“Martin [Harris] returned from his trip east satisfied that Joseph was a ‘little smarter than Professor Anthon.’” — John H. Gilbert1
Charles Anthon, born in 1797 in New York City, was a classical scholar, lawyer, and professor of Greek and Latin at Columbia College.2 Martin Harris, one of the early followers of Joseph Smith, came to Anthon in 1828, asking for an authentification of ancient characters.3
Anthon originally verified the characters, seeing similarities with Egyptian.3 This matched what Joseph would later translate in Moroni 9:32, which called the writing "reformed Egyptian."4 But when Harris revealed the angelic origin of the plates, Anthon rescinded the approval and, according to Martin, tore up the authentification statement.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 and stated he warned Harris not to invest in the translation.5
