Richard E. Turley Jr. and Brittany A. Chapman - Seek by Deseret Book
Richard E. Turley Jr. and Brittany A. Chapman - Seek by Deseret Book
Richard E. Turley Jr. and Brittany A. Chapman - Seek by Deseret Book
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VOLUME ONE, 1775 –1820<br />
BONUS CHAPTERS<br />
<strong>Richard</strong> E. <strong>Turley</strong> <strong>Jr</strong>. <strong>and</strong><br />
<strong>Brittany</strong> A. <strong>Chapman</strong>, editors<br />
d®<br />
Salt Lake City, Utah
Except as noted below, all images are courtesy of the Church History Library, The Church of<br />
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah. Used <strong>by</strong> permission.<br />
Images of Diantha Morley Billings, page 1; Elizabeth Lane Hyde, page 51; Gwenllian<br />
Matthew Marley, page 121; Martha Pane Jones Thomas, page 190; Margaret Cooper<br />
West, page 202; courtesy of International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Salt Lake<br />
City, Utah. Used <strong>by</strong> permission.<br />
Page 15: Image of Catherine Clark Smith Harrison courtesy of Linda G. Birch. Used <strong>by</strong><br />
permission.<br />
Page 29: Image of Myra Mayall Henrie courtesy of Donna Tol<strong>and</strong> Smart. Used <strong>by</strong> permission.<br />
Page 134: Image of Mary Ann Weston Maughan courtesy of Merrill-Cazier Library, Special<br />
Collections, Utah State University, Logan, Utah. Used <strong>by</strong> permission.<br />
Page 148: Image of Margaret Ann Howard McBride courtesy of Julie Barker Farr. Used <strong>by</strong><br />
permission.<br />
Page 174: Image of Mary Presdee Phillips courtesy of Jay G. Burrup. Used <strong>by</strong> permission.<br />
© 2011 <strong>Richard</strong> E. <strong>Turley</strong> <strong>Jr</strong>. <strong>and</strong> <strong>Brittany</strong> A. <strong>Chapman</strong><br />
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or <strong>by</strong> any means<br />
without permission in writing from the publisher, <strong>Deseret</strong> <strong>Book</strong> Company, P. O. Box<br />
30178, Salt Lake City, Utah 84130. This work is not an official publication of The Church<br />
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The views expressed herein are the responsibility of the<br />
authors <strong>and</strong> do not necessarily represent the position of the Church or of <strong>Deseret</strong> <strong>Book</strong><br />
Company.<br />
<strong>Deseret</strong> <strong>Book</strong> is a registered trademark of <strong>Deseret</strong> <strong>Book</strong> Company.<br />
Visit us at <strong>Deseret</strong><strong>Book</strong>.com
Contents<br />
Introduction to the Series<br />
vii<br />
36. “Rejoice Notwithst<strong>and</strong>ing the Trials”<br />
Diantha Morley Billings<br />
Catherine Wheelwright Ockey<br />
1<br />
37. “I Know All This to Be True!”<br />
Catherine Clark Smith Harrison<br />
Linda G. Birch<br />
15<br />
38. “Weaned from the World”<br />
Myra Mayall Henrie<br />
Donna Tol<strong>and</strong> Smart<br />
29<br />
39. “Drops of Grace <strong>and</strong> Mercy”<br />
Zina Baker Huntington<br />
Rachel Cope<br />
42<br />
40. “My Trials Are Nothing”<br />
Elizabeth Lane Hyde<br />
Elizabeth J. Mott<br />
52<br />
41. “I Could No Longer Resist the Truth”<br />
Mary Ann Price Hyde<br />
Kaye Watson<br />
66
iv<br />
Contents<br />
42. “My Feet Never Slipped”<br />
Presendia Lathrop Huntington Kimball<br />
Gary L. Boatright <strong>Jr</strong>.<br />
81<br />
43. “Give Up All <strong>and</strong> Follow Your Lord”<br />
Phebe Cros<strong>by</strong> Peck Knight<br />
Janiece Johnson<br />
95<br />
44. “It Was All True”<br />
Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner<br />
Jonathan A. Stapley<br />
105<br />
45. “Strong, Independent, Confident, <strong>and</strong> Heroic”<br />
Gwenllian Matthew Marley<br />
Am<strong>and</strong>a Kae Fronk<br />
122<br />
46. “I Had Left All”<br />
Mary Ann Weston Maughan<br />
Wendy Peacock<br />
134<br />
47. “The Lord Will Provide”<br />
Margaret Ann Howard McBride<br />
Anna T. Rolapp<br />
148<br />
48. “Tried Like Gold”<br />
Laura Clark Phelps<br />
Carol L. Clark<br />
161<br />
49. “A Good Old Mother <strong>and</strong> a Fine Old Lady”<br />
Mary Presdee Phillips<br />
Jay G. Burrup<br />
174<br />
50. “Those Days Were Gr<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> Glorious”<br />
Martha Pane Jones Thomas<br />
Amy Reynolds Billings<br />
191
Contents v<br />
51. “By Our Faith <strong>and</strong> Good Works”<br />
Margaret Cooper West<br />
Shirley Smith Ricks <strong>and</strong> Lynette Smith Lyman<br />
203<br />
52. “I Have Been a Living Witness”<br />
Elizabeth Ann Smith Whitney<br />
Jan De Hoyos Tolman<br />
217<br />
Contributors<br />
231
Introduction to the Series<br />
Although approximately half the people in the history of The<br />
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have been women,<br />
their lives of faith <strong>and</strong> dedication are just beginning to receive the<br />
attention they merit. This series, Women of Faith in the Latter Days,<br />
aims to enhance awareness of these women through inspirational accounts<br />
written for a general readership.<br />
The seven volumes projected for the series will be arranged as<br />
follows:<br />
Volume 1: Women born between 1775 <strong>and</strong> 1820<br />
Volume 2: Women born between 1821 <strong>and</strong> 1845<br />
Volume 3: Women born between 1846 <strong>and</strong> 1870<br />
Volume 4: Women born between 1871 <strong>and</strong> 1895<br />
Volume 5: Women born between 1896 <strong>and</strong> 1920<br />
Volume 6: Women born between 1921 <strong>and</strong> 1945<br />
Volume 7: Women born between 1946 <strong>and</strong> 1970<br />
Within each volume, the chapters are arranged alphabetically <strong>by</strong><br />
the last name of each woman of faith.<br />
We have sought to balance the preferences of general readers<br />
with the needs of scholarship <strong>by</strong> following common editorial conventions<br />
that enhance ease of reading but preserve the accuracy<br />
of historical sources <strong>and</strong> the personalities of the subject women.<br />
Briefly stated, in the historical sources we have preserved the original<br />
spelling <strong>and</strong> grammar, using square brackets [ ] to exp<strong>and</strong>, correct,<br />
or clarify when necessary for readability. We have silently added<br />
vii
viii<br />
Introduction to the Series<br />
punctuation <strong>and</strong> capitalized the first words of sentences, using our<br />
best interpretive judgment to discern the writer’s intentions. We<br />
have also altered capitalization when failure to do so might prove<br />
distracting to readers.<br />
We have included chapters written <strong>by</strong> a range of authors, from<br />
well-established scholars to beginning writers. Some chapters adopt<br />
a scholarly approach, often quoting the subject woman’s own words<br />
at length. Others follow a more popular approach, avoiding long<br />
quotations from the subject <strong>and</strong> replacing them with the author’s<br />
own prose. Some of the subject women left few or no writings behind,<br />
making it difficult or impossible to quote them. Our goal has<br />
been to feature a diverse group of women, both those well known to<br />
readers <strong>and</strong> those who lived lives of faith in comparative anonymity.<br />
We hope both scholarly <strong>and</strong> popular audiences will find value in<br />
these volumes. Our intent in producing them is to plant seeds for<br />
future work. If our series leads to better scholarly <strong>and</strong> popular works,<br />
we will feel rewarded for our efforts.<br />
We invite you to join with us in celebrating the many Latterday<br />
Saint women whose lives should be an inspiration to readers in<br />
the present generation <strong>and</strong> in generations to come. We hope these<br />
volumes will prompt readers to write about their own lives <strong>and</strong> will<br />
lead to longer works about past <strong>and</strong> present women of faith in the<br />
latter days.
Chapter Thirty-Six<br />
“Rejoice Notwithst<strong>and</strong>ing the Trials”<br />
Diantha Morley Billings (1795–1879)<br />
Catherine Wheelwright Ockey<br />
Biographical Sketch<br />
Diantha Morley was just shy of her twentieth birthday when<br />
she first set foot on Ohio sod with her parents, Thomas <strong>and</strong><br />
Editha Marsh Morley, <strong>and</strong> some of her siblings. Born in the township<br />
of Montague, Franklin County, Massachusetts, on August 23,<br />
1795, Diantha was the seventh of nine children. Her older brother<br />
Isaac <strong>and</strong> his wife, Lucy, had previously established a farm near the<br />
rural village of Kirtl<strong>and</strong>, Ohio. Here Diantha met <strong>and</strong> married Titus<br />
Billings; they both became members of Sidney Rigdon’s Reformed<br />
Baptist congregation. 1<br />
In November 1830, Diantha <strong>and</strong> Titus, with Isaac <strong>and</strong> Lucy<br />
Morley <strong>and</strong> many others in Rigdon’s congregation, heard of <strong>and</strong><br />
1. Milton V. Backman et al., “Marriage Records for Geauga County, Ohio,” in<br />
A Profile of Latter-day Saints of Kirtl<strong>and</strong>, Ohio, <strong>and</strong> Members of Zion’s Camp, 1830–<br />
1839 (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University, Department of Church History <strong>and</strong><br />
Doctrine, 1982).<br />
1
2<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
joined the Church of Christ, later renamed The Church of Jesus<br />
Christ of Latter-day Saints. 2 As the first woman to be baptized in the<br />
Kirtl<strong>and</strong> area, Diantha set her course to follow her heart’s yearnings<br />
<strong>and</strong> never wavered in devotion to her family, her brothers <strong>and</strong> sisters<br />
in the gospel, or her God. 3<br />
At the time of her baptism, Diantha was thirty-five years old<br />
<strong>and</strong> had five living children under the age of twelve; she had buried<br />
three others as infants. She first became acquainted with Joseph<br />
<strong>and</strong> Emma Smith when the Smiths settled in Kirtl<strong>and</strong> in February<br />
1831. 4 In August of that year, Joseph Smith sent Titus to Missouri to<br />
aid in the gathering of the Saints in Jackson County. 5 There Diantha<br />
gave birth to her last child <strong>and</strong> assisted in the births of several other<br />
children as a well-respected midwife. 6 In 1835 the Billings family<br />
returned to Kirtl<strong>and</strong> to work on the building of the temple there.<br />
Diantha, with her beautiful singing voice, was part of the choir that<br />
sang for the dedication of the Kirtl<strong>and</strong> Temple in March 1836. 7<br />
2. Mark Lyman Staker, Hearken, O Ye People: The Historical Setting of Joseph<br />
Smith’s Ohio Revelations (Salt Lake City, UT: Greg Kofford <strong>Book</strong>s, 2009), 57–60;<br />
Robin Scott Jensen, Robert J. Woodford, <strong>and</strong> Steven C. Harper, eds., Manuscript<br />
Revelation <strong>Book</strong>s, facsimile edition, vol. 1 of the Revelations <strong>and</strong> Translations series<br />
of The Joseph Smith Papers, ed. Dean C. Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, <strong>and</strong> <strong>Richard</strong><br />
Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City, UT: Church Historian’s Press, 2009), 77; Susan<br />
Easton Black, “Name of the Church,” in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, ed. Daniel<br />
H. Ludlow, 4 vols. (New York: Macmillan, 1992), 3:979.<br />
3. Elizabeth Ann Whitney, “Leaf from an Autobiography,” Woman’s Exponent 7<br />
(November 15, 1878): 91.<br />
4. Linda King Newell <strong>and</strong> Valeen Tippetts Avery, Mormon Enigma: Emma Hale<br />
Smith, 2nd ed. (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1994), 38–40.<br />
5. Doctrine <strong>and</strong> Covenants 63:39.<br />
6. Lucinda Snow, “Eliza Ann Carter Snow: A Biographical Sketch,” Woman’s<br />
Exponent 25 (April 15, 1897): 134–35.<br />
7. Melvin Billings <strong>and</strong> R<strong>and</strong>y Shaw, “Titus Billings” (unpublished manuscript,<br />
1990), p. 14, Americana Collection, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B.<br />
Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, hereafter cited as BYU<br />
Special Collections.
Diantha Morley Billings (1795–1879) 3<br />
Diantha <strong>and</strong> her family had returned to Missouri <strong>and</strong> were living<br />
in Far West when the Saints were driven from the state. They<br />
settled near Quincy, Illinois, <strong>and</strong> established a home as part of the<br />
Morley Settlement. By 1842 they were living in Nauvoo, Illinois,<br />
where Diantha became a member of the Female Relief Society <strong>and</strong><br />
Titus worked on the Nauvoo Temple. 8 Their youngest child died in<br />
Nauvoo at the age of ten. 9 In January 1846, Diantha helped with<br />
the administering of ordinances in the Nauvoo Temple. Later that<br />
spring, she <strong>and</strong> her family joined the exodus across Iowa to Winter<br />
Quarters. Then, in the spring of 1848, they began their trek farther<br />
west, arriving in the Salt Lake Valley in September of that year. 10<br />
At the October 1849 general conference of the Church, Diantha<br />
was surprised to hear the names of her brother <strong>and</strong> husb<strong>and</strong> read<br />
over the pulpit to lead a group south to settle what would become<br />
known as the Sanpete Valley. 11 It took them three weeks to make<br />
the journey, <strong>and</strong> they arrived in what became Manti, Utah, in<br />
November, just as winter was setting in.<br />
For the next fourteen years, Diantha <strong>and</strong> Titus lived in Manti,<br />
where Diantha continued to practice midwifery <strong>and</strong> participated<br />
in the first Relief Society in that area. 12 Around 1864 they moved<br />
to Provo to be near their son Alfred <strong>and</strong> his wife, Deborah Patten.<br />
8. Nauvoo Relief Society Minutes, March 24, 1842, p. 16, Church History<br />
Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah,<br />
hereafter cited as Church History Library.<br />
9. Fred E. Woods, “The Cemetery Record of William D. Huntington,<br />
Nauvoo Sexton,” Mormon Historical Studies 3 (Spring 2002): 145.<br />
10. “Diantha Morley Billings,” Mormon Pioneer Overl<strong>and</strong> Travel Database,<br />
1847–68, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, accessed November<br />
9, 2011, http://mormontrail.lds.org; William Burton, Diaries, 1839–1851,<br />
September 24, 1848, Church History Library.<br />
11. Eunice Billings Snow, “A Sketch of the Life of Eunice Billings Snow,”<br />
Woman’s Exponent 39 (September 1, 1910): 23.<br />
12. Snow, “Sketch of the Life,” 23; “In Memoriam,” Woman’s Exponent 8<br />
(June 1, 1879): 251.
4<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
There Titus died in 1866. Diantha lived as a widow for thirteen<br />
years, until her death on May 14, 1879. She was buried in the<br />
Provo, Utah, cemetery.<br />
Life Experiences<br />
Family<br />
Diantha Morley Billings <strong>and</strong> her brother Isaac were the only<br />
members of the larger Morley family to join the Latter-day Saints<br />
in Kirtl<strong>and</strong>, Ohio. 13 Isaac’s daughter Lucy later wrote that Thomas<br />
Morley, Diantha’s <strong>and</strong> Isaac’s father, “would not hear what Father<br />
[Isaac] had to say [about the gospel] . . . <strong>and</strong> told him to leave his<br />
house <strong>and</strong> never darken his door again <strong>and</strong> he [Isaac] never did.” 14<br />
Though Diantha also disassociated from her parents when she<br />
joined the Church, she <strong>and</strong> Isaac remained close throughout the rest<br />
of their lives. Diantha’s husb<strong>and</strong>, Titus, was a sometime business<br />
partner with Isaac, <strong>and</strong> the two families spent most of the next thirty<br />
years living near each other.<br />
Diantha was devoted to her husb<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> children <strong>and</strong> endeavored<br />
to care for their physical <strong>and</strong> spiritual needs, even as they were<br />
called to move from place to place. Yet all her care could not protect<br />
her from the loss of family members. One son, Thomas, <strong>and</strong> two<br />
daughters, Emily <strong>and</strong> Martha, died as infants, <strong>and</strong> her youngest son,<br />
Titus, died of “Inflammation of Brain” in March 1844, despite her<br />
able care. 15 Diantha was certainly no stranger to death: Titus was<br />
the fourth child she had buried. Within the next three years her two<br />
older sons, Samuel <strong>and</strong> Ebenezer, left the Church <strong>and</strong> their family;<br />
their mother never saw them again.<br />
13. Cordelia Morley Cox, “Sketch of Cordelia Morley Cox,” Woman’s Exponent<br />
41 (January 1, 1913): 33.<br />
14. Staker, Hearken, O Ye People, 56.<br />
15. Woods, “Cemetery Record,” 145.
Diantha Morley Billings (1795–1879) 5<br />
Strength in the Face of Danger<br />
Diantha <strong>and</strong> her family, along with the rest of the Saints, faced<br />
many challenging circumstances, <strong>and</strong> Diantha became known for<br />
her ability to maintain her composure <strong>and</strong> take charge of a situation,<br />
refusing to allow fear to get in the way of action. Her daughter<br />
Eunice told this story:<br />
[I recall] the burning of Uncle Isaac Morley’s cooper<br />
shop [in the fall of 1833 in Missouri]. It was full of cooper<br />
wooden ware, such as barrels, tubs, churns <strong>and</strong> numerous<br />
other articles he had made to sell. The mob set it on fire <strong>and</strong><br />
stood around <strong>and</strong> cursed <strong>and</strong> swore <strong>and</strong> yelled like demons<br />
from hell all the time it was burning. I can well remember<br />
how frightened I was, <strong>and</strong> how light it was from the<br />
flames. . . .<br />
I think I have heard Mother say it was the next night<br />
after the fire that we were ordered to leave our home or we<br />
would be served the same way. Mother said she did not<br />
know what to do as Father was away from home. Some<br />
fifteen or twenty of the sisters got together <strong>and</strong> counseled<br />
what to do. They decided to take their smallest children <strong>and</strong><br />
flee to a house out of town a short distance, where an old<br />
man . . . lived alone. We had to go about three quarters of a<br />
mile in the dark, <strong>and</strong> there were no two women allowed to<br />
go together. I remember well how my limbs were scratched<br />
<strong>and</strong> how they bled when I was put to bed, <strong>and</strong> I was not<br />
allowed to cry or make a loud noise. The room where we<br />
slept was a large log room. The floor was completely covered<br />
with children <strong>and</strong> some of them did not even have a quilt<br />
over or under them. My mother had three of her children<br />
with her <strong>and</strong> not one of us had one bite of supper. In going<br />
to that place, Mother took her children <strong>and</strong> went through<br />
the fields, through briers <strong>and</strong> all kinds of stubble. She carried<br />
a lantern half concealed under her apron. I, being the
6<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
youngest of the three children, held on to her skirts while<br />
she led the way.<br />
We had to cross the main road at a point where four<br />
other roads crossed <strong>and</strong> where some very large trees stood.<br />
As mother stepped into the road a man came from behind<br />
one of the trees <strong>and</strong> flashed a bright sword in her face. She<br />
jumped back <strong>and</strong> screamed. The man soon made himself<br />
known. He was one of the brethren guarding the cross<br />
roads. . . . Mother said if ever she was glad to meet a friend<br />
it was at that time. The women arrived there all right. There<br />
was only this old man among so many women, but the sisters<br />
put their children to bed.<br />
The old man had some old clothes that the women put<br />
on, <strong>and</strong> two at a time took turns guarding the house all<br />
night. 16<br />
Another fearful incident occurred when the Saints were at<br />
Winter Quarters in what later became Nebraska. The Billings family<br />
spent the winter of 1846–47 some distance away at a Ponca Indian<br />
camp, where they “were uniformly used well <strong>by</strong> the Indians, had<br />
good forage for the cattle, etc.” 17 Diantha’s daughter Eunice recalled:<br />
One instance, I remember well, of that severe season:<br />
Our brethren had stacked all their hay about the log fortification<br />
which had been erected for our protection, when one<br />
beautiful night the prairie became suddenly ablaze with fire,<br />
from some cause, we knew not what, <strong>and</strong> the flames were<br />
rushing directly for our haystacks, which were in a straight<br />
16. Marba Peck Hale, ed., “Eunice Billings Warner Snow Tells Her Own Story,”<br />
pp. 1–2, Americana Collection, BYU Special Collections; Anne Miller Eckman<br />
<strong>and</strong> Katherine T. Brimhall, “Stories from the Provo Pioneer Museum,” Daughters<br />
of Utah Pioneers Lesson for November 2009, 118.<br />
17. Helen Mar Whitney, “Scenes <strong>and</strong> Incidents at Winter Quarters,” Woman’s<br />
Exponent 13 (December 1, 1884): 98.
Diantha Morley Billings (1795–1879) 7<br />
path for them. In case the stacks caught, our fortification<br />
would surely go, when through the mercy of the Lord, the<br />
wind died down <strong>and</strong> the fire subsided, leaving us safe, <strong>and</strong><br />
our hay stacks unharmed. Kegs of powder <strong>and</strong> other inflammable<br />
material in the camp were pitched into a stream called<br />
Running Water, in order to protect the travelers that night<br />
from the fury of a prairie fire. All material in the rooms of<br />
the fort that was likely to burn that night, was moved to<br />
a place of safety. It is needless to say that the women <strong>and</strong><br />
children were frightened <strong>and</strong> had it not been for my mother,<br />
who was acting as a nurse, some of the women would have<br />
committed themselves to the rushing waters when the fire<br />
raged on the prairie. 18<br />
Midwife <strong>and</strong> Nurse<br />
Diantha’s ability to keep calm in the face of trying circumstances<br />
served her well in her vocation <strong>and</strong> calling as a midwife <strong>and</strong><br />
nurse. According to her daughter Eunice, Joseph Smith blessed <strong>and</strong><br />
set apart Diantha to serve as a nurse <strong>and</strong> midwife to the Saints in<br />
Nauvoo. 19 She had served in that capacity earlier while living in<br />
Missouri.<br />
In October 1838 Diantha <strong>and</strong> her family were living in Far<br />
West, Missouri. As a member of the militia under the comm<strong>and</strong><br />
of Captain David Patten (an apostle), Diantha’s husb<strong>and</strong>, Titus,<br />
was involved in the Battle of Crooked River, which took place between<br />
Latter-day Saints <strong>and</strong> Missourians on the night of October<br />
25, 1838. 20 Elder Patten was killed, <strong>and</strong> the Latter-day Saint men<br />
in the battle had to flee the state for safety. Their families fended for<br />
18. Eunice Billings Snow, “Sketches from the Life of Eunice Billings Snow,”<br />
Woman’s Exponent 40 (January 1, 1912): 47.<br />
19. Hale, “Eunice Billings Warner Snow,” 3; Whitney, “Leaf,” 91.<br />
20. Hale, “Eunice Billings Warner Snow,” 2; Joseph Smith, History of The<br />
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ed. B. H. Roberts , 2nd ed. rev., 7 vols.
8<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
themselves while the city of Far West lay under siege. Diantha had<br />
two young children to care for at that time—eight-year-old daughter<br />
Eunice <strong>and</strong> four-year-old son Titus.<br />
In the midst of all this, Diantha was called to the bedside of<br />
Eliza Ann Carter Snow. Eliza later told of the events:<br />
We went to Missouri . . . <strong>and</strong> there my first child was<br />
born: it was the 30 th day of October in the year 1838 . . . It<br />
was cold <strong>and</strong> snowed every day <strong>and</strong> the mob came into Far<br />
West the very day of her birth, <strong>and</strong> we were much excited. I<br />
could not keep the midwife long enough to dress my child,<br />
Sister Diantha Billings was her name, well known among<br />
our people. The mob was blowing horns <strong>and</strong> firing guns<br />
all night long. We were without bread or anything to make<br />
bread of, but <strong>by</strong> the help of the Lord we were preserved. 21<br />
Due in part to Diantha’s good care, Eliza <strong>and</strong> her daughter,<br />
Sarah Jane, survived that eventful night. Diantha’s services as a nurse<br />
<strong>and</strong> midwife continued to be in dem<strong>and</strong> when the family moved<br />
to Illinois, both in the Morley Settlement south of Nauvoo <strong>and</strong> in<br />
Nauvoo itself. Her regular patients included the Prophet Joseph<br />
Smith’s family. 22<br />
As the Saints journeyed from Nauvoo across the plains of Iowa<br />
<strong>and</strong> on to the Salt Lake Valley, Diantha joined the ranks of trail midwives.<br />
The Billings family started the trek west from Winter Quarters<br />
in the spring of 1848 with the Heber C. Kimball Company. Another<br />
company led <strong>by</strong> Brigham Young left at approximately the same time,<br />
<strong>and</strong> the two companies traveled closely together the entire route.<br />
(Salt Lake City, UT: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1932–51),<br />
3:169–71.<br />
21. Snow, “Eliza Ann Carter Snow,” 134–35. The mob entered Far West on<br />
November 1, 1838.<br />
22. Hale, “Eunice Billings Warner Snow,” 4.
Diantha Morley Billings (1795–1879) 9<br />
Eight births were recorded in the official record of the company. 23<br />
Though there were other midwives in the group, Diantha attended<br />
some of these births. Her daughter Eunice recorded, “In several in-<br />
stances, my mother acting as midwife, delivered women in confine-<br />
ment, <strong>and</strong> there was no interruption to our journey, since mothers<br />
<strong>and</strong> babes continued the trip right along with us.” 24<br />
The trail record kept <strong>by</strong> Thomas Bullock records an incident<br />
that occurred on June 1, 1848: “At 11 a.m. Huldah Maria Ballantyne<br />
Wife of <strong>Richard</strong> Ballantyne was safely delivered of a boy, named<br />
<strong>Richard</strong> Orl<strong>and</strong>o [Al<strong>and</strong>o] <strong>by</strong> Diantha Billings.” 25 The child was<br />
sickly, <strong>and</strong> because he had been born in such difficult circumstances,<br />
it was feared he would not survive. Miraculously, however, he <strong>and</strong><br />
his mother did pull through.<br />
That was not the case, however, with all of Diantha’s patients.<br />
Just a year after arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, the Billings <strong>and</strong><br />
Morley families were called to establish a colony in what is now the<br />
Sanpete Valley of central Utah. After they arrived in the fledgling<br />
settlement in November, Diantha’s first patient was her own daugh-<br />
ter Eunice, who was expecting her first child—Diantha’s first gr<strong>and</strong>-<br />
child. Eunice recounted the event:<br />
When we had lived there two weeks my first child was<br />
born, but due to hardship <strong>and</strong> suffering the little thing<br />
was still-born, <strong>and</strong> I came very nearly losing my own life.<br />
I was sick for quite a while, <strong>and</strong> my mother, who was a<br />
midwife, nursed <strong>and</strong> attended me. She was the only doctor,<br />
23. Heber C. Kimball journal, July 14 <strong>and</strong> 15, 1848, Heber C. Kimball Papers<br />
1847–1866, Church History Library.<br />
24. Snow, “Sketches,” 48.<br />
25. Thomas Bullock, June 1, 1848, Journals 1843–1849, Church History<br />
Library.
10<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
midwife, <strong>and</strong> nurse at the time in Manti. My child, I think,<br />
was the third one born in the little settlement. 26<br />
Diantha ministered to the medical needs of Manti residents for<br />
the next thirteen or fourteen years. One severe case involved the<br />
infant son of Mary Ann <strong>Richard</strong>son. The child was suffering from a<br />
high fever, <strong>and</strong> Mary Ann called on Isaac Morley to give him a blessing.<br />
After doing so, Isaac told the family to get his sister Diantha.<br />
When Diantha examined the ba<strong>by</strong>, she diagnosed his condition as<br />
“brain fever” <strong>and</strong> treated it. The family credited Diantha with saving<br />
the child’s life, passing the story down to future generations. 27<br />
Relief Society<br />
Diantha Billings’s service as a nurse <strong>and</strong> midwife overlapped<br />
with her service in the Relief Society organization of the Church.<br />
Her activity in the early days of the Female Relief Society of Nauvoo<br />
is well documented in the minutes kept between 1842 <strong>and</strong> 1844.<br />
She became a member of the Society at its second meeting on March<br />
24, 1842, 28 <strong>and</strong> with Elizabeth Ann Whitney (a counselor to Relief<br />
Society president Emma Smith), she helped to conduct meetings on<br />
at least two occasions. 29<br />
At one of those meetings, held on August 13, 1843, Diantha<br />
told the sisters, “I can say with Sis[ter] Whitney we are called to<br />
rejoice notwithst<strong>and</strong>ing the trials, sickness, <strong>and</strong> death thru which<br />
we have been called to pass [in] Ohio [<strong>and</strong>] Missouri.” She admonished<br />
the sisters “to be bold, not timid or fearful, in bearing their<br />
26. Snow, “Sketch of the Life,” 23.<br />
27. Jeff Richins, After the Trial of Your Faith: The Story of Edmund <strong>and</strong> Mary<br />
Ann <strong>Richard</strong>son (Dexter, OR: J. Richins, 2003), 307–8.<br />
28. Nauvoo Relief Society Minutes, March 24, 1842, p. 16, Church History<br />
Library.<br />
29. Nauvoo Relief Society Minutes, July 7, 1843, p. 93, <strong>and</strong> August 13, 1843,<br />
p. 106, Church History Library.
