CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by DigitalCommons@USU Utah State University DigitalCommons@USU All USU Press Publications USU Press 2009 Post-Manifesto Polygamy: The 1899-1904 Correspondence of Helen, Owen, and Avery Woodruff Lu Ann Faylor Snyder Phillip A. Snyder Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs Part of the History of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Snyder, L. A. F., & Snyder, P. A. (2009). Post-manifesto polygamy: The 1899-1904 correspondence of Helen, Owen, and Avery Woodruff. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press. This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the USU Press at DigitalCommons@USU. It has been accepted for inclusion in All USU Press Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Post-Manifesto Polygamy The 1899–1904 Correspondence of Helen, Owen, and Avery Woodruff Volume 11 Life Writings of Frontier Women HelenWoodruff C ou rtes y of the Lam bert and Woodruff families Owen Woodruff Avery Woodruff C ou rte sy of t he L C amb ou ert an rt d Woodruff families esy of the Lam bert and W oodruff families Post-Manifesto Polygamy The 1899–1904 Correspondence of Helen, Owen, and Avery Woodruff Edited by Lu Ann Faylor Snyder and Phillip A. Snyder Utah State University Press Logan, Utah 2009 Copyright © 2009 Utah State University Press All rights reserved Utah State University Press Logan, Utah 84322–7800 www.usu.edu/usupress Manufactured in the United States of America Printed on acid-free paper ISBN: 978–0–87421–739–1 (cloth) ISBN: 978–0–87421–740–7 (e-book) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Post-manifesto polygamy : the 1899-1904 correspondence of Helen, Owen, and Avery Woodruff / edited by Lu Ann Faylor Snyder and Phillip A. Snyder. p. cm. -- (Life writings of frontier women ; v. 11) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-87421-739-1 (cloth : alk. paper) -- ISBN 978-0-87421-740-7 (e-book) 1. Polygamy--Religious aspects--Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 2. Polygamy--Religious aspects--Mormon Church. 3. Woodruff, Abraham Owen, 1872-1904--Correspondence. 4. Woodruff, Helen May Winters, b. 1873--Corre- spondence. 5. Lambert, Eliza Avery Clark Woodruff, b. 1882--Correspondence. I. Snyder, Lu Ann Faylor. II. Snyder, Phillip A. BX8641.S65 2008 289.3092’2--dc22 [B] 2009007441 For the descendants of Helen and Owen and Avery And also for the descendants of Lu Ann Contents Illustrations x Acknowledgments xi Preface xiii Introduction 1 Woodruff Letters and Supporting Documents 43 1899 Letter 1, Helen to Owen, July 17 43 Letter 2, Helen to Owen, August 14 44 Avery’s “Autobiography and Recollections,” Excerpt A 45 1900 Letter 3, Avery to Owen, October 25 52 Letter 4, Helen to Owen, November 4 53 Letter 5, Avery to Owen, November 7 54 Letter 6, Helen to Owen, November 10 54 Letter 7, Helen to Owen, November 10 55 Letter 8, Helen to Owen, November 11 57 Letter 9, Helen to Owen, November 12 58 Letter 10, Avery to Owen, November 17 60 Letter 11, Helen to Owen, November 19 61 Letter 12, Helen to Owen, November 21 63 Letter 13, Helen to Owen, November 23 64 Letter 14, Helen to Owen, December 2 65 Letter 15, Helen to Owen, December 4 66 Letter 16, Avery to Owen, December 8 67 Letter 17, Avery to Owen and Helen, December 16 68 Avery’s “Autobiography and Recollections,” Excerpt B 69 1901 Letter 18, Avery to Owen, January 12 72 Letter 19, Avery to Owen, January 27 72 Letter 20, Avery to Owen and Helen, February 16 73 Letter 21, Avery to Owen, March 12 75 Letter 22, Helen to Owen, March 17 76 Letter 23, Helen to Owen, March 18 77 Letter 24, Helen to Owen, March 19 78 Letter 25, Avery to Helen, May 16 79 Letter 26, Avery to Owen and Helen, May 30 80 Letter 27, Avery to Owen and Helen, June 14 81 Letter 28, Owen to Avery, November 15 81 Letter 29, Helen to Avery, November 24 82 1902 Letter 30, Owen to Avery, January 14 84 Letter 31, Owen to Helen, January 17 85 Letter 32, Owen to Helen, January 21 86 Letter 33, Owen to Avery, February 29 87 Letter 34, Owen to Avery, March 17 88 Letter 35, Owen to Avery, May 1 89 Letter 36, Owen to Avery, June 7 89 Letter 37, Owen to Avery, July 4 90 Letter 38, Owen to Helen, July 12 91 Letter 39, Helen to Owen, July 20 92 Letter 40, Owen to Avery, July 25 93 Letter 41, Owen to Helen, August 5 94 Letter 42, Owen to Avery, August 8 95 Letter 43, Owen to Avery, August 16 96 