Kinderhook Plates & Translator Claims
In the 19th century, a farmer in Kinderhook, Illinois manufactured some brass plates with engravings on them and told Joseph Smith that he found them in the ground near his house. Joseph Smith deemed them to be ancient records and proceeded to “translate” them. These were ultimately proven not to be ancient plates, but a 19th century creation. Just as with the Book of Abraham, Joseph was proven wrong.
His track record is not great. He claimed to have translated three ancient records:
- The Book of Abraham – proven false (see the section on this above)
- The Kinderhook Plates – proven to be a hoax
- The Gold Plates – supposedly taken back up to heaven, so it is not possible to prove or disprove their existence or directly compare them to the Book of Mormon
Want more detail? See https://read.cesletter.org/kinderhook/, https://www.ldsdiscussions.com/kinderhook-plates and http://www.mormonthink.com/kinderhookweb.htm