Emmeline B. Wells' Divine Recognition of Her Mother's Passing
Published October 18, 2026 at 6:10 PM
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Young Woman's Journal Research
After moving to Utah and undergoing the hardships of the exodus, Emmeline B. Wells experienced a supernatural event where she heard her name being called in the night. She believed it was Mother Whitney, but upon being told by her that she had not spoken, Emmeline knew her mother had died. Upon her company's arrival, her knowledge was confirmed.
According to the Church Historian's Press chronology, Emmeline's mother was Diadama H. Woodward Clark. She departed Nauvoo in September 1846 with a group of poor Saints and died of an illness in October 1846 while en route to Utah through the Iowa Territory, where she was subsequently buried.
In Their Own Words
“I awoke one night, hearing some one call my name; thinking it was ‘Mother Whitney,’ I inquired what she wanted; when she told me she had not spoken, I knew it was my mother and that she was dead. When the company arrived, I could not go out to meet them, and for ten years, was unable to endure the mention of my mother’s name and even now (after more than fifty years) it is difficult for me to talk of her.”
— Emmeline B. Wells, The Young Woman's Journal, vol. 19 no. 4
Sources & References
The Young Woman's Journal, vol. 19 no. 4 (April 1908). L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University digital collections. https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/YWJ/id/15925 (account extracted verbatim from the collection's page-level OCR; research confidence: high) Additional sources (periodical research): Emmeline B. Wells Chronology, The Church Historian's Press. https://www.churchhistorianspress.org/emmeline-b-wells/events?lang=eng Full first-person account: The Young Woman's Journal, vol. 19 no. 4 (April 1908), p. 196 https://contentdm.lib.byu.edu/digital/collection/YWJ/id/15925
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