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Rachel Ridgeway Ivins

Rachel Grant, Rachel Ridgway Ivins Grant

7 March 1821—27 January 1909

Emmeline B. Wells

Born 9 Mar. 1821 in Hornerstown, Monmouth Co., New Jersey.1 Daughter of Caleb Ivins and Edith Ridgway.2 Baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1840.3 Moved to Nauvoo, Hancock Co., Illinois, 1842.4 Returned to New Jersey, fall 1844.5 Migrated to Salt Lake City with the Anthony Ivins pioneer company, arriving 10 Aug. 1853.6 Married Jedediah M. Grant, 29 Nov. 1855; one child.7 Husband died nine days after son’s birth; supported herself through sewing and taking boarders.8 President of the Salt Lake City Thirteenth Ward Relief Society, 1868–1903; EBW served as assistant secretary, by 1876.9 Signed a letter of gratitude to Utah territorial governor Stephen A. Mann for signing the bill enfranchising Utah women, 19 Feb. 1870.10 Served on the Central Grain Committee with EBW, beginning 17 Nov. 1876.11 Despite deafness in her later years, continued to provide service to others.12 Died 27 Jan. 1909 in Salt Lake City.13

The First Fifty Years of Relief Society

14 Born at Hornestown, Monmouth County, New Jersey; daughter of Edith Ridgeway and Caleb Ivins. 15 Baptized, circa 1839. 16 Moved to Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, 1842; returned to New Jersey, circa 1844. 17 Migrated to the Salt Lake Valley, 1853. 18 Settled at Salt Lake City. 19 Married Jedediah M. Grant as a plural wife, 1855; one child. 20 Widowed, 1856. 21 Appointed president of the Salt Lake City Thirteenth Ward Relief Society, 1868; served for thirty-five years. 22 Participated in the woman suffrage movement and served on the Central Grain Committee. 23 Died at Salt Lake City. 24 (See Document 3.7, 3.13, 3.16, 3.17, 3.25)

Footnotes

  1. 1 “Endowments of the Living, 1851–1854,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake Temple, vol. A-A1, 1851–1854, p. 62, line 15, Rachel Ridgway Ivins, 7 Feb. 1854, microfilm 1255545 (restricted access), FHL. EBW, Diary, 7 Mar. 1890; 7 Mar. 1900. L. P. Allen, The Genealogy and History of the Shreve Family from 1641 (Greenfield, IL: Privately printed, 1901), 211. Mary Grant Judd, “Rachel Ridgway Ivins Grant,” Relief Society Magazine, Apr. 1943, 227. “Family Tree,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org, accessed 8 Aug. 2019), Rachel Ridgway Ivins (KWJC-TMD).

  2. 2 “Endowments of the Living, 1851–1854,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake Temple, vol. A-A1, 1851–1854, p. 62, line 15, Rachel Ridgway Ivins, 7 Feb. 1854, microfilm 1255545 (restricted access), FHL. Mary Grant Judd, “Rachel Ridgway Ivins Grant,” Relief Society Magazine, Apr. 1943, 227.

  3. 3 “Endowments of the Living, 1851–1854,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake Temple, vol. A-A1, 1851–1854, p. 62, line 15, Rachel Ridgway Ivins, 7 Feb. 1854, microfilm 1255545 (restricted access), FHL. Ronald W. Walker, “Jedediah and Heber Grant,” Ensign Magazine, July 1979.

  4. 4 Mary Grant Judd, “Rachel Ridgway Ivins Grant,” Relief Society Magazine, Apr. 1943, 229. “Joseph Smith, the Prophet,” Young Woman’s Journal, Dec. 1905, 550–551.

  5. 5 “Joseph Smith, the Prophet,” Young Woman’s Journal, Dec. 1905, 550–551.

  6. 6 Rachel Ridgway Ivins Grant, “How I became a Mormon,” ca. 1898, p. 4, MS 15947, CHL. “Rachel Ridgway Ivins,” Pioneer Database (https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/overlandtravel/pioneers/40659, accessed 29 Nov. 2018).

  7. 7 “Sealings of Couples, Living and by Proxy, 1851–1889,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Endowment House, vol. A1, 1855–1856, p. 9, line 7, Rachel Ridgway Ivins, Joseph Smith, 29 Nov. 1855, microfilm 183389, FHL. 1900 U.S. Census, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake Co., UT, ED 51, p. 2A, Rachel R. Grant.

