Joseph F. Smith's Childhood Deliverance and Protection in the Wilderness

Joseph F. Smith recalls his childhood experiences during the evacuation of Nauvoo and the trek to Utah. He describes being on a flat boat during the bombardment of Nauvoo, facing hardships at Winter Quarters, and the journey to Utah where his mother, lacking sufficient teams, yoked up her cows and calves to draw their wagons. He testifies to witnessing her secret prayers for divine help in accomplishing their mission, noting that his mother stated, 'The Lord will open the way.'

In accounts recorded in the 'Life of Joseph F. Smith', further details emerge regarding the healings of the oxen. When the first ox fell ill midway between the Platte and Sweetwater rivers, a Captain Lott criticized Mary, warning that she would be a burden to the company. Mary then produced a bottle of consecrated oil and asked her brother and James Lawson to administer to the animal just as they would to a human. The ox recovered immediately, as did two others on subsequent occasions following similar administrations. Another account from Rachel Fielding Burton confirms that her father performed one of these administrations, after which the ox 'lay perfectly still a few minutes then shook itself, ate a little grass and it was alright.'

Fuller account of this event (in the witness’s own words):

We moved smoothly until we reached a point about midway between the Platte and Sweetwater, when one of our best oxen laid down in the yoke as if poisoned and all supposed he would die. At this Father Lott came up, and seeing the cause of the disturbance he blustered about as if the world were about at an end. “There,” said he, “I told you [that] you would have to be helped and that you would be a burden on the company.” Producing a bottle of consecrated oil, Widow Smith asked her brother and James Lawson if they would please administer to the ox just as they would do to a sick person. . . . These brethren poured oil on the head of the ox and then laid their hands upon it and rebuked the power of the destroyer just as they would have done if the animal had been a human being. Immediately the ox got up and within a very few moments again pulled in the yoke as if nothing had ever happened. Before the company had proceeded very far, another of her oxen fell down as the first, but with the same treatment he also got up, and this was repeated a third time; by administration the oxen were fully healed. Widow Smith was not disturbed again until the company reached the Rattlesnake bend on the Sweetwater.