Item Detail
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Curtis, Emma Whaley
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1823-1894
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MSS 1799
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Biography
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Emma Whaley Curtis was born April 12, 1823 to William Whaley and Emma Johnson in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England. At age eleven, her mother became an invalid, and she was left in charge of her four younger siblings. She encountered and joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1842 and traveled to America in 1847. She spent her first year in Winter Quarters, and in 1848, she and her companion, Elizabeth Turner, crossed the plains to reach Utah, accompanied by George Curtis, whom Emma later married. She died September 3, 1894.
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This one-page typescript biography was written by Emma's daughter, Emma Sophronia Curtis Simons and is located in the first book of remembrance in Cleo Grigg Johnson Gilchrist's collection. The most extensive description is of Emma and George's relationship prior to their marriage; they were worried that they would not be able to marry because Emma was previously engaged to another man. After the man released her from the engagement, they were married. Emma was the only member of her family to join the Church.
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