Emmeline Wells and the Suffrage Movement

BYU Studies

Volume 59:3 (2020) - In 1909, Susa Young Gates listed Emmeline B. Wells, along with Elmina S. Taylor and Eliza R. Snow, as one of the three greatest women The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints had produced. Biographer Carol Cornwall Madsen attests to the spread and durability of Emmeline’s influence, reminding us that “she was the most widely known Mormon woman of her time, in and outside” the Church and Utah. She was bright, observant, and articulate, with a keen memory. She was an outspoken representative of her people, meeting with presidents and national suffrage leaders, and she left a voluminous record of noteworthy events, Relief Society business, and her interactions with and impressions of prominent members of her community.