page_title: Emmeline B. Wells
section_title: Marriages
hierarchical_section_title: Emmeline B. Wells / Biography / Marriages
caption_attribution_description: English: a young Emmeline B. Wells writing at a desk
context_page_description: Emmeline Blanche Woodward Harris Whitney Wells was an American journalist, editor, poet, women's rights advocate, and diarist. She served as the fifth Relief Society General President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1910 until her death. She represented the state of Utah at both the National and American Women's Suffrage conventions and was president of the Utah Woman's Suffrage Association. She was the editor of the Women's Exponent for 37 years. She was a plural wife to Newel K. Whitney, then Daniel H. Wells.
context_section_description: She married 15-year-old James Harris, also a new church member, on July 19, 1843,  in Vernon, Vermont. This marriage proved to be difficult for the young Emmeline; her mother-in-law disapproved of her, and she was unprepared for married life. Later, she wrote that she had been too emotional to make such an important decision and regretted marrying at such a young age. Life for Emmeline (now Harris) only became more difficult when she, along with the Harris family and a group of other New England Latter-day Saints, left for the Mormon settlement of Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1844. After a time, her mother- and father-in-law left the church and Nauvoo, so she and James were left alone. She gave birth to a son, Eugene Henri, on September 1, 1844. Unfortunately, Harris had been sick with "ague" during her pregnancy, and at six weeks old, her infant son became sick as well and did not survive. In addition to battling her own illness and the sorrow of losing her son, Emmeline said goodbye to her husband, who left to find work in St. Louis. He asked her to leave Nauvoo to live with his parents once more, but she refused. James Harris died as a sailor in the Indian Ocean and never returned to his wife.
  The young Emmeline Harris returned to teaching. Through his children's attending her school, Harris met and later married Newel K. Whitney on February 24, 1845, under the Mormon practice of plural marriage. Emmeline Whitney admired her new husband and felt much safer as his wife. She left Nauvoo in 1846 and, along with the large Whitney family, left Winter Quarters, Nebraska, for Utah Territory in 1848. They traveled with the Heber C. Kimball company at the invitation of then-church president Brigham Young. During the journey, Whitney grew close to her sister-wives. She was pregnant when the company reached the Salt Lake Valley on October 8, 1848. Her first daughter, Isabel "Belle" Whitney, was born in the back of the same wagon that had carried her mother across the country; Emmeline later recounted, "our poor wagons and tents were the only homes we had." After a Whitney family home was constructed, her second daughter, Melvina Whitney, was born on August 18, 1850. Unfortunately, this good news was followed in short order by her second husband's unexpected death. Emmeline Whitney deeply mourned his passing. By age 22, she had been widowed twice.
  Newel Whitney's death in 1850 prompted her to begin teaching school once more, as means of providing for her daughters. She remained primarily responsible for  financially supporting herself for the rest of her life. She then approached Daniel H. Wells, a friend of her late husband's and a prominent civic leader, about marriage.  In 1852, she became his seventh wife. Their early marriage was distant, as Wells was heavily involved in civic and church duties and had six other families. She lived separately from Wells's other wives. She had another daughter in 1853, Emma "Emmie" Wells. When the Utah War broke out in 1857, Emmeline moved south to Provo. There, she continued to teach school. In 1859 she gave birth to her fourth daughter, Elizabeth Ann Wells, who she named after Elizabeth Ann Whitney. Though the early years of their relationship had been difficult, Daniel and Emmeline Wells became fond and loving companions later in life. She did not regret or doubt her participation in polygamy. Daniel Wells passed away on March 24, 1891. By the end of her life, she had been widowed three times.
caption: Emmeline B. Wells writing
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