My grandfather, Israel Johnson,
lived in Chesterfield, New Hampshire; and was much respected by his neighbors
for his honesty, integrity and industry.
My father, John Johnson, was born
in Chesterfield, New Hampshire, April 11, 1779. He followed the occupation of
farming on a large scale, and was noted for paying his debts and living
independently. He moved from Pomfret, Vermont, to Iram, Portage Co., Ohio. He
was connected with the Methodist Church for about four or five years previous
to receiving the gospel.
Soon after Joseph Smith moved
from the state of New York, my father, mother, and Ezra Booth, a Methodist
minister, went to Kirtland, to investigate Mormonism. My mother had been
laboring under an attack of chronic rheumatism in the shoulder, so that she
could not raise her hand to her head, for about two years; the Prophet laid
hands upon her, and she was healed immediately.
My father was satisfied in regard
to the truth of Mormonism, and was baptized by Joseph Smith, jun., in the
winter of 1830-1, and furnished him and his family a home, while he translated
a portion of the Bible. (Luke Johnson, “History of Luke Johnson,”
Deseret News 8, no. 11 [May 19, 1858]: 1)
This is the earliest account of the healing I have so far
encountered. It was also reported by a Campbellite minister (and one who was
pretty much anti-LDS) in a funeral sermon from August 1870, republished in a 1875
book on the history of the Campbellite movement (see Joseph
Smith Performing a Miraculous Healing According to a Non-LDS Source). if anyone knows any earlier source(s), let me know via email at ScripturalMormonism@gmail.com.
