Eliza Roxcy Snow

21 January 1804 — 5 December 1887

Born 21 Jan. 1804 in Becket, Berkshire Co., Massachusetts.[1] Daughter of Oliver Snow and Rosetta Lenora Pettibone.[2] Moved to Mantua, Portage Co., Ohio, with her family, 1806.[3]  First published one of her poems, Aug. 1825, in the Western Courier, followed by thirty-two more poems, from 1825–1835.[4] Baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 5 Apr. 1835.[5] Moved to Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio, Dec. 1835, and was present for the dedication of the Kirtland temple.[6] Settled in Commerce (later Nauvoo), Hancock Co., Illinois, 1839.[7] Founding member of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo, serving as secretary to President Emma Smith.[8] Sealed to Joseph Smith as a plural wife, 29 June 1842.[9] Sealed to Brigham Young as a plural wife, 3 Feb. 1846.[10] Migrated to the Salt Lake Valley with the Jedediah M. Grant/Joseph B. Noble pioneer company, arriving 2 Oct. 1847.[11] Appointed by Brigham Young to preside over the women at the Endowment House, May 1855.[12] Directed by Brigham Young to lead the reorganized Relief Society, Dec. 1866.[13] Participated in organizing the Young Ladies’ Retrenchment Society, 10 Feb. 1870, a precursor to the Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association.[14] Traveled to Europe, Asia, Africa, and Palestine with Lorenzo Snow, George A. Smith, and others, Oct. 1872–July 1873.[15] Appointed as general president of the Relief Society, June 1880.[16] Traveled with EBW to visit various Relief Society units, 1880.[17] Served as president of the Deseret Hospital board, 1882, with EBW serving as secretary.[18] Died 5 Dec. 1887 in Salt Lake City.[19]

 

[1] “Early Church Information File, 1830–1900,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Family History Department, card 775, Eliza R. Snow, microfilm 1750715, FHL. Henry Ernest Woods, ed., Vital Records of Becket, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850 (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1903), 31. “Family Tree,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org, accessed 5 Mar. 2018), Eliza Roxy Snow (KWVC-BTV).

[2] Early Church Information File, 1830–1900,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Family History Department, card 775, Eliza R. Snow, microfilm 1750715, FHL. Henry Ernest Woods, ed., Vital Records of Becket, Massachusetts, to the Year 1850 (Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1903), 79.

[3] Maureen Ursenbach Beecher, ed., The Personal Writings of Eliza Roxcy Snow (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1995), 6n2.

[4] Karen Lynn Davidson and Jill Mulvay Derr, Eliza: The Life and Faith of Eliza R. Snow (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2013), 6. Maureen Ursenbach Beecher, ed., The Personal Writings of Eliza Roxcy Snow (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1995), 7–8.

[5] Maureen Ursenbach Beecher, ed., The Personal Writings of Eliza Roxcy Snow (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1995), 10.

[6] Maureen Ursenbach Beecher, ed., The Personal Writings of Eliza Roxcy Snow (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1995), 10n17.

[7] Maureen Ursenbach Beecher, ed., The Personal Writings of Eliza Roxcy Snow (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1995), 15. General Church Recorder, Far West and Nauvoo Elders’ Certificates, 1837–1838, 1840–1846, CR 100 402, image 25, CHL.

[8] Jill Mulvay Derr, Carol Cornwall Madsen, Kate Holbrook, and Matthew J. Grow, eds., The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women’s History (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2016), xviii–xiv, 25–26, 28–30. History of Relief Society, 1842–1966 (Salt Lake City: General Board of Relief Society, 1966), 18–19.

[9] Jill Mulvay Derr, “The Significance of ‘O My Father’ in the Personal Journey of Eliza R. Snow,” BYU Studies 36, no.1 (1996–97): 89. History of the Relief Society: General Presidents of the Relief Society, p. 2, CHL.

[10] “Sealings and Adoptions of the Living, 1846–1857; Index, 1846–1857,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Nauvoo Temple, p. 513, Eliza R. Snow and Brigham Young, 3 Feb. 1846, microfilm 183374 (restricted access), FHL.

[11] “Eliza Roxcy Snow,” Pioneer Database (https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/overlandtravel, accessed 20 Feb. 2018).  

[12]  Orson F. Whitney, History of Utah, vol. 4 (Salt Lake City: George Q. Cannon and Sons, 1904), 574–575.  

[13] Scott G. Kenney, ed., Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, 1833–1898 (Midvale, UT: Signature Books, 1984), 6:307. Jill Mulvay Derr, Janath Russell Cannon, and Maureen Ursenbach Beecher, Women of Covenant: The Story of Relief Society (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book; Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1992), 86–87.

[14] “Minutes of Ladies Retrenchment Meeting,” Deseret Evening News, 16 Feb. 1870.

[15] Edward William Tullidge, The Women of Mormondom (Salt Lake City: Star Printing, 1890), 481–486. Eliza R. Snow, Sketch of My Life (Salt Lake City: publisher unknown, 1995), 41–42.

[16] History of Relief Society, 1842–1966 (Salt Lake City: General Board of Relief Society, 1966), 51.

[17] 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), 184.

[18] Jill Mulvay Derr, Carol Cornwall Madsen, Kate Holbrook, and Matthew J. Grow, eds., The First Fifty Years of Relief Society: Key Documents in Latter-day Saint Women’s History (Salt Lake City: Church Historian’s Press, 2016), 499.

[19] “Utah, Salt Lake County Death Records, 1849–1949,” p. 355, 1887, Eliza R Smith Snow; Salt Lake County Management and Archives, Salt Lake City, UT.