A well-known paper titled "Dartmouth Arminianism And Its Impact on Hyrum Smith And the Smith Family" was published in 2006 by the John Whitmer Historical Association Journal, written by Richard K. Behrens. It is located online here: https://www.jstor.org/stable/43200240. Hereafter I'll refer to it as the "Behrens paper."
LDS apologists and critics approach this topic differently. Critics tend to portray Hyrum as having assimilated the theological concepts circulating at Dartmouth, which he then imparted to his younger brother Joseph, who then expressed them in the Book of Mormon, D&C, various sermons, etc.
Apologists tend to minimize Hyrum's experience in Hanover, observing that he wasn't attending Dartmouth but instead Moor's Indian Charity school, and even then he attended only briefly. They tend to resist the idea that Joseph's revelations were influenced by (or the product of) what he learned from Hyrum, largely because most modern apologists don't think Joseph actually translated anything but instead was an ignorant farm boy to whom every word was revealed (such as through the stone-in-the-hat or SITH).
In my view, the Lord prepared Joseph from a young age to become a translator and prophet, which included giving Joseph the handicap (leg surgery) that turned him into a religious seeker and a thoughtful reader of Christian material. As Joseph put it, he had "an intimate acquaintance with those of different denominations," such that anything Hyrum shared from the school he attended was simply part of Joseph's preparation.
In other words, I understand the competing narratives but IMO both are not well founded. I encourage everyone to apply the FAITH model of analysis to clarify the different interpretations, in the spirit of charity (assuming everyone acts with good intentions) and in the pursuit of understanding instead of argument and debate designed to convince of, or coerce compliance with, a particular point of view.
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The Behrens paper is a good example of why the academic world should move toward adopting the FAITH model of analysis. This model clearly distinguishes between Facts on one hand, and Assumptions, Inferences, Theories and Hypotheses on the other.
The topic of Hyrum's attendance at Dartmouth involves only a few objective, clear facts. Everyone can see and agree upon these facts.
The Behrens paper creates a narrative that extends far beyond the known facts through a series of assumptions and inferences, apparently driven by the author's overriding hypothesis.
One of the final paragraphs in the paper summarizes the author's conclusions:
Hyrum’s exposure to Dartmouth’s theology, cosmology, ancient language studies, architecture, Ethan Smith’s son Lyndon, and Solomon Spaulding’s nephew James Spaulding from Sharon, Vermont, who was attending the Medical School, all provided discussion material for tutoring Joseph during his long recovery from leg surgery that kept Joseph at home on crutches until the Smith family reached Palmyra.
To assess the plausibility of these conclusions, we should begin with the known facts.
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Known Facts
The known historical documents provide us with this information about Hiram's (Hyrum's) attendance at Moor's school. Everyone, regardless of their assumptions, inferences, theories, and hypotheses, agrees with these facts.
Whether the contents of these documents are accurate, reliable, credible, etc., is a separate matter that invokes assumptions, inferences, etc.
1. "Hiram Smith" is listed on the tuition rolls of Moor's school for the first quarter of 1814, studying "Arithmetic," with his home town in Hanover, and he paid no tuition because he attended as a "Charity Scholar."
2. The other Charity Scholars at Moor's school studied these subjects:
1 student - "Virg. & Gr. Test," (presumably Virgil and Greek New Testament)
2 students - "Virgil"
1 student - "Mathematics"
1 student - "Navigation & Eng. Gr."
3 students - "Reading"
The ages of the students are not shown so it is impossible to say how old the "Reading" students were or even what they were reading.The paying students studied these subjects:
5 students - "Cic. de Or. & Gr. Test." (presumably Cicero de Oratore in Latin and the Greek New Testament)
1 student - "Cic. & Arith."
6 students - Virgil
1 student - "Gr. Test. & Cic"
2 students - "Lat. Primer 1/2 gr"
2 students - "Lat. Primer"
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Tuition record from Moor's I.C. (Indian Charity) School from Aug 1814 to Aug 1815, First quarter from Aug 28th to Nov. 19th 1814. (click to enlarge) |
3. No other extant tuition or attendance documents from Moor's school include Hiram/Hyrum as a student or refer to him in any way.
For the full records for 1814-1915, see
and for 1816
4. In 1844-5, after Hyrum had been murdered, Lucy Mack Smith, Hyrum's mother, recalled that sometime after 1811 when the family moved to Lebanon "as my children had been deprived of school we made every arrangement to suply that deficency our second son <Hyrum> we <established in> the accademy in Hanover" [1844-45 history] and "we established our second son (Hyrum) in an academy at Hanover" [1845 history].
