The Mormon Church had its beginning with the Book of Mormon in 1830.
When the Book of Mormon was first published, its Preface listed Joseph Smith Jr. as “Author and Proprietor”. Later editions have changed that and refer to Joseph Smith as “Translator” rather than “Author”.
A “translator” is not the same as an “author”, for a translator is the one who interprets something written by someone who is an author, who actually wrote a book in question. Since Joseph Smith listed himself in the First Edition of the Book of Mormon as its Author, then it also reveals that the book is in actuality a 19th century production, regardless of what the context of this novel is and what he says about his ‘translation of Reformed Egyptian characters written on the plates of gold”, pretending that it was a history of the Americas, hidden in Hill Cumorah, up-State New York, 421 A.D. Fictional writings can take a lot of liberty from facts and history. We all know that the Book of Mormon is fiction because archeology has failed to find even a single item confirming that the Book of Mormon has any connection to reality and history, even though the Book of Mormon claims to be a “historical record”. It describes slaughtered armies dressed in helmets, breastplates, steel swords etc. – is tells details of their walled cities, about coinage in abundance, yet nothing corresponding to these stories has ever been discovered. All other histories of civilizations around the world have been proven to be real by archeological findings.
There are many things, besides Joseph Smith’s own declaration that he is the “author” of the Book of Mormon, that date this book to Joseph Smith’s time period. One of them is its fascination with and condemnation of “Secret Combinations”, more than likely referring to Freemasonry. (During the 1820’s there was a strong anti-Mason sentiment in New York State.) It was Captain William Morgan who revealed secrets of Freemasonry that he himself has been involved in about 30 years. He was kidnapped and murdered by Masons some time after 1827 when he had published his expose of Freemasonry. (His book is titled, “Illustrations of Masonry By One Of The Fraternity, who had devoted Thirty Years to the Subject.” )Later, Wm. Morgan’s widow, Lucinda married George Harris and they joined the Mormon Church in about 1834. Joseph Smith boarded with Harris’s in Missouri for 2 months in 1838. Joseph Smith married Lucinda (possible date is 1838), even though she remained married to Harris also.
Lucinda became one of other 10 women with living husbands who were also married to Joseph Smith.