Introduction

Sometime in the early 1980’s I was given the opportunity to be represented in the new hymnal the Church was preparing. I was given a three-verse text which I was told had been written by a faithful Mormon pioneer woman, Emily Hill Woodmansee. Originally, ten verses had been published long ago in The Women’s Exponent and the music committee of the Church had extracted three verses that were to be used as the text for a new hymn for women. I was happy to receive such an assignment and spent the next week pondering, praying and writing a simple setting for the hymn which was published in the 1985 hymnal of the Church under the title “As Sisters in Zion”.

As I was writing the hymn I wondered, somewhat abstractly, about the woman with whom I was collaborating. Through the ensuing years, as women in the Church responded positively to the hymn, my interest in learning more about Emily grew. I was traveling to different stakes of the church regularly during the nineties and often “As Sisters in Zion” was sung by the congregation as an opening hymn before my program. Much to my delight, descendants of Emily Hill Woodmansee began to come forward after these presentations to ask if I would be interested in knowing more about her. By this time I was eager to know more about the person who had written the beautiful words of this hymn that were as pertinent for my day as they were for hers.

Over a period of a few years, I received several printed accounts of her life, and my admiration for her life, her faith, and for her considerable talents grew exponentially. I was fascinated by her conversion story and her steadfastness through a lifetime of hardships and challenges, all of which she survived with faith and determination. An image began to emerge of a most remarkable woman. I read everything I could find about her, including a volume of five hundred of her unpublished poems! In my mind she seemed not only to be a contemporary of Eliza R. Snow, but a woman of similar character and talent. I was in awe of my opportunity to collaborate with her. I cannot read about her life without tears coming to my eyes. When people compliment me on “my” hymn, I want to say, “It’s Emily’s hymn-she lived it.”

Emily died at seventy years of age-the exact age I am as I am writing this. I feel a strong desire to make her remarkable story known to the world so many may be inspired by her faith, devotion to right, and the remarkable way she used her talents to the end of her life.

Early Beginnings in England

Emily was the youngest living of eleven children born to Thomas and Elizabeth Slade Hill in the southwest of England, near Warminster, Wilts, March 24, 1836. Her parents were honorable, hard-working people who had aligned themselves with the Wesleyan faith. Of her family, she said, “My parents as well as my brothers and sisters were very kind to me, and I can truly say-slightly reversing a word in the lines of one of our poets– that, ‘I never knew what trouble was ’til I became a Mormon.'” (1)

As a child Emily was deeply concerned about her salvation, asking many questions but receiving no satisfactory answers. She searched the scriptures, hungry and thirsty for truth. She wrote, “I was waiting for something, I knew not what, that came to me earlier than I had expected.” (2)

Emily’s Conversion

When Emily was twelve years old her fun-loving cousin, Miriam Slade, came to visit the family, and she was so excited about a new religion all she could do was preach to the family, saying, “God has spoken from the heavens to a man named Joseph Smith; the gospel has been restored to the earth, the honest in heart are commanded to gather to the land of Zion for safety, for this is the last Dispensation, and the hour or God’s judgment has come!” (3) Emily’s family was amused by the girl’s enthusiasm but Emily herself listened with great interest. The next Sunday she was willing to walk five or six miles to where the Latter-day Saints were preaching again in Chalford. Of this meeting, Emily says,

Never, never shall I forget that day; surely it was the turning point of my whole life.
A few devoted worshippers of truth met together in a small house, to bear testimony
to one another and to worship God! And He was in their midst and that to bless them.
I did not even ask ‘What shall I do to be saved?’ ‘The way’ was opened up before me,
And simple and young as I was I instinctively knew that ‘I could not err therein.’ (4)

Emily later said, “It was indeed as though I had been brought out of darkness into marvelous light, and I could not shut my eyes against it.” Her poetic mind and heart penned these words about the event:

The Eternal! spake, and honest hearts discerning
The voice and message of the holiest One!
Hail it as though their hearts had e’en been yearning
For light and truth, e’en since their lives began. (5)

Then as many tried to dissuade her from her new faith she remarked that, “The testimony of that eventful day has been to me a precious recollection which nothing could obliterate. I was so overjoyed at finding what I had so long desired.” (6)