5. Lucy added, "<in 1813> the typhus fever came into Lebanon and raged there horribly among the rest who were seized with this complaint was my oldest daughter Sophronia who was sick 4 weeks next Hyrum came from Hanover <sick> with the same disease" [1844-5] and "The typhus fever came into Lebanon, and raged tremendously; and among the number seized with this complaint; was first Sophronia, and then Hyrum, who was taken while at School and came home sick" [1845]
https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/lucy-mack-smith-history-1844-1845/33
https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/lucy-mack-smith-history-1845/63
6. Lucy added, "After one whole year of affliction we were able once more to look upon our children and each other in health...My Husband now determined to change his residence accordingly we moved to Norrige in <vermont>." [1844-5 history] "Shortly after sickness left us, we moved to Norwich, in the state of Vermont." [1845 history]
7. The precise date (or even month) of the typhus outbreak in West Lebanon, NH, is unknown, but it most likely began in November or December 1812 because of the epidemiological tendency of typhus to surge in colder months when people are in close quarters, supporting a late fall onset in the winter of 1812–1813.
Assumptions and Inferences
These facts support a variety of assumptions and inferences.
1. Based on Lucy Mack Smith's vague recollections in 1844-5, Hyrum started attending Moor's school ("the academy in Hanover") sometime in after the family moved to Lebanon in 1811, which could mean in the year 1811 or sometime in 1812 (after the family had established themselves), until early 1813 due to the typhus outbreak. This gives a range of possibility from anywhere between two years to a few months. The Dartmouth records don't show his name because they were lost, because he started school late after the tuition was recorded, or for some other reason.
2. In the fall of 1814, after everyone in the family had recovered, Hyrum was able to return to school to study "Arithmetic" for one quarter as indicated on the Moor's school records. Maybe he also attended during other quarters in 1813 or 1814, but his name does not appear on the records of the final 3 quarters for 1814 even though his classmates' names do appear.
3. The extant record from the fall of 1814 shows Hyrum studying "Arithmetic." Compared with the subjects his classmates were studying, "Arithmetic" is fairly basic, if not remedial. This reality lends credence to the lower range of his school attendance, more likely only a few months in 1812 than two or more full years. Alternatively, the fact that by 1814 Hyrum was still studying "Arithmetic" could mean he was a poor student.
4. Whether Hyrum's attendance at Moor's school was limited or he was a poor student, in either case it is not plausible that he was attending sophisticated theology lectures, engaging in philosophical debates and discussions, studying architecture, and otherwise participating in the advanced intellectual activities at Dartmouth college.
5. On the other hand, maybe Lucy downplayed Hyrum's attendance and in reality Hyrum spent several years at Moor's academy, which exposed him to the advanced intellectual activities at Dartmouth college. Maybe Hyrum was an exceptional student who understood and remembered what he heard at hundreds of lectures and during innumerable conversations and debates. Maybe the records were lost or nonexistent for some reason other than that Hyrum simply wasn't there.
The purpose of this analysis is to differentiate between facts upon which everyone can agree, and assumptions and inferences upon which people probably disagree, depending on their subjective weighing of the evidence, their confirmation bias, their worldview, their own experience, etc.
By separating facts and clearly spelling out assumptions, inferences and theories, everyone can make informed decisions about the ultimate hypotheses about Hyrum's experience in Hanover.
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With this background, we can assess the author's objectives for his article. The Introduction summarizes these objectives (I added the numbering for clarity)
In this paper I shall demonstrate
(i) the close relationship between the early Dartmouth College community and curriculum (see exhibits 2 and 3);
(ii) the members of the extended family of the prophet Joseph Smith, who were an integral part of that community from 1771 to 1817 (see exhibit 1 and exhibit 4);
(iii) and subsequent Mormon doctrine and community, which emerged under the direction of Joseph Smith (see exhibit 5).
I shall proceed to develop a plausible intellectual development view of Joseph Smith from the perspective of his brother Hyrum Smith.
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In the pursuit of clarity, charity, and understanding, I did a detailed review, which you can see here. The review is preliminary, pending new information and comments, before I finalize it and post it on this blog and on academia.org.
https://interpreterpeerreviews.blogspot.com/2025/06/behrens-paper-on-dartmouth.html
In the spirit of charity I assume Behrens researched and wrote in good faith. In 2006 there were probably not as many online sources. Maybe detailed citations were not expected back then, although I used to require them from students and from myself...
The paper is replete with the author's conclusions about how deeply Dartmouth affected Hyrum for the rest of his life, including science, architecture, and theology.
But unfortunately the paper is also replete with factual errors, compound assumptions and inferences, poor to nonexistent citations, and logical fallacies.
Conclusion: Unless and until additional evidence comes forth, the connection between Joseph Smith and Dartmouth is tenuous at best. The only connection is through his brother Hyrum, who attended Moor's school as a "Charity Scholar" for perhaps as little as one quarter in 1812 and one quarter in 1814 to learn "Arithmetic" while his classmates studied Virgil and Mathematics.
Hyrum apparently taught Joseph about the arithmetic he had learned at Moor's school. Joseph mentioned in his 1832 history that “I was mearly instructtid in reading and writing and the ground <rules> of Arithmatic which const[it]uted my whole literary acquirements.”
Beyond that, the connections with Dartmouth appear illusory at best.
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Dartmouth College in the early 1800s.
https://dartreview.com/history-of-dartmouth-college-vol-1-a-review/
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| (click to enlarge) |
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Dartmouth_College_campus_-_The_Green,_early_1800s.jpg
