{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_50958/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_50958","id":"gutenberg_50958","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50958","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Biographies","Category: History - Religious","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Latter Day Saint churches","Latter Day Saint women","Latter Day Saints","Utah -- Biography","Women -- Biography"],"text":"REPRESENTATIVE\n\nWOMEN OF DESERET,\n\nA BOOK OF\n\nBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES,\n\nTO ACCOMPANY THE PICTURE BEARING THE SAME TITLE.\n\n\nCOMPILED AND WRITTEN BY\n\nAUGUSTA JOYCE CROCHERON,\n\n_Author of \"WILD FLOWERS OF DESERET;\"_\n\nAND DEDICATED TO\n\n_The originals of this Picture and Book, their co-laborers in the\nChurch, and every true heart that will receive\ntheir testimonies._\n\n  O, Spirits dear! Ye light the path\n  That else were lone and dim;\n  I follow where your sainted feet\n  Lead onward, up to Him,\n  And hear above life's discords, still,--\n  Your heav'n inspired hymn.\n\nSALT LAKE CITY:\nPRINTED BY J. C. GRAHAM & CO.\n1884.\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTORY.\n\nIn presenting this picture, REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF DESERET, before\nthe public, an explanation may be appropriate that the object may be\nrightly understood. The picture is intended to represent the Latter Day\nSaints Women's Organizations rather than to draw attention to those\nintellectual gifts and acquirements which in this connection are but\nsecondary to the spiritual or missionary labors of those represented.\nAs in Salt Lake City is the head of these organizations, so these\nspiritual laborers were selected by the precedence they hold.\n\nThroughout our Territory, indeed beyond, are many as sincere and\nfaithful, noble women, well deserving of every honor contained herein,\nbut there is of necessity a limit in the present work and that which\nwould have been a pleasure to the author became an impossibility at\nthis time, but it is the purpose in due season to present another work\nwhich will be of interest to our people.\n\nIt is not the purpose of the compiler of these sketches to present a\ncomplete history of the subjects of the picture, to which this book is\nmerely an accompaniment to acquaint the many who are strangers to them\nwith their labors and their virtues, to show as it were, what manner\nof people these \"Mormons\" are. To do full justice to the originals\nwould require more space and ability than are mine. But if the eyes\nof the stranger may thereby be opened to a knowledge of their purity,\nintegrity and faith in God, their heroic firmness and the trials they\nhave endured without wavering in allegiance to their cause; if any may\nbe convinced that this people are in earnest and in the right, and\nthat God is with them; if they can realize that for men, Mormonism is\nnot a cloak, a subterfuge and a selfish system; that our women are not\nfrom the dregs of civilization, led and controlled by stronger minds\nwithout a knowledge within themselves for their course, it will prove a\njoy and delight, a sweet return for my humble but earnest efforts. O,\nthat these truthful testimonies falling upon hearts that are as blocks\nof ice toward us, might, like burning bullets melt their way therein,\nuntil, like Joseph's brethren, they should weep for injuries these have\nborne!\n\nAnd to the young of our people, if this work shall cause them to\nappreciate their honored parents more by the nobility they have proven;\nif it shall cause them to weigh the object for which these sacrifices\nwere endured against the poor temptations of the present time; if they\nshall question themselves, shall my parent's sacrifices count for\nnaught? shall their example and their labors be lost on me? their hopes\nmeet disappointment? If that command, \"honor thy father and thy mother\"\nshall prevail, and the sweet testimony of the Holy Spirit convince and\nstrengthen them in the same service and faith unto their God, still\nsweeter and richer shall be the reward.\n\nThat this work may go forth from my humble home as a missionary, a\nsilent worker of great good is my fervent hope.\n\nA. J. C.\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\nIn presenting the picture and book, REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF DESERET, to\nthe public, I desire to first express my thanks to the ladies of the\npicture for their kindness and confidence.\n\nI thank Sister Eliza R. Snow Smith for her approval and sanction;\nSister Emmeline B. Wells for her steadfast encouragement, and Bishop\nHiram B. Clawson for his kind interest and advice. Published, as it has\nbeen, in part by subscription, I thank also my generous patrons.\n\nThrough a disappointment, so many embarrassments occurred that at one\ntime I felt that no inducement, however beautiful, could again tempt me\nto so great (in my circumstances) an undertaking; but for me the Lord\nin His goodness opened the way; and towards James R. Miller, Dr. A.\nFarr and Zina D. H. Young, each, my heart thus expresses itself:\n\n  As Hagar in her lone despair\n  Gazed hopeless o'er the desert drear,\n  Nor saw until her steps were led,\n  The living waters, sweet and clear;\n  So I who strove through tedious days\n  'Mid hopes that fled and fears that frowned--\n  Turned at thy name, and in thy heart,\n  The boon I sought so long was found.\n\n  Not hers alone the story old--\n  The earth is thronged with hearts distressed\n  That little dream how close beside\n  The angel walks--to save and bless.\n\nIn compiling the brief sketches of Eliza R. Snow Smith, Zina D.\nH. Young, M. I. Horne and Prescendia L. Kimball, I am indebted to\nthe editor of the _Woman's Exponent_, their biographer. Several\nautobiographies follow, and looking it all over, the thought\nrises--_how little I have done after all!_ I have scarcely more than\nfurnished the thread on which their gems were strung. Often I have\npaused, sorrowful that this work must be so brief: so much remains to\nbe told. I have had sincerest joy in this labor, and if my efforts\nshould be regarded as conferring any honor upon these ladies, it has\nbeen a greater honor to me to be accorded the privilege of tendering\nit, and of enjoying their acquaintance and friendship.\n\nIn conclusion, I would again refer to our First Lady, E. R. S.\nSmith; in a short time will appear her latest and largest book, an\nautobiography and history with genealogical record of her family, and\ndedicated to her noble brother, Apostle Lorenzo Snow. On her eightieth\nbirthday, January 21, 1884, Sister Eliza was the recipient of a large\nsurprise party given in honor of the day, in appreciation, love and\nrespect of herself and labors, in the Social Hall, a building of\nhistrionic association in the annals of Salt Lake City. It is wonderful\nindeed to contemplate the still youthful spirit, energy and ability of\nthis lady; ever serene, gentle, forbearing with others; so carefully\nhiding her own weariness and leaving unmentioned whatever might trouble\nher; that the idea would never suggest itself to those not _intimately_\nassociated with her, that she has anything to do but preside, receive\nand enjoy the loving expressions from her friends.\n\nHoping this volume may entertain and benefit the reader, and that all\nerrors in _book-making_ may be graciously pardoned, I will subscribe\nmyself, dear public--Your Servant and Friend, AUGUSTA JOYCE CROCHERON.\n\n\n\nINDEX.\n\nEliza R. Snow Smith\n\nZina D. H. Young\n\nMary Isabella Horne\n\nSarah M. Kimball\n\nPrescendia L. Kimball\n\nPhoebe W. Woodruff\n\nBathsheba W. Smith\n\nElizabeth Howard\n\nElmina S. Taylor\n\nMary A. Freeze\n\nLouie Felt\n\nEllen C. Clawson\n\nEmmeline B. Wells\n\nRomania B. Pratt\n\nElvira S. Barney\n\nEmily Hill Woodmansee\n\nHannah T. King\n\nAugusta Joyce Crocheron\n\nHelen Mar Whitney\n\nZina Y. Williams\n\nLouise M. Wells\n\nExplanatory\n\n\n\nELIZA R. SNOW SMITH,\n\nPRESIDENT OF THE WOMEN'S ORGANIZATIONS OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF\nLATTER DAY SAINTS.\n\n\"Eliza R. Snow was born in Becket, Berkshire Co., Mass. Her parents\nwere Oliver Snow of Mass., and Rosetta L. Pettibone, of Conn. They\nwere of English descent, their parents having emigrated to America\nat an early period. In 1806, the family removed to Mantua, Portage\nCo., Ohio.\" Mr. and Mrs. Snow bestowed great care upon the education\nof their daughter, intellectual and domestic. She began her literary\nlabors when quite young, her contributions over a _nom de plume_\nreceiving much admiration.\n\nHer grandfather was a revolutionary soldier, and his reminiscences\ncreated impressions upon her youthful mind that became part of her\nnature, developing into an intense national devotion.\n\n\"Two volumes of her 'Religious, Historical, Political' poems have been\npublished, the First in Liverpool, England, in 1856, the Second in\nSalt Lake City.\" Her poems are life like and embody most of our Church\nhistory. To select her best poems would make a volume. The one by which\nshe is best known, perhaps, is, \"O, My Father, thou that dwellest,\"\nand ranks in its individuality and popularity as a Latter Day Saints'\ndoctrinal hymn, with \"The Spirit of God like a fire is burning.\" It is\nsafe to say that these two hymns have wielded an influence beyond our\npower to estimate, in conveying the spirit of the Gospel to the hearts\nof the hearers. I have witnessed throngs of people standing outside a\n\"Mormon\" place of worship, listening to the singing forgetful for the\ntime of their own personal affairs. They have fixed themselves upon the\nmemory of all who ever heard them. \"O My Father\" contains doctrine that\nwas new to the world, it was the essence of Mormonism. Every Mormon\nchild is familiar with it and would recognize it in any country. It has\nbeen sung to many tunes, several have been composed for it. Of these, I\nonce heard Pres. Brigham Young, in the St. George Temple, designate his\npreference thus: \"Will the Parowan choir please sing 'O My Father,' to\nthat sweet, gentle air I love so well?\" The air was \"Gentle Annie,\" a\nstrange choice it sounded, but the effect proved the correctness of his\ntaste.\n\n\"Sister Eliza early devoted her attention to the Scriptures and in her\ngirlhood formed the acquaintance of the famous preacher and scholar,\nAlexander Campbell, and other noted divines. In 1835, she went to\nKirtland, Ohio, and boarded in the family of the Prophet Joseph,\nteaching a select school for young ladies. Miss Snow returned home to\nvisit her parents but on the 1st of January, 1837, bade farewell to her\npaternal home, to share the joys or the afflictions of the Latter Day\nSaints.\n\n\"She became a governess to the children of the Prophet, and was a\ncompanion for Emma, his wife, for a number of years.\n\n\"From means she brought with her, Miss Snow gave freely toward building\nthe Kirtland Temple. Persecution soon arose and raged so that, with\nher family who had now joined the Church, she left Kirtland, going\nto Davies Co., Mo. On the 10th of December, 1838, Miss Snow with her\nfather's family, left Davies Co., the Mormons in that locality having\nbeen ordered by the Governor to leave the county within ten days.\n\n\"They passed through almost unendurable sufferings, and reaching Far\nWest found the Prophet and many others had been dragged to jail leaving\ntheir families destitute. March 1839, they left Far West leaving much\nof their property behind. Eliza and her sister stopped in Quincy, Ill.,\nawhile. In July 1839, Miss Snow went to Commerce, (since called Nauvoo)\nto teach school. During her seven years' residence there she wrote much\nand advanced rapidly in her knowledge of the principles of the Gospel.\nHere, the Relief Society was organized by Joseph, March, 1842, and\nSister Eliza was chosen for secretary.\" There are now three hundred\nbranches of the Relief Society. \"Eliza was at this time the wife of\nthe Prophet. In the latter part of July 1842, Mrs. Smith, President\nof the Relief Society, proposed a petition to Governor Carlin, asking\nhis protection of Joseph. Sister Eliza, as secretary, wrote the\npetition which was signed by several hundred ladies, and in company\nwith President Emma and Mrs. Warren Smith visited the Governor at his\nresidence in Quincy, Adams Co., Ill., where they were most cordially\nreceived by the Governor. He replied to them, 'I believe Mr. Smith is\ninnocent.' Soon after their return home they learned that the Governor\nin connection with Missouri officials was plotting the destruction of\nthe lives of those noble men.\n\n\"The Prophet and Patriarch were massacred! For awhile, thought of all\nelse was forgotten but this overwhelming woe. But God gave them his\nsustaining love, and Eliza, widowed, turned again to the work Joseph\nhad established, consecrating even her life to its service. The Temple\nwas at length finished, and Sister Eliza then began another era,\nministering in the Temple in the holy rites that pertain to the House\nof the Lord, as Priestess and Mother in Israel to hundreds of her sex.\n\n\"In Feb., 1846, she left Nauvoo, on her way to the Rocky Mountains.\nAt the middle Fork of Green River they stopped at one of the resting\nplaces. Here Sister Eliza and friends with whom the latter traveled,\nlived in a log house laid up like children's cob houses, with cracks\nfrom one to four inches wide. A tent cloth stretched over the top,\nblankets and carpets hung up inside as protection against the inclement\nweather. On the 19th of August when they were leaving here, they were\nminus a teamster. Sister Eliza undertook to drive ox team, and after\nsome experience became an adept. August 27th they crossed the Missouri\nriver, and on the 28th, arrived at Winter Quarters. From constant\nexposure and continued hardships Sister Eliza broke down. Fever set in,\nchills and fever followed; heavy rains came on and she was wet nearly\nfrom head to foot. She felt that she stood at the gates of death, it\nwas but a step beyond, and once inside the portals she would be free\nfrom pain and suffering. But the great lifework lay before her, and\nshe summoned courage and supreme faith to her aid. They moved into a\nlog house partly finished, no chinking, no chimney. The fire was built\non one side, and the room which had no floor was always filled with\nsmoke. The cooking had to be done out of doors, the intense cold being\npreferable to the smoke.\" About the close of the year she received the\nsad news of the death of her mother.\n\n\"April 7th, 1847, the pioneers under the direction of President Brigham\nYoung started to find a gathering place for the Pilgrim Saints. In June\nSister Eliza resumed her journey westward. Nursing the sick in tents\nand wagons, and burying the dead by the wayside in the wild desert\nwere indeed mournful, yes, pitiful. On the 4th of August, several of\nthe Mormon Battallion returning to Winter Quarters, met the Pilgrim\nCompanies, and joyful indeed was the meeting for they were husbands,\nfathers, brothers and sons of women who were in those companies. They\nsoon met the returning pioneers and heard of the resting place found,\nand arrived safely in the valley in October. Here Sister Eliza took\nup her abode with Mrs. Clara Decker Young. Shortly after, the Saints\nnumbering six hundred arrived in the valley, a pole was erected and the\n_flag_ which had been preserved with the greatest care, was raised. *\n* As time passed on a place was selected and consecrated in which holy\nordinances might be administered. Sister Eliza was called upon to take\npart, in which calling she has officiated up to the present. When the\nwards and settlements were pretty generally systematized, Pres. Young\nre-organized the Relief Society. He called on Sister Eliza to assist,\nand associate with her in the labor, Zina D. Young; this gave to them\nthe precedence which they have since held.\n\n\"At a Mass Meeting held in this city January 13th, 1870, in the Old\nTabernacle, (where the Assembly Hall now stands) by about 6,000 women\nto protest against the 'Cullom Bill,' Sister Eliza made a strong\nand brilliant speech. Politically this was the turning point in the\nhistory of the women of Utah. A few weeks later and the women of Utah\nreceived the right of franchise. They will ever hold Governor S. A.\nMann in special grateful remembrance. * * In 1854-5, the Lion House\nwas completed and Sister Eliza has ever since resided there. It was\nsome years later before the domestic spinning, dyeing and weaving were\ndiscontinued, in these things Sister Eliza also excelled.\n\n\"In 1869, the Retrenchment Meetings were by the counsel of Pres. Young,\norganized. An association with a presiding board of seven officers.\nThese meetings are still held in the Fourteenth Ward Assembly Rooms\nsemi-monthly, at the same hour, the same ladies presiding, excepting\nSister M. T. Smoot since removed to Provo. Here good instructions are\ngiven, and here the Junior Associations' secretaries bring the minutes\nof their respective Wards' Meetings, also the secretaries of the\nPrimary Associations, (girls under twelve years of age, generally,)\nthus bringing together for mutual benefit an interchange of ideas,\nexperience and suggestions, the aged veterans, the younger matrons and\nmaidens, and little children.\n\n\"October 26th, 1872, Sister Eliza left Salt Lake City on a journey\nto the Holy Land, her brother, Apostle Lorenzo Snow, joining her in\nOgden. Pres. George A. Smith and party met them in New York. They took\nthe steamer for Liverpool November 5th. In Rome Sister Eliza spent\nfive days, visited Naples, Corfu, Alexandria, Cairo, Suez, Joppa,\nthe plains of Sharon, the Valley of Ajelon became realized, and in\ndue time they beheld Jerusalem. This tour through the Holy Land was\na mission pertaining to the Latter Day Work. An account of the trip\nwas published in book form, entitled 'Palestine Tourists.' Sunday,\nMarch 2nd, 1873, they ascended the Mount of Olives, and held service\nthere after the manner of the Holy Priesthood as revealed in this\ndispensation. March 25th, embarked for Constantinople. Sister Eliza had\nbeen enduring twenty-nine days of tent life, and twenty-one of riding\non horseback. And this in her seventieth year! At Athens they took\ntea with the American Minister, and met the American Consul General\nto Constantinople. They visited Munich then went to Vienna and thence\nto Hamburg. May 16th, 1873, they took steamer for London, and met the\nSaints in their Conference, May 25th. Embarked for home on the 28th.\nReturning early in July, she visited many old scenes and friends of her\nearly life, received with honors from place to place. So quiet was her\nreturn to Utah, that four days elapsed before her many friends became\naware of it. A brief rest sufficed, Sister Eliza could not be idle. She\nvisited Ogden and Provo in August, Cache Valley in September, holding\nmeetings in these and many other places.\n\n\"Just after the October Conference of 1876, Sister Eliza entered\nupon the superintendency of the 'Woman's Store,' a Commission House\nfor Utah home made goods. Officers and employees were women. During\nthis year she prepared her second volume of poems for the press, also\nassisted in selecting and preparing the manuscript for the 'Women of\nMormondom,' and in raising funds for its publication, and not least of\nall, gave the proof her attention. Also still continued her labors in\nthe House of the Lord.\" At this time occurred the death of President\nBrigham Young. To one so disciplined in order, with such continuity\nof purpose, such adhesiveness to principle and friends, it would\nseem that to ordinary persons, the loss of one in whose house she\nhad her place, and whose friendship and counsels she had shared for\nover twenty-five years, would be an overwhelming shock. But the same\nstrength of mind which had risen from the martyrdom of the Prophet\nand Patriarch supported her again, and she \"renewed her diligence, if\nit were possible, in her broad field of labor.\" Political events and\nduties occupied her attention during December and January 1878. During\nthe ensuing summer she traveled hundreds of miles, holding generally\ntwo meetings a day wherever they stopped. While attending a meeting at\nFarmington, Davis Co., the efforts of Sister Aurelia Spencer Rogers\nreceived her consideration and the Primary Associations, for children,\nbecame part of our system. \"The first Organization at Farmington dates\nfrom September 7th, 1878; about this time an Association was organized\nin the Eleventh Ward of this city, taking the lead.\" This new feature\nso suggestive of great benefit to the children so enlisted her feelings\nthat she has visited most of the settlements and wards in this matter\norganizing Associations. Sister Eliza returned from a long tour of\nmissionary labor just in time to preside at a grand Mass Meeting of\n15,000 women, held in the Theatre, November 16th, 1878, in reply to\nrepresentations of the Anti-Polygamic Society. The year 1880 was spent\nvisiting the L. D. S. Women's Organizations, and the production of the\nChildrens Primary Hymn Book, soon followed by a tune book to accompany\nthe above. On Saturday, July 17th, Fourteenth Ward Assembly Rooms,\nPresident John Taylor ordained Sister Eliza to the office to which she\nhad been elected; President of Latter Day Saints' Women's Organizations\nthroughout the world, wherever our people are; also, Sister Zina D. H.\nYoung as her First Counselor, Elizabeth A. Whitney (since deceased)\nSecond Counselor, Sarah M. Kimball as Secretary, and Mary Isabella\nHorne as Treasurer.\n\n\"In August Sister Eliza visited Sanpete Co., and in Thistle Valley\nassisted the Bishop in organizing a Relief Society, with an Indian\nsister as a counselor; the first Indian woman ordained and set apart to\nan office in this dispensation. November 8th, Sister Eliza accompanied\nby Sister Zina D. Young, left home for St. George to do a work in the\nTemple. They traveled over one thousand miles in carriages and wagons,\ndoing missionary work among the Saints. In St. George the anniversary\nof Sister Eliza's birthday was publicly celebrated, and on the same day\nthe people of Weber Stake paid a delicate tribute to the honorable lady\nby a similar celebration at Ogden City.\n\n\"Sisters Eliza and Zina returned from St. George March 31st, and were\nmet at the depot by a party of thirty ladies who escorted them to the\nLion House, where a reception, a welcome home, awaited them. In 1881,\nduring the intervals of her many public duties, she prepared her new\nbook Bible Questions and Answers. In September, visited Thistle Valley,\norganizing a Primary Association with ten little Indian children\nenrolled as members. April 1883, the Relief Society was organized\namong the Indians at Washakie, an Indian village in Box Elder Co.\nAfter duly considering the long-felt necessity among our own people\nof an institution for the sick and injured, where the ordinances of\nfaith might be administered freely and without restraint, in fact, one\nthat we might term our own, and as one of the links in our system of\norganizations, the sisters took a course that led to the establishment\nof the Deseret Hospital, at which institution the dedication services\nwere held, July 17th, 1882, by the First Presidency, Stake Presidency,\nApostles Wilford Woodruff and F. D. Richards; Mayor William Jennings,\nC. W. Penrose, Editor _Deseret News_, L. John Nuttall and Joseph Horne\nbeing present. Eliza R. S. Smith, President, E. B. Wells, Secretary.\"\n\nI will conclude this brief sketch with one of her latest poems:\n\n  BURY ME QUIETLY WHEN I DIE.\n\n  When my spirit ascends to the world above,\n  To smile with the choirs in celestial love,\n  Let the finger of silence control the bell,\n  To restrain the chime of a funeral knell,\n  Let no mourning strain--not a sound be heard,\n  By which a pulse of the heart is stirred--\n  No note of sorrow to prompt a sigh;\n  Bury me quietly when I die.\n\n  I am aiming to earn a celestial crown--\n  To merit a heavenly; pure renown;\n  And, whether in grave or in tomb I'm laid,\n  Beneath the tall oak or the cypress shade;\n  Whether at home with dear friends around;\n  Or in distant lands upon stranger ground--\n  Under wintry clouds or a summer sky;\n  Bury me quietly when I die.\n\n  What avail the parade and the splendor here,\n  To a legal heir to a heavenly sphere?\n  To the heirs of salvation what is the worth,\n  In their perishing state, the frail things of earth?\n  What is death to the good, but an entrance gate\n  That is placed on the verge of a rich estate\n  Where commissioned escorts are waiting by?\n  Bury me quietly when I die.\n\n  On the \"iron rod\" I have laid my hold;\n  If I keep the faith, and like Paul of old\n  Shall have \"fought the good fight\" and Christ the Lord\n  Has a crown in store with a full reward\n  Of the holy priesthood in fulness rife,\n  With the gifts and the powers of an endless life,\n  And a glorious mansion for me on high;\n  Bury me quietly when I die.\n\n  Like a beacon that rises o'er ocean's wave,\n  There's a light--there's a life beyond the grave;\n  The future is bright and it beckons me on\n  Where the noble and pure and the brave have gone;\n  Those who have battled for truth with their mind and might,\n  With their garments clean and their armor bright;\n  They are dwelling with God in a world on high:\n  Bury me quietly when I die.\n\n\n\nZINA D. H. YOUNG,\n\nFIRST COUNSELOR TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE L. D. S. WOMEN'S ORGANIZATIONS.\n\n\"And he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the\nhearts of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the\nearth with a curse.\" How fitting are these sacred words to the subject\nof this sketch and her family. In obedience to this command renewed in\nthis dispensation, searching through their genealogical records for ten\ngenerations back, they have brought forth to light, and to eternal life\nin the celestial kingdom of God, the forgotten and unknown ancestry of\ntheir family, finding now and then some noble representative of their\nrace linked with even a kingdom's honor, and at last, far back, upon\nthe throne of England.\n\nSister Zina's career of religious devotion and service is not a new\nfeature in the Huntington family, nor America a new field of labor to\nthem. One hundred years ago Lady Salina Huntington, saving to herself\nonly sufficient for the real needs of life, devoted a great portion\nof her vast fortune to missionary service, for the introduction of\nChristianity among the North American Indians, by the founding of\nschools for the natives and the support of ministers and teachers.\n\"She allowed herself but one dress a year. Lady Salina Huntington was\nthe second daughter of the Earl of Ferrars. She was born in 1707, and\nwas the co-laborer of Whitefield and Wesley. 'The pedigree of Lady\nHuntington and her husband, and of George Washington, first President\nof the United States, (as traced by Mapleson in his researches) meet in\nthe same parentage.' 'Lady Huntington and her chaplains often journeyed\nduring the summer, making their presence a means of religious revivals\nwherever they went. A church needed. With her, to resolve was to\naccomplish. Her jewels she determined to offer to the Lord. They were\nsold for six hundred and ninety-eight pounds, and with this she erected\na house of worship in 1760. Her daughter, Lady Salina, was one of the\nsix earls daughters chosen to assist the Princess Augusta to bear the\ntrain of Queen Charlotte on her coronation day.\" Did it foreshadow an\nera of revelations dawning upon the world, when she prayed \"that God\nwould give us new bread, not stale, but what was baked in the oven that\nday.\" Lady Huntington built seven chapels, her private property, beside\naiding sixty others. At the age of eighty-four a few hours before\nthe last struggle she whispered joyfully, \"I shall go to my Father\ntonight,\" and so she went home, June 17th, 1791.\n\nThus by birthright and by heritage is the land of Freedom the\nHuntingtons' field of religious labor. The mantles of Lady Huntington\nand remoter noble ancestors have at last been lifted from the silence\nand the shadows of departed centuries to the shoulders of worthy\ndescendants and representatives, who are doing works of greater\nmagnitude than they ever comprehended. Superintended by Dimock B.\nHuntington, and assisted by the family, Zina and her sister Prescinda\nhave been baptized for ten generations, numbering nearly five thousand.\n\nBy permission I select from matter collected and published by Emmeline\nB. Wells, in _Woman's Exponent_ the following portions of biography:\n\n\"Zina Diantha Huntington was born January 31st, 1821, at Watertown. Her\nfather was William Huntington, her mother Zina Baker, whose father was\none of the first physicians in New Hampshire. Her grandmother on the\nmother's side was Dorcas Dimock, 'descended from the noble family of\nDimocks, whose representatives held the hereditary knight-championship\nof England; instance: Sir Edward Dymock, Queen Elizabeth's champion.'\n\n\"The father of Mrs. Zina D. H. Young was also a patriot and served\nin the war of 1812. Samuel Huntington, one of the signers of the\nDeclaration of Independence, was the uncle of this old revolutionary\nsoldier. She says: 'My father's family is directly descended from\nSimon Huntington, the Puritan immigrant who sailed for America in\n1633. He died at sea, but left three sons and his widow, Margaret.\nThe church records of Roxbury, Mass., contain the earliest record of\nthe Huntington name known in New England, and is in the handwriting\nof the Rev. John Elliot himself, the pastor of that ancient church.\nThis is the record: 'Margaret Huntington, widow, came in 1633, her\nhusband died by the way of small pox. She brought children with her.'\n'My grandfather, Wm. Huntington, the revolutionary soldier, married\nPrescinda Lathrop, and was one of the first settlers in the Black River\nValley, Northern New York. The Huntingtons and Lathrops intermarried,\nand my sister Prescinda Lathrop Huntington, bears the family name\nof generations.' The Huntingtons embraced the Gospel at Watertown,\nNew York, and Zina D., when only fifteen years old was baptized by\nthe Patriarch Hyrum Smith, August 14th, 1835, and soon after went to\nKirtland with her father's family. In this year she received the gift\nof tongues. On one occasion in the Kirtland Temple she heard a whole\ninvisible choir of angels singing, till the house seemed filled with\nnumberless voices. At Kirtland she received the gift of interpretation.\nShe was also at the memorable Pentecost when the spirit of God filled\nthe house like a mighty, rushing wind. Zina was also a member of the\nKirtland Temple Choir, of whom but few are now living.\n\nSister Zina experienced the persecutions in Missouri, during which the\nmother died from fatigue and privation, and only two of their family\nwere able to follow her remains to their resting place. She says; \"Thus\ndied my martyred mother.\"\n\nSister Zina was married in Nauvoo, and had two sons, but this not\nproving a happy union, she subsequently separated from her husband.\nJoseph Smith taught her the principle of marriage for eternity, and she\naccepted it as a divine revelation, and was sealed to the Prophet for\ntime and eternity, after the order of the new and everlasting Covenant.\n\nSister Zina was a member of the first organization of the Relief\nSociety at Nauvoo, and when the Temple was ready for the ordinances to\nbe performed, received there her blessings and endowments. After the\nmartyrdom of the Prophet Joseph and Hyrum, she was united in marriage\nfor time to Brigham Young, and with the Saints left Nauvoo in the month\nof February, crossing the Mississippi on the ice. Arriving at Mt.\nPisgah, a resting place for the exiles, Father Huntington was called\nto preside and Zina D., with her two little boys remained with him\ntemporarily. Sickness visited the camp, and deaths were so frequent\nthat help could not be obtained to make coffins. Many were buried with\nsplit logs at the bottom of the grave and brush at the sides, that\nbeing all that could be done by mourning friends. Her father was taken\nsick, in eighteen days he died. After these days of trial she went to\nWinter Quarters, and was welcomed into the family of Brigham Young.\nWith them, she in May 1848, began the journey to this valley, walking,\ndriving team, cooking beside camp-fires, and in September arrived here,\nliving in tents and wagons until log houses could be built. Here, April\n3rd, 1850, was born Zina, daughter of Brigham Young and Zina D. Young.\n\nWhen the Relief Society was reorganized in Utah by President Brigham\nYoung, Sister Zina was one of the first identified with that work, as\nTreasurer, and when Sister Eliza was called to preside over all the\nRelief Societies, she chose Zina as her Counselor.