Belle Harris
Belle Harris was a 23-year-old woman who was imprisoned for refusing to answer questions regarding her plural marriage to a former husband. She spent more than three months in 1883 at the Utah Territorial Penitentiary with her son Horace Merrill.
Isabelle Maria Harris was born on April 15, 1861, in Willard, Box Elder County, Utah Territory. Her paternal grandfather, Emer Harris, was a brother of Martin Harris, one of the Three Witnesses of the Book of Mormon. Emer Harris was also the great-grandfather of First Presidency counselor Dallin H. Oaks.
- In 1862, her family heeded the call of President Brigham Young to serve in the Cotton Mission in remote southern Utah. While the family resided in Parowan, Utah, Belle’s brother, Charles E. Harris, began a business relationship with Clarence Merrill, a son-in-law of Apostle George A. Smith.
- Belle became the third wife of Clarence Merrill at age 18. The couple had two children before they separated and were later divorced.
It was because of her marriage to Merrill that Harris was pulled before the grand jury in 1883.
- After the Edmunds Anti-Polygamy Act of 1882 was signed into law, federal officials in Utah Territory increased efforts to arrest, try and convict Saints who practiced plural marriage. Merrill was among those pursued.
- “Were you ever married?” Harris was asked. “If so, to whom were you married and where?”
- When Harris declined to testify against her former husband, the grand jury found her in contempt of court, and Judge Stephen P. Twiss ordered her to pay a fine of $25 and remain in the custody of the U.S. marshal.
- Harris then traveled to Salt Lake City and was incarcerated at the territorial penitentiary with her 10-month old son, Horace, whom she was breastfeeding. She was imprisoned for 106 days, from May until August 1883, until the grand jury was discharged and she was released.[1]
Her former husband went into hiding and never served prison time.[2] Some 900 men and fewer than a dozen women were incarcerated in polygamy cases.
Facilities for women did not exist at the prison so jail officials created space for her. She was able to receive visitors who brought her various items, including homemade food, sewing supplies, and writing paper. Her visitors included Eliza R. Snow and Emmeline B. Wells and she was cared for by Relief Society women.
“Other visitors, such as marshals or other lawmen, tried to get her to give in and testify so she could leave the prison. Harris didn’t budge, and they often left with baffled expressions.”[3]
“Despite the support and attention, Harris expressed anxiety and sadness over being held in prison indefinitely. Her baby was often ill, and she felt herself a target of religious persecution.”[4]
The Church Historian’s Press published Belle’s prison journal on February 21, 2023. “The Prison Journal of Belle Harris” is the only known record of a woman who was imprisoned on charges related to polygamy. While a handful of others served time in the penitentiary, Harris was there the longest and was the only woman to document her experience,” said Kenneth Adkins, a Church history specialist for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[5]
“It’s powerful to read and hear her words, the way she thought about her experience, the way she stood up for something that was a deeply-felt religious belief,” said Matthew McBride, director of publications for the Church History Department.[6]
Clarence Merrill was not present for the births of either of her children. Her divorce was finalized in April 1883. She attended Brigham Young Academy hoping to provide better for her two children. There she met Nels Lars Nelson, an instructor at the academy, and they married on August 1, 1887. She bore him four children. They divorced after twelve years of marriage. In June 1915, she married Robert Albert Berry.[7]
Belle Harris Merrill Nelson Berry died in Provo, Utah, on May 31, 1938.
