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Camilla Clara Mieth

Camilla Clara Cobb, Camilla Clara Mieth Cobb

24 May 1843—16 October 1933

Emmeline B. Wells

Born 24 May 1843 in Dresden, Saxony, Germany.1 Daughter of Karl Benjamin Immanuel Mieth and Henrietta Christiana Backhaus.2 Among the first members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Germany; baptized 18 Oct. 1853.3 Emigrated from Liverpool aboard the Tuscarora, arriving in Philadelphia 3 July 1857.4 Migrated to the Salt Lake Valley with the John Smith pioneer company, arriving 1 Sept. 1860.5 Began teaching school in the Salt Lake City Fifteenth Ward; taught with her brother-in-law, Karl G. Maeser, at the Salt Lake City Twentieth Ward seminary, 1862.6 Married James Thornton Cobb, 14 Nov. 1863, in Salt Lake City; seven children.7 While in New York visiting relatives, went to New Jersey to study kindergartens under the direction of Dr. Adolph Douai, 1874.8 With the encouragement of John W. Young, opened Utah Territory’s first kindergarten in Brigham Young’s old schoolhouse, 1874.9 Served in the Salt Lake Stake Primary Association as counselor to President Ellen C. Clawson, 1880–1896, and as president, 1896–1904.10 Member of the Primary Association general board, 1898–1917.11 Died 16 Oct. 1933 in Salt Lake City.12

The First Fifty Years of Relief Society

13 Born at Dresden, Saxony, Germany; daughter of Henrietta Christiana Backhaus and Karl Benjamin Mieth. 14 Among the first church members baptized in Germany, 1855. 15 Emigrated from Germany to England with the Karl G. Maeser family, 1856; sailed to the United States aboard the Tuscarora, 1857. 16 Migrated to the Salt Lake Valley, 1860. 17 Assisted Maeser in the Salt Lake City Fifteenth Ward and Twentieth Ward schools. 18 Married James Thornton Cobb, 1864; seven children. 19 Visited relatives in New York and studied kindergarten under the prominent German educator Adolph Douai in New Jersey, summer 1874; returned to Utah and established the territory’s first kindergarten. 20 Contributed articles to the Woman’s Exponent advocating kindergarten education. 21 Appointed counselor in the Salt Lake Stake Primary, 1880; served as president, September 12, 1896–April 20, 1904. 22 Served on the Primary general board, 1898–1917. 23 Died at Salt Lake City. 24 (See Document 2.1, 4.4)

Footnotes

  1. 1 Dresden, Germany, Weekly Church Reports of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1685–1879, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com, accessed 21 May 2018). Harold H. Jenson, “True Pioneer Stories,” Deseret News, 22 June 1934, 12. “Family Tree,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org, accessed 21 May 2018), Camilla Clara Mieth (KWN2-4QW).

  2. 2 Dresden, Germany, Weekly Church Reports of Births, Marriages, and Deaths, 1685–1879, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com, accessed 21 May 2018). Harold H. Jenson, “True Pioneer Stories,” Deseret News, 22 June 1934, 12.

  3. 3 Harold H. Jenson, “True Pioneer Stories,” Deseret News, 22 June 1934, 12. “Family Tree,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org, accessed 21 May 2018), Camilla Clara Mieth (KWN2-4QW).

  4. 4 “Kamilla T. Meith,” Saints by Sea (https://saintsbysea.lib.byu.edu/, accessed 6 Apr. 2020).

  5. 5 “Clara Camilla Meith,” Pioneer Database (http://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/overlandtravel, accessed 14 May 2018).

  6. 6 Catherine Louise Britsch, Camilla C. Cobb: Founder of the Kindergarten in Utah (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University, 1997), 89. Camilla C. Cobb, Biography, pp. 2, 7, Susa Young Gates, Papers, ca. 1870–1933, MS 7692, images 4, 9/11, CHL.