\n\nOne of the most useful fields of her labor, has been sericulture. She\nhas raised cocoons, attending to them with her own hands, and had\ncharge of a large cocoonery and mulberry orchard belonging to President\nYoung. When the Silk Association was organized, June 15th, 1876, she\nwas chosen President. Great good was accomplished, mulberry trees were\nplanted and cocoons raised in every part of the Territory where the\nclimate would permit. A good article of silk was manufactured with\nhome machinery.\" Sister Zina also took a course of medical studies,\nbeing perhaps the first to adopt the wish of President Young, for\nas many of the sisters as would be useful for the practice in the\nmany settlements, among their own sex; to qualify themselves. Ladies\ncame from different settlements, stimulated by her example. \"In all\ndepartments of woman's labor for the public good, Sister Zina had been\nfound at her post doing her share of active work in the best manner\npossible. She has traveled among the different settlements visiting\norganized societies, or assisting Sister Eliza or the local authorities\nin organizing. \"At a Mass Meeting of ladies held in this city, November\n16th, 1878, Sister Zina delivered a very eloquent impromptu address.\"\nI was one of the reporters on that occasion, and noting the increasing\nearnestness in her voice and words, raised my eyes to her standing just\nbefore the table we were using. Suddenly, as though her words struck\nhome like an electric shock, several gentlemen sitting at my right\nhand, clutching the arms of their chairs, started as though they would\nrise to their feet; their faces burning with the truths they heard,\ntheir eyes fixed upon her fearless face and uplifted hands. I can never\nforget that moment. It was more than eloquence, it was inspiration. I\nwill quote that portion of her address.\n\n\"The principle of our religion that is assailed is one that lies\ndeep in my heart. Could I ask the heavens to listen; could I beseech\nthe earth to be still, and the brave men who possess the spirit of\na Washington to hear what I am about to say. I am the daughter of a\nMaster Mason! I am the widow of a Master Mason, who, when leaping from\nthe window of Carthage Jail pierced with bullets, made the Masonic sign\nof distress; but, gentlemen, (addressing the representatives of the\npress that were present) those signs were not heeded except by the God\nof heaven. That man, the Prophet of the Almighty, was massacred without\nmercy! Sisters, this is the first time in my life that I have dared to\ngive utterance to this fact, but I thought I could trust my soul to\nsay it on this occasion; and I say it now in the fear of Israel's God,\nand I say it in the presence of these gentlemen and I wish my voice\ncould be heard by the whole brotherhood of Masons throughout our proud\nland. That institution I honor. If its principles were practiced and\nstrictly adhered to would there be a trespass upon virtue? No indeed.\nWould the honorable wife or daughter be intruded upon with impunity?\nNay, verily. Would that the ladies of America, with the honorable Mrs.\nHayes at their head; would that the Congress of the United States,\nthe law makers of our nation, could produce a balm for the many evils\nwhich exist in our land through the abuse of virtue, or could so\nlegislate that virtue could be protected and cherished as the life\nwhich heaven has given us. We in common with many women throughout\nour broad land would hail with joy the approach of such deliverance,\nfor such is the deliverance that woman needs. The principle of plural\nmarriage is honorable; it is a principle of the Gods, it is heaven\nborn. God revealed it to us as a saving principle; we have accepted it\nas such, and we know it is of him for the fruits of it are holy. Even\nthe Saviour, Himself, traces his lineage back to polygamic parents.\nWe are proud of the principle because we know its true worth, and we\nwant our children to practice it, that through us a race of men and\nwomen may grow up possessing sound minds in sound bodies, who shall\nlive to the age of a tree.\" \"During the summer of 1879, Sister Zina\ndecided to take a trip to the Sandwich Islands for her health, and was\naccompanied by Miss Susa Young. She had the opportunity of meeting many\npersons of note to whom she imparted correct information regarding\nour people; distributing tracts and books. Great respect was paid her\nand many ovations. She assisted the native members of our church in\ngetting an organ for their meetings, and contributed liberally for\nother benevolent purposes.\" \"On her return she spent most of her time\nattending meetings of the various organizations. Sericulture was not\nforgotten or neglected. She also continued her labors in the House\nof the Lord. In the fall of 1880, Sisters Zina and Eliza went to St.\nGeorge, to labor in the Temple, and visit the organizations of the\nwomen and children, wherever practicable. They held meetings by the\nway, often camped out over night, and traveled thus over one thousand\nmiles. Returning March 31st, 1881, they were met at the depot by a\nparty of thirty ladies, in carriages, who escorted them to the Lion\nHouse where a reception of welcome home awaited them.\n\nAugust 20th, 1881, Sister Zina, accompanied by her foster son, Lieut.\nWillard Young, started for New York to gather up the records of her\nrelatives. Dr. E. B. Ferguson was going to pursue her medical studies\nfurther in some branches, to be of greater service among the people.\nPrevious to their going, they were blest and set apart by the First\nPresidency of the Church, to speak upon the principles of our faith if\nopportunity presented.\n\nSister Zina was cordially received by her relatives, and invited to\nspeak in Sunday School and Temperance Meetings. Visited New York City,\nand listened to many celebrated divines. Attended the Woman's Congress\nat Buffalo, N. Y., but was refused five minutes to represent the women\nof Utah. Visited Watertown, N. Y., then to Vermont, and thence to\nAlbany Co., and spoke in several meetings. Sister Zina returned to\nNew York to attend the N. W. S. A. Convention, without opportunity\nof addressing them. She however assisted the brethren in organizing\na Relief Society in New York. With Lieut. Willard Young she visited\nWest Point. Mrs. Young returned to this city March 7th, received by\nher daughters and many friends, the return being the occasion for a\nmost delightful party. On the Friday following, the Relief Society\nConference convened, and her many friends had the opportunity of\nwelcoming her home.\n\nPicture and words are alike powerless to convey the beauty of her\nface, her spirit and her life. Each succeeding year adds a tenderer\nline to her face, a sweeter, gentler intonation to her voice, a more\nperceptible power to her spirit from the celestial fountains of faith;\nwidens the circle of her friends, strengthens and deepens their love\nfor her, and brings a richer harvest of noble labors to her name. Could\nI say more? I could not say less of her who has for eighteen years been\nmy most intimate friend, my counselor, my second mother. A mother, not\nto me alone, to her belongs in its sweetest, widest sense, the name--a\n\"mother in Israel.\"\n\n\n\nMARY ISABELLA HORNE,\n\nTREASURER OF THE PRESIDING BOARD OF THE L. D. S. WOMEN'S ORGANIZATIONS.\n\n\"I was born November 20th, 1818, in the town of Rainshaw, County\nof Kent, England. I am the daughter of Stephen and Mary Ann Hales,\nand the eldest daughter of a large family. My parents were honest,\nindustrious people. I was taught to pray when very young, to be honest\nand truthful, to be kind to my associates, and to do good to all around\nus. My early years were spent in attending school and in assisting my\nmother in domestic duties.\"\n\n\"Mrs. Horne's father was a Methodist, and her mother a member of the\nChurch of England. Mrs. Horne as a child, had very strong religious\ntendencies, and when requested by her Sabbath School teacher to commit\nto memory two or three verses from the Bible, she would learn a whole\nchapter or perhaps two, and recite without being prompted.\n\n\"When only in her eleventh year, she became so fascinated with the\nBible that her leisure hours after the labors of the day were over,\nwere employed in reading and studying the history and incidents,\nthe sublime parables and teachings contained in that sacred work;\nthus prepared to receive in due time the Gospel of the new and last\ndispensation. In 1832, Mrs. Horne's parents decided to emigrate, and\nconcluded to go to upper Canada. April 6th, they left England with a\nfamily of five sons and two daughters.\n\n\"One little boy died upon the way. On the 16th of June, they arrived in\nYork, strangers in a strange land, where the cholera was making fearful\nravages, but the Lord preserved them all in health. The following\nspring, 1833, the family removed to the country, about eight miles from\nYork. Mrs. Hales' health was delicate and the care of the whole family\ndevolved upon Mary Isabella, only fifteen years of age.\n\n\"In the spring of 1834, she attended a Methodist camp meeting in the\nneighborhoood, where she first met Mr. Joseph Horne, and two years\nafterward, Joseph Horne and Mary Isabella were united in marriage on\nthe 9th of May, 1836.\"\n\nOnly about one month of their wedded life had passed when they heard a\nrumor that a man professing to be sent of God, to preach to the people\nwould hold a meeting about a mile distant.\n\nMr. and Mrs. Horne attended this meeting and there they first heard\nthe Gospel, proclaimed by Elder Orson Pratt, but little knew how the\ncourse of their life would be changed by receiving this great light.\nMrs. Horne was baptized in July, 1836, by Elder Orson Hyde, and ever\nafter her house was a home for the elders, and a place where meetings\nwere held. In the latter part of the summer of 1837, she first saw the\nProphet Joseph, also Sidney Rigdon and Thomas B. Marsh.\" She says: \"On\nshaking hands with the Prophet Joseph Smith, I received the holy spirit\nin such great abundance that I felt it thrill my whole system from the\ncrown of my head to the soles of my feet. I had never beheld so lovely\na countenance, nobility and goodness were in every feature. I said to\nmyself, 'O Lord, I thank thee for granting the desire of my girlish\nheart in permitting me to associate with prophets and apostles.'\" \"In\nMarch 1838, while the weather was still wintry, Mr. and Mrs. Horne\nbade farewell to their home, and with a few saints started for the\ngathering-place of the people of God.\n\n\"At Huntsville, Mrs. Horne was introduced to Father and Mother Smith;\nFather Smith was the Patriarch of the church, and under his hands she\nreceived a patriarchal blessing. In August, with a babe less than a\nmonth old, they removed to Far West, and were obliged to go into a\nlog house without doors or windows. It was about this time that the\nexcitement in Missouri raged, and persecution was at its height. Mrs.\nHorne was alone much night and day, her husband being on guard. In the\nspring of 1839, Mrs. Horne and family left Missouri as exiles, and\nsought an asylum in Quincy, Ill., where for awhile they had peace.\nWhile in Quincy, Mrs. Horne was one of those favored ones who had the\nprivilege of entertaining and waiting upon the Prophet Joseph and\nHyrum, the Patriarch. In the month of March, Mr. and Mrs. Horne moved\nto Nauvoo by wagon, over the then wild prairies. They lived in a lumber\nshanty for eight months, and in November Mr. Horne moved his family\ninto his own house, still unfinished. Here in 'Nauvoo the beautiful,'\nMr. Horne through diligent labor at last succeeded in establishing a\nflourishing business and his family were looked upon by the Saints as\nquite well situated. On the 2nd of April, 1844, Mrs. Horne received a\npatriarchal blessing under the hands of Hyrum Smith, the patriarch of\nthe Church.\" On the 27th of the June following, occurred the martyrdom\nof Joseph and Hyrum. Mrs. Horne says, \"On the 28th day of June, I took\nmy last look on earth of Joseph and Hyrum Smith! May I never experience\nanother day similar to that. I do not wish to recall the scene.\" On the\n9th of July was born her fifth son. In January, 1846, Mrs. Horne went\ninto the Nauvoo Temple, receiving the ordinances of the House of the\nLord, and assisted in administering to others. In February Mr. Horne\nclosed his business and bade adieu to their home and camped with the\nSaints on Sugar Creek, Iowa.\n\nIn March moved on to Garden Grove, and then to Mt. Pisgah. Here, Mrs.\nHorne had born to her a daughter, born in a wagon. When the babe was\nthree days old, Mrs. Horne started again on her way, arriving at\nCouncil Bluffs about the last of June, moving into a log cabin. Here\nshe was so sick it was feared she would not recover. Elder Orson Pratt\nadministered to her and prophesied she would do a good work in Israel.\nIn June of the same year, she left with the first company across the\nplains that followed the pioneers to the valley of Salt Lake. That\nwas indeed a remarkable journey and all those who traveled hither\nat that time deserve the title of pioneers. They opened the way and\nbraved the perils of the desert and the experience of living in this\nsterile land. They ploughed and planted and fought against the fearful\nodds of crickets, grasshoppers and death. The company in which Mrs.\nHorne traveled, arrived here October 6th, 1847, and as soon as the\nFort was completed she moved into it, and lived in a log cabin two\nyears, enduring all the exigencies incident to the settling of a new\nIndian country, among which were living on short rations, a part of\nwhich was roots and thistles. On the 16th of January, 1849, another\ndaughter was added to the family. As soon as possible after arriving\nin a new and destitute country, Mr. and Mrs. Horne made themselves a\nhome in the Fourteenth Ward, which they still retain. \"In speaking of\nher first knowledge of the order of celestial marriage, she says, she\nhas had strong testimony for herself that it is of God. Mrs. Horne has\nborne herself nobly in all the different phases of plural domestic\nrelations.\" Mrs. Horne was a member of the Relief Society in Nauvoo,\nand in the first organization of the Fourteenth Ward in this city, was\na counselor to President Phoebe W. Woodruff.\n\nIn May, 1858, Mrs. Horne moved as far south as Parowan, her husband\nbeing called on a mission still further south, in \"Dixie.\" Against\nevery disadvantage, Mrs. Horne performed this journey of two hundred\nand fifty miles, this mother with her ten children, the youngest a\nbabe of six months. In September their mission was fulfilled and Mrs.\nHorne returned home, Mr. Horne returning from his mission soon after.\nDecember 12th, 1867, Mrs. Horne was chosen by Bishop A. Hoagland, of\nthe Fourteenth Ward, to preside over the Relief Society in that ward.\nIt was a great surprise to her, she was at that time very timid.\n\nUnder the wise management of the President, the society increased in\nnumbers, great good was accomplished in the relief of the poor and\nafflicted, and means multiplied in the Treasury. A two story brick\nbuilding has been erected by the society, part of which is rented for\na store, and the upper story used for meetings. The society also own\na good granary and a quantity of wheat. Mrs. Horne's success as a\nleader was so apparent and her course so consistent, President Young\nhad such confidence in her, he gave her a very important mission among\nthe sisters; this was called Retrenchment. In due time a meeting was\nheld in the Fifteenth Ward Schoolhouse, and from there adjourned to the\nFourteenth Ward Assembly Rooms, and from that time until the present,\nMrs. Horne has presided at these regular semi-monthly meetings of\nthe Ladies' General Retrenchment Associations. When President Young\ninstructed Sister Eliza to go through the Territory and organize the\nyoung ladies into associations for mutual improvement, Mrs. Horne\nwas called to assist. She has organized many of the Young Ladies\nAssociations, also Primary Associations. At the time of the passage\nof the Cullom Bill in January, 1876, a grand Mass Meeting was called\nto convene in the Old Tabernacle, Salt Lake City. Mrs. Horne took an\nactive part in the proceedings, being one of the committee to draft\nresolutions. In February following, the bill was passed, granting\nsuffrage to the women of Utah. Mrs. Horne was one of a committee of\nladies who waited upon Governor S. A. Mann to express the gratitude of\nMormon women for his signing of the document. December 1877, Mrs. Horne\nwas chosen to preside over the Relief Societies of this stake of Zion.\nShe was elected a delegate from Salt Lake County, to the Territorial\nConvention held in this city, commencing October 9th, and was called\nupon to address them. Mrs. Horne was one of the committee appointed to\nwait upon the delegate nominated at the Convention, and inform him of\nthe honor conferred upon him.\n\nWhen Mrs. Horne was sixty years of age, upon the demise of her\ndaughter-in-law, Mrs. Lydia Weiler Horne, she took the babe six weeks\nold to raise. This after rearing a family, and seeing each take honored\nplaces in the world.\n\nMrs. Horne has been an officer and worker in the silk industry from the\nbeginning. At the organization of the board of officers for the Deseret\nHospital, May 1882, Mrs. Horne was elected Chairman of the Executive\nCommittee.\n\nNovember 20th, 1882, was the forty-sixth anniversary of Mr. and Mrs.\nHorne's wedding day. At the reception they held, an elegant photograph\nalbum was presented from lady friends, each of whom was to contribute\nher picture. Congratulations from children, Mayor Jennings and Judge\nMiner, with loving and sincere good wishes from all, for the future,\nmade this a day long to be remembered.\"\n\nI am indebted to the pen of Emmeline B. Wells, editor of the \"Woman's\nExponent,\" for the points I have selected for this sketch, to whom\nthe original referred me as possessing all I would wish to obtain.\nPerhaps, it would be no more than justice to the author, to quote\nalso from the same source, the record her family have so far, made,\nthereby reflecting credit upon their noble parents. It will also give\nto the world the history in brief of _one_ Mormon family, reared in the\nteachings, examples and associations of Mormonism, not omitting the\nsystem of celestial marriage.\n\n\"By their fruits ye shall know them.\"\n\n\"Henry, the eldest son, was for eleven years Bishop in Paris, Idaho, in\n1880, moved to Arizona, to assist in colonizing there.\n\n\"Joseph, when about twenty years of age, was called on a mission to\nSwitzerland, where he obtained a thorough knowledge of the German\nlanguage. Returned, and was for ten years Bishop of Gunnison, Sanpete\nCo., again called to Switzerland to preside over the Swiss and German\nmissions and edit the _Stern_. In 1878, he was called to the Bishopric\nin Richfield, Sevier Co., is also mayor of that city.\n\n\"Richard is a teacher; was superintendent of Sunday-schools in Beaver,\nand has filled several home missions.\n\n\"John, the youngest son, was the first President of the Young Men's\nMutual Improvement Association in the Fourteenth Ward. Her eldest\ndaughter, Mrs. Elizabeth Webb, lives in Millard Co., a lady who might\ngrace any society.\n\n\"Nora married George, son of Orson Spencer, somewhat famous in Church\nhistory for his valuable writings and great missionary work in America\nand Europe.\n\n\"Julia married Wm. Burton, and died one year after marriage, leaving a\nbaby daughter. She was the first President of the Young Ladies Mutual\nImprovement Association of the Fourteenth Ward.\n\n\"Cornelia was later made the President. Miss Cornelia was also for\nthree or four years business manager of the _Woman's Exponent_. She is\nthe wife of James Clayton.\n\n\"Minnie, her twin sister, was for several years Secretary of the Young\nLadies Mutual Improvement Association and the Sunday-school. Since her\nmarriage with Wm. James, she is President of the Seventh Ward Primary\nAssociation.\n\n\"Mattie is a counselor to the President of all the Young Ladies Mutual\nImprovement Associations of the Church. When the _Woman's Exponent_ was\nfirst published, Miss Mattie was the first girl to go into the printing\noffice and learn type setting.\n\n\"Clara, the youngest, is accomplished, gifted spiritually, and an\nactive worker. As her mother is often called from home by public\nduties, the charge of the home rests much of the time with her, a\nposition she fills with dignity and ability.\"\n\nThree babes died in infancy. And the mother of these children now\nhonored among men and women, drove team hundreds of miles, not one\njourney, but many, and nearly always with a babe in her arms.\n\nResting now in the afternoon of life with comforts, honors and love\nsurrounding her, Mrs. Horne must look back with satisfaction and\ngratitude upon her life. A few years ago, when I, a timid Secretary of\nthe Fourteenth Ward Meetings, used to steal a look at her noble face,\nI used mentally to compare it to that of Washington, and I think still\nI was not mistaken; we, to-day, are struggling for \"liberty to worship\nGod according to the dictates of our own consciences,\" and the spirit\nof such as he and his co-laborers are with us and are ours, to counsel\nand to lead, through difficulties unto victory.\n\n\n\nSARAH M. KIMBALL,\n\nSECRETARY OF THE L. D. S. WOMEN'S ORGANIZATIONS.\n\n\"I am the daughter of Oliver Granger and Lydia Dibble Granger, was born\nDecember 29th, 1818, in the town of Phelps, Ontario Co., New York.\nOf my parents, eight children, only myself and two younger brothers,\nLafayette and Farley, remain. My father, Oliver Granger, had an\ninteresting experience in connection with the coming forth of the Book\nof Mormon. He obtained the book a few months after its publication,\nand while in the city of New York, at Prof. Mott's Eye Infirmary he\nhad a 'heavenly vision.' My father was told of a personage who said\nhis name was Moroni, that the Book of Mormon, about which his mind was\nexercised, was a true record of great worth, and Moroni instructed\nhim (my father) to testify of its truth and that he should hereafter\nbe ordained to preach the everlasting Gospel to the children of men.\nMoroni instructed my father to kneel and pray; Moroni and another\npersonage knelt with him by the bedside. Moroni repeated words and\ninstructed my father to repeat them after him. Moroni then stepped\nbehind my father, who was still kneeling, and drew his finger over\nthe three back seams of my father's coat, (which my father felt very\nperceptibly) and said, 'A time will come when the Saints will wear\ngarments made without seams.' Moroni told my father that he might\nask for what he most desired and it would be granted. He asked for\nan evidence by which he might know when he was approved of God. The\nevidence or sign was given, and remained with him until his dying hour,\nbeing more particularly manifest when engaged in prayer and meditation.\nI love the memory of my father. He died in Kirtland, Ohio, August 1843,\naged forty-seven.\n\nI was married in Kirtland, Orange Co., Ohio, by Warren Cowdery, Esq.,\nSeptember 23rd, 1840, to Hiram Kimball, eldest son of Phineas and\nAbigail Kimball, of West Fairley, Orange Co., Vermont. My parents had\npreviously spent a year in Nauvoo, Hancock Co., Ill.; their present\nstay in Ohio was considered only temporary; my father sickened and\ndied there the next year. I returned with my husband to his home in\nNauvoo, Ill., three weeks after my marriage. We boarded six months in\nthe family of Dr. Frederick Williams, then went to housekeeping. My\neldest son was born in Nauvoo, November 22nd, 1841; when the babe was\nthree days old a little incident occurred which I will mention. The\nwalls of the Nauvoo Temple were about three feet above the foundation.\nThe Church was in need of help to assist in raising the Temple walls.\nI belonged to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints; my\nhusband did not belong to the Church at that time. I wished to help on\nthe Temple, but did not like to ask my husband (who owned considerable\nproperty) to help for my sake. My husband came to my bedside, and as\nhe was admiring our three days' old darling, I said, \"What is the\nboy worth?\" He replied, \"O, I don't know, he is worth a great deal.\"\nI said, \"Is he worth a thousand dollars?\" The reply was, \"Yes, more\nthan that if he lives and does well.\" I said, \"Half of him is mine,\nis it not?\" \"Yes, I suppose so.\" \"Then I have something to help on\nthe Temple.\" He said pleasantly, \"You have?\" \"Yes, and I think of\nturning my share right in as tithing.\" \"Well, I'll see about that.\"\nSoon after the above conversation Mr. Kimball met the Prophet Joseph\nSmith, President of the Church, and said, \"Sarah has got a little the\nadvantage of me this time, she proposes to turn out the boy as Church\nproperty. \"President Smith seemed pleased with the joke, and said,\n\"I accept all such donations, and from this day the boy shall stand\nrecorded, _Church property_.\" Then turning to Willard Richards, his\nsecretary, he said, \"Make a record of this, and you are my witness.\"\nJoseph Smith then said, \"Major, (Mr. Kimball was major in the Nauvoo\nLegion) you now have the privilege of paying $500 and retaining\npossession, or receiving $500 and giving possession.\" Mr. Kimball asked\nif city property was good currency, President Smith replied that it\nwas. Then said Mr. Kimball, \"How will that reserve block north of the\nTemple suit?\" President Smith replied, \"It is just what we want.\" The\ndeed was soon made out and transferred in due form. President Smith\nsaid to me, \"You have consecrated your first born son, for this you\nare blessed of the Lord. I bless you in the name of the Lord God of\nAbraham, of Isaac and of Jacob. And I seal upon you all the blessings\nthat pertain to the faithful. Your name shall be handed down in\nhonorable remembrance from generation to generation.\n\n\"Your son shall live and be a blessing to you in time, and an honor and\nglory to you throughout the endless eternities (changes) to come. He\nshall be girded about with righteousness and bear the helmet and the\nbreast-plate of war. You shall be a blessing to your companion, and the\nhonored mother of a noble posterity. You shall stand as a savior to\nyour father's house, and receive an everlasting salvation, which I seal\nupon you by the gift of revelation and by virtue and authority of the\nholy priesthood vested in me, in the name of Jesus Christ.\"\n\n\"Early in the year 1842, Joseph Smith taught me the principle of\nmarriage for eternity, and the doctrine of plural marriage. He said\nthat in teaching this he realized that he jeopardized his life; but God\nhad revealed it to him many years before as a privilege with blessings,\nnow God had revealed it again and instructed him to teach it with\ncommandment, as the Church could travel (progress) no further without\nthe introduction of this principle. I asked him to teach it to some\none else. He looked at me reprovingly, and said, 'Will you tell me who\nto teach it to? God required me to teach it to you, and leave you with\nthe responsibility of believing or disbelieving.' He said, 'I will not\ncease to pray for you, and if you will seek unto God in prayer you will\nnot be led into temptation.'\"\n\n\"In the summer of 1843, a maiden lady (Miss Cook) was seamstress for\nme, and the subject of combining our efforts for assisting the Temple\nhands came up in conversation. She desired to be helpful but had no\nmeans to furnish. I told her I would furnish material if she would\nmake some shirts for the workmen. It was then suggested that some of\nour neighbors might wish to combine means and efforts with ours, and\nwe decided to invite a few to come and consult with us on the subject\nof forming a Ladies' Society. The neighboring sisters met in my parlor\nand decided to organize. I was delegated to call on Sister Eliza R.\nSnow and ask her to write for us a constitution and by-laws, and submit\nthem to President Joseph Smith prior to our next Thursday's meeting.\nShe cheerfully responded, and when she read them to him he replied that\nthe constitution and by-laws were the best he had ever seen. 'But,'\nhe said, 'this is not what you want. Tell the sisters their offering\nis accepted of the Lord, and He has something better for them than a\nwritten constitution. I invite them all to meet me and a few of the\nbrethren in the Masonic Hall over my store next Thursday afternoon,\nand I will organize the sisters under the priesthood after the pattern\nof the priesthood.' He further said, 'The Church was never perfectly\norganized until the women were thus organized.'\" He wished to have\nSister Emma Smith elected to preside in fulfillment of the revelation\nwhich called her an Elect Lady.\n\n\"In the wanderings and persecutions of the Church I have participated,\nand in the blessings, endowments and holy anointings and precious\npromises I have also received. To sorrow I have not been a stranger;\nbut I only write this short sketch to instruct and happify, so I will\nskip to Salt Lake City, September, 1851, with my two sons, Hiram and\nOliver, my widowed mother, Lydia Dibble Granger, Anna Robbins, a girl\nthat lived with me nine years and married my youngest brother, and my\ntwo brothers, Lafayette and Farley B. Granger. My husband was detained\nin New York City, and had become financially much embarrassed. The next\nyear he came to me financially ruined and broken in health. I engaged\nin school teaching in the Fourteenth Ward to sustain and educate my\nfamily. My salary was only $25.00 per month, but that was much to us at\nthat time.\n\n\"April 1st, 1854, my youngest son was born. I discontinued school three\nmonths, then opened school in my home. I taught eight years. I should\nhave stated that on arriving here I sold our fitout (team, etc.) for a\ncomfortable little home, this I have always considered providential.\nThe Indian agent gave me a nine-year-old wild Indian girl, whom I\neducated and raised. She died at nineteen. I named her Kate.\n\n\"My mother who had lived with me twenty years, died in 1861, aged\nseventy-three. My husband was drowned March 1st, 1863, in the Pacific\nOcean by the wreck of the steamer, _Ada Hancock_, off the coast of San\nPedro, on his way to the Sandwich Islands; aged sixty-two.\n\n\"I was elected President of the Fifteenth Ward Relief Society February\n7th, 1857. In December, 1865, a little girl was brought to me whom I\nadopted.\n\n\"November 13th, 1868, a silver trowel and mallet were furnished me and\nassisted by a Master Mason, and surrounded by an assemblage of people,\nI had the honor of laying the corner stone of the first Relief Society\nbuilding erected in this dispensation.\"\n\nSister Sarah M. Kimball possesses a tall, commanding figure, a face of\nremarkable dignity and sincerity in expression. Her manner of speaking\nis original in its strength of reason, rare in its eloquence, precise\nand delicate in selection of words and tone of voice. A phrenologist\nonce said of her, that \"if she were seated in a railway carriage with\nparties on one hand discussing fashions, and politics to be heard on\nthe other, she would turn to the discussion on politics.\" A statesman,\na philanthropist, a missionary, in her very nature, she is none the\nless the noble mother and true, fond friend, to those who have known\nher longest and best.\n\n\n\nPRESCENDIA L. KIMBALL.\n\nIn attempting a brief sketch of this noble woman's life, it is not\nnecessary for me to state in regard to her ancestry, more than to say\nshe is the elder sister of Mrs. Zina D. Young, the same genealogical\nreferences will suffice for both.\n\n\"Prescendia Lathrop Huntington was the fourth child of her parents,\nand was born in Watertown, Jefferson County, New York, September\n10th, 1810. Mrs. Kimball is said to be the exact counterpart of the\nEliza Huntington whose likeness is in the book, the record of the\nHuntingtons, as a type of the race. Sister Prescendia is a woman to\nsee once, is to remember always. She reminds one of the dames of olden\ntimes, large, tall, grand and majestic in figure, dignified in manner,\nyet withal so womanly and sympathetic that she seems the embodiment of\nthe motherly element to a degree that would embrace all who came under\nher influence.\"\n\n\"Prescendia Huntington was married at the age of seventeen to Mr.