Luman Walters
Luman Walter (c. 1789 – June 2, 1860) is known for his connection with the family of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement.
Little is known of Walter's life. He was born in Winchester, Litchfield County, Connecticut, to John Walter and Sarah Gleason around 1789. Sometime between 1798 and 1800, the Walter family relocated to Burke, Vermont, a town founded by Luman's uncle.[1]
Walter reportedly received his higher education in Europe. He is alleged to have there mastered the arts of animal magnetism and Mesmerism, which may indicate that he had some connection with the disciples of Franz Anton Mesmer at the Sorbonne. His interest in alternative medicine may be related to the popularity of Perkinsism during his childhood.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).
Walter returned to the United States by 1818 and began acting the part of a physician and occult expert.[2] In that year, James Giddings, the deputy sheriff of Boscawen, New Hampshire, offered a reward for the arrest of a "transient person, calling himself Laman Walter, [who] has for several days past been imposing himself upon the credulity of the people in this vicinity by a pretended knowledge of magic, palmistry and conjuration".[3] Since "Laman" was not uncommon as a spelling variation for "Luman", this person was likely Luman Walter. Walter was arrested for "juggling" that August in Hopkinton, New Hampshire, but escaped from jail.[4][5]
In November 1819, Walter married Harriet Howard in Vermont. By 1822, Walter had apparently taken up residence in Gorham, Ontario County, New York, moving several years later to Sodus Township, New York. In 1822 and 1823, Walter served as a seer for a treasure dig on the property of Abner Cole in Palmyra, Wayne County, New York. Joseph Smith, Sr., Alvin Smith, and Joseph Smith, Jr. reportedly participated in this dig. Walter possessed a magical book and a seer stone, which he used to locate buried treasure. Walter is said to have conducted three unsuccessful digs on the hill Cumorah, but later suggested that only Joseph Smith might be able to find the treasure there.[6]
Abner Cole, a newspaper editor by profession, printed a parody of the Book of Mormon, the "Book of Pukei", in his Palmyra paper The Reflector in 1830. This parody described the role of "Walters the Magician" in these treasure digs, who "sacrificed a Cock for the purpose of propitiating the prince of spirits .... And he took his book, and his rusty sword, and his magic stone, and his stuffed Toad, and all his implements of witchcraft and retired to the mountains near Great Sodus Bay".[7] Cole also surmised that Joseph Smith, Jr. worked under the inspiration of "Walters the Magician."[8]
Mormon historian D. Michael Quinn has argued that Walter crafted the magical parchments owned by the Smith family, and that the young Joseph Smith, Jr. looked to Walter as an occult mentor.[9] Walter was also one of the early members of Smith's Church of Christ, but he did not follow the group when they relocated to Kirtland, Ohio.[10][11] Walter purchased property in Gorham, New York, in 1834. He appears on the census rolls there in 1840.
Walter's second cousin, George Walter, did remain a Mormon.[12] Dorothy Walter is listed on the rolls of the first Relief Society in Nauvoo, Illinois.[13] Her husband, Benjamin Hoyt, was ordered by his bishop to cease using a divining rod, calling other people wizards and witches, and "burning boards" to heal the bewitched. This decision was upheld by the church's high council, with Hyrum Smith presiding.[14]
Walter is believed to be the 'fortune-teller' that Brigham Young referred to as "a man of profound learning. He had put himself in possession of all the learning in the States,- had been to France, Germany, Italy, and through the world." [15]
Notes
- ^ XX indexVermont[unreliable source?]
- ^ On both the 1850 and 1860 census reports for Gorham, Ontario County, New York, Walter's profession is listed as physician. Parfitt's genealogy lists his profession as "eclectic physician." This description may refer to Walter's practice of Thomsonian medicine, which was practiced by other prominent Mormons. See eclectic medicine.
- ^ Benes, 123 n. 32.
- ^ Brooke, 363 n. 12.
- ^ Concord Gazette, September 1, 1818; New Hampshire Patriot, September 1, 1818.
- ^ Quinn (1998, p. 117).
- ^ Dogberry, pseud. [Cole], "Book of Pukei," The Reflector [Palmyra, New York], 1830-06-12, p. 36.
- ^ Bushman, 120.
- ^ On the parchments, see Quinn, 131.
- ^ Tucker, Pomeroy (1867), Origin, Rise and Progress of Mormonism, New York: D. Appleton, p. 38 — lists "Luman Walters" as one of Smith's earliest followers
- ^ For Walter's participation in Mormonism, see The Essential Brigham Young, Signature Books, 1992, p. 35.
- ^ Quinn, 128.
- ^ M. C. Ward, "'This Institution is a Good One': The Female Relief Society of Nauvoo, 17 March 1842 to 16 March 1844," Mormon Historical Studies, p. 140.
- ^ History of the Church 5:311–12.
- ^ The Refiners Fire.
References
- Benes, P. & J. M. (1986). Itineracy in New England and New York: The Dublin Seminar for New England Folklife: Annual Proceedings, 1984. Boston University. OCLC 191122538.
- Brooke, John (1996). The Refiner's Fire: The Making of Mormon Cosmology, 1644-1844. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-56564-2.
- Bushman, Richard (1984). Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-01143-0.
- Palmer, Grant (2002). An Insider's View of Mormon Origins. Signature Books. ISBN 1-56085-157-0.
- Parfitt, June (1986). A Genealogy of the Walter Family. Manchester, N.H.
- Quinn, D. Michael (1998). Early Mormonism and the Magic World View. Signature Books. ISBN 1-56085-089-2.
- Vogel, Dan (2004). Joseph Smith: The Making of a Prophet. Signature Books. ISBN 1-56085-179-1.