Joseph Smith, Sr.
Joseph Smith Sr. had an “ingrained aversion to evangelical religion” and “hovered in the margins of the church.” Instead he embraced witchcraft and the powers of darkness. He did not belong to, or attend a church. He did own occult objects. He cast spells, invoked demons, and encouraged his children to do likewise.
“Lucy’s only explicit reservation about her husband was his diffidence about religion. After his brief flirtation with Universalism in 1797, Joseph, Sr. hovered on the margins of the church.” -Richard Bushman, Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism, pg. 36
“While she was searching for direction, Lucy attended Methodist meetings in Tunbridge, and Joseph(Sr.) obligingly accompanied her. The news of this activity angered Joseph’s father and brother Jess, who pressed Joseph to stop. Lucy reported that one day Asael came to the door “and threw Tom Paine’s Age of Reason into the house and angrily bade him read it until he believed it.” -Richard Bushman, Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism, pg. 38
“What he could not embrace was the institutional religion of his time.” -Richard Bushman, Joseph Smith and the Beginnings of Mormonism, pg. 39
“Martin Harris, Orrin Porter Rockwell, Josiah Stowell participated in money-digging and the witch craft that went hand in hand with the practice. Joseph Smith, Jr., his father, Alvah Beaman, were rodsman-i.e., someone who uses a divining rod to find things”-Quinn, Early Mormonism and the Magic World View, pg.39
“His parents admonished Joseph to be rigorously obedient to the messenger’s instructions, just as exact compliance with prescribed rituals was required for successful money digging.” -Richard Bushman, Joseph Smith Rough Stone Rolling, pg.54
“Joseph Smith Sr. was not fully adequate. He was a gentle, disappointed man with an inclination to compensate for his failures with magic and drink.” -Richard Bushman, Joseph Smith Rough Stone Rolling, pg.54
“Joseph (Jr.) requested the priviledge of looking into the stone, which he did by putting his face into a hat where the stone was. It proved to be not the right stone for him, but he could see some things, and among them, he saw the stone, where it was, in which he wished to see.” Interview with Joseph Smith Sr. Historical Magazine 7, May 1870, 305-306
In magic and drink Joseph Jr. followed in his father’s footsteps.