Oliver B. Huntington's retrieval of lost items through divine intervention
Published October 15, 2026 at 2:13 PM
Contributed by
Young Woman's Journal Research
Oliver B. Huntington experienced multiple instances in his youth where items he lost were mysteriously returned to his pocket while he slept. Later, as an adult, he lost a hammer and pinchers in a large field and was unable to find them. While walking half a mile away, he received a prompting to return to the spot, where he immediately found the tools.
In Their Own Words
“When I was only old enough to wear little breeches, with pocket on one side only, and from that time on to wearing pants with two pockets, I was favored with an unseen friend, that was so attentive to my comfort and gratification that even my little playthings that I lost among the chips, or in the corn, or in the dust of the road, were carefully returned to my pocket in the night. I have often waked in the morning and found my lost treasures in my pocket, and I have often wondered how they got there. I have no doubt but that the Lord, or some of his ministering angels, took pleasure in making me happy, even in my childhood. I have had many such manifestations of the care of my Heavenly Father, and I know that he is mindful of the smallest things that concern his children. One morning I was within about half a mile of where the hammer and pinchers were lost, and was just turning to go home when something said to me, “Go right down now and you will find the hammer.” I turned instantly and walked to the place as near as I could judge where I laid them, stopped and looked around perhaps half a minute and saw the tools, to my great joy and surprise.”
— Oliver B. Huntington, The Young Woman's Journal, vol. 6, no. 7
Sources & References
The Young Woman's Journal, vol. 6 no. 7 (April 1895). L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University digital collections. https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/YWJ/id/11525 (account extracted verbatim from the collection's page-level OCR; research confidence: high) Full first-person account: The Young Woman's Journal, vol. 6 no. 7 (April 1895) https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/YWJ/id/11525
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