\nNorman Buell. Their first child, George, was born in Mannsville,\nDecember 12th, 1823. Soon after they moved to Pinbury, Lewis County,\nwhere they made a comfortable home. Here their second son was born,\nDecember 25th, 1831, and in November 1833, by an accident was so\nseverely burned that he died. In 1835, her mother came to visit her,\nand brought her the first intelligence of the Prophet Joseph and the\nrecord from the hill Cumorah. They sold their property the following\nwinter and by spring reached Kirtland, Ohio. June 1st, 1836, Sister\nPrescendia was baptized and confirmed by Oliver Cowdery, and on the\n9th her husband received the same ordinance. April 24th, 1838, her\nfirst daughter was born in a tumble-down dwelling on the Fishing River,\nClay County, Mo., but lived only four hours. Here on two occasions\nshe without protection, encountered an armed mob, but was saved from\ntheir hatred; they left her. Her husband had by this time apostatized.\nThe Huntingtons were obliged to leave Far West at the time of the\ndriving of the Saints from Missouri in the spring of 1839, and Sister\nPrescendia felt entirely alone and forsaken. She says, 'there was not\nat this time, one Saint in Missouri, to my knowledge.' About this time\nwas born her son Oliver, just after the dreadful outrages perpetrated\nagainst the Saints in Missouri. In the fall of 1840 Mrs. Buell moved\nfrom Missouri and settled between Quincy and Nauvoo. During the ensuing\nfive or six years she made frequent visits to the Saints, among others\nthe families of Joseph and Hyrum, and Father and Mother Smith. Joseph\nhimself taught her the principle of plural marriage. The sisters who\nhad entered into these covenants were in one sense separate and apart\nfrom all others. No tongue can describe, or pen portray the peculiar\nsituation of these noble, self-sacrificing women, who through the\nprovidence of God helped to establish the principle of celestial\nmarriage. The crisis came when the Prophet and Patriarch were foully\nmurdered.\n\n\"The time came for the performances of the ordinances in the Temple\nat Nauvoo. Sister Prescendia availed herself of the privilege to go\nand receive her blessings. Hereafter we recognize her as the wife of\nthe Apostle, Heber C. Kimball. The next great event in the history of\nthis people was the exodus from Nauvoo. The Saints had nearly all left\nfor the West; Sister Prescendia felt as if she were at the mercy of\nthe mob, and indeed, plans were laid to destroy her. As if in answer\nto her prayers, her brother, William, sent her a messenger telling\nher to leave all and come. On the 2nd of May, 1846, she walked out\nof her house leaving all behind her, taking her little boy who was\nsick and not able to be up but she was flying for her life. With the\nhelp of her son, George, she got away. She traveled all night, and\nreached a friend, Dr. Spurgeon, by daybreak. Took some refreshment\nand went into the woods with her little boy, staying all day, fasting\nand praying for deliverance. She says: 'I picked flowers for him and\ngave him water from the running stream. At night I went back to the\ndoctor's, sleeping with my sick boy on a little bed on the floor.\nNext day I hid in a wagon. When we arrived at Nashville, I saw a man\nwhom I knew, looking for me. I learned afterward he intended taking\nmy child from me. My brother, Dimick, sent his sons to see me safely\nout of Illinois. I stayed in a deep ravine while some things were\nbrought to me, and slept on a buffalo robe on the ground at night\nwith my little child. No tongue can tell my feelings in those days of\ntrial; but I had considered well, and felt I would rather suffer and\ndie with the Saints, than live in Babylon as I had lived before. We\narrived at Bonaparte. The excitement and exposure brought on fever and\nI was very ill. We at last arrived at Mt. Pisgah; there I found my\nfather, my sister, Zina, and her children. They were in a log house\nwithout chimney or floor; sickness prevailed. Very soon men were sent\nby the Government to get volunteers to march to Mexico; to fight for\na Government that had suffered us to be driven out at the point of\nthe bayonet. * * I saw the five hundred men enrolled as volunteers to\ntake up the line of march to Mexico. My brother, Dimick, brave-hearted\nand strong, with his family, among the number. His wife, Fanny, had a\ndaughter born under most trying and painful circumstances. I was left\nbehind at what was then called Cutler's Park. My father and Zina were\nat Mt. Pisgah. My brother, Dimick, in Mexico, my brother, William,\nin St. Louis, my brother, Oliver, on a mission in Europe; then came\nthe news that my father had died at Pisgah; my friend, my counselor,\nmy own dear parent, to whom I had looked for counsel for the future\nthat stretched out before me like a great, unknown desert, unrelieved\nand barren. I had only my Heavenly Father left, and I reached out in\nfaith to the One above to open the heavens for me and aid me in my\nloneliness. I was in a new, wild country without means. Joseph and\nHenry Woodmansee wanted me to keep house for them. As soon as I was\nsettled their father wrote for them, and I was left in charge of their\nhouse. I started a school which was a great blessing to the children.\nThe house was built of logs and covered with dirt and straw, with a\nlittle straw upon the floor.'\n\n\"Here Sister Prescendia toiled with scanty fare, teaching the children,\nand when school was closed for the night her voice would leave her,\nfrom weakness, but she loved the children and gained their affection.\nIt was an ague country, provisions were scarce, lack of vegetables and\nfruit caused sickness. After a painful and dangerous illness, Sister\nPrescendia recovered her health. About this time three brethren who\nwent with the Mormon Battallion, came back to Winter Quarters, having\nbeen sent on special business from Pueblo. Says Sister Prescendia,\n'I never saw such a pitiful sight before as these poor, worn-out\ntravelers presented. Their clothing hung in rags, their faces burned,\nand with sun and snow they were nearly blind. Their feet were wrapped\nin rawhide from the buffalo. I sat and heard them tell how fearfully\nthey had suffered crossing the prairies in the dead of winter, and\nall this in defence of a Government that had driven us defenceless\nwomen and children into a strange wilderness. I could not refrain from\nweeping when I looked upon these my brethren and realized how they had\nsuffered.'\n\n\"Early in the spring a few pioneers left to search out a haven of\nrefuge for the Saints. The sisters left almost alone, lived near to\nGod. They used often to meet together and pray. The gifts of tongues,\ninterpretation and prophecy were given them at this time for their\nconsolation. In May, 1846, Sister Prescendia and her little son,\nOliver, left Winter Quarters. She, like many others, had to drive team,\nyoke cattle, &c., though in delicate health. She arrived in Salt Lake\nValley September 22nd, and moved into the old Fort. January 6th, 1848,\nSister Prescendia had born to her a daughter. The baby was a great\ncomfort to the lonely mother who had left her home and come thousands\nof miles away. No daughter was ever more fondly loved than this little\none.\n\n\"She was named Prescendia Celestia, and was rightly named Celestia,\nfor she was more like a celestial being than a mortal one. President\nYoung once asked her name; quick as thought, he said, _'Celestial\nPrescendia.'_ Coming here as the Saints did provided with only the\nbarest necessities, there was much privation to contend against. The\nfamilies of Brigham and Heber shared in these respects equally with\nthe others. When Sister Prescendia's babe was quite small, she had to\nput up an umbrella over them in bed to protect them from the rain.\nSister Prescendia was patient and thanked her Father in heaven that he\nhad permitted her to gather to the Rocky Mountains, and also that she\nhad been permitted to become a mother under the new and everlasting\ncovenant of marriage.\" Nothing could be more affecting than her story\nof the loss of this lovely child. She dressed her for a visit, and gave\nher in charge of her brother, while she finished her preparations. He\ntook her to the family of President Young, and as they were seated at\ntable, each gave her a kiss, admiring her beauty, President Young last.\n\n\"Returning to the mother, he sat her down a moment to cut a willow from\nthe water's edge, and turning to her--she was gone. The sweet face,\nthat going out smiled such a tender good-bye, was brought in cold in\ndeath. Vilate, the first wife of Heber, said, \"The flower of the flock\nis gone.\" Years have passed since then, but the beauty of that little\nface is undimmed in her mother's memory.\"\n\nSister Prescendia was for fifteen years secretary of the Sixteenth Ward\nRelief Society.\n\nSister Prescendia's labors have been in the House of the Lord, and\nannointing and administering to the sick. Hundreds have asked for her\npresence at their bedside--the name, Prescendia--has been almost like\nthat sweet word, _mother_. I reflect upon the lonely, trial path that\nshe has trod, the wounds her heart has borne; and listening to the\ntender pathos of her voice, the sublimity of her words; the nobility of\nher life commanding my love and reverence.\n\nIf I could choose the picture which should be historical, it should\nbe as I have seen her; standing, her grand figure becomingly wrapped\nin a large, circular cloak, a handsome, large black bonnet shielding\nher venerable and beloved face from the falling flakes of snow.\nLooking upon her I thought her the very picture of a Puritan exile, a\nrevolutionary ancestress, and a Latter-Day Saint veteran and pioneer.\nI shall always remember her thus, it is an ineffaceable picture in my\nmemory.\n\nSince writing the above, the following appears in the _Deseret News_ of\nSeptember 11th:\n\n\"MANIFESTATION OF RESPECT.\n\n\"Yesterday being the anniversary of the birthday of Sister Prescendia\nL. Kimball, a party of ladies numbering about thirty, of her personal\nfriends, mostly of very long standing, assembled at her residence.\nA lunch was partaken of about noon, and subsequently the gathering\ntook the form of a meeting, at which all present expressed themselves\nappropriately to the occasion. The sisters also presented the venerable\nand respected lady, a handsome black satin cloak, trimmed with fur and\nlined with crimson plush, for winter wear. We are pleased to be able to\nstate that Sister Kimball's health has considerably improved during the\nlast few days.\"\n\n\n\nPHOEBE W. CARTER WOODRUFF.\n\nWIFE OF WILFORD WOODRUFF, PRESIDENT OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES, OF THE\nCHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS.\n\n\"I, Phoebe W. Carter, wife of Apostle Wilford Woodruff, was born\nin Scarboro, in the State of Maine, March 8th, 1807. My father was\nof English descent, coming to America at about the close of the\nseventeenth century. My mother, Sarah Fabyan, was also of England, and\nof the third generation from England. The name of Fabyan is ancient,\nand of a noble family. My father's family, also, much of the old\nPuritan stamp.\n\n\"In the year 1834, I embraced the Gospel, as revealed through the\nProphet Joseph Smith, and, about a year after, I left my parents and\nkindred, and journeyed to Kirtland, Ohio, a distance of one thousand\nmiles, a lone maid, sustained only by my faith and trust in Israel's\nGod. My friends marvelled at my course, as did I, but something within\nimpelled me on. My mother's grief at my leaving home was almost more\nthan I could bear; and had it not been for the spirit within I should\nhave faltered at the last. My mother told me she would rather see me\nburied than going thus alone into the heartless world, and especially\nwas she concerned about my leaving home to cast my lot among the\nMormons. 'Phoebe,' she said, impressively, 'will you come back to me if\nyou find Mormonism false?' I answered thrice, 'Yes, mother, I will.'\nThese were my words well remembered to this day; she knew I would keep\nmy promise. My answer relieved her trouble; but it cost us all much\nsorrow to part. When the time came for my departure I dared not trust\nmyself to say farewell, so I wrote my good-bye to each, and leaving\nthem on my table, ran down stairs and jumped into the carriage. Thus I\nleft my beloved home of childhood to link my life with the Saints of\nGod.'\n\n\"When I arrived in Kirtland I became acquainted with the Prophet Joseph\nSmith, and received more evidence of his divine mission. There in\nKirtland I formed the acquaintance of Elder Wilford Woodruff, to whom\nI was married in 1836. With him I went to the 'Islands of the Sea' and\nto England, on missions. Here I will bear my testimony to the power of\nGod which I have often seen manifested among the Latter-Day Saints. The\nfollowing is one notable instance:\n\n\"When the Saints were settling Nauvoo, the unhealthy labor of breaking\nnew land on the banks of the Mississippi for the founding of the city,\ninvited pestilence. Nearly everyone was attacked with fever and ague.\nThe Prophet had the sick borne into his house and dooryard until the\nplace was like a hospital. At length even he succumbed to the deadly\ncontagion and for several days was as helpless as the rest of our\npeople, who were all nearly exhausted by their extermination from\nMissouri. But the spirit of the Lord came down upon Joseph, commanding\nhim to arise and stay the pestilence. The Prophet arose from his bed\nand the power of God rested upon him. He commenced in his own house\nand dooryard, commanding the sick in the name of Jesus Christ to arise\nand be made whole; and they were healed according to his word. He then\ncontinued to travel from house to house, and from tent to tent, upon\nthe bank of the river, healing the sick as he went, until he arrived at\nthe upper stone house, where he crossed the river in a boat accompanied\nby several of the Quorum of the Twelve, whom he had bade to follow him,\nand landed in Montrose. He walked into the cabin of Brigham Young, who\nwas lying sick, and commanded him in the name of Jesus Christ to arise\nand be made whole, and follow him, which he did. They came to our house\nnext, and Joseph bade Mr. Woodruff, also, to follow, and then they went\nto the house of Brother Elijah Fordham, who was supposed by his family\nand friends to have been dying, for two weeks. The Prophet stepped to\nhis bedside, took him by the hand, and commanded him in the name of\nJesus Christ to arise from his bed and be made whole. His voice, Joseph\nSmith's, was as the voice of God. Brother Fordham instantly leaped from\nhis bed, called for his clothing and dressed himself, and followed\nthe Apostles into the street. They then went into the house of Joseph\nB. Nobles, who lay very sick, and he was healed in like manner. And\nwhen by the power of God granted unto him, Joseph had healed all the\nsick, he recrossed the river and returned to his own house. Thousands\nof witnesses bear testimony of the miracle. It was a day never to be\nforgotten. Hearing of the case of Brother Fordham, whom I with the rest\nhad believed to be dying, I thought I would go and see with my own\neyes. I found him very happy, sitting in his chair. He told me he had\nbeen out to work in his garden. This was only a few hours after the\nmiracle. From that day I never doubted that this was the work of God.\n\n\"It will be expected that I should say something on polygamy. I have\nthis to say. When the principle of plural marriage was first taught,\nI thought it was the most wicked thing I ever heard of; consequently\nI opposed it to the best of my ability, until I became sick and\nwretched. As soon, however, as I became convinced that it originated as\na revelation from God through Joseph, knowing him to be a prophet, I\nwrestled with my Heavenly Father in fervent prayer, to be guided aright\nat that all-important moment of my life. The answer came. Peace was\ngiven to my mind. I knew it was the will of God; and from that time to\nthe present I have sought to faithfully honor the patriarchal law.\n\n\"Of Joseph, my testimony is that he was one of the greatest prophets\nthe Lord ever called, that he lived for the redemption of mankind and\ndied a martyr for the truth. The love of the Saints for him will never\ndie.\n\n\"It was after the martyrdom of Joseph that I accompanied my husband to\nEngland in 1845. On our return the advance companies of the Saints had\nleft Nauvoo under President Young and others of the Twelve. We followed\nimmediately and journeyed to Winter Quarters. The next year my husband\nwent with the pioneers to the mountains while the care of the family\nrested on me. After his return and the re-organization of the First\nPresidency, I accompanied my husband on his mission to the Eastern\nStates. In 1850 we arrived in the Valley and since that time Salt Lake\nCity has been my home.\n\n\"Of my husband, I can truly say I have found him a worthy man with\nscarcely his superior on earth. He has built up a branch of the Church\nwherever he has labored. He has been faithful to God and his family,\nevery day of his life. My respect for him has increased with our years,\nand my desire for an eternal union with him will be the last wish of my\nmortal life.\"\n\nAt the first organization of the Relief Society in the Fourteenth\nWard, in the spring of 1857, Mrs. Woodruff was chosen by Bishop A.\nHoagland as President, which position she held until by the \"move\"\nsouth, the society was discontinued. After their return she was invited\nto resume her position, but so much of the family care and management\nof business devolved upon her as her husband's faithful partner, that\nshe felt she could not do justice to that object, and Bishop Hoagland\nasked her to nominate her successor. She chose her first counselor,\nMary Isabella Horne. Mrs. Woodruff is also one of the presiding board\nof six, over the General Retrenchment Meetings, held semi-monthly in\nthe Fourteenth Ward. In May, 1882, Mrs. Woodruff was elected one of\nthe Executive Board of the Deseret Hospital. She often accompanies\nApostle Wilford Woodruff on his visits among the settlements, holding\nmeetings with the sisters, who look upon her as one of the wisest\nwomen in the knowledge of the Scriptures and in her counsels among her\nsisters in the _Church_. The record of her life and labors would make\na deeply interesting volume which could not fail to inspire the youth\nof Zion with a desire to emulate her worthy example, and the hearts of\nolder ones with admiration and reverence. The eighteen years of our\nacquaintance have served to strengthen and beautify my friendship for\nPhoebe W. Woodruff, as wife, mother and Saint. It seems but fitting, to\nrecord here that the mother and father of Sister Woodruff were baptized\nby Apostle Wilford Woodruff. Thus ended all the fears of the Puritan\nmother.\n\nQuoting an historian of note (himself an occupant of part of the\nWoodruff residence for a long period): \"Sister Phoebe W. Woodruff is\none of the noblest examples of her sex,--truly a mother in Israel; and\nin her strength of character, consistency and devotion, she has but few\npeers in the Church.\"\n\n\n\nBATHSHEBA W. SMITH.\n\nWIFE OF APOSTLE GEORGE A. SMITH, OF REVERED MEMORY, WHO WAS ONE OF THE\nFIRST PRESIDENCY OF THE CHURCH OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS.\n\nBathsheba W. Smith is the daughter of Mark and Susannah Bigler, and\nwas born at Shirnsten, Harrison Co., West Virginia, on May 3rd, 1822.\nHer father was from Pennsylvania, her mother from Maryland. The school\nfacilities in her vicinity were limited. The county of Harrison was\nhilly, and the roads of primitive character; the mode of travel was\nchiefly on horseback riding, in which few could excel her.\n\nIn her girlhood she was religiously inclined, loved virtue, honesty,\ntruthfulness and integrity; attended secret prayers, studied to be\ncheerful, industrious and happy, and was always opposed to rudeness.\n\nDuring her fifteenth year some Latter-Day Saints visited the\nneighborhood, she heard them preach and believed what they taught. She\nknew by the spirit of the Lord, in answer to her prayer, that Joseph\nSmith was a prophet of the Lord, and that the Book of Mormon was a\ndivine record. On the 21st of August, 1837, Bathsheba W. Bigler was\nbaptized into the Church of Jesus Christ, and the most of her father's\nfamily also, about the same time. They soon felt a desire to gather\nwith the rest of the Saints in Missouri, her sister, Nancy, and family\nsold their property, intending to go in the fall, and Bathsheba was\nvery anxious to go with them. Her father having not yet sold out his\nproperty, she was told she could not go. This caused her to retire very\nearly, feeling very sorrowful. While weeping, a voice said to her,\n\"Weep not, you will go this fall.\" She was comforted and perfectly\nsatisfied, and the next morning testified to what the voice had said to\nher.\n\nSoon after, her father sold his home and they all went to Missouri, to\nher great joy, but on their arrival there found the State preparing to\nwar against the Saints. A few nights before they reached Far West, they\ncamped with a company of eastern Saints, but separated on account of\neach company choosing different ferries. The company Sister Bathsheba\nand her family were in, arrived safely at their destination, but the\nothers were overtaken by an armed mob; seventeen were killed, others\nwere wounded, and some maimed for life. In a few days after their\narrival there was a battle between the Saints and the mob, in which\nDavid W. Patten (one of the first Twelve Apostles,) was wounded, and\nhe was brought to the house where they were stopping. Sister Bathsheba\nwitnessed his death a few days after, and saw thousands of mobbers\narrayed against the Saints, and heard their dreadful threats and savage\nyells, when our Prophet Joseph and his brethren were taken into their\ncamp. The Prophet, Patriarch and many others were taken to prison;\nand the Saints had to leave the State. In the spring they had the joy\nof having the prophet and his brethren restored to them at Quincy,\nIllinois.\n\nIn the spring of 1840, the family of Sister Bathsheba moved to Nauvoo,\nwhere she had many opportunities of hearing the Prophet Joseph preach,\nand tried to profit by his instructions, and also received many\ntestimonies of the truths which he taught.\n\nOn the 25th of July, 1841, Bathsheba W. Bigler was married to George\nA. Smith, the then youngest member of the Twelve Apostles, Elder Don\nCarlos Smith (brother of the prophet) officiating. George A. Smith\nwas own cousin to the Prophet Joseph. When Sister Bathsheba first\nbecame acquainted with George A. Smith he was the junior member of the\nFirst Quorum of Seventies. On the 26th of June, 1838, he was ordained\na member of the High Council of Adam Ondi Ahman, in Davis County,\nMissouri. Just about the break of day on the 26th of April, 1834, while\nkneeling on the corner stone of the foundation of the Lord's House at\nFar West, Caldwell County, Missouri, he was ordained one of the Twelve\nApostles, and from thence started on a mission to Europe, from which he\nreturned ten days previous to their marriage.\n\nAs the 4th of July, 1842, came on the Sabbath day, they celebrated the\nanniversary on Monday the 5th. There was a military display of the\nNauvoo Legion, and a sham battle fought. George A. Smith was in the\ngeneral's staff in the uniform of a chaplain. Sister Bathsheba watched\nthe proceedings with great interest. On the 7th of July a son was born\nto them; they named him George Albert. Two months after, George A., as\nthe Saints loved to call him, went on a mission to the Eastern States.\nOn his previous mission (to England,) he injured his left lung, causing\nhemorrhage. In the fall of 1843, George A. and Bathsheba received their\nendowments and were united under the holy order of celestial marriage.\nSister Bathsheba heard the Prophet Joseph charge the Twelve with the\nduty and responsibility of the ordinances of endowments and sealing,\nfor the living and the dead. Sister Bathsheba met many times with her\nhusband, Joseph and others who had received their endowments, in an\nupper room dedicated for the purpose, and prayed with them repeatedly\nin those meetings. In the spring of 1844, Mr. Smith went on another\nmission, and soon after he left persecution began in the city of Nauvoo\nwhich ended in the martyrdom of our beloved prophet and patriarch. Mr.\nSmith returned about the 1st of August, and on the 14th a daughter was\nborn, and they named her Bathsheba.\n\nHaving become thoroughly convinced that the doctrine of plurality of\nwives was from God, and firmly believing that she should participate\nwith him in all his blessings, glory and honor, Sister Bathsheba gave\nto her husband different wives during the year of his return home. She\nsays of this; \"Being proud of my husband and loving him very much,\nknowing him to be a man of God, and having a testimony that what I had\ndone was acceptable to my Father in heaven, I was as happy as I knew\nhow to be.\"\n\nIt would be in vain to describe how they traveled through snow,\nwind and rain, how roads had to be made, bridges built and rafts\nconstructed, how our poor animals had to drag on day after day with\nscanty food; nor how we suffered from poverty, sickness and deaths, but\nthe Lord was with us, His power was made manifest daily. Quoting from\nher, \"My dear mother died on the 11th of March, 1844, and on the 4th of\nApril I had a son born who lived but four hours.\" They arrived in Salt\nLake Valley (now city) in October, 1849, after traveling over sterile\ndeserts and plains, over high mountains and through deep canyons,\nferrying some streams and fording others, but all was joy now. Sister\nBathsheba went to her sister's house, and O, how delightful it did\nseem to be once more in a comfortable room with a blazing fire on the\nhearth, where the mountain's rude blasts nor the desert's wild winds\ncould not reach them.\n\nIn March, 1850, Sister Bathsheba moved into their own house. In\nDecember, 1850, George A. Smith was called to go south to found a\nsettlement in Little Salt Lake Valley, two hundred and fifty miles\nfrom home. In 1851, he returned, having been elected a member of the\nLegislature from Iron Co. In 1856, he was sent to Washington to ask for\nthe admission of Utah as a State. In May, 1857, he returned to Utah. In\n1858, they went south, bidding farewell to their home, feeling as they\ndid on leaving Nauvoo; that they should never see it again, fleeing as\nthey were, before the approaching army.\n\nHowever, President Buchanan sent out his Peace Commissioners who\nbrought his Proclamation, declaring a general amnesty to all offenders.\nPeace being restored, they returned to Salt Lake City in July, having\nbeen gone three months. When they entered the city it was almost\nsundown; all was quiet, every door was boarded up. From only two or\nthree chimneys smoke was rising. How still and lonely, yet the breath\nof peace wafted over the silent city, and it was home! They had left\na partly finished house, and resuming work upon it, by October it was\nfinished. Sister Bathsheba says: \"It was so comfortable and we were so\nhappy! We had plenty of room. My son and daughter took great pleasure\nin having their associates come and visit them frequently. They would\nhave a room full of company, and would engage in reading useful books,\nsinging, playing music, dancing, &c. My son played the flute, flutina\nand was a good drummer. My son and daughter were good singers, they\nmade our home joyous with song and jest.\" In 1860, this son was sent\non a mission to the Moquois Indians. He was interested in this and apt\nin learning the language. After being set apart by the authorities for\nthat mission, he started on the 4th of September, and had traveled\nabout seven hundred miles, when on the 2nd of November he was killed by\nNavajo Indians. On the 3rd of January the daughter was married.\n\nIn 1873, Sister Bathsheba made a tour with her husband and President\nYoung and party, to the Colorado and up the Rio Virgin as far as\nShonesberg. In 1872, they made another tour with President Young and\nparty, visiting at St. George, Virgen City, Long Valley and Kanab. In\n1873, went again with her husband, President Young and company and\nspent the winter in St. George, going by way of San Pete and Sevier\ncounties. During this journey Sister Bathsheba attended several\nmeetings with the sisters, returning home April, 1874. She has visited\nthe Saints as far south as the junction of the Rio Virgen with the\nColorado, has visited the settlements on the Muddy River, and also the\nSaints as far north as Bear Lake and Soda Springs. On their travels\nthey have often been met by bands of music, and thousands of children\nbearing banners and flags; and singing songs of welcome. Sister\nBathsheba has enjoyed these tours very much. She has accompanied many\nexplorations down into deep gulches to see the water pockets, over\nbeautiful plains in carriages or cars, and over mountains and deserts.\n\nIn reference to her position in duties of a public and spiritual\ncharacter, we find the following: Returning from a tour, February 19th,\n1878, they arrived in Salt Lake City, finding all safe at home. I quote\nagain from Sister Bathsheba's journal, written in her own hand:\n\n\"My dear husband was not well; I thought I could soon nurse him up to\nhealth, but my efforts were all in vain, he expired on the first of\nSeptember after a long sickness.\" The departure was a shock to many.\nFor many months prayers had been offered up through all parts of the\nTerritory, for the restoration to health of this great and good man.\nSeated in his chair, his faithful wife beside him, he turned from his\nconversation with President Young and others who constantly attended\nhim, and leaning upon her devoted heart breathed his last.\n\nSister Bathsheba W. Smith belonged to the first Relief Society which\nwas organized at Nauvoo, and was present when it was organized, the\nProphet Joseph presiding. Officiated as Priestess in the Nauvoo Temple.\nWas Secretary in the Seventeenth Ward Relief Society, Salt Lake City;\nhad been First Counselor to President Rachel Grant in the Relief\nSociety of the Thirteenth Ward, Salt Lake City, for many years. Is\na Counselor to M. I. Horne in the General Retrenchment Association,\nFourteenth Ward, and is also Treasurer of the Relief Society of the\nSalt Lake Stake. Has officiated in the holy ordinances of the House of\nthe Lord in Salt Lake City for many years. Is also one of the Board\nof Directors in the Deseret Hospital. She says, \"I have attended many\nmeetings of the sisters and had many seasons of rejoicing.\"\n\nSister Bathsheba is often reverently spoken of as \"the beloved wife\nof George A. Smith.\" To her, in one sense, this would be the dearest\npraise that could be spoken. But yet a loftier, holier, than even the\nearth-love seems to hover around her very presence. A little child\nonce said, \"When I look at Sister Bathsheba, I do not see her with her\nbonnet on, I see her as she will look when she wears that crown that is\nwaiting for her.\" Such is the impression her face, her gentle voice and\nmanner convey. To the record of her life, and this, I could add nothing.\n\n\n\nELIZABETH HOWARD.\n\nSECRETARY OF THE RELIEF SOCIETIES OF THE SALT LAKE STAKE OF ZION.\n\nMrs. Howard furnishes a very brief sketch for one whose life and labors\namong the people and faith of her adoption, have been so extended,\nimportant and interesting, to all who have ever come within the\ninfluence of her noble, generous spirit; who have received the stimulus\nto failing spirits and energy which emanated from her animated face, so\ngood and motherly, her voice so cheerful and sympathetic, and her every\nmovement like an inspiration of strength, happiness and life.\n\nShe writes she was \"descended from Scotch parentage on her father's\nside, Irish on her mother's, Websters and Wards. Was born on July\n12th, 1823, at Carlow, Carlow County, Ireland.\" Was the first child\nof her parents and says she \"had a glorious childhood and girlhood,\"\nwhich can be easily believed, judging by her ever buoyant spirits. She\nwas \"married to William Howard, the eldest son of Stott and Catherine\nHoward, June 9th, 1841. Heard the Gospel in 1851, and came to America\nin 1853, with husband, two sons, four daughters, two hired girls and\ntwo hired men.\" They arrived in Utah, September, 1853.\n\nAt the organizations of the Relief Society in 1867-68, she was\nappointed Secretary of the Big Cottonwood Ward, which office she filled\nuntil she accompanied her husband to England in 1868, returned in 1869\nand resumed the same office. During their mission in England, Mrs.\nHoward was often called upon to explain the principles of our doctrines\nand answer many questions regarding our people, etc. Divines and others\nfound Mrs. Howard quite ready and able to meet and answer them on\nevery point. In fact her part of the mission has often been referred\nto as something exceptionally creditable and important. It was at a\ntime, too, when woman had scarcely been heard to speak upon our faith,\noutside the home circle.