The Women of Mormondom

by Edward W. Tullidge

Probably the most remarkable woman's rights demonstration of the age, was that of the women of Mormondom, in their grand mass-meetings, held throughout Utah, in all its principal cities and settlements, in January of 1870. And it was the more singular and complex, because Utah is the land of polygamy—the only land in all Christendom where that institution has been established—and that, too, chiefly by an Anglo-Saxon people—the last race in the world that the sociologist might have supposed would have received the system of plural marriage! Hence, they have lifted it to a plane that, perhaps, no other race could have done—above mere sexual considerations, and, in its theories, altogether incompatible with the serfdom of woman; for the tens of thousands of the women of Utah not only held their grand mass-meetings to confirm and maintain polygamy, but they did it at the very moment of the passage of their female suffrage bill; so that in their vast assemblages they were virtually exercising their vote.

On the 13th of January, 1870, "notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather, the old tabernacle," says the Deseret News, "was densely packed with ladies of all ages, and, as that building will comfortably seat five thousand persons, there could not have been fewer than between five and six thousand present on the occasion."

It was announced in the programme that there were to be none present but ladies. Several reporters of the press, however, obtained admittance, among whom was Colonel Finley Anderson, special correspondent of the New York Herald.

The meeting was opened with a very impressive prayer from Mrs. Zina D. Young; and then, on motion of Eliza R. Snow, Mrs. Sarah M. Kimball was elected president. Mrs. Lydia Alder was chosen secretary, and Mrs. M. T. Smoot, Mrs. M. N. Hyde, Isabella Horn, Mary Leaver, Priscilla Staines and Rachel Grant, were appointed a committee to draft resolutions. This was done with executive dispatch; for many present had for years been leaders of women's organizations. The president arose and addressed a few pithy remarks to the vast assemblage. She said:

"We are to speak in relation to the government and institutions under which we live. She would ask, Have we transgressed any law of the United States? [Loud "no" from the audience.] Then why are we here to-day? We have been driven from place to place, and wherefore? Simply for believing and practicing the counsels of God, as contained in the gospel of heaven. The object of this meeting is to consider the justice of a bill now before the Congress of the United States. We are not here to advocate woman's rights, but man's rights. The bill in question would not only deprive our fathers, husbands and brothers, of enjoying the privileges bequeathed to citizens of the United States, but it would deprive us, as women, of the privilege of selecting our husbands; and against this we unqualifiedly protest."

During the absence of the committee on resolutions, the following speech was delivered by Bathsheba W. Smith:

"Beloved Sisters and Friends: It is with no ordinary feelings that I meet with you on the present occasion. From my early youth I have been identified with the Latter-day Saints; hence, I have been an eye and ear witness to many of the wrongs that have been inflicted upon our people by a spirit of intolerant persecution.

"I watched by the bedside of the first apostle, David W. Patten, who fell a martyr in the Church. He was a noble soul. He was shot by a mob while defending the saints in the State of Missouri. As Brother Patten's life-blood oozed away, I stood by and heard his dying testimony to the truth of our holy religion—declaring himself to be a friend to all mankind. His last words, addressed to his wife, were: 'Whatever you do, oh! do not deny the faith.' This circumstance made a lasting impression on my youthful mind.

"I was intimately acquainted with the life and ministry of our beloved prophet Joseph, and our patriarch Hyrum Smith.. I know that they were pure men, who labored for the redemption of the human family. For six years I heard their public and private teachings. It was from their lips that I heard taught the principle of celestial marriage; and when I saw their mangled forms cold in death, having been slain for the testimony of Jesus, by the hands of cruel bigots, in defiance of law, justice and executive pledges; and although this was a scene of barbarous cruelty, which can never be erased from the memory of those who witnessed the heartrending cries of widows and orphans, and mingled their tears with those of thousands of witnesses of the mournful occasion—the memories of which I hardly feel willing to awaken—yet I realized that they had sealed their ministry with their blood, and that their testimony was in force.

"On the 9th day of February, 1846—the middle of a cold and bleak winter—my husband, just rising from a bed of sickness, and I, in company with thousands of saints, were driven again from our comfortable home—the accumulation of six years' industry and prudence—and, with the little children, commenced a long and weary journey through a wilderness, to seek another home; for a wicked mob had decreed we must leave. Governor Ford, of Illinois, said the laws were powerless to protect us. Exposed to the cold of winter and the storms of spring, we continued our journey, amid want and exposure, burying by the wayside a dead mother, a son, and many kind friends and relatives.