Item Detail
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Hess, Emeline Bigler
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1824-1862
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MSS 8
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Biography
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Emeline Bigler Hess was born August 20, 1824 in Harrison County, West Virginia to Jacob Bigler and Elizabeth Harvey. She married John W. Hess in Nauvoo, Illinois at age 21 in 1845. They couple moved with the saints from Nauvoo to Mount Pisgah, Iowa, and then to Council Bluffs on April 4, 1846. They enlisted in the Mormon Battalion not long thereafter, Emeline as a laundress, working with only four other women. The couple arrived in Salt Lake City on July 28, only four days after Brigham Young and the other companies had reached Utah. They built a log house, and their first baby was born 1848. They later moved to Farmington, and after having nine children, Emeline died during childbirth at age 38, on January 31, 1862.
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This two-page typescript biography from the Margaret Steed Hess collection was written by Emeline's son, Joseph Wells Hess. It covers the general biographical information of Emeline's life and incorporates an excerpt from the diary of John H. Wess, Emeline's husband. At the close of the biography is a note from Margaret Steed Hess that reads, 'A wonderful mother, she lived such a short life, had 9 children yet she accomplished more in her 17 years of married life than most people do by living to good old ages. 38 was so young to die and leave such a small little family eldest 13 and youngest 1 year old. She was a stalwart, faithful Pioneer, one who knew the hardships of the long tiresome journey across the plains and the hazardous journey with the Mormon Battalion, it all took its toll from her frail little body, no wonder life was cut short while so young. She was loyal to her family, church and to her God. May he bless her memory.'
Another two-page typescript biography of Emeline's life is included in this collection, though it states basically the same information with nearly the same wording, just from a slightly different perspective. -
1829-1914