Joseph Smith Blesses John Lowe Butler's Cloak for Miraculous Healing

In Nauvoo in 1843, Joseph Smith blessed a large broadcloth cape or cloak belonging to John Lowe Butler for the purpose of healing. Family records report that Butler wrote: "The prophet blessed his cloak for healing and for the rest of his life, the family wrapped their sick in it, and they were healed." Accounts say that during times of sickness Joseph Smith went among the people and blessed articles of clothing, and this specific cloak was thereafter used by John and Caroline (Skeen) Butler to wrap family members when they were ill. In 1945 Bertha M. Butler recalled, "The family would often put it around an afflicted person and through their faith in the blessing of the cape they were made better." The cloak was later divided among the children of John Lowe Butler Jr., with each piece said by family members to continue to carry healing power. Zettie Butler Christiansen testified in 1957 that, as youngsters, the family knew that "if we were ill, if we wrapped a certain cloak around us we would get well," identifying the cloak as one blessed by the Prophet Joseph Smith. These combined recollections record the same event—the Prophet's blessing of John Lowe Butler's cloak in Nauvoo and its subsequent use by Butler family members for healing across generations.