Diantha Morley Billings (1795–1879) 11<br />
testimony.” When another sister explained that she could not do<br />
much because of the needs of her own family, Sister Billings advised<br />
that “none were required to go beyond their own strength.” 30<br />
At the fifth meeting of the Society, on July 28, 1843, Sister<br />
Whitney suggested that a committee be appointed, with representatives<br />
of each of the four Nauvoo wards, to “search out the poor<br />
<strong>and</strong> suffering—To call on the rich for aid <strong>and</strong> thus as far as possible<br />
relieve the wants of all.” Sister Billings was one of four women appointed<br />
to the committee to visit members of the Fourth Ward. 31<br />
This was the beginning of what is now the visiting teaching program<br />
<strong>and</strong> was a natural extension of the care <strong>and</strong> concern exemplified <strong>by</strong><br />
these early sisters. Visiting was an integral part of Diantha’s life. On<br />
Christmas Day 1844, Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs recorded in<br />
her diary: “Sister Billings came in the after noon. Had an agreeable<br />
visit.” 32<br />
From the original leaders of the Relief Society, women were<br />
called to serve as ordinance workers in the Nauvoo Temple. Even<br />
as the Saints were preparing to leave Nauvoo, work continued on<br />
building the temple <strong>and</strong>, on November 30, 1845, Brigham Young<br />
dedicated the attic room. On the afternoon of December 10, the<br />
work of administering the ordinances of the endowment began <strong>and</strong><br />
went on virtually day <strong>and</strong> night until the second week of February<br />
1846. 33 Diantha received part of the ordinances on December 13,<br />
1845, from two of her friends <strong>and</strong> Relief Society sisters, Bathsheba<br />
30. Nauvoo Relief Society Minutes, August 13, 1843, p. 107.<br />
31. Nauvoo Relief Society Minutes, July 28, 1843, pp. 101–2, Church History<br />
Library.<br />
32. Maureen Ursenbach Beecher, ed., “‘All Things Move in Order in the City’:<br />
The Nauvoo Diary of Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs,” BYU Studies 19 (Spring<br />
1979): 12n25.<br />
33. The Nauvoo Endowment Companies, 1845–1846: A Documentary History,<br />
ed. Devery S. Anderson <strong>and</strong> Gary James Bergera (Salt Lake City, UT: Signature<br />
<strong>Book</strong>s, 2005), xv, xviii–xix.
12<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
Smith <strong>and</strong> Elizabeth Ann Whitney. 34 In the weeks that followed, she<br />
spent long hours in the temple administering those same ordinances<br />
to other sisters, including her daughter Eunice. 35<br />
Though the Nauvoo Relief Society was disb<strong>and</strong>ed in 1844,<br />
unofficial Relief Society groups sprang up in Winter Quarters <strong>and</strong><br />
again in the 1850s in Salt Lake City <strong>and</strong> some of the outlying settlements,<br />
including Manti. Diantha Billings was reported to have been<br />
the first president of the Manti Relief Society. 36 It was to be expected<br />
that women who were involved in the Nauvoo Relief Society should<br />
be the organizers <strong>and</strong> leaders of the women in the western settlements.<br />
In the words of Emmeline B. Wells:<br />
Early in the settlement of these valleys in the Rocky<br />
Mountain region, organizations were formed, a natural<br />
outgrowth or continuation of the parent organization in<br />
Nauvoo, for the same spirit <strong>and</strong> sentiment still existed <strong>and</strong><br />
was soon brought into active exercise. During all this time<br />
the sisters never lost sight of this institution as it had been<br />
established, nor the promises made to them of its future<br />
greatness, <strong>by</strong> the Prophet Joseph Smith.<br />
Among the foremost heroines of that eventful time<br />
should be indelibly engraven on the minds of the women of<br />
today <strong>and</strong> coming time, the names of Sisters Vilate Kimball,<br />
Mary Ann Young, Elizabeth Ann Whitney, Mary Fielding<br />
Smith, Diantha Billings <strong>and</strong> others now passed away.<br />
These noble mothers in Israel with kindly deeds <strong>and</strong><br />
loving words inspired many a fainting heart with faith <strong>and</strong><br />
courage <strong>and</strong> ministered temporal <strong>and</strong> spiritual blessings to<br />
hundreds of the daughters of Zion, whose paths were not<br />
34. Anderson <strong>and</strong> Bergera, Nauvoo Endowment Companies, 22.<br />
35. Anderson <strong>and</strong> Bergera, Nauvoo Endowment Companies, xxxvii–xxxviii, 300.<br />
36. Hale, “Eunice Billings Warner Snow,” 8; <strong>Richard</strong> L. Jensen, “Forgotten<br />
Relief Societies, 1844–67,” Dialogue 16 (Spring 1983): 106, 119, 121.
Diantha Morley Billings (1795–1879) 13<br />
strewn with roses, but were full of thorns <strong>and</strong> fiery trials <strong>and</strong><br />
needed their encouragement. 37<br />
Diantha’s service as a nurse, midwife, <strong>and</strong> Relief Society sister<br />
continued as long as her health would allow, even in her later years<br />
after she moved to Provo. The love <strong>and</strong> respect accorded her <strong>by</strong> her<br />
brothers <strong>and</strong> sisters in the Church is evident in the numerous references<br />
to her in records <strong>and</strong> journals as “Mother Billings.” Many<br />
admired her <strong>and</strong> called her “friend.” In a letter to his daughter Helen<br />
Mar Kimball Whitney, Heber C. Kimball referred to Diantha: “I<br />
want you to read this to . . . Sister Billings, who I hold as one of my<br />
bosom friends. A friend in these days is more precious than gold,<br />
<strong>and</strong> I esteem her as a mother in Israel, <strong>and</strong> she has my prayers <strong>and</strong><br />
blessing.” 38<br />
After her death in 1879 at the age of eighty-three, an obituary in<br />
the Woman’s Exponent included these lines:<br />
Sister Diantha Morley Billings departed this life at<br />
Provo on the evening of May 14, at fifteen minutes to ten<br />
o’clock. She was familiarly known as “Mother Billings,” <strong>and</strong><br />
was truly a mother in Israel, beloved <strong>and</strong> respected <strong>by</strong> all.<br />
She was amiable, gentle, tender, truly benevolent, <strong>and</strong> her<br />
kindness <strong>and</strong> deeds of mercy extended to the stranger, as<br />
well as the friend or neighbor. . . . Her life has been a most<br />
exemplary one <strong>and</strong> worthy of imitation. Her name will<br />
ever be held in honorable remembrance, <strong>and</strong> she will be esteemed<br />
as a woman of God. 39<br />
Diantha’s life path was certainly not an easy one. The strength<br />
37. Emmeline B. Wells, “History of the Relief Society,” Woman’s Exponent 32<br />
(June 1, 1903): 6.<br />
38. Helen Mar Whitney, “Scenes <strong>and</strong> Incidents in Nauvoo,” Woman’s Exponent<br />
11 (September 15, 1882): 58.<br />
39. “In Memoriam,” 251.
14<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
of her character was refined in the fire of adversity. The loss of loved<br />
ones <strong>and</strong> comfortable homes seemed to be her constant fate. Yet she<br />
rejoiced in the love of a good husb<strong>and</strong>, to whom she had been sealed<br />
in the Nauvoo Temple 40 <strong>and</strong> that of three children who still stood<br />
beside her in her old age, not to mention numerous gr<strong>and</strong>children,<br />
great-gr<strong>and</strong>children, <strong>and</strong> friends. They knew her as a positive force,<br />
a woman of unbending faith. Throughout her long life, she never<br />
hesitated to bear her testimony in both word <strong>and</strong> deed. In an 1845<br />
letter to her husb<strong>and</strong>’s sister Esther, Diantha added her testimony to<br />
that of her husb<strong>and</strong>, Titus:<br />
It is the truth of Heaven—<strong>and</strong> you will sooner or later<br />
have to acknowledge it—<strong>and</strong> you cannot say in the coming<br />
day we have not warned you of these things. We have got to<br />
leave our homes to a distant home we know not where. We<br />
have just got pleasantly situated. We have a farm, house <strong>and</strong><br />
a good well of water & other conveniences so as to make life<br />
pleasant. But it is no more than the S[ain]ts had to suffer<br />
anciently, <strong>and</strong> I hope we shall bear it patiently. I must draw<br />
to a close, hoping you may never reject truth wherever it is<br />
made plain to you. From your friend <strong>and</strong> Sister<br />
Diantha Billings. 41<br />
40. Anderson <strong>and</strong> Bergera, Nauvoo Endowment Companies, 534.<br />
41. Titus <strong>and</strong> Diantha Billings to William <strong>and</strong> Esther Pynchion, October 27,<br />
1845, “Letter: Nauvoo, Illinois, to William <strong>and</strong> Esther Pynchion, Springville,<br />
Massachusetts, 1845 Oct. 27,” Church History Library.
Chapter Thirty-Seven<br />
“I Know All This to Be True!”<br />
Catherine Clark Smith Harrison (1813–1903)<br />
Linda G. Birch<br />
Biographical Sketch<br />
Catherine Clark was born June 2, 1813, to Archibald <strong>and</strong> Mary<br />
Clark Clark1 in Inchinnan, Renfrewshire, Scotl<strong>and</strong>. Her future<br />
husb<strong>and</strong>, Robert Smith, had been born in the same place the year<br />
before. They were married in Middle Chapel of the Paisley parish in<br />
1838. The date of their migration to America is not known, nor is<br />
the reason for their departure from Scotl<strong>and</strong>. Their first son, Robert,<br />
was born in Pennsylvania in 1841. He died that same year.<br />
Two more sons were born to Catherine in Pennsylvania: Daniel<br />
Clark in 1843 <strong>and</strong> Hyrum Joseph in 1845. The year of Daniel’s<br />
birth, Robert <strong>and</strong> Catherine were introduced to The Church of Jesus<br />
Christ of Latter-day Saints. They gained a testimony of its truthfulness<br />
<strong>and</strong> were baptized in December of 1843.<br />
1. Records indicate that the maiden name of Catherine’s mother, Mary Clark,<br />
was also Clark.<br />
15
16<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
When continual persecution forced Church members to seek<br />
refuge in the West, plans were made in 1846 to organize the migration<br />
of Latter-day Saints then living in the eastern United States.<br />
Brigham Young was considering Upper California, at the time a<br />
Mexican territory, as a gathering place for the Saints. The Smith<br />
family joined a group of Mormon passengers on the ship Brooklyn<br />
in 1846, sailing from New York around the tip of South America to<br />
San Francisco. After two years in San Francisco, Robert Smith died<br />
in September 1848. One month later Catherine gave birth to their<br />
daughter, Mary Catherine Smith.<br />
In early 1849, Catherine married Isaac Harrison, a veteran of<br />
the Mormon Battalion. Catherine <strong>and</strong> Isaac remained in California<br />
until 1857. They had four children: Sabina Ann in 1850, John<br />
Lathum in 1852, Fannie Aditha in 1854, <strong>and</strong> Isaac <strong>Jr</strong>. in 1856. They<br />
left California when Brigham Young requested that all Saints in outlying<br />
areas gather to Utah Territory.<br />
The Harrisons made their final home in S<strong>and</strong>y, Utah, where<br />
they had a grocery store <strong>and</strong> served in both the community <strong>and</strong><br />
the Church. Catherine practiced midwifery <strong>and</strong> delivered more than<br />
three hundred babies.<br />
Isaac Harrison died in 1894, leaving Catherine a widow again,<br />
at the age of eighty-one. She continued serving as a midwife for<br />
several years. Catherine died on February 10, 1903, <strong>and</strong> was buried<br />
in the S<strong>and</strong>y City, Utah, cemetery. Her decisive accomplishments<br />
during a difficult lifetime st<strong>and</strong> as a tribute to her faith. 2<br />
2. Catherine’s biographical information comes from many sources: Scottish<br />
Parish Records, Paisley Parish, 1722–1854, Microfilm, p. 23, Family History<br />
Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah,<br />
hereafter cited as Family History Library; Harrison Family Bible, in private<br />
possession; “Laid to Rest [Isaac Harrison Obituary],” <strong>Deseret</strong> Evening News, March<br />
9, 1894; “Catherine Clark Harrison,” Endowment House Temple Records, bk. D,<br />
no. 1201, p. 64, Special Collections, Family History Library.
Catherine Clark Smith Harrison (1813–1903) 17<br />
Life Experiences<br />
Catherine Clark Smith Harrison did not leave a written account<br />
of her experiences, nor did she record the thoughts that preceded her<br />
actions. A few things that have been passed down to family members—an<br />
old almanac with notations in the margins, brief stories,<br />
<strong>and</strong> a statement expressing her belief—provide clues to the facts of<br />
her life <strong>and</strong> illuminate elements of her faith.<br />
When Catherine <strong>and</strong> her husb<strong>and</strong>, Robert Smith, left their<br />
homel<strong>and</strong> of Scotl<strong>and</strong>, it seems they had no other family in America.<br />
In two years’ time, she experienced the sorrow of losing an infant<br />
son, the joy of having a new one, <strong>and</strong> the uncertainty of not knowing<br />
what lay ahead. 3<br />
When Catherine attended her first meeting with missionaries<br />
of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she commented<br />
to her friend, “I know all this to be true!” 4 That defining moment<br />
became the st<strong>and</strong>ard reference point in her life. From then on, a<br />
thread of faith influenced the decisions she made throughout her<br />
extraordinary experiences.<br />
The few recorded facts about Catherine’s early life suggest she<br />
was prepared for receiving the gospel message. Catherine reported<br />
her experience with the missionaries to Robert, <strong>and</strong> they began attending<br />
meetings together. Robert <strong>and</strong> Catherine were living in eastern<br />
Pennsylvania, <strong>and</strong> it was there they were baptized in December<br />
1843. They remained in Pennsylvania because they did not have the<br />
money to join the main body of Saints in Nauvoo. When their third<br />
son was born in 1845, they named him Hyrum Joseph in honor of<br />
3. “Robert Smith,” Family Group Record, NewFamilySearch, The Church<br />
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, accessed February 5, 2011, http://new<br />
. familysearch .org.<br />
4. Ila Rowley, “A Brief Sketch of the Life of Catherine Clark Smith Harrison,”<br />
Typescript, p. 1, copy in private possession.
18<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
Joseph Smith <strong>and</strong> his brother Hyrum, who had recently been martyred<br />
in Illinois. 5<br />
Because “righteousness . . . is revealed from faith to faith,” the<br />
refining of faith is a continual process. 6 Faith grows <strong>by</strong> overcoming<br />
obstacles <strong>and</strong> enduring trials, <strong>and</strong> these were abundant throughout<br />
the Church. During the course of 1845, events took Robert <strong>and</strong><br />
Catherine into a significant trial of their faith.<br />
News from Nauvoo reported the increased persecution following<br />
the death of Joseph Smith, the Church founder <strong>and</strong> prophet.<br />
Church leaders decided the members must leave their homes behind<br />
<strong>and</strong> find safety in the western territories. Orson Pratt was the presiding<br />
leader in the eastern states, <strong>and</strong> meetings were held to keep<br />
members there apprised of possible courses of action so they might<br />
also relocate to the West. Those who had the means were encouraged<br />
to join the overl<strong>and</strong> exodus expected to start in the spring of<br />
1846. 7<br />
It was evident, however, that many could not afford to travel<br />
west that way, <strong>and</strong> other plans were proposed. Finally a ship was<br />
procured, <strong>and</strong> Saints living in the East were offered the chance to<br />
sail south from New York, around the tip of South America, <strong>and</strong><br />
then north, via the S<strong>and</strong>wich Isl<strong>and</strong>s (now known as Hawaii), to<br />
the bay of San Francisco. The expense was estimated to be less than<br />
that of an overl<strong>and</strong> journey. When a commitment was requested, the<br />
Robert Smith family signed up for the expedition, which would sail<br />
in early 1846. 8<br />
Catherine surely did not make this decision lightly. She had<br />
5. B. H. Roberts, A Comprehensive History of The Church of Jesus Christ of<br />
Latter-day Saints, Century One, 6 vols. (Salt Lake City, UT: <strong>Deseret</strong> News Press,<br />
1930), 2:335.<br />
6. Romans 1:17.<br />
7. Roberts, Comprehensive History, 3:25.<br />
8. “A List of the Company Going <strong>by</strong> Water,” Times <strong>and</strong> Seasons 6, no. 22<br />
(February 1, 1846): 113–14.
Catherine Clark Smith Harrison (1813–1903) 19<br />
already experienced an ocean crossing when she <strong>and</strong> Robert left<br />
Scotl<strong>and</strong>. She knew of the difficulties <strong>and</strong> inconvenience, the<br />
cramped quarters, the lack of privacy, the stale food, <strong>and</strong> the relentless,<br />
sometimes violent, motion of the waves. Now they would be<br />
taking their two young sons, ages one <strong>and</strong> two <strong>and</strong> a half, on a journey<br />
that was estimated to last six months. They did not know what<br />
they would find when they reached their destination, but Robert<br />
<strong>and</strong> Catherine Smith determined to trust in the Lord. Their trust<br />
was a manifestation of the faith Catherine professed when first introduced<br />
to the gospel message. 9<br />
Like the other Saints, the Smiths had to raise money for the<br />
journey, <strong>and</strong> they probably sold all the possessions they could. They<br />
packed their remaining household goods <strong>and</strong> clothing <strong>and</strong>, with approximately<br />
230 other passengers, sailed out of the East River on the<br />
ship Brooklyn. Many elements made this a historic venture. A group<br />
leaving the United States to escape religious persecution was unique.<br />
The date was also significant: February 4, 1846, was the day the first<br />
Saints in Nauvoo made their way across the Mississippi River to<br />
begin their exodus to a new life in the West. 10<br />
The Brooklyn was loaded with supplies needed <strong>by</strong> the passengers<br />
<strong>and</strong> crew. Agricultural implements, building tools, <strong>and</strong> books would<br />
be useful in a new community. Animals <strong>and</strong> some five hundred barrels<br />
of cargo were to be delivered to the S<strong>and</strong>wich Isl<strong>and</strong>s to help pay<br />
for the journey. 11<br />
To assist in creating unity among themselves, the Saints established<br />
a strict routine onboard the ship. Morning <strong>and</strong> evening<br />
9. Rowley, “Brief Sketch,” 1.<br />
10. This information is recorded in at least three sources: Roberts, Comprehen<br />
sive History, 3:28; Paul Bailey, Sam Brannan <strong>and</strong> the California Mormons (Los<br />
Angeles, CA: Westernlore Press, 1943), 26–27; Lorin Hansen, “Voyage of the<br />
Brooklyn,” Dialogue 21, no. 3 (Autumn 1988): 48.<br />
11. <strong>Richard</strong> O. Cowan <strong>and</strong> William E. Homer, California Saints: A 150-<br />
Year Legacy in the Golden State (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University, Religious<br />
Studies Center, 1996), 25.
20<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
prayers were offered, either in the dining hall or on the deck. The<br />
ship’s captain, Abel <strong>Richard</strong>son, was a Baptist, <strong>and</strong> so there were<br />
both Baptist <strong>and</strong> Latter-day Saint Sunday services. Attendance was<br />
m<strong>and</strong>atory. A choir was organized, sewing circles held, children<br />
schooled, <strong>and</strong> daily chores performed. The men performed military<br />
drills as part of their daily exercise. 12<br />
Less than a week after leaving New York, the Brooklyn sailed<br />
into a terrible storm, <strong>and</strong> the routine was temporarily ab<strong>and</strong>oned.<br />
For four days <strong>and</strong> nights, giant waves crashed over the vessel <strong>and</strong><br />
tossed the people about. The group had to remain below deck; the<br />
openings were covered with canvas <strong>and</strong> nailed down with wooden<br />
battens. 13 Like other women <strong>and</strong> children, Catherine <strong>and</strong> her two<br />
sons were tied to their berths for safety. The passengers prayed <strong>and</strong><br />
sang hymns, <strong>and</strong> their faith was rewarded when the gale gave way to<br />
a gentle breeze that carried the ship out of danger. 14<br />
Later, the ship was trapped in the doldrums, virtually sitting<br />
still in the glassy seas <strong>and</strong> oppressive heat of the tropics. After several<br />
days, a breeze again sent them on their way south toward the<br />
tip of South America. Anticipation <strong>and</strong> worry increased as the ship<br />
approached Cape Horn; the passage was said to test the mettle of<br />
the most skilled crew. Captain <strong>Richard</strong>son had to wait for the right<br />
wind before he could sail safely around the cape, <strong>and</strong> for days the<br />
ship was driven about on the sea. Finally the wind was right, <strong>and</strong> the<br />
Brooklyn was guided through the narrow passage <strong>and</strong> into the peaceful<br />
Pacific Ocean. 15<br />
The ship had now been at sea for three months. Everyone was<br />
worn <strong>and</strong> weary. The scant food was stale <strong>and</strong> moldy. Foul-tasting<br />
water was rationed at two cups a day. Firewood was almost gone.<br />
12. Joy N. Hulme, “Oceangoing Pioneers: Part Two,” Friend, August 1996,<br />
37.<br />
13. Joy N. Hulme, “Oceangoing Pioneers: Part One,” Friend, July 1996, 37.<br />
14. Hansen, “Voyage,” 53.<br />
15. Hansen, “Voyage,” 55, 57.
Catherine Clark Smith Harrison (1813–1903) 21<br />
The plan was to stop in Valparaiso, Chile, to resupply. As the ship<br />
sailed north, however, it was battered <strong>by</strong> a storm that blew it away<br />
from the intended port. Many on board were once again thrown<br />
about, <strong>and</strong> one passenger, Laura Goodwin, was badly injured.<br />
Captain <strong>Richard</strong>son did his best to stay on course, but he finally<br />
conceded to the winds <strong>and</strong> let them take him to the Juan Fern<strong>and</strong>ez<br />
Isl<strong>and</strong>s, more than three hundred miles from Chile.<br />
Their l<strong>and</strong>ing in the Juan Fern<strong>and</strong>ez Isl<strong>and</strong>s proved a blessing<br />
for the people on the diverted ship. They found fruits <strong>and</strong> vegetables<br />
in abundance. They feasted too on animals <strong>and</strong> fish <strong>and</strong> salted down<br />
others for storage aboard ship. They obtained firewood <strong>and</strong> barrels<br />
of fresh water. Both passengers <strong>and</strong> crew enjoyed five restful days on<br />
the solid ground of this tropical paradise <strong>and</strong> avoided the high cost<br />
of supplies in Valparaiso. 16<br />
The group did have one solemn duty to attend to. Sister Laura<br />
Goodwin died from her injuries, <strong>and</strong> she was buried on the isl<strong>and</strong>.<br />
Ten earlier deaths during the voyage had all meant anguishing burials<br />
at sea. During her last hours of life, Laura had pleaded with her<br />
family to not bury her at sea. 17<br />
After leaving the Juan Fern<strong>and</strong>ez Isl<strong>and</strong>s, the Brooklyn sailed<br />
north to the S<strong>and</strong>wich Isl<strong>and</strong>s to deliver cargo carried on the ship<br />
from New York City. This part of the voyage took one <strong>and</strong> a half<br />
months. Then, during the passengers’ stay in the S<strong>and</strong>wich Isl<strong>and</strong>s,<br />
their leaders received word that the United States was at war with<br />
Mexico <strong>and</strong> their planned destination was likely to be hostile territory.<br />
Nevertheless, after ten days, the group set out, sailing eastward<br />
to the coast of California. 18<br />
Apprehensive about what they might face, the men of the<br />
Brooklyn increased their military drills, <strong>and</strong> Robert Smith was<br />
16. Hansen, “Voyage,” 58–59; Cowan <strong>and</strong> Homer, California Saints, 34.<br />
17. Hansen, “Voyage,” 57–59.<br />
18. Joy N. Hulme, “Oceangoing Pioneers: Conclusion,” Friend, October 1996,<br />
12.
22<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
appointed one of the leaders for these exercises. 19 After one more<br />
month at sea, the ship made its way into the northern California<br />
bay. Soon they caught sight of the United States flag flying over<br />
the village of Yerba Buena. A cheer rang out from the tired group.<br />
They reached their destination on July 31, 1846, after six <strong>and</strong> a half<br />
months at sea. 20<br />
The Brooklyn Saints remained together after they reached<br />
California. They needed to stay at least long enough to replenish<br />
their resources, <strong>and</strong> it would be another year before Brigham Young<br />
led the first company of pioneers into the Great Salt Lake Valley. All<br />
had signed “articles of agreement” during their voyage that for the<br />
first three years, they would share the funds earned through their labor.<br />
21 It is not certain how strictly this agreement was implemented,<br />
but it did influence the continued unity of the group.<br />
The settlement at Yerba Buena continued to grow <strong>and</strong> in 1847<br />
was renamed San Francisco. Catherine <strong>and</strong> Robert were assigned<br />
property on the corner of Sacramento <strong>and</strong> Stockton Streets. 22 It<br />
is not known what Robert did to sustain his family in their new<br />
home, but the possibilities in a busy seaport were varied, <strong>and</strong> numerous<br />
commercial opportunities were available. Many of the women<br />
earned money <strong>by</strong> doing laundry, sewing, <strong>and</strong> cooking for transient<br />
sailors <strong>and</strong> other travelers.<br />
During the summer of 1848, two years after their arrival in<br />
California, about fifty of the Brooklyn Saints left California to join<br />
the main body of the Church in the Salt Lake Valley. 23 Catherine<br />
19. Hubert Howe Bancroft, History of California, 1846–1848, vol. 5 (San<br />
Francisco, CA: History Company Publishers, 1886), 550n40.<br />
20. Hulme, “Oceangoing Pioneers: Conclusion,” 13; Bailey, Sam Brannan, 40.<br />
21. Bailey, Sam Brannan, 33–34.<br />
22. Bancroft, History of California, 5:677, 679.<br />
23. Norma Baldwin Ricketts, The Mormon Battalion: U.S. Army of the West,<br />
1846–1848 (Logan: Utah State University Press, 1996), 223–25.
Catherine Clark Smith Harrison (1813–1903) 23<br />
<strong>and</strong> Robert were not among them. Whatever their reason for staying,<br />
Catherine soon faced another great trial of faith.<br />
Robert died in September of 1848. 24 The cause is not known,<br />
nor is the place of his burial. Catherine had experienced affliction<br />
before, but the loss of her husb<strong>and</strong> was especially painful. Their son<br />
Daniel was five years old, <strong>and</strong> Hyrum was three. Then one month<br />
after Robert’s death, their daughter, Mary Catherine, was born to<br />
the new widow. 25<br />
Each hardship <strong>and</strong> distress had occurred farther from her childhood<br />
home in Scotl<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> from the security of family. Catherine<br />
had to put aside her grief <strong>and</strong> make difficult decisions. How could<br />
she support <strong>and</strong> care for her young family? Catherine’s answers came<br />
through her associations within her Church community.<br />
On February 4, 1849, she married Isaac Harrison, a widowed<br />
veteran of the Mormon Battalion. Their courtship was not long, but<br />
her needs were great. Catherine required support, <strong>and</strong> her children<br />
needed a father. Isaac answered those needs <strong>and</strong> proved to be a faithful,<br />
worthy companion. 26<br />
Isaac Harrison, a native of Ohio, had married Sabina Davis in<br />
1836. They joined the Church in 1837 <strong>and</strong> later moved to Nauvoo.<br />
They suffered with the Saints there <strong>and</strong> left Nauvoo when the exodus<br />
to the west began. While they were in Council Bluffs, Iowa, the<br />
United States government requested volunteers for service in the war<br />
with Mexico. When the merits of the expedition were explained,<br />
Isaac joined the group, designated as the Mormon Battalion. He left<br />
his pregnant wife <strong>and</strong> two small children in the care of his motherin-law,<br />
who was hostile to the Church. During the battalion’s difficult<br />
march to California, Isaac received word that his wife had died<br />
24. “Robert Smith,” Family Group Record, copy in private possession.<br />
25. Harrison Family Bible.<br />
26. Rowley, “Brief Sketch,” 3; “Isaac Harrison,” Ancestral File Individual<br />
Record, NewFamilySearch, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, accessed<br />
June 22, 2011, http://familysearch.org.
24<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
in childbirth <strong>and</strong> her mother had taken the children back to her<br />
own home, away from Church influence. With a heavy heart he<br />
continued on. 27<br />
The battalion arrived in San Diego, California Territory, in<br />
January 1847. When word came later that the main body of the<br />
Church had settled in the Salt Lake Valley, many discharged veter-<br />
ans decided to continue on to that destination. Isaac had no fam-<br />
ily <strong>and</strong> so decided to reenlist for a time to help stabilize southern<br />
California after the war with Mexico. After that service ended, he<br />
joined others of the battalion going to northern California, where<br />
a contract waited to build a grist mill for John Sutter. Men of this<br />
group played a role in the discovery of gold, which changed the his-<br />
tory of California. Isaac was not involved in the discovery, but the<br />
ensuing gold rush had a significant influence on his life. 28<br />
Catherine <strong>and</strong> Isaac shared the same faith, <strong>and</strong> they remained<br />
steadfast in their commitment to it. After they married, Isaac tried<br />
farming for a time but thought there was more money to be made<br />
farther inl<strong>and</strong> in the gold fields. He was not inclined to take up the<br />
pan himself in the gamble for gold, but he found another way to<br />
benefit. The 1850 census of El Dorado County, California, lists Isaac<br />
Harrison as the owner of a hotel in Pilot Hill. Listed with him are<br />
his wife, Catherine, as well as children Daniel Clark Smith, Hyrum<br />
Joseph Smith, Mary Catherine Smith, <strong>and</strong> Sabina Ann Harrison, six<br />
months old. Life had taken a new turn for Catherine. 29<br />
Three more children were born to the Harrisons in California:<br />
John Lathum in 1852, Fannie Aditha in 1854, <strong>and</strong> Isaac <strong>Jr</strong>. in 1856.<br />
27. “A Sketch of the Life of Fannie Aditha Harrison Wright,” Typescript, p. 2,<br />
copy in private possession.<br />
28. Ricketts, Mormon Battalion, 265.<br />
29. 1850 U.S. Census, Pilot Hill <strong>and</strong> Vicinity, El Dorado County, California,<br />
Family History Library.
