The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1947-07-24
The Temple On A Hill

Towering 142 feet from the ground
to the tip of its spire, the great
rough stone temple on the hill at
Kirkland, Lake County, was built
more than a century ago as the cap
itol of Mormonism but stands today
a monument to a book written by
Painesville blacksmith.
The blacksmith, Solomon Spauld-
ing, had failed as merchant, turned
to blacksmithing, and while working
desultorily for two years trying to
rebuild his forge, wrote book. He
did not know it was going to turn out
to be the Mormon Bible.
The great temple, the stucco on
all sides of which is studded with the
glistening colored fragments of Nor
mon women's donated chinaware, was
built between 1888 and 1886 by Jo-
seph Smith, Jr., First Elder, Pro-
phet, Seer and Revelator of the
| Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day
Saints" at a cost of $4,000. During
the years it was being built every
male Mormon gave one-seventh of
his time to erection of the temple.
Kirtland's Population Now 24O
Kirkland, which now has popula-
tion of only 240, was to be the cap
itol and headquarters of Mormonism.
On one side of the temple the Nor
mons had teachers seminary and
on the other, the Mormon banking
| house.
Smith, himself, had a general
store, tannery and sawmill there.
Streets were laid out and houses
were built. Soon there were more
than 5000 Mormons there. Today,
from over the neighborhood around
the town about $50 members still
worship at the temple.
| All during 1871 and 1912 Spauld-
ing worked on his book and forge
over in Painesville. The town, laid
out in 1906, then was called Champ
ion, after its founder, Henry Champ
ion. Seven years old then, it was not
much of a place but was beautiful.
Blacksmith Names Book
The blacksmith said his book would
be named Manuscript Found" and
when it was published he hoped to
be able to pay all of his debts. Proud
of his writings, he showed his manu-
script to nearly everybody in the lit
tie town and most of them read and
remembered parts of it.
When his brother, John, from Ash
tabula County, visited him in 1872
he read the entire manuscript to him
and John was duly impressed.
Spaulding's book was an historical
romance of the first settlers OF
America, trying to show that the
Indians were descendants of the Jews
or lost tribes of Israel. 1t was a de.
tailed account of their journey by
land and sea from Jerusalem tt
| America under the leadership of Ne
phi and Lehi.
After arrival they had quarrels
finally separating into two nations
the Nephites and the Lemanites
Cruel and bloody wars ensued il
which the many slain were buried il
large heaps. Those were the mounds
so common in all Ohio. A detailed
account of their civilization, science
and arts was given to account fo1
the curious antiquities found il
many parts of North and Soutl
America.
Old-timers Remember Manuscript.
Besides John Spaulding, other old
timers who remembered reading Sol
omon's manuscript and its content.
were Henry Lake, Connecticut; E. d
Howe, Painesville, and six othel
known citizens.
His book finished, Solomon movet
to Pittsburgh in 1918, left the manu-
script at the printing office of Pat
terson & Lambdin in an attempt tt
get it published and in a year moved
to Amity, Pennsylvania, where h,
died in 1916.
No one ever found out what became
of the manuscript. "Manuscrip
Found" apparently was lost. Th'
printing firm broke up, Lambdin diet
and Patterson declared he could re
member nothing about it.
Organize Church
In 1880 Joseph Smith, Jr., and fivt
other young men met around a tabl,
in Fayette, N. Y, tavern and or
ganized their church, which aftel
1884 was known as the Church ot
Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints
Smith claimed to have found tht
gold plates of lost scriptual record
in hill at Palmyra, N. Y, and hae
during two years, translated the
record.
Back in Sharon, Vermont, where
he was born, and in Manchester, N
Y, where his family moved 10 years
later, the Smiths had a rather un,
savory reputation. They were ad.
dicted to disreputable habits and were
very superstitious. Joseph Smith, Is
at the time he formed his church, be
lieved in witchcraft and magic. He
had spent days with a divining rod
locking fax cold and cflvar and da