Letter 44, Owen to Avery, August 22 97 Letter 45, Owen to Helen, August 25 98 Letter 46, Owen to Avery, September 30 99 Letter 47, Owen to Avery, October 18 100 Letter 48, Owen to Avery, October 26 101 Letter 49, Owen to Avery, November 9 101 Letter 50, Owen to Avery, November 21 102 1903 Letter 51, Owen to Avery, January 19 104 Letter 52, Owen to Avery, January 29 105 Letter 53, Helen to Owen, February 4 106 Letter 54, Helen to Owen, March 5 107 Letter 55, Owen to Avery, May 2 109 Letter 56, Owen to Avery, June 29 110 Letter 57, Owen to Avery, September 2 111 Letter 58, Helen to Avery, October 4 112 Letter 59, Helen to Owen, October 27 113 Letter 60, Helen to Owen, November 1 115 Letter 61, Helen to Owen, November 11 117 Letter 62, Owen to Avery, November 14 118 Letter 63, Avery to Helen, December 22 120 Avery’s “Autobiography and Recollections,” Excerpt C 121 1904 and Aftermath Letter 64, Owen to Avery, January 1 125 Letter 65, Owen to Avery, January 5 126 Letter 66, Owen to Avery, January 16 127 Letter 67, Owen to Avery, January 22 128 Letter 68, Helen to Owen, February 4 131 Letter 69, Helen to Owen, February 9 132 Letter 70, Helen to Owen, February 12 134 Letter 71, Helen to Owen, February 19 136 Letter 72, Helen to Owen, February 20 137 Letter 73, Helen to Owen, February 24 139 Letter 74, Helen to Owen, March 1 141 Letter 75, Helen to Owen, March 6 143 Letter 76, Helen to Owen, March 8 144 Letter 77, Owen to Avery, March 8 145 Letter 78, Owen to Avery, March 146 Letter 79, Helen to Owen, March 12 146 Letter 80, Helen to Owen, March 16 147 Letter 81, Owen to Avery, May 7 148 Letter 82, Owen to Avery, May 18 149 Letter 83, Owen to Avery, May 20 149 Letter 84, Avery to Owen, May 30 150 Letter 85, Avery to Owen, June 1 151 Avery’s “Autobiography and Recollections,” Excerpt D 152 Alonzo L. Taylor’s Journal 154 Kate Spilsbury’s Recollections 157 Emma Woodruff’s Letters to Avery 159 Woodruff Circle of Family and Friends 161 Notes 169 Bibliography 189 Index 191 Illustrations Helen, Owen, and Avery Woodruff ii Abraham Owen Woodruff 2 Owen Woodruff with his father, LDS President Wilford Woodruff, 1897 6 Helen May Winters 8 Mormon Colonies in Bighorn Basin (map) 15 Eliza Avery Clark Woodruff 17 Mormon Colonies in Mexico (map) 26 Avery Woodruff’s house in Colonia Juárez, Mexico 27 Avery Woodruff and her daughter Ruth, 1905 35 Grave of Abraham Owen Woodruff, in El Paso, Texas 37 Wilford Owen, Rhoda, June, and Helen Mar Woodruff 40 Helen Woodruff 41 Acknowledgments First of all, I must thank Maureen Ursenbach Beecher, my former col- league in the English Department at Brigham Young University, without whose infl uence this project on the Woodruff correspondence would not have been developed and completed. My wife Lu Ann began work on it during a senior seminar she took from Maureen on the personal writings of nineteenth and early twentieth-century Latter-day Saint women. She continued working on it during her PhD studies in history at the University of Utah. My own understanding of the importance of recovering, documenting, and publishing these women’s writings deep- ened one spring when Maureen asked me to substitute for her in teach- ing this seminar after she had become ill halfway through the term. Lu Ann and I ended up team-teaching the class and had a wonderful expe- rience together with the students. Further, after Lu Ann’s death from colon-to-liver cancer on January 15, 2000, Maureen gently but persis- tently pushed me to fi nish Lu Ann’s work on this project, which I have fi nally done. Next, I must thank John Alley, executive editor of Utah State University Press, for his patience and guidance as I completed this proj- ect. He and Maureen provided excellent suggestions to both Lu Ann and me for revisions and additions to earlier drafts. In addition, I must thank Lowell “Ben” Bennion, Jr., one of the manuscript’s outside reviewers, for his invaluable suggestions for further research and revision, particularly regarding the introduction, for which he provided especially detailed notes. Thanks also to Benjamin Wood, a senior English major at USU, for his help with the fi nal proofi ng of the letter transcriptions. Many thanks to Mel Thorne, director of BYU’s Humanities Publication Center, and to his students for their invaluable work on the index. Lu Ann’s and my son Travis drafted the maps. It is gratifying to have him contribute to this project.