Emmeline B. Wells
| Emmeline B. Wells | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| 5th Relief Society General President | |
| October 3, 1910 – April 2, 1921 | |
| Called by | Joseph F. Smith |
| Predecessor | Bathsheba W. Smith |
| Successor | Clarissa S. Williams |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Emmeline Blanche Woodward February 29, 1828 Petersham, Massachusetts, United States |
| Died | April 25, 1921 (aged 93) Salt Lake City, Utah, United States |
| Cause of death | Stroke |
| Resting place |
Salt Lake City Cemetery 40°46′38″N 111°51′29″W / 40.7772°N 111.8580°W |
| Spouse(s) | James Harris Newel K. Whitney Daniel H. Wells |
| Children | 7 Harris - 2 Whitney - 2 Wells - 3 |
| Parents | David and Deiadama H. Woodward |
| Website | Emmeline B |
Emmeline Blanche Woodward Harris Whitney Wells (pronounced em-ma-līn) (February 29, 1828 – April 25, 1921) was an American journalist, editor, poet, women's rights advocate and diarist. She served as the fifth Relief Society General President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1910 until her death.
Emmeline Blanche Woodward was born in on February 29, 1828 in Petersham, Massachusetts. She was the seventh child of David and Deiadama Hare Woodward. Her father died when Emmeline was four years old. She would later claim that her widowed mother inspired her to be woman's rights advocate. As a child, she wrote poems and stories which she shared with her friends. She often enjoyed being in nature. Woodward was very intelligent and began studying in public school until she enrolled in the New Salem Academy. She graduated from the Academy at the age of fourteen. She taught school briefly before her first marriage at the age of fifteen. Woodward joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on March 1, 1842.
She married 16-year-old James Harris, also a new member of the church, on July 19, 1843. In 1844, the young couple, his parents, and other Latter Day Saints from their region migrated to the headquarters of the church, Nauvoo, Illinois. After the death of their infant son, Eugene Henri, Harris left Nauvoo looking for work and never returned.
The young Emmeline Harris returned to teaching. Through his children attending her school, Harris met and later married Newel K. Whitney, a significantly older man, under the Mormon practice of plural marriage. Emmeline Whitney left Nauvoo in 1846, and traveled to Utah Territory with the extended Whitney family in 1848. At this time, she began maintaining a personal journal. Wells would continue writing in her diaries (forty-six journals are known) until 1920, shortly before her death. On the first page of volume 1, dated Friday, February 27, 1846, she recorded:
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