(Courtesy Clerk of the Board of Supervisors, Chenango County Office Building, Norwich, New York. See transcription below.)

Close up of Albert Neely's handwritten bill listing the Examination of Joseph Smith on 20 March 1826.

Early references to Joseph Smith in the role of glass looker:

Abram Benton wrote in 1831 about Joseph Smith's work in the Bainbridge, New York area:

"For several years preceding the appearance of his book [the Book of Mormon], he was about the country in the character of a glass-looker: pretending, by means of a certain stone, or glass, which he put in a hat, to be able to discover lost goods, hidden treasures, mines of gold and silver, &c."

(Letter written by Abram W. Benton of South Bainbridge, New York, dated March 1831, in "Mormonites," Evangelical Magazine and Gospel Advocate 2 (9 April 1831):120, Utica, New York.)

Isaac Hale, Joseph Smith's father-in-law, related in 1834:

"Smith stated to me, that he had given up what he called 'glass-looking,' and that he expected to work for a living, and was willing to do so."

(Affidavit of Isaac Hale, 20 March 1834, in Susquehanna Register, and Northern Pennsylvanian 9 (1 May 1834):1, original newspaper in the Susquehanna County Historical Society, Montrose, Pennsylvania.)