In April, 1928 General Conference, Pres. Anthony W. Ivins (1852 - 1934) of the First Presidency discussed Hill Cumorah. The Church had just purchased Hill Cumorah from the
Pliny T. Sexton (1840 - 1924) estate a few weeks before. Pres. Ivins reported on that land acquisition
and then waxed poetic about the ancient battles that supposedly had been fought
on and around that hill. In 1928, practically every Latter-day Saint in the
world thought the final Jaredite and Nephite battles took place on the same
glacial drumlin in western New York where Moroni buried the plates. An alternative view with a battle site in Mexico and Moroni traveling during his 35
years of solitude was beginning to take root in Reorganization circles
following the 1917 publication of Louis Edward Hills’ influential
Geography
of Mexico and Central America from 2234 BC to 421 AD in Independence, MO. A
similar discussion would not take place among Latter-day Saint scholars until Hugh
W. Nibley (1910 - 2005), M. Wells Jakeman (1910-1998), Thomas Stuart Ferguson (1915 - 1983), and Milton R. Hunter (1902-1975) met
at Berkeley in the 1930’s. So, Pres. Ivins in 1928 was voicing what essentially
everyone in the Church believed at that time.
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| Pres. Anthony W. Ivins from Washington County Historical Society |
But, where did Pres. Ivins think most of the Book of Mormon took place? On Monday, January 24,
1921, then Apostle Anthony W. Ivins reported to the “Book of Mormon committee”
chaired by fellow Apostle James E. Talmage (1862-1933). The Book of Mormon committee had
overseen the successful publication of the 1920 edition and due to great
interest around the Church, decided to convene a series of Book of Mormon
geography hearings. Those hearings were held on Friday, January 21 through
Monday, January 24, 1921. Three people presented their views:
- Joel E. Ricks (1858 - 1944), author of maps and booklets popular throughout
the Church, advocated for the land southward in northern South America and the
land northward in Central America. A college professor in Logan, he had spent
many summers travelling throughout Latin America.
- Willard Young (1852 - 1936), Brigham’s son who attended West
Point, favored a location in Honduras and Guatemala. He was an engineer who had
worked on construction projects in Mexico and Central America.
- Anthony W. Ivins of the Quorum of the Twelve thought the setting was Mexico and Yucatan. He served his second mission in
Mexico City and helped establish the Mormon colonies in northern Chihuahua. His son, Antoine R. Ivins (1881 - 1967), presided over the Mexico Mission and was a member of the Seventy.
That was it. Those were the only
three theories considered by the Book of Mormon committee in January, 1921. No
official conclusion was reached. Some of the best minds in the Church in that
era envisioned Book of Mormon lands in Mesoamerica with the final battles in upstate
New York. It would be a few more years before close reading of the text convinced a growing consensus of Latter-day Saint scholars that the lands being described by Mormon and Moroni could not have exceeded 1,000 kilometers in maximum extent which precludes New York in most models.
See James E. Talmage Journals,
L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University:
MSS 229, Box 6, Folder 2, Journal 24.
