Thomas Stuart Ferguson
[1] He studied under M. Wells Jakeman and became interested in Mesoamerican history as it was believed at the time that it would prove the historicity of the Book of Mormon.
Ferguson approached church apostles John A. Widtsoe and Ezra Taft Benson with his investigations and received encouraging support.
On his return he showed film of his trip to Benson, and then to general authorities and their wives at the annual Lion House party, following up later with a request that the LDS Church intensify missionary work in Latin America, and fund archaeological expeditions to Mesoamerica and Peru.
In 1954 apostle Joseph Fielding Smith attacked the new "modernist theory" confining the Book of Mormon to a limited geography.
[1] In February 1952 Ferguson published Great Message of Peace and Happiness, as a way to encourage non-members of the LDS Church to gain interest in the Book of Mormon as a historical record.
Apostle LeGrand Richards wrote to Ferguson, "you are laying away many treasures in heaven in the efforts you are putting forth to establish in the minds of men the divinity of the Book of Mormon.
"[1] In 1951 Ferguson reached out to leading archaeologist Alfred V. Kidder about doing archaeological work in Mesoamerica in order to prove the authenticity of the Book of Mormon.
"[1] Kidder and Ferguson wrote a twelve page proposal to the general authorities of the LDS Church, seeking $150,000 in funding for archaeological investigations, but were rejected.
[2] Ferguson, along with master's student John L. Sorenson, spent the next several years traveling throughout Mesoamerica documenting a large number of artifacts and formative period sites.
[1] Ferguson spent the remainder of the year in Tabasco and Chiapas, believing it to be the location of a Book of Mormon city Zarahemla.
In August 1953 Ferguson asked for additional funding from the LDS Church but only received $1,000; he effectively shut down NWAF in 1954.
If the cities exist, and they do, they constitute tangible, physical, enduring, unimpeachable evidence that Joseph Smith was a true prophet of God and that Jesus Christ lives.
Regarding his significantly reduced role in the organization, Ferguson told Hunter that he was "content to eat whatever piece of pie is thrown my way, however small or humble.
This, along with the lack of archaeological evidence for the Book of Mormon after searching for two decades, led Ferguson to doubt the translation abilities of Joseph Smith.
In December 1970 he visited Jerald and Sandra Tanner and they developed a friendship with him, and declared that he had spent 25 years trying to prove Mormonism in vain.
[4] The Tanners wrote that Ferguson, "after many years one of the most noted defenders of the Book of Mormon, was finally forced to conclude it was 'fictional.
Ferguson chose to remain a member of the LDS Church, believing it to be a good organization even if it wasn't true.
Both were active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and he enjoyed the company of other members after he had lost faith in Joseph Smith.
