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In his 2003 Dialogue article, Ronald V. Huggins discussed the possibility that Joseph Smith's ostensible encounter with the angel Moroni was the invocation of a long-held folk tradition of treasure guardians in a milieu of treasure seeking and folk magic in the northeast.1 Huggins concluded that "Smith must have learned of the [treasure-guardian] motif while helping his father dig for Kidd's treasure and while studying Kidd's life and lore as a boy."2 Some Latter-day Saint scholars, however, maintain that the figure Moroni was a visiting angel, as has been represented in official LDS accounts.3
Whether or not Moroni was an angel or treasure guardian may be important in determining the derivation of Joseph Smith's Book of Mormon character and otherworldly messenger, but perhaps more provocative is whether Smith's two-decadeslong encounter with the treasure-seeking worldview had any inf luence on his role as translator. What did Joseph Smith know about Captain William "Robert" Kidd and other pirates operating in the East Indian Ocean? How would he have obtained such information? This article examines the transmission of tales and published accounts of Captain Kidd (some of which may have been accessible to Joseph Smith) and the possibility that he appropriated place names that appear in the Book of Mormon and pre-1830 maps, atlases, and geographical texts. Does the Book of Mormon contain language that might ref lect Smith's youthful preoccupation with Captain Kidd and his hidden treasure?
Scholars have well established that the prevalent use of folk magic and divining practices in New York and the New England states for the search of buried treasure was motivated by Captain Kidd's legend and other pirate lore. FolkloristWayland Hand and historian Alan Taylor have written of both the pirate lore and the widespread, indefatigable pursuit of buried treasure as part of the prevailing supernatural economy in the Northeast-a pursuit that promised quick wealth and power over a supernatural world.4 Men and women of the poorer classes embraced treasure-seeking to counter the uncertainty and privation that accompanied the struggling new republic. Farmers and merchants living in the rural hinterlands resorted to using occult magic, necromancy, and divination to locate hidden pirate treasure. As historian W. R. Jones observed, "What the ubiquitous Captain Kidd did for the northern coasts, Morgan...