Manuscripts
Microfilm of manuscripts related to Mary E. Lightner, including a journal, miscellaneous writings, and letters. The first item on the reel is a journal kept by Mary while she was traveling by steamer to Omaha and overland to Utah from May to September 1863. The journal opens with Mary boarding the steamer Canada for St. Louis. Mary writes of a soldier who had lost his leg in battle during the Civil War, of a coffin containing another soldier, and of the difficult conditions on board with leaks, livestock, and disreputable passengers. She also writes of Mormons coming on board and that she had "not seen the face of a brother Mormon for 17 years." After landing at Omaha, Mary joined a camp with Mormons from England, Denmark, and Africa. She subsequently records her overland journey to Utah, and the journal ends with her arrival in Minersville. The miscellaneous writings include a speech made by Mary in 1889 (regarding her travels to Utah for her faith and the history of the Church), a short sketch of her marriage to Joseph Smith (1902), a sketch of the organization of the Minersville Relief Society (1914), and typed remarks given by Mary at B.Y.U. regarding Joseph Smith and the persecution of the Mormons (1905). The microfilm also contains 13 letters written to Mary, including one from Presendia L. Kimball (1890), three from Eliza Roxcy Snow (1865-1870, including mention of the Relief Society in Minersville), five from Emmeline B. Wills, the editor of the Woman's Exponent (1880-1889), 3 from Zina D.H. Young (1886-1887), and one from Brigham Young regarding Brother Henry, bishop at Minersville (1867). There is also one letter from Mary to Brother Henry and family (1895).
MSS MFilm 00136
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