Mary Fielding Smith's Divine Protection and Miraculous Journey
Published October 19, 2026 at 6:08 PM
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Young Woman's Journal Research
During the pioneer trek to the West, Mary Fielding Smith, the widow of the martyred Patriarch Hyrum Smith, traveled with her eight-year-old son, Joseph F. Smith. The speaker notes that despite her faded dress and the heavy labor of driving oxen, she was 'attended by angels' and led by divine favor, fulfilling her role as a leader who would eventually guide the destinies of Israel.
Mary Fielding Smith’s journey was marked by significant, repeated reliance on spiritual manifestations beyond the initial accounts. During the journey, Mary faced repeated illness among her oxen, which were essential for her family’s survival. According to Joseph F. Smith's recollections, when one of her best oxen became critically ill and lay down, seemingly near death, she requested that two brethren administer to the animal with consecrated oil. The ox reportedly stood up and recovered instantly; this miracle was repeated twice more when other oxen became ill. Additionally, when a group of their oxen went missing near St. Joseph, Missouri, while searching for supplies, Mary prayed for their recovery. After the men in the party had searched unsuccessfully, Mary proceeded to a thicket she felt prompted to check and found the oxen entangled there.
In Their 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. . . . Her earnest plea was complied with. 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. This was a great astonishment to the company. 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. At this place, Old Bully, one of the old oxen, laid down and died of sheer old age. He was hardly missed, however, as he had been unable to render but little service for some time.”
— Joseph F. Smith, as recorded in Life of Joseph F. Smith
Sources & References
The Young Woman's Journal, vol. 22 no. 7 (July 1911). L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University digital collections. https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/YWJ/id/16668 (account extracted verbatim from the collection's page-level OCR; research confidence: high) Additional sources (periodical research): Jane McBride Choate, "Mary Fielding Smith—Mother in Israel," Friend, July 1993. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/friend/1993/07/mary-fielding-smith-mother-in-israel?lang=eng; Lavina Fielding Anderson, "Mary Fielding Smith: Her Ox Goes Marching On," Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought, vol. 14 no. 4 (1981). https://www.dialoguejournal.com/articles/mary-fielding-smith-her-ox-goes-marching-on/ Full first-person account: Joseph Fielding Smith, Life of Joseph F. Smith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 1969), 150-151. https://josephsmithfoundation.org/mary-fielding-smith
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