The Diaries of Emmeline B. Wells

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Weekly Quote

The Dreadful Past

[Reflecting on her life four decades earlier:] But that was in that dreadful past when I suffered such untold agonies, and have I not suffered intensely & has it been a means of purification. God alone knoweth, and if I shall ever meet James [H. Harris] again and whether if I do, he will be anything to me, or even a friend. Our baby [Eugene H. Harris] lies where no human power can touch it, we do not even know the spot, but we know it was one of the victims of that terrible persecution which laid so many of the Saints in an untimely grave. (31 December 1885)

About

The diaries of Emmeline B. Wells provide a window into the life of one of the most influential Latter-day Saint women in the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In the diaries she is both historymaker, as she meets with presidents and works with national suffrage leaders, and historian, as she documents noteworthy events, daily interactions with her family and members of her community, and her adversities and faith. The diaries are a record of her perceptions and philosophies, and they are valuable not only to historians but also to those simply curious about this remarkable woman and the time in which she lived.