<P> Smith said he found the plates on September 22 , 1823 , at a Hill , near his home in Manchester , New York , after the angel Moroni directed him to a buried stone box . Smith said the angel at first prevented him from taking the plates but instructed him to return to the same location in a year . In September 1827 , on his fourth annual attempt to retrieve the plates , Smith returned home with a heavy object wrapped in a frock , which he then put in a box . Though he allowed others to heft the box , he said that the angel had forbidden him to show the plates to anyone until they had been translated from their original `` reformed Egyptian '' language . Smith dictated the text of the Book of Mormon over the next several years , claiming that it was a translation of the plates . He did so by using a seer stone , which he placed in the bottom of a hat and then placed the hat over his face to view the words written within the stone . Smith published the translation in 1830 as the Book of Mormon . </P>
<P> Smith said he found the plates on September 22 , 1823 , at a Hill , near his home in Manchester , New York , after the angel Moroni directed him to a buried stone box . Smith said the angel at first prevented him from taking the plates but instructed him to return to the same location in a year . In September 1827 , on his fourth annual attempt to retrieve the plates , Smith returned home with a heavy object wrapped in a frock , which he then put in a box . Though he allowed others to heft the box , he said that the angel had forbidden him to show the plates to anyone until they had been translated from their original `` reformed Egyptian '' language . Smith dictated the text of the Book of Mormon over the next several years , claiming that it was a translation of the plates . He did so by using a seer stone , which he placed in the bottom of a hat and then placed the hat over his face to view the words written within the stone . Smith published the translation in 1830 as the Book of Mormon . </P>
when did joseph smith get the gold plates
when did joseph smith get the gold plates
September 22 , 1823
September 22 , 1823