July 1881

1 July 1881 • Friday

Annie’s throat is still bad she came over here again. Miss Claridge came home– Preparations are going on for the fourth I took a song of Sister Eliza’s to Br. [Ebenezer] Beesley to sing on the 4th. Lou went to the Lake with Mell & her visitors she had a pleasant time. I was not very well– [p. 114] {p. 118}

2 July 1881 • Saturday

This morning Pres. [James A.] Garfield was assassinated1 in the Depot at Washington as he was leaving to meet his wife at Jersey City. Two bullets one in the shoulder the other in the bowels. His life is in great danger. The assassin is Guittiau [Charles J. Guiteau] a worthless desperado– half insane

3 July 1881 • Sunday

We all went to Annie’s to dinner, she is not well at all. her throat is still sore– She cannot talk natural and scarcely swallow at all. In the evening Lou. went for a ride. We spent a quiet day, it was very cool. I went down to try and help Annie a little. She was suffering greatly. [p. 115] {p. 119}

4 July 1881 • Monday

Today Annie is much worse– Lou has been out nearly all day I went to Annie’s Gustave went out favorable news from Pres. Garfield, hopes of his recovery, the weather is cool. Willard Young called to see me staid some time conversing In the evening there were splendid fire-works

5 July 1881 • Tuesday

Went to Mell’s to dinner Lou and I. Mr. & Mrs. Lang2 went by afternoon train East or to Ogden Annie is lots worse We went down she has not slept and cannot eat. baby keeps well. Rob & Lou are out riding I spoke to Br. Cannon about Dr. Ferguson and Aunt Zina going East3 [p. 116] {p. 120}

6 July 1881 • Wednesday

Finished mailing went to see Annie & had a pleasant ride with Dr. Pratt– Went to the depot– rode up with Br. Penrose. In the evening Br. Cannon & Annie’s father administered to her. She felt lots better. Lou. was there nearly all day. Mell came home at night Still good news of the Pres.

7 July 1881 • Thursday

Went to the Endowment house saw Joseph F. he was very favorably disposed about the sisters going East– Annie is better. Went to see Mother Whitney found her feeble. Louie is not feeling well Miss Claridge went away yesterday morning. Today the weather is very cool. Rulon’s birthday 27– [p. 117] {p. 121}

8 July 1881 • Friday

Have been very busy writing lots of callers and weather cool. my husband was here had a pleasant time. Went to see Aunt Eliza with Mrs. Ferguson had some pleasant conversation with her. How I wish there was more time or we could do more in the time allotted us, if we only knew how to economize it we could do more

9 July 1881 • Saturday

To day is the Conference4 but I am so busy I cannot go. My paper goes on slowly I get in so little that is good from my correspondents I wish our sisters would make a greater exertion The Central Committee met at 12 today in the Council House. decided to hold Primaries 18, Convention 25, Sarah K. [Kimball]5 & myself [p. 118] {p. 122}

10 July 1881 • Sunday

Annie came over with baby her throat is better she staid all day and Lou. went to meeting. Joseph F. preached against people selling to those outside the Church– or mortgaging it either and depriving their own children of an inheritance6 George Q followed in a similar strain. We had a quiet evening, wrote some letters &c.

11 July 1881 • Monday

Went early to the office worked hard all day Annie is much better. Lots of callers. June [Junius Wells] has been in and teasing me to write for the Contributor. Weather is growing hot again the President keeps on improving. Lou goes out riding every day with Rob. The garden looks so pretty and picturesque [p. 119] {p. 123}

12 July 1881 • Tuesday

Gustave went away today Lou commenced her lessons again with Mrs. Ferguson on the piano. It is very hot M. [Alfred] Andre7 came and gave me another lesson today– I like his style of teaching and really believe I shall improve now much faster. Lou went out in the evening to Dwyers and left me alone

13 July 1881 • Wednesday

Hurrying up with my paper is not just the thing, I am so weary I feel as if it was almost too much of an exertion I must write almost every thing myself and correct all Things are going on very favorably for Sister Zina & Ferguson. I think they will go to the States to lecture on Mormonism [p. 120] {p. 124}

14 July 1881 • Thursday

Another very hot day. The Woodberry’s8 came to see me– have been feeling very miserable.

Went up to Mell’s to dinner and down to get my dress fitted, the new dress that Belle gave me– Saw some lileis [lilies] such as I gathered in the fields in my childhood Daisie [Dunford Allen] was with me. I never knew a hotter day.

15 July 1881 • Friday

Today has been specially blest for me. Never was one more auspicious for fame and friendship are better than riches, Augusta Joyce Crocheron’s book is out & dedicated to me.9 Mrs. F. [Ferguson] presented it with a very pretty speech and a bouquet of lovely & choice flowers which must ever be remembered. [p. 121] {p. 125}

16 July 1881 • Saturday

The paper is out and I am in haste but notwithstanding callers came and much precious time encroached upon. However they were very pleasant people. May & Lou came and helped me. Pres. Joseph Young died this morning at 4 o’clock aged 8410 he has been a Mormon nearly fifty years. He was pure as an angel.

