Pioneer: 2011 Vol.58 No.4

and spirit of the Relief Society. Then under its aegis
they organized associations for young women and
children, permanently establishing women’s place
within the Church organization.
Emmeline B. Wells and the Relief Society Record
Although Emmeline B. Wells never attended
the Nauvoo Relief Society, having arrived in the
city as a teenager a month after its final meetings
in 1844, she became as well versed as any original
member in its procedure, objectives, and personal
and social value. As a resident of Nauvoo for two
years . . . , she developed a singular attachment to
the original Society, perceiving the significance of
preserving Joseph Smith’s words to the Nauvoo Relief
Society and disseminating them to all women
in the Church. She met Joseph, heard him preach
to the Church, and felt the resonance of those
encounters throughout her life. His charismatic
nature, his magnetic personality, and the power of
Thirteenth Ward Relief Society Presidency. Front row,
L to R: Margaret T. Mitchell (second counselor), Rachel
Ivins Grant (president), Bathsheba B. Smith (first
counselor), Back row: Emmeline B. Wells (assistant
secretary), Elizabeth H. Godderd (secretary), and
Mary W. Musser (treasurer).
his words were integral elements in her testimony
of his prophetic leadership. His sermons underlay
her understanding of Relief Society’s essential role
in the organization of the church. Moreover, to
Wells the Relief Society was an instrument to expand
women’s opportunities for personal growth
and public contribution. 22
In 1868, after the Relief Society was reestablished
in Utah, Emmeline joined the Thirteenth
Ward Society. 23 By then she was the mother of
five daughters, two from her marriage to Newel K.
Whitney, and three from her marriage to Daniel
H. Wells, whom she married as a plural wife after
Newel K. Whitney’s death. Under Rachel Ridgeway
Ivins Grant, first president of the Thirteenth
Ward Relief Society, Emmeline served as assistant
secretary and later as president of the quorum of
visiting teachers. 24
If Eliza R. Snow used the minutes to invest
Mormon women with a sense of the spiritual
power that Joseph opened to them through the
restoration of the “ancient order,” Emmeline Wells
viewed them as an investiture of personal and
temporal power that enabled women to move beyond
the social restraints that limited their agency.
The Woman’s Exponent, which she began editing
in 1872, was her primary forum, although she also
verbalized her message of empowerment at Relief
Society conferences and throughout her long career
as a representative of Latter-day Saint women
in national women’s organizations.
At some point after 1872, Wells made “a verbatim
copy” of the Nauvoo minutes. 25 The numerous
brief marginal summaries of Joseph’s words, paragraph
by paragraph, and notations of the other
talks and activities recorded in the minutes suggest
that she made a thorough study of the record.
As a result, the Woman’s Exponent carried at least
50 articles specifically relating to the Nauvoo Relief
Society, either extracts from the minutes, a review of
its history, or reports of the various celebrations
of its founding day, Mar. 17. More than those of
any other meeting, however, Wells printed the
minutes of the April 28 meeting. . . . 26 Joseph
Smith’s long sermon to the women based on
1 Cor. 12–13 discussed woman’s exercise of spiritual
gifts, the importance of each member to the
Pioneer 2011 volume 58 number ■ ■
4 6
www
■
sonsofutahpioneers
■
org