Alice Smith Merrill
Born 2 Jan. 1868 in Fillmore, Millard Co., Utah Territory.[1] Daughter of Clarence Merrill and Bathsheba Smith.[2] After the death of her grandfather in 1875, lived with her grandmother Bathsheba Wilcox Bigler Smith in Salt Lake City.[3] As a young girl with her friends, organized a society called the Juvenile Association; read minutes from its meetings at Ladies’ Cooperative Retrenchment Association meetings in the Salt Lake City Fourteenth Ward.[4] Graduated with a degree in pedagogy from the University of Deseret, 1887.[5] Taught at the Washington School in Salt Lake City.[6] Married George H. Horne, 20 Feb. 1890, in Logan, Cache Co., Utah Territory; six children.[7] After their first child was born, returned to teaching at the Washington School while her husband served a mission.[8] Appointed chair of the Utah Liberal Arts Committee for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition.[9] Published Songs and Flowers of the Wasatch, a book of poetry edited by EBW.[10] Appointed as a missionary to assist the Relief Society general board in visiting stake Relief Societies, 1897–1912.[11] Served as historian of the Wasatch Society of the Daughters of the Revolution, 1898, with EBW as state regent.[12] Elected as a member of the Utah legislature, 1899, the second woman in Utah to be elected to a state office; served on the public health and art committees.[13] Sponsored a bill that established the State Institute of Art.[14] Proposed a four-year scholarship bill for teachers; chaired the State University Land Site Committee, which established the present location of the University of Utah.[15] Delegate to the Second Conference of the International Woman Suffrage Alliance in Berlin and Paris, Apr. and May 1904.[16] Served on the Relief Society general board, 1902–1916, with EBW as general secretary and as president.[17] Served as the Utah chair of the National Council Peace and Arbitration Committee, 1902.[18] President of the International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1903–1905.[19] Organized and participated in community improvement projects.[20] Died 7 Oct. 1948 in Salt Lake City.[21]
[1] Record of Members Collection, 1836–1970, Fillmore Ward, Part 1, 1851–1915, “Branch Registration of Children’s Blessings,” p. 43, Alice S. Merrill, 4 Mar. 1869, CR 375 8, CHL. “Endowments of the Living, 1851–1884,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Endowment House, vol. A, p. 247, Alice Smith Merrill, 20 Feb. 1890, microfilm 178052 (restricted access), FHL. “Family Tree,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org, accessed 2 Jan. 2018), Alice Smith Merrill (KWC6-GQV).
[2] Record of Members Collection, 1836–1970, Fillmore Ward, Part 1, 1851–1915, “Branch Registration of Children’s Blessings,” p. 43, Alice S. Merrill, 4 Mar. 1869, CR 375 8, CHL.
[3] Harriet Horne Arrington, “Alice Merrill Horne, Art Promoter and Early Utah Legislator,” Utah Historical Quarterly 58, no. 3 (Summer 1990): 263. 1880 U.S. Census, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, ED 52, p. 31, Allice Merrill.
[4] Alice Merrill Horne, “The Juvenile Association, 1945,” CHL. Alice Merrill Horne Family History Record, 1912–1935, Bathsheba W. Smith Collection, 1842–1948, p. 177, MS 20701, CHL.
[5] Harriet Horne Arrington, “Alice Merrill Horne, Art Promoter and Early Utah Legislator,” Utah Historical Quarterly 58, no. 3 (Summer 1990): 261–276.
[6] Harriet Horne Arrington, “Alice Merrill Horne, Art Promoter and Early Utah Legislator,” Utah Historical Quarterly 58, no. 3 (Summer 1990): 265.
[7] “Sealings for Living, 1884–1950,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Logan Temple, vol. A21, p. 227, George Henry Horne and Alice Smith Merrill, 20 Feb. 1890, microfilm 178135 (restricted access), FHL. “Local and Other Briefs,” Salt Lake Herald, 2 Nov. 1890, 8. Alice Merrill Horne, Papers, 1938–1979, University of Utah Libraries, Special Collections. Harriet Horne Arrington, “Alice Merrill Horne, Art Promoter and Early Utah Legislator,” Utah Historical Quarterly 58, no. 3 (Summer 1990) 274.
[8] Harriet Horne Arrington, “Alice Merrill Horne, Art Promoter and Early Utah Legislator,” Utah Historical Quarterly 58, no. 3 (Summer 1990): 265.
[9] “Horne, Alice Merrill (1868–1948), “Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia,” Harriet Horne Arrington, biographer, p. [2], Utah Division of Arts & Museums (https://heritage.utah.gov/arts-and-museums/alice-merrill-horne, accessed 15 Jan. 2018).
[10] Emmeline B. Wells, Songs and flowers of the Wasatch, Columbian Exposition (Salt Lake City: George Q. Cannon & Sons, 1893).
[11] History of Relief Society, 1842–1966 (Salt Lake City: General Board of Relief Society, 1966), 58.
[12] “Daughters of the Revolution,” Deseret Evening News, 17 Nov. 1898, 8.
[13] “Sixth Senatorial District, Salt Lake County,” Salt Lake Tribune, 29 Jan. 1899, 16. “Third Utah State Legislature, Elected Tuesday, Nov. 8, 1898,” Alice Merrill Horne, Papers, 1938–1979, University of Utah Library, Special Collections. Harriet Horne Arrington, “Alice Merrill Horne, Art Promoter and Early Utah Legislator,” Utah Historical Quarterly 58, no. 3 (Summer 1990): 267–268.
[14] Laws of State of Utah Passed at the Third Regular Session of the Legislature of the State of Utah . . . (Salt Lake City: Authority of State of Utah, 1899), 47–50. Utah Department of Heritage & Arts (https://heritage.utah.gov/arts-and-museums/alice-merrill-horne, accessed 15 Jan. 2018). “Sept. 6–12 Declared Alice Merrill Horne Week,” Salt Lake Herald, 29 Aug. 1999.
[15] Harriet Horne Arrington, “Alice Merrill Horne, Art Promoter and Early Utah Legislator,” Utah Historical Quarterly 58, no. 3 (Summer 1990): 268–269, 273. Elizabeth Cady Stanton et al., eds., History of Woman Suffrage, 3 vols., 1881–1886, reprint (Rochester, NY: Susan B. Anthony, 1889), 4:954–955.
[16] EBW, Diary, vol. 30, p. 55; 23 July 1904, vol. 30, p. 113. Leonard J. Arrington, “Modern Lysistratas: Mormon Women in the International Peace Movement, 1899–1939,” Journal of Mormon History 15 (1989): 88–96.
[17] History of Relief Society, 1842–1966 (Salt Lake City: General Board of Relief Society, 1966), 52.
[18] EBW, Diary, 2 Sept. 1904. Leonard J. Arrington, “Modern Lysistratas: Mormon Women in the International Peace Movement, 1899–1939,” Journal of Mormon History 15 (1989): 93.
[19] “Past Presidents,” International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers (http://www.dupinternational.org/subpage_Listofpresidents.php, accessed 22 Jan. 2018).
[20] Harriet Horne Arrington, “Alice Merrill Horne, Art Promoter and Early Utah Legislator,” Utah Historical Quarterly 58, no. 3 (Summer 1990): 275–276.
[21] “Utah Death Certificate Index, 1904–1961,” database and images, Utah State Archives (http://archives.utah.gov, accessed 22 Jan. 2018); from Utah Department of Health, Office of Vital Records and Statistics, series 81448, file no. 1778/2002, (1948), Alice Merrill Horne. “Church, Social Leader Succumbs at Hospital,” Salt Lake Telegram, 8 Oct. 1948, 25.