Joseph Smith and the Mummies
Near the beginning of summer, Chandler made his way to Kirtland, Ohio, where Joseph Smith and his band of followers had made their homes. There is some confusion in the dates of his arrival. Oliver Cowdery wrote that Chandler had arrived on the last of June or first of July. The History of the Church stated that Chandler arrived on 3 July, but Cowdery’s date is substantiated by a letter from W.W. Phelps to his wife on July 19 and 20, 1835. Phelps wrote:
"The last of June four Egyptian mummies were brought here, there were two papyrus rolls, besides some other ancient Egyptian writings with them. As no one could translate these writings, they were presented to President Smith. He soon knew what they were, and said they, the “rolls of papyrus, contained the sacred record kept of Joseph in Pharaoh’s court in Egypt, and the teachings of Father Abraham. God has so ordered it that the mummies and writings have been brought to the Church…"
Smith was anxious to purchase the papyri but Chandler would not sell them separately from the mummies--they would have to be a package deal. Smith and his followers managed to raise the $2400 selling price and purchased them.
The mummies became an attraction unto themselves, and Smith exhibited them, as well as the papyri, although they were not always displayed together, and not always at Smith’s house. Various accounts exist as to who actually had possession of the mummies and where they were taken (see map). Both Smith and the mummies were on the run from non-believers as well as apostates.
The fleeing Saints finally found a sanctuary at a spot they named Nauvoo, in Illinois, and commenced to settle there. The papyri eventually found their way to this new town, and Smith hoped once again to have enough time to devote to working on his translations.
Joseph Smith died on 27 June 1844, leaving behind his mummies and papyrus. His mother exhibited them for a time, using the money she made to support herself and her remaining son, William. They may have been taken by William and exhibited elsewhere, but they were in Lucy Mack Smith’s possession when she died 14 May, 1856. Her daughter and son-in law, Emma Smith and Lewis C. Bidamon, and Joseph Smith II sold them less than two weeks later to a man named Abel Combs (or Coombs.)