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    Emmeline Pabawena Neaman (1908–1948)

    Emmeline Pabawena Neaman was an influential Shoshone leader in the Washakie Ward, serving as the second Shoshone president of the ward’s Relief Society and in various other callings. She was born on 4 April 1908 in Deeth, Nevada, to Western Shoshone parents Ida North Peter and John Spencer Pabawena Sr.1 After the death of her mother on 15 March 1914, she moved to Washakie, a Northwestern Shoshone Latter-day Saint community in northern Utah, where she lived with her father’s family.2 On 5 July 1914, Emmeline was given a blessing by George M. Ward, the third Euro-American bishop of the Washakie Ward.3 Three years later, when she was nine years old, Ward baptized her a member of the church on 2 September 1917.4 Having lived in Washakie during her school-age days, she presumably attended the Washakie day school, where she would have learned reading, writing, and arithmetic.

    On 30 May 1924, Emmeline married Jim John Neaman Sr., the son of a prominent Washakie family that originally came from Wyoming, evidently in a customary Shoshone marriage ceremony.5 Nearly eight years later on 28 January 1932, Emmeline and Jim John went to the Logan Temple, where they received their endowments and had their marriage solemnized in a sealing ceremony.6 Together, they had eight children, six of whom lived to adulthood: Lee Allen (1925–1981), Eleanor Jane (1927–2000), Jim John Jr. (1931–2002), Raymond Orlein (1934–1955), Kenneth Lewis (1937–2008), and Lana Lorene (1940–2016).7

    From the time she was a teenager, Emmeline served in various teaching and leadership positions in the ward. In 1925, at the age of sixteen, she was called as a Sunday School teacher.8 Two years later, she was called into the Relief Society Presidency under Mary Ann Morris Ward, the third Euro-American Washakie Ward Relief Society President. Ward was also the society’s secretary-treasurer and Emmeline was appointed as her assistant, in which role she was charged with taking minutes, managing finances, and keeping the society’s records.9 On 22 January 1929, she was called as the first counselor in the Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association (YLMIA) presidency, serving with president Juanita Perdash.10 When the Relief Society presidency was reorganized the following May, Emmeline was released as assistant secretary-treasurer.11 She continued to participate in the Relief Society during the 1930s, leading music and teaching courses. At an annual Relief Society Day event in 1932, she dressed as former Relief Society General President Emmeline B. Wells, with whom she may have felt an affinity given they shared a name.12

    Emmeline and Jim John also enjoyed traveling to Salt Lake City along with other Shoshone Latter-day Saints to attend General Conference, with their group being featured in The Salt Lake Tribune as conference visitors. In 1940, the Tribune published an article describing Emmeline’s conference experience. The piece featured a photograph of her, explaining that “in typical Indian fashion, when her six-month-old daughter, Lana, became restive, Mrs. Neman bound the child on her back with a large scarf and strolled about.” The article noted further that Emmeline was “skilled with her needle, fashioning bead work and other handiwork.”13

    On 29 October 1940, after fifteen years of dedicated service in the Washakie Ward, Emmeline was called as president of the Relief Society, the second Shoshone woman to serve in the position following Rhoda Moemberg Woonsook. Emmeline selected Juanita Perdash—whom she had previously worked with in the YLMIA—as first counselor and Emmeline’s sister-in-law Margaret Perdash Neaman as second counselor.14 During World War II, Emmeline joined other Washakie residents who found work in the defense industry at the Utah General Depot in Ogden, Utah. According to her son Lee, Emmeline “complained many times that the white powder that they worked with was very irritating.” Her children believed that the powder, which they identified as an insecticide, contributed to her declining health.15 In 1944, her sickly condition required a release as Relief Society president, although she remained in the presidency as a counselor to Amy Hootchew Timbimboo.16 Tragically, she passed away at age forty on 19 October 1948 in Washakie after a prolonged illness. Her cause of death was listed as anemia. She was buried in the Washakie cemetery.17

    Cite this page

    Emmeline Pabawena Neaman (1908–1948), Native Saints, accessed May 28, 2026 https://www.churchhistorianspress.org/native-saints/biographies/emmeline-pabawena-neaman

      Footnotes

      1. [1]Washakie Branch, part 1, image 169, Record of Members Collection, 1836–1970, Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City (Church History Library hereafter cited as CHL); “Emmeline Pabawena,” “Ida North Peter,” and “John Spencer Pabawena Sr.,” Church History Biographical Database, history.churchofjesuschrist.org.

