The Voree Plates, sometimes called The Record of Rajah Manchou of Vorito, or the Voree Record, were a set of three tiny metal plates allegedly discovered by James J. Strang in 1845 in Voree

Voree, Wisconsin

Voree is an unincorporated community on the outskirts of present-day Burlington, in Walworth County, Wisconsin, United States, in the town limits of Spring Prairie. It is best known as the historic and current headquarters of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints , a denomination of the...

, near Burlington

Burlington, Wisconsin

Burlington is a city in Racine and Walworth counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, with the majority of the city located in Racine County. The population was 10,421 at the 2009 census.-History:...

, Wisconsin

Wisconsin

Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...

. Purportedly the long-lost testament of an ancient American ruler, Strang asserted that this discovery vindicated his claims to be the true successor of Joseph Smith, Jr., founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. They also lent credence to his claim that Voree was to be the new "gathering place" of the Latter-day Saints.

Discovery

According to Latter Day Saint beliefs, many ancient inhabitants of the Americas engraved records on metal plates. Joseph Smith, Jr., the movement's founding prophet, claimed that he translated the Book of Mormon

Book of Mormon

The Book of Mormon is a sacred text of the Latter Day Saint movement that adherents believe contains writings of ancient prophets who lived on the American continent from approximately 2600 BC to AD 421. It was first published in March 1830 by Joseph Smith, Jr...

 from a set of Golden Plates

Golden Plates

According to Latter Day Saint belief, the golden plates are the source from which Joseph Smith, Jr. translated the Book of Mormon, a sacred text of the faith...

 which he was shown the location of by an Angel.
Upon Smith's murder in 1844, a number of claimants came forward to lead his church, including James J. Strang. As a recent convert, Strang did not possess the name recognition among rank-and-file Mormons enjoyed by Brigham Young

Brigham Young

Brigham Young was an American leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and a settler of the Western United States. He was the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1847 until his death in 1877, he founded Salt Lake City, and he served as the first governor of the Utah...

 and Sidney Rigdon

Sidney Rigdon

Sidney Rigdon was a leader during the early history of the Latter Day Saint movement.-Baptist background:...

 (two other contenders for church leadership). Hence, he faced an uphill battle in his quest to be recognized as the heir to Smith's prophetic mantle.

To advance his cause, Strang asserted that unlike Rigdon and Young, he had hard evidence of his prophetic calling. Joseph's title had been "Prophet, Seer, Revelator and Translator

Prophet, seer, and revelator

Prophet, seer, and revelator is an ecclesiastical title used in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that is currently applied to the members of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles...

," and Strang wished to substantiate his claim to succession by following in Smith's footsteps. So, while Young and Rigdon never offered their followers any newly-revealed ancient records, Strang announced on January 17, 1845 that God had promised to lead him to a hitherto-undiscovered chronicle of a long-lost American people. This, said he, would prove that he was Joseph Smith's true successor.

Strang next testified that on September 1, 1845, an angel

Angel

Angels are mythical beings often depicted as messengers of God in the Hebrew and Christian Bibles along with the Quran. The English word angel is derived from the Greek ἄγγελος, a translation of in the Hebrew Bible ; a similar term, ملائكة , is used in the Qur'an...

 of God appeared to him and showed him the location of "the record of my people in whose possession thou dwellest." Accordingly, Strang went on September 13 to the indicated site, located in Voree south of the White River on what is now referred to as the "Hill of Promise." He led four witnesses to a large oak on the hillside, inviting them to examine the ground around the tree carefully before digging for the plates. All four later testified that they could discern no evidence of digging or other disturbance of the ground.

After removing the tree, Strang's companions dug down approximately three feet, where they discovered three small brass

Brass

Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc; the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties.In comparison, bronze is principally an alloy of copper and tin...

 plates in a case of baked clay. Strang subsequently claimed to have deciphered this record, which he said was authored by an ancient Native American

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 named "Rajah Manchou of Vorito."