A Friend in the Faith

Emily’s parents would not allow her to be baptized at her young age and she had to content herself with looking forward to the time when she would be old enough to choose for herself. One day the elders brought a man name John Halliday to the Hill home and he bore such a strong testimony of the divine mission of Joseph Smith that Emily’s older sister Julia exclaimed, “If every there was a man of God I’m sure he is the one, and I’ll be a Latter-day Saint too!” The two girls decided together that come what may, they would be true to the faith, even though they were only able to meet with the saints occasionally. On one of these occasions Emily was given a blessing by Brother Halliday who promised her that she would “write in prose and in verse and thereby comfort the hearts of thousands.” (7)

In March of 1852 the two sisters, Emily (16) and Julia (19) were baptized. Julia left the family home to work and Emily soon came to live with her. Four years would pass before they were able to save enough money to come to Zion.

Gathering to Zion

In May, unable to even say goodbye to loved ones and friends who were still strongly opposed to the choices they had made, the sisters joined a company of eight hundred who set sail on the ship Thornton, with Elder James Willie in charge of the saints who accompanied them. From New York they went by rail to Iowa City where they joined the handcart company over which Elder Willie was made captain. (8)

Emily bravely proclaimed, “I made up my mind to pull a hand cart all the way to Zion, a foot journey from Iowa to Utah, and pull our luggage, think of it!” The journey grew difficult and many backed out after a few days.

Emily later recounts: “My sister broke down and was unable to walk and I remember asking myself . . . if it was possible for me, faith or no faith, to walk twelve hundred miles further. . . . I set down my foot that I would try, and by the blessing of God I pulled a handcart a thousand miles and never rode one step.” (9) Of the harrowing conclusion to their journey she would later write:

After a long and wearisome journey, being entirely out of provisions, we halted for want of
strength to proceed, and never should I have beheld (with mortal eyes) the City of the Saints
had not the compassionate people of Utah sent out a number of brave-hearted brethren with
food and clothing to our relief. May they all be everlastingly blessed. (10)

Further Trials

In 1857, along with other saints, Emily entered into a plural marriage to William Willis and they had one child who was born shortly after her husband left to serve a mission in England. After working for four years to provide for herself and her child Emily received the cruel news that her husband never intended to return to Utah, an abandonment that had been deliberately planned before he left on his mission. Of this terribly hurtful event Emily laments,

No one can realize what such an ordeal is, unless they have passed through it. All that I
had hitherto suffered seemed like child’s play compared to being deserted by the one in
whom I had chosen to place my utmost confidence. . . . Hard times stared me in the face
and I was almost overwhelmed by circumstances beyond my control. (11)

One night when Emily was “weary with overwork and anxiety, pondering what to do, these words impressed [her] as if audibly spoken: Trust in God and Thyself.” She arose and penned the following poem, of which I quote only the first verse:

A priceless boon is a friend indeed
Greet him as such when his face you see;
But those who fail thee in time of need-
Shun them, as false friends should shunned be.
They proffer this, they promise that,
But promise, alas, is a doubtful elf.
So wouldst thou weather the storms of life-
Trust in God! And Thyself. (12)

Following this experience life began to improve for Emily, though other hardships were still ahead.

Marriage to a Constant and True Companion

In 1864 Heber C. Kimball sealed Emily to Joseph H. Woodmansee in plural marriage. She bore him eight children-four sons and four daughters of whom two died in infancy. Twenty years after their marriage, Emily stated, “I will say this much of my children’s father. Misfortunes that have befallen him have never affected his faith, he has proven his allegiance to the principles and priesthood of God at considerable sacrifice to himself and his family, enduring reverses uncomplainingly.”

Concerning her children, she wrote in later years:

Of my children I need say but little, but I fervently hope that each and all of them may
seek and obtain for themselves a knowledge of the truth (called Mormonism) for I know
it can make them wise unto salvation, and may they be willing if needs be to endure reproach
and privation for principle’s sake. I doubt not that all my troubles have been for my good, and
today I am more thankful for my standing in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Often Emily wrote lengthy poems proclaiming her devotion to the gospel and the joy she found therein.
One verse of such a poem asks the question,

And wherefore should I cease to sing
Of Zion and the Latter Day?
I could not find a nobler theme,
Nor choose a lovlier, loftier lay.
Too insignificant is my praise-
Too feeble is my lyre and tongue,
For of these longed for Latter Days
Have royal bards and prophets sung. (13)

Five Hundred Poems by Emily

When I received a book of about five hundred unpublished poems written by Emily Hill Woodmansee, I felt much excitement at the prospect of coming to know her better through her own writings. I read the poems, some of which are a few pages long, in a three day period, while neglecting many other things I probably should have been doing. I was totally absorbed, even entranced, with this experience and the tears flowed freely many times as her life of courage in the face of trials unfolded to me page by page.

