Betty Daugherty
Betty Daugherty recovered spontaneously in 1945 of a mental/nervous disease thought to be St. Vitus Dance (Sydenham’s Chorea). This is the miracle that triggered William Branham's healing ministry. However, most patients spontaneously recover from St. Vitus Dance within 2 – 6 months.
| All the doctors around there, specialists and hospitals had give her up; she was like a raging maniac. |
In 1960 Betty Daugherty walked across the platform in Jeffersonville, Indiana, so that William Branham could pray for cataracts that had seriously affected her vision. William Branham prayed "Let the power that healed Betty Daugherty the first time, and this also the second time, let it heal our sister, in Jesus' Name. Amen."
Rev. Robert Daugherty's testimony
Betty Daugherty's healing appeared on page 14 of William Branham's tract, Jesus Christ the Same Yesterday, Today and Forever. The date of the healing and St. Louis services was in 1945. When the same testimony was re-printed in Gordon Lindsay's book "A Man Sent From God", the date was changed to 1946.
As published on page 14 of William Branham's Tract: Jesus Christ the Same
- Our little girl, Betty, had been sick for three months. We had two noted doctors of the city, but seemingly, they could not find the cause. We also had many outstanding ministers of the city and country around to pray for her. She steadily grew worse. Then we sent to Jeffersonville, Ind., for a man by the name of Rev. Wm. Branham, who has a gift of Divine Healing. Bro. Bill, as he is called, came to us at once. After hours of praying, he came in and told us that the Lord had showed him a vision of what to do for our little Betty. She was mere skin and bones and shook all the time as if she had palsy.
- Bro. Bill asked us if we would believe God and would obey what He said to do. After he had prayed and called over her the name of Jesus, our little girl was immediately healed. That has been about 10 months ago. Our little Betty is now in perfect health and is fat as she can be. I will be glad to write to anyone in question of her healing, or any of the healing that took place during the revival which Bro. Branham held here in St. Louis in 1945. The healing that took place in the St. Louis Revival is found in the book entitled "Heavenly Vision," by Bro. Branham. Be sure to read it.
- Rev. Robert Daugherty, 2009 Gano Ave. St. Louis, Mo.
As published on pages 86-87 of William Branham, A Man Sent From God"
- Our little girl, Betty, had been sick for three months. We had two noted doctors of the city, but seemingly they could not find the cause of her sickness. We also had many outstanding ministers of the city and country around, praying for her. She steadily grew worse. Then we sent to Jeffersonville, Indiana, for a man by the name of Rev. William Branham, who has the gift of divine healing. Brother Bill, as he is called, came to us at once. After hours of praying, he came in and told us that the Lord had showed him a vision of what to do for our little Betty. She was mere skin and bones and shook all the time as if she had palsy.
- Brother Bill asked us if we would believe God and would obey what He said to do. After he had prayed and called over her in the Name of Jesus, our little girl was instantly healed. That has been about 10 months ago. Our little Betty is now in perfect health and is as fat as she can be. I will be glad to write to anyone in question of her healing, or any of the healings that took place during the revival which Brother Branham held there in St. Louis in 1946.
- Rev. Robert Daugherty, 2009 Gano Ave, St. Louis, Missouri
William Branham's testimony
From the tract: I Was Not Disobedient To The Heavenly Vision
About three weeks from the time of the vision, I received a telegram from a minister in St. Louis, Mo., by the name of Rev. Robert Daugherty. He asked me to come at once because his little daughter, Betty, was dying. They had sought medical aid for her and the doctors had done all that they knew how to help her. But the child continued to grow worse and was now near death.
The following afternoon the Rev. Daugherty's father came to my house and told me that his son had called him by phone at Arnold, Ky., and asked him to bring me to St. Louis at once. That was on Sunday afternoon. That night after my church services at the Tabernacle, I met with Rev. Daugherty's father at the Seventh Street Railroad Station in Louisville, Ky. At 11:30 P.M. we caught the train to St. Louis, Mo. We arrived in St. Louis at 10:00 A.M. the next morning. We had prearranged to meet the Rev. Daugherty and he was waiting for us. We were then taken to his home where the little sick girl lay. Here I witnessed one of the most heart-breaking scenes.
