Sidney Rigdon (1793-1876) was one of Joseph Smith's closest friends and advisers. He was also a renowned early convert to the Church, its most persuasive orator in the first decade, and First Counselor in the First Presidency from 1832 to 1844. Following the Prophet Joseph Smith's martyrdom, Rigdon became one of the Church's best-known apostates . Rigdon was born February 19, 1793, on a farm in St. Clair Township, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the fourth child and youngest son of William …showed first 75 words of 1454 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1454 total…Unvailed, Eber D. Howe attacked the authenticity of the Book of Mormon by adopting Philastus Hurlbut's argument that Sidney Rigdon purloined the "Manuscript Story" of Solomon Spaulding, plagiarized it to compose the Book of Mormon, and gave it to Joseph Smith to publish under his name. During his lifetime Rigdon and members of his family consistently denied any connection with Spaulding, and after the discovery in 1885 of one of Spaulding's manuscripts, the story was discredited .