Healed at the Waters of the Loup: Elijah Newman's Baptism for Health (April 25, 1847)

Elijah Newman was born January 12, 1814, in Vermont. Baptized in 1832, he served a mission with the Twelve in the Eastern States in 1835, worked on the Nauvoo Temple, and was one of the seven men who ferried the Prophet's family across the Mississippi on the flight west in February 1846. When Brigham Young organized the pioneer company at Winter Quarters in 1847, Newman was assigned to the 11th Ten.

The task of crossing the Loup River had been accomplished safely and there was a general spirit of gratitude throughout the camp. The following day, Sunday, April 25, 1847, a meeting was held and general instructions were given respecting the observance of the Sabbath. It was on that day that Elijah Newman was baptized for the restoration of his health.

He was afflicted with black scurvy in his legs to such an extent that he could not walk except by the aid of sticks and crutches. After the ordinance and confirmation, he returned to camp without any help. The company, keeping the Sabbath and honoring the ordinance of baptism, had witnessed the New Testament promise made literal in their own camp on the plains of Nebraska: the man who had been carried to the water walked back from it on his own legs.

Newman went on with the company into the Salt Lake Valley. When the first party under Orson Pratt made the descent into the valley on July 22, Newman helped drive the wagons down the canyon road; when Brigham Young, still recovering from the mountain fever that had struck him at the Bear River, arrived on July 24, 1847, Newman was among the men who had prepared the way. He later settled in Manti, where he died in 1873 — remembered in the camp's record as the man the Lord raised up on the Sabbath at the Loup River.