March 11, 1898, the First Presidency of the LDS Church held a regularly scheduled business meeting that would turn out to be of far-reaching significance. President Wilford Woodruff and his counselors, Joseph F. Smith and George Q. Cannon, had recently received a handful of letters from mission presidents around the world requesting women missionaries. One of these letters came from Joseph W. McMurrin of the European Mission presidency, who submitted “instances in which our sisters gained attention in England, where the Elders could scarcely gain a hearing.” He believed, the letter continued, “that if a number of bright and intelligent women were called on missions to England, the results would be excellent.”
