Item Detail
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Woolley, Flora Snow
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1856-1946
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MSS SC 856
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MSS SC 856: 1 fd. containing a book entitled 'Experiences in the Life of Edwin Dilworth Woolley, Jr. and His Family', compiled by Julius Woolley Dalley containing the autobiography of Flora Snow Woolley
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Flora Snow Woolley was born 16 June 1856 in Salt Lake City, Utah to Erastus and Elizabeth Rebecka Ashby Snow. In 1858, when Johnston's Army was threatening to enter the Salt Lake Valley, Flora and her family moved to Provo, Utah. Three years later, when Flora was five years old, her father was called to help colonize the Dixie Mission so Flora's family moved to St. George, Utah. As a child, Flora loved to sing and attend school. When she was eight years old, her father baptized her a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This was the beginning of Flora's life-long involvement and service in every organization of the church. On 12 April 1877 Flora became the second wife of Edwin Dilworth Woolley whom she met at the age of 21. Her husband left the next day to serve a six month mission in England. For two years, Flora lived in the same home as her husband's first wife, Emma. Edwin was a dairy farmer in southern Utah. After the death of Flora's nineteen month old daughter, Edwin moved Flora to another home where she boarded and cooked for hired men. Her husband continued to move her to the different farms he owned throughout Utah, until the spring of 1886, when he moved Flora to Pipe Springs, Arizona, to keep the Deputy Marshals from discovering his involvement in polygamy. In 1891, when the threat of being arrested subsided, Flora was able to move to Kanab, Utah, where she kept public house for thirty two years and boarded school teachers. Flora saved the money that she earned from boarding visitors and teachers and used it to travel to many places in the United States. She was the mother of eight children: Florence, Dilworth, Herbert, Bessie, LeGrande, Arthur, Pruede, and Marion. After the death of her husband (caused by cancer) in July 1921, Flora lived with her children at different times until she died on May 18, 1946.
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This collection contains a ten-page transcript of Flora's memoirs and family photographs complied by Julius Woolley Dalley. It is entitled, 'Experiences in the Life of Edwin Dilworth Woolley, Jr. and His Family'. This well organized compilation is in good condition and the stories of Flora's life that are included make this collection very enjoyable to read. Flora tells of her first memories about her father, including the time he brought her a storybook when he returned from a mission in St. Louis. She also remembers when her family moved to the Dixie Mission, where there were many lizards, scorpions, and rattlesnakes that were 'dangerous and annoying'. She gives details about her experiences in school and her early involvement in the Church as a singer in the choir and a member of the ward dramatics. Interestingly, when Flora refers to her husband, she always calls him Mr. Woolley, and never mentions him unless he was moving her to a different area. Flora includes a brief synopsis of her children's accomplishments. In 1890, Flora went to visit her family in Salt Lake City. Deputy Marshals wanted evidence that her husband was a polygamist and when they heard that Flora was in Salt Lake they arrested her husband and searched for Flora. She hid in seven different homes until the Marshals stopped searching, released her husband, and she was able to escape back to Arizona. In Flora's older years, she wrote a history of the Pipe Springs Monument for the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers. She traveled frequently and gives details about the many places she visited including New York, Washington, California, Missouri, the Kiabab Forest, and different places in Utah. Boarding House
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