Joseph Smith, Captain Kidd Lore, and Treasure-Seeking in New York and New England during the Early Republic

Abstract

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. Folklorist Wayland 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. Here, Carmack examines the transmission of tales and published accounts of Captain Kidd and the possibility that he appropriated place names that appear in the Book of Mormon and pre-1830 maps, atlases, and geographical texts.