Born in 1828 in Massachusetts, Emmeline Woodward’s father died when she was 4 years old. It was the actions of her mother as a widow caring for her large family that inspired her to later be a women’s rights advocate. After graduating from the New Salem Academy at age fourteen, Emmeline taught school before marrying James Harris at age fifteen and migrating to Nauvoo. After losing her first baby, her husband left to find work, and Emmeline resumed teaching. When James never returned, she married Newell K. Whitney as his 5th wife and later walked to Utah Territory with the rest of the Saints.
Having been interested in creative writing as a child, Emmeline began keeping a personal journal, a habit she would maintain her entire life. This daily writing would serve her well in the suffragette
movement.
Arriving in Utah in 1848, Emmeline enjoyed only two more years of marriage before again finding herself without a husband after Newell’s death. Displaying an independence of character, Emmeline proposed marriage to her husband’s friend, Daniel Wells, and became his seventh wife in 1852. She had 3 daughters with Daniel – adding to the 2 from Newell – but their relationship was not close because he was busy with his six other families and many church and civic duties. Emmeline continued to teach to support her little family.
In 1872, the Women’s Exponent, a magazine aimed to educate all women of Utah, was established and Emmeline became a strong contributor. After 3 years, she became an associate editor and then was promoted to editor, a position she held until the closure of the magazine in 1914. In this role, Emmeline wrote many traditional stories and poetry. But, because publicly expressing ideas was not yet considered appropriate for women at that time, she also wrote boldly about suffrage using the pen name Blanche Beechwood. Emmeline declared the claims of the “new woman who should step out of her domestic cocoon to seek a place in the larger affairs of society.” As Beachwood, Emmeline frequently published articles on women’s rights, particularly the right to vote, the right to hold public office, the right to education, and the right to economic independence. In 1875 she wrote, "I believe in women, especially thinking women… I can see no good, sound, wholesome reason against woman's writing upon any of the general topics of the day." "She may be a profound thinker," she continued, "but if her ideas never assume any form, what will it avail?" In later years, she was to earn an honorary degree in literature from BYU for her literary works, which she accepted on behalf of all women.
Recognized as a strong capable woman, in 1876 Emmeline was appointed by Brigham Young to head a church-wide grain-saving program, and managed the program until the beginning of World War I. For her efforts, she was personally visited by President Woodrow Wilson, who commended her actions as helping to win the war.
Because of her forward-thinking attitude and importance as an editor, in 1878 Emmeline was nominated for Salt Lake Country Treasurer, which she summarily turned down because women could not hold public office. The following year, she was selected to represent Utah at a national suffrage convention in Washington, D.C., where she acted as a lobbyist, meeting with many politicians to address the issues of polygamy and women's suffrage from the Utah woman's point of view. When
Of this she wrote, “It is pitiful to see how men opposed to woman suffrage try to make the women believe it is because they worship them so, and think them far too good, and one would really think to hear those eloquent orators talk that laws were all framed purposely to protect women in their rights, and men stood ready to defend them with their lives. We can only say they have been bold and must answer to their own consciences . . .[L]et us hope the practical experience that will come with the ballot may convince even them that good may follow and they and their children receive the benefit of what they could not discern in the future progress of the world.”
Undeterred, Emmeline became a delegate to the Utah State Constitutional Convention, helping to prepare language that would grant women’s rights when Utah petitioned for statehood. She also gathered signatures from Utah women for a Constitutional Amendment that would grant suffrage nationally, gaining notice from Susan B. Anthony. At her urging, Emmeline joined the National Council of Women of the United States in 1891 and was the first woman from Utah to hold an office within that organization. She was elected as president of the Utah Territorial Women’s Suffrage Association in 1893, joined the National Woman Suffrage Association, and continued to work with these organizations for nearly 30 years. She ultimately was instrumental in restoring women’s suffrage to Utah in 1896.
Along with her suffrage efforts, Emmeline also served from 1910-1921 as the General President of the Relief Society of the Church and saw the passing of the 19th amendment a year before her death.
(Researched and written by Kathryn Latour, member of the JRCLS WIL and Media Committees)
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