Edna Margaret Wells
Born 5 July 1869 in Salt Lake City.[1] Daughter of Daniel Hanmer Wells and Martha Givens Harris.[2] Baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 5 July 1877.[3] Married Thomas Watts Sloan, 2 Nov. 1892, in Manti, Sanpete Co., Utah Territory; one child.[4] Husband served a mission to the southern U.S., Dec. 1892–Jan. 1895.[5] Illustrated Songs and Flowers of the Wasatch, a book of poetry by Utah women and edited by EBW, published in 1893.[6] With EBW, attended the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, where Songs and Flowers of the Wasatch was displayed in the Utah Building and the Woman’s Building Library, June 1893.[7] Exhibited floral watercolors, 1894–1904; secretary of the Art Institute of Utah, 1904.[8] EBW noted the birth of her son, Lawrence Wells Sloan, 13 June 1896.[9] She and her brother Governor Heber Manning Wells led the procession at his inaugural ball, 7 Jan. 1901.[10] Cared for several motherless nieces and nephews.[11] Died 5 July 1935 at Salt Lake City.[12]
[1] “Endowments of the Living, 1888–1956,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Manti Temple, vol. A, 30 May 1888, 17 July 1913, p. 104, line 3525, Edna Margaret Wells, 3 Nov. 1892, microfilm 170485, DGS 4033559 (restricted access), FHL. “Family Tree,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org, accessed 10 Oct. 2019), Edna Margaret Wells (KWJK-JTB).
[2] “Endowments of the Living, 1888–1956,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Manti Temple, vol. A, 30 May 1888, 17 July 1913, p. 104, line 3525, Edna Margaret Wells, 3 Nov. 1892, microfilm 170485, DGS 4033559 (restricted access), FHL. 1880 U.S. Census, Salt Lake City 12th Ward, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, ED 51, p. 9A, Edna M. Wells.
[3] “Endowments of the Living, 1888–1956,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Manti Temple, vol. A, 30 May 1888, 17 July 1913, p. 104, line 3525, Edna Margaret Wells, 3 Nov. 1892, microfilm 170485, DGS 4033559 (restricted access), FHL.
[4] Sanpete Co., UT, County Clerk, Marriage License Records, 1888–1966, vol. 2, p. 314, Thomas W. Sloan and Edna M. Wells, microfilm 481124, DGS 4624220, FHL.
[5] “Thomas Watts Sloan,” Go Ye into All the World (https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/missionary/search?query=Sloan,%20thomas&lang=eng, accessed 9 Oct. 2019). Thomas W. Sloan, Letter, Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, to Wilford Woodruff, in First Presidency, Missionary Calls and Recommendations, 1877–1918, CR 1 168, CHL.
[6] Emmeline B. Wells, ed., Songs and Flowers of the Wasatch (Salt Lake City: George Q. Cannon and Sons, 1893).
[7] EBW, Diary, 6, 8–11 June 1893. Sarah Wadsworth and Wayne A. Wiegand, Right Here I See My Own Books: The Woman’s Building Library at the World’s Columbian Exposition (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 2012), 63. “Editorial Notes,” Woman’s Exponent, 1 May 1893, 156. “Utah at the World’s Fair,” Salt Lake Herald-Republican, 16 July 1893, 10.
[8] “At the Art Exhibition,” Sunday Herald (Salt Lake City), 2 Dec. 1894, 5. “At the Art Exhibit,” Salt Lake Herald, 12 Dec. 1895, 5. “Art in Utah,” Deseret Evening News (Salt Lake City), 23 Dec. 1899, 14. “Awards Made Yesterday,” Salt Lake Tribune, 5 Oct. 1900, 3. “Art Exhibit Attracts Many Visitors to Display at Provo,” Salt Lake Herald, 21 Sept. 1902, 7. “Fostering Art,” Salt Lake Herald, 4 June 1904, 2. “Art Institute Election,” Salt Lake Tribune, 4 June 1904, 3. Rachel Cope, Amy Easton-Flake, Keith A. Erekson, and Lisa Olsen Tait, eds., Mormon Women’s History: Beyond Biography (Madison, WI: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 2017), 154.
[9] EBW, Diary, 16 June 1896.
[10] EBW, Diary, 7/8 Jan. 1901. “Utah’s Most Brilliant Function,” Salt Lake Tribune, 8 Jan. 1901, 5.
[11] “Rites Arranged for Edna Sloan,” Salt Lake Telegram, 6 July 1935, 16.
[12] “Utah State Archives Indexes,” database and images, Utah State Archives (https://archives.utah.gov/research/indexes, accessed 8 Oct. 2019), Department of Health, Office of Vital Records and Statistics Death Certificates, Series 81448, file no. 1192/450 (1935), Edna Margaret Wells Sloan. “Rites Arranged for Edna Sloan,” Salt Lake Telegram, 6 July 1935, 16. “Mrs. Edna Wells Sloan,” Salt Lake Telegram, 8 July 1935, 4.