Sarah Melissa Granger
Born 29 Dec. 1818 at Phelps, Ontario Co., New York.[1] Daughter of Oliver Granger and Lydia Dibble.[2] Moved to Kirtland, Geauga Co., Ohio, with her family, 1833.[3] Participated in the School of the Prophets.[4] Married Hiram Kimball, 22 Sept. 1840, in Kirtland; three children.[5] Moved to Nauvoo, 1840.[6] Proposed the formation of a charitable society in Nauvoo, 1842.[7] Founding member of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo, organized 17 Mar. 1842.[8] Migrated to the Salt Lake Valley, arriving Sept. 1851.[9] Taught school, 1851–1859.[10] Served as president of the Salt Lake City Fifteenth Ward Relief Society, 1857–1898.[11] Led a mass ladies’ meeting in the Fifteenth Ward to organize a response to the introduction of federal legislation to punish polygamists, 6 Jan. 1870.[12] Presided at the Great Indignation Meeting, 13 Jan. 1870, in Salt Lake City.[13] Visited Utah governor George Emery with EBW to garner his support for a petition for women’s voting rights, 1879.[14] Appointed secretary to Eliza R. Snow, general president of the Relief Society, 19 June 1880; served on the Relief Society central board, 1880–1892.[15] Chaired the finance committee of the Deseret Hospital Association, 1882.[16] Represented the women of Utah in Washington DC and Chicago during suffrage conventions and on the National Council of Women.[17] Elected president of the Territorial Woman Suffrage Association, 11 Jan. 1890.[18] Compiled and edited World’s Fair Ecclesiastical History of Utah, 1893.[19] Elected third vice president of the Relief Society upon its incorporation, 1892; served on the Relief Society general board, 1892–1898.[20] Appointed honorary vice president of the National American Woman’s Suffrage Association, by 1895.[21] Died 1 Dec. 1898 at Salt Lake City.[22]
[1] Temple Records Index Bureau, Nauvoo Temple Endowment Register, 10 December 1845 to 8 February 1846 (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1974), 150 (restricted access). Sarah M. Kimball, “Auto-biography,” Woman’s Exponent, 1 Sept. 1883, 51. “Family Tree,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org, accessed 22 Feb. 2018), Sarah Melissa Granger (L7FX-FVJ).
[2] Sarah M. Kimball, “Auto-biography,” Woman’s Exponent, 1 Sept. 1883, 51.
[3] Joseph Smith, History, 1838–1856, vol. C-1, addenda, 11, CHL.
[4] Fifteenth Ward Relief Society Minutes and Records, 1868–1968, vol. 5, 1874–1894, 11 Apr. 1894, LR 2848 14, image 157/274, CHL. Daniel H. Ludlow, ed., Encyclopedia of Mormonism (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University, 1992), 784.
[5] Lake County, OH, Probate Court, Marriage Records, 1840–2018, vol. A, 1840–1844, p. 8, Hiram Kimball and Sarah Granger, 22 Sept. 1840, microfilm 974915, DGS 4017424, image 6/311, FHL. Sarah M. Kimball, “Auto-biography,” Woman’s Exponent, 1 Sept. 1883, 51.
[6] Sarah M. Kimball, “Auto-biography,” Woman’s Exponent, 1 Sept. 1883, 51.
[7] Sarah M. Kimball, “Auto-biography,” Woman’s Exponent, 1 Sept. 1883, 51. Jill Mulvey 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), 24.
[8] Sarah M. Kimball, “Auto-biography,” Woman’s Exponent, 1 Sept. 1883, 51. Jill Mulvey 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), 30.
[9] Sarah Melissa Granger Kimball,” Pioneer Database (https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/overlandtravel, accessed 5 Mar. 2018). Sarah M. Kimball, “Auto-biography,” Woman’s Exponent, 1 Sept. 1883, 51.
[10] Sarah M. Kimball, “Auto-biography,” Woman’s Exponent, 1 Sept. 1883, 51.
[11] Fifteenth Ward, Riverside Stake, Fifteenth Ward Manuscript History and Historical Reports, “Relief Society,” LR 2848 2, CHL. Sarah M. Kimball, “Auto-biography,” Woman’s Exponent, 1 Sept. 1883, 51. E. B. Wells, “A Grand and Noble Woman,” Deseret Evening News, 5 Dec. 1898, 8.
[12] Fifteenth Ward, Riverside Stake, Fifteenth Ward Relief Society Minutes and Records, 1868–1968, vol. 1, p. 139, 6 Jan. 1870, CHL. Jill Mulvey 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), 305–308.
[13] Jill Mulvey 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), 311–332.
[14] 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), 186.
[15] Relief Society, Relief Society Record, 1880–1892, pp. 7, 13, CR 11 175, CHL. History of Relief Society, 1842–1966 (Salt Lake City: General Board of the Relief Society, 1966), 31–33, 51.
[16] “The Deseret Hospital: Dedication Services,” Deseret Evening News, 26 July 1882, 14.
[17] EBW, Diary, 11 Jan. and 8 Feb. 1890; 23 Jan. 1891; 16, 21–26 Feb. 1891; 2 Mar. 1891; 14 May 1893; 13 May 1895. E. B. Wells, “A Grand and Noble Woman,” Deseret News, 10 Dec. 1898, 13.
[18] EBW, Diary, 11 Jan. 1890. 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), 251–252. 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), 579n452.
[19] World’s Fair Ecclesiastical History of Utah, Compiled by Representatives of the Religious Denominations (Salt Lake City: George Q. Cannon & Sons, 1893).
[20] History of Relief Society, 1842–1966 (Salt Lake City: General Board of Relief Society, 1966), 36–37.
[21] Jill C. Mulvay, “The Liberal Shall Be Blessed: Sarah M. Kimball,” Utah Historical Quarterly 44, no. 3 (Summer 1976): 214.
[22] Salt Lake Co., UT, Management and Archives, Death Records, 1895–1908, Sarah M. Kimball, 1 Dec. 1898, microfilm 4139834, FHL.