Catherine Clark Smith Harrison (1813–1903) 25<br />
All were born in the San Francisco area, where the Harrisons had<br />
friends <strong>and</strong> support from the Church. 30<br />
Life for a family in the untamed gold fields had its challenges.<br />
Hastily built towns were a collection of tents <strong>and</strong> crude wooden<br />
buildings. The people were from a variety of backgrounds, <strong>and</strong> order<br />
was minimal. The challenge, as the Harrisons grew “from faith to<br />
faith,” was retaining their beliefs <strong>and</strong> values. This was a time of hard<br />
work. Running a hotel included doing copious amounts of laundry<br />
<strong>and</strong> obtaining <strong>and</strong> preparing food for the guests. There were also<br />
the daily requirements of cleaning <strong>and</strong> general upkeep. The older<br />
children had lessons to do, <strong>and</strong> everyone capable was expected to<br />
help with chores. There were, however, mountains to explore <strong>and</strong><br />
interesting, colorful people to meet. Isaac <strong>and</strong> Catherine taught<br />
their family the importance of hard work <strong>and</strong> resisting the abundant<br />
temptations around them.<br />
During the eleven years she was in California, Catherine <strong>and</strong><br />
Isaac had opportunities to depart for Utah but chose to stay in<br />
California. Nevertheless, the Church remained important to them.<br />
In 1857 they received word that induced them to move to Zion. 31<br />
In Utah a drama had been unfolding, primarily a conflict over<br />
who should have the political upper h<strong>and</strong>: the local government,<br />
headed <strong>by</strong> Governor Brigham Young, or the United States government.<br />
This debate escalated into what has been called the Utah<br />
War. When an army was dispatched to enforce national supremacy,<br />
Brigham Young sent a request for all Saints in distant settlements to<br />
gather to Utah. Catherine’s defining statement, “I know all this to<br />
be true,” directed their lives, <strong>and</strong> Catherine <strong>and</strong> Isaac committed to<br />
go. In August 1857 they joined the Zacheus Cheney Company <strong>and</strong><br />
traveled over the Sierra Nevada mountains <strong>and</strong> the arid Humboldt<br />
30. Harrison Family Bible.<br />
31. Ricketts, Mormon Battalion, 226.
26<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
desert to establish a new home once again. The journey took two<br />
<strong>and</strong> a half months. 32<br />
The political situation in Utah eventually stabilized, <strong>and</strong> the<br />
Harrisons searched for a place to make their home. After ten years<br />
of settlement, the Wasatch Front of the Rocky Mountains had<br />
many small communities, with the main hub being Salt Lake City.<br />
Some sources suggest the Harrisons had homes, at various times,<br />
in Farmington, American Fork, Little Cottonwood, <strong>and</strong> Holladay,<br />
Utah. The 1860 census lists the Harrisons as living in Union, part of<br />
which later became S<strong>and</strong>y City. It is there that they finally put down<br />
permanent roots. 33<br />
The S<strong>and</strong>y area started as a farming community but became<br />
an important hub for the railroad that served the local mines <strong>and</strong><br />
smelters. The community grew considerably <strong>and</strong> offered many opportunities<br />
for retail establishments. Isaac <strong>and</strong> Catherine opened a<br />
grocery store in the center of the busy town. 34 Isaac served as the first<br />
postmaster <strong>and</strong> first justice of the peace <strong>and</strong> went on to hold other<br />
civic offices. Church duties were important, <strong>and</strong> when a branch of<br />
the Church was formally established, Isaac was named the presiding<br />
elder of the group. Catherine served in the Relief Society <strong>and</strong> helped<br />
with the store. She provided for the daily needs of her family <strong>and</strong><br />
supported her husb<strong>and</strong> in his duties. 35<br />
As her children grew, Catherine found another opportunity to<br />
serve. She became a midwife <strong>and</strong> delivered babies in much of the<br />
southern portion of the Salt Lake Valley. She was praised for her<br />
efficient <strong>and</strong> kind care to mothers <strong>and</strong> babies. During one part of<br />
32. Ricketts, Mormon Battalion, 227.<br />
33. 1860 U.S. Census, Salt Lake County, Utah Territory, Union Post Office,<br />
Family number 290, Family History Library.<br />
34. Martha Sonntag Bradley, S<strong>and</strong>y City: The First 100 Years (S<strong>and</strong>y, UT: S<strong>and</strong>y<br />
City Corporation, 1993), 29–30.<br />
35. Roxie N. Rich, The History <strong>and</strong> People of Early S<strong>and</strong>y 1850–1930, 2nd ed.<br />
(Riverton, UT: Ensign Publishing, 2004), 226.
Catherine Clark Smith Harrison (1813–1903) 27<br />
her life, she recorded in an almanac statistics related to her work.<br />
This almanac, which later passed to family members, contains such<br />
simple facts as the following:<br />
Jan. 6 J. Castle girl . . .<br />
Feb. 8 Holman girl . . .<br />
Mar. 16 Johnson boy . . .<br />
Total in 1883 9 boys, 18 girls<br />
The record continues through 1888. A big year was 1884, with<br />
three sets of twins. The almanac lists a total of 307 children delivered.<br />
36 On April 20, 1887, Catherine attended at the birth of her<br />
own gr<strong>and</strong>child, a daughter of Isaac Harrison <strong>Jr</strong>. The girl was named<br />
Florence Catherine Harrison. Catherine was then more than seventy<br />
years old. 37<br />
Catherine’s usual rate for her services was four or five dollars.<br />
This fee compensated her for delivering the ba<strong>by</strong> <strong>and</strong> caring for the<br />
mother <strong>and</strong> child up to ten days. A family story relates that one<br />
father was having financial difficulty <strong>and</strong> expressed concern that he<br />
would be unable to pay her. Catherine took a few eggs from the<br />
table <strong>and</strong> told him that would settle the bill. 38<br />
Isaac died in 1894, <strong>and</strong> Catherine was once again a widow. She<br />
36. Rich, History <strong>and</strong> People, 145–47.<br />
37. Sources do not agree about Catherine’s age. At some point she began to<br />
report her birth year as 1817, but her birth year of 1813 is confirmed <strong>by</strong> Scottish<br />
Parish Records, Paisley Parish, 1722–1854, p. 23, Family History Library;<br />
“Catherine Clark Harrison,” Endowment House Temple Records, bk. D, no.<br />
1201, p. 64, Special Collections, Family History Library. Catherine was sealed<br />
to her husb<strong>and</strong> Isaac Harrison on September 21, 1860, <strong>and</strong> received her endowment<br />
on November 9, 1861, in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City. It was<br />
not uncustomary to receive one’s own endowment after being sealed to a spouse.<br />
Family Group Record, Isaac <strong>and</strong> Catherine Clark Harrison, NewFamilySearch,<br />
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, accessed February 2, 2011, http://<br />
new .familysearch.org.<br />
38. Rowley, “Brief Sketch,” 3–4.
28<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
continued to live in S<strong>and</strong>y, where she was affectionately known as<br />
“Gr<strong>and</strong>ma Harrison” until her death on February 10, 1903. During<br />
her lifetime she had sailed two oceans, traversed mountains <strong>and</strong><br />
harsh deserts, assisted in establishing new communities, <strong>and</strong> provided<br />
service to others.<br />
Catherine Clark Smith Harrison did not gain prominence or<br />
fame during her life. She was a humble woman who lived in exceptional<br />
times. Her perseverance <strong>and</strong> continued focus on what she<br />
knew to be true demonstrates many elements of her faith. She did<br />
what was right, endured severe trials, <strong>and</strong> gained strength as she put<br />
her trust in the Lord. Her example demonstrates that station in life<br />
is not as important as steadfastness, that office is less important than<br />
commitment, <strong>and</strong> that faith can be measured in actions.
Chapter Thirty-Eight<br />
“Weaned from the World”<br />
Myra Mayall Henrie (1803–1893)<br />
Donna Tol<strong>and</strong> Smart<br />
Biographical Sketch<br />
Myra Mayall was born at Thurston Clough in Saddleworth,<br />
Yorkshire, Engl<strong>and</strong>, on November 1, 1803, at 7:00 p.m. 1<br />
More than a decade before, Myra’s uncle Samuel Mayall had risked<br />
his life in hiding himself <strong>and</strong> his plans for a woolen mill aboard a<br />
ship to the United States; he built the first woolen mill in the United<br />
States in 1791 in Gray, Cumberl<strong>and</strong> County, Maine. 2 His family<br />
followed later. Myra’s mother, Margaret Mayall, “married James<br />
Radcliff when Myra was a child. Although the date <strong>and</strong> circumstances<br />
are unknown, Myra migrated to the United States, <strong>and</strong> met<br />
William Henrie. They married in Ohio on November 17, 1824, <strong>and</strong><br />
1. The information on her birth is embroidered in green yarn on a simple paper<br />
sampler, now owned <strong>by</strong> a descendant.<br />
2. Ben Butter <strong>and</strong> Natalie Butter, “The Mayall Woolen Mill First in the United<br />
States,” Down East: The Magazine of Maine, September 1970, 29–35, 312.<br />
29
30<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
prospered.” 3 Parley P. Pratt <strong>and</strong> Samuel Smith, brother of Joseph,<br />
taught them the gospel, <strong>and</strong> sometime after their baptism they<br />
joined the Saints in Nauvoo. 4<br />
The Henries purchased property from Joseph Smith <strong>and</strong> came to<br />
know him intimately as neighbors. Again they prospered. Son James<br />
said that Myra sometimes served the Prophet buttermilk or a baked<br />
potato, <strong>and</strong> they often played games with him. Family tradition<br />
claims that Joseph borrowed a horse from the Henries for John Taylor<br />
to ride to Carthage. Other stories say the horse whinnied as it passed<br />
the Henrie farm, <strong>and</strong> Joseph raised his hat <strong>and</strong> blessed the family. 5<br />
Myra did not talk about receiving ordinances in the Nauvoo<br />
Temple or about their journey to Winter Quarters <strong>and</strong> her year<br />
there, although all of these occurred. 6 William accompanied<br />
Brigham Young to the Salt Lake Valley in the original pioneer company;<br />
Daniel, Myra <strong>and</strong> William’s eldest son, joined the Mormon<br />
Battalion. When all had reached in the valley, William continued to<br />
explore the area, even as far as southern Utah with the Parley P. Pratt<br />
expedition of 1849. 7<br />
3. Manetta Prince Henrie, Ancestry <strong>and</strong> Descendants of William Henrie, 1799–<br />
1883, ed. Ryan Henrie (Provo, UT: privately printed, 1954), 8, http://henrie.org/<br />
red_book/red_book.pdf.<br />
4. This information comes from a history written <strong>by</strong> Callie O. Morley, a greatgr<strong>and</strong>daughter<br />
of William <strong>and</strong> Myra. Evidently Morley interviewed a number of<br />
people to obtain information. Her biography is compelling, but there are some<br />
errors, <strong>and</strong> this account has not yet been fully verified. Callie O. Morley, “William<br />
<strong>and</strong> Myra Mayall Henrie,” Typescript, 1955, Church History Library, The Church<br />
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah, hereafter cited as Church<br />
History Library.<br />
5. Thelma Miller Higbee, “Stories of the associations of the William Henrie<br />
Family with the prophe[t] Joseph Smith as told to me <strong>by</strong> my aunt Mary Henrie<br />
Cooper,” n.d., Church History Library.<br />
6. Myra received ordinances in the Nauvoo Temple on January 22, 1846.<br />
Nauvoo Temple Endowment Register, 1845–46, 1:179, Church History Library.<br />
7. “William Henrie,” Mormon Pioneer Overl<strong>and</strong> Travel Database, 1847–68,<br />
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, accessed November 21, 2011,
Myra Mayall Henrie (1803–1893) 31<br />
The Henries established a homestead in Bountiful, Utah, <strong>and</strong><br />
lived together until 1865, when they were called to help found a<br />
new settlement in Panaca, Utah (later Nevada). After long years of<br />
pioneering, William refused to leave Bountiful; he needed to stay<br />
put for a season. Myra, however, heeded the call <strong>and</strong> accompanied<br />
two of her married sons <strong>and</strong> their families to the small outpost.<br />
Myra taught school in Panaca <strong>and</strong> Panguitch, Utah, in both places<br />
helping to run a co-op <strong>and</strong> serving as Relief Society president. 8<br />
Myra <strong>and</strong> William remained faithful, although apart. Theirs is<br />
an unusual, fascinating, poignant family history.<br />
Life Experiences<br />
Myra left no diary, but in an 1852 bible, she meticulously recorded<br />
the births of her seven children, the first four born in Miami<br />
Township, Hamilton County, Ohio, <strong>and</strong> the last three born in<br />
Colerain Township. The names given the children show her family<br />
ties; each name seems to be that of an ancestor or a living family<br />
member.<br />
Preserving those family ties was a theme throughout Myra’s<br />
life, as is manifest <strong>by</strong> several extant letters to her daughter. From<br />
Manti, Utah, on July 11, 1868, 9 Myra wrote a letter to her daughter,<br />
Margaret, who lived in San Bernardino, California:<br />
I take my pen to write you a few lines, I hardly [k]now<br />
what to say to you, I have wrote so often it seems as if I can<br />
not find language to express my feelings. I received your letter<br />
with peculiar feelings to hear of your sickness in your<br />
family <strong>and</strong> of your poor health. I hope you will live so that<br />
http://mormontrail.lds.org; Over the Rim: The Parley P. Pratt Exploring Expedition<br />
of Southern Utah, 1849–50, ed. William B. Smart <strong>and</strong> Donna T. Smart (Logan:<br />
Utah State University Press, 1999).<br />
8. Morley, “William <strong>and</strong> Myra Mayall Henrie,” 9–11.<br />
9. Myra was visiting her son Daniel <strong>and</strong> his wife Am<strong>and</strong>a Bradley in Manti,<br />
Utah.
32<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
if you should be taken from the Earth before I get to see you<br />
that you can meet your change with joy <strong>and</strong> we will meet<br />
the other side of the Vail with joy. I am here on a visit on my<br />
way to the City. Samuel [one of Myra’s sons] is going up to<br />
the City this fall <strong>and</strong> he is comin <strong>by</strong> after me.<br />
I hardly [k]now what to say about Moses [Margaret’s<br />
husb<strong>and</strong>] bringing goods to Meadow Vally to sell. I have<br />
wrote to you about it before, it seems as if you do not get<br />
all my letters <strong>by</strong> the way you write. I think he would make<br />
it pay. I wish I was so I could be ware I could do something<br />
for you. I could at least be company for you if you would<br />
come <strong>and</strong> bring your family with you I would do all I can<br />
for you <strong>and</strong> I think I could do something for you. James<br />
[another son] <strong>and</strong> Samuel has got a saw mill <strong>and</strong> grist Mill<br />
in operation. They seem to be blessed, with the exseption of<br />
loosing their Children.<br />
I got a letter from Sister Mary the same day I got yours<br />
<strong>and</strong> one from Samuel. She said they are all well <strong>and</strong> Reba<br />
was well. I have been here three weeks Monday next. Sister<br />
Mary is comin to see me when the Rail Road gets threw. 10<br />
She sent me her likeness [photograph], <strong>and</strong> one for you. I<br />
was to send it to you <strong>and</strong> tell you it was your Aunt Mary<br />
Simmonds. She wants you to write to her post office address<br />
is Mary Simmonds, Miami town, Cros<strong>by</strong> Township,<br />
Hamilton County, Ohio. She writes Beautiful letters wants<br />
to now something of our religion; means to come <strong>and</strong> see<br />
for herself. I hope she will. I want you if you write to her to<br />
take particular pains <strong>and</strong> spell better.<br />
I have no particular news, your Father went back to Salt<br />
Lake last April. I kept School till I came away. I had a good<br />
chance to come, <strong>and</strong> I thought I would take a rest, we got<br />
10. The transcontinental railroad was completed on May 10, 1869, less than a<br />
year after Myra wrote this letter.
Myra Mayall Henrie (1803–1893) 33<br />
the letter you wrote to Daniel [with whom Myra was visiting].<br />
He was glad to hear from you, Daniel has a large family.<br />
His oldest daughter Mary is married <strong>and</strong> lives close <strong>by</strong>.<br />
I think she has got A good man. Am<strong>and</strong>a [Daniel’s wife]<br />
sends her love to you. She has a fine little girl, She calls it<br />
Margaret for you. It has the Hooping cough. With the exceptions<br />
of that they are well. Daniel <strong>and</strong> Am<strong>and</strong>a looks<br />
old. He has four Children I had not seen till I came here.<br />
Daniel thinks you had better come back. I think myself, you<br />
would do well to come back, Moses can get all the freighten<br />
he can do here, <strong>and</strong> you could be with me.<br />
[Son] James enjoys himself well. Feels as if he was doin<br />
right. Daniel seems to have things comfortable, Susan [wife<br />
of Myra’s son Joseph] has four Children, three boys <strong>and</strong> one<br />
girl. I want you to write <strong>and</strong> tell Myra [gr<strong>and</strong>daughter] to<br />
write. Direct your letters as before, <strong>and</strong> if I should not be<br />
there they will send them to me. I think I shall be there <strong>by</strong><br />
the time you are, if you do start in October. Give my best<br />
respects to Moses <strong>and</strong> the Children. Kiss the little girls for<br />
me <strong>and</strong> don’t let them forget me. My love to you.<br />
Never join the Josephites. 11 I was glad to hear you had<br />
not joined them. You say you are as ever—you can not be. If<br />
you was you would not stay there, you would come here <strong>and</strong><br />
live with this People. Do you mind when you would come<br />
to the Vally all I could say [illegible]. Mrs Guard thinks you<br />
are verry proud, not sociable. Do not get proud. Remember<br />
we are nothing but dust <strong>and</strong> unto dust we must return.<br />
Teach your children to be kind <strong>and</strong> good to one another<br />
<strong>and</strong> to every body else, <strong>and</strong> to so live that they will not fear<br />
to die. . . .<br />
11. The term “Josephites” was a name for followers of Joseph Smith III, leader<br />
of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (now Community<br />
of Christ).
34<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
The times seems to look strange the way things seems to<br />
move, but the Lord works in a mysterious way. Who will be<br />
able to st<strong>and</strong> in the day of his comin? I feel more <strong>and</strong> more<br />
weaned from the world as I grow old. I think with one of old<br />
all is Vanity <strong>and</strong> if we have hope only in this World we are<br />
of all, most miserable, but we have a hope beyond the Vail.<br />
Give my love to Mother Daily [Margaret’s mother-in-law]<br />
<strong>and</strong> Eliza <strong>and</strong> tell Eliza to write to me. Write soon as this<br />
comes to h<strong>and</strong>. Good <strong>by</strong> for this time. May the Lord bless<br />
you <strong>and</strong> spare your life <strong>and</strong> mine that we may meet again. 12<br />
Panaca Relief Society President<br />
Myra relocated from Bountiful, Utah, with two of her married<br />
children <strong>and</strong> their families to the small settlement of Panaca, Utah,<br />
in 1865. The Panaca Relief Society minute book recorded its organization<br />
on November 15, 1869. It was “moved <strong>by</strong> Mary C Langford<br />
seconded <strong>by</strong> Mary Ann P Marshall that Myra Henrie be Presidentess<br />
of the Society.” 13<br />
In answer to Myra’s inquiry about her duties, Eliza R. Snow<br />
wrote: “You are called to do all the good you can in every way<br />
Temporly Spiritually morally intellectually <strong>and</strong> do no harm. It<br />
would be impossible to define the duties, you must act according<br />
to circumstances, be humble <strong>and</strong> God will strengthen <strong>and</strong> assist you<br />
<strong>and</strong> you will do much good.” 14 Two weeks later, the Relief Society<br />
minute book recorded:<br />
12. Myra Mayall Henrie to Margaret Henrie Daley, July 11, 1868, Photocopy<br />
of holograph, in private possession.<br />
13. Relief Society Minutes, November 15, 1869, Panaca Ward, Uvada Stake,<br />
Church History Library.<br />
14. This letter from Eliza R. Snow, dated January 23, 1870, was read <strong>and</strong> recopied<br />
into the December 18, 1873, minutes of the Panguitch Ward Relief Society,<br />
Panguitch Stake, Church History Library. The letter was found on page 8, following<br />
the 1873 priesthood minutes, Panguitch Ward, Panguitch Stake, Church<br />
History Library. Perhaps Myra took it to Panguitch, Utah, when she moved.
Myra Mayall Henrie (1803–1893) 35<br />
Sister Henrie said she had been trying the past week to<br />
find out some information pertaining to our society. She<br />
said the young sisters there would be places where they<br />
could do much good. She said she would like the teachers<br />
to go round <strong>and</strong> meet before fast day. She thought it would<br />
be best to hold our next meeting then. And for the teachers<br />
to give in their reports. There is a poor family come in. . . .<br />
They are in need of assistance. She thought that Sister Mary<br />
Ann Procter <strong>and</strong> Martha Norton had better go <strong>and</strong> visit this<br />
family <strong>and</strong> see after their nessesities. She wished the sisters<br />
to assist them <strong>by</strong> giving in something to relive them. 15<br />
On February 19, 1870, the women of this struggling little outpost<br />
penned an audacious letter, preserved in the Relief Society minute<br />
book, to the editor of the <strong>Deseret</strong> News:<br />
Dear Sir—The ladies of this place met to day in Mass<br />
Meeting to give expression to their feelings in common with<br />
their sisters of the same faith in other parts of the Territory<br />
on the Cullon & Cragin Bills now before Congress. Meeting<br />
opened <strong>by</strong> singing <strong>and</strong> prayer. On motion Mrs Myra Henrie<br />
was called to the chair. She stated she was pleased to see<br />
so many of the ladies of Panaca together on this interesting<br />
occasion. She felt that the Cullon <strong>and</strong> Cragin Bills were<br />
an insult to the good sences <strong>and</strong> moral <strong>and</strong> religious sentiments<br />
of the Ladies of Utah. Several Ladies made many very<br />
appropriate remarks. They spoke in strong condemnatory<br />
terms against submitting to such oppressions as the said bills<br />
contemplate imposing on this people. . . .<br />
We accept Polygamy or plural marriage <strong>and</strong> are determined<br />
to sustain the principle against all opposition. If the<br />
Husb<strong>and</strong>s are imprisoned they will have to take the wives<br />
15. Relief Society Minutes, December 18, 1869, Panaca Ward, Uvada Stake,<br />
Church History Library.
36<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
<strong>and</strong> Children as well. We will let them learn something of<br />
the power of Union. We need not fear what man can do for<br />
all men are in the h<strong>and</strong>s of the Lord God of Israel. To submit<br />
to such oppression would be to make ourselves slaves of<br />
debauchery <strong>and</strong> crime. Meeting was adjourned to this day 2<br />
weeks. Benediction <strong>by</strong> the President.<br />
Although Myra took her role as Relief Society president seriously,<br />
she also was obliged to attend to personal, practical matters, as<br />
another entry attests. September 1, 1870, found Sister Henrie absent<br />
from Relief Society, but she was in the minutes: “Leave off all your<br />
gossiping <strong>and</strong> talking <strong>and</strong> pay all due respect to sister Henrie for<br />
she tries to do the best she can. She has not been able to attend very<br />
regular but the days are getting shorter <strong>and</strong> the summer work will<br />
be done [<strong>and</strong>] the sisters will be better able to attend the meetings.”<br />
Relief Society President—Again<br />
When Panaca became part of Nevada instead of Utah, Brigham<br />
Young urged residents to move to Panguitch but also gave them permission<br />
to move back to the Salt Lake Valley. As they prepared to<br />
leave Panaca, Myra suggested, “[Let us all] meet together <strong>and</strong> dance<br />
<strong>and</strong> sing <strong>and</strong> have a good time once more before we move.” 16 The<br />
Henries, excluding Myra’s husb<strong>and</strong>, William Henrie, who was still<br />
in Bountiful, moved to Panguitch.<br />
In August of 1874, the Woman’s Exponent published a letter<br />
showing Myra again serving in the Relief Society:<br />
The Relief Society of the town of Panguitch was organized<br />
December 10th, 1873; it now numbers seventy-eight<br />
members <strong>and</strong> is progressing very favorably. It is an organization<br />
from God, <strong>and</strong> as such we feel a pleasure in being<br />
16. Relief Society Minutes, March 2, 1871, Panaca Ward, Uvada Stake, Church<br />
History Library.
Myra Mayall Henrie (1803–1893) 37<br />
numbered with the Society here in Panguitch, though it is<br />
only a small branch, as it were, just putting forth its first<br />
leaves. The great design of this Society is to do good <strong>and</strong><br />
instruct one another; to lift up <strong>and</strong> not pull down; to comfort<br />
those who mourn; help the poor; teach each other how<br />
to live, be industrious <strong>and</strong> set an example of neatness <strong>and</strong><br />
piety worthy of imitation; to help us improve the talents<br />
God has given us; to help prepare us for an exaltation in the<br />
Celestial Kingdom; to unite us; teach us to love one another<br />
<strong>and</strong> cease to do evil, <strong>and</strong> to ennoble <strong>and</strong> fit us for Eternity.<br />
Myra Henrie President, Mary Ann P. Marshall, Secretary. 17<br />
On the day she was sustained, “Mrs President made a few remarks<br />
wishing the sisters to be united. She felt her weakness <strong>and</strong><br />
inability to go forth <strong>and</strong> perform the great <strong>and</strong> responsible duties<br />
which is placed upon her. She desired an interest in the faith <strong>and</strong><br />
prayers of the sisters so that she may have a portion of the Spirit of<br />
the Lord to direct her continually.” 18<br />
Some months earlier, Myra returned to Ohio to visit relatives.<br />
The Harrison News published two items heralding her arrival. The<br />
first appeared on August 8, 1873:<br />
Mrs. Henry, wife of Wm. Henry, a former resident of<br />
Miamitown has been visiting friends <strong>and</strong> relatives at her old<br />
home this week. She left this part of the county in 1836<br />
[James wrote it was in 1841; Myra <strong>and</strong> William were baptized<br />
July 17, 1842, <strong>by</strong> Andrew Lamoreaux] <strong>and</strong> joined the<br />
Mormons, among whom as one of the faith, she has been<br />
living ever since. Her age is 70 years, <strong>and</strong> her bodily health<br />
good. She is yet strong in the faith <strong>and</strong> anxious to renew<br />
her relations with the strange, to us, people of Utah. Her<br />
17. “R.S. Reports,” Woman’s Exponent 3, no. 6 (August 15, 1874): 42.<br />
18. Relief Society Minutes, December 10, 1873, Panguitch Ward, Panguitch<br />
Stake, Church History Library.
38<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
home is 300 miles the other side of Salt Lake City near the<br />
Arizona line to which place she returns soon. We did not<br />
learn how many other wives Mr. Henry has but suppose he<br />
has at least a baker’s dozen.<br />
The truth was that William had only one wife: Myra. The next<br />
month, the newspaper printed another item:<br />
Mrs Henrie visited her sister, Mrs. Rachel (<strong>Richard</strong>)<br />
Simmonds of Miamitown. She [Myra] is a Mormon lady<br />
Intelligent, 70 years of age, teacher nine months a year, superintends<br />
two Sunday Schools. Mrs. Henrie is President of<br />
Relief Society, a remarkable lady. She travelled 300 miles in<br />
a wagon before she reached the cars at Salt Lake City. Mrs.<br />
Henrie has been a Mormon upwards of 30 years. 19<br />
Once Myra returned to Panguitch, she wrote a letter to her<br />
daughter detailing her experiences:<br />
I try to write you a few lines. I hardly now how to address<br />
you. It is a painful task to write to you to think ware<br />
you are <strong>and</strong> how long since I have seen you <strong>and</strong> then to<br />
think the probability is I never will see you, my only girl.<br />
How do you think I can bear up under [it]? But what cant<br />
be cured must be endured. Why is it . . . that I cant have the<br />
company of my only girl that I loved as myself? My health<br />
has been poor for some time. I am well cared for but O if I<br />
only could have you to look after me as I could my Mother<br />
in her last days. I had a lovely visit [in Ohio]. Was in the old<br />
house in the room where Mother <strong>and</strong> Father died. Visited<br />
their graves, went to Blue Rock. The old meetin house is<br />
gone, the grave yard mostly gone. After A diligent search<br />
found the footstone with S[arah] H[enrie] on it. Did not<br />
19. “A Mormon,” Harrison News, August 8, 1873; September 1873.
