Emma Lee

This was a strange little book and I have no idea where I got it. It's a short biography of a Mormon woman, Emma Lee, who was married to a Mormon leader, John Lee in the 1800s. I suppose she was impressive in that she had a hard life traveling out west and carving out a life in a challenging terrain. John Lee had many wives and Emma singled herself out by her excellent cooking and quiet, hardworking nature.

Her husband was convicted and hung for his role in the Mountain Meadows Massacre, and a lot of the book is about this, though it's all talked about very vaguely. I had never heard of the incident, but apparently the local Mormons killed an entire group of over 100 migrants traveling from Arkansas to California. Under vague rumors of show more the migrants feeling hostile toward the Utah Mormons (but note they were never accused of actually perpetrating any crimes against the Mormons) the Mormons slaughtered them all. Decades later, John Lee was finally brought to justice.

I don't really understand why anyone needed to write a book about Emma Lee or why I read it. It was short and now it will get donated. show less

This wasn't a typical Mormon biography for me. It's short, with no footnotes, about an ordinary woman on the frontier, with seemingly limited historical record. But Emma wasn't so ordinary after all. She was among the British Mormon converts to sail to America and trek across the overland trail to Utah, and she was among the very few in the handcart companies, who walked with limited provisions. And she married into polygamy to a charasmatic man who had scandalously been named as involved in the Mountain Meadows Massacre, John D. Lee. As he built his homesteads and businesses and reputation, Emma supported and defended him. She settled at Lee's ferry, bore several children, and ran the ferry business. In later years she had another life show more on the frontier in Arizona, being known for her cooking and midwifery and medical service. I liked that it was a story that is not often told, a woman's own story on the remote and lonely frontier.

The composition of the biography was interesting because of how brief it was with no footnotes. Parts of the story seemed to have sparse details or to be skipped over, or to follow the life of her husband, who kept a good diary. It seemed a little uneven. I wondered if Emma didn't have full records of her life. And the author added some interpretative flourish to depict Emma's thoughts and feelings in certain situations. show less

Have read several of J.B.'s books and this was average, at best. Not really a whole lot going on in terms of biography here. J.D. Lee took the fall and she continued to suffer because of Mormon retaliation. Before, we hear about her wonderful cooking and the odd story regarding her defense of J.D. Lee. Am glad it was a short book.