Editing First Vision (section)

====Dating the move to Manchester====
Local moves of the Smith family have been used in attempts to identify the date of the vision. Smith wrote that the First Vision occurred in "the second year after our removal to Manchester."<ref name="Joseph Smith–History 1:5"/> The evidence for the date of this move has been interpreted by many believers as supporting 1820 and by non-believers as supporting 1824.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://signaturebookslibrary.org/inventing-mormonism-01/|title=Inventing Mormonism – 01 &#124;}}</ref> Manchester land assessment records show an increase in assessed value of the Smith property in 1823. Because the tax assessment of the Smiths' Manchester land rose in 1823, critics argue that the Smiths completed their Manchester cabin in 1822, which suggests an approximate date of 1824 for the First Vision. Joseph Smith Sr. was first taxed for Manchester land in 1820. In 1821 and 1822, the land was valued at $700, but in 1823, the property was assessed at $1000, which may indicate "that the Smiths had completed construction of their cabin and cleared a significant portion of their land".{{sfnp|Vogel|2000|pp=443–44}} In response, some Mormon apologists argue that in 1818, the Smiths mistakenly constructed a cabin 59 feet north of the actual property line (which would have been in Palmyra rather than Manchester) and the 1823 increase in the property assessment was related to the completion of a wood frame home on the Manchester side of the Palmyra–Manchester township line. The latter interpretation would lend support for dating the First Vision to 1820.{{sfnp|Ray|2002|pp=4–5}}<ref>For a counter argument—that there was a second cabin on the Smith property in Manchester—see {{harvp|Vogel|2000|pp=416–419}}. Vogel argues that based on archaeological and documentary evidence, the Manchester cabin was constructed prior to the Smiths' building of their frame home. "To argue for the existence of only the Jennings cabin, which the Smiths inadvertently built on the Palmyra side of the township line, one must assume that the error was perpetuated not only by the Smiths but also by authorities in both counties. However, the existence of the names of Joseph Sr., Alvin, and Hyrum on the Palmyra road lists for 1820–22 strongly argues that both the Smiths and village authorities understood that the cabin was in Palmyra township." (p. 419)</ref>