Elvira Annie Cowles

Author	Holmes, Elvira Annie Cowles Smith
Birth and Death Dates	1813-1871
Call Number	MSS 8
Material Type	Biography
Biography	Elvira Annie Cowles was born November 23, 1813 in Unadella, Otsego County, New York to Austin and Phebe Wilbur Cowles. She lived on a farm, and was only thirteen when her mother died in 1826, leaving behind three daughters. Her father remarried, and the family later investigated and joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They emigrated to Kirtland and then to Nauvoo, where Elvira's father advanced in the Priesthood to become a member of the Seventy and later a counselor in the Nauvoo Stake Presidency. Several years later, however, he withdrew from the Church because he disagreed strongly with polygamy. Elvira, however, became the first General Treasurer of the first Relief Society. She later married Joseph Smith, and after his martyrdom, married Jonathan Harriman Holmes in 1844. They left Nauvoo in 1846, reaching Council Bluffs mid-July. Her husband served in the Mormon Battalion while Elvira went on to spend the winter of 1846 on the west bank of the Missouri River. The next spring, she traveled with the Jedediah M. Grant Company across the plains. She drove the team nearly the entire way, and the company arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on October 2, 1847. Elvira taught school there, taking food as pay, and Jonathan joined her in the fall of 1848. Their first child, Lucy Elvira, died in infancy, but they later had a second daughter, Marietta, in 1849. They soon after moved to Farmington, Davis County, Utah. There, they built a home, and Elvira had three other daughters. The family adopted a son, John Hendrics, who kept his own name. Elvira died at age fifty-eight on March 10, 1871 from a sickness.
Abstract	This eight-page typescript biography from the Margaret Steed Hess collection was written by Eliza Roxie Welling Taylor, Elvira's granddaughter. Eliza begins with a brief history of her progenitors, going as far back as 1633. She begins with John Cowles, the first Cowles to come to America from England. Eliza continues down the line of the Cowles family until she reaches Elvira. Eliza describes some of the hardships the members went through, specifically during their stay on the banks of the Missouri River during the winter. Elvira stayed in a room without windows or doors, with nothing but blankets to protect her from the cold and storms. While crossing the plains, Elvira walked and drove her own team, without the aid of her husband, who was in the Battalion. At one point, one of her cows lost a shoe, and Elvira was forced to walk alone ten miles to a company behind them to ask for help. When in Utah, she taught at one of the first schools there, and she lived off of thistle roots, sego bulbs, and wolfmeat that were given to her as pay. After her second child's birth, Elvira worked with her husband to build their future home, making butter and cheese, and spinning wool and flax to make the family's clothing and blankets. Thereafter, Eliza describes the lives and accomplishments of Elvira's children and grandchildren. trek
Coverage	1838-1927