Myra Mayall Henrie (1803–1893) 39<br />
do anything to the graves; thought it not [worth] while.<br />
Brother James has Our old place. Built him a new house.<br />
[He] has <strong>and</strong> large grist mill <strong>and</strong> saw mill. Saw the old pear<br />
trees, had A good time. Had many presents. Brother gave<br />
me fifty dollars. Had a good time with my Sisters. Went to<br />
W Henries old place but the old cherry tree was gone <strong>and</strong><br />
the porch as well, but the spring was there. Took A drink<br />
out of it. Was in the room ware phebe <strong>and</strong> me had spent so<br />
many happy nights. The Orchard all but one or two trees<br />
cut down. Fathers old orchard all gone but two trees gone.<br />
Drawed a bucket of water out of our old well <strong>and</strong> took a<br />
drink, drawed a bucket of water out of Fathers old well <strong>and</strong><br />
took a drink. Was in the old smoke house, went down to<br />
ware the old Mills stood, crost the river on the bridge, saw<br />
many of my old friends.<br />
The W Henries family are all dead. Went <strong>and</strong> saw their<br />
graves, I had peculiar feelings while lookin at Fathers <strong>and</strong><br />
Mothers graves. Visited many of my old friends graves,<br />
knew many of my old play mates. . . . I want you to write<br />
soon as you get this <strong>and</strong> tell your Childrens names all of<br />
them <strong>and</strong> their ages <strong>and</strong> tell me if you can keep A head of<br />
your girls. Send me the Ba<strong>by</strong>s picture. I had the ba<strong>by</strong>s <strong>and</strong><br />
your picture with me East. Sister had these taken from it—<br />
all that saw them thought it the prettiest ba<strong>by</strong> they ever saw.<br />
I got A likeness from Sister Mary. She says she is comin to<br />
see us <strong>and</strong> stay the Summer with [me]. . . . If my health is<br />
good <strong>and</strong> Mary comes, <strong>and</strong> I can raise money, I may come<br />
<strong>and</strong> see you. . . . If you could hardly [k]now me I look so<br />
old <strong>and</strong> rinkled, you will all get <strong>and</strong> be good to Mother<br />
Daily. Give my love to her—tell the Children to be good to<br />
her. . . . Good By from your poor old Mother to her beloved<br />
daughter Margaret. 20<br />
20. Myra Mayall Henrie to Margaret Daily, March 7, 1873[4?], Photocopy, in
40<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
Myra’s tenure as Relief Society president in Panguitch continued.<br />
The minutes often mention the instructions given <strong>by</strong> “Mrs<br />
President” during early meetings in Panguitch. She suggested the sisters<br />
improve their time, faithfully attend their meetings, speak well<br />
(not evil) of each other, <strong>and</strong> be united <strong>and</strong> faithful. She counseled<br />
them to do all the good they could with the Spirit of the Lord dwelling<br />
within them, as they helped to build the Kingdom. She directed<br />
the sisters who went around teaching to go in favorable weather, <strong>and</strong><br />
she said she hoped the young sisters who taught would become wise<br />
<strong>and</strong> good women. She asked them to contribute time <strong>and</strong> money<br />
to prepare clothing for a deceased brother <strong>and</strong> expressed worry <strong>and</strong><br />
sadness about a woman who was ill <strong>and</strong> in need of aid. 21<br />
Eventually, Mrs. President tried to resign with no success. On<br />
June 5, 1879, she finally received her release. She was nearly seventyseven<br />
years old, quite aged for her day.<br />
As Myra’s years multiplied <strong>and</strong> she <strong>and</strong> William remained apart,<br />
Myra longed to be assured that they would not be separated for eternity.<br />
Priesthood blessings gave her assurance, but she seemed to need<br />
William’s reassurance. On November 22, 1881, L. John Nuttall, secretary<br />
to the First Presidency, wrote in his journal:<br />
Sister Henrie called on Prest Taylor <strong>and</strong> expressed her<br />
desires for her husb<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> herself to become reconciled so<br />
they could go to the Temple & receive such ordinances as<br />
they are worthy. Br Henrie lives at Bountiful & they have<br />
been separated for some ten years—she would like to have<br />
private possession. The owner of Myra’s original letter transcribed the date as 1879.<br />
At present, only a poor photocopy of the original is available, <strong>and</strong> on it the date<br />
appears to be 1873, though that date is impossible because it puts the composition<br />
of the letter before the trip east. It seems unlikely that Myra would wait six years<br />
before writing her daughter about her journey. A more likely date is 1874.<br />
21. This is a summary of minutes of Panguitch Ward Relief Society.
Myra Mayall Henrie (1803–1893) 41<br />
Prest Taylor talk to him or have something done in this<br />
matter. 22<br />
William died in Bountiful on December 18, 1883, having<br />
willed all his worldly goods to the Church, except for tokens to his<br />
“beloved” wife <strong>and</strong> children.<br />
Nearly ten years later, Myra died February 3, 1893. Throughout<br />
her long life, she endeavored to kindle living testimony within her<br />
posterity. At her funeral, all spoke “in praise of the Long, useful <strong>and</strong><br />
exemplary life of Sister Henrie, <strong>and</strong> encouraging the numerous posterity<br />
of Sister Henrie to emulate her good example.” 23<br />
Myra probably looked down <strong>and</strong> smiled.<br />
22. Jedediah S. Rogers, ed., In the President’s Office: The Diaries of L. John<br />
Nuttall, 1879–1892 (Salt Lake City, UT: Signature <strong>Book</strong>s, 2007), xxviiin23, 79,<br />
79n34.<br />
23. General Minutes, February 5, 1893, pp. 30–31, Panguitch Ward, Panguitch<br />
Stake, Church History Library. General minutes include those taken in sacrament<br />
meetings <strong>and</strong> other meetings which the general congregation attends. General<br />
minutes are typically not associated with any specific organization, such as Sunday<br />
School or Relief Society.
Chapter Thirty-Nine<br />
“Drops of Grace <strong>and</strong> Mercy”<br />
Zina Baker Huntington (1786–1839)<br />
Rachel Cope<br />
Biographical Sketch<br />
On May 2, 1786, Oliver <strong>and</strong> Dorcas Dimick Baker welcomed<br />
twin daughters, Zina <strong>and</strong> Lina, into their home in Plainsfield,<br />
New Hampshire. In the Baker household, Dorcas, who would ul-<br />
timately give birth to twelve children, focused on domestic tasks,<br />
while Oliver worked as one of the first physicians in the state.<br />
Zina <strong>and</strong> Lina grew up assisting their mother with chores.<br />
Cooking, cleaning, sewing, spinning, weaving, <strong>and</strong> needlework<br />
certainly shaped a significant part of their daily routine. But Zina’s<br />
life, at least, was not consumed entirely <strong>by</strong> such work. She devel-<br />
oped intellectual as well as practical skills <strong>and</strong> cultivated family <strong>and</strong><br />
social relationships. Reading, writing, <strong>and</strong> religious engagements,<br />
which were both private <strong>and</strong> public activities in early New Engl<strong>and</strong>,<br />
allowed young women such as Zina to form reading circles <strong>and</strong><br />
42
Zina Baker Huntington (1786–1839) 43<br />
other groups that fostered friendships <strong>and</strong> promoted intellectual<br />
engagement. 1<br />
Religion also played an influential role in young Zina’s life. By<br />
the 1790s, New Engl<strong>and</strong> churches experienced what scholars have<br />
called a Second Great Awakening. 2 Because the religious revivals that<br />
permeated society during that time spread from location to location,<br />
conversion became a common phenomenon. Young women in particular<br />
accepted religion following a growing sense of conviction. 3<br />
This environment, which encouraged spiritual seeking, fed Zina’s<br />
early religious interests.<br />
On November 28, 1805, nineteen-year-old Zina Baker married<br />
William Huntington <strong>Jr</strong>., son of William <strong>and</strong> Presendia Lathrop<br />
Huntington, <strong>and</strong> moved about three hundred miles from her parents’<br />
home in Plainfield, New Hampshire, to the Huntington home<br />
in Watertown, New York. 4 In Watertown, Zina created a home of<br />
her own, established a social network, <strong>and</strong> attended church meetings.<br />
Like her mother, she would spin, weave, plant <strong>and</strong> cook; she<br />
also assisted her husb<strong>and</strong> in his farm business. Zina taught her<br />
1. Mary Kelley, “‘The Need of Their Genius’: Women’s Reading <strong>and</strong> Writing<br />
Practices in Early America,” Journal of the Early Republic 28, no. 1 (Spring 2008):<br />
3–7.<br />
2. The Second Great Awakening (1790–1840s) was a period of great religious<br />
revival in the United States. It resulted in widespread Christian evangelism <strong>and</strong><br />
conversions.<br />
3. Nancy F. Cott, “Young Women in the Second Great Awakening in New<br />
Engl<strong>and</strong>,” Feminist Studies 3, nos. 1 <strong>and</strong> 2 (Autumn 1975): 15–18.<br />
4. Watertown, in northern New York state, was settled just four years before<br />
Zina’s arrival. It became the seat of Jefferson County. It was in Adams, Jefferson<br />
County, New York, where famed revivalist Charles G. Finney had his conversion<br />
experience in 1821. See The Memoirs of Charles G. Finney: The Complete<br />
Restored Text, ed. Garth M. Rosell <strong>and</strong> <strong>Richard</strong> A. G. Dupius (Gr<strong>and</strong> Rapids, MI:<br />
Zondervan, 1989), 16–26; Marianne Perciaccante, Calling Down Fire: Charles<br />
Gr<strong>and</strong>ison Finney <strong>and</strong> Revivalism in Jefferson County, New York, 1800–1840<br />
(Albany: State University of New York Press, 2003).
44<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
children—she eventually gave birth to ten—to read the Bible, sing<br />
hymns, <strong>and</strong> play musical instruments. 5<br />
Though busy with her growing family, Zina found time to worship<br />
<strong>and</strong> to reflect upon religious topics. She attended Sunday services,<br />
as well as the Baptist <strong>and</strong> Methodist revivals that prospered<br />
in upstate New York in the early nineteenth century. Deaths in her<br />
family, particularly those of some of her own children, enhanced<br />
her desire to attain salvation. Zina cultivated religious belief in the<br />
lives of her husb<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> children as well, <strong>and</strong> the family eventually<br />
joined the Pres<strong>by</strong>terian church. Over time, however, scripture study<br />
convinced Zina <strong>and</strong> William that Pres<strong>by</strong>terianism was not the same<br />
gospel as the one they read about in the New Testament. As a result,<br />
they again became active religious seekers. 6<br />
In the early 1830s, Latter-day Saint missionary Joseph Wakefield<br />
stopped at the Huntington home <strong>and</strong> gave the family a copy of the<br />
<strong>Book</strong> of Mormon. Both Zina <strong>and</strong> William became convinced of its<br />
truthfulness <strong>and</strong> were baptized in the spring of 1835. 7<br />
The Huntington family left their livelihood <strong>and</strong> their home in<br />
Watertown behind to gather to Kirtl<strong>and</strong>, Ohio, with other Church<br />
members. Persecution mounted in that area, <strong>and</strong> they departed, despite<br />
their destitute circumstances, for Far West, Missouri, where<br />
they lived from 1838 to 1839. Zina <strong>and</strong> her daughters (<strong>by</strong> then<br />
young adults) reestablished a home: Cooking, cleaning, gardening,<br />
<strong>and</strong> socializing again became their norm. Nonetheless, that period<br />
of peace would soon come to an end. Forced from yet another settlement<br />
when the Saints were driven from Missouri, the Huntington<br />
5. Martha Sonntag Bradley <strong>and</strong> Mary Brown Firmage Woodward, Four Zinas:<br />
A Story of Mothers <strong>and</strong> Daughters on the Mormon Frontier (Salt Lake City, UT:<br />
Signature <strong>Book</strong>s, 2000), 5–9.<br />
6. Perciaccante, Calling Down Fire, 15–31; Edward W. Tullidge, The Women<br />
of Mormondom (New York: Tullidge & Cr<strong>and</strong>all, 1877), 206–7; Bradley <strong>and</strong><br />
Woodward, Four Zinas, 39–47.<br />
7. Bradley <strong>and</strong> Woodward, Four Zinas, 44.
Zina Baker Huntington (1786–1839) 45<br />
family made their way to Illinois, arriving in Nauvoo on May 14,<br />
1839.<br />
Shortly thereafter, Zina became ill with a “congestive chill,” <strong>and</strong><br />
in the early morning hours of July 8, 1839, she passed away. 8 Her<br />
daughter Zina Diantha wrote:<br />
Thus died my martyred mother! The prophet Joseph<br />
often said that the Saints who died in the persecutions were<br />
as much martyrs of the Church as was the apostle David<br />
Patten, who was killed in the defence of the Saints, or<br />
those who were massacred at Haun’s Mill. And my beloved<br />
mother was one of the many bright martyrs of the Church<br />
in those dark <strong>and</strong> terrible days of persecution. 9<br />
Zina Baker Huntington, who discovered in the <strong>Book</strong> of Mormon<br />
the answers she had been searching for, died knowing she had found<br />
the truth, peace, <strong>and</strong> purpose she had longed for.<br />
Life Experiences<br />
Much of what is known about Zina Baker Huntington as<br />
a seeker of religious truth is gleaned from letters she wrote to her<br />
mother, Dorcas Dimick Baker, between 1806 <strong>and</strong> 1829. This “silent<br />
conversation,” as Martha Bradley suggests, details both Zina’s<br />
outer <strong>and</strong> inner worlds: the correspondence discloses patterns of life<br />
within her family (birth, death, marriage), domestic chores, farm<br />
responsibilities, <strong>and</strong> social functions. The letters, however, do not<br />
center on Zina’s daily concerns. She is searching for, thinking about,<br />
experiencing, <strong>and</strong> sharing her growing sense of religious underst<strong>and</strong>ing.<br />
Indeed, her longing to find the pathway to salvation is woven<br />
throughout each letter she writes. The correspondence is the story of<br />
her conversion.<br />
8. Tullidge, Women of Mormondom, 207–14; Bradley <strong>and</strong> Woodward, Four<br />
Zinas, 100–104.<br />
9. Tullidge, Women of Mormondom, 214.
46<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
Zina began writing to her mother shortly after her marriage to<br />
William Huntington <strong>Jr</strong>. <strong>and</strong> their subsequent move to Watertown,<br />
New York. In her first letter, she reported that she <strong>and</strong> William<br />
had arrived safely at their destination <strong>and</strong> assured her mother of<br />
the kindness of her in-laws. Zina then recalled, “I went to meeting<br />
last Sunday <strong>and</strong> there was quite a full meeting they had very good<br />
singing.” 10 This sentence signals the principal theme of the letters<br />
Zina wrote for more than two decades. 11<br />
During this time, she carefully recorded the rise <strong>and</strong> decline<br />
of religion in Watertown <strong>and</strong> neighboring communities, lamenting<br />
times of religious “stupidity” <strong>and</strong> rejoicing when “there is revivals<br />
of religion all around us some places a few drops <strong>and</strong> other<br />
places a plentiful shower.” 12 But preceding <strong>and</strong> even exceeding her<br />
10. Zina Baker Huntington to Dorcas Dimick Baker, February 18, 1806, Zina<br />
Card Brown Family Collection, 1806–1972, Church History Library, The Church<br />
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah, hereafter cited as Church<br />
History Library. Unless otherwise noted, all quoted correspondence is from this<br />
collection.<br />
11. Historian Martha Sonntag Bradley commented: “These letters . . . are filled<br />
with the disappointments <strong>and</strong> trials of Zina’s life, the changing seasons, the births<br />
<strong>and</strong> deaths of her children <strong>and</strong> loved ones, <strong>and</strong> her husb<strong>and</strong>’s business. But it is<br />
religion—Zina’s preoccupation with matters of the spirit—that colors the pages<br />
of these letters.” See Martha Sonntag Bradley, ‘“Seizing Sacred Space’: Women’s<br />
Engagement in Early Mormonism,” Dialogue 27, no. 2 (Summer 1994): 57. See<br />
also Bradley <strong>and</strong> Woodward, Four Zinas, 1–26.<br />
12. Bradley <strong>and</strong> Woodward note that stupidity is Zina’s “favorite metaphor<br />
for religious malaise or spiritual numbness” (Four Zinas, 28). The words stupidity<br />
<strong>and</strong> dullness are used regularly in nineteenth-century journals, diaries, correspondence,<br />
periodicals, <strong>and</strong> memoirs in reference to times of religious stagnation. For<br />
example, see Zina Baker Huntington to Dorcas Dimick Baker, August 30, 1811,<br />
Church History Library. Martha Tomhave Blauvelt notes that the use of the word<br />
stupid draws on traditional Calvinist language for spiritual dullness. See Martha<br />
Tomhave Blauvelt, The Work of the Heart: Young Women <strong>and</strong> Emotion, 1780–1830<br />
(Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2007), 152. In contrast, the words<br />
shower, drops, <strong>and</strong> dew are used in reference to religious growth <strong>and</strong> success. Zina<br />
Baker Huntington to Dorcas Dimick Baker, June 6, 1813, <strong>and</strong> June 8, 1822.
Zina Baker Huntington (1786–1839) 47<br />
recollections of the revivalism so prevalent in nineteenth-century<br />
New York is Zina’s discovery <strong>and</strong> continuing development of her religious<br />
self. Like those of other nineteenth-century women, her writings<br />
reflect a “remapping” of her spiritual “aspiration <strong>and</strong> identity”;<br />
she uses her letters to express how revivalism paved the pathway of<br />
her own spiritual progress—a pathway she believed would ultimately<br />
lead to salvation. 13<br />
Zina’s communications with her mother make it clear that she<br />
continually pondered upon soul-searching questions because she<br />
feared she was “more cold <strong>and</strong> indifferent than is agreeable.” 14 In<br />
her early twenties, for example, she reflected upon the meaning of<br />
redemption through the atonement of Jesus Christ. Aware of the<br />
evolutionary nature of her spiritual consciousness, she concluded,<br />
“I must tell you I have a little hope of myself much better than ever<br />
before.” 15 In an effort to move even further forward on her spiritual<br />
journey, Zina attended some of the Methodist <strong>and</strong> Baptist revival<br />
meetings taking place in her neighborhood. When a preacher was<br />
unavailable on Sundays, she met with other members of the community<br />
for singing <strong>and</strong> worship. 16<br />
Like many of her female contemporaries, Zina also worried<br />
about the spiritual welfare of those she loved. She lamented their<br />
lack of interest in religious matters <strong>and</strong> hoped <strong>and</strong> prayed that their<br />
hearts would change. She explained to her mother that she longed to<br />
sprinkle her family with the “drops of grace <strong>and</strong> mercy” she had experienced<br />
in her quest for religious underst<strong>and</strong>ing. Her perseverance<br />
13. Joanna Bowen Gillespie, “‘The Clear Leadings of Providence’: Pious<br />
Memoirs <strong>and</strong> the Problems of Self-Realization for Women in the Early Nineteenth<br />
Century,” Journal of the Early Republic 5, no. 2 (Summer 1985): 198.<br />
14. Zina Baker Huntington to Dorcas Dimick Baker, January 18, 1811.<br />
15. Zina Baker Huntington to Dorcas Dimick Baker, August 7, 1808.<br />
16. Zina Baker Huntington to Dorcas Dimick Baker, August 9, 1809. Caleb<br />
Burnham’s barn was four miles from the Huntington home. It was known as the<br />
Religious Society of Watertown <strong>and</strong> served as the village’s first church. See Bradley<br />
<strong>and</strong> Woodward, Four Zinas, 28.
48<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
eventually paid off. On March 5, 1817, she wrote, “O what reformations<br />
we hear of from almost all parts of the earth”—reformations<br />
that would have a powerful presence in her home. To her delight,<br />
“this God <strong>and</strong> the Saviour of our souls (which are spirits) has I trust<br />
appeared under the roof of my dwelling in a particular manner <strong>and</strong><br />
has opened the eyes of my husb<strong>and</strong> . . . <strong>and</strong> has given him strength<br />
to flee to the Saviour <strong>and</strong> to make his peace with God.” 17<br />
On another occasion, she noted: “Our eldest daughter,<br />
Presendia, has experienced the saving change of heart, I believe. She<br />
is 11 years of age last September <strong>and</strong> our little girl, Adaline, she is<br />
six last August. She has had remarkable exercises indeed for such a<br />
child, but known to God are all our hearts, <strong>and</strong> we ought to rejoice<br />
that we are in his h<strong>and</strong>s.” Eventually, Zina, William, <strong>and</strong> their children<br />
joined the Pres<strong>by</strong>terian church. The Lord had indeed “visited<br />
[their] family with his good spirit.” 18 Zina had helped shepherd her<br />
family to God.<br />
The letters Zina composed during <strong>and</strong> after intense periods<br />
of revivalism reveal that religion remained her prime concern, <strong>and</strong><br />
thoughtful questions <strong>and</strong> impressions about salvation continued to<br />
emerge. In 1820, for example, Zina explained that she had “found<br />
that place where I can bless God for every thing trials as well as the<br />
best of mercies”; despite personal weaknesses, she felt “heaven born<br />
<strong>and</strong> heaven bound.” 19 And yet, notwithst<strong>and</strong>ing her membership in<br />
the Pres<strong>by</strong>terian church, she continued to be drawn to the religious<br />
fervor common in Baptist <strong>and</strong> Methodist revivals. To her mother<br />
she declared, “I suppose you do not believe much in the Methodist<br />
17. Zina Baker Huntington to Dorcas Dimick Baker, March 5, 1817.<br />
18. In 1822, Zina described a plethora of revivals occurring in Watertown <strong>and</strong><br />
the effect they had on her young daughters Presendia <strong>and</strong> Adaline. Huntington to<br />
Baker, June 8, 1822.<br />
19. Zina Baker Huntington to Dorcas Dimick Baker, March 13, 1820. Bradley<br />
<strong>and</strong> Woodward note that after 1820, approximately half of every letter that Zina<br />
wrote to her mother focused on religious topics. Bradley <strong>and</strong> Woodward, Four<br />
Zinas, 35.
Zina Baker Huntington (1786–1839) 49<br />
power. I had something of a trial about it but I can tell you the way<br />
is to labour <strong>by</strong> yourself.” 20 Zina, still seeking spiritual truth, hoped<br />
to discover a direct path to the “throne of grace.” 21 She longed to<br />
“enjoy the peace of mind that the world cannot give nor take away.”<br />
She thus continued to consider every religious option. 22<br />
By the late 1820s, Zina questioned whether she had truly experienced<br />
the peace <strong>and</strong> assurance associated with the gospel. She<br />
believed in God but did not think she had undergone a change of<br />
heart—the work of divine grace—that she read about in the scriptures<br />
<strong>and</strong> heard about in revival meetings. Something seemed to be<br />
lacking. She explained:<br />
There is some attention to religion in this place <strong>and</strong> in<br />
the town adjoining there has been a revival. We attended<br />
there. We have seen the works of the Lord in conviction<br />
<strong>and</strong> conversion of sinners such operations as I never saw before.<br />
. . . I have been in a cold state of mind. The Lord called<br />
me to look about myself last Spring before the revival began<br />
<strong>and</strong> O what a situation I found myself in. I felt almost in despair.<br />
O what darkness I experienced I cannot describe it. O<br />
the goodness <strong>and</strong> mercy of God, his mercy has brought me<br />
from time to time to see of his goodness <strong>and</strong> feel pardoning<br />
mercy. It has made me feel deep repentance such as I thought<br />
I never felt <strong>and</strong> then to drink of his mercy from time to time<br />
until I feel as tho I had drunk of the water wherein we shall<br />
never thirst. I think my dear Mother I can tell you that I<br />
never felt that deep work of grace in my heart before. 23<br />
20. Huntington to Baker, June 8, 1822; Zina Baker Huntington to Dorcas<br />
Dimick Baker, ca. 1823.<br />
21. Huntington to Baker, August 30, 1811. The phrase “throne of grace” is<br />
used frequently in nineteenth-century religious writings.<br />
22. Huntington to Baker, March 13, 1820.<br />
23. Zina Baker Huntington to Dorcas Dimick Baker, January 22, 1829.
50<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
Despite her commitment to religion <strong>and</strong> her desire to be<br />
committed to God, Zina sensed that she lacked something. By<br />
the early 1830s, Zina <strong>and</strong> William had become dissatisfied with<br />
Pres<strong>by</strong>terianism. Attending revivals <strong>and</strong> reading the Bible continued<br />
to create additional questions for them rather than answering former<br />
inquiries. Consequently, Zina anxiously labored to receive a renewal<br />
of spiritual vigor, for, as she explained, “we shall gain his strength<br />
if we follow on to know the Lord.” 24 <strong>Seek</strong>ing, she believed, would<br />
result in finding.<br />
The Huntington family became acquainted with Latter-day<br />
Saint missionaries during this period. In retrospect, Zina’s son Oliver<br />
recorded the following in his diary:<br />
In the year 1833 or 34 what was called Mormon elders<br />
began to preach around our neighborhood, <strong>and</strong> <strong>by</strong><br />
some means finally came to our house, <strong>and</strong> left a <strong>Book</strong> of<br />
Mormon which they [Zina <strong>and</strong> William] read through two<br />
or three times <strong>and</strong> was very much taken up with the doctrine;<br />
there had not been much preaching about there, any where,<br />
but what father <strong>and</strong> mother heard it. 25<br />
A new scripture text provided answers to doctrinal questions—<br />
questions that other means had been unable to resolve. Seeds of faith<br />
cultivated through revivalism began to sprout.<br />
During the spring of 1835, Zina <strong>and</strong> William were baptized,<br />
becoming Latter-day Saints. 26 Although Zina’s writings after 1829<br />
have not been preserved, Oliver noted her continuing spiritual<br />
transformation:<br />
24. Huntington to Baker, ca. 1823.<br />
25. Oliver B. Huntington, Diary, 1837–80, Typescript, p. 26, Utah State<br />
Historical Society, Salt Lake City, Utah; italics added.<br />
26. On October 1, 1836, the Huntington family moved from Watertown, New<br />
York, to join the Latter-day Saint settlement in Kirtl<strong>and</strong>, Ohio.
