Item Detail
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Barrus, Elizabeth Ratcliffe
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MSS 827
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Elizabeth Ratcliffe Barrus was born December 9, 1879 to James Ratcliffe and Emma Eastham in Grantsville, Tooele County, Utah. She married Martin Darius Barrus in the Salt Lake City Temple, and they had eight children, although one died at a young age. Elizabeth died September 9, 1961.
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Part of the J. Allen Parkinson collection, this is a two-page typescript biography of Elizabeth, written by a friend. It is located in the third folder of the collection, which is labeled, Biographies, Ba- By. It provides few biographical details but focuses on the musical talent and education of Elizabeth. From her youth, she was raised to love music, and she and her siblings made frequent trips to Salt Lake City in order to hear or bring back prominent musical artists. When Elizabeth was sixteen, she was offered the opportunity to study voice culture, but her parents thought it would be better for her talents to be used among her own people, within her family and friends. Her older sister taught her play the organ, and Elizabeth served as an organist for nearly all the wards in which she resided. She also served as chorister for the MIA, and trained a chorus to sing at a stake conference as well. One of her proudest accomplishments was taking the singing mothers to the Salt Lake Tabernacle to perform.