Appearance and dimensions

The Voree plates measured approximately 2.5 inches long, and between 1.25 and 1.5 inches wide. According to one anonymous witness, these plates were "about the thickness of a piece of tin

Tin

Tin is a chemical element with the symbol Sn and atomic number 50. It is a main group metal in group 14 of the periodic table. Tin shows chemical similarity to both neighboring group 14 elements, germanium and lead and has two possible oxidation states, +2 and the slightly more stable +4...

, fastened together in one corner by a ring passing through them." A second viewer described them as being "thickly covered with ancient characters of curious workmanship." Stephen Post, the brother of Strangite Apostle Warren Post, visited Strang in 1850 and examined the plates for himself, noting that "they were not polished very smooth before engraving, by appearance."

Unlike his brother, Stephen Post had trouble believing Strang's account of the plates' origin and discovery: "With all the faith & confidence that I could exercise," he later wrote, "all that I could realize was that Strang made the plates himself, or at least that it was possible that he made them." Post equally observed that the brass used in the Voree Plates seemed indistinguishable to him from the French brass used in ordinary tea kettles

Kettle

A kettle, sometimes called a tea kettle or teakettle, is a small kitchen appliance used for boiling water. Kettles can be heated either by placing on a stove, or by their own electric heating element.- Stovetop kettles :...

.

Four of the six sides of the Voree plates contained text written in an unknown script. Side five contained a map showing the area where the plates were found, while side one contained engravings of the "all-seeing eye" and a man holding a scepter, with the sun, moon and stars beneath him. These images were said to represent God, the President of the church, his two Counselors

First Presidency (LDS Church)

The First Presidency is the presiding or governing body of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . It is composed of the President of the Church and his counselors. The First Presidency currently consists of President Thomas S. Monson and his two counselors, Henry B...

, the High Council

High council (Mormonism)

In Mormonism, a high council is one of several different governing bodies that have existed in the church hierarchy on many Latter-day Saint denominations...

 of the Church, the Apostles, and the Seventies.

Translation and testimony

Strang's published translation of the Voree Plates reads as follows:

"My people are no more. The mighty are fallen, and the young slain in battle. Their bones bleached on the plain by the noonday shadow. The houses are leveled to the dust, and in the moat are the walls. They shall be inhabited.

"I have in the burial served them, and their bones in the Death-shade, towards the sun's rising, are covered. They sleep with the mighty dead, and they rest with their fathers. They have fallen in transgression and are not, but the elect and faithful there shall dwell.

"The word hath revealed it. God hath sworn to give an inheritance to his people where transgressors perished. The word of God came to me while I mourned in the Death-shade, saying, I will avenge me on the destroyer. He shall be driven out. Other strangers shall inhabit thy land. I an ensign there will set up. The escaped of my people there shall dwell when the flock disown the Shepherd and build not on the Rock.

"The forerunner men shall kill, but a mighty prophet there shall dwell. I will be his strength, and he shall bring forth thy record. Record my words, and bury it in the Hill of Promise."

Strang published facsimiles of the plates. and his translation in his church's

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Strangite)

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is a denomination of the Latter Day Saint movement with around three hundred members as of 1998...

 newspaper, The Voree Herald. Many Latter Day Saints found this new discovery quite compelling, and believed it to be a sure sign that James Strang was indeed Joseph Smith's true successor. For those who remained skeptical or merely curious, Mormon or non-Mormon, Strang (unlike Smith) readily produced the plates themselves for personal examination.

One such investigator was the non-Mormon Christopher Sholes

Christopher Sholes

Christopher Latham Sholes was an American inventor who invented the first practical typewriter and the QWERTY keyboard still in use today...

, inventor of the first practical typewriter, and a later inspiration to Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison

Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...

. As the editor of the Southport Telegraph, Sholes called upon Strang and perused his discovery. Sholes offered no opinion on the plates, but he described Strang as "honest and earnest" and opined that Strang's followers ranked "among the most honest and intelligent men in the neighborhood."

The LDS Church and the Community of Christ

Community of Christ

The Community of Christ, known from 1872 to 2001 as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints , is an American-based international Christian church established in April 1830 that claims as its mission "to proclaim Jesus Christ and promote communities of joy, hope, love, and peace"...

