Elizabeth Dennistoun Wood was born on May 12, 1836 in Liverpool, England. Her father, William Wood, was a Scottish merchant, and her mother, Harriet Amelia Kane, was an American from a prominent New York family. Her father wrote in his autobiography:
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Here is a picture of Vol 2 of William Wood's Autobiography,
which is available online, here |
"On May 12, 1836, my second daughter, Elizabeth Dennistoun, now Mrs. T.L. Kane, was born. Our accoucheur at that time was Mr. Robert Bickersteth, an eminent practitioner in Liverpool....He was very late in coming, and his absence gave me a great fright and serious loss of temper. However "all's well that ends well," and Bessie's life was perserved for her to become a blessing to all about her as daughter, wife, and mother." (The Autobiography of William Wood, pg. 102).
Elizabeth spent her early childhood in England, but at the age of 8, her father relocated the family to New York City. It was as a very young women of about 16 years, that she came to an understanding with her 2nd cousin, Thomas L. Kane. They were engaged in 1852. He was much older (age 30), and already had a relationship with Brigham Young & the Mormons of Utah. He had been helping them politically and writing and speaking in their behalf since 1846.
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| Thomas L. Kane, |
At that time, he came into contact with the
Mormons just after they had been driven from Nauvoo,
Illinois and before their 1847 westward trek
to Utah. An idealistic and ambitious young man of
twenty-two, he became aware of and sympathetic to their precarious situation. He was from a prominent Philadelphia
family, and with the help of the influence of his father, a federal judge, he
was able to secure permission for the Mormons to temporarily settle on the
Indian lands near the Missouri River.
Because Elizabeth married Thomas L. Kane, she also had a relationship with the 19th century Mormons of Utah. In the winter of 1872-1873, she, Thomas, and two of their children traveled to Utah and spent several weeks in St. George, with Brigham Young. Elizabeth wrote a book about her journey from Salt Lake City to St. George called
Twelve Mormon Homes Visited in Succession on a Journey through Utah to Arizona. She also kept a journal while in St. George which was published in 1995,
A Gentile Account of Life in Utah's Dixie, 1872-73: Elizabeth Kane's St. George Journal. Both of these books are available in various libraries and online,
here and
here. Elizabeth's books about the Mormons are a valuable resource for those interested in Mormon history. She is very observant and descriptive, and she makes it possible for us to have a glimpse of what life was like in rural pioneer Utah. She particularly provides information on polygamy and domestic life.
