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HISTORICAL. ELizA ROXEYSNOW SMITH i:liza Roxey Snow Smith :-Second President of the f Societies in the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latay Saints, was born January 21, 1804, in Becket, shire county, Mass., dau ghter of Oliver Snow and tta L. Pettibone. Her father was a native of Massaletts and her mother of Connecticut. Before hearand accepting the gospel of Christ, as revealed 19h the Prophet Joseph Smith, Eliza's parents be~d to the Baptists . But they were broad in their s, and hospitable to all g ood people, whether proIrs of religion or otherwise. Eliza with her brothers sisters being carefully trained in habits of industry, omy and strict morality, received ah;o the best of lastic education that the country then afforded. In youth, Miss Snow became an expert needle-woman. also excelled in straw work which was then in great and for use in the manufa cture of hats and bonnets. she was best known a nd recognized, even in early life, . writer of great promise. H er father was a farmer, much of his time was ocoupied with public business, Eliza was often employed a s secretary for her ler; her natural capabilities rendering her well pted to such service. While quite young she wrote ms for various publications , and won an enviable reption among the publishers who were favored with protions from her pen. When but twenty-two years of , she was solicited throu gh the ' press to write a Iliem for John Adams ai-Jd Thomas Jefferson, whose ultaneous deaths on the -National Independence day, 6, afforded a theme well suited to the lofty and riotic spirit which always characterized Miss Snow's se. With the appearance of the poem answerin g the uest, in the publication of the day, the youn g authoress Idenly found herself becoming famou s. She was lered into the society of learned and distinguished peo, among whom were Alexander Campbell, the noted lolar and theologian, and the found er of the Camplite sect, Sidney Rigdon, and other refined students of i Scriptures. Early in the year 1835 Eliza's mother d her elder sister, Leonora, having previously joined i Church, visited the Saints at Kirtland. On returning me, their testimony of the truth of Joseph Smith's rine authority and the doctrines tau ght by him, caused iza to investigate the new religion. She found it true~ d became a member of the Church of J es us Christ of Itter-day Saints , being ba ptized April 5, 1835. In the county, Ohio, where her father's family had resided for many years, to Kirtland, -Ohio, the gathering place of the Saints. When the Prophet Joseph organized the Relief Society at Nauvoo, on the 17th of March, 1842, Sister Eliza R. Snow was appointed to fill the very responsible position of secretary in that most important organization. She was sealed to the Prophet Joseph Smith in the Celestial Order of Marriage, which includes Plurality of Wives, June 29, 1842; being one of the early converts to that doctrine. After the martyrdom of her husband, June 27, 1844, Sister Eliza was prostrated with grief, and besought the Lord with all the fervency of her soul to permit her to follow the Prophet at once, and not leave her in so dark and wicked a world. And so set was her mind on the matter, that she did not and could not cease that prayer of her heart until the Prophet came to her and told her that she must not continue to supplicate the Lord in that way, for her petition was -not in a ccordance with his design concerning her. Joseph told her that his work upon earth was completed as far as the mortal tabernacle was concerned, but her's was not; the Lord desired her, and so did her husband, to live many years , and a ssist in carrying on the great Latter-day work which Joseph had been chosen to establish. That she must be of good courage and help to sheer, and lighten the burdens of others. And that she must turn her thoughts away from her own loneliness, and seek to console her people in their bereavement and sorrow. These admonitions she freely accepted and her after life was devoted to the carrying out of the same. She died December 5, 1887, at the Lion House, Salt Lake City, when she was eighty-three years, t en months and fourteen days old. Her remains were interred in President Brigham Young's private buryin g ground, on the hill-side northeast of his family residences and the Eagle Gate.-L. G. R.- From Jenson's Biographical Encyclopedia. Elizabeth Mills Whitaker:-Immigrated to Nauvoo in her youth with her parents, and had her first dinner at the home of the late President John Taylor, and with the other members of her family became well acquainted with the prophet Joseph Smith and his family and the leading saints; and has often sat on the lap of the prophet, listening to him talk and also remembers his wonderful personality. She used to carry her father's dinner consisting mostly of corn bread to him as he worked on the l\T.,,,,,,,,, '1'pmnle and remembers the terrible times of excitement prevailing when the men had to have their arms while working on the scaffold to protect them from the mobs. She also remembers her parents after the temple was completed, doing much temple work for their dead, working early and late, and recites the terrible experiences of the saints crossing the river on the frozen ice in the dead of winter to Montrose. On the way to Council Bluffs, her brother Thomas was bitten by a poisonous snake and died a few hours afterwards in terrible agony. With her parents she came across the plains in Capt. Wilkes company, and while riding along the -Platte river, was taken by a band of Sioux braves and for three days held for ransom, and was only restored to her parents by the immigrants yielding up part of their precious flour, sugar, blankets and other provisions demanded by the Indians, and was then harrassed for several days by the Indians trying to stampede the camp. She arrived in the valley about the year 1851, with her parents. Her father established himself as a Tin and Coppersmith and the next spring went to California for mater- ials , where he died and was buried. Elizabeth was now left an orphan and felt the privation and lack of many comforts and in October 1855 married William Oakden in Salt Lake, Bishop Hoaglund performing the ceremony. From this union one son, William was born, and the following year she was left a widow through the accidental drowning of her husband in the Jordan river. In September, 1858, Elizabeth married Thomas William Whitaker, the ceremony being performed by President Brigham Young, and soon after the marriage settled in Centerville, Davis County, where she has resided ever since. Thomas Whitaker sent to England and secured the first silk worms and Elizabeth Whitaker made the first silk scarf and presented it to President Brigham Young, who honored her by going to Centerville, where she did the work and telling her husband Thomas W. to make a business of the silk industry. From this time the eggs of silkworms were distributed by her husband and later much silk was manufactured in Utah. Elizabeth Whitaker is the mother of 12 children, as follows: William Oakden, born Sept. 4, 1856. Samuel Thomas , born December 20, 1859. Elizabeth Emily, born Au gust 24, 186!. John Mills, born October 16, 1863. Susan Johanna, born March 21, 1865.