Latter Day Saint church on charges of sexual immorality. A contemporary author discusses Hurlbut’s background, noting that, prior to joining the Mormons, he was a member of a Methodist congregation but was “expelled for unvirtuous conduct with a young lady.”^[3] As a member of the Latter Day Saint church, Hurlbut “immediately commenced his old practices, in attempting to seduce a young female …. [F]or this crime he was immediately expelled from the church.” In response to his expulsion from the church, Hurlbut “now determined to demolish, as far as practicable, what he had once endeavoured to build up.”^[4] Hurlbut began travelling throughout the country giving lectures against Mormonism.^[5]

At the request of an anti-Mormon Ohio committee, Hurlbut traveled to Palmyra, New York, where Smith had lived when Mormonism was developed, and obtained affidavits from people who were familiar with the Smith family. His journey was done a for the purpose of “collecting statements disparaging to the Smith name.”^[6] One modern Latter Day Saint author states that Hurlbut’s task was to “obtain information that would show ‘the bad character of the Mormon Smith Family,’ divest Joseph of ‘all claims to the character of an honest man,’ and place him at an ‘immeasurable distance from the high station he pretends to occupy.’ One Presbyterian historian has speculated that the gathering of the affidavits was "revenge" by the three local Presbyterian leaders for a claim made by Joseph's mother, Lucy Mack Smith, that they had "conspired to destroy the Book of Mormon."^[7] To accomplish his task, Hurlbut traveled in Ohio, New York, and Pennsylvania collecting statements disparaging to the Smith name.”

When Hulbut read the Spaulding manuscript, he said, “I obtained a manuscript … which was reported to be the foundation of the Book of Mormon… when upon examination I found it to contain nothing of the kind, but being a manuscript upon an entirely different subject.”

Notes

1. ^ "Doctor" was the first given name, not a title or honorific.
2. ^ "People of the Time: Sample Biographies". The Joseph Smith Papers. http://josephsmithpapers.org/PeopleOfTheTime.htm#h. Retrieved 2009-03-13. 
3. ^ Winchester 1840, p. 5
4. ^ Winchester 1840, p. 6
5. ^ Winchester 1840, p. 7 Winchester states “I would here observe, that while he was in connexion with the church of Latter Day Saints, the preachers and priests of the different denominations heaped their calumny upon the Society for fellowshipping him; and made a stumbling block of him, and said there was no mark of a Christian about him. But no sooner had he made his appearance, as the champion of sectarianism, and the assailant of Mormonism, than churches, chapels and meeting houses were crowded to hear him.”
6. ^ Jessee 1989, p. 12, editor's note
7. ^ Matzko 2007, p. 72. According to Matzko, "Lucy later claimed that the three Presbyterians had conspired to destroy the Book of Mormon, although Church records note only that the Smiths “did not wish to unite with us any more.” The Presbyterians more than had their revenge. In 1833, when D. P. Hurlbut busied himself collecting anti-Smith affidavits from Palmyra residents, at least ten Presbyterians, all members of the local elite—including Henry Jessup—swore that “Joseph Smith, Senior, and his son Joseph in particular,” were “entirely destitute of moral character, and addicted to vicious habits.”

References

• Jessee, Dean C. (ed) (1989), The Papers of Joseph Smith: Autobiographical and Historical Writings (Vol. 1), 1, Salt Lake City: Deseret Book 
• Matzko, John (2007), "The Encounter of the Young Joseph Smith with Presbyterianism", Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought 40 (3): 68–84 
• Winchester, Benjamin (1840), The origin of the Spaulding story, concerning the Manuscript Found; with a short biography of Dr. P. Hulbert, the originator of the same; and some testimony adduced, showing it to be a sheer fabrication, so far as in connection with the Book of Mormon is concerned. By B. Winchester, minister of the gospel, Philadelphia: Brown, Bicking & Guilbert, Printers, http://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/cgi-bin/docviewer.exe?CISOROOT=/NCMP1820-1846&CISOPTR=2811 

External links

• D. P. Hurlbut Chronology by Dale R. Broadhurst

Persondata
Name	Hurlbut, Doctor Philastus
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	February 3, 1809
Place of birth
Date of death	June 16, 1883
Place of death