Oliver Cowdrey was one of the three original witnesses to the Book of Mormon. He even helped Joseph Smith translate it. Cowdrey was a very interesting man. He spent time as a blacksmith, worked in New York City, was a teacher-basically just a young man who did what he could to help his family.
He also broke with the church over Smiths "filthy little affair" with Fanny Alger. Even though Cowdrey left the church and tried to put Mormonism behind him, he kept his belief in the divinity of the Book Of Mormon until he died. In fact, he was even re-baptized shortly before his death.
According to some of his own journals Cowdrey "continued to write from his mouth as Joseph translated from the Urim and Thummin". In my personal, subjective view Cowdrey saw the plates, the Urim and Thummin and perhaps more of the sacred objects that were given to Smith.
Cowdrey is a key witness to the restoration. The fact that all three witnesses kept their belief in the book of Mormon even after they broke with the church does speak to the authenticity of the Book of Mormon. There is also a rumor that Cowdrey was the "real author" of the Book of Mormon, given his education and background. No, I don't believe he was, but it is one of the better critiques of the Book of Mormon origin. And no, me saying it's a "better critique" doesn't mean I don't believe in the holy origins of the Book of Mormon either.
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