Charlotte Ives Cobb

3 August 1836–24 January 1908

Born 3 Aug. 1836 in Boston.[1] Daughter of Henry Cobb and Augusta Adams.[2] Moved to Nauvoo, Hancock Co., Illinois, with her mother and a younger brother, fall 1843.[3] Baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, spring 1845.[4] Migrated to the Salt Lake Valley with the Brigham Young pioneer company, arriving by 24 Sept. 1848.[5] Married first William Samuel Godbe, 5 Apr. 1869, in Salt Lake City.[6] Attended the National Woman’s Suffrage Convention (NWSC) in New York City, 10 May 1871; appointed as a delegate for Utah Territory at the NWSC in Washington DC, Jan. 1872.[7] Helped draft a petition to Congress seeking Utah’s statehood, 1872.[8] Met with EBW, 1874–1875; contended with EBW, as each claimed to be the voice of woman’s suffrage in Utah, beginning 1876.[9] Divorced 1879.[10] Read a paper about woman’s suffrage in Utah at Lincoln Hall, Washington DC, 18 Jan. 1881.[11] Married second John A. Kirby, 8 Dec. 1884, in Kansas City, Jackson Co., Missouri; one adopted son.[12] Living in Salt Lake City, by 1900.[13] Died 24 Jan. 1908 in Salt Lake City.[14]

 

[1] “Charlotte Ives Cobb,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Early Church Information File, 1830–1900, card 682, microfilm 1750668, DGS 7100407, FHL. “Endowments of the Living, 1851–1884,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Endowment House, vol. A-A1, 20 Feb. 1851–24 Apr. 1854, p. 28, line 689, Charlotte Jane Cobb, 21 Feb. 1852, microfilm 1255545, DGS 7455862 (restricted access), FHL. “Family Tree,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org, accessed 26 Sept. 2019), Charlotte Ives Cobb (KGY7-NGJ).

[2] “Endowments of the Living, 1851–1884,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Endowment House, vol. A-A1, 20 Feb. 1851–24 Apr. 1854, p. 28, line 689, Charlotte Jane Cobb, 21 Feb. 1852, microfilm 1255545, DGS 7455862 (restricted access), FHL.

[3] Carol Cornwall Madsen, An Advocate for Women: The Public Life of Emmeline B. Wells, 1870–1920 (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2006), 128. William D. Huntington, Cemetery Record (Nauvoo), Benjamin Y. Cobb, 28 Oct. 1843, MS 16142, CHL.

[4] “Endowments of the Living, 1851–1884,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Endowment House, vol. A-A1, 20 Feb. 1851–24 Apr. 1854, p. 28, line 689, Charlotte Jane Cobb, 21 Feb. 1852, microfilm 1255545, DGS 7455862 (restricted access), FHL.

[5] “Charlotte Ives Cobb,” Pioneer Database (https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/overlandtravel/, accessed 24 July 2018).

[6] “Sealings of Couples, Living and by Proxy, 1851–1889,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Endowment House, vol. E, 1 Jan. 1867–16 Aug. 1869, p. 273, Wm. Samuel Godbe and Charlotte Ives Cobb, 5 Apr. 1869, microfilm 1149515, DGS 7226456, FHL.

[7] Tiffany Greene, “Charlotte Godbe Kirby, Champion of ‘The Women’s Era,’” Better Days 2020 (https://www.utahwomenshistory.org/bios/charlotte-godbe-kirby/, accessed Feb. 2020). Beverly Beeton, Woman Suffrage in the American West (Ann Arbor, MI: University Microfilms International, 1976), 44. “New York Matters: Women’s Suffrage Convention,” Cleveland Leader, 13 May 1871, 1.

[8] “Petition,” Deseret News, 22 May 1872, 6.

[9] EBW, Diary, 16 Nov. 1874; 17 Feb. 1875; 13 and 27 Apr. 1875; 30 May 1875; 16 June 1875; 8 Mar. 1879. Carol Cornwall Madsen, “Emmeline B. Wells in Washington: The Search for Mormon Legitimacy,” Journal of Mormon History 26, no. 2 (Fall 2000): 149–152. Letter from Charlotte Ives Cobb Kirby to Wilford Woodruff, 5 Feb. 1889, CR 1 171 box 3 folder 23, CHL.

[10] Carol Cornwall Madsen, An Advocate for Women: The Public Life of Emmeline B. Wells, 1870–1920 (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press; Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2006), 149. Beverly Beeton, “A Feminist among the Mormons: Charlotte Ives Cobb Godbe Kirby,” Utah Historical Quarterly 59, no. 1 (Winter 1991): 24. Ronald W. Walker, Wayward Saints (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1998), 330.

[11] “Woman’s Suffrage,” Territorial Enquirer, 19 Mar. 1881, 2.

[12] Jackson Co., MO, Recorder of Deeds, Marriage Record, 1881–1916, vol. 4, p. 586, John A. Kirby and Mrs. Charlotte I. Godbe, 8 Dec. 1884, microfilm 1016664, DGS 7515680, image 705/735, FHL.

[13] 1900 U.S. Census, 37th District, Salt Lake Co., UT, ED 35, p. 9B, Charlotte I. Kirby. “Notable Utah Women, Mrs. Charlotte Ives Kirby,” Deseret Evening News, 29 Jan. 1900, 19.

[14] “Utah Death Certificate Index, 1904–1961,” database and images, Utah State Archives (http://archives.utah.org, accessed 25 July 2018); from Utah Department of Health, Office of Vital Records and Statistics, series 81488, file no. 162/610 (1908), Charlotte I. C. Kirby. “Death of Mrs. Kirby,” Deseret News, 21 Jan. 1908, 5.