  8. 8 Lucy Grant Cannon, “Recollections of Rachel Ivins Grant,” Relief Society Magazine, May 1938, 293–298.

  9. 9 Thirteenth Ward, Ensign Stake, Thirteenth Ward Relief Society Minutes and Records, 1868–1906, pp. 2, 141, LR 6133 14, CHL. E. H. Goddard, “Editor Exponent,” Woman’s Exponent, 1 June 1876, 5. Thirteenth Ward, Salt Lake Central Stake, Thirteenth Ward Records, “Rachel Ridgeway Grant,” LR 15328 22, folder 3, CHL.

  10. 10 “To His Excellency the Acting Governor of the Territory of Utah, S. A. Mann,” Deseret News, 2 Mar. 1870, 2. Fifteenth Ward, Riverside Stake, Fifteenth Ward Relief Society Minutes and Records, 1868–1968, pp. 151–152, LR 2848 14, CHL.

  11. 11 “General Meeting of Central and Ward Committees, on the Grain Movement,” Women’s Exponent, 1 Dec. 1876, 99.

  12. 12 Lucy Grant Cannon, “Recollections of Rachel Ivins Grant,” Relief Society Magazine, May 1938, 293–298.

  13. 13 “Utah State Archives Indexes,” database and images, Utah State Archives (https://archives.utah.gov/research/indexes, accessed 29 Nov. 2018); Utah Department of Health Office of Vital Records and Statistics Death Certificates, series 81448, file no. 145/653 (1909), Rachel R. Grant. “In Memoriam: Rachel Ridgeway Ivins Grant,” Woman’s Exponent, Apr. 1909, 52–53.

  14. 14 “Utah Death Certificate Index, 1904–1961,” database and images, Utah State Archives (http://archives.utah.gov, accessed Oct. 2014); from Utah Department of Health, Office of Vital Records and Statistics, series 81448, file no. 145/653 (1909), Rachel R. Grant.

  15. 15 Utah death certificate, file no. 145/653. “Family Tree,” database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org, accessed Aug. 2014), Rachel Ridgeway Ivins KWJC-TMD. Frances Bennett Jeppson, “With Joy Wend Your Way: The Life of Rachel Ivins Grant, My Great-Grandmother,” 1952, typescript, p. 1, CHL.

  16. 16 Rachel I. Grant, “How I Became a Mormon,” 1898, typescript, CHL. Jeppson, “With Joy Wend Your Way,” 2–4.

  17. 17 Grant, “How I Became a Mormon,” 2. Jeppson, “With Joy Wend Your Way,” 4, 7–8.

  18. 18 “Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel,” database, 1847–1868, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel (http://history.ChurchofJesusChrist.org/chd/landing, accessed Apr. 2014), Rachel Ridgway Ivins.

  19. 19 Jeppson, “With Joy Wend Your Way,” 10. 1870 U.S. census, Salt Lake City Ward 13, Salt Lake Co., Utah Territory, p. 637B, Rachel Grant; digital image, Ancestry.com (http://ancestry.com, accessed Oct. 2014); from NARA microfilm publication M593, roll 1611.

  20. 20 “Family Tree,” database, Rachel Ridgeway Ivins.

  21. 21 Ibid.

  22. 22 Thirteenth Ward Relief Society, Minutes, Apr. 18, 1868, vol. 1, 1868–1898, Relief Society Minutes and Records, Thirteenth Ward, Salt Lake Stake [Ensign Stake], 1868–1906, CHL. See Ronald W. Walker, “Rachel R. Grant: The Continuing Legacy of the Feminine Ideal,” in Supporting Saints: Life Stories of Nineteenth-Century Mormons, ed. Donald Q. Cannon and David J. Whittaker (Provo, UT: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University, 1985), 18, 31–36.

  23. 23 “Minutes, Salt Lake City, Utah, Jan. 13, 1870,” Deseret Evening News, Jan. 14, 1870, [2]; and Jan. 15, 1870, [2]. “Minutes of the 2nd Meeting of the Ladies Co-operative Retrenchment Society,” Feb. 19, 1870, Relief Society Minutes and Records, vol. 1, 1868–1873, Fifteenth Ward, Salt Lake [Riverside] Stake, CHL. “General Meeting of Central and Ward Committees,” Woman’s Exponent 5, no. 13 (Dec. 1, 1876): 99.

  24. 24 Utah death certificate, file no. 145/653.