Book of Mormon Intro -- Jews, Gentiles, Lamanites

 The intro to the Book of Mormon is part of what makes me curious about Joseph Smith's racial identity.  It appears that this book is supposed to be designed to bring harmony to a racially divided world, although the solution proposed is to make everyone conform to one worldview only.  I think most would agree to that.  

Clearly I haven't read the Book of Mormon in a while, and my reasons for reading previously were not really interest-driven.  But I, like the Eco Kosher Rabbe,  had the impression that Mormons were claiming some kind of kinship to the Jews.  And also claiming that Native Americans are the descendants of Jews.  So I looked up the introduction to the Book of Mormon, to look at it a little closer. 

This is the paragraph I am interested in:

Written to the Lamanites, who are a remnant of the house of Israel and also to Jew and Gentile—Written by way of commandment, and also by the spirit of prophecy and of revelation—Written and sealed up, and hid up unto the Lord, that they might not be destroyed—To come forth by the gift and power of God unto the interpretation thereof—Sealed by the hand of Moroni, and hid up unto the Lord, to come forth in due time by way of the Gentile—

So here, clearly it looks like Joseph Smith has what I think history has proven to be a friendly, if perhaps patronizing attitude towards both Jews and Native Americans.  And he's not really calling himself a Jew here or a "Lamanite".  He is obviously the Gentile, whose job it is to bring the book to the modern world.  It is interesting that he isn't referred to as  a Christian, though.  He is still using a Jewish moniker to describe his identity.

Joseph Smith's Maternal Line

In many ways, what I am proposing about Joseph Smith having Amerindian ancestry is likely to ruffle some feathers, because so much is already known about his ancestry.  Mormons are famous for doing genealogy; it would be somewhat astonishing to not know such an essential fact about its leader's history.  Or more interestingly, to know and keep it secret....

Anyway, to kind of keep myself in check, and to find out more about what is known, I went to the library and found a book called "Joseph Smith's New England Heritage" by Richard Lloyd Anderson.  I'm mostly skimming the book to find more strictly biographical details.

Here is a pedigree chart from the book, detailing Joseph Smith's maternal line:

Nothing particularly native sounding.  "Mack" is said to trace to Scotland on his paternal side.  Some of the information here is a little on the sketchy side, as in the trail ends sooner than on other lines.  I have seen one forum commenter on a genealogy board stating something about Solomon Mack being secretive about his genealogy, but she did not elaborate.  I have yet to figure out what she was referring to.

Ebenezer Mack's mother, Sarah Bagley  (1663-1720), has very early Massachusetts ancestry, but it all appears to originate in England.  My records (pilfered as they are) suggest some members of this line in Massachussets in the early 1600's -- well before America was an independent country.

The Hannah Huntley line appears to be mostly English in origin as well, although she does have a Balthasar DeWolf in her line who came from either Poland or Germany, and he at least may have been Jewish.  More on that later (a lot more!).  Lots of Connecticut and Massachusetts.

I have less information on the Lydia Gates line, but much of what I have states it again traces to England.  A few lines dead end for me in  Massachussetts and Connecticut, but names seem to suggest more of the same -- England.

So, if we are to suppose that it is possible that Joseph Smith had some kind of Amerindian ancestry through his mother, the most likely candidate for that position would be Ebenezer Mack.  None of the other lines appear likely to have any Native ancestry for any reason, if the records are accurate.  Even if they did, it would be very difficult to measure with any accuracy through DNA testing where it is now, since autosomal DNA signals are not as strong after about five generations.  Plus DNA testing has no easy way now of separating your ancestors to find out who contributed what. 

 It is more like me without my glasses trying to guess who a person approaching me is and making multiple simplified guesses.  It gives an interesting idea of who I am and who I am like, but really isn't that great for teasing out single ancestors from multiple generations back.  Although you can find people who match you on certain segments of DNA, and if those people are willing to respond to you AND they really know their family history well, you may be able to make some stronger conclusions.  

"Audacious Women: Early British Mormon Immigrants"

I found a new book to explore when I get some free time.  It's called "Audacious Women: Early British Mormon Immigrants"

Of course I like the female take -- about women, written by a female author, who of course is likely motivated to write the thing based on her own family background -- kind of like why I am writing this thing.

Also, while reading it, I realized that the collective visage of the Mormon woman was much disparaged during the Victorian era.  I'm getting the impression that persons like Sir Arthur Conan Doyle & Mark Twain were perpetuating the idea that my feminine ancestors were hideous ogres.  Which is funny because I previously read blogger Joanna Brooks refuting a more current notion that all Mormon women are smokin' hot.  I believe she said something along the lines of -- 'Anyone who thinks all Mormons are beautiful hasn't met enough Mormons.'