  7. 7 “Sealings of Couples, Living and by Proxy, 1851–1889,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Endowment House, vol. D, p. 264, James Thornton Cobb and Camilla Clara Weith, 14 Nov. 1863, microfilm 1149514, DGS 7226455 (restricted access), FHL. Colleen Whitley, ed., Worth Their Salt, Too: More Notable but Often Unnoted Women of Utah (Logan: Utah State University Press, 2000), 44.

  8. 8 “The Pioneer Kindergarten,” Woman’s Exponent, 1 Apr. 1897, 124. Colleen Whitley, ed., Worth Their Salt, Too: More Notable but Often Unnoted Women of Utah (Logan: Utah State University Press, 2000), 44–45.

  9. 9 Andrea Ventilla, “Women and the Kindergarten Movement in Utah,” Utah Historical Quarterly 81, no. 2 (Spring 2013): 134–135. “The Pioneer Kindergarten,” Woman’s Exponent, 1 Apr. 1897, 124.

  10. 10 Ella W. Hyde, “Brief History of the Stake Board Primary Association of the Salt Lake Stake,” Woman’s Exponent, 1 Apr. 1904, 76–77. Salt Lake Stake, Manuscript History and Historical Reports, 12 Sept. 1896, LR 604 2, CHL.

  11. 11 Primary General Board and Presidency Files, Louie B. Felt’s General Board Members, 1880–1925, p. 2, CR 16 24, CHL.

  12. 12 Salt Lake Co., UT, Management and Archives, Death Records, 1849–1966, file no. 1442, Clara Camilla Cobb, DGS 4120262, image 368/475, FHL. “Pioneer Teacher of Utah Is Dead,” Deseret News, 16 Oct. 1933, 1.

  13. 13 Utah Department of Health, death certificates 1904–1961, series 81448, file no. 1477/100 (1933), Clara Camilla Cobb; Office of Vital Records and Statistics, Salt Lake City, UT.

  14. 14 Utah death certificate, file no. 1477/100. “Pioneer Teacher of Utah Is Dead,” Deseret News, Oct. 16, 1933, 1. Harold H. Jenson, “True Pioneer Stories: Mrs. Cobb, Mrs Smith, Friends,” Deseret News, June 22, 1934, 12.

  15. 15 Jenson, “True Pioneer Stories,” 12. Catherine Britsch, “Camilla C. Cobb: Founder of the Kindergarten in Utah” (PhD diss., Brigham Young University, 1997), 4.

  16. 16 “Mormon Migration,” database, 1840–1932, Mormon Migration (https://saintsbysea.lib.byu.edu, accessed Oct. 2014), Kamilla T. Meith; extracted from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Mormon Immigration Index CD (2000).

  17. 17 “Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel,” database, 1847–1868, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel (http://history.ChurchofJesusChrist.org/chd/landing, accessed Apr. 2014), Clara Camilla Meith.

  18. 18 Britsch, “Camilla C. Cobb,” 88–89.

  19. 19 “Family Tree,” database, FamilySearch (http://www.familysearch.org, accessed Aug. 2014), Camilla Clara Mieth KWN2-4QW and James Thornton Cobb KWN2-4Q4. Britsch, “Camilla C. Cobb,” 90–91.

  20. 20 “The Pioneer Kindergarten,” Woman’s Exponent 25, no. 19 (Apr. 1, 1897): 124. “Pioneer Teacher of Utah Is Dead,” 1. Britsch, “Camilla C. Cobb,” 99–100.

  21. 21 See Camilla C. Cobb, “The Kindergarten,” Woman’s Exponent 4, no. 6 (Sept. 15, 1875): 47; and “The Paradise of Childhood,” Woman’s Exponent 4, no. 9 (Oct. 1, 1875): 70–71.

  22. 22 “Salt Lake Stake Relief Society Conference,” Woman’s Exponent 9, no. 3 (July 1, 1880): 21–22. Ella W. Hyde, “Brief History of the Stake Board Primary Association of Salt Lake Stake,” Woman’s Exponent 21, no. 11 (Apr. 1, 1904): 76–77. Maude M. Smith, “History of the Salt Lake Stake Primary,” CHL.

  23. 23 Britsch, “Camilla C. Cobb,” 88–89.

  24. 24 Utah death certificate, file no. 1477/100.