There has been some
confusion among historians because of the signature of a Joseph Smith in the
township records identifying himself as an “Anabaptist.” Tunbridge Proprietors
Book,” 443, (see Dan Vogel, ed., Early Mormon Documents (Salt Lake City:
Signature Books, 1996), 1:636-637). The record was filled out by local town
clerk Hezekiah Hutchinson as part of a large packet of records submitted by
Chelsea Township clerk David Crocker. Chelsea is the township on the northern border
of Tunbridge. All of Crocker’s petitions were for those attending the Baptist
congregation in Chelsea, and in the petition Hutchinson included, he noted the
signees were “separate from all other Denominations Except those called by the
Name or Appelation of Anabaptists.” He did not say they belonged to the
Anabaptists. It is clear the Hutchinson’s petition was part of the larger
packet of Crocker petitions. It was completed November 12, 1799, but it was
recorded in 1802 along with the other Chelsea Baptist records completed over
several years. There were many Baptists in the area, but there was not an
Anabaptist congregation. The other Joseph Smith who married Hannah Fifield and
lived in Tunbridge on the northern border convenient to the Chelsea congregation
was likely a Baptist. Crocker filled out a separate petition for his brother,
Stephen Smith, earlier that same year (see June 10, 1799 Petition, Tunbridge
Proprietors Book, 188; for their* relationship, see Child, Gazetteer of
Orange County, Vermont, 1762-1888, 344). The Chelsea Baptist congregation
was too far away for Joseph Smith who was the son of Mary and Asael Smith to
conveniently attend, and Lucy makes it clear in her narrative that her husband
only attended the Methodist meetings with her because she desired it. (Mark L.
Staker and Donald L. Enders, Joseph and Lucy Smith’s Tunbridge Farm: An
Archaeology and Landscape Study [Independence, Miss.: John Whitmer Books,
2021], 102-3 n. 11)
