Some readers want a concise version of my review of the article about Dartmouth, so I'll summarize it here with the key graphics.
This is the article that was published in the John Whitmer Historical Association Journal in 2006. The link is here:
https://www.jstor.org/stable/43200240The author concludes that:
Hyrum’s exposure to Dartmouth’s theology, cosmology, ancient language studies, architecture, Ethan Smith’s son Lyndon, and Solomon Spaulding’s nephew James Spaulding from Sharon, Vermont, who was attending the Medical School, all provided discussion material for tutoring Joseph during his long recovery from leg surgery that kept Joseph at home on crutches until the Smith family reached Palmyra.
His conclusion relies on three main claims he makes (not in this order):
1. The members of the extended family of the prophet Joseph Smith, who were an integral part of that community from 1771 to 1817.
2. The early Dartmouth community organized in the 1770s and its expanding curriculum through 1815 provided a unique vantage point from which Hyrum, who entered the Dartmouth community in 1811 and left in 1816, could perceptively view as well as participate in future Mormon doctrinal and community development.
3. Early Dartmouth intellectual inquiry focused on philosophical and theological questions, which challenged America as it emerged from New England Puritanism to face the challenges of the Enlightenment. Many of these same questions would later be systematically answered by the prophet Joseph Smith.
_____
Point 1. Extended family.
 |
UC copy
(click to enlarge)
|
The author (Behrens) writes, "John Smith was born December 21, 1752, in Rowley, Massachusetts, to Joseph Smith and Elizabeth Palmer[1], both cousins of Asael Smith and Mary Duty, the paternal grandparents of the prophet Joseph Smith."
[Actually, even if Behrens was correct about the common ancestry going back four generations, the idea that such a family connection would be meaningful seems implausible, but Behrens used a lot of space in his paper to establish this connection, so it should be addressed.]
Footnote 1 reads:
Sketches of the Alumni of Dartmouth College, George T. Chapman, D.D., (1867, Cambridge: Riverside Press), 15.
The note doesn't explain which copy of Sketches Behrens used or where it is located.
There are at least versions of Sketches online.
One is from the Univ of California.
The other is from Dartmouth itself.
There is a significant difference between the two.
The UCLA copy has no annotations. You can see in the entry at the bottom of the page that John Smith is identified as "the son of Joseph and Elisabeth (Palmer) Smith," which is what Behrens wrote in his paper and genealogical chart (his Exhibit 1).
 |
Sketches, UC version, page 15
(click to enlarge) |
Behrens' Exhibit 1 shows Elizabeth Palmer as the cousin of Joseph Smith Sr's grandmother on his mother's side, who was named Mary Palmer. Elizabeth Palmer married a Joseph Smith who was a first cousin of Samuel Smith, Joseph Smith Sr.'s grandfather on his father's side.
 |
Behrens' genealogy table, Exhibit 1
(click to enlarge) |
So far, Behrens' identification looks valid.
However, the version of Sketches that Dartmouth put online has an annotation that contradicts Behrens' genealogy table. The annotation in the Dartmouth version of the John Smith entry shows a handwritten "Sawyer (?)" above Elizabeth's last name (Palmer).
 |
Sketches, Dartmouth version, page 15
(click to enlarge) |
If Elizabeth's maiden name was Sawyer and not Palmer, then the Behrens' identification is an error and John Smith was not related to Joseph Smith's family, at least not with the purportedly close connection as shown by Behrens.
In the Introduction to its online edition of Sketches, Dartmouth explained that George Chapman published Sketches in 1867. He did not include non-graduates of the undergraduate College, nor did he include students at Moor's school.
The copy of Sketches that Dartmouth put online includes additions and annotations made by John M. Comstock, Class of 1877, who served as the statistical secretary for the Association of Alumni of Dartmouth College.
 |
Introduction to Dartmouth's online edition
(click to enlarge) |
Comstock's annotation indicates that John Smith's mother Elizabeth was a Sawyer, not a Palmer. One source he may have relied upon was the memoir of John Smith written by his widow, Susan Smith (who does not show up on Behrens' genealogical chart).
In her memoir, Susan explains that John's mother Elizabeth was a Sawyer.
 |
John Smith memoir by his widow Susan
(click to enlarge) |
The document is on the Dartmouth website on page 64 of 74.
The transcript of Susan's memoir:
A Memoir of The Rev. John Smith D.D.
Professor of the oriental Languages
at Dartmouth College.
The Rev. John Smith was born in Byfield Mass. Dec 21. 1752. It is not known by his descendents now living the date of the year his paternal ancestors emigrated to this country, but in examining Farmers Register we find the name of Joseph, which was his father's name, born in Newbury? in the year 1638, from him it is probable his father descended. His mother was a descendant of the Sawyer family, who came from England to this country in the year 1643, and settled in Rowley, Mass, where he was born and brought up. She was sister to Deacon Sawyer, who was among the first settlers of Hopkinton N. H. who was a man of much civil and religious influence in the town, respected, and beloved by all who knew him, he there lived and died at a very advanced age, leaving upward of 200 descendants.
This evidence shows that the John Smith shown in Behrens' genealogy chart is not the same John Smith who taught at Dartmouth. Behrens made an understandable error.
The problem is that in his paper, Behrens actually referred to and cited Susan's memoir without telling readers that Susan's identification of John Smith's mother differed from what Behrens told his readers.
_____
Point 2. Hyrum's time in school.
The only record of Hyrum Smith's attendance (written as Hiram Smith) is for the first quarter of 1814.
Lucy Mack Smith's history relates that (i) sometime after the family moved to Lebanon in 1811, they enrolled Hyrum in the academy and (ii) when Hyrum got sick during an outbreak, he came home from school. She gave no specific dates and the records from Moor's school do not show Hyrum's name.
_____
Point 3. Early Dartmouth intellectual inquiry
The only known record of Hyrum's attendance, the list of students for the first quarter of 1814, shows Hyrum studying "Arithmetic" at Moor's school while his classmates were studying Virgil, Mathematics, Reading, English Grammar, Latin, and Greek. For Hyrum to be studying mere Arithmetic suggests he was behind his fellow students.
While it's possible that the teenage Hyrum also "focused on philosophical and theological questions" discussed and debated at Dartmouth college, that seems far less likely than Hyrum struggling to keep up with his classmates at Moor's school.