\n\nAbout 1871, when Mrs. M. A. Smoot removed to Provo, Mrs. Howard was\nchosen Counselor to Mrs. M. I. Horne in the General Retrenchment\nAssociation, which position she still holds. When the Relief Societies\nwere organized into Stakes, Mrs. Howard was appointed Secretary of the\nSalt Lake Stake of Zion, which position she holds at the present time.\nMrs. Howard has traveled much throughout our Territory in company with\nother sisters, visiting the different societies and associations in\na missionary capacity, giving instructions and infusing cheerfulness\nand energy by her whole-souled and genial manner. There is something\nwonderfully earnest and sincere in all she says and does, and it has\na most convincing effect upon the hearers who delight to welcome her\nvisits, who is herself a most delightful entertainer and hostess at her\nown beautiful country home a few miles ride out from the city.\n\nMrs. Howard is the mother of ten children, eight living; and\nthirty-seven grand-children.\n\n\n\nELMINA S. TAYLOR.\n\nPRESIDENT OF THE YOUNG LADIES' MUTUAL IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATIONS, OF THE\nCHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER-DAY SAINTS.\n\nI was born at Middlefield, Otsego County, State of New York, September\n12th, 1830. My parents are Daniel Shepard and Rozita Bailey Shepard.\nThree daughters were all the children that were born to them, I being\nthe eldest. My parents were staunch Methodists, and I was brought up\nin that faith. I united myself with that church when about twenty\nyears of age, and during some six years was a zealous and consistent\nmember of the same. At the time I joined the Church I was desirous to\nbe baptized by immersion as I considered that the pattern set by our\nSavior; although I had always been taught that baptism was not a saving\nordinance, but only to answer a good conscience, otherwise, an outward\nsign of an inward grace. To this my many friends were so much opposed\nthat after some time elapsed I consented, and was admitted a member of\nthe church, by sprinkling; but there were many doctrines and tenets\nwith which I never was satisfied, and when I went to my minister to\nhave them explained I was more beclouded and found myself more in the\ndark than before; though I sought to the Lord earnestly to be guided\naright.\n\n\"In the year 1854, circumstances induced me to go to Haverstraw, a\nlarge town situated in southern New York, on the banks of the beautiful\nHudson River, to engage in teaching. One of the trustees, John Druce,\nwas a Mormon elder, who had a very interesting and intelligent family.\nMy cousin and I frequently visited there, but for a long time they\nnever mentioned religion to us, fearing to frighten us away, but one\nnight, just as I was leaving, he asked me if I would read some Mormon\nbooks. I answered, 'O, yes! You know the Bible says prove all things\nand hold fast that which is good.' His earnestness impressed me. Before\nopening the books I bowed before the Lord and fervently implored Him to\ngive me His spirit that I might understand if they were true or false.\nMy interest was awakened, and the more I investigated and compared the\ndoctrines with the Scriptures, the more I was convinced of their truth.\nI fought against my convictions, for I well knew how it would grieve\nmy dear parents to have me unite myself with that despised people; and\nI also thought I should lose my situation which was a very lucrative\none. However, I could not silence my convictions, and as the promise\nwas given, 'If you will obey the doctrine, you shall know whether it is\nof God or man;' I went forth and was baptized July 5th, 1856. When I\nwas confirmed by the laying on of hands I received the testimony of its\ntruth which I have never lost from that day to this.\n\n\"I was united in marriage to George Hamilton Taylor, August 31st, 1856,\nby Apostle, now President, John Taylor, and in 1859, April fifteenth,\nwe left New York for Utah, where we arrived September 16th of the same\nyear, after a long tedious journey with ox teams. In the spring of\n1860 we located in the Fourteenth Ward, where we have since resided,\nand where our first child, a son, was born July 16th of the same year.\nWhile in the States we were never blessed with children, but it was\nprophesied upon my head that I should go to Zion and should there be\nblessed with them, which has been fulfilled, for I am now the mother of\nseven.\n\n\"Through the gift of tongues, it was also promised that all my family\nshould come to me, which was verified after we had been here nearly\nfifteen years, and my father is still with us, having reached the\nadvanced age of seventy-nine years, but none of them ever received the\nGospel.\n\n\"At the organization of the Relief Society of the Fourteenth Ward,\nDecember 12th, 1867, I was elected Secretary, an office which I still\noccupy. September 23rd, 1874, by request of Sister E. R. S. Snow, I\nwas appointed Superintendent of the Young Ladies' Association of the\nsame ward. I was chosen First Counselor to Sister M. I. Horne, Stake\nPresident of Salt Lake County, December 22nd, 1879, and have traveled\nconsiderably in that capacity.\n\n\"At a Conference held in the Assembly Hall, Salt Lake City, June 19th,\n1880, was appointed President of the Young Ladies Mutual Improvement\nAssociation of Zion.\n\n\"July 4th, 1877, we entered into the celestial order of marriage, and\nhave since all lived under the same roof, and eaten at the same table,\never in the enjoyment of peace and harmony.\"\n\nAll who are acquainted with the writer of the above autobiographical\nsketch, can cheerfully add testimony to its concluding paragraph. \"Love\nat Home\" might be graven upon a tablet of stone within their door, so\nindelibly seems that sacred principle to have been impressed upon the\nhearts within that household.\n\nBy example, by attainments, and the spiritual refinement and elegance\nin bearing which would denote the Christian lady, under any or all\ncircumstances, it seems peculiarly appropriate that Mrs. Elmina S.\nTaylor was called to preside over the young ladies of Zion. May they\nemulate their standard, spiritually and socially. The simplicity and\nmodesty of her sketch cannot convey to the mind of the reader those\ndelicate attributes of character, so well understood by those who, like\nmyself, have been recipients of her kindly counsels and encouragement,\nand recognized in a wider sense by those who have listened to her\naddresses, dictated by the spirit of our sacred and holy religion.\n\n\n\nMARY A. FREEZE.\n\nPRESIDENT OF THE Y. L. M. I. A. OF THE SALT LAKE STAKE OF ZION.\n\nMary A. Freeze is the daughter of James Lewis Burnham and his wife,\nMary Ann, who were born in Vermont. In 1837, with their one child\nthey emigrated to McHenry County, Illinois, where they made them a\nhome, leaving there in 1843 for Beauro County in the same State. In\nthe latter place they heard and obeyed the Gospel of Jesus Christ.\nMr. Burnham was a minister of the Church called Christians, but after\nhearing the elders explain the principles of this Gospel, could not but\nacknowledge that he had no legal authority to preach, and consequently\nwas baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints,\nwhose doctrines he preached and advocated faithfully until the day of\nhis death, from bleeding of the lungs, caused by preaching in the open\nair. In 1843, Mr. and Mrs. Burnham had moved to Nauvoo. They there had\nfour children, the youngest, a little girl, died in 1844. Mr. Burnham\nlabored as much as his failing strength would permit, quarrying rock\nfor the Temple. In the summer of 1845 he grew worse. Mrs. Freeze says,\n\"This was four days previous to my birth. This was a trying time for\nmy mother, being left in sorrow and very destitute of worldly goods,\nwith no relatives near to help her; but the Saints were very kind to\nher in her affliction. Her relatives in the East would gladly have\nsent means to take her back, but she had cast her lot with the Saints\nof God and preferred to remain with them in the depths of poverty than\nto have the wealth of the whole world, elsewhere. After the Temple was\nfinished she entered therein, partaking of the ordinances, and was\nsealed to President Joseph Young, (brother of President Brigham Young,)\nhe performing this ordinance for my father, who had died before the\nopportunity of this privilege. She afterwards had two daughters who are\nnow the wives of Robert N. Russell and Jasper Conrad.\n\n\"In February, 1846, the famous exodus began, but my mother had no way\nof going so remained until after the battle took place and the Saints\nwere driven out on pain of losing their lives. Mother received a wagon\nfor her city property and was lent a yoke of oxen, that she might begin\nthat memorable, toilsome journey with her four little children. I have\nheard her tell of the mobs searching the wagons for arms, the obscene\nlanguage they used, and how terribly she suffered from fear. She\narrived at Winter Quarters late in the fall, where she remained a year\nand a half, when they were compelled by the Government to move back on\nthe east side of the river, because they were on Indian Territory. Soon\nafter this she let her second and third sons, Wallace and George, go\non to the valley with Brother Daniel Woods. This was a severe trial to\nmy loving mother, but there seemed to be no other way for them to be\ntaken care of as the Saints were in the deepest poverty. I have often\nheard her and Brother Luther also, rehearse the want and distress they\nendured, sometimes nearly amounting to starvation. We were compelled to\nremain there until 1852, when through the kindness of the brethren we\nwere enabled in June to cross the plains, arriving in Salt Lake City,\nOctober 8th, last day of Conference. I was too young to remember much\nabout the journey, but one circumstance impressed itself upon my mind.\nWhile climbing into the wagon I fell, and was run over by both wheels\nand very badly hurt, but through the administration of the elders\nwas almost instantly healed and felt no bad effects from the injury\nafterward.\n\n\"We located in Bountiful, Davis County, ten miles north of Salt Lake\nCity, where we lived until I was sixteen years old. I was baptized\nwhen nine years of age and felt happy in the assurance that I was a\n'Mormon' in very deed. At the time of the Reformation, I was full\nof the inspiration of the times although only eleven years old, and\nwas very much in earnest in repenting of my sins, and making new\ncovenants to serve the Lord more faithfully in the future. During my\nearly years I attended school the entire season, until old enough to\nassist my mother, when I attended during the winter only. Being very\nassiduous I acquired a good common school education. In 1861 we moved\nto Richmond, Cache Valley, my brothers having taken up land and made a\nhome there. It was there I became acquainted with James Perry Freeze,\nwhom I assisted in teaching school six months, not dreaming of the\nrelationship I was destined to sustain to him. My girlhood days were\nnot as happy as might have been, on account of our exceeding poverty,\nbut I have many times since thought that it was for my greatest good\nthat I was reared in want and loneliness; that it was a means of\nkeeping me humble, the good spirit thereby finding a receptacle in\nmy heart, giving me a desire to seek after truth and learn of the\nthings of God. Had I possessed wealth and my mind been filled with the\nfollies and fashions of the world, I might not have had such a desire\nto make the Lord my friend. At an early age I read in the Doctrine and\nCovenants, that God is no respecter of persons, but in all countries\nthose who fear Him and work righteousness are accepted of Him. This was\na great comfort to me, a guiding star to my whole future life; that\nby leading a righteous life I should be loved of my Father in heaven\nequally with the richest and most highly born; that possessing His love\nand favor I possessed everything worth caring for.\n\n\"In March, 1863, I was married to James P. Freeze, whom, I felt assured\nwas a noble man, one that I could trust as the guardian of my life.\nI am the mother of eight children. We resided in Richmond six months\nafter our marriage, when we came to Salt Lake City, where he has since\nfollowed the mercantile business. In 1864, we became identified with\nthe Eleventh Ward where we still live. In 1871, I was called to preside\nover the Young Ladies Mutual Improvement Association of this Ward,\naccepting it with great reluctance, feeling my incapability, but have\nfilled it to the best ability which God has given me, and have proven\nthat all who seek the Lord in humility, will surely receive a blessing\nat His hand. Through the blessing of the Almighty, I have now the love\nand confidence of the members who have manifested the same in various\nways.\n\n\"In the spring of 1871, my husband, a faithful man, desirous of keeping\nall the commandments of God, saw fit, with my full consent, to take\nto himself another of the daughters of Eve, a good and worthy girl,\nJane Granter by name. It tried my spirit to its utmost endurance, but\nI always believed the principle to be true, and felt that it was time\nwe obeyed that sacred order. The Lord knew my heart and desires, and\nwas with me in my trial and assisted me to overcome the selfishness and\njealousy of my nature. With his help, added to the great kindness of\nmy husband, who has ever stood at the head of his family as a wise and\njust man, I soon obtained peace. While undergoing the severest trial to\nmy feelings, I was inspired with the following lines which the Lord was\nnot slow to answer:\n\n  \"'Father, help me to do Thy will,\n  Command my troubled heart be still;\n  Cause my soul with peace to flow,\n  While I sojourn here below,\n  Help me still to realize\n  Thou'rt the giver of the prize\n  That I would win through faithfulness.\n  Then, Father, O look down and bless\n  Thine erring child that cries to Thee\n  For help, amid life's stormy sea.'\n\n\"My husband has since taken two other wives, and I praise the Lord that\nI had so far overcome, that instead of feeling it to be a trial, it\nwas a source of joy and pride that we were counted worthy to have such\nnoble girls enter our family. The two last were my Counselors in the\nYoung Ladies' Improvement Association of our Ward. I have loved the\nwives of my husband as I would have my own sisters, realizing that the\npower of the Holy Priesthood that has bound us together for time and\neternity is stronger than kindred ties. Sophia lived with me nearly\nseven years; she died December, 1879, which was one of the greatest\ntrials of my life. I could as willingly have parted with one of my own\ndaughters. She left me a beautiful boy who seems as near to me as my\nown. I wish to bear testimony to my descendants, and to all who may\nread this sketch, that I know by the power of the Holy Ghost which\nbears testimony to my spirit, that the Patriarchal Order of Marriage is\nfrom God and was revealed for the exaltation and salvation of the human\nfamily, also that I have had peace, joy and satisfaction in living in\nthat Order such as I had never known before; and have had many proofs\nthat God will pour out His blessings upon those who keep His laws,\nseeking Him with full purpose of heart, for He will be sought after by\nHis children.\n\n\"September 14, 1878, the authorities having considered it necessary to\ninstitute a Stake Organization of the Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement\nAssociation, I was chosen as President of these Associations in this\nSalt Lake Stake of Zion. I chose Louie Felt, and Clara Y. Conrad, my\nhalf-sister, as my Counselors. We have visited the Associations as far\nas practicable, have enjoyed the spirit of our mission and feel assured\nwe have been instrumental in the hands of God of doing much good.\n\n\"I am striving to purify myself, and keep all of the commandments of\nGod, to be diligent in the performance of every duty assisting to roll\nforth the great work our Father has established in the last days, that\nI may be worthy to receive the blessings which have been pronounced\nupon my head; for they are great and many, and I know I shall receive\nthem if found worthy. I know the fruits of this Gospel are peace, joy\nand happiness, and all who obey its precepts will have in this life\nthat peace which passeth all understanding, that which the world cannot\ngive nor take away, and having finished their labors, and are called\nto another sphere, will be crowned with life eternal, which is the\ngreatest of all gifts. It has been the greatest desire of my life that\nmy children should become bright and shining lights in the church of\nGod, and knowing that much depends upon parents, I have ever striven to\nset them an example worthy of imitation, teaching them true principles,\nthat I might not come under condemnation for my neglect of duty.\n\n\"I realize that heaven would not be heaven to me if my children,\nthrough sin and transgression, could not have a place there; that my\nglory would be dimmed forever.\n\n\"I will now say good-bye, until we meet where there is neither sorrow\nnor mourning, but our joy will be perfect; and trust my descendants may\nall keep the laws of God, and be worthy to sit down with Abraham, Isaac\nand Jacob, Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and all the faithful in the\nkingdom of God, to go no more out.\"\n\nMrs. Freeze says, \"We have traced our lineage back to the year 1200,\nand have the record of the same. We descended from the Normans. Our\nfamily was at one time very wealthy and numerous in England; there\nis a town which bears their name. Three brothers came to America at\nan early date, one settled in Vermont, and two in Massachusetts.\nTheir descendants took part in the Revolutionary War, and among them\naccording to the 'Burnham Record' were many Doctors of Divinity,\nDoctors of Law, and one Mary Burnham, writes of the 'service of gold,\ntheir equipages and household appointments, of that grandeur brought\nwith them from their ancient and noble halls of England.' Several of\nthe Burnham descendants were officers in the late Civil War in America.\"\n\nMrs. Freeze is of that class of spirits that (in religion or justice)\nopposition would animate, persecution, inspire her. I have often\nthought, looking into her eyes, that in their depths slumbered the\nembers (scarcely covered by the ashes of dead years) of the fires of\npatriot's and martyr's souls.\n\n\n\nLOUIE FELT.\n\nPRESIDENT OF THE PRIMARY ASSOCIATIONS OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF\nLATTER-DAY SAINTS.\n\nLouie Felt was the daughter of Joseph and Mary Bouton, was born in\nSouth Norfolk, Conn., May 5, 1852. Was baptized when eight years old\nand came to Utah in September, 1866. On December 29th of same year was\nmarried to Joseph H. Felt. At the October Conference of 1867, they\nwere called to go on the Muddy River Mission and started the 9th of\nNovember following. They remained there between two and three years,\nenduring many hardships; the heat in summer being particularly trying\nto those used to a Northern clime. \"Ninety degrees in the shade\" is\nconsidered high in our eastern cities, but at the Muddy, for months it\nwould rise above one hundred degrees at midnight. The buildings were\nnew, low adobe houses, lumber scarce, and often the wife was asked,\n\"where would you prefer to have the boards, over your head or under\nyour feet?\" Those who had babies to rock took the choice of a floor,\nand put up with a thatched roof. The winds blew with great violence,\nand the tender shoots of the trees, vines, and other things they\nplanted were often cut off clean by the sharp sand in the driving wind.\nThey were surrounded by friendly Indians who were willing to work and\nlearn civilization, but who were so hungry they could not resist the\ntemptation to pluck the young watermelons and squashes planted by the\nmissionaries, as fast as they approached the size of walnuts. Once,\nwhen visiting the Muddy settlement of St. Joseph, the Indian visitors\nwere delighted with the rice my mother was preparing to cook. They\ncalled it the \"snow-white wheat\" and begged for some, saying they would\nplant and cultivate it with great care. She humored them, but showed\nthem how the germ was destroyed, and advised them to cook it, and plant\ncorn and melons.\n\nIn a brief time the Missionaries were short of the good things they\nhad provided; there were no stores, freight trains seldom came that\nway, and they were a long distance, three day's travel from St.\nGeorge, itself a pioneer settlement in an alkali desert. President\nErastus Snow, with fatherly kindness, sent beef, cattle and flour to\nthe Indians, to stay their increasing instincts for self-preservation\nby way of appropriation. Another misfortune befell the Missionaries;\ntheir dwellings were as dry as tinder, and in some way a fire started,\nand some lost their all, everyone lost something. President Erastus\nSnow called upon the people of St. George, and if I remember right,\nof Washington and Santa Clara also and with all possible haste sent\nthe willing contributions of their brethren and sisters. President\nBrigham Young had two daughters, a son and a niece on the same mission.\nHe visited them and was filled with compassion for their situation,\nand as it seemed vain to hope for an amelioration of some of their\ndisadvantages, the Mission was broken up. Mrs. Felt's health was\npoor but, she says, \"I never felt to murmur, but to stay as long\nas required.\" In 1869, Mrs. Felt went on a visit to her father in\nConnecticut, as he was not expected to live. He had gone back for the\nrecovery of his health but was no better. She remained with him three\nmonths, then returned to Utah. In 1872 they moved to the Eleventh Ward,\n\"and then,\" she says, \"began some of the happiest days of my life.\nI soon became a member of the Y. L. M. I. A., and thereby received\na better understanding of my religion, which brought me peace and\nhappiness, such as I had never known before. I also became thoroughly\nconvinced of the truth of the principle of celestial marriage, and\nhaving no children of my own was very desirous my husband should take\nother wives that he might have a posterity to do him honor, and after\nhe took another wife and had children born to him, the Lord gave me a\nmother's love for them; they seemed as if they were indeed my own, and\nthey seem to have the same love for me they do for their own mother.\"\nI have witnessed the real mother in this family, rocking her babe to\nsleep, and the other mother--Louie--would sit beside her and hold one\nlittle hand, or lay her own upon its little head, and it would quietly\nresign itself to sleep, so closely were all these three true hearts\nunited in love. \"In September, 1878, I was appointed to the position\nof President of the P. A. of the Eleventh Ward, which position I still\nhold. In December of the same year. Mrs. Freeze chose me as her First\nCounselor, in the stake organization of the Young Ladies' Association,\nand I immediately started with President Freeze, visiting these wards,\nand I enjoyed my labor. In September, 1879, I was appointed to fill\nthe position of Territorial President of the Primary Improvement\nAssociations, and have visited the different stakes of Zion as much as\ncircumstances would permit, and now feel more firm in my religion, and\nmore determined to magnify my calling whereunto I have been appointed,\nhoping thereby to bring honor to the cause of Zion and also to myself.\"\n\nIn person, Mrs. Felt is very tall and slender, her health always\nbeing very delicate. Her face is pale, refined and spiritual in its\nexpression; her spirit buoyant and cheerful, and her animated manner\nand smile as frank as a child's; the beholder would never take her for\n\"a sorrowing Mormon woman,\" such as we read about. Whether presiding\nin gentle dignity over a conference of several thousands of parents\nand children, whether happily mingling in a reunion of cherished and\nappreciative friends, or whether in that closer, dearer circle of which\nshe is not the least the builder, her face is that of innocence and\npurity; her heart is an altar to her God; her life a monument to all.\n\n\n\nELLEN C. S. CLAWSON.\n\nPRESIDENT OF THE PRIMARY ASSOCIATION OF THE SALT LAKE STAKE OF ZION.\n\nEllen Curtis Spencer Clawson was born in Saybrook, Conn., Nov. 1,\n1832. She is the eldest daughter of Spencer Clawson, A. B., and\nCatherine Curtis, and grand daughter of Daniel Spencer, who fought\nin the Revolutionary War. Her father graduated at Union College,\nSchenectady, New York, and also at the Theological College at Hamilton,\nas a minister of the Baptist denomination. He received the gospel when\nhis daughter was seven years old. He immediately sold his effects and\nwent to Nauvoo, where he became intimately associated with the Prophet\nJoseph. At the age of nine years, she was baptized in the Mississippi\nriver. During the exodus from Nauvoo her mother died from exposure\nand exhaustion, through leaving a comfortable house to camp out in\nmid-winter. Six months later her father was sent to Great Britain to\ntake charge of the mission there. It was there he wrote the celebrated\n\"Spencer's Letters,\" a little volume well known among the church works.\nHe also became editor of the _Millennial Star_, which position he held\nfor three years. He was obliged to leave his five remaining children\nin Ellen's care, she being now only thirteen years of age. During\nhis absence the little family crossed the plains with ox teams, in\nPresident Brigham Young's company, taking five months to complete the\njourney, and suffering all the privations and hardships with the rest\nof the Saints.\n\nMiss Ellen C. Spencer was married in March 1850, by President Brigham\nYoung, to Hiram B. Clawson, who soon after became to President\nYoung, business manager, a position he held for a number of years;\nsubsequently superintendent of the Z. C. M. I., and is at present\nBishop of the Twelfth Ward, Salt Lake City. Mrs. Clawson is the mother\nof fourteen children, four sons and ten daughters, seven daughters\nand two sons of whom are now living. In April, 1879, Mrs. Clawson was\ncalled to preside over the Primary Association of the Twelfth Ward,\nSalt Lake City, and later was ordained to preside over all the Primary\nAssociations of the Salt Lake Stake of Zion.\n\nThink of this noble girl, hardly more than a child, taking upon her\nyoung life the duties and cares of a loved and lost, a martyred mother!\nSurely she was precious in God's sight; and his arm must have sustained\nher through that long and lonely journey through the wilderness. That\nsame strength of character, that same sweet patience of spirit, gentle\nmanner, have upborne her through later eventful periods. A prominent\nand beautiful feature in her life, one that has won to her the truest\nrespect, the unperishable love of her friends is the position she has\nmaintained amid her husband's family, like a loving queen mother, in\nhis home circle.\n\nMrs. Clawson's two sons, H. B. and Spencer Clawson, are in the\nmercantile business, the latter a wholesale merchant, both men of high\nsocial and business standing, and an honor to their parents.\n\n\n\nEMMELINE B. WELLS.\n\nEDITOR OF \"WOMAN'S EXPONENT.\"\n\nThis lady, like most of our representative women, was born in\nNew England, February 29, 1828, at Petersham, Worcester County,\nMassachusetts. Her maiden name was Woodward. The forefathers of\nher family came in 1830, settled in and around Boston, were large\nlandowners, and by profession were mathematicians, surveyors, etc. Mrs.\nWells' ancestry, both on the father and mother's side, were purely of\nEnglish extraction, and fought for freedom in the Revolutionary War,\nas well as that of 1812, some of them being officers of high rank.\nHer brothers and other relations fought in the late Civil War also.\nMrs. Wells has had an eventful history in many respects, and somewhat\nromantic; were it to be published as a story and strictly true, it\nwould be stranger than fiction.\n\nIn her early life she gave promise of unusual talent, her memory was\nquite wonderful, storing up the many incidents and points of beauty\naround her to be brought forth in after years in faithful portraiture\namid far off valleys and places then unbuilt and undiscovered. It was\nthe expectation of her family and friends that she would make a mark\nin the world and do them honor; this was to be verified, but in a way\nundreamed of by them. The place and work God had chosen for her had\nnot in her childhood, even a name. The child of destiny, straying\nalone yet not lonely, with her busy fancies finding companionship\nin fields, woods and brooks, the haunts of nature in their rudest,\nwildest form; listening to the songs of birds and sighing of the forest\nleaves, touching with caressing hand the flowers and moss-grown rocks,\nsearching through shrubbery and tangled vines, or looking up through\nalcoves green and dim, feasted her eyes upon the wondrous sky where\nmoving clouds passed on in endless changes 'neath that world, where she\nwas taught the home and throne of God forever are. These surroundings\nand influences developed and moulded that individuality of character\nduring her childhood to the degree, that at eight years of age she\ncommenced composing in rhyme, choosing instinctively the beautiful and\nharmonious method of expression which is poetry. This element cannot\nbe possessed by anyone, old or young, but that it casts an influence\nrecognized at once, and men and women gray haired now, say, that\nwatching the thoughtful child they knew there was a special destiny for\nher, undefined, but nevertheless felt as something grand and great. So,\nhovered the spirit of her mission around her through her childhood, and\nat ten years of age she became a member of the church choir, happy in\nlifting her full heart in hymns of worship and of praise.\n\nHow many have found sweet joy in singing; that expression of\nsupplication, faith and gratitude, which in any and every religion is,\nwe feel, true and acceptable adoration.\n\nIn November, 1841, the Gospel was preached in her native village; and\nher mother believed and was baptized. Immediately a branch of the\nChurch was organized and some excitement in regard to Mormonism sprang\nup among the worldly-wise and learned. Mrs. Wells' mother persuaded her\nto go and hear the Mormon elders, and told her she knew it was the true\nGospel that the ancient Apostles taught, and that she had been looking\nforward to such a dispensation. She was a woman of very strong mind, of\npractical capabilities, yet withal very spiritual in her nature, had\nbeen for many years a staunch Congregationalist, and had her children\nbrought up in that church. Ministers, lawyers, judges and influential\nmen came with their profound learning and logic to convince Mrs. Wells'\nmother that Mormonism was a delusion, but all in vain. On the young and\ninexperienced daughter they expected to be able to make an impression,\nand no means was left untried. Everything that could be said or done\nwas brought to bear, and when she had decided to receive the ordinance\nof baptism all the powers of darkness seemed to conspire to hinder it.\nShe affirms that a power she had no knowledge of heretofore, seemed\nto possess her at this momentous time to help her to withstand the\nintercessions and pleadings of those who had been her friends, and who\nnow so vigorously sought to keep her from going down into the waters of\nbaptism.\n\nOn the 1st day of March, 1842, when a little group of Latter-Day Saints\nwas assembled to perform the ordinance of baptism on her mother's own\nground, just near her home, zealous friends sent messengers down to ask\nher if she was _sure_ she was acting of her own free will and choice,\notherwise they would take her by force and she should never lack for\nmeans of a higher education, but if she accepted the Mormon faith and\ngathered at Nauvoo she _must_ renounce not only her friends but also\nall the advantages of literary culture she had so ardently hoped to\nattain, and be forever disgraced. Not knowing but that it was true that\nher hopes for further advancement must be resigned, she laid them on\nthe altar of her faith, willing to yield up her future entirely to the\nwill and care of her Creator. Some power potent indeed buoyed her up\nand she went through this trying ordeal and though her delicate nerves\nwere somewhat shaken yet she told her mother and friends then what\nproved true afterwards, that the crisis was past, she had renounced all\nshe had before looked forward to, henceforth she desired to dedicate\nherself entirely to the work in which she had enlisted.