Emily Harris Wells
Born 22 Apr. 1857 at Salt Lake City.[1] Daughter of Daniel Hamner Wells and Martha Givens Harris.[2] Baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 17 Aug. 1866.[3] Member of the Wasatch Literary Association, which was organized in the home of EBW, 1874–1878.[4] Married Heber Jeddy Grant, 27 May 1884, in Salt Lake City; five children.[5] Moved to Liverpool, Lancashire, England, 1886, to conceal the birth of her first child; lived in Manassa, Conejos Co., Colorado, 1889–1891, to escape punishment under the Edmunds-Tucker Act.[6] Visited and entertained EBW many times, 1887–1894.[7] EBW attended a farewell party honoring the Grants as they left for Europe to preside over the European mission, 1903–1906.[8] Died 25 May 1908 in Salt Lake City.[9]
[1] “Endowments of the Living,” 1851–1884, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Endowment House, vol. G, 31 Oct. 1868–11 Nov. 1872, p. 339, Emily Harris Wells, 9 Sept. 1872, microfilm 1239501 (restricted access), FHL. “Family Tree,” database, FamilySearch (https//familysearch.org, accessed 2 Aug. 2019), Emily Harris Wells (KW8F-MZ2).
[2] “Endowments of the Living,” 1851–1884, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Endowment House, vol. G, 31 Oct. 1868–11 Nov. 1872, p. 339, Emily Harris Wells, 9 Sept. 1872, microfilm 1239501 (restricted access), FHL.
[3] “Endowments of the Living,” 1851–1884, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Endowment House, vol. G, 31 Oct. 1868–11 Nov. 1872, p. 339, Emily Harris Wells, 9 Sept. 1872, microfilm 1239501 (restricted access), FHL. “Family Tree,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org, accessed 2 Aug. 2019), Emily Harris Wells (KW8F-MZ2).
[4] Wasatch Literary Association Minute Book, 1874–1878, 1890, MS 2689, CHL. Zina S. Whitney, “Literary Work of the Past,” Woman’s Exponent, 1 Sept. 1893, 31–32. Carol Cornwall Madsen, Emmeline B. Wells: An Intimate History (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2017), 139–140.
[5] “Sealings of Couples, Living and by Proxy, 1851–1889,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Endowment House, vol. M, 5 Nov. 1883–22 Sept. 1889, p. 56, Emily Harris Wells and Heber J. Grant, 27 May 1884, microfilm 183402 (restricted access), FHL. 1900 U.S. Census, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake Co., UT, ED, 41, p. 28, Emily Grant. “Utah, Salt Lake County Death Records, 1849–1949,” p. 5 (1895), Daniel W. Grant. EBW, Diary, 15 Mar. 1895.
[6] Ronald W. Walker, Qualities That Count: Heber J. Grant as Businessman, Missionary, and Apostle (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 2004), 175–179.
[7] EBW, Diary, 15 Feb. 1887; 22 Apr. 1888; 13 and 29 May 1889; 17 Apr. 1891; 29 Mar. and 25 Nov. 1894.
[8] EWB, Diary, 12 Oct. and 1 Nov. 1903. British Mission, Manuscript History and Historical Reports, 1841–1971, vol. 37, part 2, 1902–1904, 28 Nov. 1903, CHL. Francis M. Lyman, “President Grant’s Arrival,” Latter-day Saints’ Millennial Star, 3 Dec. 1903, 778–779.
[9] “Utah State Archives Indexes,” database and images, Utah State Archives (https://archives.utah.gov, accessed 12 Nov. 2018); Utah Department of Health Office of Vital Records and Statistics Death Certificates, series 81448, file no. 828/653 (1908), Emily H. W. Grant.