Ethan Smith (December 19, 1762–August 29, 1849) was a

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

Congregationalist clergyman in the United States who wrote ''

View of the Hebrews ''View of the Hebrews'' is an 1823 book written by Ethan Smith (clergyman), Ethan Smith, a Congregationalist minister in Vermont, who argued that Native Americans in the United States, Native Americans were descended from the Ten Lost Tribes of I ...

'' (1823), a book that argued that Native Americans were descended from the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. His position was not uncommon among religious scholars, who based their history on the Bible. Historians including

Fawn McKay Brodie Fawn McKay Brodie (September 15, 1915 – January 10, 1981) was an American biographer and one of the first female professors of history at UCLA, who is best known for ''Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History'' (1974), a work of psychobiography, ...

, a 20th-century biographer of

Joseph Smith Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was 24, Smith published the Book of Mormon. By the time of his death, 14 years later, he ...

, founder of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

, suggest that ''View'' influenced the

Book of Mormon The Book of Mormon is a religious text of the Latter Day Saint movement, which, according to Latter Day Saint theology, contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from 600 BC to AD 421 and during an interlude date ...

(1830), because of the strong "parallelisms" found between the two.

Early life and education

Born in 1762 into a pious home in

Belchertown, Massachusetts Belchertown (previously known as Cold Spring and Belcher's Town) is a town in Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Springfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 15,350 at the 2020 census ...

, Smith abandoned religion following the early deaths of his parents.William B. Sprague, ''Annals of the American Pulpit'' (New York: Robert Carter & Bros., 1866), II, 296–300. After a prolonged inner struggle, he joined the Congregational Church in 1781, and shortly thereafter began training for the ministry. He graduated from

Dartmouth College Dartmouth College (; ) is a private research university in Hanover, New Hampshire. Established in 1769 by Eleazar Wheelock, it is one of the nine colonial colleges chartered before the American Revolution. Although founded to educate Native A ...

in 1790, though finding "but little of the spirit of religion there." Smith served congregations for several years at a time in

New Hampshire New Hampshire is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

, and Massachusetts. He accepted an appointment as "City Missionary" in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

. He also served as a supply pastor for vacant pulpits. "He was a warm friend of what he accounted pure revivals of religion; though he was careful to distinguish the precious from the vile" in matters of religious experience. Smith enjoyed a "robust constitution and vigorous health" and continued to preach until within two weeks of his death. At eighty Smith's sight "became very dim, and he was no longer able to read, though he never became totally blind. So familiar was he with the Bible and

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, that it was his uniform custom to open the book in the pulpit, and give out the chapter and hymn, and seem to read them; and he very rarely made a mistake, to awaken a suspicion that he was repeating from memory." Ethan Smith died in Royalston, Massachusetts, in 1849. The house in which he was born, dated to 1728 in Town records, remains standing immediately southwest of

Dwight Dwight may refer to: People * Dwight (given name) * Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969), 34th president of the United States and former military officer *New England Dwight family of American educators, military and political leaders, and authors * ...

, in Belchertown, at 84 Old Bay Road. Smith wrote several books about the Bible and theology: *''A Dissertation on the Prophecies'' (1809), *''A Key to the Figurative Language of the Prophecies'' (1814), *''A View of the Trinity, designed as an answer to Noah Webster's Bible News'' (1821), *''Memoirs of Mrs. Abigail Bailey'', * ''View of the Hebrews'' (1823), *''Four Lectures on the Subjects and Mode of Baptism'', *''A Key to the Revelation'' (1833), and *''Prophetic Catechism to Lead to the Study of the Prophetic Scriptures'' (1839).

''View of the Hebrews'' and Mormonism

In ''

'' (1823), Smith argued that Native Americans were descended from the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. Some striking parallels have been noted between his work and the

(1830), which

(no relation) claimed to have received by revelation. When writing ''View of the Hebrews'', Smith lived in

Poultney, Vermont Poultney is a town in Rutland County, Vermont, Rutland County in the southwestern part of the U.S. state of Vermont. New York (state), New York state is on its western border. Castleton, Vermont, is on its northern border. Poultney was home to Gr ...

, a town with a population less than 2,000. Living there at the same time was

Oliver Cowdery Oliver H. P. Cowdery (October 3, 1806 – March 3, 1850) was an American Mormon leader who, with Joseph Smith, was an important participant in the formative period of the Latter Day Saint movement between 1829 and 1836. He was the first baptized ...

, who later served as Joseph Smith's scribe for the ''Book of Mormon''. From 1821 to 1826, Ethan Smith was also pastor of the Congregational church that Cowdery may have attended with his family. Larry Morris, an LDS scholar, has argued that "the theory of an Ethan Smith-Cowdery association is not supported by the documents and that it is unknown whether Oliver knew of or read ''View of the Hebrews''."Larry E. Morris, "Oliver Cowdery's Vermont Years and the Origins of Mormonism," ''BYU Studies'' 39:1 (2000).
/ref> In her biography of Joseph Smith, Fawn Brodie wrote, "It may never be proved that Joseph saw ''View of the Hebrews'' before writing the Book of Mormon, but the striking parallelisms between the two books hardly leave a case for mere coincidence."Fawn Brodie, ''No Man Knows My History: The Life of Joseph Smith, the Mormon Prophet'', 1945, (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1971, 2nd ed.), 46-47.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Ethan 1762 births 1849 deaths American clergy American Congregationalist ministers Book of Mormon studies Dartmouth College alumni People from Belchertown, Massachusetts People from Poultney (town), Vermont