Comments on: The Miraculous Plates of Voree Examined

By: john rickard

john rickard — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 00:24:04 +0000

Is there anyone out there that might think that the voree plates were buried back on the hill of promise and not taken by Betsy McNutt to Iowa? I live only a few miles form Voree and and have a strong belief that the plates were returned back somewhere on the hill of promise. John Rickard

By: Ross Eldridge

Ross Eldridge — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:21:37 +0000

In 1978 I spent three or four days camping on Beaver Island, once the “Kingdom” of James Strang. It’s certainly not much of a kingdom nowadays, a very few tumbled-down buildings and some stunted fruit trees might go back to the mid-1800s. Strang seems to have “seen” it as something bigger. I thought his “Mount Pisgah” was a large sand-dune. He must have been going for symbolism, don’t you think?

I couldn’t help but think he was trying to out-Joseph the dead Prophet. And … I suppose there was some attraction in that … Who wants a lesser man? A lesser figure? A lesser Prophet? (Even Jesus would have known that Moses, Isaiah and Ezekiel were tough acts to follow.)

Still, walking across Beaver Island, the ghosts seemed pretty thin, pretty pale. Not one turned up at midnight with a crown, sceptre and robe … much less a handful of plates with clever marks on them.

Perhaps the plates included the words: For what it matters, you might just as well chuck these in Lake Michigan!

By: Vickie Speek

Vickie Speek — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 13:48:34 +0000

52, Look in appendix C of my book, God Has Made Us A Kingdom: James Strang and the Midwest Mormons, Signature Books, 2006, for dialogue, tokens and penalties.

Vickie Cleverley Speek

By: Sam MB

Sam MB — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 11:51:00 +0000

51, is there a published version of Bennett’s modifications of Masonic rites? Interesting to think through how the two different people reformed those rites. Bennett loved a little melodrama and mighty honorifics.

By: Vickie Speek

Vickie Speek — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 04:46:31 +0000

50, You are correct. I should have said Masonic ceremonies rather than the temple endowment, although the two are very similar. Bennett was absolutely the developer of the Halcyon Order of the Illuminati at Voree. He even suggested Strang make up diplomas for those who joined.

By: Sam MB

Sam MB — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 03:59:54 +0000

49, I’m used to thinking that Bennett had few of the details right. He certainly didn’t know them in 1842, when he was last in contact on friendly terms with Joseph Smith and the inner circle. His depiction in 1842 of the endowment got it confused with polygamy and frank (rather than “reformed”) Masonic inductions, of which he had intimate knowledge. I suspect we’re looking for someone else to bring the endowment to Beaver Island.

By: Vickie Speek

Vickie Speek — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 03:56:18 +0000

I don’t know for sure that the Halcyon Order of the Illuminati continued on Beaver Island. I suspect it did, however, it was not as necessary to keep it secret on Beaver Island as it was in Voree, due to the lack of persecution from pseudos (ex-Strangites).

Basically the same wording used in the Illuminati is in the Oath and the Covenant, used to swear allegiance to Strang as King of Beaver Island.

Incidentally, a form of the LDS temple ceremony was used during meetings of the Order of the Illuminati, and some of the original wording was printed in cipher. I have no doubt that John C. Bennett carried the wording, the signs and the tokens from his days in Nauvoo.

Vickie

By: Sam MB

Sam MB — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 03:22:31 +0000

Oh, and the burning of the Nauvoo temple and Brigham Young–haven’t seen much by way evidence to support it.

as for the Ossian epics, the problem is that it’s one minor example of a broader milieu by the nineteenth century. Bryant’s Thanatopsis is a far more proximate representative of the milieu, and Cooper’s novels are a more likely point of contact.

By: Sam MB

Sam MB — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 03:20:01 +0000

KEPA is a fairly restricted set of glyphs. KEPE contains several more. Some do overlap as I give it a quick look, though you’re right that Joseph Smith did not circulate KEPE 1 very much.

The Voree conference sounds like great fun.

People should check out Matt Bowman’s MHA piece on the Gillites in terms of situating Joseph-like prophets within the Mormon tradition.

By: Kevin Barney

Kevin Barney — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 02:45:45 +0000

I’m pretty sure the article I read on my mission:

Russell C. Rich, “Nineteenth-Century Break-offs,” Ensign (September 1979).