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Willard Chase (February 1, 1798 – March 10, 1871) was an American resident of 19th-century New York and an early associate of Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. He is known for his disputes with Joseph Smith regarding the ownership and existence of Joseph Smith's seer stone and of the golden plates.

Chase was born to parents Clark Chase (b. August 22, 1770) and Phebe Mason. Chase had two older siblings, Durfee and Mason, and seven younger siblings: Sarah "Sally", Edmund, Purley, Lucinda, Henry, Abel D., and Asa S.^[1]

Chase married Malissa Sanders Sounders. The couple had two children: Luther M. and Clark S.^{[2][unreliable source?]}

Chase was a carpenter and lay Methodist minister.^[3]

Chase died in Palmyra, New York, on March 10, 1871.^[4]

Chase engaged in the practice of treasure hunting or "money digging". Neighbors, such as physician John Stafford, recalled that Chase's sister Sally used a seer stone to locate treasure.^[5]

Chase lived "over the hill to the East" of the Smiths in Palmyra.^[6] In 1833, Chase swore an affidavit that was published in the book Mormonism Unvailed by E. D. Howe.^[7]

According to Chase, Joseph Smith collaborated with seer Samuel T. Lawrence. Chase reported that "Joseph believed that one Samuel T. Lawrence was the man alluded to by the spirit, and went with him to a singular looking hill, in Manchester, and [showed] him where the treasure was."

Lawrence who was able to "see" not only the gold plates but also "saw" the pair of spectacles, which in Mormonism would later be identified with the biblical Urim and Thummim.

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Although Chase's affidavit makes no mention of it, Lucy Mack Smith recalled that Chase and others attempted to obtain the Golden Plates themselves. Lucy wrote: "10 or 12 men were clubbed together with one Willard Chase, a Methodist class leader at their head, and what was most ridiculous they had sent for a conjuror to come 60 miles to divine the place where the record was deposited".^[8]

Chase recalls that Smith "met one day in the streets of Palmyra, a rich man, whose name was Martin Harris, and addressed him thus; 'I have a commandment from God to ask the first man I meet in the street to give me fifty dollars, to assist me in doing the work of the Lord by translating the Golden Bible.'".

Chase recalls that Harris "reported that the Prophet's wife ... would be delivered of a male child that would be able when two years old to translate the Gold Bible."

In 1879, Chase's brother Abel Chase gave a sworn statement re-asserting claims Willard had made and asserting that the 1833 affidavit was genuine.^[9]

The Chase Affidavit was a source of inspiration for the Salamander letter, a 20th-century forgery by Mark Hofmann. The Chase Affidavit describes "something like a toad", which was used as the source for Hofmann's "white salamander".^[10]

• Bushman, R.L.; Woodworth, J. (2007). Joseph Smith: Rough Stone Rolling. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. ISBN 9781400077533.
• Newell, L.K.; Avery, V.T. (1994). Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale Smith. University of Illinois Press. ISBN 9780252062919.
• Howe, E.D. (1840). History of Mormonism, or, A faithful account of that singular imposition and delusion: with sketches of the characters of its propagators : to which are added inquiries into the probability that the historical part of The Golden Bible was written by one Solomon Spalling, and by him intended to be published as a romance. Printed and published by the author.
• Whitefield, J. (2009). The Mormon Delusion. Volume 3. Discarded Doctrines and Nonsense Revelations. Lulu.com. ISBN 9781409291817.
• Stokes, J. Mormonism 2010 Handbook on Mormonism. Jerry Stokes.
• Morgan, D.; Saunders, R.L.; Bagley, W. (2014). Dale Morgan on the Mormons: Collected Works, Part 2, 1949–1970. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 9780806146713.
• Bowman, M. (2012). The Mormon People: The Making of an American Faith. Random House Trade Paperbacks. ISBN 9780812983364.

• Apologetic rebuttal to Chase from FairMormon