Two weeks ago I posted an excerpt from GQ Cannon’s announcement of the decision to formally call female missionaries. Today I look at the response in The Young Woman’s Journal (YWJ). [1] The first official, female, Mormon missionary, Harriet Nye, was set apart on 1898 March 27; Inez Knight and Jennie Brimhall followed on April 1 and Cannon’s speech was on April 6. I looked for references to the call of the first sister missionaries in Volume 9 of the YWJ, which ran January to December 1898 and was edited by Susa Young Gates. [2] Both the January and February issues contain articles defining just about any desirable activity as a form of missionary work. [3] The February issue also printed a speech by Church President Joseph F Smith that mentioned female missionaries . . .
