Eleanor C. W. Jarvis Diary and Autobiography (Ms 30)
The Eleanor C. W. Jarvis Diary (1854-1923) and Autobiography
describe events in which Jarvis and her family participated. Born in Salt
Lake City, Jarvis went as a child of seven to the Dixie Cotton Mission at
St. George, Utah, after her family and 300 other families began the
mission in 1861. She describes how she learned to spin wool and cotton,
and boasts of earning a calico dress and a pair of shoes by spinning for
her uncles, David and Angus Cannon. She writes about attending school in
tents and, later, in the "willow house." By 1872, she had become the wife
of George Frederick Jarvis, who became a plasterer on the St. George
temple. When the temple was finished in 1877, he married a second wife,
Roseinia Sylvester. He died the following August. She records the trials
of the family during periods of the underground movement, and lists
miraculous hearings, family births and deaths, and numerous visits to each
other's homes. An indexed register is available.