Eliza R. Snow
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Eliza Roxey Snow (January 21, 1804 – December 5, 1887) was one of the many wives of
Joseph Smith Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious and political leader and the founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. Publishing the Book of Mormon at the age of 24, Smith attracted tens of thou ...
and then
Brigham Young Brigham Young ( ; June 1, 1801August 29, 1877) was an American religious leader and politician. He was the second President of the Church (LDS Church), president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) from 1847 until h ...
after Smith's death. In the history of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Restorationism, restorationist Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, denomination and the ...
(LDS Church), she was a well-known and significant figure. She wrote poetry, chronicled history, celebrated nature and relationships, and expounded scripture and doctrine. Snow was the second
Relief Society The Relief Society is a philanthropic and educational women's organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It was founded in 1842 in Nauvoo, Illinois, United States, and has more than 7 million members in over 1 ...
general president of the LDS Church, which she reestablished in the
Utah Territory The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah, the 45th st ...
in 1866. She was also the older sister of
Lorenzo Snow Lorenzo Snow (April 3, 1814 – October 10, 1901) was an American religious leader who served as the List of presidents of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, fifth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS C ...
, the LDS Church's fifth
president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...
.


Early years and education

Eliza Roxey Snow was born in
Becket, Massachusetts Becket is a New England town, town in Berkshire County, Massachusetts, Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is part of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts, Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,931 ...
, the second of seven children (four daughters and three sons) to Oliver Snow III (1775-1845) and Rosetta Leonara Pettibone Snow (1778-1846). Her parents were of English descent and their ancestors were among the earliest settlers of
New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...
. Although her middle name is a namesake from her paternal aunt Roxey Snow (1776-1817), her middle name is also frequently spelled as Roxcy. When she was two years old, her family left New England to settle on a new and fertile farm in the
Western Reserve The Connecticut Western Reserve was a portion of land claimed by the Colony of Connecticut and later by the state of Connecticut in what is now mostly the northeastern region of Ohio. Warren, Ohio was the Historic Capital in Trumbull County. T ...
valley, in
Mantua Township, Portage County, Ohio Mantua Township ( ) is one of the eighteen civil township, townships of Portage County, Ohio, Portage County, Ohio, United States. The United States Census, 2020, 2020 census found 4,576 people in the township. Name and history Mantua Township ...
. The Snow family valued learning and saw that each child had educational opportunities. Although a farmer by occupation, Oliver Snow performed much public business, officiating in several responsible positions. His daughter, Eliza, being ten years the senior of her eldest brother, was employed as secretary, as soon as she was competent, in her father's office as justice of the peace. She was skilled in various kinds of
needlework Needlework refers to decorative sewing and other textile arts, textile handicrafts that involve the use of a Sewing needle, needle. Needlework may also include related textile crafts like crochet (which uses a crochet hook, hook), or tatting, ( ...
and home manufactures. Two years in succession she drew the prize awarded by the committee on manufactures, at the
county fair An agricultural show is a public event exhibiting the equipment, animals, sports and recreation associated with agriculture and animal husbandry. The largest comprise a livestock show (a judged event or display in which breeding stock is exhib ...
, for the best manufactured leghorn bonnet.


