Huldah Augusta Winters
Born 7 July 1856 at Pleasant Grove, Utah Co., Utah Territory.[1] Daughter of Oscar Winters and Mary Ann Stearns.[2] Baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Henson Walker, 9 Sept. 1866.[3] Attended the Timpanogos Academy and Brigham Young Academy, in Provo, Utah Co.[4] Graduated from the University of Deseret’s normal school, 1877.[5] Secretary of the Pleasant Grove Ward Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association (YLMIA), 1878.[6] Taught elementary school for about ten years.[7] Married Heber J. Grant, 26 May 1884, in Salt Lake City; one child.[8] Served a mission to Maine, 1885, likely to avoid persecution for polygamy.[9] Arrested at Pleasant Grove as a witness against George Q. Cannon in a polygamy investigation; bond set at $5,000, 2 Mar. 1886.[10] Arrest information was included in a memorial to the U.S. president and Congress sent from a mass meeting of over two thousand Utah women held in Salt Lake City, 6 Mar. 1886.[11] Visited by EBW in New York City, where she was using the surname Bennett, 5 Mar. 1891.[12] Secretary of the Salt Lake City Thirteenth Ward Relief Society, June 1898; secretary of the Salt Lake Stake Relief Society, 1898.[13] Member of the YLMIA general board, 1898–ca. 1936.[14] Assistant secretary of the Utah’s Woman Suffrage Association, 18 Mar. 1895.[15] First president of the State Kindergarten Society of Utah; attended the National Congress of Mothers representing the society, Feb. 1897.[16] Served on the Business and Literary Committee for the Young Woman’s Journal, 1900.[17] Joined her husband as he served as president of the Japan mission, June 1902.[18] First counselor of the YLMIA of the Salt Lake City Twelfth and Thirteenth Wards, 1909.[19] Husband sustained as president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 23 Nov. 1918.[20] Traveled extensively with her husband to visit Church members.[21] Honored at a reception for her eightieth birthday, 8 July 1936.[22] Died 1 June 1951 in Salt Lake City.[23]
[1] “Endowments of the Living 1851–1884,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Endowment House, vol. J, 3 Apr.–16 Oct. 1884, p. 101, line 30, Augusta Winters, 3 Apr. 1884, microfilm 183409, DGS 5270332 (restricted access), FHL. “Family Tree, database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org, accessed 9 Oct. 2019), Huldah Augusta Winters (KWNX-98K).
[2] “Endowments of the Living 1851–1884,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Endowment House, vol. J, 3 Apr.–16 Oct. 1884, p. 101, line 30, Augusta Winters, 3 Apr. 1884, microfilm 183409, DGS 5270332 (restricted access), FHL.
[3] “Endowments of the Living 1851–1884,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Endowment House, vol. J, 3 Apr.–16 Oct. 1884, p. 101, line 30, Augusta Winters, 3 Apr. 1884, microfilm 183409, DGS 5270332 (restricted access), FHL. Missionary Department Missionary Registers, 1860–1959, vol. A, 25 Apr. 1860–27 Apr. 1894, p. 76, CR 301 22, image 85/160, CHL.
[4] Susa Young Gates, History of the Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1911), 240. “History of BY High from 1869 to 1903,” Brigham Young High School (http://www.byhigh.org/History/HistoryDecades/From1869to1903.html, accessed 13 Aug. 2019). “Normal Institute,” Salt Lake Daily Herald, 3 Aug. 1875, 3.
[5] “Normal Institute,” Salt Lake Daily Herald, 3 Aug. 1875, 3. Mary Grant Judd, “Augusta Winters Grant,” Thirteenth Ward, Salt Lake Central Stake, Thirteenth Ward Records, 1849–1978, LR 15328 22, box 1, folder 1, CHL. Susa Young Gates, History of the Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1911), 240.
[6] Pleasant Grove Branch, Utah Stake, Pleasant Grove Branch Manuscript History and Historical Reports, 20 Dec. 1878, LR 7006 2, folder 1, CHL.
[7] Mary Grant Judd, “Augusta Winters Grant,” Thirteenth Ward, Salt Lake Central Stake, Thirteenth Ward Records, 1849–1978, LR 15328 22, box 1, folder 1, CHL. Susa Young Gates, History of the Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1911), 241.
[8] “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, line 3, Hulda Augusta Winters and Heber J. Grant, 26 May 1884, microfilm 183402, DGS 5270325 (restricted access), FHL. 1910 U.S. Census, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake Co., UT, ED 144, p. 1A, Augusta W. Grant. “Augusta Winters Grant: Wife of Heber J. Grant,” pp. 2, 8, typescript, Susa Young Gates, Papers, ca. 1870–1933, MS 7692, box 75, folder 26, image 9/77, CHL.
