Emmeline B. Wells

Family Background

1828. February 29: Born Emmeline Blanche Woodward in Petersham, Massachusetts. While she was attending boarding school in New Salem, her mother joined the Church; Emmeline was baptized on a visit home in 1842.

A fifteen-year-old school teacher, Emmeline married James Harvey Harris and moved to Nauvoo, where she gave birth to a son. He died within the month. Shortly after, her husband left her, seeking fame in New Orleans.

The desertion was devastating: "Last night there came a steam boat up the river. O how my youthful heart fluttered with hope. … Not all that has yet been said can shake my confidence in the only man I ever loved. … I saw a person approaching. My heart beat with fond anticipation. It walked like James. It came nearer and just as I was about to speak his name, he spoke and I found I was deceived by the darkness."

Plural Wife

1845. James never returned. Two years later, she became Bishop Newel K. Whitney's second wife. He was fifty, she sixteen; they had two children before he died in 1850.

1852. Some time after Whitney died in 1850, she wrote his friend Daniel H. Wells, asking him to "consider the lonely state" of his friend's widow. She asked him to "declare his feelings" for her, for she had often seen herself "united with a being noble as thyself."

Wells married her as his sixth plural wife. They had three children, but it was a disappointing, unhappy union for Emmeline. "O, if my husband could only love me even a little and not seem to be perfectly indifferent to any sensation of that kind," she wrote in her 1874 diary. "He cannot know the craving of my nature; he is surrounded with love on every side, and I am cast out. … O my poor aching heart when shall it rest its burden only on the Lord Every other avenue seems closed against me."

1874. On their twenty-second anniversary she wrote, "Anniversary of my marriage with Pres. Wells. O how happy I was then how much pleasure I anticipated and how changed alas are all things since that time, how few thoughts I had then have ever been realized, and how much sorrow I have known in place of the joy I looked forward to."

Daniel H. Wells was a busy man, and Emmeline did not blend well with his other wives. She was not an efficient homemaker, preferring to spend her time reading and in pleasant conversation. She also dressed differently than most women, preferring pastels to the usual dark colors. The other wives are said to have made fun of Emmeline's love poems to Daniel.

Women's Advocate

1877. Emmeline B. Wells edited and published the Woman's Exponent for thirty-eight years. Her editorials covered a broad range of women's issues—equal pay for equal work, women's voting rights, even equality in athletic programs.

Upset at women who allowed themselves to be placed on pedestals, she complained, "See the manner in which ladies—a term for which I have little reverence or respect—are treated in all public places! … She must be preserved from the slightest blast of trouble, petted, caressed, dressed to attract attention, taught accomplishments that minister to man's gratification; in other words, she must be treated as a glittering and fragile toy, a thing without brains or soul, placed on a tinselled and unsubstantial pedestal by man, as her worshipper."

1879. Church leaders encouraged Emmeline B. Wells and Zina Young Williams to attend a meeting of the National Women's Suffrage Association. There they petitioned Congress to recognize the rights of the children of plural marriages.

1882. Wells and her close friend Zina D. H. Young traveled to a National Women's Suffrage Association convention, where Emmeline delivered a paper on Mormon life in Utah. In 1899 she attended the Women's International Council and Congress in England and was received by Queen Victoria.

Fifth President of the Relief Society

1910. Set apart as president of the Church Relief Society by Joseph F. Smith. Since 1888 she had been a member of the general board; she also assisted in the organization of the YLMIA and the Primary Association.

In 1895, as general Relief Society Secretary, she wrote a history of the organization, defining its main objectives: "The care of the needy, the sick, the helpless and the unfortunate, to visit the widow and the fatherless, to administer comfort and consolation as well as temporal relief of physical wants, to see that none are left to suffer … also to care for the dying and the dead, to be at the bedside of the lonely ones when death is near, to robe the body neatly and properly for burial when all is over, and to perform those kindly deeds with tenderness and grace."

Death

1921. April 25: Died at the age of eighty-four in her home at 1354 South 900 East in Salt Lake City; buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery near her husband Daniel.

Sources

Bushman, Claudia, ed. Mormon Sisters. Cambridge: Emmeline Press Limited, 1976.
Eaton-Gadsby, Patricia Rasmussen, and Dushku, Judith Rasmussen. "Emmeline B. Wells." Sister Saints. Edited by Vicky Burgess-Olson. Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1979.
Woman's Exponent, 1 July 1872, p. 29; 1 October 1895, pp. 59-60.

