“I left him and went to Dr. Mitchill who sanctioned what Professor Anthon had said respecting both the characters and the translation.” — Martin Harris¹

A few months after Joseph and Emma moved in with Emma's family, Martin Harris came by and said he felt called to consult with expert scholars in ancient language about the translations. Joseph copied some of the characters from the gold plates and gave them to Harris, who took the paper to New York City. There, he met with Charles Anthon, a professor of Latin and Greek at Columbia College.²

Anthon originally verified the characters, seeing similarities with Egyptian.² This matched what Joseph would later translate in Moroni 9:32, which called the writing "reformed Egyptian."¹ But when Harris revealed the angelic origin of the plates, Anthon rescinded the approval and, according to Martin, tore up the authentification statement. Anthon denied authenticating the characters in later statements.³

During this conversation, the professor mentioned another scholar Harris should speak to, Samuel Mitchill who had previously taught at Columbia College. Harris visited this scholar, and Mitchill stated that characters reminded him of Egyptian and that they must be the writings of an extinct nation.⁴

1. Times and Seasons, 2 May 1842, josephsmithpapers.org

2. Saints, Volume 1, Chapter 5, 46-48

3. "Martin Harris's Consultation with Scholars," churchofjesuschrist.org

4. Saints, Volume 1, Chapter 5, 48