Zina Baker Huntington (1786–1839) 51<br />
In them days we were humble <strong>and</strong> prayed every chance<br />
we had <strong>and</strong> for everything we wanted. We were full of pious<br />
notions, but our piety began to be a little different from the<br />
old way. I used to delight in religious conversations in <strong>and</strong><br />
among the family . . . <strong>and</strong> we all became exceedingly happy<br />
even in the midst of our scarcity <strong>and</strong> deprivations. 27<br />
Participation in revivals <strong>and</strong> other religious meetings, as well as<br />
constant reflection <strong>and</strong> continuous searching, culminated in Zina’s<br />
discovery of a church whose teachings resonated with her <strong>and</strong> prescribed<br />
a pathway that made sense to her. The beginnings of the<br />
Church <strong>and</strong> Zina’s personal faith—both centered on the plan of salvation—were<br />
in part an outgrowth of nineteenth-century New York<br />
revivalism.<br />
Religion dominated Zina’s worldview both before <strong>and</strong> after she<br />
joined the Church. She described her experiences, both simple <strong>and</strong><br />
complex, as stepping stones to spiritual growth. Everyday details <strong>and</strong><br />
circumstances influenced <strong>and</strong> shaped her larger story of deepening<br />
faith <strong>and</strong> growth in grace. Zina’s letters, therefore, are a record of her<br />
religious journey. They display the process through which she drew<br />
closer to the Lord; they reflect her interaction between temporal <strong>and</strong><br />
spiritual, her theological inquisitiveness, <strong>and</strong> her abiding commitment<br />
to God. Faith, reignited <strong>and</strong> enhanced <strong>by</strong> the effects of revivalism,<br />
shaped Zina’s choices; likewise, her ability to explore <strong>and</strong> then<br />
choose determined her faith.<br />
Although Zina’s revival days ended when she joined the Church,<br />
her quest for sanctification through the grace of Jesus Christ,<br />
initiated at revival meetings, continued to define her personal pilgrimage<br />
towards salvation. Her exposure to “drops of grace <strong>and</strong><br />
mercy” remained a central part of her religious identity—revivalism<br />
had encouraged change <strong>and</strong> discovery that prepared her to embrace<br />
the fulness of the gospel as restored through Joseph Smith.<br />
27. Huntington, Diary, 28.
Chapter Forty<br />
“My Trials Are Nothing”<br />
Elizabeth Lane Hyde (1811–1897)<br />
Elizabeth J. Mott<br />
Biographical Sketch<br />
Elizabeth Lane was born to James L. <strong>and</strong> Jane Lane on February<br />
26, 1811, in the town of New Radnor, Radnorshire, Wales. As<br />
a young woman, Elizabeth established her trade as a milliner near<br />
her birthplace <strong>and</strong> was a member of the Baptist church. Her first<br />
romance was thwarted <strong>by</strong> class differences <strong>and</strong> other circumstances.<br />
In 1846, when she was thirty-five, she married a widower with two<br />
sons. Elizabeth <strong>and</strong> her husb<strong>and</strong> had one son together, but the child<br />
lived only three months.<br />
In the fall of 1847, a farmer’s daughter who worked at the millinery<br />
introduced Elizabeth to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday<br />
Saints. Elizabeth was baptized in February of 1848. She lost<br />
her Baptist friends because of her decision to join with the Latterday<br />
Saints, <strong>and</strong> her husb<strong>and</strong> was furious with her. He drank heavily,<br />
<strong>and</strong> after Elizabeth’s conversion his behavior became increasingly<br />
52
Elizabeth Lane Hyde (1811–1897) 53<br />
abusive. For eight years, through her employment as a milliner, she<br />
saved money in order to migrate to the United States.<br />
When she had sufficient means, Elizabeth left her husb<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong><br />
in 1856 made the voyage from Liverpool to Boston with a company<br />
of Welsh Saints. From Boston, they took the train to Iowa, <strong>and</strong> then,<br />
as members of the Edward Bunker Company, they pulled h<strong>and</strong>carts<br />
from Iowa to Salt Lake City. Once she arrived in Utah, Elizabeth<br />
became acquainted with the family of Heman Hyde <strong>and</strong> consented<br />
to become Heman’s third wife. His first wife, Polly Wyman Tilton,<br />
died in 1862 at the age of seventy-six. Heman died seven years<br />
later, in 1869, just before his eighty-first birthday. In his will, he left<br />
Elizabeth the use <strong>and</strong> interest of his property for as long as she lived,<br />
<strong>and</strong> he appointed a son <strong>and</strong> two gr<strong>and</strong>sons as trustees.<br />
Elizabeth worked hard throughout her entire life; after she<br />
settled in Utah, she managed Heman’s family laundry business.<br />
Elizabeth wrote in her autobiography that after Heman’s death, it<br />
was too much work for her to manage his l<strong>and</strong>, <strong>and</strong> so some of it<br />
was turned into rental housing that she oversaw. During the boom<br />
of 1889, she <strong>and</strong> the rest of the family realized a good profit on<br />
Heman’s old home in Salt Lake City. When she wrote her concise,<br />
two-page autobiography for the Woman’s Exponent in 1896, she was<br />
living comfortably in the home of one of Heman’s gr<strong>and</strong>sons in Salt<br />
Lake City, where she died the next year at the age of eighty-six. 1<br />
Life Experiences<br />
Elizabeth Lane Hyde’s brief autobiography chronicles her early<br />
life in Wales, her migration to the United States as a single woman,<br />
<strong>and</strong> her life in Utah as a plural wife. Her faith <strong>and</strong> fortitude are vi-<br />
brant through it all.<br />
1. Elizabeth Lane Hyde died on August 27, 1897.
54<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
Early Life in Radnorshire, Wales<br />
Elizabeth commended her parents as “honest <strong>and</strong> industrious<br />
people” who, although of humble station, managed to give her “as<br />
good an education as the schools of Radnor afforded in those days.”<br />
She learned the dressmaking trade when she was old enough, <strong>and</strong><br />
she worked in that business in her hometown until she was twentysix<br />
years old. During that time she became acquainted with a “very<br />
respectable young man, a farmer’s son in the neighborhood.” She<br />
noted, “We kept company for six years, but circumstances <strong>and</strong> my<br />
lack of fortune combined to separate us. He married another young<br />
woman but was never happy in his home life, <strong>and</strong> died in a few<br />
years.” 2 This regrettable experience left its mark on her emotionally.<br />
Writing her autobiography almost sixty years later, Elizabeth<br />
said: “I mention this circumstance because it was the reason I remained<br />
single to the age of thirty-five years. I could not remain at<br />
home, so I went to London <strong>and</strong> worked in a millinery establishment<br />
nearly three years.” Thus, at the age of twenty-six, she moved to<br />
London for a fresh start. After working in London, she returned to<br />
her home in New Radnor a week after Queen Victoria was married.<br />
Feeling that she could not settle there again, she joined some friends<br />
in another town near<strong>by</strong> <strong>and</strong> commenced business in the millinery. “I<br />
was always inclined to be religious,” she wrote, “<strong>and</strong> soon became a<br />
leading member in the Baptist Church <strong>and</strong> Sunday School.”<br />
In 1846 Elizabeth married a widower who had two sons, whom<br />
she loved very much. A son was born to her, but he lived only three<br />
months. Adding to this heartache was the fact that she was disappointed<br />
in her marriage. She recorded: “I soon found I had made<br />
a mistake in my marriage. My husb<strong>and</strong> was a drinking man <strong>and</strong> he<br />
had deceived me; he despised every religion, <strong>and</strong> he would sometimes<br />
swear about my going to meeting.”<br />
2. All quotations from Elizabeth Lane Hyde’s writings are from “Autobiagraphy<br />
[sic] of Elizabeth L. Hyde,” Woman’s Exponent 25, no. 4 (August 15, 1896): 28–29.
Elizabeth Lane Hyde (1811–1897) 55<br />
More changes lay ahead for Elizabeth. Her autobiography describes<br />
her reaction to learning about The Church of Jesus Christ<br />
of Latter-day Saints <strong>and</strong> the consequences of her decision to be<br />
baptized:<br />
In the fall of 1847, a farmer’s daughter from a distance<br />
came to my establishment to learn the business. She brought<br />
some books with her which I accidentally found. I was very<br />
much alarmed about these books, on account of the other<br />
young girls under my charge; but she was so good-natured<br />
over it that she soon disarmed me, <strong>and</strong> I became much interested<br />
myself in what they contained. I read the Voice of<br />
Warning through, <strong>and</strong> then every other Mormon book I<br />
could get. It took right hold of me; I could see truth in every<br />
line, <strong>and</strong> I durst not trifle with it, let the consequence be<br />
what it might. I was cl<strong>and</strong>estinely baptized on the 25th of<br />
February, 1848, <strong>and</strong> the Lord gave me such a knowledge<br />
of the truth, that I felt able to face the whole world. Every<br />
trial that I have had to pass through, has strengthened my<br />
faith, <strong>and</strong> I have been tried in very deed. As soon as it was<br />
known that I had become a convert to the Mormon faith,<br />
my Baptist friends forsook me, <strong>and</strong> my husb<strong>and</strong> acted more<br />
like a fiend than a man. I tried to do my duty; attended<br />
to my business <strong>and</strong> household affairs. At times I felt above<br />
such petty ways, <strong>and</strong> sometimes like running away out of<br />
it; but when I stopped to consider, that seemed folly, so I<br />
began to lay plans. All my means was in my business, so<br />
I commenced sending money to Liverpool as often as I<br />
could spare it, until I had sent enough to pay for my emigration<br />
to Zion the cheapest possible way.<br />
The gospel of Jesus Christ that Elizabeth learned through the<br />
missionary tracts provided great consolation to her <strong>and</strong> also instilled<br />
in her courage to face the future. For example, in Voice of Warning,<br />
which had a remarkable influence on Elizabeth, Parley P. Pratt
56<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
described the importance of living prophets, the fulfillment of ancient<br />
prophecies, <strong>and</strong> the coming forth of the <strong>Book</strong> of Mormon. He<br />
also denounced what he saw as the sectarian errors of nineteenthcentury<br />
Christianity. 3 In response to this message, Elizabeth’s conviction,<br />
independence of mind, resourcefulness, <strong>and</strong> above all, faith,<br />
helped her to walk the long trail across the plains of America. Her<br />
hope was to reach Zion in the Great Basin of the Utah Territory of<br />
the American West.<br />
Immigration to Utah as a Single Woman<br />
Of all the difficult experiences of her life, the lonely, exhausting<br />
journey to Salt Lake City seems to have stayed with her in the<br />
greatest detail, as she reflected upon it at the age of eighty-five. In<br />
the spring of 1856, forty-five-year-old Elizabeth, traveling under her<br />
maiden name of Lane, embarked with a company of Welsh Saints on<br />
board a sailing vessel named the S. Curling, in honor of its captain.<br />
Elizabeth’s composition of a poem for the captain brings to mind the<br />
spirit of the early American Pilgrims, who believed God was guiding<br />
<strong>and</strong> protecting their path. The Saints’ leader during the ocean crossing,<br />
Dan Jones, presented Captain Curling with Elizabeth’s tribute<br />
to him, <strong>and</strong> she appreciated the captain’s compliments of it:<br />
ON THE ATLANTIC OCEAN, MAY, 1856<br />
CAPTAIN CURLING.<br />
Come Mormons, <strong>and</strong> sing; let the deep waters ring,<br />
All praise to our guide on the ocean;<br />
Pray for him to have rest when Thy people are blest,<br />
To have part in the first resurrection.<br />
All hail to the captain, for he is our chieftain,<br />
In crossing the mighty blue sea;<br />
No danger we fear while onward we steer,<br />
3. Parley P. Pratt, A Voice of Warning <strong>and</strong> Instruction to All People (New York:<br />
W. S<strong>and</strong>ford, 1837).
Elizabeth Lane Hyde (1811–1897) 57<br />
Can a captain be kinder than he?<br />
United we pray to see the glad day,<br />
Roll on when the righteous are blest,<br />
Long live Captain Curling, his canvas unfurling,<br />
In perils may God give him rest.<br />
Now we bid you adieu, with all the ship’s crew,<br />
Glad to meet you again in the West.<br />
Elizabeth Lane<br />
After l<strong>and</strong>ing in Boston, Massachusetts, on May 23, 1856, the<br />
company of Saints went straight to the trains <strong>and</strong> started for the<br />
Mormon camp at Iowa City, where they would make the necessary<br />
preparations for the thirteen-hundred-mile journey with h<strong>and</strong>carts.<br />
Captain Edward Bunker was their company leader. The Bunker<br />
Company of about three hundred men, women, <strong>and</strong> children was<br />
the third company of Mormon emigrants who, too poor to afford<br />
wagons <strong>and</strong> teams, pulled h<strong>and</strong>carts to the Salt Lake Valley. 4<br />
They started west from Iowa City, Iowa, on June 23, three weeks<br />
after President Brigham Young’s June 1 deadline for departing. 5<br />
The fourth <strong>and</strong> fifth h<strong>and</strong>cart companies of Captains J. G. Willie<br />
<strong>and</strong> Edward Martin, respectively, were even later leaving Iowa. The<br />
Bunker Company, of which Elizabeth was part, arrived in the Salt<br />
4. For a list of immigrants’ names <strong>by</strong> both country of origin <strong>and</strong> h<strong>and</strong>cart company,<br />
see “Immigration to Utah,” <strong>Deseret</strong> News [Weekly], October 15, 1856.<br />
5. Brigham Young, “Remarks,” <strong>Deseret</strong> News [Weekly], November 12, 1856.<br />
This article provides a transcript of the remarks made <strong>by</strong> Brigham Young in the<br />
Tabernacle on November 2, 1856, concerning the late arrival of the h<strong>and</strong>cart<br />
companies that season. President Young strongly criticized the late start of the<br />
h<strong>and</strong>cart companies, saying that if the brethren in the East had followed the First<br />
Presidency’s advice about the timing of the immigration, there would not have<br />
been so much loss of life <strong>and</strong> resources. “Edward Bunker Company,” Mormon<br />
Pioneer Overl<strong>and</strong> Travel Database, 1847–68, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday<br />
Saints, accessed June 14, 2011, http://mormontrail.lds.org.
58<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
Lake Valley on October 2, while the later companies were still out<br />
on the trail with winter setting in.<br />
Captain Bunker recorded in his autobiography that most of the<br />
company were from Wales <strong>and</strong> did not speak English. “The Welsh<br />
had no experience at all [with h<strong>and</strong>ling teams] <strong>and</strong> very few of them<br />
could speak English. This made the burden upon me very heavy.” 6<br />
Of this language barrier, Priscilla Evans, with whom Elizabeth traveled<br />
much of the way, humorously recollected, “[Don’t] you think I<br />
had a pleasant journey, traveling for months with about 300 people,<br />
of whose language I could not underst<strong>and</strong> a word. My husb<strong>and</strong><br />
could speak Welch, so he could join in their festivities when he felt<br />
like it.” 7<br />
Elizabeth wrote about the beginning of this trek, “I had always<br />
been isolated from the Church, so that I had not one particular<br />
friend; I seemed to travel all alone.” Elizabeth’s allotted fifteen<br />
pounds of baggage was put in the h<strong>and</strong>cart of Priscilla Evans <strong>and</strong> her<br />
husb<strong>and</strong>, Thomas. Thomas Evans had a wooden leg. What a sight<br />
this ragtag company of Saints must have been. Thomas <strong>and</strong> his wife<br />
both recorded that their company was mocked as they left Iowa.<br />
Priscilla wrote in her autobiography: “There were many who made<br />
sport of us as we walked <strong>and</strong> pulled our Carts. But the weather was<br />
beautiful <strong>and</strong> the roads excellent, <strong>and</strong> altho I was sick, <strong>and</strong> weak,<br />
<strong>and</strong> we were all tired out at night, Still we thot it a ‘glorious’ way to<br />
come to ‘Zion.’” 8<br />
Outsiders who observed this Mormon exodus found it difficult<br />
6. Edward Bunker, Autobiography, 1894, Holograph, pp. 22–23, Church<br />
History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City,<br />
Utah, hereafter cited as Church History Library.<br />
7. Priscilla Merriman Evans, “Autobiography,” ca. 1914, Typescript, pp. 39–40,<br />
Church History Library.<br />
8. Evans, “Autobiography,” 39. For the account of Priscilla’s husb<strong>and</strong>, see<br />
Thomas D. Evans, “Thomas D. Evans, <strong>and</strong> his wife, Priscilla,” pp. 7–8, Pioneer<br />
History Collection, Pioneer Memorial Museum, International Society Daughters<br />
of Utah Pioneers, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Elizabeth Lane Hyde (1811–1897) 59<br />
to comprehend. An Iowa newspaper, the Adams Sentinel, called the<br />
Mormon emigrants of the Bunker H<strong>and</strong>cart Company “deluded”:<br />
In the broiling sun these poor creatures, the majority<br />
of whom are women, moved along slowly in Indian file,<br />
dragging behind them in little carts the necessaries for the<br />
journey, sometimes two women dragging the cart, at other<br />
times a man <strong>and</strong> woman together. The company was from<br />
Europe, <strong>and</strong> mostly consisted of English people, who had<br />
left their comfortable homes, their early associations, <strong>and</strong><br />
all the attachments which render the English such unwilling<br />
emigrants, <strong>and</strong> here, with a journey of more than a thous<strong>and</strong><br />
miles before them, of which two hundred would be<br />
through a perfect desert, without shade or water, these miserable<br />
deluded people were trudging forward. 9<br />
Elizabeth wrote that Thomas Evans with his wooden leg “soon<br />
gave out in the deep s<strong>and</strong>s of Nebraska,” <strong>and</strong> “his wife <strong>and</strong> myself<br />
took the cart all the way to Laramie.” Elizabeth became afflicted<br />
with rheumatism in her ankles <strong>and</strong> could not pull the cart past the<br />
Black Hills of Wyoming. Captain Bunker refused to let her put her<br />
small bundle in his cart, she wrote, so she made a friend of one<br />
of the teamsters, <strong>and</strong> he took her bundle so that she was free to<br />
walk without needing to carry her meager belongings. One man in<br />
the camp was of great assistance to her during the journey. She recorded<br />
in her autobiography, “John Cousins . . . has carried me on<br />
his back through many rivers, <strong>and</strong> when Captain Bunker put me out<br />
of the wagon at Laramie River, he picked me up <strong>and</strong> carried me<br />
through the water.” She emphasized, “I shall always remember [John<br />
Cousins] with gratitude.”<br />
The rivers <strong>and</strong> scarcity of food were Elizabeth’s greatest trials<br />
9. “The Mormon Delusion,” Adams Sentinel, July 28, 1856. This newspaper<br />
article provides a description of the Bunker H<strong>and</strong>cart Company from an outside<br />
perspective.
60<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
during the journey. One pivotal experience while crossing the plains<br />
with h<strong>and</strong>carts remained etched in her memory the rest of her life:<br />
We finally came to Green River, <strong>and</strong> I was behind the<br />
camp; there was no one in sight <strong>and</strong> it was near sundown.<br />
I sat down <strong>and</strong> thought this is the last. After a while I began<br />
to ask myself what brought you here? I called myself<br />
a coward. So I got up <strong>and</strong> asked the Lord to help me, <strong>and</strong><br />
prepared to wade the river; <strong>and</strong> the Lord did help me, <strong>and</strong> I<br />
got safe to the camp just as they were preparing to come after<br />
me. But the next morning I could not st<strong>and</strong>; I had been<br />
chilled through. Brother David Grant, then the Captain of<br />
our one hundred, was sent for <strong>and</strong> had me lifted into one of<br />
the wagons for the forenoon, <strong>and</strong> gave orders to the teamster<br />
that I should wade no more rivers, <strong>and</strong> the order was<br />
obeyed.<br />
David Grant must have made an exception for Elizabeth because,<br />
according to Priscilla Evans, Captain Bunker’s orders were,<br />
“‘If any are sick among you, <strong>and</strong> not able to walk, you must pull<br />
them on your carts.’ No one rode in the wagons.” 10<br />
In the evening of October 2, 1856, the Bunker Company arrived<br />
in Salt Lake City. They had traveled the final fifteen miles<br />
without food because they had been instructed to eat their final<br />
rations beyond Big Mountain at noon the previous day. They had<br />
been expecting provisions at the camp that night, but the provisions<br />
did not come. Upon arriving in Salt Lake Valley, they finally received<br />
a good meal <strong>and</strong> set up camp in the northeast part of the city.<br />
The Bunker Company, the third to pull h<strong>and</strong>carts, was now<br />
safely at journey’s end; still on the trail were the pioneers of the<br />
Willie <strong>and</strong> Martin h<strong>and</strong>cart companies. Elizabeth likely heard<br />
President Brigham Young’s strong remarks to the Saints to rescue the<br />
members of the h<strong>and</strong>cart companies who would soon be perishing<br />
10. Evans, “Autobiography,” 40.
Elizabeth Lane Hyde (1811–1897) 61<br />
with hunger <strong>and</strong> cold on the plains of Wyoming. President Brigham<br />
Young vowed that he would not have such late starts of the immigrant<br />
companies ever again <strong>and</strong> placed responsibility for the lateness<br />
of the last h<strong>and</strong>cart companies on the shoulders of the brethren<br />
in the East who allowed the companies to start later than the First<br />
Presidency had recommended. President Young concluded: “But<br />
what have we to do now? We have to be compassionate.” 11 The immediate<br />
challenge was to rescue the immigrants, despite the hardship<br />
that sending teams, men, <strong>and</strong> food placed upon Church members<br />
in Utah at harvest time.<br />
Settlement in Salt Lake City as a Plural Wife<br />
Though the sagebrush terrain of the Utah frontier was a far cry<br />
from the lush Welsh countryside that had inspired many a poet,<br />
Elizabeth found greater peace in this new l<strong>and</strong> than she had ever<br />
known in her life. Yet finding a home <strong>and</strong> a livelihood as a single<br />
woman were the first challenges she confronted.<br />
Again, the loneliness she felt at first is evident in her autobiography:<br />
“I had now reached Salt Lake City, the goal of my ambition;<br />
but no one came to greet me as they did others, <strong>and</strong> take them to<br />
their homes.” Elizabeth remained at the immigrants’ camp until after<br />
the Church’s general conference of that fall.<br />
Elizabeth eventually located the farmer’s daughter who had introduced<br />
her to the Church in Engl<strong>and</strong> at the millinery shop. The<br />
woman had emigrated previously <strong>and</strong> established a home in Salt<br />
Lake City. “She was very much changed,” Elizabeth commented on<br />
seeing her again. “[We] were not of the same spirit now; her people<br />
<strong>and</strong> herself were finding fault with everything, especially the Church<br />
affairs.” Elizabeth, therefore, declined the woman’s offer to stay in<br />
her home over the winter <strong>and</strong> had to face her fears about remarrying:<br />
11. Young, “Remarks”; see also Andrew D. Olsen, The Price We Paid: The<br />
Extraordinary Story of the Willie <strong>and</strong> Martin H<strong>and</strong>cart Pioneers (Salt Lake City, UT:<br />
<strong>Deseret</strong> <strong>Book</strong>, 2006), 116–23, 290–92, 471–74.
62<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
So I began to think of making a home for myself, which<br />
was a difficult thing to do in my case as I did not want another<br />
husb<strong>and</strong> in this life if I could possibly help it, though<br />
I knew that marriage was an eternal principle ordained of<br />
God. I realized the Savior had said in the resurrection they<br />
were not married or given in marriage. From this I underst<strong>and</strong>,<br />
that in order to partake of that eternal principle, the<br />
marriage has to be solemnized in this life. It was the time of<br />
the Reformation, <strong>and</strong> I had plenty of suitors, among whom<br />
were three widowers with good homes. Each one of them<br />
told me the same thing, if I would marry him he would<br />
not take another wife; but I declined, that was not what I<br />
wanted. I had sacrificed my affections twice, I was now trying<br />
to act upon principle.<br />
Elizabeth believed in the sanctity of the marriage covenant, <strong>and</strong><br />
she believed she needed to marry during her lifetime in order for the<br />
sealing to last into the eternal world. Because of the Reformation<br />
(a period in the 1850s when Church leaders preached strong sermons<br />
encouraging renewed commitment to the Word of Wisdom,<br />
plural marriage, <strong>and</strong> church attendance), many men in the community<br />
were encouraged to marry <strong>and</strong> provide good homes to female<br />
immigrants. 12 Elizabeth seems to have no longer wanted to marry<br />
based on her earlier idealistic expectations, which had been shattered.<br />
Rather, she preferred to marry only if she could find a family<br />
situation that met her needs.<br />
Through David Grant, Elizabeth was introduced to his<br />
12. Stanley S. Ivins, “Notes on Mormon Polygamy,” Western Humanities Review<br />
10, no. 3 (Summer 1956): 229–39; Brigham Young, “Reformation Necessary<br />
among the Saints—Infidel Philosophy,” November 2, 1856, in Journal of<br />
Discourses, 26 vols. (London: Latter-day Saints’ <strong>Book</strong> Depot, 1854–86), 4:58–63;<br />
Heber C. Kimball, “Reformation—A Test at H<strong>and</strong> to Prove the Saints,” December<br />
21, 1856, in Journal of Discourses, 26 vols. (London: Latter-day Saints’ <strong>Book</strong><br />
Depot, 1854–86), 4:138–45.
Elizabeth Lane Hyde (1811–1897) 63<br />
father-in-law, Heman Hyde, <strong>and</strong> his wife Polly. “They were generally<br />
called Father <strong>and</strong> Mother Hyde, they were getting to be old people.”<br />
They had a comfortable home on State Street in the Thirteenth<br />
Ward, Elizabeth wrote. “In them I found congenial spirits, I could<br />
sit <strong>and</strong> talk with them about Mormonism <strong>by</strong> the hour <strong>and</strong> not get<br />
weary.” This feeling of being united in the true gospel of Jesus Christ<br />
was the principle upon which Elizabeth now acted.<br />
Heman <strong>and</strong> his family, formerly quite wealthy when they<br />
lived in New York State, had sacrificed most of their worldly possessions<br />
during the Church’s battered days in Kirtl<strong>and</strong>, Missouri,<br />
<strong>and</strong> Nauvoo. Joining in their deep conviction, Elizabeth wrote: “I<br />
was willing to work <strong>and</strong> help them in their declining years; <strong>and</strong> I<br />
consented to become one of the family, <strong>and</strong> was sealed to Brother<br />
Hyde as his wife, in the new <strong>and</strong> everlasting covenant, on the 6th of<br />
December of that same year [1856]. I have always been happy <strong>and</strong><br />
contented in my last choice, <strong>and</strong> so were Brother <strong>and</strong> Sister Hyde.”<br />
Perhaps it is significant that Elizabeth consented to become “one of<br />
the family,” as she phrased it; she wrote about her plural marriage to<br />
Heman not as a wedding to an individual man but as a sealing into<br />
a family that provided for her <strong>and</strong> she for them.<br />
Heman had married his first wife, Polly Wyman Tilton, in<br />
Vermont in 1810, many years before even hearing about the<br />
Church. 13 He did not marry his second wife, Prudence Bump, until<br />
1851, when they were among the first Mormon immigrants settling<br />
the Salt Lake Valley. 14 Of Polly, Heman’s first wife, Elizabeth<br />
13. Marriages, birth dates, death dates, <strong>and</strong> names of children of Heman Hyde’s<br />
family were found on “Heman Hyde,” Family Tree, last modified February 15,<br />
2002, accessed June 14, 2011, www.angelfire.com/folk/morgan/fam/fam01491.<br />
htm.<br />
14. Prudence was forty-five years old at the time of her marriage to Heman.<br />
According to the Family Tree website, Heman married five women in total: His<br />
fourth plural wife, Catherine Mary Griffiths, was born in Wales in 1825; she was<br />
thirty-four years old at the time of her marriage to Heman in 1859. They had<br />
two children together, <strong>and</strong> besides his first wife, Polly, she was the only other wife
64<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
commented in her autobiography: “Mother, as I always called Sister<br />
Hyde, would say, ‘Elizabeth it was the Lord brought you here to<br />
comfort me.’ We lived together nearly six years without a jar. I took<br />
care of her for seven months in her last sickness (with dropsy.) She<br />
died in September, 1862.”<br />
Elizabeth had always been self-sustaining. Ironically, in Salt Lake<br />
City she ended up working in one of the only businesses in which<br />
she had no interest. “[While] traveling I would often think, what<br />
could I do when I arrived here,” she wrote in her autobiography. “I<br />
could do almost anything except washing or weaving. What was my<br />
surprise the first week to find that the Hyde family kept a laundry<br />
<strong>and</strong> did washing for gentlemen.” Evidencing her plucky personality,<br />
she “said nothing, but turned to <strong>and</strong> helped, <strong>and</strong> soon mastered the<br />
business, <strong>and</strong> took the lead <strong>and</strong> made a success.” This business was<br />
the chief support of Heman’s family.<br />
Heman lived until June 11, 1869, dying at the age of eighty-one<br />
years. 15 Elizabeth called him a “just man,” recording that he “protected<br />
[her] <strong>by</strong> making a will; he left [Elizabeth] the use <strong>and</strong> interest<br />
of the property as long as [she] lived.” When the will was probated,<br />
Heman’s son Rosel <strong>and</strong> two of his gr<strong>and</strong>sons were appointed trustees<br />
of the estate. “They put everything in order <strong>and</strong> left it in my<br />
charge,” Elizabeth wrote. “I soon realized that I could not manage<br />
the l<strong>and</strong> to make a living, so I petitioned the Court <strong>and</strong> they sold a<br />
five acre lot, <strong>and</strong> helped me to build two tennement houses on the<br />
city property, to rent.” The rent money made her comfortable for<br />
twenty years.<br />
In the boom of 1889, Elizabeth <strong>and</strong> the family sold Heman’s old<br />
home at a good price. “The trustees put the money to interest for<br />
with whom he had children. Susannah Lane, Heman’s fifth plural wife, was born<br />
in Engl<strong>and</strong> in 1788. She was seventy-nine when she was married to Heman in<br />
1867 in Salt Lake City, Utah; this marriage likely took place in order for Susannah<br />
to be cared for. She died the next year on October 8, 1868, less than a year before<br />
Heman died.<br />
15. “Obituary,” <strong>Deseret</strong> News [Weekly], July 28, 1869.
Elizabeth Lane Hyde (1811–1897) 65<br />
my benefit, <strong>and</strong> it brings me a nice income,” Elizabeth wrote. At the<br />
time she penned her autobiography in 1896, Elizabeth was living<br />
with one of Heman’s gr<strong>and</strong>sons. She had a room to herself, <strong>and</strong> the<br />
family provided her with board <strong>and</strong> assistance. “They respect <strong>and</strong><br />
love me, anticipate all my wants, <strong>and</strong> there is nothing too good for<br />
‘gr<strong>and</strong>ma.’”<br />
Elizabeth reflected thus on her life at the age of eighty-five:<br />
When I look back on my past life my trials are nothing<br />
when compared with the prospect of sharing in the reward<br />
that is in store for this great <strong>and</strong> good people, the Latterday<br />
Saints, whom the God of heaven has picked out from<br />
among the nations, <strong>and</strong> brought to Zion to learn of His<br />
ways <strong>and</strong> keep His comm<strong>and</strong>ments, <strong>and</strong> make “The desert<br />
blossom as the rose.”
