Elder Llewellyn Harris’s Miraculous Healing of the Zunis during the Smallpox Epidemic
Published October 5, 2026 at 5:25 AM
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Millennial Star Research
During the smallpox epidemic among the Zuni people in New Mexico, between 1877 and 1880, missionary Elder Llewellyn Harris entered the village and administered to the sick. In January 1878, Harris was staying with Captain Lochee when Lochee’s twelve-year-old daughter appeared to be dying. She was gasping and seemed to stop breathing; prompted by the Spirit, Harris laid his hands on her, after which she revived and slept well. News of the healing spread, and Harris was called to administer to ten to twenty families a day. As the epidemic continued, villagers gathered many of the sick in a large room, described in one account as about twenty by forty feet. On January 27, 1878, from 8 a.m. until sunset, Harris administered to 406 people there. He later testified that the Lord strengthened him through the physical exhaustion and difficult conditions. The accounts describe those he touched as being healed and the plague as stayed, while noting that some who recovered later succumbed after taking outside medicines. The records also name John Hunt, Ammon M. Tenney, Erastus B. Snow, A. W. Ivins, and L. C. Burnham in connection with the broader account of the Zuni healings.
In Their Own Words
“I arrived at the Zuni village January 20th, 1878, and found some sick with the small-pox in nearly every house. I put up with a man named Captain Lochee. He had three children sick with the small-pox. His daughter, twelve years old, was very sick. She had been sick for some time, and was then dying. She ceased to breathe, and her spirit left her body. I felt impressed by the Spirit to administer to her. I did so, and she began to breathe again, and from that hour she began to recover. The news of this spread through the village like wild-fire. The next morning, and every morning after, I was called to visit from ten to twenty families a day. I found them in a most deplorable condition. In many houses the whole family was sick, and no one to give them a drink of water. I administered to them, and the Lord blessed them, and they began to recover. The disease continued to spread, and the people became alarmed. They gathered the sick into a large hall, about twenty by forty feet. On the 27th of January, 1878, I went into this hall, and from 8 a.m. until sunset, I administered to 406 persons. The stench that arose and the horrible sight that met my eyes is beyond description. I called on the Lord to strengthen me. I commenced, and as fast as I administered to them they were removed, but other sick ones were continually being brought in. I was so weak that I could hardly stand, but the Lord gave me strength. The Spaniard who had stayed there all day asked me if I knew how many I had prayed for. I told him that I did not keep count; he said he had and that it was 406. The next morning my arms were so sore that I could hardly move them. A Presbyterian minister came to the village and tried to persuade the Indians that I was a servant of the devil, and that the power I used was of the devil, but the Indians told him that if the devil could heal the sick, they wanted him to do it, for they had seen the fruits of my work, and they knew it was of God.”
— Llewellyn Harris, letter to Orson Pratt, Dec. 15, 1879
Sources & References
The Young Woman's Journal, vol. 27 no. 7 (July 1916). L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University digital collections. https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/YWJ/id/19096 (account extracted verbatim from the collection's page-level OCR; research confidence: high) Additional sources (periodical research): Steve Orton, 'Latter-day Miracle Among the Zu…' The Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star (Manchester, later Liverpool, England, May 1840–1970), 2 June 1879 (Vol. 41, No. 22). https://archive.org/details/per_utah-and-the-mormons_the-latter-day-saints-millennial-star_1879-06-02_41_22 (account extracted verbatim from the issue's Internet Archive OCR text; research confidence: high) Additional sources (periodical research): Latter-day Saint Magazine…
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