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    Pobehope Moemberg (ca. 1826–1921)

    Pobehope Moemberg was an influential Northwestern Shoshone convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who was known among Shoshone and Euro-Americans as a visionary.1 She was born to father To-nas-tsey (other sources identify him as Pugah-to-ugey) and mother Tiva-tit-so-a, likely sometime between 1826 and 1839, near what would later be named Promontory, Utah.2 At some point in the mid-nineteenth century, Pobehope married Ech-up-wy (later known to whites as John Moemberg), the son or nephew of a prominent Shoshone dai’gwahni’, or chief.3 Pobehope and Ech-up-wy raised at least five children who lived to adulthood: Joseph (ca. 1858–1916), Womruatz (1859–1893), Eunice (1863–1936), Bill (ca. 1865–1908), and Hank (1869–1904).4

    As Euro-American Latter-day Saint settlers continued to arrive in the region and encroach on the Shoshone’s traditional homeland, or debia’, Pobehope and Ech-up-wy apparently favored cooperation with the newcomers over resistance, and Ech-up-wy began working for Latter-day Saint ranchers as they settled Cache Valley.5 While her husband adopted the English name John, Pobehope retained her Shoshone name, although she and her family took on the surname Moemberg, likely as an English variant of one of John’s significant relatives.6

    Pobehope and her family were not present at the time of the Bear River Massacre in January 1863 but were instead wintering near Brigham City, Utah Territory. However, Pobehope’s mother and two of her sisters were likely killed during the massacre.7 When word of the attack reached her camp, Pobehope cut her hair, tore her clothing, and slashed her skin in an act of mourning. She then mounted a pony and rode off to carry the news to another group of Shoshone families near Promontory Point.8

    Pobehope’s husband, John, was among the first Northwestern Shoshone to be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on 5 May 1873.9 Pobehope may have been baptized with her husband, although irregularities in the English spelling of Shoshone names preclude a positive identification.10 Regardless, according to missionary and temple records, Pobehope was baptized on 7 June 1875, possibly for the second time. On 5 August of that same year, she traveled to the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, Utah Territory, where she received her endowment and was sealed to her husband.11 In 1885, Pobehope visited the Logan temple where she performed vicarious temple ordinances for her mother and two sisters who had likely been killed during the Bear River Massacre.12

    Following her conversion, Pobehope and John were prominent members of the Northwestern Shoshone Latter-day Saint communities at Lemuel’s Garden and later Washakie.13 Like her husband, Pobehope was recognized as a bo’hagunt, or recipient of spiritual power, by the Shoshone Latter-day Saints and their white leaders. George M. Ward, who served as the third Euro-American bishop of the Washakie Ward, later described her as a “very spiritual person” who “had manifestations of some kind that told her of events and things that happened, and they happened after.”14 She regularly spoke and bore testimony in church meetings, occasionally sharing her dreams with the community.15 Years after her death, church members and leaders still remembered a prophecy Pobehope made sometime in the nineteenth century that humans would one day fly in machines.16

    John died in 1894, leaving Pobehope a widow for nearly thirty years.17 She remained an active member of the Shoshone Latter-day Saint community at Washakie. On 22 July 1921, Pobehope died of a “Paraletic stroke.”18

    Cite this page

    Pobehope Moemberg (ca. 1826–1921), Native Saints, accessed May 28, 2026 https://www.churchhistorianspress.org/native-saints/biographies/pobehope-moemberg

      Footnotes

      1. [1]See “Pobehope Moemberg,” Church History Biographical Database, history.churchofjesuschrist.org.

      2. [2]Salt Lake City Endowment House Endowments of the Living, 1851–84, microfilm 183409, vol. J, p. 5, FSL; Utah Death Certificates, 1904–51, DGS 2259132, certificate 2100136, no. 93, 22 July 1921, familysearch.org; Washakie Branch, part 1, image 156, 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); Utah Church Census Records, 1914–60, DGS 8622605, image 2716, familysearch.org; see also 1880 U.S. Census, Plymouth Precinct, Box Elder Co., Utah Territory, enumeration dist. 6, p. 34; 1910 U.S. Census, West Portage Precinct, Box Elder Co., Utah, enumeration dist. 12, p. 3B.

      3. [3]Biography of John Moemberg.

      4. [4]“Joseph Moemberg,” “Womruatz Moemberg,” “Eunice Moemberg,” “Bill Moemberg,” and “Hank Moemberg,” Church History Biographical Database, history.churchofjesuschrist.org.