\n\nDuring the year after her coming into the Church she pursued her\nstudies at the same school, yet she had to endure a great deal of\nridicule on account of being a Mormon, and her teacher never wearied\nof persuading and entreating her to give up such foolish ideas, and\nresume her place among her associates. But though she was as one alone,\nfor there was not another in the school that believed in the peculiar\nfaith she had embraced, and she understood very little herself, still\nshe had an innate conception of the entire consecration necessary for a\nLatter-Day Saint. The next year she taught a country school, receiving\nher certificate as readily as any of the other young ladies; and early\nin the spring of 1844, in the month of April, she went up to Nauvoo,\nwhere she had the privilege of hearing Joseph Smith preach his last\ndiscourses. After reaching Nauvoo she received strong testimony, not by\nany spiritual manifestations, but that which convinced her reason and\nintelligence.\n\nWe cannot attempt to give in detail the changes and trials of Nauvoo,\nbut suffice it to say that through sickness, sorrow and severe trial\nshe kept the faith.\n\nIn the winter of 1844-45, she was taught the principle of celestial\nmarriage by Bishop Newel K. Whitney and his wife, whose acquaintance\nshe had formed through having been introduced to the family by a cousin\nof Sister Whitney's. This cousin was one of the company in which she\nhad traveled to Nauvoo, and who because of her delicate health, her\nyouth and inexperience, had been attracted towards her.\n\nShe accepted the principle in its sacred phase and entered into the\norder or covenant of celestial marriage with the same purity of motive\nthat had influenced her in going down into the waters of baptism. The\nceremony was performed by Brigham Young in one of the upper rooms\nof the Bishop's house in Nauvoo, in the evening of the 14th day of\nFebruary, 1845, the only witness being the Bishop's first wife, who\nnot only had consented but actually urged the matter, and gave her to\nher husband; and the most sincere friendship existed forever afterward\nbetween the two, who really lived like mother and daughter, and though\nso intimately associated in the same family, and sometimes under\ncircumstances the most trying, yet no jar or contention ever marred\ntheir true friendship for each other. To those who doubt the fact of\nwomen living happily together no better illustration can be given\nthan such practical ones as these. Here were two refined, sensitive\nnatures in harmony with that condition of marriage, but it was from\nthe fact that they accepted it from divine authority as a part of\ntheir religion, and a higher law which would secure to them a future\nexaltation; never losing sight of the exalted nature of their mission,\nhaving undertaken to live lives of self-sacrifice and purity. The\nfalse assertion made by the world that women of marked character and\nattainments would never submit to live in the order of plural marriage\nis disproved by such instances as this one. Both were women of high\nsocial attainments, and possessing superior qualities of mind and heart.\n\nIt is the higher nature that must be aroused to inspire women to carry\nout practically this exalting, refining principle, and through this\ncrucible many have come forth like gold seven times purified, tried as\nby fire yet without the smell upon their garments.\n\nMrs. Wells received the ordinances and the blessings of the Temple with\nher husband in Nauvoo, and came out in the month of February, crossing\nthe Mississippi River on the ice. Her mother, who had been a staunch\nLatter-Day Saint from her first hearing the Gospel preached, died of\nhardships and fatigue when the Saints were driven from Nauvoo.\n\nIn Winter Quarters she taught school and came with the Bishop and his\nfamily to the valley, leaving the Missouri River towards the last of\nMay, 1845, and arrived in the valley early in October. On the 2nd day\nof November, after, her eldest daughter was born in a wagon, during one\nof those cold piercing wind and sleet storms that often occur at that\nseason. September 23, 1850, Bishop Whitney died, leaving her a widow at\ntwenty-two with two children, the eldest not then two years of age, the\nyoungest a babe five weeks old. Many of her friends feared she would\nsink beneath her trials, but she rallied those forces of her nature,\nwhich under a husband's care had never been called into requisition,\nand turned to the ways and means of providing for her little ones. Left\nas it were alone, bereft and so helpless, the young mother was like one\nin a dream, she had trusted to her husband so entirely, and knew so\nlittle herself of the practical realities of life; she had not thought\nhe could die. He was one to lean upon, and she had looked up to him as\na little child looks up to a true loving parent with a reverence almost\nmore than human. To her he had shown the utmost tenderness, helping\nand encouraging in times of severe trial, making every burden lighter\nbecause of the intense sympathy of his spiritual nature. This was one\nof the eventful epochs of her life. She awakened to know that for her,\nduty must be first, and she became in course of time accustomed to\nacting for herself instead of leaning upon another.\n\nIt was a hard lesson, but she studied it carefully, and sought\nearnestly for divine help upon her efforts; but we are simply giving\na few facts and not minute details, therefore suffice it to say after\nsomething more than two years of widowhood she married again.\n\nDuring the Bishop's life, he frequently prophesied to her of the future\nand what her work would yet be, and although she could not then imagine\nhow such changes could possibly be wrought, (as much on account of the\ncondition of the country and the circumstances of the people,) yet\nlooking back over it now, she realizes how prophetic his words were,\nand the promises made concerning her future have many of them been\nfulfilled.\n\nMrs. Wells often says she was born a woman's rights advocate,\ninheriting it from her mother, who was a staunch advocate for woman's\nemancipation, and when left a widow with a large family, realized more\nfully the injustice of the laws in regard to women, their property\nrights and guardianship of children. Mrs. Wells has been the mother of\nsix children, one son and five daughters, and during their childhood\ndevoted herself almost exclusively to their care and education.\n\nMrs. Wells has always had a great desire to see others advance, and in\nher home before she entered upon public duties ever sought to stimulate\nthose around her to efforts of development of the higher nature. She\nhas given much genuine encouragement to those who would shrink from\ncriticism and would consequently, unless aroused, bury their talents or\nfold them away in a napkin. She is exceedingly frank in her nature and\ngenerous to a fault, and possesses an admirable faculty of entertaining\nthose with whom she is from time to time associated. She has drawn\naround her people of taste, ability and culture; the secret of her\nwinning friends is perhaps in her almost total forgetfulness of self,\nand her intense wish to make others happy. Perhaps, among her friends,\nfew are fonder or more sincere than those who have received both\nsympathy, encouragement and advice from her who has not feared that\nother lights might dim her own, she has rejoiced in the progress and\nvictories of others as though they were her own achievements.\n\nIt is truly wonderful to contemplate the public work accomplished by\nMrs. Wells in the comparatively brief opportunity of time since her\nlabors began. In the Eastern States prominent women have pursued these\nobjects for nearly fifty years, but the women of Utah have stood afar\nand alone with no part in matters of a political nature until about\nthirteen years ago. They have exercised their privileges with respect,\ncaution and wisdom, holding neither lightly or boastfully the freedom\nof the ballot. Many have read law and studied parliamentary rules,\nand have on occasions of public character endeavored to profit by\nobservation in the presentation and discussion of such matters.\n\nMrs. Wells has traveled much among our people, speaking and assisting\nin organizing. She has good executive ability and is well adapted to\nthis kind of work.\n\nIn political matters she takes great interest, and since the women\nof Utah have had the ballot she has taken a prominent part in that\ndirection and done much active work.\n\nMrs. Wells went to Washington as a delegate from the women of Utah in\nJanuary, 1879, to attend the Convention of the National Woman Suffrage\nAssociation, accompanied by Mrs. Zina Young Williams and while there\nthey had the opportunity of speaking before committees of House and\nSenate, and also had an audience with President Hayes and several\nof the leading men of the nation on the Mormon question. They also\nprepared a memorial to Congress and succeeded in getting it presented.\n\nIn November, 1874, Mrs. Wells went into the office of the _Woman's\nExponent_ to assist the editor, Mrs. Lula Greene Richards, a little\nin her labors, and gradually grew interested in the work, and in May,\n1875, her labors became regular and constant, continuing so until in\nJuly, 1877, when she assumed the entire responsibility, Mrs. Richards\nwithdrawing on account of increased domestic cares. Mrs. Wells never\nseems to tire of journalistic duty.\n\nIn November, 1876, she was chosen President of the Central Grain\nCommittee for the storing of grain by women, against a day of famine.\nAt the Mass Meeting in the Theatre to protest against the Woman's\nAnti-Polygamic Association she took an active part in the proceedings.\nIn September, 1882, Mrs. Wells went to Omaha with Mrs. Zina D. H.\nYoung, to attend the convention of the National Woman's Suffrage\nAssociation again. Mrs. Wells was appointed Secretary of the Deseret\nHospital Association; in fact her time is almost constantly employed in\nthe performance of public duties and benevolent work.\n\nLooking retrospectively upon the life of Emmeline B. Wells and\nnoting the constant upward progress she has made through the adverse\ncircumstances common to a pioneer life, and the establishing of a new\norder of religion and social life amid the opposition and persecution\nof our own nation; the result is calculated to testify strongly\nagainst the assertions made that, in our isolation and subservience\nto religious authority, woman is repressed in her abilities and\nprivileges; for it is in that mental atmosphere which is the very\nessence of Mormonism, that hers have been developed and brought into\nprominence as an exemplar to the young. If in the very stronghold of\nMormonism the standard of progress is upheld by woman's hand as well\nas man's, the inference is that the next generation will show a marked\nadvance. Knowledge is power, and this with virtue and wisdom united,\nguided by inspiration, ignorance and tyranny will alike be impotent\nagainst the growing hosts of Israel. And, knowing this, all excellences\nof acquirements and attainments are stimulated and promoted among\nthe old and young by our leaders, misrepresentation to the contrary\nnotwithstanding.\n\nThe quality of statesmanship is of high order and rare among women, but\nit has been declared by the lips of prophecy that positions of power\nwould await the women of Zion faster than they would be qualified for\nthem. Mrs. Wells is by nature one of those prepared for the advent of\nsuch an era.\n\nAnd still, the songs whispered from nature to the heart of the child\nchime on, and the woman repeats them in clear, sweet utterances to the\nworld; the intuitions of the Deity and his work she may now declare\nin knowledge, and the maiden that with timid feet went down at the\nGospel's call into the waters of baptism, has become a strength, an\ninspiration and a guide to women in the same path.\n\nPresident Young gave Mrs. Wells a mission to record in brief the\nbiographies of the most prominent women of our Church, in the _Woman's\nExponent_. A part of this work has already been performed, which is an\nimportant addition to our home literature.\n\nI give below one selection from the lady's many beautiful poems:\n\n  REAL AND IDEAL.\n\n  At times, sweet visions float across my mind,\n  And glimpses of the unknown bright and fair,\n  Where all the objects seem so well defined--\n  Tasteful in color, and in beauty rare,\n  That I must pause and think if they be real,\n  Or only what the poets call ideal.\n\n  I well remember when a little child,\n  I had these same strange, wand'ring fancies;\n  And I was told my thoughts were running wild,\n  That I must not indulge in such romances.\n  Wasting in idle dreams the precious hours,\n  Building air castles and gazing from the towers.\n\n  E'en then I seemed to see familiar friends,\n  Pertaining to a dim, uncertain past;\n  And to my recollection faintly clings,\n  A sense of something which the shadows cast,\n  That showed me what my future life would be,\n  A prophecy, as 'twere, of destiny.\n\n  There was an intuition in my heart,\n  An innate consciousness of right and wrong,\n  That bade me choose a wiser, better part,\n  Which, in rough places helped to make me strong:\n  And though my path was oft bereft of beauty,\n  Still urged me on to fulfill ev'ry duty.\n\n  O, happy childhood, bright with faith and hope;\n  Enchantment dwells within thy rosy bowers,\n  And rainbow tints gild all within thy scope;\n  And youth sits lightly on a bed of flowers,\n  His cup of happiness just brimming o'er,\n  Unconscious of what life has yet in store.\n\n  What glowing aspirations fill the mind--\n  Of noble work designed for man to do!\n  What purity of purpose here we find--\n  What longing for the beautiful and true;\n  Ere know we of the toil, and grief and woe;\n  Or dream that men and women suffer so.\n\n  Though all along life's toilsome, weary way,\n  We meet with disappointments hard to bear;\n  Yet strength is given equal to our day,\n  And joy is of'nest mixed with pain or care;\n  But let us not grow weary in well-doing,\n  Still persevere, the upward path pursuing.\n\n  Thus ever struggle on, 'mid doubts and fears;\n  While changing scenes before our gaze unfold,\n  Till, through the vista of long weary years,\n  We see Heaven's sunshine thro' its gates of gold;\n  And feel assured it is an answering token,\n  Aye! though our earthly idols have been broken.\n\n  Tho' those we've cherished most have been untrue,\n  And fond and faithful ones have gone before,\n  Still let us keep the promises in view,\n  Of those who're pleading on \"the other shore,\"\n  Whose tender messages are with us yet,\n  The words of love, we never can forget.\n\n  And while we muse and ponder, shadows fall,\n  And a sweet spirit whispers, \"Peace, be still;\"\n  What of the past--'tis now beyond recall:\n  The future, we with usefulness may fill.\n  Yet sometime we shall find in regions real\n  Those dreams fulfilled we only term ideal.\n\n\n\nMRS. ROMANIA B. PRATT, M. D.\n\nRomania Bunnell Pratt, daughter of Luther B. and Esther Mendenhall\nBunnell, was born August 8, 1839, in Washington, Wayne County, Indiana.\nIn her seventh year she went with her parents to Nauvoo, and had the\nprivilege of visiting the Temple, and went with the Church to Winter\nQuarters. She says: \"While there I well remember being present when\nthe martial band was marching round and the call was made for the\nMormon Battallion for Mexico. Although too young to appreciate the\nsevere ordeal our devoted and persecuted people were subject to, I can\nnever forget the feeling of grief which oppressed my little heart, as\none after one the brave-hearted men fell into the ranks.\" From Winter\nQuarters her parents moved to Ohio where her whole time was spent in\nattending school, the last year and a half at the Crawfordsville Female\nSeminary. In 1855, her mother then being a widow, with her family of\ntwo girls and two boys and their worldly effects, again joined the\nSaints at Atchison, now Omaha, where she was first baptized into the\nChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, on the last of May, 1855,\njust before commencing their journey with ox teams across the plains\nto Salt Lake City, where they arrived September 3d of the same year.\nThe summer journey of these months was a series of changing panoramic\nscenes as enchanting to the free, careless heart of a child, as it was\narduous to those of maturer years. Their arrival in the city of the\nSaints was during the grasshopper famine, when flour was twenty-five\ndollars per hundred weight, sugar forty cents per pound and everything\nin proportion, and although they had left plenty behind them, in the\nhands of guardians who refused to allow them any money, (the children\nall being minors) to come away among the Mormons, saying; \"They\nwill rob you of it all as soon as you get there.\" In consequence of\nthis prejudice they arrived in Salt Lake City penniless and at a\ntime when they with thousands of others had to learn the sweetness\nof the coarsest kind of bread. Romania taught day school and gave\nmusic lessons on the piano at intervals until she entered the medical\nprofession. This lady was married to Parley P. Pratt, son of the\nApostle, Parley P. Pratt, by President Brigham Young, and has had seven\nchildren; Parley P. Pratt, Luther B., Louis L., Corinne T., Mark C.,\nIrwin E. and Roy B. Pratt. Her second son died in infancy, and her\nlovely daughter died when twenty months old.\n\nThrough a love of literary pursuit and surrounding circumstances her\nattention was turned to the medical profession which she entered in\n1873 and graduated in the Woman's Medical College of Philadelphia in\nMarch, 1877. After graduating she remained in Philadelphia and took\nspecial courses on the eye and ear at Wills' Hospital and a dispensary\non Chestnut Street, conducted by Dr. George Strawbridge. Leaving\nPhiladelphia she spent a few weeks visiting Hydropathic institutions to\nlearn something of the mode of administration and especially of water\ntreatment.\n\nImmediately on her arrival home she by request commenced giving\nlectures to ladies and agitated the question of a hospital for women\nand children, and by counsel on account of great demand of obstetrical\naid needed in the numerous settlements, soon instituted a school of\nmidwifery, and has taught two classes a year since, except when absent\nfor special study in the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary where she spent\neight months in 1881-2.\n\nIn 1874, when Eliza R. S. Smith organized the Young Ladies' Mutual\nImprovement Association of the Twelfth Ward, Mrs. Pratt was appointed\nPresident, which position she held though absent a portion of the time,\nuntil professional work compelled her resignation. She now holds the\noffice of Treasurer of the Salt Lake Stake organization of the Young\nLadies Mutual Improvement Association, and is also one of the Board\nof Executors and medical attendant of the Deseret Hospital, organized\n1882, beside having a busy practice. Luther B. Bunnell, her father,\nwas the inventor of a repeating fire arm, and at a critical period in\nthe persecutions of the Saints, donated to them five hundred dollars\nin arms and ammunition. Tracing her family record a few years back,\nwe find in her mother's line the names of Bayard Taylor and Benjamin\nWest among her relatives. About the year 1837, a small pamphlet was\npublished in Philadelphia giving the genealogy of her family, tracing\nthem back to a Russian nobleman. Captain Mendenhall was the grandson\nof Benjamin, brother to John Mendenhall, the Puritan emigrant. Colonel\nRichard Thomas, brother to her great grandmother, was a member of\nCongress from Chester County, Pa., for many years. Of medical members,\nDr. Pratt's family certainly has had a goodly number, and of these we\nselect--Dr. Mendenhall, of Richmond, Indiana, her mother's cousin,\nDr. Marmaduke Mendenhall, of North Carolina, her cousin, Dr. Paris\nMendenhall, her brother, Dr. James R. Mendenhall, of Richmond, Indiana,\nher cousin, Nereus Mendenhall, professor in New Garden Quaker College,\nalso George D. and William Mendenhall, physicians. Beside these,\nmany others of note occur, too many for less than a special volume.\nHer eldest son, Parley P. Pratt, also entered the New York School of\nPharmacy, from which he expects to graduate in the spring of 1885.\n\nDr. Pratt is in appearance the very embodiment of health and happiness,\nher blooming cheeks, abundant loose ringlets without a line of gray,\nher dark eyes inspiring the dispirited with cheerfulness and hope, the\ncordial clasp of hand, a hand gentle, but somehow suggestive of the\nnerve, firmness, self-possession and power the true healer holds, the\nintuition one receives of her sympathy and benevolence, if needed; all\nthese are conveyed as upon an open page by the very presence of Dr.\nPratt. Also, that other influence is felt that she too leans upon a\nhigher power than human skill, the same Giver of life and health as the\ntenderest child looks up to.\n\nDr. Romania B. Pratt was the first \"Mormon\" woman graduate. Following\nher return as graduate, next came Dr. Ellis R. Shipp, 1878, Mattie\nPaul Hughes, M. D., 1883, Elvira S. Barney, M. D., 1883, and Margaret\nC. Shipp, M. D., 1883. Drs. R. B. Pratt, Ellis R. Shipp and Elvira S.\nBarney are connected with the Deseret Hospital, founded in 1882.\n\n  THE LADY DOCTOR.\n\n  For her, from darkened rooms\n  What blessings softly rise,\n  Who brings relief to pain and fear\n  And soothes the watcher's cries.\n\n  On her, the skies look down\n  As fearless, swift she goes\n  Through lonely paths, past rude alarms,\n  And oft through blinding snows.\n\n  'Tis hers, to see the smile\n  The new blest mother gives;\n  And hers to hear their answering joy--\n  \"Hush all thy fears, he lives.\"\n\n  The record of her works\n  In volumes ne'er is known,\n  'Tis written as on marble carved\n  In grateful hearts alone.\n\n\n\nDR. ELVIRA S. BARNEY.\n\nAlthough in this book Dr. Barney is classed among the medical\nfraternity her labors and history have been interwoven with those of\nthe Latter Day Saints from her childhood, in so many varied and useful\nfields of labor, that I am compelled to pause at the very beginning\nof this sketch, (necessarily brief) knowing I must omit so many\nparticulars, both valuable and instructive.\n\nIf Dr. Barney had, in her childhood, possessed the advantages of\nobtaining a thorough education, and opportunities for the best\ndevelopment of those many abilities which have manifested themselves\nunder the most dispiriting surroundings, it would be difficult at\npresent to estimate what she might have accomplished. She represents\nthe practical, domestic, experience of a Latter Day Saint; orphaned,\nand almost alone, but possessing that indomitable spirit that rises\nabove every obstacle, and turns to account every available means no\nmatter how humble, that cultivates every inherent power to its best\nuses; an upbuilder in everything pertaining to the interests of her\npeople, ready to aid on the right and on the left, forgetful of self.\n\nElvira S. Barney was born March 17, 1832, in Gerry, Chawtawque County,\nNew York, being the daughter of Samuel C. Stevens, a merchant, and his\nwife, Minerva Althea Field, a school teacher. Her great grand-father,\nJoseph Stevens, took an active part in the Revolutionary War; her\ngrand-father, Simon Stevens, was a doctor; her uncles were doctors\nand lawyers. When twelve years old Elvira heard the gospel preached\nby a Mormon Elder, and from that time daily prayed in secret till the\nLord gave her a testimony that satisfied her heart. She was baptized\nin 1844, and went with her parents to Nauvoo, where her father died\nafter a brief illness, on October 4th. In the January following Elvira\nand her mother were preparing for the journey across the wilderness,\nparching corn, etc.; but her mother, overcome by toil, grief and\nexhaustion, died on the 6th of the month. Their farm, household goods,\netc., were sold, and the five children received ten dollars each to fit\nthem out for a western journey. Elvira parted with her twin brother,\nfourteen years old, with tears in his eyes, and she never saw him\nagain. He died six years after. Elvira was taken some twenty-five miles\nacross the prairie among strangers, and there spent the winter. There\nwere no children for her to mate with, no one to feel tenderly for the\nlonely, quiet aching heart of this orphan girl. When spring approached\nshe rejoined her married sister to wait upon her, traveling west with\nher, sometimes living in a brush-house (while recruiting) and sleeping\nunder a wagon while traveling, and once awoke to find several inches\nof snow covering them. Exposure brought her to death's door, but she\nlived after long suffering. She witnessed the solemn separation of the\n\"Mor-Battallion\" from their families and friends. During one winter\nshe lived in a dug-out in a side hill on the Missouri River, and was\nforced to live on corn bread and water; their tallow candles they could\nnot afford to burn, but used them to grease their bake-kettles. Here,\nhowever, willing to be useful she helped to teach school, studying\nnights by a chip-fire to keep in advance of her pupils. Many of our\npublic speakers of today, can date their first lessons in elocution and\narithmetic to her training.\n\nElvira crossed the mountains in the first company in 1848, and arrived\nin this valley by the side of two yoke of oxen, with a sick sister\nand a brother-in-law with a broken arm, in her care. Her first lesson\nin surgery was the helping to set this arm, and her first practice in\nmedicine was the breaking up of her sister's fever. Soon after this\nElvira made herself a pair of buck-skin moccasins. The first meeting\nshe attended was in a bowery, and her best calico dress had patches\non the elbows. Before the next winter she worked six weeks for a pair\nof leather shoes. There was not much aristocracy here in those days.\nThey held meetings in tents, sang praises to God, and danced with as\nmuch sincerity and purity of heart as even King David did before the\nLord, for they knew God was with them. Said her sister, who afterward\nturned from the faith: \"If God had not been with us when we were\ndriven out at the battle of Nauvoo, we should have perished, but when\nwe were starving he sent quails, and they were so tame they came into\nour tents where the sick were lying, and they even took them in their\nhands.\" Thousands witnessed the miracle. After they arrived in the\nvalley, crickets large and numerous threatened their crops, (their only\nrecourse) but the Lord in answer to prayers sent sea-gulls in such\nflocks that the air was darkened, and they destroyed the crickets. The\nheavens were not as brass above their heads; they helped and loved each\nother, and God heard and loved them. Their laws were few and simple; in\na Bishop's court a brother forgave his brother.\n\nIn the summer of 1849, Elvira earned fifty dollars at different kinds\nof work, and making straw hats for the emigrants going to California\nto get gold the Battallion boys were the first to find. In the spring\nof 1849, Elvira had been appointed to go on a mission to the Society\nIslands; this was postponed, and in the spring of 1851, with her\nhusband, she started in the company of Apostle Parley P. Pratt on his\nmission to Chili. They were harassed by Indians while crossing the\ndeserts, and Elvira arrived in Los Angelos sick with a fever, and laid\nsixteen days in a tent made of sheets. Her sister here buried her\nbabe; took steamer and landed in San Francisco, Elvira contracting\ninflammatory rheumatism on the voyage, and was stiff and helpless four\ndays. Parley P. Pratt administered to her, and the next morning she\nhelped to get breakfast. Through some trouble between the Islanders\nand the French the Mission was changed to the Sandwich Islands. Having\nbeen left behind to recruit her health, Sister Elvira went to work in\na hotel as waiter at one hundred dollars a month, and soon was able\nto pay her passage to the Sandwich Islands, besides having means to\nsupport her while there. On arriving at Lahaiva, on the island of\nMai, the captain gave her his arm and they walked through the streets\nin quest of her husband followed by the natives, old and young, they\nto admire and be friendly, the strangers feeling mortified with such\nhonors. Remained a month there then embarked on the ship Hulumann.\nThe previously mentioned captain came on board and treated them to a\nChristmas dinner. After four days sail landed at Kawhow, Hawaii, in\nthe fall of 1851. Sister Elvira lived six months among the natives\non their island food, mostly of taro and sweet-potatoes made into a\nbatter and soured, short rations at that, yet attained the weight of\none hundred and fifty pounds. Says she: \"Don't smile when I tell you\nI often thought of Alexander Selkirk who said he was 'Monarch of all\nhe surveyed.' Here months passed, living on the lava strewn island, no\nships came to bring tidings, I was left to view the rolling billows\nthat separated me from all I held dear, country and friends. Fancy\nthe loneliness of those long months, not a white woman to speak to in\nmy own tongue. Here I was studying a foreign language and teaching\nthe natives to speak my own.\" In the mean time sister Elvira acquired\nthe art of swimming, which means enabled her afterwards, to all\nappearances, to save one of the ladies of this book from drowning in a\nbottomless spring in Utah. During eleven months spent on four islands,\nSister Elvira wrote a letter to a native lawyer in his own tongue,\nand although over thirty years have elapsed she is able to converse\nfluently with the natives who have gathered to this city.\n\nLeaving all her means but five dollars with her husband, she arrived\npenniless at Honolulu _en route_ for San Francisco, by counsel of\nPhillip B. Lewis, President of the Sandwich Islands Mission. Here, in\nanswer to prayer, after all other efforts had failed to procure means,\na stranger she never saw before nor since, called upon her. In answer\nto his few questions he learned her situation as a missionary's wife\npreaching the Gospel without purse or scrip. He handed her the money,\neighty dollars, to pay her passage to San Francisco, and she gave him\nher note for it, and embarked. Three times she escaped shipwreck, the\nlast time, just outside the Golden Gate of the Bay of San Francisco. On\nher arrival there she borrowed the money of a friend and returned it\nto the stranger, and repaid this by making fine shirts at ten dollars\napiece. The wife of the gentleman for whom she made them presented her\nwith a complete set of clothing, the outer garment being a new silk\ndress. Sister Elvira says: \"The Lord knew I needed them and I thanked\nHim and the giver also.\" Of the San Francisco Saints she says, \"The\nwelcome I received by the remaining Saints there, and the heavenly\ninfluence we enjoyed together is the one most marked oasis of my life,\nfor truly they blessed me and God blessed them.\" Sister Elvira wasted\nno time, but in various ways earned means, part of which she sent to\nassist the Sandwich Islands Mission. In 1856 she returned to Salt Lake\nCity, riding seven hundred miles on horseback, and here resumed school\nteaching. In 1859, she assisted in the amputation of a dear friend's\narm. In 1860, traveled east to visit kindred and rode sixteen days by\nstage. In 1864, went to Wheaton College and returned home after nearly\ntwo years absence. From 1859 to 1863 had taught school in ten different\nplaces, generally four terms a year. Had during these previous years\ntaken at different times four homeless children into her care until\nother ways opened for them. In 1873 adopted a boy whom she schooled\nand provided for for ten years. In this year also began writing up her\ngenealogical record which she has traced back to the year 1600. In\n1876 wrote a pamphlet on seri-culture, and suggested the appointment\nof a meeting on that subject. Advanced as a loan the first fifty\ndollars to establish the \"home made straw hat industry.\" Canvassed the\nThirteenth Ward and traveled in the interest of the _Woman's Exponent_.\nWas appointed agent for and canvassed the city for the _Women of\nMormondom_, and raised fifty shares ($25.00 each) in one day. Was\nappointed a committee for purchasing grain for the Grain Association\n(President E. B. Wells). In 1876 traveled south and held forty-five\nmeetings in twenty-seven days, in the interest of Women's Work in\nUtah. In 1878 attended the Deseret University. Up to date of February,\n1879, had earned over nine thousand dollars by her own labors, and\nbuilt a good commodious house, her home. October, 1879, started East\nto continue her medical studies which she had prosecuted at home for\nseveral years, and attended three complete courses; returning home in\nthe spring of 1883, prepared to pursue this her chosen vocation after a\nlong and eventful experience in many fields of usefulness.