The belief that the aborigine peoples living in the New World were descendents of the lost tribes was widely accepted during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Indeed, the prominent Jewish leader Mordechai Manuel Noah (1785-1851) was convinced of this.


On February 14, 1837 he delivered, under the auspices of the Mercantile Library Association, a lecture on ‘Jewish Antiquities,’ or the lost ten tribes. Like Protestant evangelicals, he praised Indians as virtuous and noble. Quoting published research, he linked the red men to numerous aspects of Jewish ritual and custom. He also adduced many similarities between Indian languages and Hebrew. The numerous comparisons, however, were no more convincing in Noah’s formulation than in those of his predecessors.

My BYU-educated historian brother said to me a few years ago that it was "groundbreaking" when Smith came out with the BoM saying that the Native Americans were descendants of Jews. And that "his view has been vindicated by history."

I actually laughed, and asked what kind of history they taught at BYU...since the "Indians were Jews" idea was around (and popular!) long before Smith (and pointed him to "View of the Hebrews"), and that "history" as well as archeology, genetics, and more have all shown that view to be patently false.

The things mormons say...:)

What your brother said was true. "True" to a Mormon means it
makes them feel good. What your brother said made him feel good.
Your facts are clearly of the adversary because they made your
brother feel bad. In Mormonism what's "true" and what's "from
the adversary" are so simple to discern.

Just because the ancient Jews invented the Texas barbecue doesn't mean they wore 10 gallon hats. They may have had similar tailgate parties. Thanks for pointing out another common meme of the day. There's nothing in the BoM that didn't come from somewhere else. Lucy Mack had Lehi's dream, the city names and geography were copied from local culture, the war chapters were copied from war books such as The Late War, and the biblical chapters were copied from the 1767 KJV bible including errors unique to that edition.

Now science has proven that "Indians" came from East Asia. Modern Jews have no problem getting on board with that. Mormons will fight it tooth and nail, then say "we always knew that".

Minor correction: It was Smith's dad who had the dream that became the BoM vision, but I think it was Lucy Mack who related it. I don't know that that part is true, but it makes me feel good.

I have Ridpath's history of the United States from 1876. It has a lot of, shall we say, "subjective" statements in it, but the one that stands out is "The notion that the Indians are descendants of the Israelites is absurd. That half civilized tribes, wandering from beyond the Euphrates, surpasses human credulity."

I'd say that can be taken to be specifically an anti-mormon statement.

Here's a bit on the Mormons, which seems a bit more even handed.
https://archive.org/stream/popularhistoryof00ridj#page/444/mode/2up