Early church involvement

Snow's
Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...
parents welcomed a variety of religious believers into their home. In 1828, Snow and her parents joined Alexander Campbell's Christian restorationist movement, the Disciples of Christ. In 1831, when Joseph Smith, founder of the
Latter Day Saint movement The Latter Day Saint movement (also called the LDS movement, LDS restorationist movement, or Smith–Rigdon movement) is the collection of independent church groups that trace their origins to a Christian Restorationist movement founded by ...
, took up residence in
Hiram, Ohio Hiram is a village in northern Portage County, Ohio, United States. It was formed from portions of Hiram Township in the Connecticut Western Reserve. The population was 996 at the 2020 census. Hiram is part of the Akron metropolitan area. It ...
, four miles from the family's farm, the Snow family took a strong interest in the new religious movement. Snow's mother and sister joined the Church of the Latter Day Saints early on. Several years later, in 1835, Snow was baptized and moved to
Kirtland, Ohio Kirtland is a city in Lake County, Ohio, United States. The population was 6,937 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Kirtland is known for being the early headquarters of the Latter Day Saint movement from 1831 to 1837 and the site of ...
, the church's headquarters. After arriving, Snow donated her inheritance, a large sum of money, toward building the church's Kirtland Temple. In appreciation, the building committee provided her with the title to "a very valuable otsituated near the Temple, with a fruit tree-an excellent spring of water, and house that accommodated two families." Here, Snow taught school for Smith's family and was influential in interesting her younger brother, Lorenzo, in Mormonism. He later became an
apostle An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary. The word is derived from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", itself derived from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to se ...
and the LDS Church's fifth president. Snow moved west with her family and the body of the church, first to Adam-ondi-Ahman, a short-lived settlement in
Missouri Missouri (''see #Etymology and pronunciation, pronunciation'') is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it border ...
, and then to
Nauvoo, Illinois Nauvoo ( ; from the ) is a small city in Hancock County, Illinois, United States, on the Mississippi River near Fort Madison, Iowa. The population of Nauvoo was 950 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Nauvoo attracts visitors for its h ...
. In the 1930s, Alice Merrill Horne wrote in her autobiography that when she was a girl she overheard a conversation that in Missouri during the 1838 Mormon War, Eliza Snow was brutally
gang-rape In scholarly literature and criminology, gang rape, also called serial gang rape, party rape, group rape, or multiple perpetrator rape,Ullman, S. E. (2013). 11 Multiple perpetrator rape victimization. Handbook on the Study of Multiple Perpetrator ...
d by eight Missourians, which left her unable to have children. Peggy Fletcher Stack
"Shocking historical finding: Mormon icon Eliza R. Snow was gang-raped by Missouri ruffians"
''
The Salt Lake Tribune ''The Salt Lake Tribune'' is a newspaper published in the city of Salt Lake City, Utah. The ''Tribune'' is owned by The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc., a non-profit corporation. The newspaper's motto is "Utah's Independent Voice Since 1871." History ...
'', 3 March 2016.
Later, according to Horne, Joseph Smith offered her marriage as a plural wife "as a way of promising her that she would still have eternal offspring and that she would be a mother in Zion." In Nauvoo, Snow again made her living as a schoolteacher. After Smith's death, Snow swore in an affidavit recorded by a notary public that she had secretly wed him on June 29, 1842, as a plural wife. However, Snow had organized a petition in that same summer of 1842, with a thousand female signatures, denying that Smith was connected with polygamy and extolling his virtue. As secretary of the Ladies' Relief Society, she organized the publishing of a certificate in October 1842 denouncing polygamy and denying Smith as its creator or participant. Decades later Snow publicly described Smith as, "my beloved husband, the choice of my heart and the crown of my life." Years later, when Snow was informed that Smith's first wife, Emma, had stated on her deathbed that her husband had never been a polygamist, Snow was reported to have stated she doubted the story but "If ...
his His or HIS may refer to: Computing * Hightech Information System, a Hong Kong graphics card company * Honeywell Information Systems * Hybrid intelligent system * Microsoft Host Integration Server Education * Hangzhou International School, ...
was really ister Emma'stestimony she died with a libel on her lips -- a libel against her husband -- against his wives -- against the truth, and against God...". After Smith's death, Snow married Brigham Young as a plural wife. She traveled west across the plains and arrived in the
Salt Lake Valley Salt Lake Valley is a valley in Salt Lake County, Utah, Salt Lake County in the north-central portion of the U.S. state of Utah. It contains Salt Lake City, Utah, Salt Lake City and many of its suburbs, notably Murray, Utah, Murray, Sandy, Uta ...
on October 2, 1847. There, childless Eliza became a prominent member of Young's family, moving into an upper bedroom of Young's
Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...
residence, the Lion House.


