Benjamin Brown and Jesse W. Crosby Healed by Priesthood Blessing
Published March 25, 2026 at 3:11 AM
Contributed by
Todd Morgan
Beaumont, CA, 92223
In 1839, Benjamin Brown and Jesse W. Crosby were involved in separate healing incidents associated with Benjamin Brown's accounts. Brown himself was healed at Commerce (later Nauvoo) soon after his family arrived among the Missouri refugees in June 1839. After fever and ague struck his family, Brown became so ill that he lay senseless and was thought to be dying. Joseph Smith passed his door, was called in, laid hands upon Brown, and commanded him to rise and walk in the name of the Lord. Brown's first awareness of the healing was finding himself walking across the floor, perfectly well; within ten minutes he was visiting his daughter, whom he had not seen for nearly a month. Separately, accounts describe Benjamin Brown laying hands on the gravely ill Jesse W. Crosby and administering a priesthood blessing in the name of Jesus Christ. Crosby was reportedly restored immediately and completely to health. The accounts vary regarding the precise year—approximately 1835, 1836, or 1839—and the record identifies this as the same healing episode recounted in Crosby's autobiography, distinct from Brown's own healing by Joseph Smith.
In Their Own Words
“He had been engaged with his brother, and brother-in-law, in felling trees in a wood, in an adjoining township. ... Suddenly, a movement caused by the wind shook the tree, and the loose branch fell from a height of at least sixty feet, striking him on the crown of his head, crushing him to the earth. The violence of the blow broke in a portion of his scull, forming a hollow about as large as the palm of a man's hand. His neck and shoulders were also much injured. Altogether, a more deplorable object I never saw in my life. ... The doctor proceeded to cut into Jesse's head for that purpose, but was stopped by his mother, who strongly objected to this experiment, and sent for me to administer to him. I was then eight miles off, and at the time of my arrival he had not spoken, nor scarcely indicated any signs of life. ... Sneers and jeers of "Here comes the Mormon, we'll soon see whether he can heal now," saluted my ears on all sides. From a sign which I had received while on my way, I knew Jesse would recover ... I, like Peter of old, cleared the house of all but Jesse's relatives, and administered to him in the name of the Lord. Jesse then recovered sufficiently to speak, after which he fell into a peaceful sleep, and, before morning, was altogether better. In less than four days, from the time of receiving this terrible accident, from which there seemed no human probability that he could recover ... he was again at work in the woods.”
— Benjamin Brown, Testimonies for the Truth (Liverpool: S.W. Richards, 1853), ch. II; public text at archive.org
Sources & References
Benjamin Brown, Testimonies for the Truth (Liverpool: S. W. Richards, 1853); public text at https://doctrineandcovenantscentral.org/history/benjamin-brown/ Fuller account: Benjamin Brown, Testimonies for the Truth (Liverpool: S. W. Richards, …) Benjamin Brown, Testimonies for the Truth (Liverpool: S.W. Richards, 1853), Chapter II Public full text: https://archive.org/details/testimoniesfortr01brow Also online: https://doctrineandcovenantscentral.org/history/benjamin-brown/ Research note: This is Benjamin Brown's account of the same 1839 tree-branch accident that Jesse W. Crosby records in his own autobiography (see the separate record “J…
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