Description
This folder contains one folder of correspondence and newspaper clippings from Ina Coolbrith to Lorenzo Sosso; one folder
of correspondence, newspaper clippings, and a photograph from Charles B. Turrill to Ina Coolbrith; and two letters from Ina
Coolbrith to Zoeth Eldridge.
Background
Born Josephine Anna Smith in Nauvoo, IL to Agnes Moulton Coolbrith and Don Carlos Smith, she was the neice of the Mormon prophet
Joseph Smith, Jr. After Don died Agnes married Joseph under the Levirate regulation. After he was killed by an anti-Mormon,
anti-polygamist mob in June 1844 she moved to St. Louis, MO and married William Pickett, a non-Mormon lawyer and printer.
They had twin sons and then moved to Los Angeles, CA in 1851. While riding the wagon train, Pickett read to Ina the works
of Shakespeare and poetry by Lord Byron, fostering her early love of poetry. She crossed into California on the horse of Jim
Beckwourth, a famous African-American scout. Once in LA, Agnes changed her family's name to avoid association with Mormonism
and Ina became "Josephine Donna Coolbrith".