H. G.'s divine healing by Father John Smith
Published October 5, 2026 at 6:00 AM
Contributed by
Millennial Star Research
H. G. (referred to as the narrator) recounts falling deathly ill near the Missouri River around 1846. Father John Smith administered to him, promising him he would live, return to Philadelphia, marry, and have children, which all came to pass.
In Their Own Words
“Soon after you and I met on the banks of the Missouri River, I was taken sick and grew worse and worse till I gave up to die, when an old man—Father John Smith—came to me and laid his hands upon me, and prayed for me, and said I should live and not die, and that I should return in health and to my home in Philadelphia, and after that I should marry me a wife and she should bear unto me a daughter, and after that a son and other children, and that I should live to do a great work in the earth; all of which has been fulfilled to the letter, except the great work, of which I always had my doubts.”
— H. G., letter to the editor, Millennial Star
Sources & References
The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star (Manchester, later Liverpool, England, May 1840–1970), 10 April 1882 (Vol. 44, No. 15). https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1882-04-10_44_15 (account extracted verbatim from the issue's Internet Archive OCR text; research confidence: high) Full first-person account: The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, Vol. 44, No. 15, 10 April 1882, p. 238 https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1882-04-10_44_15
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