Full of Mormon lore, if not money, 1830s wallet donated to museum
SALT LAKE CITY -- Russell Martin Harris celebrated his 86th birthday Friday by giving a gift to the Mormon church -- a leather wallet carried by his great-great-grandfather in the 1830s.
That's better than it first sounds. It was that ancestor, Martin Harris, who mortgaged his farm to get the $3,000 needed to print the first 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon, the central text of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Family folklore holds that the soft, caramel-brown wallet carried the cash to the printer, Russell Harris said...
The wallet will now rest in a glass case at the Museum of Church History and Art, near the press used in 1830 to print the Book of Mormon, which Mormons believe chronicles Jesus' dealings with ancient Americans.
Church founder Joseph Smith is said to have dictated a translation of the book from gold plates given to him by an angel. Martin Harris was one of three people besides Smith said to have seen the plates, and he took dictation from Smith.
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That's better than it first sounds. It was that ancestor, Martin Harris, who mortgaged his farm to get the $3,000 needed to print the first 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon, the central text of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
Family folklore holds that the soft, caramel-brown wallet carried the cash to the printer, Russell Harris said...
The wallet will now rest in a glass case at the Museum of Church History and Art, near the press used in 1830 to print the Book of Mormon, which Mormons believe chronicles Jesus' dealings with ancient Americans.
Church founder Joseph Smith is said to have dictated a translation of the book from gold plates given to him by an angel. Martin Harris was one of three people besides Smith said to have seen the plates, and he took dictation from Smith.