During the decade from 1820 to 1830 a great religious revival swept over the country, and gave rise to the phenomena known as "jerks!" This excitement raged greatly in western New York and in the neighborhood of the Smiths. Joseph, Jr., and some of his sisters and brothers became converted at one of the revivals, but Joseph was greatly vexed in spirit by the uncertainty as to which of the sects was the right one. He became a constant reader of the Bible for a time, but subsequently fell again into his old ways, and later events indicate that he fell also into some new ones, which have extended the peculiarities of his nature much beyond the sphere of his personal influence and beyond the period of his time. He put forth the claim that in September, 1823, God sent messengers to him to say that he was forgiven for his sins. Again in 1826, he claimed an angel visited him with the information that in the Hill Cumorah, not far from Manchester, were hidden certain golden plates which he was to unearth and translate. These plates were exhumed in September, 1826, as Joseph represents it, "with a mighty display of celestial machinery," and were delivered by the angels to him. These plates were afterwards translated by Joseph Smith, Oliver Cowdery, a school-master, and one Martin Harris, and published in the early part of the year 1830 as the "Book of Mormon." Another account of the origin of the Book of Mormon is that it was written as a historical romance, to account for the Indians in America, in 1812, by a Mr. Solomon Spaulding, a retired preacher, and presented to Mr. Patterson, a bookseller in Pittsburg for publication, together with a preface representing it to have been taken from plates dug up in Ohio. Mr. Patterson did not think the enterprise would pay, and hence did not publish it; but Sidney Rigdon, afterwards quite noted in early "Mormon" history, was then at work in the office of Mr. Patterson, and it is suggested that he stole the manuscripts, and had his full share in bringing "Mormonism" into existence, though he did not appear in connection with it for some months after the organization of the first society.