Ancient City of Manti
ANCIENT CITY OF MANTI IN MISSOURI.
The following account is taken from the history of the travels of the Kirtland Camp: “The camp passed through Huntsville, in Randolph County, which has been appointed as one of the stakes of Zion, and is the ancient site of the City of Manti, and pitched tents at Dark Creek, Salt Licks, seventeen miles. It was reported to the camp that one hundred and ten men had volunteered from Randolph and gone to Far West to settle difficulties.” 1 The following account of the same event is taken from the daily journal of the Kirtland Camp, and was written by Samuel D. Tyler: “September 25, 1838. We passed through Huntsville, Co, seat of Randolph Co, Pop. 450, and three miles further we bought 32 bu. of corn off one of the brethren who resides in this place. There are several of the brethren round about here and this is the ancient site of the City of Manti, which is spoken of in the Book of Mormon and this is appointed one of the Stakes of Zion, and it is in Randolph County, Missouri, three miles west of the county seat. 2 3
The following account is taken from the history of the travels of the Kirtland Camp: “The camp passed through Huntsville, in Randolph County, which has been appointed as one of the stakes of Zion, and is the ancient site of the City of Manti, and pitched tents at Dark Creek, Salt Licks, seventeen miles. It was reported to the camp that one hundred and ten men had volunteered from Randolph and gone to Far West to settle difficulties.” 1 The following account of the same event is taken from the daily journal of the Kirtland Camp, and was written by Samuel D. Tyler: “September 25, 1838. We passed through Huntsville, Co, seat of Randolph Co, Pop. 450, and three miles further we bought 32 bu. of corn off one of the brethren who resides in this place. There are several of the brethren round about here and this is the ancient site of the City of Manti, which is spoken of in the Book of Mormon and this is appointed one of the Stakes of Zion, and it is in Randolph County, Missouri, three miles west of the county seat. 2 3
Notes:
- Millennial Star, vol. 16, p. 296.
- Journal of Samuel D. Tyler, Sept. 25, 1838, filed in Church Historian’s Office.
- Joseph Fielding Smith, Doctrines of Salvation, 3 vols., edited by Bruce R. McConkie [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1954-1956], 3: 239
I hate to break it to all the folks out there that have the grand idea that all Book of Mormon lands were in South America or Central America. Though they have the same stories of a visit by a Great White God as was their right as part of the House of Israel, they were not the primary peoples of the Book of Mormon. Those tribes were located in the Great Lakes region and southward.
We know by many of the ruins in Georgia and other places, that there was intercourse between the peoples of the Maya and peoples to the north (blue clay used in medicines and paints, found in Central America, is only mined in Georgia and there was an outpost there for that strategic mineral) - but the mound builders were the Nephites.
Ron May is right. In a few weeks, we are taking a Caribbean cruise to see the ruins in Central America - but it will be interesting - but not a trip to affirm what many have built up in their intellectual minds as the location of the Book of Mormon lands. Sometimes, the simple answer is the right answer..... And, always stick with those who simply had the gift - and not necessarily high levels of education.
Wayne May is the person who is doing the Book of Mormon evidence and archeology work. Also publishes Ancient American Magazine. Wayne May has many YouTube videos also. Who is Ron May??
ReplyDeleteMany of the things pointing to the Heartland are based off of incorrect or limited information.
ReplyDeleteIf the Church leaders had a specific idea where it happened they would be telling us and in a consistent manner.
They are not so the jury is still out.
Byu just put out an internal map of the Book of Mormon basing itself on the Scriptures. Heartland is nowhere to be found there though.
virtualscriptures.org
Another that I have seen is nephicode.blogspot.com for a South American perspective.
I would like the Heartland to be true but the evidence isn't there, and the evidence used there has been proven as fakes
I've read and seen evidence that supposedly proves and disproves both theories. As Bryan said, "The jury is still out" and it probably will be for a long time.
ReplyDeletePersonally, it doesn't really matter to me where Lehi's family, the Mulekites, or Jaredites landed. Although it is very interesting to research. The point is it happened in the Americas, which is a choice land.
Personally, the heartland model makes more sense to me, although I think it may be missing things, such as those who support the various models/theories do so assuming the geography has remained basically the same.
One idea I had several months ago was, what if the face of the land really changed? We tend to think of major geological change as taking millions of years, because that's what science teaches. But what if it happened more quickly?
3 Nephi 8:17 "And thus the face of the whole earth became deformed, because of the tempests, and the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the quaking of the earth."
And then in 11:1 "And now it came to pass that there were a great multitude gathered together, of the people of Nephi, round about the temple which was in the land Bountiful; and they were marveling and wondering one with another, and were showing one to another the great and marvelous change which had taken place."
I haven't discovered anything in the scriptures which might suggest the prophets might exaggerate things, such as in the case of prophesied destruction on the wicked. Usually the scriptures seems to understate things due to the lack of space. So, what if the changes that occurred were much more destructive than most of us imagine?
Anyway, just a thought I had during some study time.
Related to the subject at hand, there is a link to a PDF download on this page, which offers a reason why the Central America model began to be proposed and used.
http://bookofmormonevidence.org/the-smoking-gun-of-book-of-mormon-geography/
Basically the paper's synopsis is it was an over-zealous member who believed that if the archaeological discoveries being made in Central America at that time could be linked to the Book of Mormon, then maybe it could lead to more conversions. According to the paper, the person (I forgot his name) managed to have some things printed which made it look like it had the support of Joseph Smith.