      2. [2]Indian Census Rolls, Goshute, 1917–23, DGS 7141219, no. 122, 27 June 1917, familysearch.org; Utah Church Census Records, 1914–60, DGS 8622618, image 60, familysearch.org.

      3. [3]Washakie Branch, part 1, image 194, Record of Members Collection, CHL; “George Moroni Ward,” Church History Biographical Database, history.churchofjesuschrist.org.

      4. [4]Washakie Branch, part 1, image 194, Record of Members Collection, CHL.

      5. [5]Washakie Branch, part 2, image 263, Record of Members Collection, CHL; biography of Jim John Neaman Sr.

      6. [6]Cache Co., UT, Marriage Records, 1887–1966, DGS 4540813, bk. 14, p. 327, 28 Jan. 1932, familysearch.org; Logan Temple Endowments of the Living, 1884–1957, vol. A, microfilm 178054, p. 657, 28 Jan. 1932, FamilySearch Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City (FamilySearch Library hereafter cited as FSL; Logan Temple Sealings of Living Couples, 1884–1957, microfilm 178139, vol. A, p. 328, 28 Jan. 1932, FSL.

      7. [7]“Lee Allen Neaman,” “Eleanor Jane Neaman,” “Howard Junior Neaman,” “Jim John Neaman Jr.,” “Raymond Orlein Neaman,” “Reed Willie Neaman,” “Kenneth Lewis Neaman,” and “Lana Lorene Neaman,” Church History Biographical Database, history.churchofjesuschrist.org.

      8. [8]Washakie Ward Sunday School Minutes and Records, 1910–26, 1961, vol. 4, image 64, 18 Jan. 1925, CHL.

      9. [9]Washakie Ward General Minutes, 1902–33, 1943–62, vol. 7, pp. 52–53, 24 Feb. 1927, CHL; Washakie Branch, part 1, image 269, Record of Members Collection, CHL; Malad Idaho Stake Relief Society Minutes and Records, 1888–1973, vol. 1, images 193–94, CHL; “Mary Ann Morris,” Church History Biographical Database, history.churchofjesuschrist.org.

      10. [10]Washakie Ward General Minutes, vol. 4, image 187, 22 Jan. 1929, CHL; “Juanita Perdash,” Church History Biographical Database, history.churchofjesuschrist.org.

      11. [11]Washakie Ward Relief Society Minutes and Records, 1926–37, 1959–61, vol. 1, image 157, CHL.

      12. [12]Washakie Ward Relief Society Minutes and Records, vol. 2, images 50, 133, 10 Mar. 1932; vol. 3, images 114, 209, 21 Jan. 1936, CHL.

      13. [13]“Washakie Reservation Visitors Draw Interest,” Salt Lake Tribune, 6 Oct. 1940, A8.

      14. [14]Malad Idaho Stake Relief Society Minutes and Records, vol. 7, images 104, 132, CHL; biography of Rhoda Moemberg Woonsook; “Juanita Perdash” and “Margaret Perdash,” Church History Biographical Database, history.churchofjesuschrist.org.

      15. [15]Lorena Washines, Paper, p. 9, attachment in Lee A. Neaman to Nolan P. Olsen, 31 Jan. 1981, image 23, Nolan P. Olsen Papers, 1950–79, CHL; “The Washakie Ward.”

      16. [16]Malad Stake Relief Society Minutes, vol. 8, image 86, 9 July 1944, CHL; “Washakie Woman’s Funeral Today,” Garland (UT) Times, 22 Oct. 1948, 1; biography of Amy Hootchew Timbimboo.

      17. [17]Washakie Branch, part 2, image 444, Record of Members Collection, CHL; Utah Death Certificates, 1904–51, DGS 4120929, file no. 105, 19 Oct. 1948, familysearch.org.