Female Relief Society of Nauvoo organized

Background. Nauvoo, Illinois, was renamed from Commerce on April 21, 1840, by Joseph Smith, who led the Latter-day Saints there to escape conflict with the state government in Missouri following the 1838 Mormon War. The town's population grew from 100 in 1839 to about 4,000 in 1842. The Relief Society is a philanthropic and educational women's organization of the LDS Church, often referred to as "one of the oldest and largest women's organizations in the world."

Organization. On March 17, 1842, twenty Latter Day Saint women gathered in Nauvoo to discuss the formation of a Ladies' Society. Joseph Smith stated the object of the Society was to provoke brethren to good works, search for objects of charity, and assist the poor. The group unanimously agreed to name the fledgling organization "The Female Relief Society of Nauvoo."

Formation Context. In the spring of 1842, Sarah Granger Kimball and her seamstress, Margaret A. Cook, discussed combining their efforts to sew clothing for workers constructing the Nauvoo Temple, and determined to invite their neighbors to assist by creating a Ladies' Society. Kimball asked Eliza R. Snow to write a constitution and by-laws for submission to Joseph Smith. After reviewing the documents, Smith called them "the best he had ever seen" but said this was not what the sisters wanted, stating he would organize the women after a pattern of the priesthood.