17 July 1881 • Sunday

Lou and I were here alone at breakfast– Joe Sharp and Will [William C.] Jennings came and kept her from going to meeting. I went & Br. Penrose preached an excellent sermon– went to Annie’s to dinner had company in the evening– very good indeed [p. 122] {p. 126}

18 July 1881 • Monday

Briggie or B. [Brigham] B. Young came home last night from England. Preparations are being made for the funeral.

Primary meetings are held tonight in all the precincts. I attended ours and was chosen a delegate to the Convention on Saturday I was fearfully tired and it is so very hot– thundered & lightened.

19 July 1881 • Tuesday

Uncle Joseph Young’s funeral in the Tabernacle; Br. Cannon & Taylor preached also Br. Woodruff, about 60 carriages went to the grave. Louie went up she took her first lesson from Mr. [William] Armitage today–11 She was almost too tired to attend to it. [p. 123] {p. 127}

20 July 1881 • Wednesday

Another hot day followed by a cool evening Lou was out riding & took a chill and was quite ill– next day she was very bad indeed. I was here without help, gave her something hot but she had taken to severe a cold Attended a meeting in the 11th, Ward of the Primary Association.12

21 July 1881 • Thursday

Lou got breakfast I had a busy day but came home and found Lou very bad indeed Sister Pratt & I were up all night with her I was in great anxiety about her night more moderate news from Washington more favorable, there is much sickness in the city. [p. 124] {p. 128}

22 July 1881 • Friday

Louie was very bad all day I had to go to the office Daisie came down to help me– I met with a very disagreeable affair and had to control myself well to avoid getting angry. I feel I gained something of a victory in conquering myself– Mother Whitney is ill.

23 July 1881 • Saturday

Louie is a little better but feeble, Mother is very bad. Daisie & Onie are both here they do very nicely and I feel so glad for they are a great comfort Sister Lydia Gumbar is very sick I went to the Convention Louie kept the office for me to go. [p. 125] {p. 129}

24 July 1881 • Sunday

This is the anniversary of the entrance of the pioneers into this valley but there is no demonstration. John Q and Annie came over to dinner. Lou went out riding the first time since she was sick. In the evening Rob was here and we had no other company except Aunt Zina & Little <Zina>

25 July 1881 • Monday

To day is observed as a sort of holiday tho there is no public demonstration. Some go to the Lake some to the farms, gardens etc. plenty of fire works in all parts of the city Aunt Zina and Zina were in for a while, we had no company at all [p. 126] {p. 130}

26 July 1881 • Tuesday

Belle came down by the morning train & brought Lucile, she had the remainder of bone extracted and staid here all night Mr. Sears came in the evening Daisie went home, We had a nice visit with Belle I went to find Edla for her but could not went to see mother too.

27 July 1881 • Wednesday

Belle got up and went away early in the morning, I went off kind of soon and left Lou. Gustave did not come as we expected I went to our Relief Society meeting, Sister Gumbar is dead. I am in so much anxiety about mother and my writing, and it is so hot [p. 127] {p. 131}

28 July 1881 • Thursday

Bishop Sharp came for me to attend a meeting of the County Central Committee at the City Hall. Gustave came today but she is quite sick Sister Gumbar’s funeral will be held tomorrow I have so much to do I scarcely know how to get through with it all this hot weather.

29 July 1881 • Friday

Gustave is very sick Lou had to do all the work, Mellie came down feeling bad and made me feel so unpleasant. I scarcely know how to stand it

At evening I went up to Adeline’s to see Inez baby. It is very sweet and cunning. Lile [Eliza Woods Wallin] has been confined, Sister [Elizabeth Hoagland] Cannon has gone to Bear <Lake> [p. 128] {p. 132}

30 July 1881 • Saturday

Br. Obed [Obediah] Taylor died this morning & Br. [William C.] Staines is reputed to be drying [dying]– It is very sickly. Mother is lots better. I have not felt so very well. It is excessively hot. I went to the theater with Louie & Rob. [John Francis] Sheridan’s troupe played Fun on the Bristol I was not much amused and my head ached very badly.

31 July 1881 • Sunday

Gustave is better went to mother’s and spent most of the day, she is much better. had a nice time read her a sermon, & afterwards went to Annie’s to dinner, had a nice bath in her bath room Louie went out riding Annie & John Q. after Annie came back John Q. came home with me Rob is here spending the <evening> [p. 129] {p. 133}

Cite This Page

Cite This Page

July 1881, The Journal of Emmeline B. Wells, accessed December 21, 2024 https://chpress-web.churchhistorianspress.org/emmeline-b-wells/1880s/1881/1881-07

Footnotes

  1. [1]EBW closely followed the assassination (a shooting that did not immediately result in death), James A. Garfield’s lingering condition, and fading hopes for his recovery over the ensuing months. The first articles about the assassination, including her editorial and reports from eastern reporters, appeared as “The Assassination,” “The President’s Assassination,” and “An Affecting Scene,” Woman’s Exponent, 15 July 1881, 10:28.

