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Susa Young Gates

Susie Gates, Susan Dunford, Susan Young Gates, Susa, Susa Young, Susa Young Dunford, Susan Amelia Young, Susa Young Dunford Gates

18 March 1856—27 May 1933

Early Sister Missionaries

Born 18 March 1856 in Salt Lake City. Daughter of Brigham Young and Lucy Bigelow. Married Alma Dunford, 1 December 1872; two children. Divorced, 1878. Married Jacob Gates, 5 January 1880; eleven children.  Prominent author and genealogist. Served on Relief Society general board, 1911–1922, and as editor of the Young Woman’s Journal, 1889–1901. Represented Utah and the church at the International Council of Women, London, June 1899. Died 27 May 1933 in Salt Lake City.1

Emmeline B. Wells

Born 18 Mar. 1856 in Salt Lake City.2 Daughter of Brigham Young and Lucy Bigelow.3 Married first Alma Bailey Dunford, 1 Dec. 1872; two children; divorced 1877.4 Married second Jacob Forsberry Gates, 5 Jan. 1880, in St. George, Washington Co., Utah Territory; eleven children.5 Served a mission with her husband to the Sandwich Islands, 1885–1889.6 First editor of the Young Women’s Journal, 1889–1900.7 Moved to Provo, Utah Co., Utah, by 1900.8 Elected as the first vice president of the Utah Woman’s Press Club, organized 31 Oct. 1891.9 Instrumental in establishing the Genealogical Society of Utah, 1894.10 Attended the International Council of Women convention in London, June 1899.11 Appointed to the press committee of the National Council of Women, 1899; appointed chairman, 1902.12 Attended the executive session of the International Council of Women in Copenhagen, 1902.13 Served on the board of trustees of the Agricultural College of Utah, 1905–1911.14 Served as president of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1905–1908.15 Organized and wrote genealogical columns for two newspapers, the Inter Mountain Republican and Deseret News.16 Served on the Relief Society general board, 1911–1922.17 Appointed corresponding secretary of the Relief Society under EBW, 1913.18 Editor of the Relief Society Magazine, 1914–1922.19 Died 27 May 1933 in Salt Lake City; buried in Provo.20

Footnotes

  1. 1 “Gates, Susa Young,” in Andrew Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia: A Compilation of Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, vol. 4 (Salt Lake City: Andrew Jenson Memorial Association, 1936), 185; “Gates, Susa Young,” in Andrew Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia: A Compilation of Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, vol. 2 (Salt Lake City: Andrew Jenson History, 1914), 626–629; R. Paul Cracroft, “Susa Young Gates: Her Life and Literary Work” (Master’s thesis, University of Utah, 1951), 8–9; Susan Young to Zina Young Williams, 18 May 1878, Susa Young Gates Personal Papers, Susa Young Gates Papers, ca. 1870–1933, Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City; “Home Affairs,” Woman’s Exponent (Salt Lake City), 15 Jan. 1880, 124; “Represent Utah at International Council,” Salt Lake Herald, 4 June 1899, 3.

  2. 2 “Endowments of the Living, 1851–1884,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Endowment House, vol. G, p. 203, Susa Amelia Young, 3 Oct. 1870, microfilm 1239501 (restricted access), FHL. “Susa Young Gates,” National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington DC; NARA Series: Passport Applications, 1795–1905; roll 526 vol. 526, 20 May 1899–31 May 1899. “Family Tree,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org, accessed 3 Jan. 2018), Susa Young Gates (KWCF-G25).

  3. 3 “Endowments of the Living, 1851–1884,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Endowment House, vol. G, p. 203, Susa Amelia Young, 3 Oct. 1870, microfilm 1239501 (restricted access), FHL.

  4. 4 “Sealings of Couples, Living and by Proxy, 1851–1889,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Endowment House, vol. H, p. 342, Amos Bailey Dunford and Susie Amelia Young, 1 Dec. 1872, microfilm 183398 (restricted access), FHL. “Alma Bailey Dunford: Pioneer Dentist of Utah,” p. 4, in Leah D. Widstoe, Papers, ca. 1939–1963, MS 10827, CHL.

  5. 5 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, St. George Temple, p. 60, Jacob Forsberry Gates and Susan Amelia Young, microfilm 170579, FHL. 1900 U.S. Census, Provo, Utah Co., UT, ED 164, p. 30A, Susia Y. Gates.

  6. 6 “Susan Amelia Young,” Go Ye into All the World, 1830–1930 Missionary Database (https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/missionary, accessed 12 Dec. 2017), First Presidency Missionary Calls and Recommendations, 1877–1918, CHL. Hawaiian Mission History, 1850–1967, CHL.

  7. 7 Carol Cornwall Madsen, An Advocate for Women: The Public Life of Emmeline B. Wells, 1870–1920 (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 2017), 45, 416. Utah Stake, Happiness in the MIA: History of the Young Women’s Mutual Improvement Association, 1874–1972, p. 13, CHL. Lisa Olsen Tait, “The Young Woman’s Journal: Gender and Generations in a Mormon Woman’s Magazine,” American Periodicals 22, no. 1 (2012): 53–54.

  8. 8 1900 U.S. Census, Provo, Utah Co., UT, ED 164, p. 30A, Susia Y. Gates.

  9. 9 “Utah Woman’s Press Club,” Woman’s Exponent, July 1901, 63.

  10. 10 Susa Young Gates, Papers, ca. 1870–1933, CHL.

  11. 11 Susa Young Gates, “International Council of Women,” Young Women’s Journal 10 (Oct. 1899): 437, 443. EBW, Diary, 5, 7, 23, 25, and 28 June 1899; 2 Aug. 1899.  

  12. 12 Carol Cornwall Madsen, An Advocate for Women: The Public Life of Emmeline B. Wells, 1870–1920 (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 2017), 416, 444. EBW, Diary, 7 June 1899.

  13. 13 “Editorial Notes,” Woman’s Exponent, 1 and 15 June 1902, 5.

  14. 14 Joel Edward Ricks, A History of Fifty Years: The Utah State Agricultural College (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1938), 162.

  15. 15 “Past Presidents of International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers,” Daughters of Utah Pioneers (http://www.dupinternational.org/subpage_Listofpresidents.php, accessed 25 July 2018).

  16. 16 “Gates, Susa Young,” in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, ed. Daniel H. Ludlow (New York: Macmillan, 1992), 2:535–536.

  17. 17 History of Relief Society, 1842–1966 (Salt Lake City: General Board of Relief Society, 1966), 53.

  18. 18History of Relief Society, 1842–1966 (Salt Lake City: General Board of Relief Society, 1966), 39.

  19. 19 History of Relief Society, 1842–1966 (Salt Lake City: General Board of Relief Society, 1966), 97.

  20. 20 Utah, Salt Lake County Death Records, 1908–1949, 1933, Susa Young Gates, Salt Lake County Management and Archives, Salt Lake City, UT (http://slco.org/archives/vital-records/LoadLargerImage.aspx?folder=004120262&fileName=004120262_00195&btn1=y); Utah State Historical Society, Utah Cemetery Inventory, Salt Lake City. “Throngs Pay Last Tribute to Susa Gates,” Salt Lake Tribune, 30 May 1933.