Healing of Sister Merrill and Brother Low from Poisoning
Published October 11, 2026 at 8:12 PM
Contributed by
Millennial Star Research
During a missionary journey in Savaii in April 1891, Sister Merrill and Brother Low suffered a severe illness involving intense stomach pain and vomiting after consuming milk purchased from a local. Brother E. J. Wood provided care, and after administration and the Lord's blessing, they recovered. It was later determined the milk was contaminated by poisonous herbs eaten by the cow.
In Their Own Words
“On the morning of Tuesday, April 14, our party left for Fogatalii, at which place we arrived at about six o'clock after about thirty-five miles. We found the folks all pretty well, though they had been quite sick during our absence. Having been provided with milk that morning, Sister Merrill and Brother Low were taken ill with intense stomach pain and vomiting. Brother Merrill, who was of the same milk, escaped the sickness and did all he could for the comfort of the others. The Lord blessed them. The native of whom the milk was purchased admitted the affair, and said the cow had eaten some poisonous herbs and had given the milk in that condition.”
— E. J. Wood, The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star
Sources & References
The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star (Manchester, later Liverpool, England, May 1840–1970), 17 August 1891 (Vol. 53, No. 33). https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1891-08-17_53_33 (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. 53, No. 33 (17 August 1891), p. 526 https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1891-08-17_53_33
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