Relief Society service

The LDS Church's first Relief Society was organized by Joseph Smith in Nauvoo, Illinois on March 17, 1842, as a philanthropic and women's educational organization. Snow served as the organization's first secretary, with Smith's wife, Emma, as president. The organization was originally known as "The Female Relief Society of Nauvoo." It later became known simply as "The Relief Society." For the next three years, Snow kept copious notes of the organization's meetings, including Joseph Smith's teachings on how the organization should operate. Members of the original Relief Society stopped meeting shortly after Smith's death in 1844, and the organization soon became defunct. Brigham Young led a migration of LDS Church members to the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, and for the next twenty years attempts were periodically made to reestablish the organization. In 1855, Young commissioned Snow with reestablishing the Relief Society. Until 1868, however, activity was limited, and no sustained, church-wide Relief Society existed. For the next several years, Snow traveled throughout the Utah Territory helping Latter-day Saint
bishops A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...
again organize Relief Society in their local wards, using the notes she took as secretary in Nauvoo as the founding principles of the reestablished Relief Society. "What is the object of the Female Relief Society?" Snow wrote on one occasion. "I would reply—to do good—to bring into requisition every capacity we possess for doing good, not only in relieving the poor but in saving souls." Local Relief Societies soon fell under the umbrella of a church-wide, general Relief Society of which Snow served as president until 1887. Snow's presidency emphasized spirituality and self-sufficiency. The Relief Society sent women to medical school, trained nurses, opened the Deseret Hospital, operated cooperative stores, promoted silk manufacture, saved wheat, and built granaries. In 1872, Snow provided assistance and advice to Louisa L. Greene in the creation of a woman's publication loosely affiliated with the Relief Society—the '' Woman's Exponent''. Snow's responsibilities also extended to young women and children within the church. She was a primary organizer for the Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Association in 1870 and assisted Aurelia Spencer Rogers in establishing the Primary Association in 1878. Snow served as the Relief Society president until her death in 1887. By 1888, the Relief Society had more than 22,000 members in 400 local congregations. Snow died in Salt Lake City and was buried in Brigham Young's family cemetery.


Poetry

Snow wrote poetry from a young age, one time even writing school lessons in rhyme. Between 1826 and 1832, she published more than 20 poems in local newspapers, including the ''Western Courier'' of Ravenna, Ohio, and the ''Ohio Star'' under pen names such as Narcissa and Tullia. Her first published poem was a requiem she was requested to write for
John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before Presidency of John Adams, his presidency, he was a leader of ...
and
Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...
, in light of their simultaneous deaths July 4, 1826. A number of Snow's poems were set to music and have become important Latter-day Saint hymns, some of which appear in the current edition of the Church's hymnal. One of her hymns, "Great is the Lord", was published in the first Latter Day Saint hymnal in 1835, the year of her baptism. In Nauvoo, Snow gained minor distinction as a Mormon poet featured in local newspapers. She continued to write poems as she journeyed to the Salt Lake Valley, documenting the pioneer trail and life in Utah, and in 1850 she penned a humorous riposte regarding visiting United States officials who had not impressed the Saints. where she would rise to prominence, being called "Zion's Poetess." The first of her two volumes of ''Poems, Religious, Historical, and Political'' appeared in 1856, followed by the second in 1877. Some of her poems are: * "How Great the Wisdom and the Love" * " Invocation, or the Eternal Father and Mother" etitled "O My Father"* "Be Not Discouraged" * "My First View of a Western Prairie" * "Mental Gas" * "Think not When You Gather to Zion Your Troubles and Trials are Through" * "O Awake! My Slumbering Minstrel" One of her best-known poems, " Invocation, or the Eternal Father and Mother," was written soon after the death of her father and just over a year after the death of Joseph Smith. The poem, renamed "O My Father" after the first line, is included in the LDS Church's current hymnal, as are Snow's hymns "Great is the Lord"; "Again We Meet Around the Board"; "Awake, Ye Saints of God, Awake!"; "How Great the Wisdom and the Love"; "The Time Is Far Spent"; "In Our Lovely Deseret"; "Though Deepening Trials"; "Behold the Great Redeemer Die"; and "Truth Reflects Upon Our Senses". Eliza Snow and her brother, Lorenzo Snow, founded the Polysophical Society in December 1854 in Salt Lake City. Members shared poetry and musical and dramatic performances. Church leaders Jedediah M. Grant and Heber C. Kimball halted the society's activities because of its "adulterous spirit."