Chapter Forty-One<br />
“I Could No Longer Resist the Truth”<br />
Mary Ann Price Hyde (1816–1900)<br />
Kaye Watson<br />
Biographical Sketch<br />
In central Utah lies Spring City, a peaceful farming community<br />
noted for the preservation of its historic roots. There, in Spring<br />
City’s small cemetery, lie the earthly remains of Mary Ann Price<br />
Hyde, wife of Latter-day Saint apostle Orson Hyde. Emmeline B.<br />
Wells described her as “noble, gentle, kindly, with sweet humility.” 1<br />
Emmeline also noted that Mary Ann “had rare executive ability, <strong>and</strong><br />
was of a highly spiritual nature; with the two combined she was eminently<br />
qualified for her important labors,” for she was a woman who<br />
“enjoyed her labors <strong>and</strong> magnified her callings.” 2<br />
Mary Ann’s birth on June 5, 1816, to William <strong>and</strong> Mary Ann<br />
1. Emmeline B. Wells, Inscription on Mary A. P. Hyde’s headstone, Spring City<br />
Cemetery, Utah.<br />
2. Emmeline B. Wells, “In Memoriam,” Woman’s Exponent 29 (June 15, 1900):<br />
11.<br />
66
Mary Ann Price Hyde (1816–1900) 67<br />
Price in Lea, Engl<strong>and</strong>, was much anticipated. As the second child<br />
<strong>and</strong> first daughter, Mary Ann found herself in a family leadership<br />
position, especially after her older brother’s death in 1836 <strong>and</strong> her<br />
father’s death some four years later on January 10, 1840. Life in a<br />
comfortable English family provided her with excellent educational<br />
experiences, both in the Anglican faith <strong>and</strong> in secular subjects at<br />
the near<strong>by</strong> Broad Oak Academy. 3 Mary Ann’s marriage to cousin<br />
Thomas Price on June 30, 1836, continued her cozy lifestyle.<br />
After a hesitant inquiry about the Mormons in 1840 <strong>and</strong> subsequent<br />
reading of several Church publications, Mary Ann became<br />
convinced of the truth of the restored gospel; her husb<strong>and</strong>, Thomas,<br />
was strongly opposed to her associating herself with this new faith.<br />
Others of her family, including Mary Ann’s brothers <strong>and</strong> sisters <strong>and</strong><br />
their mother, were also converted, <strong>and</strong> together they emigrated from<br />
Engl<strong>and</strong> in 1841 to join the Saints in Nauvoo. Mary Ann married<br />
apostle Orson Hyde as a plural wife (1843) <strong>and</strong> bore <strong>and</strong> buried<br />
her only child (1846). She trekked to the Salt Lake Valley in 1852,<br />
homesteaded in the Carson Valley in 1855, <strong>and</strong> settled in tiny<br />
Spring City in 1860.<br />
Belief in the restored gospel provided Mary Ann an exciting <strong>and</strong><br />
challenging life with continual opportunities to be fed spiritually<br />
<strong>by</strong> early Church leaders, experience tests <strong>and</strong> trials, <strong>and</strong> make important<br />
decisions. She was a supportive companion to family <strong>and</strong><br />
friends <strong>and</strong> possessed leadership capabilities that guided her as Relief<br />
Society president of the Sanpete Stake for many years. Although<br />
pain <strong>and</strong> sorrow were her frequent companions, Mary’s strong faith<br />
<strong>and</strong> knowledge upheld her. She freely shared her many gifts along<br />
her life path, all the while strengthening those blessed to gravitate<br />
into her sphere of existence.<br />
3. Lea’s population might have been around 200 in 1816. Myrtle Hyde, Orson<br />
Hyde: Olive Branch of Israel (Salt Lake City, UT: Agreka <strong>Book</strong>s, 2000), 153.
68<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
Life Experiences<br />
A snippet of gossip altered Mary Ann Price’s world forever. In<br />
1840, “a man <strong>and</strong> his son were employed to paint <strong>and</strong> paper my<br />
home,” she recounted. “I had previously been informed that they<br />
had embraced some strange delusion: But knowing the man was sober,<br />
industrious <strong>and</strong> the father of a large family <strong>and</strong> moreover belonged<br />
to the established church of Engl<strong>and</strong> . . . I could not suppose<br />
that it was true.” Two weeks later Mary Ann ventured a humble inquiry.<br />
The painter replied that “it was true that he had embraced the<br />
faith of the Latter day Saints,” she wrote, “<strong>and</strong> if I would allow him<br />
to [he] would bring me some of their books.” Mary Ann recalled:<br />
He first h<strong>and</strong>ed me the “Voice of Warning” [<strong>by</strong> Parley P.<br />
Pratt], then other works touching the first principles of the<br />
Gospel of Jesus Christ. These, together with his own testimony,<br />
alarmed me, for I found myself believing! What<br />
should I do?<br />
I had perused many interesting works lent me <strong>by</strong> our<br />
venerable clergyman of the Episcople Church, which led me<br />
to reflect on the “Gathering of Israel”—“the Millennium”<br />
<strong>and</strong> many other subjects. 4<br />
I could no longer resist the truth—for such it appeared<br />
to me—<strong>and</strong>, therefore, requested to be baptized. I did not<br />
venture to consult with my friends, thinking I was old<br />
enough to judge for myself <strong>and</strong>, I must confess, fearing opposition<br />
from those I dearly loved. 5<br />
4. Her father encouraged her to “read the Bible, to reflect, <strong>and</strong> to study other<br />
religions.” Hyde, Orson Hyde, 153.<br />
5. She was twenty-four years old. According to Spring City Ward records,<br />
Thomas Pitt baptized her in November 1840. Mary Ann Hyde, “Reminiscences,”<br />
ca. 1880, Microfilm of holograph, p. 1, Church History Library, The Church of<br />
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah, hereafter cited as Church<br />
History Library; Record of Members Collection, Spring City Ward, Sanpete Stake,<br />
Church History Library.
Mary Ann Price Hyde (1816–1900) 69<br />
Mary Ann’s flickering testimony quickly flared into a flame<br />
that never died, <strong>and</strong> she could not hide it. Although shocked <strong>by</strong><br />
Mary Ann’s baptism, her sister Elizabeth soon “became convinced<br />
<strong>and</strong> followed [Mary Ann’s] example.” 6 Other family members, Mary<br />
Ann explained, also “became acquainted with some of the leading<br />
Elders <strong>and</strong> attended their meetings <strong>and</strong>, eventually, my mother, two<br />
brothers <strong>and</strong> three Sisters, obeyed the Gospel.” 7<br />
They then faced an important decision. “It now became a serious<br />
matter to contemplate ‘Gathering with the Saints’ to a foreign<br />
country” <strong>and</strong> “to sell our home <strong>and</strong> all our possessions,” Mary Ann<br />
wrote. “This weighed heavily upon our dear Mother. . . . She at<br />
length yielded to the intreaties of her children <strong>and</strong> sold her home<br />
<strong>and</strong> made preperations for departure. Many friends rallied around<br />
her with expostulations but to no purpose.” 8<br />
Simultaneously, Mary Ann’s husb<strong>and</strong>, Thomas, disapproved <strong>and</strong><br />
grew more “intensely adverse to her affiliation with the Mormons.”<br />
Mary Ann resolved that “the Gospel must be her priority” <strong>and</strong> formulated<br />
a plan: She would leave for a scheduled voyage in the quiet<br />
dark of night. The only obstacle was an obnoxious squeak in the<br />
lid of her sea chest, which she feared might wake her husb<strong>and</strong> as<br />
she prepared for her final departure. Earnest <strong>and</strong> anxious prayers ascended<br />
heavenward. If this Church was to be her destiny, Mary Ann<br />
determined, she would hear only Thomas’s blissful snores upon her<br />
exit. Her answer was received; the lid was mute. 9 She set sail with<br />
her mother <strong>and</strong> siblings on September 21, 1841, arriving in Nauvoo<br />
in mid November. 10<br />
6. Elizabeth was baptized on December 10, 1840. Hyde, “Reminiscences,” 1.<br />
7. Deborah Ann was baptized on January 21, 1841; William Price <strong>Jr</strong>., in<br />
March 1841. Lea’s 1841 British Census lists mother Mary Ann at age fifty, grocer,<br />
with children William, Emma, Charles, <strong>and</strong> Lavinia. Hyde, “Reminiscences,” 2.<br />
8. Hyde, “Reminiscences,” 2.<br />
9. Hyde, Orson Hyde, 154.<br />
10. Mary Ann, her mother, her brothers, William <strong>and</strong> Charles, her sisters
70<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
Nauvoo in 1842 was less than ideal. Inadequate housing <strong>and</strong><br />
food might have contributed to her young sister Emma’s death<br />
on March 24, 1842. Mary Ann’s strong faith upheld her through<br />
this sorrowful experience. The Lord answered her prayers, <strong>and</strong> the<br />
Church provided exciting new experiences, with many opportunities<br />
for spiritual growth <strong>and</strong> personal development. In 1843, she met<br />
Elder Orson Hyde of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles after he<br />
returned from dedicating Palestine for the preaching of the restored<br />
gospel. Mary Ann recounted:<br />
He carried letters of introduction to me <strong>and</strong> invited<br />
me to visit his wife [Marinda]. I was there met <strong>by</strong> Joseph<br />
Smith, the Prophet, who, after an interesting conversation<br />
introduced the subject of plural marriage <strong>and</strong> endeavoured<br />
to teach me that principle. I resisted it with every argument<br />
I could comm<strong>and</strong> for, with my tradition, it was most repulsive<br />
to my feelings <strong>and</strong> rendered me very unhappy, as I<br />
could not reconcile it with the purity of the gospel of Christ.<br />
Mr. Hyde took me home in a carriage <strong>and</strong> asked me what<br />
I thought of it <strong>and</strong> if I would consent to enter his family? I<br />
replied that I could not think of it for a moment.<br />
Thus it rested for awhile. . . . In the mean time I was<br />
trying to learn the character of the leading men, for I sincerely<br />
hoped they were men of God. But, in my mind, plurality<br />
of wives was a serious question.<br />
As Mary Ann fervently prayed <strong>and</strong> searched her soul, she became<br />
convinced that Elder Hyde was a “conscientious, upright <strong>and</strong> noble<br />
Elizabeth <strong>and</strong> Lavinia, <strong>and</strong> their aunt Hannah, age fifty-three, left Liverpool on<br />
the same ship, led <strong>by</strong> Amos Fielding. They arrived in New Orleans on November<br />
9 <strong>and</strong> traveled up the Mississippi on the steamboat General Pratt, with Parley P.<br />
Pratt on board. Mary Ann <strong>and</strong> Emma are listed in Mormon Immigration Index. No<br />
information could be found on Hannah Price in Nauvoo. Paul B. Pixton, “The<br />
Tyrean <strong>and</strong> Its Mormon Passengers,” Mormon Historical Studies 5, no. 1 (Spring<br />
2004): 29–52.
Mary Ann Price Hyde (1816–1900) 71<br />
man.” 11 She was sealed to him in Marinda’s presence <strong>by</strong> the Prophet<br />
Joseph on April 20, 1843.<br />
Mary Ann’s 1894 testimony of plural marriage is powerful: “I<br />
was taught the principle of plural marriage <strong>by</strong> the Prophet Joseph<br />
himself, so I know it is true. . . . I honor it, <strong>and</strong> I feel that great<br />
blessings are in store for those honorable ones who have lived in<br />
it.” 12 She further recalled that “Mrs [Marinda] Hyde had two sweet<br />
little girls, <strong>and</strong> I soon learned to love them <strong>and</strong> their dear Mother<br />
who, in the Spring of 1843, received me into her house as her husb<strong>and</strong>’s<br />
wife! . . . We lived happily together until our exodus from<br />
Nauvoo, when circumstances seperated us for a season.” 13<br />
Many, including Mary Ann, witnessed Brigham Young’s miraculous<br />
appearance as Joseph the Prophet after the martyrdom. In<br />
1888 her memory carried her “back to the time when the spirit <strong>and</strong><br />
mantle of Joseph fell upon [Brigham Young]. I was there <strong>and</strong> witnessed<br />
that scene at the time it occurred. I looked, <strong>and</strong> it seemed as<br />
though it was Joseph himself. I said to those near me, ‘See—there is<br />
Joseph,’ not even taking my eyes off for fear I should lose the sight<br />
of it. It was a testimony to me that he was the right man in the right<br />
place.” 14<br />
Despite Nauvoo’s chaotic circumstances after 1844, Mary Ann<br />
<strong>and</strong> many others received temple blessings. Elder Hyde was assigned<br />
to dedicate the temple, which he did on April 30, 1846. By mid-<br />
May the Hydes had vacated Nauvoo. Mary Ann, now pregnant, was<br />
both thrilled <strong>and</strong> fatigued. Mother Price, William Price, <strong>and</strong> her<br />
11. Hyde, “Reminiscences,” 2–3.<br />
12. “Ladies’ Semi-Monthly Meeting,” April 21, 1894,” Woman’s Exponent 22<br />
(May 15, 1894): 130.<br />
13. Hyde, “Reminiscences,” 3.<br />
14. Some attendees saw nothing unusual; others, like Orson Hyde, recorded<br />
a fervent testimony of the transfiguration. Some who later lived in Spring City,<br />
Utah, also testified of the occurrence. John M. Whittaker, “Memorial Anniversary,”<br />
Woman’s Exponent 17 (August 15, 1888): 46.
72<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
sister Elizabeth (married to <strong>Richard</strong> Bentley) 15 arrived in the area<br />
before the birth of Mary Ann’s only child, Urania, who lived only<br />
twelve short days. Mary faced more emotional buffeting when her<br />
mother died several months later on March 10, 1847. Orson, serving<br />
as a missionary in Engl<strong>and</strong>, could only offer comfort through<br />
letters discreetly addressed to “M.”<br />
In June 1848 Orson escorted Mary Ann to visit her younger<br />
sister, Lavinia Hodge, who had settled in St. Louis. Orson wrote loving<br />
words to Mary Ann that later comforted her when Lavinia died<br />
in May 1849: “May God, our heavenly father bless thee. . . . May<br />
the visions of thy mind be instructing, <strong>and</strong> may the thoughts of thy<br />
heart cheer thee. . . . Thou shalt have Eternal life in the Name of the<br />
Lord, <strong>and</strong> he shall give thee the witness of this truth when thine eye<br />
passes over these lines.” 16<br />
On July 8, 1852, it was finally time for the entire Hyde group<br />
to travel to Utah in the Henry W. Miller Company. Orson <strong>and</strong><br />
Marinda were in the first body of ten with a small group of wagons;<br />
Mary Ann traveled in the third ten with her brothers, her sister’s<br />
family, <strong>and</strong> a young driver. 17 Mary Ann was obliged to drive her own<br />
wagon to Salt Lake after her driver, William Mason, died of cholera<br />
on August 8. 18<br />
Once the family arrived in Salt Lake City, a home was soon constructed<br />
north of Temple Square, where Orson, Marinda, <strong>and</strong> Mary<br />
Ann lived together for a short time until Orson was assigned to Fort<br />
15. “Elizabeth Price,” Ancestral File Individual Record, NewFamilySearch,<br />
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, accessed June 28, 2011, http://<br />
familysearch.org.<br />
16. Hyde, Orson Hyde, 239.<br />
17. “Henry W. Miller Company,” Mormon Pioneer Overl<strong>and</strong> Travel Database,<br />
1847–68, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, accessed June 7, 2011,<br />
http://mormontrail.lds.org.<br />
18. George Mason, Autobiographical Sketch [ca. 1883], Church History<br />
Library; “William Mason <strong>Jr</strong>.,” Mormon Pioneer Overl<strong>and</strong> Travel Database, 1847–<br />
68, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, accessed June 28, 2011.
Mary Ann Price Hyde (1816–1900) 73<br />
Supply, Wyoming. Mary Ann succinctly wrote: “We moved to Salt<br />
Lake City where [Orson] made a comfortable home but was soon<br />
after called on a mission.” 19<br />
Upon his return, Orson was pleased that Mary Ann would accompany<br />
him to his next assignment. They received their first taste<br />
of Sanpete Valley when they were sent in October 1854 as part of a<br />
group to investigate Indian problems in central Utah.<br />
In 1855 Orson was assigned to h<strong>and</strong>le problems in Carson<br />
Valley (now Nevada). Mary Ann again accompanied him <strong>and</strong> proved<br />
immensely helpful to her husb<strong>and</strong> through her nursing <strong>and</strong> writing<br />
skills. She even labored with Orson to build a sawmill.<br />
Orson returned from the Carson Valley to Salt Lake late in<br />
1856, writing to Mary Ann with current news <strong>and</strong> a beautiful<br />
blessing:<br />
God Almighty bless you forever <strong>and</strong> ever for your<br />
thoughtfulness <strong>and</strong> care for my safety <strong>and</strong> welfare. . . . I am<br />
truly thankful that you have been counted worthy to be rejected<br />
from <strong>and</strong> <strong>by</strong> the society of the world because of your<br />
faith <strong>and</strong> the position you occupy in relation to myself. . . .<br />
You have been faithful, kind, <strong>and</strong> affectionate. No woman<br />
could do better. . . . I could only wish that you were with us. 20<br />
Mary Ann rejoined the family in Salt Lake City on August 17, 1857.<br />
On March 2, 1860, Sanpete became Orson’s top concern. He<br />
departed for Manti on June 12, taking with him some sheep <strong>and</strong><br />
farming tools. After a brief stay in Manti, Orson, Mary Ann, <strong>and</strong> his<br />
sons Frank <strong>and</strong> Charles moved to Spring Town, now called Spring<br />
City. The Hyde’s Spring City cabin, in “Hyde Bound” on Hyde<br />
Street, was not completed when winter arrived. The cold <strong>and</strong> snowy<br />
conditions must have been daunting in spite of a cellar, good spring<br />
water, <strong>and</strong> warm blankets.<br />
19. Hyde, “Reminiscences,” 3.<br />
20. Hyde, Orson Hyde, 368.
74<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
Mary Ann seemed more concerned about being separated from<br />
Marinda <strong>and</strong> the other family members. “This was a new country<br />
<strong>and</strong> sparsely settled,” recalled Mary Ann, “<strong>and</strong> Mrs [Marinda] Hyde<br />
preferred remaining in the City [of Salt Lake] with her children. So<br />
it was agreed upon that I should go to Sanpete. It was long before I<br />
could feel reconciled to be separated from the other part of the family<br />
for I was sincerely attached to them. The oldest son [of Orson]<br />
accompanied us <strong>and</strong> remained with us for a season. Afterwards the<br />
second son [followed].” 21<br />
Tensions with local Indians distressed Mary Ann: “We were<br />
much exposed to Indian invasions <strong>and</strong> many of our number were<br />
murdered, both men <strong>and</strong> women, <strong>and</strong> we were kept in a state of<br />
anxiety <strong>and</strong> alarm for the safety of our friends when absent.” She<br />
recounted details:<br />
An old man was killed <strong>by</strong> Indians when on his way to<br />
the hay-fields from our place. . . . Another man died from<br />
the effects of a poisoned arrow. One of the brethren came<br />
flying in with blood streaming from his ear. . . . Many others<br />
barely escaped with their lives. . . . It was not safe to leave<br />
home without an armed escort <strong>and</strong> scarcely then, for the<br />
Indians were better acquainted with the country. 22<br />
After she <strong>and</strong> Orson settled in Sanpete County, Mary Ann<br />
welcomed three additional wives into their home, which <strong>by</strong> 1870<br />
bulged at its seams. 23 “For several years,” Mary Ann recorded, “we<br />
21. Hyde, “Reminiscences,” 4.<br />
22. Hyde, “Reminiscences,” 4, 7–8. Mary Ann referred to Andrew Johnson’s<br />
death from a poisoned arrow received on May 13, 1867, on the west side of the<br />
Stone Quarry hills. James Meek was killed; William Blain was shot in the ear.<br />
Kaye C. Watson, Life under the Horseshoe: A History of Spring City (Salt Lake City,<br />
UT: Publishers Press, 1987), 16–17.<br />
23. 1870 U.S. Census, Spring City, Sanpete, Utah, accessed October 10, 2010,<br />
www.ancestry.com.
Mary Ann Price Hyde (1816–1900) 75<br />
lived together until the offspring became so numerous we were compelled<br />
to have separate homes.” 24 Their new three-story rock home<br />
on Main Street in Spring City required a hostess. Mary Ann’s early<br />
education <strong>and</strong> training prepared her for this role. One son noted<br />
that “Aunt” Mary Ann sewed all Orson’s white shirts, which he wore<br />
everywhere.<br />
Orson’s various assignments included apostle, stake president,<br />
Indian agent, legislative delegate, <strong>and</strong> university regent. These responsibilities<br />
required him to frequently travel to <strong>and</strong> from Salt<br />
Lake. Mary Ann noted: “We always had a joyful time on his return<br />
for he was very happy in his family <strong>and</strong> called them together night<br />
<strong>and</strong> morning for prayer. Mr. Hyde frequently questioned his children<br />
on their studies, the elder ones on grammar.” 25<br />
On one occasion, Mary Ann went to Salt Lake to promote<br />
Orson’s small pamphlet Voice from Jerusalem. Still in Spring City,<br />
Orson wrote to Mary Ann, emphasizing that she should enjoy her<br />
visit in the territorial capital. “You have been measurably secluded<br />
from society for a long time,” he said. “I thank Sister Clara Young<br />
for contributing to your comfort <strong>and</strong> enjoyment. God bless her, <strong>and</strong><br />
all others who show you favor.” 26<br />
Orson missed Mary Ann during her absence <strong>and</strong> wrote her another<br />
letter, saying: “You are the anchor of my earthly hopes <strong>and</strong><br />
comforts; for if you ever lied to me or deceived me in any thing vital<br />
or trivial, I do not know it. Consequently you have my unlimited<br />
confidence in all our relations in life.” 27 Because of his trust, she<br />
24. Hyde, “Reminiscences,” 4. Orson married Julia T. Reinert on August 29,<br />
1863; Lizzie Gallier on October 15, 1864; <strong>and</strong> Sophia M. Lyon on October 10,<br />
1865. He married a fourth wife, Ann Eliza, in 1862 before moving to Sanpete<br />
County, Utah.<br />
25. Hyde, “Reminiscences,” 4.<br />
26. His pamphlet sold for fifty cents. Orson Hyde to Mary Ann Hyde, June 22,<br />
1869, quoted in Hyde, Orson Hyde, 447–48.<br />
27. Hyde, Orson Hyde, 451.
76<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
became the owner of their Main Street home <strong>and</strong> several town lots<br />
after his death.<br />
Of Orson’s health, Mary Ann said it was “robust until he was<br />
about 70 years of age when he began to decline—notwithst<strong>and</strong>ing—labored<br />
faithfully in the ministry until his death, which occurred<br />
in November 1878.” Mary Ann’s telegram to President John<br />
Taylor simply said, “Prest. Hyde breathed his last at 6 o’clock.” 28<br />
Mary Ann served actively in the Church both before <strong>and</strong> after<br />
Orson’s death. Spring City’s Relief Society was organized on May 10,<br />
1868, <strong>and</strong> Mary Ann was its first president. Elizabeth P. Allred <strong>and</strong><br />
Anna U. Larsen were counselors, Elizabeth Fretwell was secretary,<br />
<strong>and</strong> Sarah T. Ellis, treasurer. “Six teachers were appointed on May<br />
13 with meetings to be held on the first Thursday of the month<br />
at 2:00 p.m. Fifteen members were initially enrolled; one year later<br />
there were 104 members.” 29<br />
Mary Ann served the sisters in her local ward until May 15,<br />
1879, when she became Sanpete Stake’s first Relief Society president,<br />
a position she held until her death. She visited this huge area <strong>by</strong><br />
28. More people attended Orson’s funeral than there was room for in the little<br />
Spring City, Utah, adobe church. About 120 vehicles, plus some people on foot<br />
<strong>and</strong> horseback, traveled to the cemetery. This group included Church officials,<br />
family members, <strong>and</strong> townspeople. Hyde, “Reminiscences,” 4; “Death of Elder<br />
Orson Hyde,” <strong>Deseret</strong> News [Weekly], December 4, 1878; “Funeral of Elder Orson<br />
Hyde,” <strong>Deseret</strong> News [Weekly], December 4, 1878.<br />
29. Counselor Elizabeth T. Allred was the wife of James Anderson Allred, <strong>and</strong><br />
Anna U. Larson was married to Bishop C. G. Larsen. According to the 1870 U.S.<br />
Census, there were only about 131 adult women in the town.<br />
The Spring City Ward Relief Society purchased a city lot, built a granary,<br />
planned for a Relief Society Hall that was never realized, produced silk through<br />
home industry, organized a Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association, <strong>and</strong><br />
celebrated the 1876 U.S. centennial. Given her position as Relief Society president,<br />
Mary Ann would have been at the center of these activities. Ida Athene Allred<br />
Osborne, ed., “Spring City Ward History” (unpublished manuscript, 1939), 19,<br />
copy in private possession; Bergetta Jensen, “A Brief History of the Spring City<br />
Relief Society,” Relief Society Magazine, March 1944, 181–82.
Mary Ann Price Hyde (1816–1900) 77<br />
wagon, buggy, <strong>and</strong> later train. During her visits, Mary Ann spoke<br />
of developing testimony, charity, <strong>and</strong> integrity. She helped to organize<br />
the stake Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association <strong>and</strong><br />
Spring City’s Primary.<br />
One article in the Woman’s Exponent reported that Mary Ann<br />
traveled with Eliza R. Snow <strong>and</strong> Mary Isabella Horne through<br />
Sanpete County in 1879. 30 During that time, a silk association<br />
was organized <strong>and</strong> grain storage was emphasized. The stake Young<br />
Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association was also formed during<br />
the first Sanpete Stake Relief Society conference held in Manti on<br />
May 19, 1879, which Mary Ann conducted. 31<br />
The Exponent reported the feelings of a Relief Society group<br />
whose members lamented parting with “Mrs. Hyde” to whom they<br />
had “become strongly attached on account of her many amiable <strong>and</strong><br />
pleasing qualities <strong>and</strong> her gentle <strong>and</strong> attractive manner.” On June<br />
14, 1879, Mary Ann attended a meeting in Fairview <strong>and</strong> “spoke<br />
mostly to the young; said the girls held the reins to the extent of<br />
their influence over the young men. They should not countenance<br />
those who use profane language or intoxicating drinks. 32<br />
Grain gleaning <strong>and</strong> storage continued to receive Mary Ann’s encouragement<br />
through the years, <strong>and</strong> “sometimes volunteer boys <strong>and</strong><br />
girls accompanied her; they came from many areas to be part of<br />
grain gathering. They sang as they gleaned. Sister Hyde taught them<br />
many Old English ballads she had sung in her youth.” 33 In 1892<br />
it was reported that the sisters of the stake had donated <strong>and</strong> stored<br />
55,000 bushels of wheat under her leadership. 34<br />
30. “Relief Society,” Woman’s Exponent 8, no. 2 (June 15, 1879): 12.<br />
31. “R. S. Reports,” Woman’s Exponent 8, no. 5 (August 1, 1879): 34.<br />
32. “Fairview, July 17, 1879,” Woman’s Exponent 8, no. 6 (August 15, 1879):<br />
44, 42.<br />
33. Reva T. Jensen, “Mary Ann—Serene <strong>and</strong> Unafraid,” Saga of the Sanpitch 6<br />
(1974): 20.<br />
34. Jensen, “Brief History,” 182.
78<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
A “Mormon Women’s Protest,” led <strong>by</strong> Sister Mary Isabella<br />
Horne, was scheduled for March 6, 1886. Written comments were<br />
solicited. Mary Ann stated:<br />
I am quite sure that every society in this Stake would<br />
heartily respond to the efforts made to retain our rights of<br />
suffrage, <strong>and</strong> also to solicit protection of our sex against insult<br />
<strong>and</strong> unfeeling conduct from those holding authority<br />
in the courts of Utah. It is most deplorable that in this socalled<br />
free country, women should be arraigned before an<br />
inquisition to answer most indelicate <strong>and</strong> unheard of questions<br />
in order to convict their husb<strong>and</strong>s <strong>and</strong> the fathers of<br />
their children. I sincerely hope the Spirit of the Lord will<br />
preside over your meeting, <strong>and</strong> that He will soften the hearts<br />
of those who have power to defend us in our rights. 35<br />
With Mary Ann’s wide sphere of responsibility, she was increasingly<br />
absent from Spring City. 36 Local women missed Mary Ann, as<br />
reported <strong>by</strong> Fanny Kofford: “The sisters of this place (Spring City)<br />
were so pleased with her return, <strong>and</strong> anxious to receive of her influence<br />
they made a surprise party.” 37<br />
In 1880 Mary Ann began to reflect on the changing seasons<br />
of life: “I now occupy the same house where my honored husb<strong>and</strong><br />
breathed his last, with two of his wives <strong>and</strong> their children.” 38<br />
35. “‘Mormon’ Women’s Protest: An Appeal for Freedom, Justice <strong>and</strong> Equal<br />
Rights,” Proceedings of the Great Mass Meeting, Salt Lake Theater, Salt Lake<br />
City, Utah, March 6, 1886, p. 72, accessed June 28, 2010, www.fairlds.org/Misc/<br />
MormonWomenProtest.pdf. About two thous<strong>and</strong> women attended; thirty-three<br />
gave personal statements. A ninety-one-page pamphlet was published, which included<br />
letters from those unable to attend.<br />
36. Mary Ann was not found in the 1880 U.S. Census.<br />
37. “R. S., YLMIA, <strong>and</strong> Primary Reports,” Woman’s Exponent 9 (December 15,<br />
1880): 110.<br />
38. Hyde, “Reminiscences,” 5.
Mary Ann Price Hyde (1816–1900) 79<br />
Mary Ann was close to her one surviving sister, Elizabeth<br />
Bentley, whose family was a large part of the St. George community.<br />
Mary Ann occasionally visited her sister <strong>and</strong> performed temple<br />
work during the winter months. Elizabeth’s death in 1882 was another<br />
emotional loss to Mary Ann, as was the death of her sister-wife<br />
Marinda, who died in 1886. Mary Ann’s two brothers, Charles <strong>and</strong><br />
William, continued to be a part of her declining years <strong>and</strong> survived<br />
her. Orson’s many children were known to have great affection for<br />
Mary Ann, calling her “Ma Hyde,” both because of her initials <strong>and</strong><br />
because of their high regard for her as part of their extended family.<br />
During her last eight years, in spite of health problems, Mary<br />
Ann remained active in her calling <strong>and</strong> travels. Although a hip injury<br />
almost crippled her, she continued to admonish her sisters to<br />
accept their callings <strong>and</strong> to have faith in priesthood blessings <strong>and</strong><br />
prayer. She continued to express her powerful testimony regarding<br />
the Prophet Joseph Smith, plural marriage, <strong>and</strong> other gospel<br />
principles.<br />
When her travels were finally curtailed, Mary Ann was lovingly<br />
cared for <strong>by</strong> her namesake Mary Ann Hyde White <strong>and</strong> her family in<br />
Salt Lake City. She made no complaints of pain. A newspaper article<br />
noted that “her condition . . . was anything but reassuring, <strong>and</strong> both<br />
family <strong>and</strong> friends are fearful that the end of her useful career upon<br />
earth is about to be terminated.”<br />
Death claimed her a few weeks later on June 16, 1900. A<br />
beautiful funeral was held in Salt Lake City, followed <strong>by</strong> another<br />
service in Spring City, where she was buried. Mary Ann’s 1880<br />
“Reminiscences” ends with compelling words:<br />
I will here state that since my first trial in receiving the<br />
principle of plural or celestial marriage I have never doubted<br />
this being the work of God <strong>and</strong> know that it is the most<br />
“glorious dispensation of the fulness of times” destined to<br />
usher in the Millennium, when peace shall reign on this<br />
earth. In my forty years experience in this Church I have
80<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
had many testimonies of its divine origin <strong>and</strong> know for myself<br />
that it is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.<br />
On Mary Ann’s headstone in the Spring City cemetery is a poem<br />
written <strong>by</strong> Emmeline B. Wells to express her tender feelings for her<br />
friend:<br />
A Noble woman, <strong>and</strong> Saint indeed<br />
Of gentle presence <strong>and</strong> a kind heart<br />
The bread of life in every hour of need<br />
To those cast down thou freely dids’t impart<br />
Great was thy gift of Heavenly charity<br />
And greater still thy sweet humility.
