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<div><b>Josiah Priest </b>was born in Unadilla, New York. He grew up during a time when the United States was first establishing itself as a nation. Little specific is known about his schooling, but it is assumed that he received a basic primary and secondary education. At the age of 24 he married Eliza Perry from Lansingburgh, New York. After a brief period in Lansingburgh, they migrated to Albany, New York around the year 1819. While there, Priest was first employed as a coach "trimmer" or upholsterer, He later worked in leather, mainly fashioning saddles and harnesses. He and Eliza conceived and raised a total of ten children. . He was reportedly well-liked by the churchgoers for his dramatic performance during the sermons, several of which were published. Priest's fundamentalist view of Christianity and his faith in Biblical literalism are evident throughout his work. Josiah Priest knew Oliver Cowdery, who later assisted Joseph Smith, Jr. in the production of the Book of Mormon.</div><div><br></div><div>Priest decided to give up his profession as a leather worker and become a writer. His first book, in a genre now identified as cryptozoology was The Wonders of Nature and Providence, Displayed, compiled from Authentic Sources, Both Ancient and Modern, Giving an Account of Various and Strange Phenomena Existing in Nature, of Travels, Adventures, Singular Providences, &amp;c. (1826). His other major publications were American Antiquities and Discoveries of the West (1833) and Slavery, As It Relates to the Negro (1843), each of which was published in multiple editions.</div><div><br></div><div><b>American Antiquities (1833)</b></div><div><br></div><div>This 400-page publication centered around Priest's own study of the Bible and antiquarian journals, supplemented by information from his travels. After visiting earthworks in Ohio and New York, Priest concluded that these mounds could be traced back to a lost race that had inhabited America even before the Native Americans. This idea is now referred to as the "mound builder myth" and still has supporters in society today. The book grew in popularity because of Priest's views on Native Americans. Priest speculated that the original dwellers could be the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. The reasoning Priest gives for his conclusion that there was an even earlier settler than the Native Americans relies upon his own Biblical interpretation of the flood story. According to Josiah, after the great flood disappeared, Noah and his ark landed on America. While surveying the land, Noah also discovered mounds that had been constructed before the waters rose up. Upon seeing this, Noah questioned where these agricultural phenomena came from. "Surveying the various themes of mound builder origins, he could not decide whether the mounds were the work of Polynesians, Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Israelites, Scandinavians, Welsh, Scotts, or Chinese, although he felt certain the Indians had not built them."</div><div> </div>
<br>Subjects: American Antiquities; 1834; Josiah Priest; Alexander Von Humboldt; Legends Of Mexico; 1847; George Lippard; Quaker City; Monks of Monk's Hall; Mormonism Unvailed; Leo Tolstoy; Mormon Trail; Brigham Young; Napoléon Bonaparte; Repin; Napoleonic Code; Lorenzo Dow; General; Chekov; Literary; 1834; Oliver Twist; Daguerreotypes; Russian Literature; Prussia; Drama; Moby Dick; Wilderness Preacher; 1812; Emperor of the French; horse; ED Howe; Austerlitz; French Revolution; American History; macabre; USA; West; Fourth Coalition; Third Coalition; Grande Armée; 18th Century; Benjamin Scrivener; mountain man; War; 1810; Jena; Czar; Auerstedt; Hundred Days; David Copperfield; 1809; Josiah Gregg; Inkerman; Commerce of the Prairies; Incidents of Travel in Yucatan; John Lloyd Stephens; 1843; 1847; Nauvoo Temple; Charles Dickens; course; Polygamy; The Brothers Karamazov; mountain; Corsica; Vengence; 1840s; Silas; 1799; George Furber; LDS Movie; Alfred Tennyson; Tolstoy; Crimean War; 19th Century; Ulysses Grant; Russia; General Lee; Crime And Punishment; Oregon; Tale; Journal Of A Private; Charge; The Possessed; Trail; Literature; Civil War; 1850s; The Overcoat; Literature; Civil War; Franklin Expedition; Harper's Ferry; 1849; Victorian Era; Gothic; Czarist Russia; Balaclava; Biography; 19th Century; Battle; Dead Souls; Arctic passage; 1850s; 1853; Gogol; Travel; Return Of The Native; Moby Dick; Western; French Directory; novel; War and Peace; Victorian Era; Diary of a Madman; Siege of Sevastopol; invasion of Russia; Russian Empire; volunteer; Island; Count Of Monte Cristo; sailors; history; 19th Century; Novel; poetic; camp; LDS; Life On The Mississippi; Queen Victoria; Trail; Thriller; Light Brigade; Emperor Russia; Alexandre Dumas; British Army; Herman Melville; Ulm Campaign; Alma; Thomas Hardy; Life And Work; fathers and sons; Peninsular War; Lorenzo Dow; Camp Life Of A Volunteer; course; Christian; Wilderness Preacher; Mansfield Park; Literary; adventure; Typee; Herman Melville; adventure; 1866; 1845; Christ; George Eliot; Tale; 1815; Gothic; Gogol; The Idiot; Silas Marner; Christopher Lee; 1850s; Mutiny; book of Mormon; horror; Utah; War and Peace; Leipzig; Austrian Empire; Dostoyevsky; Western; First Consul; West; Zion; Tell Tale Heart; poetry; Black Cat; Jesus; book of mormon; Herman Melville; Queen Victoria; mountain man; Tracker; short story; Mark Twain; Leo Tolstoy; Victorian Era; Saint Helena; Danites; Mormon; Holy Bible; history; wild west; Elba; Horror; Documentary; Iberian Peninsula; poetic; Thriller; Victorian Era; November; black cat; Mark Twain; War And Peace; Continental System; Turgenev; Salt Lake City; daguerreotype; Czarist; Vincent Price; 19th Century; Sevastopol; premature burial; Western; Literature; Battle</div>
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Victorian Vault</div>
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