Elvira S. Barney was born March 17, 1832, in Gerry, Chawtawque County, New York, being the daughter of Samuel C. Stevens, a merchant, and his wife, Minerva Althea Field, a school teacher. Her great grand-father, Joseph Stevens, took an active part in the Revolutionary War; her grand-father, Simon Stevens, was a doctor; her uncles were doctors and lawyers. When twelve years old Elvira heard the gospel preached by a Mormon Elder, and from that time daily prayed in secret till the Lord gave her a testimony that satisfied her heart. She was baptized in 1844, and went with her parents to Nauvoo, where her father died after a brief illness, on October 4th. In the January following Elvira and her mother were preparing for the journey across the wilderness, parching corn, etc.; but her mother, overcome by toil, grief and exhaustion, died on the 6th of the month. Their farm, household goods, etc., were sold, and the five children received ten dollars each to fit them out for a western journey. Elvira parted with her twin brother, fourteen years old, with tears in his eyes, and she never saw him again. He died six years after. Elvira was taken some twenty-five miles across the prairie among strangers, and there spent the winter. There were no children for her to mate with, no one to feel tenderly for the lonely, quiet aching heart of this orphan girl. When spring approached she rejoined her married sister to wait upon her, traveling west with her, sometimes living in a brush-house (while recruiting) and sleeping under a wagon while traveling, and once awoke to find several inches of snow covering them. Exposure brought her to death's door, but she lived after long suffering. She witnessed the solemn separation of the "Mor-Battallion" from their families and friends. During one winter she lived in a dug-out in a side hill on the Missouri River, and was forced to live on corn bread and water; their tallow candles they could not afford to burn, but used them to grease their bake-kettles. Here, however, willing to be useful she helped to teach school, studying nights by a chip-fire to keep in advance of her pupils. Many of our public speakers of today, can date their first lessons in elocution and arithmetic to her training.