, the two largest factions of the Latter Day Saint movement, each reject James Strang's claims to prophetic leadership and his "Voree Record."

Possible additional text

According to one authoritative source, there may have been text translated from the Voree plates that Strang never chose to make public. Strang himself had indicated more than once that he had released to his followers only "part of the record of Rajah Manchou of Vorito." H. V. Reed, who had visited Strang and read his translation, published a possible addition to Strang's text in the Chicago Illustrated Journal in January 1873:

"It shall come to pass in the latter days, that my people shall hear my voice, and the truth shall speak from the earth, and my people shall hear, and shall come and build the Temple of the Lord. My prophet, unto whom I send my word, shall lead them, and guide them in the ways of peace and salvation.

"In Voree the name of the Mighty One shall be heard, and the nations shall obey my law, and hear the words of my servant, whom I shall raise up unto them in the latter days."

No official determination has apparently been made by the Strangite church as to whether these words should be considered part of Strang's translation or not.

Alleged forgery by Strang

Some have insisted that the Voree Plates were forged by Strang. Isaac Scott, an ex-Strangite, claimed that Caleb Barnes, Strang's former law partner, said that he and Strang had fabricated them from a tea kettle belonging to Strang's father-in-law, as part of a land speculation scheme they had hatched.

According to Scott, Barnes and Strang "made the 'plates' out of Ben [Perce]’s old kettle and engraved them with an old saw file, and...when completed they put acid

Acid

An acid is a substance which reacts with a base. Commonly, acids can be identified as tasting sour, reacting with metals such as calcium, and bases like sodium carbonate. Aqueous acids have a pH of less than 7, where an acid of lower pH is typically stronger, and turn blue litmus paper red...

 on them to corrode them and give them an ancient appearance; and that to deposit them under the tree, where they were found, they took a large auger

Auger

An auger is a drilling device, or drill bit, that usually includes a rotating helical screw blade called a "flighting" to act as a screw conveyor to remove the drilled out material...

...which Ben [Perce] owned, put a fork handle on the auger and with it bored a long slanting hole under a tree on 'The Hill of Promise,' as they called it, laying the earth in a trail on a cloth as taken out, then put the 'plates' in, tamping in all the earth again, leaving no trace of their work visible.”

Wingfield Watson, a High Priest in Strang's sect who knew Strang personally, vigorously challenged these allegations in an 1889 publication entitled The Prophetic Controversy #3.

Strang was assassinated in 1856. The Voree Plates remained with his family, until they disappeared sometime around 1900. Their current whereabouts are a mystery.

Script used on the plates

The Voree Plates seem to be definitely written in an unknown alphabet. James Strang authored a personal diary during his youth, parts of which were written in a secret code which was not deciphered until over one hundred years later by Strang's own grandson. Comparison of the script used in the coded portions of Strang's diary and the script used on the Voree Plates shows remarkable similarities between the two.

Keith Thompson, of Manchester, England, alleges that the text on the plates matches Strang's published translation. Although he did not identify the values of specific characters, Thompson claimed to have shown how words such as "and", "in", and "are" appear in multiple places. According to a Strangite website, one Derek J. Masson, a non-Mormon scholar, reportedly argued in an unpublished 1977 paper: A Comparison of the Voree Record with Some Eastern Scripts that Strang's translation was sound. Furthermore, this same site alleges that a second non-Mormon scholar, Robert Madison, concluded in his 1990 A Preliminary Linguistic Analysis of James J. Strang's Voree Plates that the text on the plates appears to represent a genuine, albeit unknown, language, and that Strang's translation appeared to be "a superb (if poetic) rendition of that text into English."

Independent scholarly assessment of Masson's and Madison's conclusions has not yet been forthcoming.

External links

• The Voree Plates Excellent Strangite site containing a large reproduction of the Voree Plates, with translation and other information.
• James Strang as Translator A second Strangite site on the plates.
• Giants of Burlington A non-Strangite website seeking to link the Voree Plates to the world of psychic and UFO phenomena.