Chapter Forty-Two<br />
“My Feet Never Slipped”<br />
Presendia Lathrop Huntington Kimball (1810–1891)<br />
Gary L. Boatright <strong>Jr</strong>.<br />
Biographical Sketch<br />
Like many other early Latter-day Saints, Presendia Lathrop<br />
Huntington descended from a rich New Engl<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> Revolut<br />
ionary heritage. The fourth of ten children born to William<br />
<strong>and</strong> Zina Baker Huntington, Presendia was born on September 7,<br />
1810, in Watertown, Jefferson County, New York. She remained<br />
in Watertown until her marriage to Norman Buell, on January 6,<br />
1827. 1<br />
During the summer of 1835, while Presendia was living in<br />
Lorraine, New York, her mother, Zina, visited her. Earlier that year<br />
both of Presendia’s parents had joined The Church of Jesus Christ<br />
1. The biographical information for this chapter comes from three sources:<br />
Presendia’s own biographical sketches; Emmeline B. Wells, “A Venerable Woman:<br />
Presendia Lathrop Kimball,” Woman’s Exponent (published serially, 1883–84);<br />
Todd Compton, In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith (Salt Lake<br />
City, UT: Signature <strong>Book</strong>s, 1997), 114–44.<br />
81
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of Latter-day Saints. Zina discussed the new religion with Presendia,<br />
testified of the truthfulness of the <strong>Book</strong> of Mormon, <strong>and</strong> shared a<br />
copy of the Word of Wisdom. After reading the revelation, Presendia<br />
remembered, “I felt it was true, <strong>and</strong> thought I would keep the Word<br />
of Wisdom <strong>and</strong> obtain the blessings promised.” 2<br />
Believing her mother’s words, Presendia <strong>and</strong> her husb<strong>and</strong> sold<br />
their property <strong>and</strong> moved to Kirtl<strong>and</strong>, Ohio. On June 6, 1836,<br />
she was baptized <strong>by</strong> Uriah Powell <strong>and</strong> confirmed a member of<br />
the Church <strong>by</strong> Oliver Cowdery. Three days later her husb<strong>and</strong> was<br />
baptized.<br />
For the next ten years, Presendia witnessed many of the triumphs<br />
<strong>and</strong> tragedies of the Church. She experienced outpourings<br />
of the Spirit at the Kirtl<strong>and</strong> Temple <strong>and</strong> heeded the call to gather to<br />
Missouri. While in Missouri, Presendia’s husb<strong>and</strong> became disaffected<br />
with the Church; as a result, when most of the Saints left the state,<br />
Presendia remained. In the fall of 1840, Presendia <strong>and</strong> Norman<br />
moved to Lima, Illinois, allowing her to visit her family <strong>and</strong> friends<br />
in near<strong>by</strong> Nauvoo.<br />
Taught personally <strong>by</strong> the Prophet Joseph Smith, Presendia<br />
learned of <strong>and</strong> accepted the principle of plural marriage. In a ceremony<br />
performed <strong>by</strong> Dimick Huntington, her brother, Presendia<br />
was sealed to the Prophet Joseph on December 11, 1841. Not withst<strong>and</strong>ing,<br />
she continued to live with Norman <strong>and</strong> was known as<br />
Mrs. Buell.<br />
After the martyrdom on June 27, 1844, Presendia openly<br />
grieved with the Saints over the murder of the Prophet <strong>and</strong> secretly<br />
mourned the death of her eternal husb<strong>and</strong>, Joseph. Not many<br />
months later, she left her antagonistic husb<strong>and</strong>, Norman. Impressed<br />
with the need to support the Prophet’s widows, Heber C. Kimball<br />
married Presendia in the spring of 1845. Nearly a year later, in<br />
January 1846, Presendia received her endowment in the Nauvoo<br />
2. Emmeline B. Wells, “A Venerable Woman: Presendia Lathrop Kimball,”<br />
Woman’s Exponent 11 (February 1, 1883): 131.
Presendia Lathrop Huntington Kimball (1810–1891) 83<br />
Temple. A short time later she was again sealed to Joseph Smith,<br />
with Heber C. Kimball acting as proxy. Presendia left Nauvoo with<br />
the main body of the Saints <strong>and</strong> arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on<br />
September 22, 1848.<br />
Despite her trials <strong>and</strong> hardships, including the premature deaths<br />
of seven of her nine children, Presendia spent her life in the service<br />
of others. She blessed <strong>and</strong> comforted those who lay sick <strong>and</strong> dying<br />
<strong>and</strong> faithfully served in the temple performing ordinances in behalf<br />
of her deceased ancestors. On February 1, 1891, at the age of eightyone,<br />
Presendia passed away at her home in Salt Lake City, Utah.<br />
Life Experiences<br />
In 1881, Presendia wrote two autobiographical sketches. The<br />
first, written on April 1, 1881, is the shorter of the two <strong>and</strong> focuses<br />
on many of the significant events of her life. The second, written<br />
fifteen days later, provides more detail than the first. In both documents,<br />
Presendia expresses her testimony of the restored gospel.<br />
Presendia intended for both documents to be opened <strong>by</strong> her oldest<br />
gr<strong>and</strong>daughter in 1930, the one-hundredth anniversary of the<br />
formal organization of the Church. She sealed the two letters in the<br />
same envelope <strong>and</strong> mailed them to Margaret Smoot in Provo, Utah,<br />
for safekeeping.<br />
Aprail 1 st 1881<br />
S L City. UT.<br />
First Sketch<br />
A brief sketch of Presendia Lathrop Huntington<br />
born Sep 7 1810 NY Watertown Jefferson Co State of<br />
NY. My father was born in Toll<strong>and</strong> [township] Toll<strong>and</strong><br />
Co Connecticut. My Mother was born in Plainfield New<br />
Hampshire soon after the close of the revolutionary war.<br />
My Father was born March 28 1784. My Mother Zina<br />
Baker was born May 2 d 1786. My parents both received the
84<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
Gospel in [18]34 moved to Kirtl<strong>and</strong> in [18]36. They had<br />
10 Children all lived to man & woman hood all embraced<br />
the Gospel but Chancy the eldest. I was maried to Norman<br />
Buell Jan 6 th 1827. Both joined the Church in Kirtl<strong>and</strong><br />
Geauga Co Ohio he left the church in MO [Missouri] in<br />
1839 the Lord gave me Strength to st<strong>and</strong> a lone & keep the<br />
faith amid heavy persecution. In 1841 I entered into the<br />
new & everlasting Covenant was sealed to Joseph Smith the<br />
Prophet & Seer & to the best of my ability I have honored<br />
Plural Mariage never speking one word against the pri[n]cipal.<br />
I have been the Mother of 9 children 7 sons & 2 daughters<br />
2 <strong>by</strong> my last Husb<strong>and</strong> Heber Chace Kimball. Never in<br />
my life in this kingdom which is 44 years have I doubted<br />
the Truth of this great work reveald in these the last days. I<br />
have buried Seven of my Children all in there infancy but<br />
2 living. I hope to honor my God my religion & my Self &<br />
be prepard to meet the many loved ones behind the vail. I<br />
wish this to be given to my oldes[t] relative of the females<br />
living in 1930<br />
Presendia L Kimball Smith 3<br />
Salt Lake City Utah<br />
Aprail. 16 th . 1881<br />
Second Sketch<br />
A brief sketch of the life of Presendia Lathrop<br />
Huntington born Sept 7 th 1810 Watertown Jefferson Co.<br />
NY. My Gr<strong>and</strong> Father Wm Huntington. Gr<strong>and</strong> mother<br />
Presendia Lathrop were born Toll<strong>and</strong> Township Toll<strong>and</strong><br />
Co. Connecticut. At the close of the revolutionary war they<br />
moved to Newgranthem Cheshire Co New hampshiere. My<br />
3. Presendia Lathrop Huntington Kimball, Reminiscences, April 1, 1881,<br />
Micro film of holograph, Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of<br />
Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah, hereafter cited as Church History Library.
Presendia Lathrop Huntington Kimball (1810–1891) 85<br />
Father was born March 28, 1774 in the forsaid Co & State.<br />
In 18[0]4 they moved to watertown Jefferson Co N.Y. In<br />
18[0]6 he returned to NH [New Hampshire] was maried<br />
to Zina Baker who was born May 2 d 1786, maried Dec 28<br />
1806 [November 28, 1805] than returned to NY. My parents<br />
had 10 Children 6 sons 4 daughters 2 died in infancy<br />
My parents united withe the Laterday Sa[i]nts in 1835<br />
were baptised Aprail 3 1835 Dimick Fanny & Zina Oct<br />
1 st 1835 & moved to Kirtl<strong>and</strong> in Oct. [18]35. I was baptised<br />
June the 6 th 1836 in Kirtl<strong>and</strong> Geauga Co Ohio <strong>by</strong><br />
Uriah Powel Confirmed <strong>by</strong> Oliver Cowdry. In 1838 on the<br />
22 d of Jan Started for M.O. [Missouri] in company with<br />
Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon, Levy <strong>Richard</strong>s, Lorenzo<br />
Young & families, arived in Farwest the second of March,<br />
traveled through the coldest Storm of wind & snow. Past<br />
through & shared with the Saints in all there trials. After the<br />
Church was driven back to Ill [Illinois] I remained 2 summers<br />
& than followed the[m] to Ill located 30 miles south<br />
of Nauvoo at Lima. In 1841 I was sealed to Joseph Smith<br />
<strong>by</strong> my brother Dimick B Huntington. I left Ill 1846 with<br />
the Saints & have remained with the heads of the Church<br />
since. I was Sealed to Heber C. Kimball in Nauvoo Temple<br />
as proxy for the m[a]rtered Prophet. My oldest Son was<br />
born in 1829 now 501 [51 years old] born in 1829 my<br />
Second was Scalded to death at 2 years my 3 d was kild in the<br />
birth my 4 th lived 4 weeks & died. I left Kirtl<strong>and</strong> Jan 21 st .<br />
Traveled one thous<strong>and</strong> miles in a lumber waggon in the ded<br />
of the winter. My 5 th a daughter was born Apr 24 lived 4<br />
hours & died. My 6 a son lived to be 31 years he was born<br />
Jan 31 1840. My 7 th a son lived 2 years & died with the<br />
Summer Complaint my eight a daughter at 16 months was<br />
drowned in City Creek May 8 th [18]49. My 9 th a son Joseph<br />
Kimball is an acting Bishop in Meadowe ville Bearlake vally.<br />
The first & last of 9 are living. My testimony is I have never
86<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
doubted the truth of the Gospel nor any portion as revealed<br />
from God <strong>by</strong> Joseph Smith. I have been in plural mariage 40<br />
years Consider it one of the purest pri[n]cipals ever revealed<br />
to man. I have never Spoken one word against the principals<br />
of the Gospel but have tried to honor & sustain the<br />
Cause to the best of my ability. These are my true feelings in<br />
the fear of God I have been truly blest in being kept in the<br />
faith of the Gospel I thank the Lord I had the privelage of<br />
being permited to come on the earth when the gospel was<br />
again restored to man in the flesh. I acknowledge the h<strong>and</strong><br />
of God in all I have passed through in this life. I was born of<br />
noble parentage for which I thank the Lord. Uncle Samuel<br />
Huntington was one of the Sighners of the declaration of<br />
our independance my Gr<strong>and</strong>father was in the revolutionary<br />
war my father was in the war of 1812 we as surviving relatives<br />
are doing all we can for our ded. I have been baptesed<br />
for one Hundred & 505 [155] of the ded. This sketch of my<br />
life so brief is intended to be opened & red in 1930 long<br />
after I have passed away, being 70 years & 6 months old.<br />
Presendia L. Kimball Smith<br />
To my Oldest Gr<strong>and</strong> daughter in the Church than living 4<br />
Written to strengthen the faith <strong>and</strong> testimony of her descendants,<br />
these documents begin to capture the faithful life of Presendia<br />
Huntington Kimball. The following information provides further<br />
insight into the life of this great woman who dedicated her life to<br />
the gospel of Jesus Christ.<br />
“The Spirit of God”<br />
The Kirtl<strong>and</strong> Temple was the spiritual center of the Latter-day<br />
Saint community in Ohio. After the temple’s dedication <strong>by</strong> Joseph<br />
Smith on March 27, 1836, the Church experienced an abundant<br />
4. Kimball, Reminiscences, April 16, 1881.
Presendia Lathrop Huntington Kimball (1810–1891) 87<br />
outpouring of the Spirit both within <strong>and</strong> without its walls. Presendia<br />
witnessed many miraculous outpourings of the Spirit associated<br />
with the temple after her arrival in Kirtl<strong>and</strong> on May 1, 1836, <strong>and</strong><br />
her baptism a month later. Her reminiscences of these events were<br />
printed in the Woman’s Exponent in 1883:<br />
We enjoyed many very great blessings, <strong>and</strong> often saw<br />
the power of God manifested. On one occasion, I saw angels<br />
clothed in white, walking upon the Temple. It was during<br />
one of our monthly fast meetings, when the saints were<br />
in the Temple worshipping, a little girl came to my door,<br />
<strong>and</strong> in wonder called me out, exclaiming, “The meeting is<br />
in the top of the meeting house!” I went to the door, <strong>and</strong><br />
there I saw on the Temple, angels clothed in white, covering<br />
the roof from end to end. They seemed to be walking<br />
to <strong>and</strong> fro; they appeared <strong>and</strong> disappeared before I realized<br />
that they were not mortal men. Each time in a moment they<br />
vanished, <strong>and</strong> their re-appearance was the same. This was in<br />
broad daylight in the afternoon. A number of the children<br />
in Kirtl<strong>and</strong> saw the same. When the brethren <strong>and</strong> sisters<br />
came home in the evening, they told of the power of God<br />
manifested in the Temple that day, <strong>and</strong> of the prophesying<br />
<strong>and</strong> speaking in tongues. It was also said, in the interpretation<br />
of tongues, that the angels were resting down upon the<br />
house.<br />
At another fast meeting, I was in the Temple with my<br />
sister Zina. The whole congregation were on their knees,<br />
praying vocally, for such was the custom, at the close of<br />
these meetings when Father Smith [Joseph Smith Sr.] presided,<br />
yet there was no confusion. The voices of the congregation<br />
mingled softly together. While the congregation was<br />
thus praying, we heard from one corner of the room above<br />
our heads, a choir of angels, singing most beautifully. They<br />
were invisible to us, but myriads of angelic voices seemed
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Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
to be united in singing some song of Zion, <strong>and</strong> their sweet<br />
harmony filled the Temple of God.<br />
We were also in the Temple at the pentecost. In the<br />
morning, Father Smith prayed for a pentecost, in opening<br />
the meeting. That day the power of God rested mightily<br />
upon the Saints. There was poured out upon us abundantly<br />
the spirit of revelation, prophecy <strong>and</strong> tongues. The Holy<br />
Ghost filled the house; <strong>and</strong> along in the afternoon a noise<br />
was heard; it was the sound of a mighty rushing wind. But<br />
at first the congregation was startled, not knowing what it<br />
was. To many it seemed as though the roof was all in flames.<br />
Father Smith exclaimed, “Is the house on fire!” “Do you not<br />
remember your prayer, this morning, Father Smith?” inquired<br />
a brother. Then the patriarch, clasping his h<strong>and</strong>s, exclaimed,<br />
“The Spirit of God, like a mighty rushing wind!” 5<br />
Temples continued to play an important role in Presendia’s life.<br />
She received her endowment in the Nauvoo Temple on January 10,<br />
1846. Nearly a month later, with Elder Heber C. Kimball acting<br />
as proxy, Presendia was again sealed for all eternity to the Prophet<br />
Joseph Smith. Edified <strong>by</strong> the blessings of the temple, Presendia left<br />
Nauvoo, traveled across the plains, <strong>and</strong> made a new home where<br />
“the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of<br />
the mountains.” 6<br />
“A Precious Memento Dearer Far Than Gold”<br />
The early months of 1839 were trying ones for the Latterday<br />
Saints. While their prophet, Joseph Smith, was in Liberty<br />
Jail, the Saints were forced to ab<strong>and</strong>on their homes <strong>and</strong> leave<br />
the state of Missouri. In February, Presendia’s father, William<br />
5. Emmeline B. Wells, “A Venerable Woman: Presendia Lathrop Kimball,”<br />
Woman’s Exponent 11 (February 15, 1883): 139.<br />
6. Isaiah 2:2; 2 Nephi 12:2.
Presendia Lathrop Huntington Kimball (1810–1891) 89<br />
Huntington—along with Heber C. Kimball <strong>and</strong> Alanson Ripley—<br />
stopped at Presendia’s home in Washington Township, Clay County,<br />
Missouri. Presendia joined the men who continued on their way to<br />
visit the Prophet Joseph Smith in jail, approximately thirteen miles<br />
away. Presendia recalled:<br />
When we arrived at the jail we found a heavy guard outside<br />
<strong>and</strong> inside the door. We were watched very closely, lest<br />
we should leave tools to help the prisoners escape. I took<br />
dinner with the brethren in prison; they were much pleased<br />
to see the faces of true friends; but I cannot describe my<br />
feelings on seeing that man of God there confined in such<br />
a trying time for the Saints, when his counsel was so much<br />
needed. And we were obliged to leave them in that horrid<br />
prison, surrounded <strong>by</strong> a wicked mob. 7<br />
A short time later, Presendia visited the jail a second time, but<br />
the guards turned her away. On March 15, 1839, having heard of<br />
her attempt to visit him, the Prophet Joseph wrote to Presendia:<br />
Dear Sister<br />
My heart rejoiced at the friendship you manifested in<br />
requesting to have conversation with us but the Jailer is a<br />
very Jealous man for fear some one will leave tools for us<br />
to get out with . . . Oh what joy it would be to us to see<br />
our friends it would have gladdened my heart to have the<br />
privilege of conversing with you but the h<strong>and</strong> of tyrany is<br />
upon us . . . I suppose you wanted some instruction for<br />
yourself <strong>and</strong> also give us some information <strong>and</strong> administer<br />
consolation to us <strong>and</strong> to find out what is best for you to do<br />
. . . I want him [Norman Buell] <strong>and</strong> you to know that I am<br />
your true friend I was glad to see you no tongue can tell<br />
7. Emmeline B. Wells, “A Venerable Woman: Presendia Lathrop Kimball,”<br />
Woman’s Exponent 11 (March 1, 1883): 147.
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Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
what inexpressible Joy it gives a man to see the face of one<br />
who has been a friend after having been inclosed in the walls<br />
of a prison for five months it seems to me that my heart<br />
will always be more tender after this than ever it was before<br />
my heart bleeds continually when I contemplate the dis-<br />
tress of the Church Oh that I could be with them I would<br />
not shrink at toil <strong>and</strong> hardship to render them comfort <strong>and</strong><br />
consolation . . . I wanted to communicate something <strong>and</strong> I<br />
wrote this &c Write to us if you can<br />
J. Smith <strong>Jr</strong>. 8<br />
“This letter,” Presendia stated, “I have preserved as a precious<br />
memento dearer far than gold.” 9 The letter from Joseph left a lasting<br />
impression on Presendia’s life. Perhaps inspired <strong>by</strong> Joseph’s statement<br />
that he “would not shrink at toil <strong>and</strong> hardship to render them [the<br />
Saints] comfort <strong>and</strong> consolation,” Presendia devoted the rest of her<br />
life to comforting those around her. 10<br />
In regard to Presendia’s compassion <strong>and</strong> charity, Emmeline B.<br />
Wells wrote, “She has learned to appreciate the feelings of oth-<br />
ers, <strong>and</strong> knows how to sympathize with the trials <strong>and</strong> sorrows of<br />
those who must pass through similar ordeals.” 11 Presendia learned,<br />
as Joseph Smith had, “that all these things”—trials, hardships, <strong>and</strong><br />
sufferings—“shall give thee experience, <strong>and</strong> shall be for thy good.” 12<br />
8. Joseph Smith <strong>Jr</strong>. to Presendia Huntington Buell, March 18, 1839, in<br />
Personal Writings of Joseph Smith, ed. Dean C. Jessee, rev. ed. (Salt Lake City, UT:<br />
<strong>Deseret</strong> <strong>Book</strong>; Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 2002), 426–28.<br />
9. Wells, “Venerable Woman,” 147.<br />
10. Jessee, Personal Writings of Joseph Smith, 427.<br />
11. Emmeline B. Wells, “A Venerable Woman: Presendia Lathrop Kimball,”<br />
Woman’s Exponent 13 (June 1, 1884): 3.<br />
12. Doctrine <strong>and</strong> Covenants 122:7.
Presendia Lathrop Huntington Kimball (1810–1891) 91<br />
“O, It Is Heavenly to Be Thus Employed”<br />
With the Church firmly settled in the Salt Lake Valley, Presendia,<br />
along with Elizabeth Ann Whitney, was called <strong>by</strong> President Brigham<br />
Young “to officiate in the ordinances of the House of the Lord.” 13<br />
Since the Church had not yet completed a temple in the Great<br />
Basin, Presendia officiated in the Endowment House. 14 Reflecting<br />
on this time of service, Presendia recalled:<br />
The position seemed as natural to me, as if I had always<br />
been accustomed to it. We both enjoyed the labor very<br />
much for we loved the work <strong>and</strong> the Lord blest us with His<br />
Spirit. We seemed to live above everything earthly or trivial<br />
while engaged in those spiritual duties, <strong>and</strong> we had many<br />
comforting dreams as well as other manifestations that the<br />
Lord approved of our ministrations. O, it is heavenly to be<br />
thus employed; angels seemed to watch over us, for had<br />
we not made every sacrifice willingly that we might serve<br />
our Father in heaven <strong>and</strong> keep His holy comm<strong>and</strong>ments?<br />
Sister Whitney was abundantly blest with gifts <strong>and</strong> graces in<br />
spiritual things, <strong>and</strong> I loved her as my mother, a mother in<br />
Israel to all the daughters in Zion, <strong>and</strong> especially those who<br />
had entered into the new <strong>and</strong> everlasting covenant [of plural<br />
marriage]. 15<br />
Presendia continued <strong>by</strong> relating the details of a dream that<br />
Elizabeth Ann Whitney had shared in which Elizabeth saw Presendia<br />
13. Emmeline B. Wells, “A Venerable Woman: Presendia Lathrop Kimball,”<br />
Woman’s Exponent 12 (October 1, 1883): 67.<br />
14. Before the Salt Lake Temple was completed in 1893, several buildings<br />
were used for the administration of temple ordinances. In Salt Lake City one<br />
such building was the Endowment House, which was in operation from 1855 to<br />
1889. Lamar C. Berrett, “Endowment Houses,” in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, ed.<br />
Daniel H. Ludlow, 4 vols. (New York: Macmillan, 1992), 2:456.<br />
15. Wells, “Venerable Woman,” 67.
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Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
administering the ordinances of the temple. In the dream Sister<br />
Whitney stated Presendia “was perfectly transparent, <strong>and</strong> there was<br />
not a spot or blemish of any sort upon [her] body.” Presendia stated<br />
regarding that dream:<br />
This was a good testimony to me <strong>and</strong> also to her that I<br />
was fit to minister in the holy ordinances. It is not good to<br />
be too visionary, or place too much confidence in dreams,<br />
but there are some dreams that are given for the comfort<br />
<strong>and</strong> encouragement of the dreamer that strengthen our faith<br />
<strong>and</strong> help us to bear the trials of life <strong>and</strong> overcome the various<br />
obstacles that are continually thrown in the way of the<br />
Saints. In looking back over those days, I realize how the<br />
Lord marked out my way <strong>and</strong> the blessings that He poured<br />
out upon me, <strong>and</strong> I feel to thank Him that He preserved<br />
me in many strait <strong>and</strong> narrow places, <strong>and</strong> that my feet never<br />
slipped, though the way was sometimes dangerous, for trials<br />
were plentiful in those days <strong>and</strong> one needed to be on the<br />
alert, lest he be taken unawares <strong>and</strong> fall through murmuring<br />
or in an unguarded moment. 16<br />
Presendia frequently recognized <strong>and</strong> acknowledged the h<strong>and</strong> of<br />
the Lord in her life <strong>and</strong> the blessings He bestowed upon her. She<br />
testified of how participating in the ordinances of the temple blessed<br />
her home life:<br />
Sometime in the fall of 1851 I was in delicate health<br />
[pregnant] <strong>and</strong> was obliged to retire from the duties of the<br />
Endowment House which had been so beneficial to me,<br />
though I still felt the blessings I had received therein accompanied<br />
me to my home <strong>and</strong> in the daily routine of daily life.<br />
I was so happy I scarcely knew how to be thankful enough<br />
for the blessings God had bestowed upon me, <strong>and</strong> I rejoiced<br />
16. Wells, “Venerable Woman,” 67.
Presendia Lathrop Huntington Kimball (1810–1891) 93<br />
<strong>by</strong> day <strong>and</strong> <strong>by</strong> night <strong>and</strong> looked forward like Elizabeth of<br />
old to the time of my deliverance. 17<br />
In 1882, Presendia traveled to the St. George Temple in southwestern<br />
Utah. There she performed temple work in behalf of her<br />
deceased ancestors. She frequently traveled to Logan, Utah, after the<br />
dedication of the temple there in 1884. Throughout the remainder<br />
of her life, Presendia continued working in the temple to serve the<br />
living <strong>and</strong> those who had passed beyond the veil.<br />
“A Venerable Woman”<br />
Emmeline B. Wells wrote a biography of her friend Presendia<br />
Huntington Kimball that appeared in the Woman’s Exponent. Wells<br />
fittingly titled the biography “A Venerable Woman.” A person described<br />
as venerable is one who has earned “respect through age,<br />
character, <strong>and</strong> attainments” <strong>and</strong> conveys “an impression of aged<br />
goodness <strong>and</strong> benevolence.” 18 As a fitting summary of her friend’s<br />
life, Emmeline B. Wells wrote:<br />
Her path has not been strewn with flowers, but sharp<br />
<strong>and</strong> cruel thorns have pierced her as it were on every h<strong>and</strong>,<br />
but now in her later years, when her head is silvered o’er,<br />
<strong>and</strong> the experience of her former life rises up before her, she<br />
bows meekly in humble acknowledgement <strong>and</strong> submission,<br />
<strong>and</strong> says it was good for her to pass under the rod of affliction,<br />
for she has learned to appreciate the feelings of others,<br />
17. Emmeline B. Wells, “A Venerable Woman: Presendia Lathrop Kimball,”<br />
Woman’s Exponent 12 (October 15, 1883): 75. The “Endowment House” Presendia<br />
refers to is likely the Council House, whose upper floor was used for live temple<br />
ordinances between February 21, 1851, <strong>and</strong> May 5, 1855, when the building<br />
that became known as the Endowment House was dedicated. At age forty-one<br />
Presendia gave birth to a son, Joseph Smith Kimball, on December 22, 1851.<br />
18. Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, s.v. “venerable,” accessed November 4,<br />
2010, www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/venerable.
