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Bathsheba Wilson Bigler

B. W. Smith, Bathsheba Wilson Smith, Bathsheba Wilson Bigler Smith

3 May 1822—20 September 1910

Emmeline B. Wells

Born 3 May 1822 at Shinnston, Harrison Co., Virginia (later in West Virginia).1 Daughter of Mark Bigler and Susannah Ogden.2 Baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 21 Aug. 1837, at Shinnston.3 Migrated with family to Missouri and later to Illinois to affiliate with the main body of Latter-day Saints, 1837–1838.4 Married George A. Smith at Nauvoo, Hancock Co., Illinois, 25 July 1841.5 Founding member of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo, 17 Mar. 1842.6 Officiated in the Nauvoo temple, 1845.7 Migrated to the Salt Lake Valley with the George A. Smith pioneer company, arriving by 30 Oct. 1849.8 Recorded patriarchal blessings for her father-in-law, John Smith, 1851.9 Manufactured homespun and woven goods, receiving favorable attention at the Utah territorial fairs.10 Maintained her home by taking in boarders while her husband traveled for the church during the 1870s.11 Served as first counselor to President Rachel Grant in the Salt Lake City Thirteenth Ward Relief Society, with EBW as assistant secretary.12 Officiated in the Endowment House for many years.13 President of the Ladies’ Cooperative Retrenchment Association.14 Member of the Relief Society central and general boards, 1888–1910.15 Member of the executive board for Deseret Hospital, 1882.16 Served as first counselor in the Salt Lake City Seventeenth Ward Relief Society, 1884–1886.17 Served as president of the Seventeenth Ward Relief Society, 19 May 1886–6 Feb. 1897.18 Served as second counselor to President Zina D. H. Young in the Relief Society general presidency, 1888–1901.19 Served as a member of the Relief Society general board with EBW, 1892–1901.20 Served as general president of the Relief Society with EBW as general secretary, 1901–1910.21 Died 20 Sept. 1910 in Salt Lake City.22

The First Fifty Years of Relief Society

23 Born at Shinnston, Harrison County, Virginia (later in West Virginia); daughter of Susannah Ogden and Mark Bigler. 24 Baptized, 1837. 25 Moved to Far West, Caldwell County, Missouri, 1837; to Quincy, Adams County, Illinois, 1839; and to Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, 1840. 26 Married George Albert Smith, 1841; three children. 27 Joined the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo as a founding member, March 17, 1842. 28 Officiated in the Nauvoo temple, 1845. 29 Migrated to the Salt Lake Valley, 1849. 30 Appointed a teacher in the Salt Lake City Thirteenth Ward Relief Society, 1868. 31 Served on the executive board of the Deseret Hospital Association. 32 Served as treasurer of the Salt Lake Stake Relief Society; as counselor to Rachel Ivins Grant in the Thirteenth Ward Relief Society presidency; as counselor to Mary Isabella Horne in the Senior Retrenchment Association; and as treasurer and president of the Salt Lake City Seventeenth Ward Relief Society. 33 Appointed second counselor to Zina D. H. Young in the general Relief Society presidency, 1888. 34 Served as the fourth general president of the Relief Society, 1901–1910. 35 Died at Salt Lake City. 36 (See Document 1.2, 3.7, 3.12, 3.13, 3.16, 3.17, 3.19, 3.24, 3.26, 4.1, 4.5, 4.11, 4.20, 4.28, first mentioned here)

Footnotes

  1. 1 Bathsheba W. Smith, Autobiography, ca. 1875–1906, p. 1, CHL. Temple Records Index Bureau, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Nauvoo Temple Endowment Register, 10 December 1845 to 8 February 1846 (Salt Lake City: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1974), 1 (restricted access). “Family Tree,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org, accessed 13 Feb. 2018), Bathsheba Wilson Bigler (KVPR-8DW). 

  2. 2 Bathsheba W. Smith, Autobiography, ca. 1875–1906, p. 1, CHL.

  3. 3 Bathsheba W. Smith, Autobiography, ca. 1875–1906, p. 2, CHL.

  4. 4 Bathsheba W. Smith, Autobiography, ca. 1875–1906, pp. 3, 4, 6, CHL.

  5. 5 Hancock Co., IL, County Marriages, 1829–1849, p. 43, no. 497, George A. Smith and Bathsheba Bigler, microfilm 229486, DGS 4661304, image 99/219, FHL. “Hymenial,” Times and Seasons, 2 Aug. 1841, 501.

  6. 6 Relief Society Minute Book, Mar. 1842–Mar. 1844, p. 6, MS 3424, image 29/270, CHL.

  7. 7 Bathsheba W. Smith Collection, 1842–1948, Autobiography of Bathsheba W. Smith, 1874–1875, p. 20, 64, CHL.

  8. 8 Camp of Israel, Camp of Israel Schedules and Reports, 1845–1849, CHL. “Bathsheba Wilson Bigler Smith,” Pioneer Database (http://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/overlandtravel, accessed 5 Apr. 2018). 

  9. 9 Bathsheba W. Smith Collection, 1842–1948, Autobiography of Bathsheba W. Smith, 1874–1875, p. 47,  CHL.

