24 Post-Manifesto Polygamy

family responsibilities threatened at times to overwhelm Helen. She hired a young immigrant girl, Anna Rosenkilde, to help care for the home and the children, and she also employed “young Heber” (probably Helen’s nephew Heber Bennion) to do chores. In addition to this help, Helen could rely on her mother-in-law, Emma Woodruff, and Owen’s sister, Winifred Blanche Woodruff Daynes, who lived nearby.  Furthermore, Helen traveled to Pleasant Grove for visits with her parents in Owen’s absences, as she relates in an August 1899 letter: 

Mother says it seems like old times to have me at home again and says she can’t let me go again, she has been trying to persuade me to stay here until you come but I have nearly finished all the work I brought with me and have so much to do at home I feel as though I must go and get some of it done before your return. (Letter 2)

Although Helen was not completely alone, she felt increased personal responsibility during Owen’s absences and expressed her discouragement in a letter to Owen, dated February 1904: “I feel more keenly all the time the great responsibility of the children’s rearing and am at a loss to know how to deal with them always. I get discouraged in this every few days” (Letter 68). To cope with discouragement and loneliness, Helen immersed herself in friends and church activities. Her letters to Owen often recount social events which she attended, such as parties at the splendid McCune Mansion near the state capitol building, church meetings, or Woodruff family gatherings. 

At times Owen sensed Helen’s frustrations and insecurities. He did not share his letters from Avery with Helen and did not speak frequently about the other family unless questioned.  Owen mentioned several times to both women that he was thankful for their sisterly love and feeling of friendliness. He also emphasized the importance of unity for the success of their family. However, one glimpse of a more vulnerable Owen surfaced in his July 12, 1902, letter to Helen, in which he may be alluding to a personal questioning of the wisdom of his decision to enter into post-Manifesto polygamy:

Write me often dear, I so love to hear from you and nowadays you seem more like my own, sweet Helen in letters than you do when I am with you; for when I am with you I try you and when I am away you think of me as your other self, struggling and trying to do my duty just as you are trying. How much