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| Joseph received the plates for the Book
of Mormon, doing much of the translation in Harmony, Pa. When the book
was finished and published, he began to preach and win converts in the
South Bainbridge region. The local group became known as the Colesville
Branch, a name which the members kept as they traveled west.
Joseph was not without opposition and detractors. In March of 1826, he was arrested and tried in South Bainbridge as "a disorderly person and an impostor". He was found guilty but was not penalized. In 1829, he was again arrested in South Bainbridge, but was acquitted, only to be arrested again in Colesville. This trial found him guilty of charges similar to those in his first trial. Finally, in 1830, Joseph and Emma left this area permanently and he went on to find his new church which now extends over the whole world. In 1930, both Sally Ann Beardsley and Harriet E. Shay signed affidavits describing the train of Joseph Smith and his followers as they left South Bainbridge. The statements were signed by Delos Van Woert, Notary Public. (Complied by Charles J. Decker, Afton Town and Village Historian) 
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