Joseph Smith Jr's Kevo

Smith and his wife moved to Harmony, Pennsylvania, with the monetary and moral support of a wealthy Palmyra neighbor named Martin Harris. In Harmony, Smith reported to a few family members and colleagues including Harris that he had translated some of the Reformed Egyptian text from the Golden plates. According to Smith's history, he invited Harris to take a sample of the characters from the plates to a few well-known scholars including Charles Anthon. Harris returned to report that Anthon initially provided authentication to the translation of the Reformed Egyptian, but tore up his written statement upon hearing the story of how Joseph had obtained them. Harris returned, and acted as Smith's scribe while Smith translated words using Urim and Thummim. In June 1828, after completing the first 116 pages of the record, Smith allowed Harris to take the manuscript to Palmyra to show Harris' wife. Harris returned, long overdue, and informed Smith that the manuscript had been lost or stolen. According to Smith's record "the Lord took the Urim and Thummim and the plates", stopping the work of translation. Also, Smith's wife Emma gave birth to a stillborn son, their first child around the same time. Around February 1829, Smith recounts that the plates and the Urim and Thumim were returned to him by God. He resumed translating with Emma as scribe. Translation greatly intensified on April 7, 1829, when Oliver Cowdery, a school teacher in Palmyra, NY who had taken an interest in Smith's story while in Palmyra, and then set out for Harmony, PA to begin acting as Joseph's scribe.

At the beginning of June 1829, Smith and Cowdery moved to Fayette, New York for the remainder of the translation. The plates' title page indicated the book was to be entitled the Book of Mormon: An account written by the hand of Mormon, upon plates taken from the Plates of Nephi (Smith 1830b, title page). Translation was completed around July 1, 1829, and the Book of Mormon was published in Palmyra on March 26, 1830, with the financial assistance of Martin Harris.

Before publication, Joseph showed the ancient record to eleven other men. These men recorded their personal witnesses of seeing an angel show them the record (plates), seeing the record, handling the plates, and hearing the voice of the Lord command them to bear witness of the veracity of the record. These testimonies are included in the title pages of the Book of Mormon as The Testimony of the Three Witnesses, and The Testimony of The Eight Witnesses.

By the time the Book of Mormon was published, Smith's record indicates that he had received additional revelations and had begun the work of organizing a new Christian church. Smith and Cowdery reported having been visited by John the Baptist, the same as referenced in the New Testament. They stated that they were ordained by John the Baptist to "the Priesthood of Aaron." They said that he then commanded them to baptize one another.

Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery stated that they were later visited by Peter, James, and John, the disciples of Christ found in the New Testament, not long after the appearance of John the Baptist. According to Smith and Cowdery, Peter, James and John came to them in order to restore the Melchizedek priesthood, which they said contained the necessary authority to restore Christ's church.

On April 6, 1830, a church was formally organized as the Church of Christ, and small branches were soon set up in Palmyra, Fayette, and Colesville, New York. There was strong local opposition to these branches, however, and Smith soon dictated a revelation (D & C 57:1-3) that the church would establish a "City of Zion" in Native American lands near Missouri. In preparation, Smith dispatched missionaries led by Oliver Cowdery to the area of this new "Zion". On their way, the missionaries converted a group of Disciples of Christ adherents in Kirtland, Ohio led by Sidney Rigdon. At the end of 1830, Smith dictated a revelation (D & C 37) that the three New York branches should gather in Ohio pending the results of Oliver Cowdery's mission to Missouri.