Margaret Thompson McMeans
Born 16 Apr. 1809 in Chester Co., South Carolina.[1] Daughter of Anthony McMeans and Esther Hunter.[2] Married first William Adkinson, 28 Dec. 1826, in Roane Co., Tennessee; one child.[3] Baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Warren Parrish, 5 Nov. 1834, in Paris, Henry Co., Tennessee.[4] Moved to Far West, Jackson Co., Missouri, 1837.[5] Married second Abraham Owen Smoot, 12 Nov. 1838, in Far West.[6] Joined the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo, Hancock Co., Illinois, 9 June 1842.[7] Migrated to the Salt Lake Valley, arriving by 25 Sept. 1847.[8] President of the Salt Lake City Twentieth Ward Relief Society, 1868–1872.[9] President of the committee to draft resolutions at the Woman’s Great Indignation Meeting, held in the Salt Lake Tabernacle in protest of the passage of the Cullom Bill, 13 Jan. 1870.[10] Moved to Provo, Utah Co., Utah Territory, Oct. 1872.[11] Acted as an agent for the Woman’s Exponent in Provo, by 1 Jan. 1874.[12] Called on EBW at her home, 14 Feb. 1876; accompanied her to a meeting of the Utah territorial legislature, 17 Feb. 1876.[13] President of the Utah Stake Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association, 1878.[14] President of the Utah Stake Relief Society, 1878–1884.[15] President of the Utah Stake Silk Association, 1879–1882.[16] Traveled to Payson, Utah Co., with EBW for church meetings, 7 Nov. 1881.[17] Died 1 Sept. 1884 in Provo.[18]
[1] Margaret T. Smoot, Autobiographical Sketch, 1881, pp. 1–17, MS 3479, CHL. Temple Records Index Bureau, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Nauvoo Temple Endowment Register, 10 December 1845 to 8 February 1846 (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1974), 26 (restricted access). “A Touching Tribute: Biographical Sketch of ‘Ma’ Smoot,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 10 Sept. 1884, [1]. “Family Tree,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org, accessed 12 Mar. 2020), Margaret Thompson McMeans (L8PP-C9G).
[2] Margaret T. Smoot, Autobiographical Sketch, 1881, pp. 1–17, MS 3479, CHL.
[3] “A Touching Tribute: Biographical Sketch of ‘Ma’ Smoot,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 10 Sept. 1884, [1]. Margaret T. Smoot, Autobiographical Sketch, 1881, pp. 1–17, MS 3479, CHL.
[4] “A Touching Tribute: Biographical Sketch of ‘Ma’ Smoot,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 10 Sept. 1884, [1]. Margaret T. Smoot, Autobiographical Sketch, 1881, pp. 1–17, MS 3479, CHL.
[5] Margaret T. Smoot, Autobiographical Sketch, 1881, pp. 1–17, MS 3479, CHL. “A Touching Tribute: Biographical Sketch of ‘Ma’ Smoot,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 10 Sept. 1884, [1].
[6] Caldwell Co., MO, Recorder’s Office, Marriage Records, 1860–1974, Abraham O. Smoot and Margaret T. Atkinson, 12 Nov. 1838, microfilm 2437719, DGS 7425248, item 1, image 24/988, FHL. “A Touching Tribute: Biographical Sketch of ‘Ma’ Smoot,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 10 Sept. 1884, [1].
[7] Relief Society Minute Book, Mar. 1842–Mar. 1844, pp. 61, 64, MS 3424, images 84, 87/270, CHL.
[8] “Margaret Thompson Smoot,” Pioneer Database (https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/overlandtravel/, accessed 17 Mar. 2020). “A Touching Tribute: Biographical Sketch of ‘Ma’ Smoot,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 10 Sept. 1884, [1]. Margaret T. Smoot, Autobiographical Sketch, 1881, pp. 1–17, MS 3479, CHL.
[9] Twentieth Ward, Ensign Stake, Twentieth Ward Manuscript History and Historical Reports, 1856–1982, “Relief Society,” LR 9455 2, CHL. “A Touching Tribute: Biographical Sketch of ‘Ma’ Smoot,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 10 Sept. 1884, [1].
[10] 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), 313.
[11] “A Touching Tribute: Biographical Sketch of ‘Ma’ Smoot,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 10 Sept. 1884, [1]. Margaret T. Smoot, Autobiographical Sketch, 1881, pp. 1–17, MS 3479, CHL.
[12] “Agents and Correspondents,” Woman’s Exponent, 1 Jan. 1874, 120.
[13] EBW, Diary, 14 and 17 Feb. 1876.
[14] “Local and Other Matters: Mutual Improvement,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 12 June 1878, 293.
[15] Provo Utah Central Stake, Manuscript History and Historical Reports, 1849–1977, June 1865–Oct. 1897, vol. 1, part 2, LR 9629 2, image 165/344, CHL. “A Touching Tribute: Biographical Sketch of ‘Ma’ Smoot,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 10 Sept. 1884, [1]. Biographical Sketch of Margaret Thompson McMeans Smoot, p. [4], MS 11115, CHL.
[16] Utah Stake, Silk Association Records, 1879–1898, 1906, pp. 1, 2, 27, 33–34, LR 9629 36, images 4, 5, 30, 36–37/118, CHL. “A Touching Tribute: Biographical Sketch of ‘Ma’ Smoot,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 10 Sept. 1884, [1]. Biographical Sketch of Margaret Thompson McMeans Smoot, p. [4], MS 11115, CHL.
[17] EBW, Diary, 7 Nov. 1881.
[18] Provo, UT, City Cemetery, Registration of Deaths and Burials, 1858–1915, pp. 44–45, Margaret Thompson Smoot, 1 Sept. 1884, microfilm 1654388, DGS 7857440, image 46/1042, FHL. “Random References,” Ogden (UT) Daily Herald, 2 Sept. 1884, [3]. “A Touching Tribute: Biographical Sketch of ‘Ma’ Smoot,” Deseret News (Salt Lake City), 10 Sept. 1884, [1].