	A Book of Mormons Richard S. Van Wagoner and Steven C. Walker Copyright 1982, Signature Books Salt Lake City, Utah Contents


	Emmeline B. Wells (1828-1921)

				Emmeline B. Wells was a women's advocate and fifth president of the Relief Society. Photograph courtesy LDS Church Archives.


	Family Background 1828. February 29: Born Emmeline Blanche Woodward in Petersham, Massachusetts. While she was attending boarding school in New Salem, her mother joined the Church; Emmeline was baptized on a visit home in 1842. A fifteen-year-old school teacher, Emmeline married James Harvey Harris and moved to Nauvoo, where she gave birth to a son. He died within the month. Shortly after, her husband left her, seeking fame in New Orleans. The desertion was devastating: "Last night there came a steam boat up the river. O how my youthful heart fluttered with hope. … Not all that has yet been said can shake my confidence in the only man I ever loved. … I saw a person approaching. My heart beat with fond anticipation. It walked like James. It came nearer and just as I was about to speak his name, he spoke and I found I was deceived by the darkness." Plural Wife 1845. James never returned. Two years later, she became Bishop Newel K. Whitney's second wife. He was fifty, she sixteen; they had two children before he died in 1850. 1852. Some time after Whitney died in 1850, she wrote his friend Daniel H. Wells, asking him to "consider the lonely state" of his friend's widow. She asked him to "declare his feelings" for her, for she had often seen herself "united with a being noble as thyself." Wells married her as his sixth plural wife. They had three children, but it was a disappointing, unhappy union for Emmeline. "O, if my husband could only love me even a little and not seem to be perfectly indifferent to any sensation of that kind," she wrote in her 1874 diary. "He cannot know the craving of my nature; he is surrounded with love on every side, and I am cast out. … O my poor aching heart when shall it rest its burden only on the Lord Every other avenue seems closed against me." 1874. On their twenty-second anniversary she wrote, "Anniversary of my marriage with Pres. Wells. O how happy I was then how much pleasure I anticipated and how changed alas are all things since that time, how few thoughts I had then have ever been realized, and how much sorrow I have known in place of the joy I looked forward to." Daniel H. Wells was a busy man, and Emmeline did not blend well with his other wives. She was not an efficient homemaker, preferring to spend her time reading and in pleasant conversation. She also dressed differently than most women, preferring pastels to the usual dark colors. The other wives are said to have made fun of Emmeline's love poems to Daniel. Women's Advocate 1877. Emmeline B. Wells edited and published the Woman's Exponent for thirty-eight years. Her editorials covered a broad range of women's issues—equal pay for equal work, women's voting rights, even equality in athletic programs. Upset at women who allowed themselves to be placed on pedestals, she complained, "See the manner in which ladies—a term for which I have little reverence or respect—are treated in all public places! … She must be preserved from the slightest blast of trouble, petted, caressed, dressed to attract attention, taught accomplishments that minister to man's gratification; in other words, she must be treated as a glittering and fragile toy, a thing without brains or soul, placed on a tinselled and unsubstantial pedestal by man, as her worshipper." 1879. Church leaders encouraged Emmeline B. Wells and Zina Young Williams to attend a meeting of the National Women's Suffrage Association. There they petitioned Congress to recognize the rights of the children of plural marriages. 1882. Wells and her close friend Zina D. H. Young traveled to a National Women's Suffrage Association convention, where Emmeline delivered a paper on Mormon life in Utah. In 1899 she attended the Women's International Council and Congress in England and was received by Queen Victoria. Fifth President of the Relief Society 1910. Set apart as president of the Church Relief Society by Joseph F. Smith. Since 1888 she had been a member of the general board; she also assisted in the organization of the YLMIA and the Primary Association. In 1895, as general Relief Society Secretary, she wrote a history of the organization, defining its main objectives: "The care of the needy, the sick, the helpless and the unfortunate, to visit the widow and the fatherless, to administer comfort and consolation as well as temporal relief of physical wants, to see that none are left to suffer … also to care for the dying and the dead, to be at the bedside of the lonely ones when death is near, to robe the body neatly and properly for burial when all is over, and to perform those kindly deeds with tenderness and grace." Death 1921. April 25: Died at the age of eighty-four in her home at 1354 South 900 East in Salt Lake City; buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery near her husband Daniel. Sources Bushman, Claudia, ed. Mormon Sisters. Cambridge: Emmeline Press Limited, 1976. Eaton-Gadsby, Patricia Rasmussen, and Dushku, Judith Rasmussen. "Emmeline B. Wells." Sister Saints. Edited by Vicky Burgess-Olson. Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 1979. Woman's Exponent, 1 July 1872, p. 29; 1 October 1895, pp. 59-60.