Item Detail
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Boyce, Pearl Elizabeth Mitchell
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1881-1953
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MSS SC 794
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Autobiography
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Pearl Elizabeth Mitchell Boyce was born 13 December 1881 in Salt Lake City, Utah to Thomas Huston [Houston] Mitchell and Elizabeth Ann Blyth. Not long after her birth her family decided to move to Vernal, Utah to open a mercantile store, which catered to soldiers, cowboys, ranchers, Indians, and the towns people nearby. Pearl grew up with her brothers as playmates and enjoyed a happy home life with very few cares. However, when her oldest brother Huey was killed after a horse accident her parents separated and Pearl left to attend a LDS university. There she studied diligently and graduated with teaching credentials and as valedictorian of her class. She met a man maned Ira Boyce and on 4 September 1907 they were married after he returned from his mission to England. Pearl, all during this time, was filling teaching positions in schools in the Granite and then Farmington, Utah areas. After their marriage the new family originally set up home in Granite, Utah then Clifton, Idaho were they passed many peaceful happy years as they were blessed with children and their family grew. When Pearls mother started to become ill they moved to Salt Lake City to care for her until she passed away in 1919 and then moved to a house on Canyon Road, Salt Lake which they bought with money left to them by her mother. There the family stayed and took part as faithful members of the Eighteenth ward for many years. Pearl passed away on 24 June 1953.
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This manuscript is part of a collection of three histories, beginning with Pearl Elizabeth Mitchell Boyce. Her autobiography begins with eight pages of the photocopied original handwritten account of her life. The penmanship is a messy cursive, but with some effort, it can be read. There are then six typewritten pages continuing at the point the handwritten story leaves off. The autobiography covers the major events in Pearls life and includes memories that are particularly important to her. Included are some experiences as a child and a story where she believes to have met one of the three Nephites. Her autobiography ends sometime after 1922 but does not give a specific date. Following Pearls autobiography, she includes a history of her mother, Elizabeth Ann Blyth, which she wrote. This biography was written in 1949 and consists of twelve photocopied pages of the original handwritten account again in messy, but legible cursive. The last manuscript in this collection is a seven-page history of Margaret Mitchell written by Pearl. The pages are photocopies of the original handwritten text written in 1948.
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1881-1922