But the theory of Hebraic origin was the favorite. It began with the very discovery of America, continued through Puritan times and was rife in these parts when Joseph was growing up. There is an abundant literature on the subject. The early Spanish priests identified the native Americans with the lost ten tribes of Israel; in 1650 a Jewish Rabbi advocated it; the same year appeared Thorowgood's 'Jews in America, or Probabilites that the Americans are of that Race;' two years after, John Eliot, apostle to the Indians, wrote an essay to the same effect. Since the conversion of the aborigines was one of the aims in settling New England and was enjoined also in the charters of other colonies, both New England divines and founders of states welcomed these speculations. The line of belief persisted through Mayhew Mather, Roger Williams, William Penn, Jonathan Edwards down to Elias Boudinot's work in 1816, entitled A star in the West, or an attempt to discover the lost Ten Tribes of Israel.

Interest in these theories was wide; as was said by Ethan Smith in his 'View of the Hebrews or the Tribes of Israel in America,'—the importance of the question 'Where are the ten tribes of Israel,' brought about a speedy sale of the first edition. This work was published in Poultney, Vermont, next to Windsor County, where Joseph's parents once lived, and by 1825 had circulated to westernmost New York. A letter to the author, from a clerical reader in Erie County, mentions a general religious revival which had taken place among the Senecas seven years before. Dissatisfied with their old rites they had brought together their wise men, who say they are persuaded they are the people of God, but have lost their way. Hence, this observer concludes, these Indians are the outcasts of Israel, for they have a manifest shadow of the Mosaic rituals,—the feasts of first-fruits, and of ingathering; a day of atonement, and peace offerings. The author's cumulative proof, derived from the accounts of travelers, is this: the Indians must be the lost tribes of Israel because they have one origin; their language appears Hebrew; they have acknowledged one and only one God; they are in tribes; they have cities of refuge; they have sacrifices and anointings, high-priests, festivals, feasts and purifications. The compiler also quotes with approval Adair's twenty-three reasons for the Indians being Jews.

As has been already noted, a volume containing these arguments was in the possession of one young Mormon from New York. But if there was any book, akin to Joseph's fancy, it was one published in Albany about this time, namely,—Priest's American Antiquities. An Exhibition of the Evidence that an ancient population peopled America many centuries before its Discovery, and Inquiries into their Origin.