Mrs. Hyrum Smith's Healing of Her Oxen through Consecrated Oil and Prayer
Published October 20, 2026 at 7:09 AM
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Young Woman's Journal Research
During the exodus from Nauvoo, the widow of Hyrum Smith was traveling with her children. When her oxen, Buck and Brindle, became sick and were unable to continue the journey, she feared death in the wilderness. She administered consecrated oil to the animals and prayed earnestly for their recovery. The next morning, the oxen were healthy and ready to travel again.
In his recollections recorded in the Life of Joseph F. Smith, Joseph F. Smith provides additional context regarding the journey. He notes that the healing occurred midway between the Platte and Sweetwater rivers. He identifies the captain of the company as Cornelius P. Lott, who had been critical of the widow, stating she would be a burden. When the ox became sick, Mary asked her brother Joseph Fielding and James Lawson to administer to the animal. Joseph F. Smith clarifies that this happened to multiple oxen on three separate occasions during the journey. He also records a later instance where one of their oxen, referred to as 'Old Bully,' died of old age near Rattlesnake Bend, which was distinct from the miraculous healings.
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, Life of Joseph F. Smith
Sources & References
The Young Woman's Journal, vol. 24 no. 10 (October 1913). L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University digital collections. https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/YWJ/id/20448 (account extracted verbatim from the collection's page-level OCR; research confidence: high) Additional sources (periodical research): Joseph Fielding Smith, Life of Joseph F. Smith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1969). https://josephsmithfoundation.org/mary-fielding-smith 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 Full first-person account: Joseph Fielding Smith, Life of Joseph F. Smith (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book Co., 1969), pp. 150-151 https://josephsmithfoundation.org/mary-fielding-smith
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