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Druce, Julia Ann Jinks, wife of John Druce, and president of the Twelfth Ward Relief Society for twenty-nine years, was born April 17, 1824, at Stone, Staffordshire, England, the daughter of John Jinks and Mary Woodfield. She joined the Church Apr. 5, 1840, being baptized by Willard Richards, and in 1842 (June 19th) she was married to John Druce in the old Collegiate church in Manchester, England. She emigrated to America in 1846, crossing the Atlantic in the ship "Montezuma", which sailed from Liverpool Aug. 15, 1846. The family resided at Haverstraw, New York, fifteen years. The Druce family assisted the Elders who labored as missionaries in that part of the country, both materially and otherwise. Finally the family crossed the plains and mountains in Ira Reed's independent company which arrived in Salt Lake City, Sept. 16, 1861. On the journey John Druce was captain of ten and chaplain of the company. The family settled in the Twelfth Ward, Salt Lake City, where Sister Druce acted as a teacher in the Ward Relief Society from 1868 [p.499] to July 13, 1879, when she was chosen president of the society. Her counselors were Mrs. Jemima R. Midgley, and Mrs. Eliza D. Hooper. Sister Druce acted as president until the fall of 1908. During the period of her presidency in said society she had left to them by will, etc., several pieces of good property, upon which the sisters built houses to rent. The income from this enterprise helped in a substantial way to keep the poor of the Ward. Sister Druce became the mother of nine children, namely, Julia A., Mary S., Lily H. A., Eliza J., John A., Ads E., Amanda M., Edgar W., and Kate A. After the two Wards (the Twelfth and Thirteenth) were joined together, Mrs. Druce, on account of her advanced age, was honorably released from presiding over the Twelfth Ward Relief Society, which she had served faithfully and well for so many years, and retired with the love and esteem of the Ward and her fellow-workers in the Society. LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, Andrew Jenson, Vol. 2, p.498 |
Biographies 