\n\nRealizing her own early desires for knowledge and the inconvenience of\nlimited privileges, Dr. Barney fitted up her large house to accommodate\nlady boarders, thus affording them the convenience of home and college\nunder one roof, with the privilege of boarding themselves, and\nreceiving gratuitous medical instructions for one year.\n\nShe has crossed the Pacific Ocean twice, the western deserts twice, the\neastern plains five times: has wrought at different humble occupations\nbelonging to a new country, learning later fine embroidery, pencil\nwork, draughting in architecture, delivering lectures, &c., one tenth\ncannot be told in these pages. Sister Barney also has received the\ngifts of prophecy, tongues and interpretation of tongues, as the writer\ncan testify.\n\nHer step is as quick as ever, her carriage erect; she says; \"My life\nhas been real, my life has been earnest, and now if any of my works\npraise me then truly I am praised. If any one has done better I should\nbe happy to read their chapter; yet I realize many of our Mormon\nladies' lives have been similar, and it is such women that will teach\nand train sons for the nation.\"\n\n\n\nEMILY HILL WOODMANSEE.\n\nEmily Hill Woodmansee, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Slade Hill, was\nborn in the south-west of England, near Warminster, Wilts, March 24,\n1836. Quoting her own words:\n\n\"Of my pedigree I will simply say that my parents were honorable,\nhard-working people, too independent in spirit to stoop to mean\nactions, much less to sully their conscience to curry favor. The\nyoungest living of eleven children, I fully enjoyed the privileges\noften accorded the youngest member of a family, (ie) of having things\nmy own way. My parents as well as my brothers and sisters were very\nkind to me, and I can truly say--slightly reversing a word in the lines\nof one of our poets, that,\n\n  'I never knew what trouble was\n  Till I became a Mormon.'\n\n\"When but a mere child I was much concerned about my eternal salvation\nand felt that I would make any sacrifice to obtain it. I asked all\nkinds of questions of my mother and sisters, seeking how to be saved,\nbut could get no satisfaction from them nor from the religious body\n(Wesleyans) to which they belonged.\n\n\"Hungry and thirsty for truth, I searched the Scriptures, invariably\nturning to the lives of ancient apostles or to the beautiful writings\nof the Prophet Isaiah. I was never weary of reading his prophecies, the\nglory of a Latter-Day Zion that burthened his inspirations possessed\nfor me a charm irresistible. Truly I was waiting for something, I knew\nnot what, that came to me sooner than I expected.\n\n\"When I was about twelve years old, my cousin, Miriam Slade,\n(afterward the wife of Edward Hanham,) came to visit us; she was very\nmerry-hearted and we had anticipated her visit, expecting a good deal\nof fun; but she was too full of a 'new religion' to do anything but\npreach. 'God,' she said, 'had spoken from the heavens to a man named\nJoseph Smith; the Gospel was restored to the earth, the honest in heart\nwere commanded to gather to the land of Zion for safety, for this was\nthe last Dispensation, and the hour of God's judgment had come!'\n\n\"Right faithfully she testified to her knowledge of these things,\nmuch to the surprise of our family, who were considerably amused\nat her earnestness as well as at the novelty of her belief, and\nnotwithstanding I listened attentively, I thought her assertions\ntoo good to be true. The next Sunday my cousin informed us that the\nLatter-Day Saints had appointed a meeting for that day at an adjoining\nvillage called Chalford, and invited us to go. As it was a distance\nof five or six miles, making a long walk there and back, none of my\nbrothers cared to go, and my elder sisters considered themselves\naltogether too respectable (?) to attend an outdoor meeting of such a\nprimitive sect, therefore they declined to go, and no one thought of\nsending me till I suggested it. Turning to my father, my sisters said,\n(laughingly,) 'Yes, send Em, she will tell us all about it.'\n\n\"In five minutes Miriam Slade and myself were on the road, accompanied\nby Mr. Wm. Bowring, (brother to Henry E. Bowring of Brigham City,) and\nby Edward W. Tullidge, then a youth, but now well-known as a talented\nwriter and also as the proprietor and editor of _Tullidge's Quarterly\nMagazine_. Never, never shall I forget that day, surely it was the\nturning point of my whole life. A few devoted worshippers of truth met\ntogether in a small house, to bear their testimony to one another and\nto worship God! And He was in their midst and that to bless them. Even\nas in the Day of Pentecost, they spake in tongues and prophesied, which\nprophecy I have seen fulfilled. Unlike the Jews who were 'pricked in\ntheir hearts,' I did not even ask, 'What shall I do to be saved.' 'The\nway' was open before me, and simple and young as I was I instinctively\nknew that 'I could not err therein.'\n\n  The Eternal! spake, and honest hearts discerning\n  The voice and message of the holiest One!\n  Hail it as though their souls had e'en been yearning\n  For light and truth, e'en since their lives begun.\n\n\"It was indeed as though I had been brought 'out of darkness into\nmarvelous light,' and I could not shut my eyes against it.\n\n\"In the evening I attended an out door 'Mormon Meeting,' and though\nnaturally sensitive to ridicule, I did not care the least for the\nsneers of the crowd but joined in the songs of the Saints as well as\nI could, for in my childish way I wanted it understood that I was not\nashamed to count one with the peculiar people called Latter-Day Saints.\n\n\"Many a time since, when 'offences' have come in my way, over which\nwith mortal weakness I have almost stumbled, the testimony of that\neventful day has been to me a precious recollection which nothing could\nobliterate. I was so overjoyed at finding what I had so long desired,\nand so eager to convince my friends that I could hardly wait to get\nhome. As soon as I was inside the house and almost before anyone else\ncould speak, I astounded them all by the emphatic declaration that I\nknew the Latter-Day Saints were the right people; and I would join them\nas soon as I was big enough. I was never sent to 'take notes' of the\n'Mormons' again, but on the contrary was closely watched lest I should\nbe led away by a 'sect that was everywhere spoken against.' My early\nstudy of the Scriptures now stood me in good stead, and I searched the\nBible more diligently than ever, so that I might give a good reason\nfor my faith to the hosts that assailed me, (right reverends among the\nnumber,) who, finding it easier to cry 'delusion' than to prove it,\ngenerally wound up by informing me that I wasn't old enough to know my\nown mind, and was altogether too young to judge of so grave a matter.\nMeantime my persistent faith invoked such a tempest of wrath over my\nhead, that I could not even get an opportunity to be baptized, and the\nelders did not think it wisdom (because of my tender years) to perform\nthe ceremony without my parents' consent. I well remember looking\nforward to a period when I should be old enough to act for myself, and\nit seemed a lifetime.\n\n\"About this time one of the elders brought Brother John Halliday\n(brother to Bishop Halliday of Santaquin) to our house, who bore such\na powerful testimony to the divine mission of Joseph Smith, that my\nsister, Julia, (now Mrs. Ivins of St. George) exclaimed, 'If ever\nthere was a man of God I'm sure he is one, and I'll be a Latter-Day\nSaint, too!' From that time I had a friend in the family, and we were\nboth determined that cost what it might we would be true to the light\nwithin us. Only once in a great while could we steal away and meet with\nthe Saints, but although we were not yet baptized we partook of the\nsacrament and paid out our pocket money to the Church funds like actual\nmembers.\n\n\"On one of these occasions Brother Halliday blessed me and confirmed\nupon me the promise that I should write in prose and in verse and\nthereby comfort the hearts of thousands. After this I was baptized\nMarch 25, 1858, I was then sixteen, but had virtually been a Latter-Day\nSaint for four years.\n\n\"Denied the privilege of freely meeting with the Saints, I all the more\nearnestly desired to gather to Zion; but fearing I might be forcibly\ndetained if I attempted to leave home directly for America, I obtained\nmy parents' consent to visit my sister, Julia--who had already gone to\nNorthampton (quite a long distance from home) hoping that the way would\nopen up, so we might earn enough to emigrate. There for the first time\nI enjoyed religious freedom and there also I took my lessons of hard\ntimes; preparing me for greater hardships in store.\n\n\"In the month of May, 1856, we sailed for America on the ship,\n_Thornton_, Captain Collins, commander; Brother James G. Willie had\ncharge of the Saints, (a company of eight hundred) and a good captain\nhe was. We had a pleasant trip with the exception of one heavy storm\nwhich I would not have missed for a great deal.\n\n\"From New York we traveled by rail and by way of Lake Erie to the\ncamping ground in the neighborhood of Iowa City; there we were obliged\nto wait till the companies were ready to start, and surely if we had\nbeen natural or unnatural curiosities we could not have been commented\non or stared at any more by the people surrounding us. 'Mormons, men,\nwomen and children, and worse, a lot of young girls, bound for Salt\nLake and going to pull 'hand carts!' Shocking!'\n\n\"Yet, for the potent reason that no other way seemed open, and on the\nprinciple of 'descending below all things,' I made up my mind to pull\na hand cart. 'All the way to Zion,' a foot journey from Iowa to Utah,\nand pull our luggage, think of it! Anonymous letters, and warnings\nfrom sympathizing outsiders were mysteriously conveyed to us, setting\nforth the hardships and impossibilities of such a journey, and offering\nus inducements to stay. Many who started out with us backed out in a\nfew days; my sister broke down and was unable to walk and I remember\nasking myself (footsore and weary with the first week of walking and\nworking) if it was possible for me, faith or no faith, to walk twelve\nhundred miles further. The flesh certainly was weak but the spirit\nwas willing, I set down my foot that I would try, and by the blessing\nof God I pulled a hand cart a thousand miles and never rode one step.\nSome thrilling scenes I could relate incident to that journey, but must\nforbear for want of space. Suffice it to say that after a long and\nwearisome journey, being entirely out of provisions, we halted for want\nof strength to proceed, and never should I have beheld (with mortal\neyes) 'the city of the Saints' had not the compassionate people of Utah\nsent out a number of brave-hearted brethren with food and clothing to\nour relief. May they all be everlastingly blessed.\n\n\"In the month of June, 1857, firmly believing in the principle of\nplural marriage I entered into it. The result of this marriage was one\nchild only, for a little more than three years after said marriage,\nmy husband went on a mission to England, and after I had worked for\nupwards of four years to maintain myself and little one, my husband\nhimself sent me word that he never intended to set foot in Utah again.\nAnd here I must be allowed to say in behalf of myself and other true\nwomen who have endured such separations, and to whom, perhaps, it is\ncounted as nothing, no one can realize what such an ordeal is, unless\nthey have passed through it. All that I had hitherto suffered seemed\nlike child's play compared to being deserted by the one in whom I\nhad chosen to place the utmost confidence, who himself had fixed an\nimpassable gulf between us by ignoring the very principles by which he\nhad obtained me, leaving myself and my little one (for all he knew) to\nsorrow and destitution. Harder still, was it for me to believe that\nthis abandonment had been deliberately planned. I could not accept the\nfact till President Young, (speaking to me of my husband), emphatically\nsaid, 'Don't you know he asked for his mission? If he hadn't I wouldn't\nhave sent him till the day of his death!' That was enough for me, I\ncomprehended all that it meant, and independent of Brigham Young's word\nI was forced to believe it.\n\n\"I had striven hard to keep out of debt,--determined to do my part\nas a missionary's wife, that when my husband came back he might not\nbe hampered on my account. Nevertheless 'hard times' stared me in\nthe face, and I was almost overwhelmed by circumstances beyond my\ncontrol. During the winter season of 1863-4, (owing to the war and many\ncircumstances combined) provisions and other necessaries commanded\nalmost fabulous prices, and I could not see how I should ever be able\nto keep 'the wolf from the door.' To add to my trouble, the house I\noccupied (and to which I had been led to believe I had some claim,) was\nsold over my head and thus I had the prospect of being homeless, at a\ntime when rents were going up double and treble. One night when I was\nso weary with overwork and anxiety, pondering what to do, these words\nimpressed me as if audibly spoken, TRUST IN GOD AND THYSELF. Instantly\nI arose and composed the following lines:\n\n  A priceless boon! is a friend indeed\n  Greet him as such when his face you see;\n  But those who fail thee in time of need--\n  Shun them, as false friends should shunned be.\n  They proffer this, and they promise that,\n  But promise, alas, is a doubtful elf.\n  So would'st thou weather the storms of life--\n  Trust thou in God! and thyself.\n\n  Keep a brave heart, though the waves roll high,\n  Let thine aim be true as the magnet's steel;\n  Look unto God! with a steadfast eye,\n  And trust Him always, in woe or weal.\n  Man may deceive, but God! is true;\n  Mortals may pander to love of pelf,\n  Like \"Angel's visits\" firm friends are few,\n  Trust thou in God! and thyself,\n\n  Should friends, nor fortune, nor home be thine--\n  Cringe not for this, nor beg for that;\n  The earnest seekers will surely find\n  Something to thoroughly labor at.\n  'Tis a cheering maxim to keep in view--\n  That diligence leads to plenty's shelf;\n  And whatsoever thy hands pursue--\n  Trust thou in God! and thyself.\n\n  What! though thy flesh and thy strength should fail?\n  Surely 'were better to wear than rust;\n  Than never to try, 'twere better to die,\n  In striving bravely to fill our trust,\n  But fear not thou, for God! is good--\n  He is the giver of strength and wealth.\n  When faithless feelings or friends intrude--\n  Trust thou in God! and thyself.\n\n\"Immediately after this my way opened up before me, almost within the\nweek I secured another home, which if not very commodious had for me\nthe satisfying charm of being _my own_.\n\n\"On May 7, 1864, I again entered into plural marriage, and was sealed\nby Heber C. Kimball to Joseph Woodmansee, to whom I have borne four\nsons and four daughters. Two of these died in infancy, leaving me a\nfamily of seven, including my first born.\n\n\"Nearly twenty years have rolled by since my second marriage, during\nwhich time I have seen many changes of fortune which I cannot now\nrelate, but I will say this much of my children's father. Misfortunes\nthat have befallen him have never affected his faith, he has proven\nhis allegiance to the principles and priesthood of God at considerable\nsacrifice to himself and family, enduring reverses uncomplainingly.\n\n\"Of my children I need say but little, but I fervently hope that each\nand all of them may seek and obtain for themselves a knowledge of\nthe truth, (called Mormonism) for I know it can make them wise unto\nsalvation, and may they be willing if needs be to endure reproach and\nprivation for principle's sake. I doubt not that all my troubles have\nbeen for my good, and to-day I am more than thankful for my standing in\nthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.\"\n\n  And wherefore should I cease to sing\n  Of Zion and the Latter Day?\n  I could not find a nobler theme,\n  Nor choose a lovelier, loftier lay.\n  Too insignificant is my praise--\n  Too feeble is my lyre and tongue,\n  For of these longed for, Latter Days\n  Have royal bards and prophets sung.\n\n  Ne'er shall our hearts ungrateful be;\n  Ne'er shall our songs be void of praise,\n  For God has suffered us to see\n  \"The Zion\" of the Latter Days.\n  Though all the world in scorn deride--\n  Our numbers shall not cease to flow;\n  Our soul's sincerest, purest love\n  Thrills unto Zion's weal or woe.\n\n  When she is sad, then I am sad;\n  When she is bound I am not free;\n  When she is glad then I am glad\n  And all things prosper well with me.\n  I love to see her power extend,\n  Her influence and her reign increase--\n  Then wonder not, \"for Zion's sake--\n  Will I not hold my peace.\"\n\n\"I desire to live to make up for past short-comings by future\ndiligence, that I may help (in my humble way) to build up 'the kingdom\nwhose dominion, power and greatness shall be given to the Saints of the\nmost High! who shall possess it forever and ever.'\"\n\n  The faith of the Saints shall astonish the world\n  And puzzle the wise to explain it;\n  Hosannah! hosannah! Truth's flag is unfurled,\n  And the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth.\n\n\n\nHANNAH T. KING.\n\n\"The University town of Cambridge, England, I am proud to say, is the\nplace of my nativity. I was reared among its classic shades and bowers.\nFor the last thirty years America has been my adopted country, and I\nlove her with a loyal and devoted appreciation, but the home and the\nhaunts of childhood and youth leave on every mind indelible impressions\nand when brought to a focus upon the past as at the present moment,\n'The distant spires and antique towers' rise up before me in all their\nvividness by the power of that most wonderful faculty, MEMORY.\n\n\"I was born and reared in the High Church of England, and nothing but\nthe high Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints could have caused\nme to secede from its high tenets and truly liberal principles; it\nstands second to none of the churches of the world.\n\n\"Any son or daughter might have been proud of such parents as mine,\nthey were fine in person, highly moral, and intellectual, were\ndescended from a highly born family, and were honored and respected\nby all who knew them; they reared their children with great care and\nwatchfulness, giving them such an education as would fit them for all\ngood society of whatever grade. Blessed be their memory!\n\n\"I was married at the early age of seventeen, but in my mind and\ncharacter I was older than many girls at twenty. I have lived long\nenough to authorize the woman to sit in judgment on the girl.\n\n\"I had a sweet, happy home, for I had the faculty to make it so; I\nhad ten beautiful children but death robbed me of several. We gave\nthe surviving ones a liberal education with accomplishments; as\nthey grew up they repaid us in being all we desired. From a child I\nhad been accustomed to write much--keeping a journal and a book for\nchoice extracts, etc. My father was unavoidably much away from home\non business, but he enjoined me to write frequently to him, and to\ndo _his_ bidding was my delight, for he was my _beau ideal_ of all\nthat was good. Since at nine or ten I became a letter writer, and the\nthousands I have written in my long life would form a towering paper\npillar. After some years of my married life I became a writer for the\nlocal papers and also wrote two books, one for my girls and the other\nfor the boys, 'The Toilet' and the 'Three Eras,' dedicating them to\neach. These books were patronized by the aristocracy of England. I also\nwrote considerable poetry all my life.\n\n\"In 1849, 'a change came o'er the spirit of my dream.' I had a young\nwoman who had worked for me eleven years as dressmaker, she was highly\nrespectable, conscientious and good. In September, 1849, she was in the\nhouse at work, and on the evening of the 4th, when work was laid aside,\nshe told me she wished to speak to me privately, as she had something\nshe wished to communicate to me. I at once gave her the audience she\nrequested and she then laid before me the organization of the Church\nof Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, with the first principles of the\nsame. Of course I was startled! But the spirit of God witnessed to my\nspirit that she spoke _truth_! I compared all she told me by the Bible\nwhich had ever been my standard of truth--it _endorsed_ all she said! I\nstudied, I prayed,--she gave me to read 'Spencer's Letters'--they made\nme a willing convert. I read many other prominent works with which my\nteacher furnished me. Fifteen months passed, and yet I had not attended\nthe Latter-Day Saint Meetings, or seen a single member, but this young\nwoman, yet even at that time I was a confirmed Latter-Day Saint. I then\nwas introduced to an elder from America, and after his first sermon I\nwas baptized by him in the classic waters of the Camm, my native river.\n\n\"Soon I began to see the antagonisms I had to meet. I, a member of the\nChurch of England. My grandfather a rector in the same, my father and\nmy mother, my family and friends! All had to be met, could I bring\nthe gray hairs of my parents in sorrow to the grave? Could I reduce\nmy family to comparative poverty and reverses of every kind? Could\nI _so_ lay my all upon the altar of my God? Could I like Abraham of\nold, arise and go to a far country--even the wilds of America? It\nwould take more than I have space to elaborate this subject--suffice,\nstrength was given me--I passed under 'the car of Juggernaut,' which is\nno _overstrained_ flower of language but a veritable simile. Suffice,\nthe votary lived! and I came out _convinced_, _determined_, and the\ncalm, as it were, of a summer morning was upon me! A conviction had\nbeen given me that it was indeed the work of the last days, when all\ndispensations should be gathered in one, when that people I had all\nmy life prayed for in the Church of England should be 'prepared for\nthe second coming of the Savior,' were indeed organized upon the earth\nby the voice of God Himself and His Son, Jesus Christ, appearing to a\nyouth, even Joseph Smith, and appointing him as the prophet of the last\ndispensation, under the immediate direction of the Lord Jesus Himself.\nThe Church was organized with six members, on the 6th of April, 1830.\n\n\"Of this Church I became a member by the requisite act of baptism by\nimmersion, under the hands of the American missionary. From that time\nI had the spirit of 'gathering,' and in June, 1853, I left my home and\nmany that were dear to me, my own immediate family accompanying me--and\nas I stood on the deck of the _Golconda_ I said, 'My native land, good\nnight.' Ox teams conveyed us over the prairies, and on the 19th of\nSeptember, 1853, we entered Salt Lake City. Here we built a home which\nhas been my sanctuary. I _know_ God was with me, and my loved ones also\nwere with me. The union of my family was remarkable, that, and the\nSpirit of God enabled us to 'remove mountains.'\n\n\"In a brief sketch like this it is impossible to give even the outline,\nbut could I place in a book, first our _antecedents_, and then the\nmarvelous events of those three years, the laying aside our Lares and\nPenates, surely the skeptic would agree that there was a power with\nus that the world knows nothing of! for even though we _knew_ we were\nthe agents it was 'marvelous in our eyes.' Perhaps I have filled the\nbrief space allotted me for the purpose for which I was called upon to\nwrite, surely my few words will be a testimony that I rejoice I am a\nLatter-Day Saint. I have passed through many reverses and tribulations,\nbut in my darkest hours the Gospel has been a light upon my path and a\nlamp for my feet, and I realize day by day the smile and approbation of\nGod upon me.\n\n\"It has been my delight to write for the Saints since I have lived in\nSalt Lake City, and my reward has been their love and rich appreciation\nof my writings. I have been a constant writer for the _Woman's\nExponent_, a paper got up and entirely carried on by the women of our\npeople. President Young desired me to write for it and I have done so\nwith pleasure to the best of my ability, both in prose and in verse.\n\n\"For two years I had a school in my own house, and it promised\nto be a success, but my health failed, and to my sorrow I had to\nrelinquish it. I was appointed to preside over the Young Ladies Mutual\nImprovement Association of the Seventeenth Ward, which position I held\nfor one year, but resigned from feeble health. I was then appointed\nFirst Counselor to Marinda Hyde, President of the Relief Society of\nthe Seventeenth Ward, which office I still have the honor to hold.\nMy desire has ever been to be useful 'in my day and generation,'\nespecially in the work of the last days, for in that I have joy and\nample satisfaction.\n\n\"The history of the people of God as we read it in the Bible, repeats\nitself in a remarkable manner in the Church of Jesus Christ upon the\nearth to-day, and those who need a testimony of its truth, I advise\nthem to compare and observe the workings of the self-same spirit of\nantagonism, and they will hardly need another.\"\n\nI select a portion of one of Mrs. King's poems; her prose and verse\nare alike, always lofty in character; her prose writings would form\nmore than one valuable volume for the libraries of the Saints, or\nindeed those not of our faith. Historical and character sketches seem\na peculiar gift with her. Among the many admirers of her poems the\nEnglish Saints regard her with special fondness, for is she not their\nown? and they anticipate her contributions, as we look forward to\nflowers of spring, to summer's wealth of fruits, to autumn's harvest\ntime.\n\n  REST.\n\n  \"I've fought the battle all my life\n  Of outward foes and inward strife;\n  The strife which flesh and spirit feel\n  As keenly as the barbed steel;\n  For ah! my soul has longed to be\n  A perfect thing for God to see!\n  And feels impatient for the time\n  When I the heavenly heights shall climb,\n  The good, in all the ages past,\n  My eyes in love I've ever cast,\n  Would imitate, admire, and aim\n  Their glorious pinnacles to gain;\n  A pedestal to call my own,\n  One which my form might rest upon;\n  My spirit feet cannot yet stand\n  Upon the platform they command,\n  But well I know I have been blest,\n  And shall, in time, attain the rest;\n  And I have sometimes felt ere while\n  I moved 'neath God's effulgent smile\n  That shed around me warmth and peace,\n  And gave my captive mind release.\n  The earth and every living thing\n  Did tribute to my spirit bring;\n  And then my soul was born anew,\n  Begotten by the warmth and dew\n  Which God's own spirit cast around,\n  And placed my feet on holy ground.\n  All things seemed tinged with light of heaven,\n  My friends most loved, my foes forgiven!\n  The fountain in my heart, to me\n  Brought 'living water,' ecstacy!\n\n  * * * * * * * * * *\n\n  A little Goshen was my home,\n  For joy and peace around it shone;\n  And labor's self became delight,\n  Making all healthy, strong and bright;\n  And loving spirits gathered there\n  As angels faithful, fond and fair.\n  Was I not blest? Yes, I WAS blest,\n  And truly 'twas a time of rest;\n  Yes, rest from sorrow I had known,\n  In youth, my sun but rarely shone,\n  But, oh! I fought for joy and peace,\n  And God, in mercy, sent release.\n  And blest me with so bright a time\n  That's rarely known in earthly clime!\n  And grateful did my soul arise\n  To Him who gave this paradise.\n  But, oh! this picture! its reverse!\n  A mighty contrast did disperse;\n  The light and warmth would be withdrawn\n  And I left freezing and forlorn;\n  The heavens seemed brass above my head,\n  The earth looked dark as molten lead;\n  My God was hid beneath a cloud\n  And I, like corse within its shroud!\n  Alone, forsaken, desolate thing\n  Hoarding my sorrows like a sting\n  That probed and barbed my stranded soul,\n  And well-nigh crushed all self-control;\n  The loved and loving were away,\n  And I to foes was left a prey;\n  It seemed all blessings were withdrawn,\n  And I left stranded and forlorn,\n  To see if I would faithful stand\n  And still hold on to virtue's hand.\n  Yes, many such ordeal I've passed,\n  And know I have not seen the last.\n  Oh! Father! take my shrinking soul\n  Beneath Thy love and sweet control;\n  Thy feeble, trembling child, oh spare!\n  Lay on no more than I can bear.\n  May I endure unto the end,\n  Whatever trials may portend;\n  But Thou alone must bear me up,\n  Or I shall fail to drain the cup.\"\n\n\n\nAUGUSTA JOYCE CROCHERON.\n\n\"In the original design of the picture Representative Women of Deseret,\nI did not include myself, but by the request of those whose wishes\nI have always endeavored to fulfill, now do so, although there are\nseveral to whom I would prefer giving place.\n\n\"I was born in Boston, Massachusetts, October 9, 1844. My father was\nJohn Joyce, from St. John, New Brunswick--his parents were both from\nEngland. I have heard my mother say that my uncle, Oliver Joyce,\nplanted the English flag on the Chinese wall at the time of the war\n(about 1840) between those countries. I do not know whether he was an\nofficer, color bearer or ordinary private.\n\n\"My mother, Caroline A. Joyce, was the eldest daughter of John\nPerkins, a sea captain, and his wife, Caroline Harriman. The Perkins\nand Harriman families were among the early Puritan emigrants, the\nproperty they first built upon still being in the possession of their\ndescendants. I have heard my mother speak of the oak stairs and floors\nbeing so worn with age that they bent beneath the tread even when\nshe was a child. My mother's mother was the daughter of Elder John\nHarriman, well known in New Hampshire as the occasional traveling\ncompanion of Lorenzo Dow, but more particularly as the founder of a\nsect called the 'New Light Christian Baptists.' He was the son of John\nHarriman and the daughter of a Penobscot chief who was friendly to the\nwhite people, and permitted his only daughter to receive Christian\nbaptism, and she was afterwards married to him publicly in church.\nThis union afforded peace and security to the settlers and gave them\nthe alliance if needed, of a powerful tribe. The son of this marriage\nreceived an education and married. A few weeks after, and at the age of\ntwenty-one, he 'received a visit from a personage who gave him a new\ndoctrine to preach to the children of men.' He awoke his wife, Ruth,\ntold her the vision and she believed him. In the morning he began to\narrange his worldly affairs so as not to interfere with his call and\nbegan to preach, accompanied by his young wife, who rose when he had\ndone speaking and bore her testimony to what he had said. He traveled\na certain circuit, holding two and three days' meetings wherever he\nstopped, building up quite a large church in his locality. He preached\nseventy-one years and died at the age of ninety-two. He never cut his\nhair from the time of his call to the ministry, and sometimes wore it\nbraided in a queue, sometimes flowing in waves upon his shoulders,\nas in his portrait. His wife, Ruth, lived beyond her one hundredth\nbirthday. His son, John, became a minister, but his daughter (my\ngrandmother) was more worldly minded. Once when he entered the room she\nwas standing before a mirror surveying her appearance, being attired\nfor some special occasion. He quietly stepped up to her and with a pair\nof scissors cut off the long black ringlets that fell like a mantle\nupon her bare shoulders, saying; 'These come between you and your God.'\nThis did not, however, quench the worldly spirit within her, for she at\nthe age of sixteen eloped with and was married to John Perkins, a young\nsea captain, a God-fearing man but not a church member then or ever\nafterwards in this life. She was very industrious, however, and had\nat that age spun all her bed and table linen, etc. She became quite a\npolitician and used to write articles of that character, and the young\nmen of the town used to gather round her hearth and ask her opinion\non political matters. She also composed for them campaign songs, both\nwords and music. My mother has told me the only dancing she ever saw\nin her childhood was when her mother, inspired by the patriotic songs\nshe would be singing, would dance to and fro at her spinning, instead\nof stepping--improvising step and figure. She had eight sons that she\nsaid she was 'raising for her country.' Sure enough two of them went\nto the war (twenty years ago) and laid down their lives; Warren and\nAndrew Jackson, (so named because he was born on the day of President\nJackson's second inauguration.) Grandma was an Andrew Jackson Democrat,\nhe was her very _beau ideal_ of a man. Charles served two terms and\nreturned safe. Lawrence, my patriot grandmother's youngest boy,\nenlisted at seventeen and was sent back; 'Too young,' they told him,\nbut he waited one year and went again and this time they took him, and\nhe too was spared to return home.