Undated First inscribed page of diary, identifying Emmeline and her husband, James H. Harris, and their places of residence in Massachusetts.
24 April–3 May Traveled from her mother’s house in North New Salem, Massachusetts, to Buffalo, New York, en route to Nauvoo.
Emmeline B. Wells, Diary, vol. 1, circa May 1844–7 May 1846, circa 1860s, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah (Vault MSS 510 ).
Pocket-size notebook measuring 5⅞ × 3⅞ × ½ inches. The diary is bound with dark brown leather over boards; the front cover has a worn spot in the upper right-hand corner. Pages 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, and 13 have alphabetized tabs and lined pages, likely for entering addresses; the remaining pages are ledger format. Diary includes more typical diary entries inscribed for a few dozen dates in 1844, 1845, and 1846, with family data and other information evidently entered in the 1860s or later.
In a brief diary entry, sixteen-year-old Emmeline Blanche Woodward described a major juncture in her life. On 24 April 1844 she left her mother’s home in Massachusetts and journeyed with her new husband, James H. Harris, and his parents and brother toward Nauvoo, Illinois, the gathering place for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The party traveled by railroad and canal boat, reaching Buffalo, New York, on 3 May.1
The diary also has what might be considered a title page, on which Emmeline identifies herself and her husband. It is not known if this title page was written before or after the aforementioned entry. Indeed, there are several portions of the first diary that are difficult to date.
Emeline B. Woodward
No. New Salem
Frank. Co.
Mass.
James H. Harris
&
Emeline B. [Woodward] Harris
So. Orange
Franklin Co Mass.
James M. Harris {p. 3}
On the 24th of April 1844 I left my mothers2