  10. 10 Bathsheba W. Smith Collection, 1842–1948, Autobiography of Bathsheba W. Smith, 1874–1875, p. 63, CHL. Bathsheba W. Smith Collection, 1842–1948, Deseret Agricultural and Manufacturing Society Papers, 1859, 1856, CHL.

  11. 11 Bathsheba W. Smith Collection, 1842–1948, Autobiography of Bathsheba W. Smith, 1874–1875, p. 60, CHL.

  12. 12 Bathsheba W. Smith Collection, 1842–1948, Autobiography of Bathsheba W. Smith, 1874–1875, p. 64, CHL. Thirteenth Ward, Ensign Stake, Thirteenth Ward Manuscript History and Historical Reports, CHL.

  13. 13 Bathsheba W. Smith Collection, 1842–1948, Autobiography of Bathsheba W. Smith, 1874–1875, p. 64, CHL.

  14. 14 Bathsheba W. Smith Collection, 1842–1948, Ladies’ Cooperative Retrenchment Meeting Minutes, 26 Mar. 1870, CHL.

  15. 15 History of Relief Society, 1842–1966 (Salt Lake City: General Board of Relief Society, 1966), 50–51. Jill Mulvay Derr, Janath Russell Cannon, and Maureen Ursenbach Beecher, Women of Covenant: The Story of Relief Society (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book; Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1992), 435–437.

  16. 16 “The Deseret Hospital,” Deseret Evening News, 17 July 1882, 2.

  17. 17 Seventeenth Ward, Salt Lake Stake, Seventeenth Ward Manuscript History and Historical Reports, CHL.

  18. 18 Seventeenth Ward, Salt Lake Stake, Seventeenth Ward Manuscript History and Historical Reports, CHL.

  19. 19 Jill Mulvay Derr, Janath Russell Cannon, and Maureen Ursenbach Beecher, Women of Covenant: The Story of Relief Society (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book; Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1992), 435.

  20. 20 Jill Mulvay Derr, Janath Russell Cannon, and Maureen Ursenbach Beecher, Women of Covenant: The Story of Relief Society (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book; Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1992), 437.

  21. 21Bathsheba W. Smith Papers, 1875–1906, CHL. Jill Mulvay Derr, Janath Russell Cannon, and Maureen Ursenbach Beecher, Women of Covenant: The Story of Relief Society (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book; Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1992), 437.

  22. 22 “Utah Death Certificate Index, 1904–1961,” database and images, Utah State Archives (http://archives.utah.gov, accessed 14 Feb. 2018); from Utah Department of Health, Office of Vital Records and Statistics, series 81448, file no. 1297/530 (1910), Bathsheba W. Smith.

  23. 23 Bathsheba W. Smith, autobiography, ca. 1875–1906, p. 1, CHL. “Bathsheba Smith is Called Home,” Deseret Evening News, Sept. 20, 1910, 1. Andrew Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia (Salt Lake City: Andrew Jenson History Co., 1901), 1:699. “Utah Death Certificate Index, 1904–1961,” database and images, Utah State Archives (http://archives.utah.gov, accessed Jan. 2015); from Utah Department of Health, Office of Vital Records and Statistics, series 81448, file no. 1297/538 (1910), Bathsheba W. Smith.

  24. 24 “Bathsheba Smith Is Called Home,” 1. Utah death certificate, file no. 1297/538. Heidi S. Swinton, “‘Peace Be with You’: Bathsheba Wilson Bigler Smith,” in Women of Faith in the Latter Days, vol. 2, 1821–1845, ed. Richard E. Turley Jr. and Brittany A. Chapman (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2012), 350.

  25. 25 Edward W. Tullidge, Women of Mormondom (New York: Tullidge & Crandall, 1877), 150. Jenson, LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:699. “Bathsheba Smith Is Called Home,” 1.

  26. 26 Tullidge, Women of Mormondom, 151–155. Jenson, LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:700.

  27. 27 “Tullidge, Women of Mormondom, 154. “Bathsheba Smith Is Called Home,” 1. Swinton, “Peace Be with You,” 350.

  28. 28 Nauvoo Relief Society Minute Book, 1841–1846, CHL, entry for Mar. 17, 1842. Emmeline B. Wells, “Women’s Organizations,” Woman’s Exponent 8, no. 16 (Jan. 15, 1880), 122.

  29. 29 Jenson, LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:702.

  30. 30 “Bathsheba Wilson Bigler Smith,” Church History Biographical Database, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, available at https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/chd/landing, accessed Jan. 2015.

  31. 31 Thirteenth Ward Relief Society minutes, Apr. 18, 1868, Relief Society minutes and records, vol. 1, 1868–1898, Thirteenth Ward, Salt Lake Stake [Ensign Stake], 1868–1906, CHL.

  32. 32 “The Deseret Hospital. Dedication Services,” Deseret Evening News, July 17, 1882, 2.

  33. 33 Jenson, LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:702. “Bathsheba Smith Is Called Home,” 1.

  34. 34 Jenson, LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:702. “Bathsheba Smith Is called Home,” 1.

  35. 35 “Bathsheba Smith Is called Home,” 1. Jenson, LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, 1:702. Swinton, “Peace Be with You,” 361–364.

  36. 36 Utah death certificate, file no. 1297/538. “Bathsheba Smith Is Called Home,” 1. “Family Tree,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org, accessed Jan. 6, 2016), Bathsheba Bigler KVPR-8DW.