  2. [2]Perhaps John and Eleanor Walker Long.

  3. [3]Zina D. H. Young and Ellen B. Ferguson departed on 21 August 1881, aiming to gather genealogical records, meet influential people, lecture on the Church, and attend women’s meetings, including a temperance meeting and the New York State Woman Suffrage Convention. Dr. Romania B. Pratt later joined the two and, like Dr. Ferguson, studied medicine during her travels. As they toured, the women were condemned in the press, ostracized by many, refused membership in the Association for the Advancement of Women, and denied chances to speak. George Q. Cannon advised the sisters not to join him in Washington, DC, for the National Woman Suffrage Association convention. (See EBW, Diary, 13 July and 21 Aug. 1881; “Lady Lecturers,” Woman’s Exponent, 1 Aug. 1881, 10:37.) The shifting tone of national feminists toward the Utah women was reported by Romania B. Pratt. (Letter to the editor, 4 Feb. 1882, in “Woman’s Suffrage Convention,” Woman’s Exponent, 15 Feb. 1882, 10:143; 1 Mar. 1882, 10:146.) For scholarly commentary on the women’s trip, see Iversen, “The Mormon-Suffrage Relationship,” 158; and Van Wagenen, Sister-Wives and Suffragists, 108–109.)

  4. [4]The quarterly conference of the Salt Lake Stake. (See “Home Affairs,” Woman’s Exponent, 15 July 1881, 10:28–29.)

  5. [5]The central committee of the People’s Party in Utah, which represented Latter-day Saint political views, met to nominate delegates to the constitutional convention. EBW, Sarah M. Kimball, and other women served on the committees and played a long-term role in the movement for statehood. (Madsen, “Schism in the Sisterhood,” 247.) On this day the Salt Lake County Central Committee scheduled primary elections for 18 July and the county convention for 23 July. (See “Home Affairs,” Woman’s Exponent, 15 July 1881, 10:28–29.) EBW was elected a delegate at the primary and subsequently attended the county convention. (EBW, Diary, 18 and 23 July 1881.) Low attendance at the primary prompted EBW to publish “Woman Suffrage in Utah,” Woman’s Exponent, 15 Aug. 1881, 10:44.

  6. [6]In a 10 July 1881 Tabernacle meeting, President Joseph F. Smith advised against selling or mortgaging personal real estate to those outside the church. Other church leaders also spoke on economic practices. Brigham Young had earlier urged Latter-day Saints to work in cooperatives and build a self-sufficient economy, particularly after the railroad, completed in 1869, brought people into the area seeking financial gain. In 1879, John Taylor established boards of trade to set uniform prices and expand the regional economy. As the mining industry brought affluence to Salt Lake City in the 1880s, developers subdivided large downtown blocks for businesses and housing. In later sermons, Joseph F. Smith emphasized home property as an inheritance for wife and children, not to be mortgaged for speculation. (Godfrey, Religion, Politics, and Sugar, 5–6; Arrington, et al., Building the City of God, 311–335; Sillitoe, History of Salt Lake County, 95–96; Smith, “Evils of Mortgaging,” 147–149; Smith, “The Evils of Mortgaging,” 722–723.)

  7. [7]Alfred Andre de l’Orme became EBW’s French instructor on 5 July 1881. EBW advertised his skills in art and language in the Woman’s Exponent. She commented upon his death in the county infirmary in 1903. (EBW, Diary, 1881, Memoranda, Cash Account; “University of Deseret,” Woman’s Exponent, 15 Aug. 1881, 10:44; “Home Affairs,” Woman’s Exponent, 1 Nov. 1881, 10:85; EBW, Diary, 24 July 1903.)

  8. [8]Likely friends from New Salem, Massachusetts, Thomas H. and Rebecca Haskell Woodbury.

  9. [9]Augusta Joyce Crocheron, Wild Flowers of Deseret: A Collection of Efforts in Verse (Salt Lake City: Juvenile Instructor Office, 1881). The book’s publication was announced by EBW in “Home Affairs,” Woman’s Exponent, 15 July 1881, 10:29, in which EBW modestly mentioned the dedication to herself. Later mention of the book of poems included a letter from an easterner who had read and enjoyed it. (“Interesting Items,” Woman’s Exponent, 15 Sept. 1881, 10:59.)

  10. [10]Woman’s Exponent honored Joseph Young with black-bordered editorial columns. Young was the older brother of Brigham Young and one of the first presidents of the Seventy. EBW wrote his life sketch in an editorial and also provided a summary of the funeral services. (“Death of President Joseph Young,” Woman’s Exponent, 1 Aug. 1881, 10:36.)

  11. [11]Armitage taught painting and drawing classes. (“University of Deseret,” Woman’s Exponent, 15 Aug. 1881, 10:44.)

  12. [12]“Eleventh Ward Primary,” Woman’s Exponent, 1 Aug. 1881, 10:38.