Six (1811)
America). Unlike the other two—Mathoni and Mathonihah, who were born Lamanites with
a darker complexion—Timothy was born a Nephite and has a much lighter complexion. He
looks European and can easily travel among Americans without worrying about being
profiled as a foreigner.
Timothy was a temporary hired hand for many of the farmers in the area, but moved
about often enough to avoid suspicion and relationships.^35 Timothy had the ability to gain
the immediate trust of any American and present himself in such a way that an immediate
bond was established the moment someone shook his hand. It was in Lebanon that Timothy
(known at the time as “Homer”) arranged to work the entire summer of 1811 for a local
farmer by the name of Hezekiah Payne, who had recently relocated to the area. Mr. Payne
also hired another younger boy that summer—his name, Alvin Smith. Timothy and Alvin
worked side-by-side and engaged in various conversations that would influence the
thirteen-year-old boy’s thinking patterns for the rest of his life. Alvin was called home for
school during the fall, about the time that Timothy moved on to another farm.
Alvin ran into Timothy a few years later and briefly rekindled a short friendship
with a man who didn’t appear to have grown any older. He was eighteen and arguing
religion and politics with some drunken “know-it-alls” outside of a Manchester, New York
bar. Alvin held his own and began to confound some of their statements with logic. Enraged
at Alvin’s comments, one of the men pushed Alvin and raised his arm to punch him; but a
much stronger arm from a man of a much smaller stature grabbed the first man’s arm and
wrestled him to the ground. Once the short ruckus stopped, the small man (Timothy stands
about 5’ 7”) looked up at Alvin and smiled. Alvin recognized him as the itinerant farmhand,
Homer, alongside whom he had labored as a younger boy on the Payne farm during the
summer of 1811.
That night, “Homer” walked home with Alvin and had dinner in the humble Smith
home with the entire family. “Homer” captivated the attention of the ten-year-old Joseph, upon
whom he looked with an endearing smile and twinkle in his eye.^36 When he left that evening,
Alvin never saw his older co-worker friend again—at least not in his incarnation as Alvin Smith.
Timothy had accomplished his purpose to make initial contact with young Joseph and,
indeed, was always where he needed to be in order to fulfill his role as the mortal emissary in
the development of one of the world’s greatest true messengers, Joseph Smith, Jr.
NOTES
(^1) HR, 15:11; and Christopher, The Light of the Moon, forthcoming.
(^2) Anderson, Lucy’s Book, 67–8. This manuscript is reprinted in side-by-side columns with later
publications in Lucy’s Book.
(^3) An essay on the textual history of the many manuscripts and editions of Lucy’s history can
be found in Anderson, Lucy’s Book, 66–163.
Lavina Fielding Anderson also states, “In any given passage, depending on the in-print
edition, it is not always immediately clear if we are listening to Lucy’s voice or to that of Martha Jane
Coray, Howard Coray, Orson Pratt, George A. Smith, Elias Smith, Preston Nibley, or even an
anonymous British typesetter.” (Anderson, Lucy’s Book, 66).