One poem in particular broke my heart as I pondered all she had given up because of the testimony she gained at the age of twelve. In 1880 she received word that her ninety year old father’s health was failing
and friends in England urged her to write to him one last time. Emily had always loved and respected her parents, and leaving them behind in England for the sake of Zion caused heartache for her throughout her life. She wrote to her parents regularly, hoping to hear some word of understanding and reconciliation from them, but they never responded to her entreaties. Her mother having passed away years earlier, Emily penned this final poem to her dying father, from which I have selected a few favorite verses:

And is my Father yet alive?
My own dear Sire, my man of men.
And is he well? And doth he bear
Brightly, his four score years and ten?
Oh, would I had an Eagle’s wings
The strength, the freedom that defies
Danger, and distance, soon I’d see
The brave old veteran ere he dies.

Dear Father, oft my heart is thrill’d
With longing till with pain ’tis sore.
Would that my wish could be fulfill’d
That we could meet on earth once more.
Long years and weary days have sped
With now and then a season fair
Since from my parent nest I fled
To brave, for Truth! Distress and care.

Who loves, said Jesus, house or lands
Father, or Mother, more than Me
Who’ll leave them not, for my commands
Can never my Disciple be.
Nor would I dare recall the past
Nor e’en my chequered lot regret
What e’er has been, from first to last
I ne’er my Father could forget.

Your staunch, true friend, Old Time has been;
Oh if His touch should yet be mild
Upon you, send me just one line
To say, God bless my youngest child.
Be sure that we again shall meet
For honest souls, the Truth must see;
And Lo God’s mercy doth extend
Through the eternal years to be. Even the hands of men ordained
By Holy Ones sent down from Heaven;
For Lo, God’s Kingdom is restored
In these last days to man ’tis given,
“Two of a family” saith the Lord,
“One of a city,” these I’ll bring
To Zion “yea from ev’ry land
My Saints shall come to praise their King.”

I trust that you will all accept
Our kindest love and wishes too;
Be sure each day, we always say
Or more or less, concerning you.

But lest I should fatigue you quite
I’ll now dismiss my rambling muse;
Pray ask the younger ones to write
Quickly, and send me lots of news.
Until I hear from you again
Most anxious I shall surely be;
Mean time, believe me to remain
Your Loving Daughter, Emily.

The fact that Emily’s poems are unpublished may signify that they were poems from her heart, written for friends, family and maybe mostly for herself as she yearned to give expression to her unshakable testimony, her heartaches and trials, her triumphs and joys, and the feelings of her noble heart. She knew she had been greatly blessed of the Lord to receive, at age twelve, a fervent testimony from which she would never waver through her whole life. It seems she wrote because she recognized her talent as a gift from God that should and must be shared for the benefit and enlightenment of others.

Rest in Peace

Emily Hill Woodmansee passed away October 19, 1906 and was buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery. I feel a bond with her that inspires me daily as I try to meet my own challenges with the same fortitude and faithfulness that she did. As I hear Relief Society sisters throughout the church singing her words that were written so long ago, I hope she is listening and knows that the blessing given her so long ago as a young girl in England, that she “should write in prose and in verse things that would comfort the hearts of thousands,” has been fulfilled many times over. As Sisters in Zion, Emily and I span more than a century of time, yet our hearts beat to the same steady and eternal rhythm of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.

I have felt her spirit and strength and am honored to be her collaborator.

My husband and I visited Emily’s grave for the first time this morning. As we searched for, and found, her modest gravestone in the Salt Lake City Cemetery, one of her own poems seemed a fitting epitaph for her:

Resting now from care and sorrow,
Resting from fatigue and pain;
Faithfully she fought life’s battle-
Death to such is endless gain.
God hath gathered home her spirit,
God hath taken what He gave;
Friend and sister, sweetly slumber
In the quiet, peaceful grave. (14)

For a recording of As Sisters in Zion (on the album When I Feel His Love) click here.