A small girl about the age of seven was lying there. She had curly blonde hair and was a heart full of love to any parents. She was mere skin and bones and acted like an animal, clawing, scratching and screaming. They could not calm her at all. The mother and father said this had been going on for about three months. They said the doctors could not diagnose the case, but, dear reader, it was God's way of getting the message of healing to the dear people of St. Louis, as you will read later. I had known the Daugherty family previous to this time but did not recognize the little girl due to her condition.
We had prayer for the little girl but with no results. Rev. Daugherty said there had been many outstanding ministers and Christians of the city there to pray for her. Bro. Daugherty, his father and I then left for church to continue our prayer. After praying again, I told Bro. Daugherty I was going out alone to pray. (Many times God has to get us alone to talk to us.) It was at this time that our dear Lord Jesus showed me what to do for the child's healing. I went quickly to Bro. Daugherty and his wife and told them to believe me for I had "Thus saith the Spirit." I will never forget how they looked at me and at one another.
They seemed to want to cry or shout. Then they turned and said to me, "Bro. Branham, if we didn't believe that God heard your prayers and that God has given you the gift of Divine Healing, we would not have sent for you to come on this long trip." And may I say here that the Daugherty family is one of the most humble and God-loving families that I have ever met.
Then I asked Sister Daugherty to get a pan of clear water and a small white cloth, which she did. Then I asked Bro. Daugherty to kneel at my right and his father to my left, at the foot of the sick child's bed. That was the way it had been shown to me. I then asked Sister Daugherty to wet the cloth and to wipe it across the child's face, hands and feet. The Brothers and I were to be in prayer. After this had been carried out, the vision for her was complete.
Then I asked our dear Lord to heel the child and He did. Immediately she stopped crying and pulling her little hand through her hair. Then I returned home. About three months later, one afternoon while sitting on my front porch, a car stopped in front of my house and a sweet, little curly-haired, plump girl jumped out of the car. She ran up the walk and threw her little arms around my neck. Yes, it was little Betty Daugherty! Friends, that is the kind of things that mean more to me than the riches of this world.
Bro. Daugherty and I had a long talk and he told me the people wanted me to come to St. Louis for a healing revival. I agreed to go and the following Sunday I announced it to my congregation, I told them that I believed this was where the bread of life was to be fed, according to the vision.
Testimony by William Branham from 1954
And then we went over, and I went to St. Louis, and I met Brother Daugherty there. His little girl, all the doctors around there, specialists and hospitals had give her up; she was like a raging maniac. Ministers throughout the city had been everywhere, in there praying for her. And I went in and prayed for her, and the poor people just looked so gray. And the little girl in there, screaming and crying, fighting...and she couldn't make a noise like a human any more, sounded like an animal; she was so hoarse from, oh, around three or four months... It was spinal meningitis, or, no, Saint Vitus' dance in the--in the spine. And her little lips was all eaten, bleeding, and her little fingers just bleeding all over where she had biting her fingers, and things like that, and just screaming and going on.
And I prayed, went down to the church, waited hours after hours, set out in the old car and waited. I wasn't going to leave that case till I heard from heaven. Just setting there in the car, a vision broke before me, said, "Go tell the father and his father..." Said, "Look... Tell the woman that the other day, downtown, she bought a little white kettle. It's never had water in it before." And said, "Tell her to look in the third drawer and she'll find a handkerchief that's in a piece of paper that's never been used before. Tell her to fill it with water. Stand the father on your right hand and the grandfather on your left hand, and repeat, 'Our Father, Who art in heaven...' And as you start that, let her wipe the rag across its face. Then in the middle of the prayer have her touch its hands, then its feet. Then stand and say, 'THUS SAITH THE LORD.'"
You know what happened, don't you? She was healed right there. And we put our hands together and walked down the street and drank a soda pop together. That's right. That's right. It stirred St. Louis. In my meeting there, fourteen thousand the first night..
- Sermon: Questions and Answers, Jeffersonville, IN, May 15, 1954
Footnotes