      5. [5]“The Northwestern Shoshone and the Latter-day Saints”; “Obituary,” Journal (Logan, UT), 12 Jan. 1895, [1]; George M. Ward, interview by Charles Dibble, 1 Aug. 1945, transcript, p. 15, CHL.

      6. [6]The 1880 United States Census identifies Pobehope as “Elisabeth Mongery,” but there are no other sources indicating that Pobehope ever adopted an English name. In 1892, church historian Andrew Jenson identified Ech-up-wy’s father as “Moembugie”; however, temple records identify “Mo-go-berge” as Ech-up-wy’s uncle, not his father. (1880 U.S. Census, Plymouth Precinct, Box Elder Co., Utah Territory, enumeration dist. 6, p. 34; biography of John Moemberg; Washakie Ward Manuscript History and Historical Reports, 1847, 1874–1965, image 19, CHL; Washakie Ward Record of Members, 1885–86, 1938, pp. 18–19, CHL.)

      7. [7]According to temple records, Pobehope’s mother, Tiva-tit-so-a, her sister Goo-se-quan-sup, and her half-sister Cook-ap all died in 1863, the year of the massacre. (Washakie Ward Record of Members, pp. 46–47, CHL.)

      8. [8]Mae Timbimboo Parry, “Massacre at Boa Ogoi,” appendix B to The Shoshoni Frontier and the Bear River Massacre, by Brigham D. Madsen, vol. 1 of Utah Centennial Series (University of Utah Press, 1985), 237; Mae Timbimboo Parry, (part 1 of 2) interview by Dan Kane, Rios Pacheco, and Karen Duffy, Sept. 2001, transcript, p. 7, The Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation Tribal Library, available at Utah State University Digital History Collections, libraryusu.access.preservica.com; see also “The Northwestern Shoshone and the Latter-day Saints.”

      9. [9]Biography of John Moemberg; “The Northwestern Shoshone Mission.”

      10. [10]George Washington Hill recorded baptizing a “pay been up” or “Pah-ben-up” on 5 May 1873. (George Washington Hill, Journal, 5 May 1873, George W. Hill Collection, 1840–1908, CHL; George Washington Hill, Missionary Report, 1 Oct. 1876, p. 2, CHL.)

      11. [11]Hill, Journal, 7 June 1875; Hill, Missionary Report, p. 3; Salt Lake City Endowment House Endowments of the Living, 1851–84, microfilm 183409, vol. J, p. 5, FSL; Salt Lake City Endowment House Sealings of Couples, Living and by Proxy, 1851–89, microfilm 183400, vol. J, p. 351, FSL. George Washington Hill recorded baptizing a “po beup” or “po-be-up” on 7 June 1875. This baptism date matches Endowment House records that identify Pobehope’s baptism date as June 1875.

      12. [12]Washakie Ward Record of Members, pp. 46–47, CHL.

      13. [13]Biography of John Moemberg; “The Northwestern Shoshone Mission”; “The Washakie Ward.” Pobehope was evidently considered as a counselor when the Washakie Ward Relief Society was organized in 1883, although she ultimately was not chosen. Nevertheless, her name consistently appeared near the top of the earliest extant Relief Society rolls in the 1890s, appearing third after the Euro-American president and secretary, suggesting her prominence in the community. (Zundel-Ward Family Record, ca. 1880–1910, p. 238, 20 May 1883, CHL; Washakie Ward Manuscript History and Historical Reports, image 11, CHL; Washakie Ward Minutes, 1883–1910, pp. 34, 38, 42, CHL.)

      14. [14]Biography of John Moemberg; Washakie Ward Manuscript History and Historical Reports, image 17, CHL; Ward, interview, 1 Aug. 1945, p. 16; see also “George Moroni Ward,” Church History Biographical Database, history.churchofjesuschrist.org.

      15. [15]For examples, see Washakie Ward General Minutes, 1902–33, 1943–62, pp. 35, 37, 57, 29 Dec. 1918, 19 Jan. 1919, 4 Jan. 1920, CHL.

      16. [16]Washakie Ward Relief Society Minutes and Records, 1926–37, 1959–61, vol. 1, p. 66, 7 Aug. 1929; Ward, interview, 1 Aug. 1945, p. 16.

      17. [17]Washakie Ward Record Book, 1887—1909, image 6, CHL.

      18. [18]Washakie Branch, part 1, image 156, Record of Members Collection, CHL.