Emmeline Was a Voice for Women

By Cherry B. Silver

The author lives in Utah, USA.

Emmeline B. Wells became an important voice in elevating the condition of the Saints and of all women.

Emmeline Blanche Woodward was born in a small town in Massachusetts, USA, on February 29, 1828. She was the seventh of 10 children. When missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints came to town, Emmeline’s mother encouraged her to listen to them. Emmeline, her mother, and her three younger sisters joined the Church. Emmeline was baptized on March 1, 1842. After receiving a private education, she taught school for a term. She then met and married James Harris, a young man in her branch. The couple went with his family to Nauvoo, Illinois, to join the Saints.

They arrived in Nauvoo in May 1844. Emmeline was able to meet the Prophet Joseph Smith and hear him preach. She said:

“When he took my hand, I was simply electrified,—thrilled through and through to the tips of my fingers. …

“… The one thought that filled my soul was, I have seen the Prophet of God, he has taken me by the hand, and this testimony has never left me in all the ‘perils by the way.’”¹

Blessings and Spiritual Guidance

After moving to Nauvoo, Emmeline got the fever and chills that plagued so many people living there. While she was finding the strength to recover, she asked the Apostle Brigham Young to give her a priesthood blessing of healing²: “Thou shalt rise up from this bed of affliction and live yet many years to do good.” The blessing had immediate effect; “it was like new life to her, and she laid hold of the promise, and began to gain strength.”³

Emmeline gave birth to a son, Eugene, on September 1, 1844. But after six weeks, he died of fever. Her husband James went down the river to the city of St. Louis, Missouri, for work. There he began working as a merchant seaman and sailed for the East Indies. She never heard from him again.

To earn money, Emmeline started teaching again. She instructed the younger children of Newel K. and Elizabeth Ann Whitney. Sister Whitney, who had been a counselor to Emma Smith in the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo, taught her much about the gospel. Newel explained the promises of the priesthood and of temple ordinances. Emmeline was sealed to Newel as a plural wife. She joined the large Whitney family for the trek west with the Saints.

Emmeline and Newel had two daughters, Isabel and Melvina, before Newel died suddenly in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, in September 1850. Emmeline was only 22 and again needed to support herself as a teacher. Though feeling lost, she cherished a prophecy Newel made about her life: “He said I should have nothing to do but to devote my whole time to writing and to literary pursuits, and that I should sit and eat and drink and converse with the nobles of the earth and tell them of the Gospel.”⁴

Relief Society, Editing, and Public Service

In 1852, Emmeline married Daniel H. Wells as a plural wife. They had three daughters together, Emeline, Elizabeth Ann, and Louisa. In the 1870s, Emmeline accepted callings in her ward Relief Society as assistant secretary and then as a visiting teaching leader.⁵ These callings built her confidence as she furthered her writing and speaking skills.

In 1872, a new semimonthly periodical called the Woman’s Exponent started in Salt Lake City “for Latter-day Saint women to help them learn about their work, their lives, and their history.”⁶ Emmeline submitted articles. Eliza R. Snow, a member of the Exponent committee, noticed her talent and asked her to write an editorial. Emmeline wrote in her diary, “I love this kind of work.”⁷ She began helping in the Woman’s Exponent office and in 1875 was named associate editor. In 1876, President Brigham Young asked Emmeline to lead the women’s grain storage program as well. In August 1877, Emmeline became the editor of the Woman’s Exponent.

Representing the People

Emmeline was also a strong advocate for the rights of women and of the Saints. She later became president of the Utah Woman’s Suffrage Association, where she educated women and urged lawmakers to confirm women’s right to vote in the state constitution. She acknowledged the demands on her time and energy. But she wrote that it was her way to “work for the elevation and uplifting of humanity.”⁸

In her lifetime, Emmeline met and talked with six presidents of the United States. She spoke with two of these presidents in the White House on behalf of the Church. She hoped to lighten legislation against Latter-day Saints.

In January 1879, Emmeline and Zina Young Williams presented a message to members of Congress and to President Rutherford B. Hayes and his wife. Emmeline and Zina spoke against bills aimed to punish Church members in the Utah Territory for their religious beliefs. They also asked for consideration of wives and children who would be harmed by measures to send men to prison for participating in plural marriage.⁹ Emmeline wrote, “I thank God I was the first to represent our women in the Halls of Congress.”¹⁰

Seven years later, Emmeline traveled to Washington, DC, USA, with a similar purpose. She met with congressmen and senators. She talked with Rose Cleveland (the president’s sister and Acting First Lady) and then spoke with President Grover Cleveland himself. Emmeline and Dr. Ellen Ferguson represented the Latter-day Saint women of the Utah Territory and presented him a memorial plea urging fairness for the Saints in political matters.¹¹

In these efforts, Emmeline was supported by leaders of the National Woman Suffrage Association, particularly by Susan B. Anthony, who greeted her warmly whenever they met and emphasized their common interest in improving the lives of women.¹²

Lifelong Service

Emmeline served 22 years as corresponding and general secretary of the Relief Society under Presidents Zina D. H. Young and Bathsheba W. Smith.¹³ She edited the Woman’s Exponent for 37 years. She led the grain storage movement for 42 years. She had a keen memory and was a fount of information for those who counseled with her. When President Joseph F. Smith called her to be the Relief Society General President in 1910, she served for ten and a half years, until shortly before her death in 1921. She was the last Relief Society General President to have known Joseph Smith personally, and she bore witness that when he spoke, she “saw his magnificent presence,” felt his influence, and knew “that he was in very deed a Prophet of God.”¹⁴

As Emmeline fulfilled roles of homemaker, editor, and leader of women, she felt “very grateful to God for all His mercies and blessings in giving me powers and faculties that are a constant source of wealth to my mind; my spirit is usually invigorated and buoyed up, and I am able to bear all that devolves upon me.”¹⁵