I do want to know more about these women who left their native land and what the impetus was for doing so.  The review gets the impression that others of British society would have looked down on them for leaving and joining a new religion that was getting some bad press.

I'm including some photos of my British ancestresses that I think are quite fetching, as well as one of my husband's Irish grandmothers.  I have some other photos which are much less flattering to other family members, and I won't be including them in this post.  Out of respect for the dead, really.  Also, I really hate it when people tag unflattering pictures of me on Facebook, and as a living person I have some control over what others will see.  These women do not.

European, African, Asian -- 23andme 1.0

I first found myself doing genetic testing at 23 and me because they announced they had finally been able to map the human genome enough to definitively state whether your genes came from one of three places -- Africa, Asia or Europe.  Apparently these distinctions are fairly facile to make from a genetic perspective, although as I have learned, there are so many human groups with so much overlap that you begin to wonder why you should make any distinctions in the first place.

Because you can.... I guess.

Being of somewhat thrifty aspect (some would call it a Mormon thing), I didn't want to pay for genetic testing just to found the somewhat blase and fairly obvious fact that I was 100% European.

I was somewhat obsessively combing through Ancestry.com and pilfering the work of the more faithful, trying to find the origins of all my ancestors. Including the women!  The genetic contribution of women to the gene pool is 50%, my friends.  Even if the surname contribution is 0%,  due to forces I will have to rationalize elsewhere.

Anyway, during this usually boring, but sometimes enlightening exercise, I found the full names of my ancestors listed in a page of  Melungeon research.  I can't find it now, but I promise I will try again.  The page appeared to be research done by a member of the Bunch clan, who are apparently one of the certified core Melungeon clans.  I actually worked with a fellow who was of Mormon ancestry, and whose surname was Bunch.  So, the fact that I found some of my ancestors on this page was.... revelatory.

The names were --

 James Wilson

Birth 5 Feb, 1788 in Rutherford, North Carolina, United States
Death 1821 in Rutherford, Tennessee, United States

Ellender Eleanor Shelfer

Birth 1780 in Jones, North Carolina, United States
Death 1843 in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, United States


As it so happens, these folks are also in my husband's family tree, making us 7th to 8th cousins.

My research indicated that Wilson was from Ireland and Shelfer was Palatine, German.  Nothing to indicate they were tri-racial isolates -- Portuguese, African or Native American.

However, methinks, this could mean somewhere along the line I could have DNA-proveable ancestry that is African and/or Native American.  Thus began the genetic testing. 

A Gene of Religiosity

I was looking for something else this morning, but found this -- a post on New Order Mormon about a gene for religiosity.

http://forum.newordermormon.org/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=29806&view=next

Poster Hagoth says:

There is a study that links alcohol & nicotine use AND church attendance to genetics.

http://genepi.qimr.edu.au/contents/p/staff/CV235.pdf

There have been a lot of posts here wondering what exactly makes people want to go to church. Turns out the reason some people enjoy church and others abhor it might be genetic. AND the same gene makes you less likely to drink and smoke.

The Ironically Literal (and I mean that *literally*) Gathering of Israel

So, last night's heated discussion had something to do with me taking the 10th Article of Mormon Faith very literally.  

It goes like this....

We believe in the literal gathering of Israel and in the restoration of the Ten Tribes; that Zion (the New Jerusalem) will be built upon the American continent; that Christ will reign personally upon the earth; and, that the earth will be renewed and receive its paradisiacal glory.

For those dying to know more, you can read it from the source... 13 articles of Faith

So the part I am taking literally is "LITERAL" and "ISRAEL" -- as in, I think someone (i.e. Joseph Smith) has some idea that he has Jewish heritage.  I have some evidence to go on.  Husband believes me when I say he could have crypto-Jewish heritage, but thinks he would have been completely oblivious to the fact.  I disagree.

As I am reading this again after 20 plus years of completely ignoring anything faith-based, I also find a few other things striking.  I need to know who these Ten Tribes are.  Mostly I want to know if there is a genetic and historic record for their existence.  I'm of the opinion that most people probably have some Jewish ancestry unbeknownst to them, due to the math of Time to the power of Babies = Lots of People.  I mean really, if 2000 years ago, Jewish tribes scattered, that has been 2000 years of relocating, making new friends, and generations of new families.  Some who may forever have forgotten their true origins, and others who kept it going in subtle ways or with new twists.

Anyway, that's a side note.

