120 years ago today - 1898-04-01

First single women called to serve missions

Amanda Inez Knight and Lucy Jane (Jennie) Brimhall were the first single women called to serve official, proselyting missions" for the LDS Church; they served in England. There are records of more than 200 women serving as missionaries prior to 1898. They often accompanied their husbands. They served in a variety of capacities, including teaching in the mission school in Hawaii, genealogical missionaries, and as missionaries called to study at distant universities. None of these sisters were called to serve in a proselyting capacity and none of them are on the official missionary records of the church. Prior to Knight and Brimhall's calls to proselytize, Harriet Maria Hoursepool Nye was called to proselytize; she was the wife of Ephraim H. Nye who was serving as president of the California Mission.

[Source: Mormon Women's History Timeline, http://www1.chapman.edu/~remy/MoFem/mormonwomen.html]

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