Eliza Foreman and John Smith (1860)

Coming across the plains, Eliza Foreman's mother, Mary Ann Campbell had been sick with dysentery.  She fell from the wagon and was run over and killed by an ox team. Because of no lumber for a coffin she was sewn up in a blanket and buried where the company camped, which is now Florence, Nebraska.  Her father, James Foreman had died in England. In the year of 1860, John Smith was called by the church to go back East and help a company of English immigrants to get to Utah. They met on the plains of Wyoming. The company was camped for the night when he met them. John noticed a young lady sitting on the tongue of a wagon, crying. He went over to her and asked her why she was crying. She told him that her mother had fell from the wagon and was run over and killed. They had no lumber for a coffin and so she was sewn up in a blanket and buried. She looked up through her tears and smiled bravely and asked "How many wives have you?"  The answer was, "I am not married" The courtship then began between John Smith and Eliza Foreman. It was love at first sight! The young couple moved to Logan to make their home. 

("A short biography of my Great Grandfather, John Smith, told by his youngest son James Andrew Smith, my Grandfather's brother" available on FamilySearch.org > Eliza Rebecca Foreman [KWJ4-V99]> Memories).

Vinson Knight (1804-1842)

Nauvoo Home of Vinson Knight

Joseph [Smith] first came to Nauvoo, then Commerce, a Mr. [Hugh] White, living there, proffered to sell him his farm for $2,500, $500 of the amount to be paid down, and the balance one year from that time. Joseph and the brethren were talking about this offer when some of them said, "We can't buy it, for we lack the money." Joseph took out his purse, and, emptying out its contents, offered a half dollar to one of the brethren, which he declined accepting, but Joseph urged him to take it, and then gave each of the other brethren a similar amount, which left him with out any. Addressing the brethren, he then said, "Now you all have money, and I have none, but the time will come when I will have money and you will have none!" He then said to Bishop [Vinson] Knight, "You go back and buy the farm!"

Brother Knight went to White, but learned from him that he had raised the price $100, and returned to Joseph without closing the bargain. Joseph again sent him with instructions to purchase, but Brother Knight, finding that White had raised the price still another $100, again returned without purchasing. For the third time Joseph commanded him to go and buy the farm, and charged him not to come back till he had done so.

When Bishop Knight got back to White, he had raised another $100 on the place, making the whole amount $2,800. However, the bargain was closed and the obligations drawn up, but how the money was going to be raised neither Brother Knight nor the other brethren could see. The next morning Joseph and several of the brethren went down to Mr. White's to sign the agreement and make the first payment of the land. A table was brought out with the papers upon it, and Joseph signed them, moved back from the table and sat with his head down, as if in thought for a moment. Just then a man drove up in a carriage and asked if Mr. Smith was there. Joseph hearing it, got up and went to the door. The man said, "Good morning, Mr. Smith, I am on a speculation today. I want to buy some land, and thought I would come and see you." Joseph then pointed around where his land lay but the man said: "I can't go with you today to see the land. Do you want any money this morning?"

Joseph replied he would like some, and when the stranger asked "How much?" he told him $500.

The man walked into the house with Joseph, emptied a small sack of gold on the table, and counted out that amount. He then handed to Joseph another $300 saying: "Mr. Smith, I make you a present of this!"

After this transpired, Joseph laughed at the brethren and said, "You trusted in money; but I trusted in God. Now I have money; and you have none."

(Reported by Philo Dibble, in "Philo Dibble Autobiography [1806-c. 1843]," as found in "Early Scenes in Church History," Four Faith Promoting Classics, [Salt Lake City: Bookcraft, 1968], pp. 74-96).

George Malin Williams (1891-1974)

It seems to me the adversary has had a desire to destroy me from the time I was a small child. But this evidently was not the Lord's will. His protection has saved me from many serious accidents and I have recovered from illnesses when the doctors have despaired of my life.

When I was a small child playing on the floor, my sister was carrying hot water and stumbled over me, scalding me severely. 

On another occasion, when I was just three years old, I contracted diphtheria and scarlet fever at the same time and almost died. But my mother took a spoon and scraped down into my throat to give me an opening through which to breathe. Later, they called the doctor; he lanced my throat while I was sleeping. The shock of this was an ordeal I shall never forget. ...

I went to work as an apprentice machinist at Silver Brothers. One day while I was working at a machine a fellow decided he would play a joke on me by pouring gasoline in my back pocket. This he did and then got another one of the fellows to throw a match at me. I was a living torch while I ran about 150 feet and dived into a vat of water. This was another occasion when my guardian angel was very close, for although I was badly burned I made a full and speedy recovery. ...

I was privileged to [serve in] the British Mission. ... After I had been in England for only fourteen months I was stricken with pneumonia. I was seriously ill for eight long months, and it was necessary for me to remain in a sanitarium for some time. The mission president felt it was advisable to release me and send me home. It took me one year to recover my health. ...

As I said before, the Lord has had his protecting angels near me all the days of my life. During World War I, while I was working at Garfield, I had to work with an air hammer on a scaffolding two stories high. As I stepped on the scaffold it gave way. A four by four board had been sawed almost in half. Down I went, hitting everything on the way down. But I was able to get up and walk away. When I was roofing I had many narrow escapes. While working on the sugar factory in Spanish Fork, I slipped and fell face down from the roof. But I was able to catch myself on the edge of the cornice. At the place where I would have fallen there was a cement mixer working two stories below. Another time I was working on the top of the Continental Bank building and someone had thrown a piece of felt roofing paper over and air duct. I fell over it and caught myself on the other side, saving myself from falling some thirteen stories. I also fell off two different roofs of homes, but something was there to break my fall and I never even suffered a broken bone. So you can see how good the Lord has been to me. 

("Life Story of George Malin Williams," available on FamilySearch.org > George Malin Williams (KWC8-FNZ) > Memories; punctuation and paragraphing modernized)

John Thomas Williams (1862-1940)

John was blessed with a special gift of healing. He was often called on to administer to the sick in his ward and stake area. After World War I, during the terrible flu epidemic he was on constant call to bless people who had contracted the disease. Although he went about administering to flu victims, he never got the flu himself. He told and interesting experience he had at this time. He said he had gone about blessing the sick nigh and day until he became very weary and somewhat impatient. One time, he was journeying to give a blessing and was complaining to himself and he walked along. He thought, Why do I have to go so constantly to these sick people? Suddenly he heard a voice behind him say, "Why are you complaining, you haven't gotten the flu have you? You still have your health don't you?" The voice was so clear he turned around to see who had spoken to him but not one was there. He continued to walk and again heard the voice asking him the same questions. He concluded the Spirit of the Lord was speaking to him, and he ceased to complain and went about blessing the sick with a cheerful heart.

("Life Story of John Thomas Williams and Katherine Coreless Williams," available on FamilySearch.org > John Thomas Williams [KWC4-M1K] > Memories).