[9] Missionary Department Missionary Registers, 1860–1959, vol. A, 25 Apr. 1860–27 Apr. 1894, p. 76, CR 301 22, image 85/160, CHL. Pleasant Grove Branch, Utah Stake, Pleasant Grove Branch Manuscript History and Historical Reports, 9 May 1885, LR 7006 2, folder 1, CHL.
[10] Pleasant Grove Branch, Utah Stake, Pleasant Grove Branch Manuscript History and Historical Reports, 2 Mar. 1886, LR 7006 2, folder 1, CHL. “A $5,000 Witness,” Ogden Herald (Ogden, Utah Territory), 3 Mar. 1886, 4. “Local Jots,” Salt Lake Evening Democrat, 3 Mar. 1886, 4. “The Arrest of Miss Winters,” Salt Lake Daily Herald, 4 Mar. 1886, 5. “The Witness Miss Winters,” Deseret Evening News (Salt Lake City), 4 Mar. 1886, 3. “The Winters of Mr. Dickson’s Discontent,” Salt Lake Daily Herald, 4 Mar. 1886, 8. “Pleasant Grove Amused,” Territorial Enquirer (Provo, Utah Territory), 5 Mar. 1886, 3.
[11] “Memorial,” Woman’s Exponent, 1 Apr. 1886, 166. “The Ladies’ Appeal,” Salt Lake Herald-Republican, 14 Mar. 1886, 12.
[12] EBW, Diary, 5 Mar. 1891.
[13] Thirteenth Ward, Ensign Stake, 1898–1906, pp. 1, 2, LR 6133 14, images 2–3/195, CHL. Mary Grant Judd, “A Mormon Wife: The Life Story of Augusta Winters Grant,” Improvement Era, Mar. 1946, 153.
[14] “A Mormon Wife: The Life Story of Augusta Winters Grant,” Improvement Era, Mar. 1946, 153. “Letter from Members of the General Board of the Y.L.M.I.A to Sister Taylor, 8 Jan. 1900,” Elmina Shepard Taylor Collection, 1844–1956, MS 13493, box 2, folder 10, CHL. Amy Brown Lyman, My Heroine (London: Millennial Star, n.d.), copy at CHL. “With the Editor,” Young Woman’s Journal, Mar. 1900, 135.
[15] “Convention and Woman Suffrage,” Woman’s Exponent, 1 Apr. 1895, 241.
[16] Susa Young Gates, History of the Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1911), 242. Mary Grant Judd, “A Mormon Wife: The Life Story of Augusta Winters Grant,” Improvement Era, Mar. 1946, 179. “Legacy,” National PTA History (https://www.pta.org/home/About-National-Parent-Teacher-Association/Mission-Values/National-PTA-History, accessed 9 Aug. 2019).
[17] Susa Young Gates, History of the Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1911), 113.
[18] Missionary Department Missionary Registers, 1860–1959, vol. 3, p. 164, line 468, CR 301 22, image 165/252, CHL. Augusta Grant, Letter to Helen Woodruff, 20 Aug. 1903, MS 30406, CHL. Ronald W. Walker, Qualities that Count: Heber J. Grant as Businessman, Missionary, and Apostle (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 2004), 243–245.
[19] Thirteenth Ward, Salt Lake Central Stake, “The Y. W. I. A. in the 13th Ward,” LR 15328 22, CHL.
[20] “Grant Sustained as President of Church of L.D.S.,” Salt Lake Telegram, 23 Nov. 1918, 8.
[21] “Birthday Near; Anniversary to Be Noted,” Salt Lake Telegram, 4 July 1935, 14. Helen M. Woodruff Anderson, Interview, Salt Lake City, UT, 6 Oct. 1981, pp. 9, 11, OH 611, folder 1, CHL.
[22] “Has Formula for Happiness; Wife of Church Leader Given Reception on 80th Birthday,” Salt Lake Tribune, 8 July 1936, 22.
[23] “Utah State Archives Indexes,” database and images, Utah State Archives (https://archives.utah.gov, accessed 13 Dec. 2018); Utah Department of Health Office of Vital Records and Statistics Death Certificates, series 81448, file no. 51-181006 (1951), Augusta Winters Grant. “Pres. Grant Widow, 94, Dies at Home,” Salt Lake Tribune, 3 June 1951, 1, 5.