Husband says that it is not anomalous that Mormons believe in a literal gathering of Israel.  He believes this is a common trait of many Christian organizations.  He cites Born Again Christians as an example.  Wife here had never heard of this possibility.  So now I'm doing another Google search and I find this article in Mother Jones about  "Christian Zionists".    Yea, these could be friends of Mormons.   Apparently Mitt Romney was really a favorite with right-wing Jews, most likely because of this same kind of Zionist political alliance.  

And of course it doesn't mean that these Christian Zionists or Mormons are Crytpo-Jews.  It also doesn't mean that they aren't.  So far, I think it just means they are politically motivated.  I don't agree with their politics.  But that's not why I'm writing this.  I'm writing to understand myself, and to find my own origin story.

So back to my two words I am taking very literally: LITERAL & ISRAEL.  Today's Google Search was trying to find other groups who believe in the literal gathering of Israel.  Only Mormon websites surfaced at first.  But then I found this gem, whose name I like.... The Eco-Kosher Rebbe.  This sounds environmentally friendly & healthy... I like it!


He has a great post called Christianity & the Gathering of Israel.    Here are a few things that stand out to me....


It is the personal belief of Rabbi Gershon Steinberg-Caudill, that although he does not agree with the THEOLOGICAL teachings of the LDS Church, nor with the thought-controlling and cult-like practices of the LDS Church, he DOES view the members of the LDS Church as representing members of the "Lost" Ten Tribes, in a spiritual sense, who are being gathered by the God of all of the tribes of Israel preparatory to their re-unification with the Judahite Tribes that is to take place during the ushering in of the "Messianic Age." 

He also says:


It is a historical fact that the LDS Church is one of the very FEW Christian churches that does not have a history nor a theology of anti-Semitism, and is a group who also have a view of themselves as being literal descendants of the ancient House of Israel, the Twelve Tribes, thus kin to the Jews.  

And also:


Again, it is a fact of history that the L.D.S. Church is one of the few Christian belief systems that has not persecuted Jews. Therefore, Rabbi Gershon does not see that the Jew who opts to become LDS is forever lost to the Jewish tribalhood and people, he/she just has become a hyphenated Jew; a Mormon-Jew, and, like Buddhist-Jews, are still a part of the greater Peoplehood of Israel.

As well as:



The Mormon Prophet Joseph Smith taught that the LDS were BLOOD KIN to the Jews, although DNA studies do not support that conception. So convinced of that premise were the LDS Presidents Joseph Fielding Smith, Heber J. Grant and Ezra Taft Benson (perhaps others) that they were willing to excommunicate members of their religion who became involved in anti-Semitic organizations such as the Ku Klux Klan and American Nazi Party during the pre-World War 2 period, as well as later on. 
  

So the question becomes how much can DNA prove or disprove about the possibility of an ancient or recent connection to Israel.  Of course, recent is easier.  I also need to find out more about the assertion of the LDS being blood kin to the Jews.  I had this impression as well, but I don't know where it is written, precisely.  My husband believes this was only a figurative allusion, and has more to do with believing in something like the divine right of kings, where authority must come from a chosen people. (Maybe I'm putting words into his mouth, but that seems like the other explanation if you aren't taking the idea of blood kin literally.)

More Thoughts on Why I Should be Writing About This Topic

Gosh -- I abandoned this thing, because the genealogy thing frankly has a lot of bad associations for me.... racism, elitism, cliques... and my basic belief is that we are all related somehow, and just having Joseph Smith for a "Second Cousin Thirteen Times Removed" is not likely to make me the prophetess of the next generation.  And I'm not angling for that.  Although, maybe there's something to it for the shock value....

But I have been getting into arguments with my spouse, because we seem to have different understandings about what is and what isn't possible for our backgrounds.  I'm already flaunting my slightly less white-bread status to friends and casual acquaintances, now that I've found out I have a TINY sliver of African ancestry.  Why is it so important to me that people think about this as a possibility, not only for me (of usually Very Pale Face except when Confronted with Utah Sun), but also that others with Mormon heritage contemplate it about themselves?

Conversation with husband yesterday was about whether or not The Mormons of the African Lining (Like a Silver-Edged Cloud) could actually KNOW they were secretly African.  And thus bond and huddle together, finding strength in their numbers to FIGHT THE OPPRESSOR -- the Government who Knows about our One Drop.  (Which sounded cool to me...)

Or whether it was just some coincidental fact because it's just an Early American Thing.  If you have ancestors from this country that go way back, you may have  African too.  Wake Up!  Smell your coffee!  And Where it Came From, Ye of America.

Of course I think what steers away from cementing these ideas as firmly true is the sternly conservative nature of the Modern Mormon Majority.  As if that would mean you couldn't have African ancestry.  Sadly, we must still contemplate how a conservative might go about diversifying their genome, and it is not a pretty thought.....