Image gallery

Eliza Roxey Snow's biographical sketch at the Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum in Salt Lake City, UT.jpg, Snow's biographical sketch at the
Pioneer Memorial Museum The Pioneer Memorial Museum is a history museum operated by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers (DUP) on Capitol Hill in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The museum hosts a large collection of artifacts related to the Mormon pioneers and early U ...
(PMM) Eliza Roxey Snow statue (1952) by Ortho Rollin Fairbanks (1925-2015) in front of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers in Salt Lake City, Utah.jpg, Snow (by Ortho R. Fairbanks; 1952) in front of the PMM Eliza Roxey Snow's embroidery (1830) in the Daughters of Utah Pioneers in Salt Lake City, Utah.jpg, Snow's embroidery (1830) in the PMM Eliza R Snow pocket watch given by Joseph Smith.jpeg, Snow’s pocket watch from Joseph Smith, located in the Church History Museum File:Eliza Roxey Snow (by Lewis Aquilla Ramsey; 1909).jpg, Snow (by Lewis Aquilla Ramsey; 1909) File:Eliza Roxey Snow (by Charles Roscoe Savage & George Martin Ottinger).jpg, Snow (by Charles Roscoe Savage & George Martin Ottinger) File:Eliza Roxey Snow (by Danquart Anthon Weggeland; 1883; Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum in Salt Lake City, UT).jpg, Snow (by Danquart Anthon Weggeland; 1883) in the PMM File:Eliza Roxey Snow (by Edward Martin).jpg, Snow (by Edward Martin) File:Eliza Roxey Snow (by Marsena Cannon; 1852).jpg, Snow (by Marsena Cannon; 1852) File:Eliza Roxey Snow (by Hippolyte Délié & Emile Béchard; 1873).jpg, Snow (by Hippolyte Délié & Emile Béchard; 1873)


Publications

* * * * * * * Articles * Poems * * * * *


Books

* * * *


See also

* Eliza R. Snow Performing Arts Center * LDS fiction * Mormon feminism * Statue of Eliza R. Snow


References


Bibliography

*


Further reading

* Karen Lynn Davidson, Jill Mulvay Derr, ''Eliza R. Snow: The Complete Poetry,'' (Brigham Young University Press, 2018) * * Palmer, Spencer J., Editor
"Eliza R. Snow's 'Sketch of my Life': Reminiscences of One of Joseph Smith's Plural Wives."
''
BYU Studies ''BYU Studies'' is a multidisciplinary academic journal covering a broad array of topics related to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints ( Mormon studies). It is published by the church-owned Brigham Young University. The journal is abs ...
'' 12 (Autumn 1971).


External links


Eliza R. Snow at Joseph Fielding Smith InstituteBiography
a
The Joseph Smith Papers Project

Eliza R. Snow letters, Brigham Young University, Harold B. Lee Library, L. Tom Perry Special Collections
{{DEFAULTSORT:Snow, Eliza R. 1804 births 1887 deaths 19th-century American poets 19th-century American women writers American Latter Day Saint hymnwriters American Latter Day Saint writers American leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints American lyricists American women hymnwriters American women non-fiction writers American women poets Burials at the Mormon Pioneer Memorial Monument Converts to Mormonism from Restoration Movement denominations General presidents of the Relief Society Latter Day Saint poets Latter Day Saints from Illinois Latter Day Saints from Missouri Latter Day Saints from Ohio Latter Day Saints from Utah Mormon pioneers People from Becket, Massachusetts People from Portage County, Ohio Poets from Massachusetts Poets from Ohio Poets from Utah Richards–Young family Wives of Brigham Young Wives of Joseph Smith 19th-century American women musicians