\n\n\"Thaddeus sailed to Labrador through many years, and John to the West\nIndies. Her eldest daughter was my mother. When my mother heard and\nreceived the Gospel in Boston, she hastened home to bear the good\ntidings and obtain their permission for her baptism. She found them\nbitterly opposed to this, her father reticent, her mother reproachful.\nJust at this time Elder John Harriman arrived to hold a three days'\nmeeting. Preparations had been made for his coming, and on his arrival\nmy grandmother received him in her best parlor and after the usual\nsalutations were over, unfolded to him the story of my mother's\nconversion, that she had gone insane and wanted to join the Mormons.\nHe asked, 'Where is Caroline?' adding, reflectively, 'if the Lord has\nany more light for the children of men, I for one am willing to receive\nit.' His grandchild, overhearing this, was filled with joy. Her mother\ncame out and told her to put on her bonnet and shawl. Not knowing what\nwas wanted of her to perform she obeyed, and by the time she was ready,\nfound her brother, John, waiting with a horse and sleigh, and seating\nherself therein was rapidly whirled away to some relatives several\nmiles distant, to remain there until sent for. Said she, 'I never saw\nmy grandfather again.' This was a specimen of my grandma's executive\nability; no circumlocution about her.\n\n\"I will give her own account of her receiving the Gospel, from a\nportion of her manuscripts:\n\n\"'In the year 1842, I was living in the city of Boston, State of\nMassachusetts. One day I heard that a strange sect were preaching in\nBoylston Hall, they professed to believe in the same Gospel as taught\nby Jesus Christ and the ancient Apostles. I went to hear them. As we\nentered the hall they were singing a new song--the words were:\n\n  'The Spirit of God like a fire is burning,\n  The Latter Day Glory begins to come forth,\n  The visions and blessings of old are returning,\n  The angels are coming to visit the earth.' &c.\n\n\"After the song a young man [A] arose and taking for his text these\nwords--'And in the last days it shall come to pass that the Lord's\nHouse shall be established in the tops of the mountains and all\nnations shall flow unto it,' said the time for the fulfillment of this\nprophecy was near at hand, an angel had appeared unto a man named\nJoseph Smith, having the keys of the Everlasting Gospel to be preached\nto this generation, that those who obeyed it would gather out from the\nwicked, and prepare themselves for the coming of the Son of Man. He\nspoke of the great work already commenced in these the last days, and\nwhile I listened, his words were like unto a song heard in my far off\nchildhood, once forgotten but now returning afresh to my memory, and I\ncried for very joy. I went home to tell my father the good news, but my\nwords returned to my own heart, for both my parents thought me insane,\nand talked to each other sadly of my condition and what to do with me.\nMy heart was filled with sorrow and disappointment. I asked for the\nprivilege of being baptized but was answered with these words by my\nfather: 'You must leave home if you join those Mormons.' I went away\nand was baptized for the remission of my sins, but still with regret\nand an uncertainty as to the _right_ to disobey my parents. Soon after,\nmy father left the city, and my mother came and took me with her, to\ncare for me, as she was fearful I would be 'ruined by those deceivers.'\nOne night I had been to meeting where the Spirit of God seemed to\nfill the house, and returned home thankful to my Heavenly Father that\nI ever heard the Gospel. I laid down to rest beside my mother who\ncommenced upbraiding me, and instantly I was filled with remorse that\nI was the cause of her unhappiness. I did not know what to say, and\nwas hesitating, when, just over my head, a _voice_, not a whisper, but\nstill and low, said these words: 'If you will leave father and mother,\nyou shall have Eternal Life,' I asked, 'Mother, did you hear that?'\nShe answered, '_You are bewitched!_' I knew then _she_ had not heard\nthe voice, but my mind was at rest and I went to sleep. I have heard\nthe same voice since, not in dreams, but in daylight, when in trouble\nand uncertain which way to go; and I _know God lives_ and guides this\npeople called 'Mormons,' I know also the gifts and blessings are in the\nChurch of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and that same faith once\ndelivered to the Saints is also ours, if we _live_ for it.\n\n[Footnote A: Elder Erastus Snow. He afterward married her to her\nhusband, and blessed her children's children.]\n\n\"'In the month of February, 1845, I left home, my native land and all\nthe friends of my youthful days, and sailed in the ship, _Brooklyn_,\nfor California. Before starting I visited my parents, then living in\nNew Hampshire. I told them of my determination to follow God's people,\nwho had already been notified to leave the United States, that our\ndestination was the Pacific Coast, and we should take materials to\nplant a colony.\n\n\"'When the hour came for parting, my father could not speak. My mother\nasked, 'When shall we see you again, my child?' I answered, '_When\nthere is a railroad across the continent_.' God grant that prophecy may\nbe fulfilled and her life be spared to see it. I _knew_ it would be\nthere, even the 'highway cast up that the eagle's eye had never seen,\nnor the lion's foot had ever trod.'\n\n\"'I turned my back on all once dear, for the memory of that voice\nwas in my ears--'If you will leave father and mother, you shall have\neternal life,' and selling my household treasures, wrapped my child\nin my cloak (for the weather was bitter cold) and started on my long\njourney around the Horn.\n\n\"'Of all the unpleasant memories, not one half so bitter as that dreary\nsix months' voyage in an emigrant ship. We were so closely crowded\nthat the heat of the Tropics was terrible, but 'mid all our trials the\nobject of our journey was never forgotten. The living faith was there\nand was often manifested. I remember well one dreadful storm during\nwhich we had to be hatched below, as the waves broke over the ship, and\nfilled our staterooms.\n\n\"'While the elements were raging above, and we below were being tossed\nabout like feathers, the good old captain came down among us wearing a\nsolemn countenance. We tried to gather around him; he said to us: 'My\nfriends, there is a time in a man's life when it is fitting to prepare\nto die, and that time has come to us; I have done all I _can do_, but,\nunless God interposes _we must go down_.' A good sister answered,\n'Captain, we _were sent to California and we shall go there_.' He went\nup stairs, saying, '_These people have a faith I have not_.' And so\nit proved. We outrode the storm, we endured another off Cape Horn; we\nstopped and buried one of our dear sisters, a mother of seven children,\n(Mrs. Goodwin) at Juan Fernandez, and at last reached our new home,\nthe last day of July, 1846, to find a country at war with our own\ngovernment, a country barren and dreary, so unlike the California of\nto-day, but we trusted in God and he heard our prayers; and when I\nsoaked the mouldy ship bread purchased from the whaleships lying in\nthe harbor, (returned from a four years' cruise) and fried it in the\ntallow taken from the rawhides lying on the beach, God made it sweet to\nme and to my child, for on this food I weaned her. I used to think of\nHagar and her babe, and of the God who watched over them, and again I\nremembered the voice and the words it spoke unto me--and took courage.\n\n\"'From that day to this, I can bear my testimony to all the world that\nI have known, and still know, this is the work of God and will exalt us\nif we seek to know His will, and knowing it, do it.'\n\n\"My mother's testimony, written at my request, was the last work\nperformed by her hand. After finishing, she accompanied a caller to\nthe gate, the chill night air penetrated her frame and morning found\nher sick with pneumonia. From that bed she was borne seven days later,\nfrom the earthly gaze of children and friends forever. They called it\ndeath, but to her it was the reward promised, and recorded by her own\nhand--'Eternal Life.'\n\n\"My mother had kept a daily journal on the ship, _Brooklyn_, also the\nfirst five or six years in San Francisco, calling it 'The Early Annals\nof California.' This I considered invaluable from the reliability and\nthe fullness of its historic matter and data, and after her demise I\nsearched for it but it was gone. This I thought strange indeed, for she\nhad assured me of its preservation about eighteen months before her\nlast illness. I have heard her relate many incidents of those times.\nOnce when nearly famished, (hostilities not yet being concluded between\nMexico and the United States,) two men ventured outside the town to\nlasso one of the cattle browsing so near them, but were themselves\ncaught by cruel Mexicans in ambush, and killed and quartered, their\nbodies left lying on the sand in view of the wretched inhabitants.\nAt another time a Mexican was intercepted and searched. In one boot\nwas found an order from General Castro, to attack by night and kill\neverything above four years old that could speak English. The messenger\nwas buried in the sand. After awhile the native women became curious,\nand some of them ventured past the guard after dark, and being touched\nwith compassion, returned in the same cautious manner, with bottles of\n_leche_ (milk) slung around their waists under their flounced dress\nskirts, and _tortillas_ (flour and water cakes) concealed beneath their\n_revosas_ (mantles,) for the women and children. Soon after the landing\nthe brethren strayed around, glad to be on land and looking to see what\nthey could find. 'Any fruit?' asked one of a returning comrade. 'Yes,'\nsaid he, 'grape, lots of 'em.' There was a rush off in that direction\nand a fruitless search. Being sharply questioned, he pulled a handful\nof grape shot out of his pocket, which he had picked up from the scene\nof a recent engagement. The same day a gentleman passenger, traveling\nfor pleasure, brought a bouquet of wild flowers to me, saying: 'Little\nlady, I herewith present you the first bouquet ever offered by a white\nman to a white woman in Yerba Buena.' Yerba Buena was the original name\nof San Francisco, and means 'good herb'--from a kind of pennyroyal\ngrowing wild there at that time. My mother kept the flowers many years\nand told me the story over their odorless ashes. My father and mother\nwith many of the Saints, (sixteen families) moved from the ship into\nthe 'old adobie,' partitioned off with quilts. Soon after he rented a\nhouse, but the largest room was required of him as a hospital for the\nwounded soldiers; the next largest for a printing office. The press\nwas an old Spanish press, and there being no W in that alphabet, they\nused to turn the M upside down. My mother used to help decipher the\ndispatches, many of them being written on the battlefield with a burnt\nstick or coal.\n\n\"Her first Christmas dinner in San Francisco consisted of a quart of\nbeans and a pound of salt pork, which the hospital steward brought\nto her; he told her he would be flogged if it became known. In after\ndays he became her steward. One day Dr. Poet, surgeon of the navy,\nbrought my mother a slice of ham, a drawing of tea and a lump of butter\nabout the size of a walnut. Dr. Poet had told my father where he could\npurchase half a barrel of flour. After baking some flour and water\ncakes between two tin plates in the ashes, my mother brought her dear\nfriend, Mrs. Robbins, (now in this city,) to share the repast. Said\nMrs. Robbins: 'Mrs. Joyce, isn't this like Boston?' This was just after\nliving for six months on mouldy shipbread. I have heard her say that\noften she was so hungry she would willingly have walked ten miles to\nobtain a slice of bread. Soon after this my mother helped to take care\nof the 'Donner Party,' who were found partly frozen and so famished\nthat they were eating their dead companions. The girl she tended, told\nher that they grew to like it, and she had helped eat her brother. The\ntrue stories they told are too dreadful to repeat, particularly as\nsome of them are still living. The Mormon Battallion came; peace was\ndeclared, the gold mines were discovered, and the circumstances of the\nSaints were changed from isolation and famine to wealth and grandeur.\nMy father became very wealthy, but prosperity caused his apostacy. My\ngrandfather, and uncle, John Perkins, both sea captains, came to see\nmy mother. I well remember sitting on grandpa's knee and learning my\nalphabet from the large family Bible spread before him, he being my\nteacher. I often recall also the long evenings when Uncle John held me\non his knee and sang the strange, pathetic, old-fashioned sea songs of\nwhich he knew so many and sang them so sweetly; I used to nestle closer\nto him, half frightened, and at last fall asleep. I remember one was,\n''Twas down in the lowlands a poor boy did wander,' and I have never\nheard it since.\n\n\"In Boston my mother was called 'The Mormon nightingale.' Strangers\nindifferent to the Gospel would say, 'Let us go to Boylston Hall and\nhear the singing.' A gentleman of fortune offered to take her to Italy\nand educate her in singing, at the same time that Adelaide Philips\n(his protege) went, but her destiny was upon another stage, to sing\nthe hymns of the newly-restored Gospel; and many have thought that\nshe sang them as one inspired. Her rendering of Wm. Clayton's hymn,\n'The Resurrection Day,' will be remembered by all who ever heard it.\nShe purchased the first melodeon brought to San Francisco, (by a Mr.\nWashington Holbrook,) thereby causing a sensation among the wives of\nthe ministers of five denominations, who each wanted it for their\nchurch. She went, during the ravages of the cholera, in San Francisco,\nand gathered together sixty orphan children, providing for them until\na building spot, material and means were collected by subscription;\nand was one of the Board of managers of the Protestant Orphan Asylum\nthus originated and founded. I remember going with her and hearing\nthe children sing, 'The Watcher,' a song of poverty and death. At the\nexpiration of one year some of the ladies objected to having a Mormon\nofficer among them, 'not considering Mormonism a religion at all,'\nalthough quite willing to accept the continuance of her contributions.\nShe however found a larger and more congenial field of labor; brethren\ngoing on their missions, their families left behind in Utah, received\nher prompt remembrance. Also seeds, trees, &c., she sent to Utah spring\nand fall, through more than twenty years. My only sister was born in\nSan Francisco, August, 1847, and died in St. George, Mrs. Helen F.\nJudd, one of the truest Saints I ever knew. In San Francisco Parley\nP. Pratt was a guest at my mother's house. She had loaned the Book of\nMormon to a gentleman belonging to the Custom House; Colonel Alden A.\nM. Jackson. He had been in the Mexican War, at the battle of Buena\nVista, and was with General Scott and Zachary Taylor through that\ncampaign. He had two horses killed under him and received injuries\nthat lasted throughout his life. When he returned the book he said he\nhad read it day and night until finished, and wished to know where he\ncould find a minister of the Mormon Church. She invited him to come\nthat evening and meet the Apostle, author and poet, Parley P. Pratt.\nThe gentlemen became so interested in their theme that my mother left\nthe room without disturbing them, and giving a servant instructions to\nattend to Mr. Pratt's room, etc., retired. Descending the stairs next\nmorning she heard Brother Pratt conversing, the lamp still burning.\n'Good morning, gentlemen,' said she; Brother Pratt looked up--'Is\nit morning?' Colonel Jackson walked to the window--'Yes,' said he,\n'another day has dawned, and another day has dawned for me--a beautiful\none.' Brother Pratt looked out upon the garden and said significantly,\n'It only needs water to complete the picture.' Colonel Jackson replied,\n'I understand you, I am ready.' Turning to my mother Brother Pratt\nasked, 'Sister Joyce, have you renewed your covenants? A number are\ngoing to the North Beach to-morrow, will you go?' and she answered\nthoughtfully, 'Ten years ago last night I was baptized in the Atlantic\nat midnight; to-morrow I will be baptized in the Pacific.'\n\n\"My own parents had been separated since my father's apostacy. A few\nmonths after her baptism she moved to San Bernardino and there began\nbuilding a beautiful home. Colonel Jackson, on his way to Utah was\ndelayed, waiting for a train to cross the deserts, and my mother\nbeing his only acquaintance, he often sought her society, and at last\ndetermined to win her if possible, and some three years after their\nfirst acquaintance they were married. Never was a kinder father than\nhe. Years added to years drew us all nearer to each other.\n\n\"In 1856, at the time of the Utah War, an armed mob of twenty-two men\nvisited the four remaining Mormon families in San Bernardino, and\ncalling father out from breakfast, ordered him to leave town with\nhis family by nine o'clock. He replied he would not do it, prefacing\nand concluding the reply in language more forcible than elegant.\nThey planted an old cannon on the public square, fired it off, rode\naround and threatened a great deal. Father's law office fronted the\nsquare; he went as usual to it, and in the afternoon they made a\nbonfire outside and coming in to him told him they intended to burn\nhim alive. He continued writing, only telling them if they disturbed\nhis papers he would send daylight through them. They left. When we\nwere all ready to start for Utah, enemies obtained a writ from the\ncourt prohibiting my sister and I from leaving the State before we\nwere of age. We were among enemies and powerless. My mother said, 'If\nwe can't go, our property shall,' and with father's consent divided\ngoods, provisions, arms and ammunition with the poor who could go. In\n1864, my mother, sister and I came to Utah on a visit, returned here\nin 1867. In 1868 I was appointed Secretary of the Relief Society in\nSt. George. In 1869 our parents brought us 'to the city' to receive\nour endowments, for which our joy and gratitude was beyond expression.\nI remained here, they returned to St. George where my sister married.\nIn 1870 I became the second wife of George W. Crocheron. I believed I\nshould better please my Heavenly Father by so doing than by marrying\notherwise. Any woman, no matter how selfish, can be a first and only\nwife, but it takes a great deal more Christian philosophy and fortitude\nand self-discipline to be a wife in this order of marriage; and I\nbelieve those who choose the latter when both are equally possible,\nand do right therein, casting out all selfishness, judging self and\nnot another, have attained a height, a mental power, a spiritual plane\nabove those who have not. To do this is to overcome that which has its\nroots in selfishness, and it can be done if each will do what is right.\nIn November, 1870, I was appointed Secretary of the Young Ladies Mutual\nImprovement Association of the Ninth Ward, which position I filled\ntill home duties compelled my resignation. At times during thirteen\nyears I have reported, in the sisters' meetings, chiefly those of the\nFourteenth Ward. In 1876 our father died, and in five weeks after our\nmother followed him. Their graves are side by side in the valley of St.\nGeorge, as beautiful as we could make them.\n\n\"In 1878 I was appointed, and later, set apart and blessed to labor\nas Secretary of the Young Ladies Mutual Improvement Association for\nthe Salt Lake Stake of Zion, which position I strive to honorably\nfill. In 1880, by the advice and aid of my friends I published a\nvolume of poems, 'Wild Flowers of Deseret,' which was kindly received,\nthe entire edition being sold within two years. The design of the\npicture Representative Women of Deseret, appeared to me one night\nas I rose from family prayers. I had not thought of it before. This\nbook of biographical sketches to accompany it was an after thought.\nMany suppose that Mormon women are not encouraged in their abilities,\nare perhaps repressed. This has not been so in my case, or in my\nobservations of others. Both encouragement and help have been given me\nby friends, by those in authority, and my husband has also encouraged\nand assisted me in every way in his power.\n\n\"I am the mother of three boys and two girls, born in the New and\nEverlasting Covenant, and consecrated to my Creator before I ever held\nthem in my arms or pressed a mother's kiss upon their little faces.\nMyself and all that are mine to give are dedicated to the service of\nGod, praying that He will help us to be worthy of His acceptance.\"\n\n\n\nHELEN MAR WHITNEY.\n\nHelen Mar Whitney was the third child of Heber Chase Kimball and his\nwife, Vilate Murray, and was born in Mendon, Munro County, New York,\nAugust 22, 1828. Their ancestors were among the Pilgrims and her\nkindred prided themselves that they were descended from a noble stock.\nThough they cared little for nobility and rank, they were proud to know\nthat their grandsires who would not submit to tyranny and oppression,\nhelped to gain them independence, and that their descendants were\nnoble, hard working, self-sacrificing and conscientious people, who\nbelieved in rising by their own merits. Many of her ancestors died\nfighting for the liberty which is denied to some of their children,\nby men who have usurped authority and become oppressors. She was five\nyears old when her parents removed to Kirtland, Ohio. In the winter of\n1837, she was baptized by Brigham Young, her father cutting the ice for\nthat purpose.\n\nShe inherited a reverence for the Supreme Being and always received the\nbest teachings from her parents. Her father's time was mostly spent in\nthe ministry. On his return from a European mission, he heard Joseph\nteach the principle of celestial marriage, and was commanded by Joseph\nto take a certain lady for his second wife. He felt as though he could\nnot obey this and live in it, and must be released from the command,\nand he expressed the same to Joseph, who went and inquired of the\nLord, and receiving an answer, commanded him the third time before he\nobeyed. Her mother bore testimony that she also went to the Lord and\nplead with Him to show her the cause of her husband's trouble, which\nhis haggard face and wretched days and nights betrayed and he dared\nnot tell her. He told her to go to the Lord and she did so, and He\nanswered their prayers. She saw a vision and the principle was revealed\nto her in all its glory. She saw the woman that he had taken, and she\nwent to him and told him what the Lord had shown her. She said she\nnever saw him so happy, and he cried for joy. She took the second wife\nto her bosom, and from that time an unkind word never passed between\nthem. Helen knew nothing of the order till June, 1843, when her father\nrevealed it to her. She says of this: \"Had I not known he loved me too\ntenderly to introduce anything that was not strictly pure and exalting\nin its tendencies, I could not have believed such a doctrine. I could\nhave sooner believed that he would slay me, than teach me an impure\nprinciple. I heard the Prophet teach it more fully, and in the presence\nof my father and mother.\n\n\"On the 3rd of February, 1846, I was married to H. K. Whitney, eldest\nson of N. K. Whitney, by Brigham Young. We were the last couple sealed\nin the Temple at Nauvoo. We were among the exiles who crossed the\nriver on the 16th of the same month, intending to go over to the Rocky\nMountains that year. But when the government demanded the strength of\nour companies to fight for them, we had to seek a place to quarter\nfor the winter. I was sick most of the time while there. Some of the\njourney we had to walk, and our food being poor and scant, the infant\nand the aged, all classes, were swept off by death--the latter by\nscurvy and sheer exhaustion. The next year my husband was one of those\nchosen to go as a pioneer, and he had to go though the day of trial was\nupon me.\n\n\"Our first born, a lovely girl baby, was buried there--we could not\nboth live; but during those dark hours I had friends and the Lord was\nthere. We had but few men, mostly aged and disabled, but to see the\nunion of the sisters; the fasting and prayers for the preservation\nof our battallion and the pioneers; and for the destroyer to be\nstayed; the great and marvelous manifestations, even the power of the\nresurrection, experienced there--proved that they were encircled by a\nmighty power, and that 'the prayers of the righteous availeth much.' I\nwill mention one circumstance to show the heavenly spirit that dwelt\nwith us there, and also the power of the destroyer, which none who\nwitnessed could misunderstand.\n\n\"We were struggling with the evil one who had laid his grasp upon the\nbabes--one was my mother's, the other, Sarah Ann's, (one of my father's\nwives). We all felt that we must part with one, as one would no sooner\nget relief than the other would be worse, and after a time mother asked\nthe Lord, if agreeable to His will, to take hers and spare the other,\nas she had other children, and Sarah Ann had but this one. But He chose\nto take the latter. Should not this teach us a lesson? and where could\nsuch love be found, only in the hearts of _Saints?_\n\n\"Many weeks I remained feeble, but I had received the promise that I\nshould be healed, and one morning Sister Perris Young, on whom the\nspirit had rested all night, to come and administer to me; came and\nunder her administration, with my mother, I was made whole.\n\n\"Those were trying days, when one meal was eaten we knew not where\nwe were to get the next, but we neither wanted for food nor raiment.\nWe had not heard from the pioneers since they left till they were\nreturning, and the news was that they were short of teams and without\nbreadstuff, and a long way from home. Our feelings can better be\nimagined than described, for we had little enough ourselves, but\nwe lifted our hearts to God, and I can call it nothing less than\nmiraculous, a supply was soon furnished and men and teams started\nto meet them. The next spring all were preparing to move, and as I\nwas helping to put on my wagon cover I came near fainting and was\nprostrated on my bed from that time. I had a baby boy born on the 17th\nof August, but he was buried on the 22nd, my twentieth birthday. This\nwas the worst part of our journey, the roads being rough and rocky. I\nmourned incessantly, and that with my intense bodily sufferings soon\nbrought me to death's door, but it was shorn of its sting. I was cold,\nbut oh, how peaceful, as I lay there painless and my breath passing so\ngently away; I felt as though I was wafting on the air and happy in the\nthought of meeting so soon with my babes where no more pain or sorrow\ncould come. I had talked with my husband and father who were weeping\nas I took a parting kiss from all but my poor mother, who was the last\none called and had sunk upon her knees before me. This distressed me,\nbut I bade her not mourn for she would not be long behind me. My words\nstruck father like a sudden thunderbolt, and he spoke with a mighty\nvoice and said--'Vilate, Helen _is not dying!_\" but my breath which by\nthis time had nearly gone, stopped that very instant, and I felt his\nfaith and knew that he was holding me; and I begged him to let me go as\nI thought it very cruel to keep me, and believed it impossible for me\nto live and ever recover. The destroyer was then stirred up in anger at\nbeing cheated out of his victim and he seemed determined to wreak his\nvengeance upon us all. No one but God and the angels to whom I owe my\nlife and all I have, could know the tenth part of what I suffered. I\nnever told anybody and I never could. A keener taste of misery and woe,\nno mortal, I think, could endure. For three months I lay a portion of\nthe time like one dead, they told me; but that did not last long. I was\nalive to my spiritual condition and dead to the world. I tasted of the\npunishment which is prepared for those who reject any of the principles\nof this Gospel. Then I learned that plural marriage was a celestial\nprinciple, and saw the difference between the power of God's priesthood\nand that of Satan's and the necessity of obedience to those who hold\nthe priesthood, and the danger of rebelling against or speaking lightly\nof the Lord's annointed.\n\n\"I had, in hours of temptation, when seeing the trials of my mother,\nfelt to rebel. I hated polygamy in my heart, I had loved my baby\nmore than my God, and mourned for it unreasonably. All my sins and\nshortcomings were magnified before my eyes till I believed I had sinned\nbeyond redemption. Some may call it the fruits of a diseased brain.\nThere is nothing without a cause, be that as it may, it was a keen\nreality to me. During that season I lost my speech, forgot the names of\neverybody and everything, and was living in another sphere, learning\nlessons that would serve me in future times to keep me in the narrow\nway. I was left a poor wreck of what I had been, but the Devil with\nall his cunning, little thought that he was fitting and preparing my\nheart to fulfill its destiny. My father said that Satan desired to\nclip my glory and was quite willing I should die happy; but when he\nwas thwarted he tried in every possible way to destroy my tabernacle.\nPresident Young said that the mountains through which we passed were\nfilled with the spirits of the Gadianton robbers spoken of in the Book\nof Mormon. The Lord gave father faith enough to hold me until I was\ncapable of exercising it for myself. I was so weak that I was often\ndiscouraged in trying to pray, as the evil spirits caused me to feel\nthat it was no use: but the night after the first Christmas in this\nvalley, I had my last struggle and resolved that they should buffet me\nno longer. I fasted for one week, and every day I gained till I had won\nthe victory and I was just as sensible of the presence of holy spirits\naround my bedside as I had been of the evil ones. It would take up too\nmuch room to relate my experience with the spirits, but New Year's eve,\nafter spending one of the happiest days of my life I was moved upon to\ntalk to my mother. I knew her heart was weighed down in sorrow and I\nwas full of the holy Ghost. I talked as I never did before, I was too\nweak to talk with such a voice (of my own strength), beside, I never\nbefore spoke with such eloquence, and she knew that it was not myself.\nShe was so affected that she sobbed till I ceased. I assured her that\nfather loved her, but he had a work to do, she must rise above her\nfeelings and seek for the Holy Comforter, and though it rent her heart\nshe must uphold him, for he in taking other wives had done it only in\nobedience to a holy principle. Much more I said, and when I ceased, she\nwiped her eyes and told me to rest. I had not felt tired till she said\nthis, but commenced then to feel myself sinking away. I silently prayed\nto be renewed, when my strength returned that instant.\n\n\"New Year's day father had set apart to fast and pray, and they\nprepared a feast at evening. I had prayed that I might gain a sure\ntestimony that day that I was acceptable to God, and my father, when\nhe arose to speak, was so filled with His power, that he looked\nalmost transfigured! He turned to me and spoke of my sufferings and\nthe blessings I should receive because of the same. He prophesied of\nthe great work that I should do, that I should live long and raise\nhonorable sons and daughters that would rise up and call me blessed,\nand should be a comfort to my mother in her declining years, and many\nmore things which I have fulfilled. Many who knew me then have looked\nat me and seen me working with my children around me, with perfect\namazement and as one who had been dead and resurrected.\n\n\"I lost three babes before I kept any, (two boys and girl). My first\nto live was Vilate, she grew to womanhood and was taken. Orson F. was\nmy next, who has been appointed Bishop of the Eighteenth Ward. I had\nfour more daughters, then a son, my last a little girl who died at\nfive years of age; being eleven in all. My parents have left me and my\nheart has been wrung to the utmost, yet I have said--_Thy will O God,\nbe done_. Persons have sometimes wondered at my calmness and endurance,\nbut I think they would not had they passed through the same experience.