Healing of Elsa Johnson's Lame Arm (Hiram, Ohio, 1831)

Multiple contemporary and near-contemporary accounts describe the same specific miracle: in 1831 (reported variously as winter 1830–31 or spring 1831) at the John Johnson home in Hiram, Ohio, Elsa Johnson (the wife of John Johnson and mother of Luke Johnson) who for about two years had suffered chronic rheumatism/withering of one arm and was unable to lift her hand to her head, was miraculously healed by Joseph Smith. Accounts report that Joseph Smith visited the Johnson home (while living at the John Johnson farm), took Elsa by the hand (or laid hands upon her), and in the name of the Lord commanded her to be whole; she was immediately able to raise and use her arm. Witnesses and participants named across the sources include John Johnson and his wife (Elsa), their son Luke Johnson (who recorded the episode), Ezra Booth and Mrs. Booth (present as part of the visiting party and referenced in narratives connected to Booth’s investigation of the Church), Philo Dibble, Amos S. Hayden, Oliver B. Huntington, a Protestant minister who was present, and other local citizens of Hiram. The various accounts differ only in minor details of wording and the exact month, but consistently report the same location, the same afflicted person, the same healer (Joseph Smith), the same instantaneous restoration of function, and the same set of local witnesses.