\n\n\"I have encouraged and sustained my husband in the celestial order of\nmarriage because I knew it was right. At various times I have been\nhealed by the washing and annointing, administered by the mothers in\nIsrael. I am still spared to testify to the truth and Godliness of this\nwork; and though my happiness once consisted in laboring for those\nI love, the Lord has seen fit to deprive me of bodily strength, and\ntaught me to 'cast my bread upon the waters' and after many days my\nlonging spirit was cheered with the knowledge that He had a work for me\nto do, and with Him, I know that all things are possible.\n\n\"Almost my first literary effort was inspired by the reading of\nthe various opinions of men published in our dailies, upon woman's\ndisabilities, etc.; and my continuing is due to the advice and urgent\nwishes of many of my sisters.\n\n\"On March 10, 1882, I was chosen by Sister M. I. Horne and nominated\nto act as her Counselor in the Relief Society of this stake of Zion\nin place of Sister S. M. Heywood (deceased) and God grant that I may\ncome up to her standard and be able to labor faithfully with my sisters\nyet many years, in relieving and comforting the tried and afflicted,\nand enlightening the minds of those who are in darkness concerning the\nthings of God and His people.\"\n\nIt is but appropriate and just to add to the brief sketch of Helen Mar\nWhitney's life, a brief record of her son, the eldest of her living\nchildren.\n\nOrson F. Whitney was born in Salt Lake City, July 1, 1855. Was called\non his first mission during the October Conference of 1876. Left home\nfor Pennsylvania November 6th following. Remained in Pennsylvania about\nfive months, laboring with Elder A. M. Musser, and visited Washington\njust prior to the inauguration of President Hayes. Early in the spring\nof 1877 went alone down to Ohio, where he remained about one year,\npreaching and baptizing, and visiting relatives in and around Kirtland,\n(his father's birthplace). Was released from his mission in the spring\nof 1878, and returned home early in April. Was appointed a home\nmissionary immediately on his return, and also obtained a situation in\nthe _Deseret News_ office.\n\nJuly 14th, was ordained a High Priest, (previously was a Seventy)\nand set apart to preside as bishop of the Eighteenth Ward, being the\nyoungest bishop in the Salt Lake Stake of Zion, succeeding Bishop L.\nD. Young, resigned. August 10th of same year succeeded Elder John\nNicholson as city editor of the _Deseret News_, he having been called\nto Europe on a mission. Before this he had labored as a collector and\nunder-clerk in the business office of that establishment. During his\nsojourn in the States he had corresponded with the _Salt Lake Herald_,\nthe _Woman's Exponent_ and the _News_, to the latter by the direct\ninvitation of President Brigham Young, who had noticed his writings\nto the other papers and urged him to cultivate his literary ability.\nPreviously he had scarcely dared to hope he possessed any. He says of\nthis; \"I owe much to the kind encouragement of President Young for what\nlittle I have yet achieved in that direction.\"\n\nDecember 18, 1879, was married to Zina B. Smoot, daughter of President\nA. O. and Mrs. Emily Smoot. In February, 1880, was elected to the\nCity Council and held the office of a Councilor until called on his\nsecond mission, whither he went before his office term had expired.\nIn July, 1880, was appointed by a committee having in charge the\narrangement of a programme to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of\nthe Church (year of jubilee,) to write a poem for the occasion. The\npoem--\"Jubilee of Zion,\" was read in the Tabernacle by Colonel David\nMcKenzie, on the 24th of July, the Jubilee Celebration and the regular\nPioneer Day Celebration being blended. Prior to this he had published a\npamphlet containing two poems, \"Land of Shinehah\" and the \"Women of the\nEverlasting Covenant,\" and had contributed various efforts in verse to\nour local papers, besides other articles in prose to the _Contributor_\nand _Herald_, at the same time laboring regularly upon the _News_ as\nlocal editor. April, 1880 (antedating the above), the Home Dramatic\nClub was organized with O. F. Whitney as President.\n\nOctober, 1880, the first child of Bishop Whitney, a son, was born. June\n20, 1881, at a meeting of the General Committee on celebration of the\n4th of July, Bishop Whitney was chosen Orator of the Day, and prepared\nthe oration, the assassination of President Garfield on the 2nd of July\nput a stop to the celebration, and consequently to the carrying out of\nthe programme. October Conference, 1881, was called on a mission to\nEngland and left October 24th; sailed from New York November 1st, and\nlanded on the 10th. Appointed to the London Conference, labored there\nfour months; then called to Liverpool to succeed Elder C. W. Stayner\nin the editorial department of the _Millennial Star_. Labored there\nnearly a year, then was released to travel in the ministry. Released to\nreturn home with the June company, 1883. Visited Scotland and France\nand sailed for home June 20th. Landed in New York Sunday, July 1st,\nthe very day and date of his birth, twenty-eight years before. Reached\nhome July 7, 1883, and has resumed his position as city editor of the\n_Deseret Evening News_.\n\n\n\nLETTERS OF HEBER C. KIMBALL.\n\nFor the consideration of those unacquainted with him, who through\nmisreport have been led to regard Heber C. Kimball as a man of stern\nrule and cold nature, I append two letters written by him to his\nbeloved first wife, Vilate, (a name that is revered in our people's\nremembrance) showing in true light his own feelings upon the principle\nof plural marriage and vindicating and honoring him by this testimony\nfrom his own secret heart and lips, better than the words of another,\nno matter how faithful or true or ardent that friend might be. Thus\nwill be shown to the world three generations of a family who are\nrepresentatives of our people and faith; Heber, one whom God chose\nas one of the first to aid in founding and upbuilding His Church and\nKingdom in the last dispensation; Helen, his cherished and heroic\ndaughter, and Orson, her son, worthy representative of his mother\nand grandfather. The inspiration in Heber's life has not died out in\ntheirs, the work has not slackened, the line of march is still onward\nand upward. The first copy bears date of\n\n\"OCTOBER 23, 1842. \"_My Dear Vilate:_\n\n\"I am at Brother Evan Green's. We have held all our conferences, have\nhad two meetings to-day, it being the Sabbath. Some have been added to\nthe Church and prejudice is considerably laid. Monday we shall go to\nJacksonville, then on to Springfield. I shall be home in two or three\nweeks if the Lord wills it so. Since I left you it has been a time of\nmuch reflection. I felt as though I was a poor weak creature in and of\nmyself, and only on God can I rely for support. I have been looking\nback over my past life before I heard the Gospel. It makes me shrink\ninto nothing and to wish I had always been a righteous man from my\nyouth, but we have an advocate with the Father, and I can look back\nsince I came into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, with\na degree of pleasure, but I can see if I had more knowledge I could\nhave done better in many points. * * I feel as though I had rather die\nto-day than be left to transgress one of His laws, or to bring disgrace\nupon the cause which I have embraced, or a stain upon my character; and\nmy prayer is day by day that God would take me to Himself rather than I\nshould be left to sin against Him, or betray my dear brethren who have\nbeen true to me and to God the Eternal Father, and I feel to pray to\nThee, O Lord, to help thy poor servant to be true to Thee all the days\nof my life, that I may never be left to sin against Thee or against Thy\nannointed, or any that love thee, that I may have wisdom and knowledge\nhow to gain Thy favor at all times, for this is my desire, and that\nthese blessings may rest upon my dear companion, and when we have done\nThy work on this Thy footstool, that Thou wouldst receive us into that\nkingdom where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the holy prophets have\ngone, that we may never be separated any more, and before I should be\nleft to betray my brethren in any case, let Thy servant come unto Thee\nin Thy Kingdom and there have the love of my youth, and the little\nones Thou has given me. * * Now, my dear Vilate, stand by me even unto\ndeath, and when you pray, pray that I may hold out to the end. * * My\nheart aches for you and sometimes I can hardly speak without weeping,\nand that before my brethren: for I have a broken heart and my head is a\nfountain of tears. My life in this world is short at the longest, and\nI do not desire to live one day only to do good and to make you happy\nand bring up our little children in the ways of the Lord, and my prayer\nis that they may be righteous from the least to the greatest. * * The\nworld has lost its charms for me, and I want to seek for that rest\nwhich remains for the people of God. I never had a greater desire to be\na man of God than at the present, that I may know my acceptance with\nHim.\"\n\n\"SPRINGFIELD, October 25th. \"_My Dear Companion:_\n\n\"I have just returned from the office where I found a letter from you,\nand I need not tell you that it was a sweet morsel to me. I could weep\nlike a child if I could get away by myself, to think that I for one\nmoment have been the means of causing you any sorrow; I know that you\nmust have many bad feelings and I feel to pray for you all the time,\nI assure you that you have not been out of my mind many minutes at a\ntime since I left you. My feelings are of that kind that it makes me\nsick at heart, so that I have no appetite to eat. My temptations are\nso severe it seems sometimes as though I should have to lay down and\ndie, I feel as if I should sink beneath it. I go into the woods every\nchance I have, and pour out my soul before God that He would deliver\nme and bless you, my dear wife, and the first I would know I would be\nin tears, weeping like a child about you and the situation I am in;\nbut what can I do but go ahead? My dear Vilate, do not let it cast you\ndown, for the Lord is on our side; this I know from what I see and\nrealize and I marvel at it many times. You are tried and tempted and I\nam sorry for you, for I know how to pity you. I can say that I never\nsuffered more in all my life than since these things came to pass; and\nas I have said so say I again, I have felt as if I should sink and die.\nOh my God! I ask Thee in the name of Jesus to bless my dear Vilate and\ncomfort her heart and deliver her from temptation and sorrow, and open\nher eyes and let her see things as they are, for Father Thou knowest\nour sorrow; be pleased to look upon Thy poor servant and handmaid, and\ngrant us the privilege of living the same length of time that one may\nnot go before the other, for Thou knowest that we desire this with all\nour hearts. * * * And then, Father, when we have done with our career\nin this probation, in the one to come may we still be joined in one\nto remain so to all eternities, and whatever we have done to grieve\nThee be pleased to blot it out, and let us be clean and pure before\nThee at all times, that we may never be left to sin or betray anyone\nthat believes on Thy name; save us from all this and let our seeds be\nrighteous; incline their hearts to be pure and virtuous, and may this\nextend from generation to generation, let us have favor in Thy sight\nand before Thine angels that we may be watched over by them and have\nstrength and grace to support us in the day of our temptation that we\nmay not be overcome and fall. Now my Father, these are the desires of\nour hearts, and wilt Thou grant them to us for Jesus' sake and to Thy\nname will we give all the glory forever and ever.\"\n\n\n\nZINA Y. WILLIAMS.\n\nDAUGHTER OF BRIGHAM YOUNG.\n\nIt would be strange indeed, if after the life and labors of Brigham\nYoung, a work of this character should appear, lacking the name\nand record of his descendants. The sons of noble men have greater\nopportunities of adding lustre to their father's name by reason of the\nadvantages which sons possess over daughters; yet among our people,\nwomen have their acknowledged province in which they may distinguish\nthemselves, in which their position is not borrowed from the other\nsex, or an infringement upon them; and yet may adorn the memory of\neven Brigham Young. Such a daughter is Zina Y. Williams, the original\nof this sketch. Born in plural or celestial marriage, and with an\nunderstanding of this condition, as much as any young girl can possess,\na wife in the same order of marriage.\n\nSome have said, \"Let us see the workings of this system, let us see\nhow the next generation will receive it.\" The time has come when they\ncan see, and learn that those who understand it best fear it least.\nThe words of the daughter herself, it seems to me, should go farther\nin effect than mine could for her. Here is a true picture in the home\nlife of the earliest advocates of that ancient principle, restored\nthrough Joseph Smith, the prophet. I have known Mrs. Williams beneath\nher father's roof and in her own married home, intimately, for eighteen\nyears, and knew the union and love of the band of sisters.\n\n\"I was born April 3rd, 1850, in Salt Lake City. My mother, Zina H.\nYoung, was made glad by my presence, her only daughter. My father,\nPresident Brigham Young, made me welcome; though he was the father of\nmany others he was as much pleased as many men are over their only\ngirl. My childhood was clouded with sickness, and one of my earliest\nrecollections is of my loving mother holding me in her arms, singing a\nsweet song; with the moonlight streaming over me and gazing out upon\nthe full moon I sank to sleep, soothed from suffering by her magic\ncare. I was the pet of my two brothers and of all my mother's friends.\nI knew nothing of want or care till the year of famine, (1856) which\ngave me a faint idea of what want was. (All through the Territory\nfamilies were on short rations.)\n\n\"My father's family lived in a world of their own, there being ten\ngirls with not more than four years' difference in their ages. Our\nfather affectionately called us his 'big ten,' and nowhere on the\nearth could be found a happier, merrier set of children. We attended\nschool and were instructed in music and dancing on our own premises.\nOur mothers taught us to respect each other's rights, as they always\nset the example by treating one another according to the golden rule.\nA person entering the room where we were assembled would be at a loss\nto tell which were the own children of the sisters present. We carried\nout the proverb--'Love thy neighbor as thyself,' literally. When the\nmemorable exodus of 1858 took place, my mother was the first woman who\nleft Salt Lake City. In company with another of my father's wives,\nLucy B., (as she is called,) we started south. This was my first trip\nfrom home, it seemed like a pleasure trip to me and it was a matter of\nsurprise that my dear mother and auntie were not as much delighted with\nthe change as we children were; but the subsequent discomforts we were\nsubjected to, and our lonely hours spent away from our dearly loved\nsisters caused many a heart pang and we began to realize something of\nthe sacrifices made by our people when our enemies came and invaded\nour homes. My mother was the last of father's family to leave Provo,\nafter the return of the people to their former homes. On our arrival,\nafter a year's absence, father asked mother to take charge of four of\nhis little ones whose mother was dead. She consented, and this event\nentirely changed my after life; from being the pet and only child I\nnow had to share with these motherless children. It was a trial in\nmany ways, but my precious mother taught me to be unselfish and thank\nGod for all His blessings and not complain, and I am thankful to say,\nfollowing her advice without once alluding to the fact that my mother\nwas not their own. Thus it proved to be the best lesson of my life, and\na great blessing.\n\n\"My life flowed on in peaceful current, going to school, but going upon\nthe stage when quite young greatly impaired my health. I married when\neighteen. My husband, Thomas Williams, had been in my father's employ\nin his office, for several years; then in the Theatre, where I saw him\nfrequently, but, as he was much older than I, it never occurred to me\nto fall in love with him. 'None knew him but to love him,' the bard\nwrote, which is true of my husband. I was his second wife, and here let\nme testify that in entering into the order of plural marriage, both\nmy husband and myself did so from the purest and holiest motives. For\nsix years I was his loving wife, bearing two sons, Sterling and Thomas\nEdgar. In July, 1873, my dear husband was called home. None but those\nwho are called upon to pass through similar circumstances can know\nthe sorrow and anguish it is to part from a loving, noble husband and\nfather.\n\n\"My time now was given principally to my Church duties and to the\nsupport of my dear children. In all my trials my dear mother was my\ncomfort and support. By the advice of my father, I went to Sevier\nCounty and took up a quarter section of land. I went to St. George at\nthe completion of the Temple, and met many dear friends and relatives;\nmy father was there, and those who were present, will, I believe,\nnever forget the heavenly intercourse enjoyed by the Saints while thus\nconvened. Shortly after our return to the city, our honored father was\nstricken down with his last sickness. Never was there a more solemn\nscene than that witnessed at his death, his family were there, also\nthe head men of the Church. Physicians with their futile skill were\nstanding round, the faith and anxiety of the whole Church were centered\naround that dying form and departing soul of God's Prophet at that\ntrying hour. His body unconscious now to pain, was there before us,\nbut his noble spirit already saw behind the veil which screens from us\nthe immortal spheres. 'Joseph! Joseph!' were his last words, and when\nhe breathed his last his face became radiant as if molten sunbeams\nhad been poured into his veins, giving him an unearthly and celestial\nappearance never to be forgotten by those who surrounded his dying\ncouch. After a settlement of our father's estate I removed to Provo in\norder to give my dear children and myself the advantages of attending\nthe Brigham Young Academy. In January of this same year, President\nTaylor sent me, in company with Sister Emmeline B. Wells, to visit\nthe Woman's Suffrage Convention held in Washington. After my return\nI began teaching in the Brigham Young Academy, taking charge of the\nyoung ladies and organizing a work class; also the primary department\nin which position I have been actively engaged ever since. The\nBrigham Young Academy was endowed by inspiration by him whose name it\nbears. Professor Karl G. Maeser was called to act as principal at the\ncommencement, and when he asked for instruction from its noble founder,\nhe received only this: 'Ask God to guide you in all things and carry it\non under His directions; this is all I have to say.'\n\n\"From that time Professor Maeser has faithfully lived to fulfill the\nwishes of its founder. How he has succeeded is demonstrated every year\nby the hundreds of young men and women who there receive for the first\ntime a knowledge and testimony of this Gospel. Too much praise cannot\nbe bestowed upon the Honorable Board: President A. O. Smoot, Harvey\nCluff, Wilson H. Dusenberry, Bishop Myron Tanner, Bishop Harrington,\nBishop Bringhurst and Sister Coray for their energy and labor to make\nthis school all that Brigham Young intended it should be.\n\n\"In the deeds bestowing a grant upon this institution it is plainly\nstated that the young men be taught mechanism, and the young ladies\ndomestic duties. In accordance with this a young ladies' department\nhas been organized and we have endeavored to carry out this peculiar\nfeature desired by President Young, my beloved father.\n\n\"I have occupied the position of advisor and director to the young\nladies for the past four years. I have now the advantage of a fine\nlarge room built expressly for this branch of education. Was called to\npreside over the Primary Associations of Provo, am a Counselor to the\nPresident of the Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Association also; and\nan officer in the Provo Silk Association.\"\n\nWhile living in Salt Lake City, Mrs. Zina Y. Williams was one of the\ncommittee superintending the decoration of the great Tabernacle. Large\nclasses were taught artificial flower making, and thousands of yards\nof festoons and hanging baskets, interspersed with appropriate mottoes\nand flags made the vast ceiling a bower of beauty for many months. She\nhas taught decorative work of different kinds in several towns of our\nTerritory, possessing a special gift in this direction.\n\nAn energetic spiritual laborer, a loving daughter and faithful wife\nand mother, she has also a wide circle of sincere friends. She was\nthe first of President Young's daughters to manifest prominently\nin the face of opposition, her willingness to unite with the\nassociations organized for the repression of extravagance in dress,\ntable expenditure and frivolity, and for the cultivation of spiritual\nknowledge, and mutual improvement. These meetings were regarded with\naversion and even ridicule, by many, as tending to bring women into too\ngreat publicity. This proved to be an incorrect idea. Sister Williams\nwas one of the earliest spiritual laborers and has never faltered or\ndeviated from her line of duty. President Young has other daughters\nalso, who have later become officers and actively interested in the\nWomen's Organizations among this people; and they will without doubt,\ndevelop many of those abilities, which, combined and made subservient\nto the will of God made the name of Brigham Young immortal in history.\n\n\n\nLOUISE M. WELLS.\n\nSECRETARY OF CENTRAL ORGANIZATION OF THE YOUNG LADIES' MUTUAL\nIMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATIONS.\n\nThe fact that most of the ladies of this work are of mature, and\nsome even advanced years, suggests the thought--what of the \"rising\ngeneration\" of this people? How have the practical workings of this\nsystem which the world can judge of only from report and occasional\nglimpses into its operations, but which with the youth of the people is\na literal and sole experience--affected their ideas and purposes?\n\nTime, steadfast determination and spiritual progress have adjusted all\nmingled and varied elements of individualities and nationalities in\nthose who received the Gospel in scattered homes in different parts\nof the earth, have overcome those obstacles (which were such through\ninexperience in newly restored truths and laws,) and brought all to\nthe proper level of their individual sphere of action and usefulness.\nWhat a piece of master-work has this been! Order out of confusion,\nbrotherhood created between stranger races.\n\nIt has been often said, \"that when the old stock dies out,\" the world\ncan better judge the worth of our doctrines; if they survive and grow\nin the hearts of the succeeding generation their parents did not plant\nthe spiritual tree in lack of wisdom, and it will after this test of\nyears prove worthy of the serious consideration of those who now deem\nit beneath their thoughtful attention.\n\nMore than fifty years have passed since the glorious message was first\nproclaimed to the world; many of those true, noble Saints who toiled\nas builders of their Master's Kingdom have finished their work, and\nwith years filled with honors have passed on to their rest and reward.\nA few years more, and the witnesses who lived in the days of Joseph\nand Hyrum will be gone, we shall be left to ourselves, their record\nand our God. Who will replace them? Are their posterity following in\ntheir footsteps? Yes, beneath the seeming swift current of youthtime's\ncareless indifference runs an undercurrent of earnestness, integrity\nand--yes--royalty of soul. There can be found many of our young people\nwho bear the impress of their destiny in their daily lives, their\nnumbers are increasing, their works assuming prominence and recognition.\n\nIn connection with the young people's organizations it is due to Miss\nLouise M. Wells, that a brief record of her history and position form\npart of this work.\n\nThis young lady was born in Salt Lake City, August 27, 1862. On both\nher father and mother's side she is descended from families of the old\nPuritan stock. General Wells' record in Church history is one that\nearth's greatest men might be proud to possess, and he has received\nsuch a tribute of respect and love from our people as has rarely been\nrecorded. Her mother is the editor of the _Woman's Exponent_, but\nhas during her lifetime written constantly, amounting indeed to many\nvolumes were her writings published; and is exceptionally gifted as a\npoetic writer. With such parents it may be reasonably expected that\nwith her inherent endowments trained in the influence of the Gospel,\nwith a fine spiritual nature, conscientious principles, an amiable\ndisposition and quiet, gentle manner, Miss Wells will do credit to her\nparents and her people.\n\nOf Louie, as she is familiarly called, it is said that when she was\nvery young she gave evidence of musical talent by rendering in an\noriginal style, plaintive melodies admirably suited to her voice,\nand rich in that pathos that always touches the heart. With many,\nsinging is an acquired accomplishment, with her it is as natural as\nto the nightingale. Also in her childhood she unconsciously disclosed\nartistic taste by gathering the autumn tinted leaves and grasses from\nthe garden, which she arranged in quaint and pretty devices for home\nadornments. This talent was later cultivated under competent teachers,\nwhen she soon became qualified to give lessons privately and in\nclasses, in drawing and painting. Already artists of distinction have\npronounced her oil paintings of sufficient merit to entitle her to\nenter the Academy of Design in New York, and she has been advised to\nadopt art as a life vocation. On the occasion of the Church Jubilee,\non Pioneer Day, 1880, Miss Wells was selected by the committee to\nrepresent Art. In 1882, in company with some of her relatives, she\nvisited California, and there for the first time saw the ocean, one\nof nature's grandest pictures. During this visit she went through the\nart galleries of San Francisco. In 1883, she with her sister, Mrs.\nSears, made a trip to the Eastern States, and visited the art galleries\nand museums of St. Louis, Chicago, Cleveland, New York, Boston,\nPhiladelphia and Washington. Also had the opportunity of attending the\nWorld's Exposition at Boston. While visiting in the East she attended\na reunion of the Dickinson's held at Amherst, Massachusetts, as a\nrepresentative of the name, from whom her father descended through his\ngrandmother, Experience Dickinson. Arriving at College Hall, where\nthe reunion was celebrated, she met many hundreds of her kindred. Of\nthis family I quote: \"It is now almost two hundred and fifty years\nsince Nathaniel Dickinson landed at Boston, and prior to 1634 found a\nhome at Wethersfield, forty or fifty miles below Amherst. In 1659 he\nplanted the permanent seat of our family, and deeply rooted the name\nof Dickinson, and here nine succeeding generations have risen to call\nhim blessed. Nathaniel Dickinson died at Hadley, June 16, 1676. No\npencil or artist has preserved to us the semblance of his features, no\ngravestone marks his resting-place. We only know that he sleeps in the\nonly burying-ground at Hadley.\"\n\nAt this reunion, which was quite an elaborate affair, a congratulatory\nletter was read from her father, General D. H. Wells, which elicited\nconsiderable applause, and the President, who had seen the General when\nvisiting Salt Lake City, spoke of him in the highest terms.\n\nMiss Wells was very cordially received by the hundreds of Dickinson's\nand succeeded in getting the names of many of the relatives of the\nfamily who are now sleeping in the old graveyard at Hadley, and from a\n\"roll of honor\" which hung upon the wall in the hall where the meeting\nwas held, on which were inscribed the names of those who had made\nthemselves distinguished. It was singular that this great meeting of\nthe Dickinson's should have convened at the time when Miss Louie was\nvisiting her mother's relatives only a few miles from Amherst, giving\nher an opportunity of meeting her father's kindred.\n\nLouie visited Nauvoo, also Kirtland, where she went through the Temple.\nShe has also proved herself to be a most charming press correspondent,\nby contributions to the _Exponent_ that touched the heart of every\nSaint; letters that were as beautiful, fresh and sweet as spring-time.\nShe has been connected with the _Exponent_ for some time; is a writer\nfor the _Contributor_, has been a member of the Tabernacle Choir for\nseveral years, and taught a department of Miss Cook's school in 1880\nand 1881.\n\nIn June, 1880, Miss Wells was appointed Secretary to the Central\nOrganization of the Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Associations, Mrs.\nElmina S. Taylor, President, a position of honor and importance, and\nwhich she fulfils with dignity and ability. As a Latter-day Saint, the\nyoung lady is worthy of her position and the love and confidence of her\nfriends; and we look forward to her future with happy anticipations of\nbeautiful works from her spirit and hand.\n\nAs in this work are represented the venerable silver-haired matrons,\nand the younger wife and mother, it seems beautifully appropriate that\nMiss Louie, in her youth and purity, should represent the daughters of\nIsrael, looking towards the future with eyes of faith and confidence.\n\n\n\nExplanatory of the Picture\n\nREPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF DESERET.\n\nThe first portrait in the first group of the picture, is that of\nELIZA R. SNOW SMITH, President of the Latter-Day Saints' Women's\nOrganizations. The second, on the left-hand side of the same group,\nZINA D. H. YOUNG, First Counselor. Third, on the right-hand side, MARY\nISABELLA HORNE, Treasurer. Fourth, SARAH M. KIMBALL, Secretary.\n\nThe above are the Presiding Board over all the Latter-Day Saints\nWomen's Organizations.\n\nAt the head of the \"Association Group\" is, first, ELMINA S. TAYLOR,\nPresident of the Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Associations. Second,\nMARY A. FREEZE, President of the Young Ladies Mutual Improvement\nAssociation of the Salt Lake Stake of Zion. Third, left-hand side, is\nLOUIE FELT, President of the Primary Associations. Fourth, ELLEN C.\nCLAWSON, President of the Primary Associations of the Salt Lake Stake\nof Zion.\n\nAt the head of the picture, left-hand corner, PHOEBE W. WOODRUFF, wife\nof President Wilford Woodruff. At the right-hand corner, BATHSHEBA W.\nSMITH, wife of President George A. Smith. At the left-hand corner,\nPRESCENDIA L. KIMBALL, a veteran Saint and pioneer. At the right-hand\nlower corner, ELIZABETH HOWARD, Secretary of the Relief Society of the\nSalt Lake Stake of Zion.\n\nAt the head of the fourth group is, EMMELINE B. WELLS, editor of\n_Woman's Exponent_. At the right-hand, same group, is ROMANIA B. PRATT,\nM. D.\n\nTurning now to the four ladies on the left-hand side of the picture,\nthe first is EMILY HILL WOODMANSEE, poet. Second, right-hand side,\nHANNAH T. KING, poet and prose author. Third, on the left, AUGUSTA\nJOYCE CROCHERON, author, and Secretary of the Young Ladies' Mutual\nImprovement Association of the Salt Lake Stake of Zion. Fourth, HELEN\nMAR WHITNEY, daughter of Heber C. Kimball, and writer of Church history\nand biographies; also First Counselor of the Relief Society of the Salt\nLake Stake of Zion.\n\nReturning to the fourth group: third portrait on the left, ZINA Y.\nWILLIAMS, daughter of Brigham Young, and President of the Primary\nAssociations of the Utah Stake of Zion. Fourth, is LOUIE M. WELLS,\ndaughter of President D. H. Wells; Secretary of Central Organizations\nof the Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Associations. Vocalist and\nartist.\n\nFINIS.\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Note\n\nVarious obvious typographical errors have been corrected as seemed\nreasonable, e.g. \"coronatiion\" for \"coronation\" and various similar\nspelling issues, missing periods, and so forth.","title":"Representative Women of Deseret: A Book of Biographical Sketches","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":45984}