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<strong>and</strong> knows how to sympathize with the trials <strong>and</strong> sorrows of<br />
those who must pass through similar ordeals if they expect<br />
to obtain a celestial glory <strong>and</strong> exaltation. 19<br />
As an early convert, Presendia witnessed the miraculous growth<br />
of the Church. In Kirtl<strong>and</strong>, she basked in the outpourings of the<br />
Spirit in the temple. She faithfully persevered through the trials of<br />
Missouri, even as her husb<strong>and</strong> lost his faith in the Church. She saw<br />
the city of Nauvoo grow <strong>and</strong> flourish, <strong>and</strong> she willingly ab<strong>and</strong>oned<br />
it <strong>and</strong> its temple after having received the ordinances of the house<br />
of God. After making a journey of more than one thous<strong>and</strong> miles,<br />
Presendia blessed the lives of hundreds of Saints through her temple<br />
work <strong>and</strong> compassionate service.<br />
Through all her life’s experiences, Presendia knew the Lord<br />
had blessed her, <strong>and</strong> she expressed her gratitude <strong>by</strong> serving others.<br />
Presendia exemplified the admonition of King Benjamin: “And behold,<br />
I tell you these things that ye may learn wisdom; that ye may<br />
learn that when ye are in the service of your fellow beings ye are only<br />
in the service of your God.” 20<br />
19. Wells, “Venerable Woman,” 3.<br />
20. Mosiah 2:17.
Chapter Forty-Three<br />
“Give Up All <strong>and</strong> Follow Your Lord”<br />
Phebe Cros<strong>by</strong> Peck Knight (1800–1849)<br />
Janiece Johnson<br />
Biographical Sketch<br />
In June 1830, amidst harassment, a young widow named Phebe<br />
Cros<strong>by</strong> Peck was baptized a member of the newly formed Church<br />
of Christ in a river in Colesville, New York. She had been born in<br />
March 1800 to Elisha <strong>and</strong> Susan Lowell Cros<strong>by</strong> at Unadilla, Otsego<br />
County, New York. She married Benjamin Peck on March 5, 1817,<br />
<strong>and</strong> they had five children before his death in 1829. 1 They lived in<br />
1. An earlier version of this chapter was published in Janiece Johnson, “Give It<br />
All Up <strong>and</strong> Follow Your Lord”: Mormon Female Religiosity, 1831–1843 (Provo, UT:<br />
BYU Studies, 2008), 25–27. Hezekiah (1820–1859), Samantha (1821–1839),<br />
Henry (1823–died young), Henrietta (1823–1896), <strong>and</strong> Sarah Jane (1825–1893)<br />
were Benjamin <strong>and</strong> Phebe’s children. Henry <strong>and</strong> Henrietta were twins. Additional<br />
biographical information may be found at http://phebe<strong>and</strong>friends.blogspot.<br />
com/2007/05/research-report-on-phebes-ancestry-<strong>and</strong>.html; accessed June 7,<br />
2011.<br />
95
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Bainbridge, New York, <strong>and</strong> after her husb<strong>and</strong>’s death, she remained<br />
close to his extended family living near<strong>by</strong>. 2<br />
Benjamin’s family composed a goodly number of those baptized<br />
with Phebe; they became known as the Colesville Saints. The persecution<br />
did not end with their baptisms but continued until the<br />
oppression reached an apex just before they left New York the following<br />
April.<br />
Phebe left Colesville with the other Saints for Thompson, Ohio,<br />
in search of a reprieve from persecution. Thompson held a brief respite<br />
for them. Leman Copley invited the worn-down group to his<br />
farm to live, but his initial good will was short lived. After Copley’s<br />
disenchantment with the Church <strong>and</strong> the personal difficulties of the<br />
Colesville Saints, they moved on again within a couple of months.<br />
Despite her frequent relocations, Phebe continued faithful <strong>and</strong> excited<br />
about new truths revealed. Joseph Smith’s revelations built<br />
upon a biblical ideal of Zion <strong>and</strong> its specific location had recently<br />
been revealed <strong>by</strong> the Lord. With hopes of Zion fresh in their minds,<br />
Phebe <strong>and</strong> the other Colesville Saints continued on their way to<br />
Jackson County, Missouri.<br />
The Colesville group was an integral part of this first migration<br />
to Zion. Phebe <strong>and</strong> her family were active members of the Kaw<br />
Township congregation in Missouri, where she taught her children<br />
the principles of the gospel <strong>and</strong> supported her family as a tailor. 3<br />
Then, after fourteen years of providing for her family alone, Phebe<br />
2. Benjamin Peck’s two brothers, Hezekiah Peck (1782–1850) <strong>and</strong> Ezekial Peck<br />
(1785–1850), <strong>and</strong> their families also joined with the Saints at Colesville. They<br />
were all baptized on June 29, 1830. Benjamin’s sister Polly Peck (1774–1831) had<br />
married Joseph Knight Sr. (1772–1847), <strong>and</strong> the Pecks had become acquainted<br />
with Joseph Smith through Joseph Knight, whom Joseph Smith called “a faithful<br />
old man.” “Records of Early Church Families,” Utah Genealogical Quarterly 26<br />
(1935): 108–9.<br />
3. “Sarah Jane Peck Rich,” Pioneer Women of Faith <strong>and</strong> Fortitude, comp.<br />
International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 4 vols. (Salt Lake City, UT:<br />
Publishers Press, 1998), 3:2549.
Phebe Cros<strong>by</strong> Peck Knight (1800–1849) 97<br />
married Joseph Knight Sr., after the death of his first wife, Polly Peck<br />
Knight, Phebe’s sister-in-law. 4 Phebe <strong>and</strong> Joseph had two children<br />
together, for a total of sixteen, though most of Joseph <strong>and</strong> Polly’s<br />
children were already grown at the time of their marriage. Joseph<br />
was twenty-eight years Phebe’s senior. 5<br />
Phebe experienced the expulsion of the Saints from Jackson<br />
County, the difficulties in northern Missouri, the move to Nauvoo<br />
<strong>and</strong> life there, <strong>and</strong> the martyrdom of Joseph <strong>and</strong> Hyrum Smith.<br />
Joseph Knight Sr. died in 1847. After his death Phebe married<br />
Cornelius P. Lott, though there is no record of their living together. 6<br />
Thereafter, Phebe spent time with her children <strong>and</strong> their families<br />
until her death in 1849. 7<br />
4. Polly Peck Knight (1774–1831); see Doctrine <strong>and</strong> Covenants 59.<br />
5. In his journal Newel Knight described their union in this way: “My Father<br />
had married again after my Mothers death a widow Peck my mothers brothers<br />
widow with four small children he was now getting old & it seemed a hard struggle<br />
for him to get along.” In 1845 in Nauvoo, Phebe was to be sealed to Joseph Knight<br />
Sr., but she initially refused. She said that she cared for him but “did not love him<br />
<strong>and</strong> honor him as her head <strong>and</strong> bosom companion.” They were separated for a<br />
season, but after some discussion with a Church leader, Phebe showed up at the<br />
temple the day of the scheduled sealing. Though there seemed to be no major<br />
difficulties between Phebe <strong>and</strong> her husb<strong>and</strong>, tension seemed consistently present<br />
between Phebe <strong>and</strong> Joseph’s older children. Newel Knight, Autobiography, p. 51,<br />
Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake<br />
City, Utah, hereafter cited as Church History Library.<br />
6. They were married at Winter Quarters, Nebraska, on March 30, 1847.<br />
“Records of Early Church Families,” 109.<br />
7. We do not know the exact date of Phebe’s death. On May 6, 1849, from<br />
Andrew County, Missouri, Martha Long Peck, Phebe’s sister-in-law, wrote a letter<br />
to her son Reed in Corl<strong>and</strong>ville, New York, telling him of Aunt Phebe’s death. She<br />
also mentioned the deaths of Joseph Knight Sr. <strong>and</strong> Newel Knight, both of whom<br />
had died two years previously. Martha Long Peck to Reed Peck, Church History<br />
Library. To further complicate the matter, Newel’s widow, Lydia Knight, wrote to<br />
Brigham Young from Pottawattamie County, Iowa, on May 28, 1849, explaining<br />
that she would not be heading west that season as “Mother Knight” had claimed<br />
the wagons <strong>and</strong> cattle that were rightly Lydia’s <strong>and</strong> they were given to the Riches
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Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
Life Experiences<br />
Historical records do not supply many specific details of Phebe’s<br />
life, but an 1832 letter she wrote provides a detailed account of<br />
her experience <strong>and</strong> shows her fervor for the restored gospel during<br />
a time of reflection <strong>and</strong> relative peace in Zion. Phebe thought she<br />
would spend “the remainder of her days” in Zion. In mid-1832,<br />
Phebe <strong>and</strong> the other Jackson County Saints saw Jackson County as<br />
a permanent home; they could not imagine their expulsion the following<br />
year.<br />
Phebe was an independent <strong>and</strong> confident woman. She did not<br />
cower when facing a new situation or an opportunity to share the<br />
gospel. She was c<strong>and</strong>id as she shared her beliefs <strong>and</strong> plainspoken in<br />
her censure <strong>and</strong> admonition to her family members who had not<br />
accepted the message of the Restoration. Phebe’s sister-in-law Anna<br />
Peck had lived with her, <strong>and</strong> they were very close. Anna planned<br />
to leave New York with Phebe <strong>and</strong> the other Colesville Saints. At<br />
the very last moment—perhaps even jumping off a wagon—Anna<br />
stayed in New York to marry Stephen Pratt. Phebe’s letter to Anna<br />
brims with love, yet that love does not dilute her determination to<br />
invite Anna to “give up all for Christ.” Her love for Anna propels<br />
her message <strong>and</strong> her invitation.<br />
Through her writing, Phebe demonstrates her excitement to be<br />
a part of the Restoration. She tries to express the multitude of blessings<br />
in her life despite apparent hardship, but she feels her words fail<br />
her. Phebe reveled in the gospel mysteries recently unfolded through<br />
revelation <strong>and</strong> her new underst<strong>and</strong>ings of God’s plan. Only a few<br />
months before, Joseph Smith had received the vision later published<br />
(two of Phebe’s daughters married Rich brothers Charles <strong>and</strong> Thomas). The property<br />
was given to Lydia after her inquiry but not in time for her to go west that season.<br />
Brigham Young Papers, Incoming Correspondence, Church History Library.<br />
Though Lydia’s letter was written after Martha’s, she may have been writing about<br />
a past event. If so, Phebe must have died sometime around May 1849 because she<br />
is absent from records of settlements farther west than Winter Quarters.
Phebe Cros<strong>by</strong> Peck Knight (1800–1849) 99<br />
as Doctrine <strong>and</strong> Covenants 76, <strong>and</strong> Phebe expresses her gratitude for<br />
new knowledge <strong>and</strong> her hope for celestial glory with Anna.<br />
In her letter, Phebe likewise reveals how quickly she incorporated<br />
Joseph’s new revelations into her scriptural knowledge <strong>and</strong> personalized<br />
the word of the Lord for herself <strong>and</strong> her family. Though<br />
the comm<strong>and</strong>ment to “take up your cross, in the which you must<br />
pray vocally” was originally directed at Joseph Knight Sr. in the<br />
Doctrine <strong>and</strong> Covenants, 8 Phebe applies it to her son. She demonstrates<br />
her underst<strong>and</strong>ing that revelations were relevant to all the<br />
Saints. 9 In November 1831, the Lord chided the Saints in Zion that<br />
their children were “growing up in wickedness.” 10 It appears that<br />
Phebe <strong>and</strong> the Jackson County Saints took that censure to heart,<br />
<strong>and</strong> Phebe shares her joy in seeing the baptisms of their children,<br />
their faith, <strong>and</strong> her opportunity to teach her own children.<br />
Independence 11 May August the 10 1832<br />
Affectionate Sister 12<br />
I received your letter Jan. 22 which gave me great pleasure.<br />
13 I esteemed it as a blessing to have the priveledge of<br />
8. Doctrine <strong>and</strong> Covenants 23:6.<br />
9. Revelations are “unto all.” Doctrine <strong>and</strong> Covenants 1:2.<br />
10. Doctrine <strong>and</strong> Covenants 68:31.<br />
11. Phebe was most likely living in near<strong>by</strong> Kaw Township at the time,<br />
though return letters would have had to be directed to Independence, Missouri.<br />
William G. Hartley, “These Are My Friends”: A History of the Joseph Knight Family,<br />
1825–1850 (Provo, UT: Gr<strong>and</strong>in, 1986), 77; Joseph Smith, History of The Church<br />
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ed. B. H. Roberts, 2nd ed. rev., 7 vols. (Salt Lake<br />
City, UT: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1932–51), 1:196–206.<br />
12. Anna Peck (1812–?), who married Stephen B. Pratt (ca. 1810–?), was<br />
Benjamin’s half sister. Harriet E. Shay, Affidavit, 1903, as cited in Larry C. Porter,<br />
“‘Ye Shall Go to the Ohio’: Exodus of the New York Saints to Ohio, 1831,” in<br />
Regional Studies in Latter-day Saint Church History: Ohio, ed. Milton V. Backman<br />
<strong>Jr</strong>. (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University, Department of Church History <strong>and</strong><br />
Doctrine, 1990), 9.<br />
13. The location of the January 22 letter is unknown.
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Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
hearing from you. Once more you must forgive my negligence<br />
in not writing before as I have been busily engaged<br />
in business, but I shall now attempt to writte you the sentiments<br />
of my heart in the fear of my God. I can realize<br />
that I am seperated a great distance from you, but yet my<br />
mind will often tra[v]el back to the place of your abode, but<br />
Anna, it is not because I wish myself back, but it is because<br />
of the feelings I have for you <strong>and</strong> the rest of my relatives in<br />
that part of the world. 14 Yes we are seperated <strong>by</strong> roling bellows<br />
of water but the Lord’s protecting h<strong>and</strong> has been over<br />
us through all our travels <strong>and</strong> has brought us safely to this<br />
l<strong>and</strong> where I shall spend the remainder of my days <strong>and</strong> if I<br />
ever see you again it will be upon this l<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> I will assure<br />
you it would be a joyful meeting to us all. 15<br />
I well remember the last time I saw you when I took my<br />
leave of you the sensations of my Heart at that time I think<br />
will never be forgotten <strong>by</strong> me although I did not know<br />
when I left that I should be called to come thus far <strong>and</strong> I<br />
presume it has bee[n] that which has caused you to almost<br />
wonder, but did you know as I know concerning our leaving<br />
Ohio 16 you would not but you do not. Neither can I tell you<br />
but this much I can say, that did you know of the things of<br />
God <strong>and</strong> could you receive the blessings that I have from the<br />
h<strong>and</strong> of the Lord you would not think it a hardship to come<br />
14. Census records show there were Pratts <strong>and</strong> Pecks in Chenango County,<br />
New York, throughout most of the nineteenth century.<br />
15. The Saints never imagined their expulsion from Zion.<br />
16. At a January 1831 conference in Fayette, New York, attended <strong>by</strong> Newel<br />
Knight <strong>and</strong> possibly others from Colesville, Joseph Smith introduced the concept<br />
of gathering. Doctrine <strong>and</strong> Covenants 37 <strong>and</strong> 38, given coincident with the conference,<br />
include the comm<strong>and</strong> to gather. After the conference, the Colesville Saints<br />
began to pack <strong>and</strong> attempted to sell their property in order to gather to Missouri.<br />
The Colesville Saints left Thompson, Ohio, on June 28 <strong>and</strong> arrived in Jackson<br />
County, Missouri, on July 26.
Phebe Cros<strong>by</strong> Peck Knight (1800–1849) 101<br />
herefor the Lord is revealing the misteries of the heavenly<br />
Kingdom unto his Children 17 <strong>and</strong> these blessings in your<br />
state of unbelief you can not enjoy but you may yet have<br />
the priveledge if you have not entirely heardened your heart<br />
against these things. And I would exhort you not to regect<br />
annother call. You have been called to repent of your sins<br />
<strong>and</strong> obey the gospel. You have been convicted from time to<br />
time but you could not give up all for christ <strong>and</strong> now I feel<br />
to say that if you do not give up all <strong>and</strong> follow your Lord<br />
<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> Master you will not be made worthy to partake of<br />
the Celestial glories in the kingdom of our God. I hope you<br />
will think of these things <strong>and</strong> ponder them in your Heart<br />
for they are of great worth unto the Children of Men.<br />
I must tell you the joyful news of the workings of the<br />
Lord among the Children. We have had the pleasing view<br />
of beholding eleven Chldren from 8 years old to 14 go<br />
down into the water in obedience to the comm<strong>and</strong>s of God,<br />
among whom was my three oldest. 18 Can we not rejoice in<br />
seeing the rising generation growing up in the knowledge<br />
of the Lord <strong>and</strong> I think <strong>by</strong> giving them good instructions<br />
they will grow up <strong>and</strong> be strong in faith. They will arise <strong>and</strong><br />
testify what the Lord has done for them in the presance of<br />
a congregation of people. Hezekiah says he enjoyes himself<br />
well. He will take up his cross <strong>and</strong> pray in the family when<br />
asked. 19 My Children are all con[t]ented <strong>and</strong> I am very<br />
thankful for it. Henrietta <strong>and</strong> Sarah express a great desire<br />
to see you.<br />
17. This statement closely relates to revealed promises contained in Doctrine<br />
<strong>and</strong> Covenants 6:7 <strong>and</strong> 42:61.<br />
18. Hezekiah, Samantha, <strong>and</strong> Henrietta Peck were twelve, ten, <strong>and</strong> nine years<br />
old, respectively. Two of Phebe’s children had died previously: Her first daughter<br />
named Samanthea died as a toddler, as did Henrietta’s twin, Henry. Sarah Jane,<br />
Phebe’s youngest, was six years old at the time of the letter.<br />
19. Hezekiah was named after his uncle Hezekiah Peck.
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Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
I have not gone to kepping house as yet but I expect to<br />
next fall. My health is tolerable good <strong>and</strong> also the health of<br />
all our friends. I must draw to a close <strong>by</strong> requesting you to<br />
give my love to your Husb<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> Miss Pollard 20 <strong>and</strong> all<br />
enquireing friends.<br />
Phebe Peck<br />
write as soon as you receive this<br />
Phebe continues her letter with a message to her sister, Martha<br />
“Patty” Cros<strong>by</strong> Hallett:<br />
A few lines to Sister Patty<br />
It is with a thankful Heart for the preservation of my<br />
life <strong>and</strong> for the priveledge of writing to you that I desire to<br />
improve these moments. I often think of you while in my<br />
lonely meditation <strong>and</strong> sometimes it will cause a deep sigh to<br />
burst forth from my bosom thinking that perhaps I never<br />
shall see you again while in this world <strong>and</strong> again when I<br />
think I have forsaken all for Christ, it brings consolation<br />
that surpasses the grief. On the other h<strong>and</strong>, you must realize<br />
my sister that nothing but the mercies of God <strong>and</strong> his consolating<br />
spirit that has upheld me while passing through the<br />
trials of parting with my near <strong>and</strong> dear friends. 21 And could<br />
you but see <strong>and</strong> believe as I do the way would be opened<br />
<strong>and</strong> you would come to this l<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> we should behold<br />
each other <strong>and</strong> rejoice in the things of God for this is A day<br />
of rejoiceing <strong>and</strong> also a day of mourning. 22<br />
20. Minerva Pollard (ca. 1797–?) is listed as living with the Pratts in the 1850<br />
New York state census. Her relationship to them, if any, is not known.<br />
21. Phebe had lived in Chenango County, New York, most of her life. Though<br />
the assurance she needed in order to leave consoled her, it did not eliminate the<br />
difficulty of parting with friends <strong>and</strong> family when she left in 1831, not knowing<br />
when she might see them again.<br />
22. Alma 28:12.
Phebe Cros<strong>by</strong> Peck Knight (1800–1849) 103<br />
We rejoice when we realize the wonderful works of our<br />
Heavnly Father <strong>and</strong> his dealings towards his children. Yes I<br />
rejoice in the comm<strong>and</strong>s <strong>and</strong> revelations that has been given<br />
in these last days <strong>and</strong> again I feel to mourn many times because<br />
of the unbelief of the children of men. I feel to rejoice<br />
with those that rejoice <strong>and</strong> to weep with those that weep.<br />
Joseph Smith <strong>and</strong> Sidney Rigdon made us A visit last<br />
spring <strong>and</strong> we had many joyful meetings while they were<br />
here <strong>and</strong> we had many misteries unfolded to our view which<br />
gave me great consolation. 23 We could view the condeseendsion<br />
of God in prepareing masions of peace for his children<br />
<strong>and</strong> whoso will not receive the fullness of the gospel <strong>and</strong><br />
st<strong>and</strong> as valient soldiers in the cause of christ cannot dwell<br />
in the preasence of the Father <strong>and</strong> the Son. But there is a<br />
place prepared for all who do not receive but it is a place of<br />
much lesser glory then to dwell in the Celestial kingdom.<br />
I shall not attempt to say anny farther concerning these<br />
things as they are now in print <strong>and</strong> ar[e] going forth to the<br />
world <strong>and</strong> you perhaps will have an opportunity of reading<br />
for your self <strong>and</strong> if you do I hope you will read with a<br />
careful <strong>and</strong> a prayerful heart for these things are worthy of<br />
notice <strong>and</strong> I desire that you may search into them for it is<br />
that which lends to our happiness in this world <strong>and</strong> in the<br />
world to come.<br />
You perhaps would like to know something about my<br />
situation. I can tell you I have plenty to eat, drink, <strong>and</strong> to<br />
wear <strong>and</strong> enjoy as good health as I did in Bainbridge. We<br />
have good water <strong>and</strong> this is a delightful country. We can<br />
raise our own cotten <strong>and</strong> flax <strong>and</strong> all things that the heart<br />
can wish. Hezekiah is now at work with one of the Brothers<br />
23. Joseph Smith <strong>and</strong> Sidney Rigdon visited Jackson County, Missouri, in April<br />
of 1832. Present-day sections 82 <strong>and</strong> 83 of the Doctrine <strong>and</strong> Covenants were received<br />
during their stay.
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in the church <strong>and</strong> has earned seven dollars in five weeks. The<br />
rest of the Children live with me. They often speak of their<br />
cousins in that place <strong>and</strong> wish me to send their best love to<br />
you <strong>and</strong> your children. I must finish my letter but I would<br />
warmly requst you to write for my anxiety is great to hear<br />
from you. Please to give my respects to my Brothers <strong>and</strong> tell<br />
them not to forget that they have A Sister in Missouri. 24 I<br />
add no more.<br />
P Peck<br />
Independence Mo., Aug. 11 th ,<br />
Mr. Stephen D Pratt, South Bainbridge, chenengo County,<br />
NY 25<br />
The strength of Phebe’s faith shines through this letter—a singular<br />
record preserving her life <strong>and</strong> conviction. Once committed to<br />
the gospel, Phebe was willing to “give up all for Christ,” no matter<br />
where it led her, <strong>and</strong> she would not “wish [herself] back.”<br />
24. Though no sisters are listed, Foster <strong>and</strong> Archibald Cros<strong>by</strong> were Phebe’s<br />
brothers, according to “Records of Early Church Families,” 108. A Foster Cros<strong>by</strong><br />
is recorded in the New York 1830 census as living in southeast Putnam County,<br />
New York (close to New York City). Archibald is not listed in that census.<br />
25. Phebe Cros<strong>by</strong> Lott, “Letter: Independence, Missouri, to Anna Pratt, South<br />
Bainbridge, New York, 1832 Aug. 10,” Photocopy of holograph, Church History<br />
Library.
Chapter Forty-Four<br />
“It Was All True”<br />
Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner (1818–1913)<br />
Jonathan A. Stapley<br />
Biographical Sketch<br />
Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner is perhaps best known among<br />
Latter-day Saints as the young woman who, with her sister,<br />
Caroline, rushed to save unbound sheets of Joseph Smith’s revelations<br />
while a mob was tearing down the Church’s printing office in<br />
Independence, Jackson County, Missouri. Mary’s long life spanned<br />
most of the early history of the Church <strong>and</strong> included many notable<br />
events. She described her own life as providentially tragic <strong>and</strong> remembered<br />
it as filled with great sacrifice, struggle, <strong>and</strong> miraculous<br />
power. 1<br />
Born on April 9, 1818, in Lima, New York, just outside of<br />
Rochester, Mary Rollins was the second of three children born to<br />
1. The most complete biographical treatment of Mary to date is in Todd<br />
Compton, In Sacred Loneliness: The Wives of Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City, UT:<br />
Signature <strong>Book</strong>s, 1997), 205–27.<br />
105
106<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
John Porter <strong>and</strong> Keziah Van Benthuysen Rollins. 2 Mary’s father<br />
worked on the Great Lakes <strong>and</strong> died in a shipwreck when she was<br />
not yet three. Two years before Mormon missionaries arrived in the<br />
area, the Rollins family moved to Kirtl<strong>and</strong>, Ohio, to be close to family.<br />
When the elders did arrive, twelve-year-old Mary was among the<br />
first people to be baptized. Within a year’s time, the Rollins family<br />
left with many other Kirtl<strong>and</strong> converts to establish Zion in Jackson<br />
County, Missouri. There Mary received the gift of interpreting<br />
tongues. 3<br />
When the Latter-day Saints left Jackson County under duress,<br />
Mary temporarily settled in Liberty, Missouri, where she met <strong>and</strong><br />
married Adam Lightner on August 11, 1835. Adam never joined<br />
the Church, but he was a strong supporter of both the community<br />
<strong>and</strong> Mary’s affiliation. Far West, in Caldwell County, soon became<br />
the Latter-day Saints’ new gathering place, <strong>and</strong> the Lightners moved<br />
there, establishing a store in town. Though Adam was respected <strong>by</strong><br />
those antagonistic to the Saints’ settlement, their property was nevertheless<br />
a casualty of the subsequent Mormon War in Missouri. 4<br />
Joseph Smith ultimately surrendered to state officials, who sought<br />
Adam as a witness against him. Instead of testifying, the Lightners<br />
fled the state, hoping to find refuge with relatives in Louisville,<br />
2. Mary’s parents were John Porter Rollins (1789–1821) <strong>and</strong> Keziah Van<br />
Benthuysen (1796–1877). Her siblings were Caroline Amelia Rollins (1820–1856)<br />
<strong>and</strong> James Henry Rollins (1816–1899).<br />
3. Speaking in tongues, or glossolalia, was a common part of Mormon worship<br />
from the first year of the Church to the early twentieth century. Thomas<br />
Alex<strong>and</strong>er, Mormonism in Transition: A History of the Latter-Day Saints, 1890–1930<br />
(Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1986), 293–94.<br />
4. For information about the Mormon War in Missouri, see Alex<strong>and</strong>er L.<br />
Baugh, A Call to Arms: The 1838 Mormon Defense of Northern Missouri (Provo, UT:<br />
Joseph Fielding Smith Institute for Latter-day Saint History; BYU Studies, 2000);<br />
Stephen C. LeSueur, The 1838 Mormon War in Missouri (Columbia: University of<br />
Missouri Press, 1987); Lel<strong>and</strong> Homer Gentry <strong>and</strong> Todd M. Compton, Fire <strong>and</strong><br />
Sword: A History of the Latter-day Saints in Northern Missouri, 1836–39 (Salt Lake<br />
City, UT: Greg Kofford <strong>Book</strong>s, 2011).
Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner (1818–1913) 107<br />
Kentucky. Unfortunately, the family they sought had moved away,<br />
<strong>and</strong> Mary <strong>and</strong> Adam struggled for food <strong>and</strong> shelter.<br />
Eventually, the Lightners heard of a new Latter-day Saint settlement<br />
in Illinois on a bend of the Mississippi River. Mary sewed <strong>and</strong><br />
taught painting lessons to raise money for the journey, <strong>and</strong> they<br />
settled in Iowa across the river from Nauvoo. The Lightners later<br />
moved to Nauvoo, <strong>and</strong> within days of their arrival, Joseph Smith introduced<br />
Mary to the then-secret practice of plural marriage. Joseph<br />
told her of angelic instructions on the matter, an experience which<br />
she dem<strong>and</strong>ed in turn. After receiving a confirmatory witness, Mary<br />
was sealed to Joseph but continued to live with Adam. 5<br />
Instead of moving west to Utah, the Lightners spent sixteen<br />
years in Minnesota <strong>and</strong> Wisconsin, battling repeated financial<br />
setbacks <strong>and</strong> witnessing the deaths of four of their ten children.<br />
Eventually, on May 25, 1863, the Lightners set off for Utah, traveling<br />
<strong>by</strong> steamboat to Omaha <strong>and</strong> then <strong>by</strong> ox team to Salt Lake. 6<br />
5. Mary was sealed to Joseph Smith <strong>by</strong> Brigham Young in February 1842. She<br />
left many statements <strong>and</strong> affidavits regarding the details of this marriage. Mary<br />
E. R. Lightner, Statement, March 23, 1877, Photocopy of manuscript, Scott G.<br />
Kenney Papers, Marriott Library Special Collections, University of Utah, Salt<br />
Lake City, hereafter cited as Marriott Special Collections; Mary E. R. Lightner<br />
to John Henry Smith, June 25, 1892, George A. Smith Family Papers, Marriott<br />
Special Collections; Mary E. R. Lightner, Statement, February 8, 1902, Photocopy<br />
of holograph, Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner Collection, L. Tom Perry Special<br />
Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, hereafter<br />
cited as BYU Special Collections; Affidavit, February 21, 1905, copy <strong>by</strong><br />
Mary E. Rollins Lightner, Record <strong>Book</strong>, 33, Holograph, Mary Elizabeth Rollins<br />
Lightner Collection, BYU Special Collections; Benjamin Lundwall, comp.,<br />
“Remarks <strong>by</strong> Sister Mary E. Lightner . . . B.Y.U. April 14, 1905,” Photocopy of<br />
typescript, Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner Collection, BYU Special Collections;<br />
Mary E. R. Lightner to Emmeline B. Wells, Summer 1905, Photocopy of holograph,<br />
Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner Collection, BYU Special Collections;<br />
Mary E. R. Lightner, Autobiography, Holograph, Susa Young Gates Papers, Utah<br />
Historical Society Archives, Salt Lake City, Utah.<br />
6. They traveled as part of the Alvus H. Patterson Company <strong>and</strong> arrived in<br />
the Salt Lake Valley on September 15, 1863. “Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightener,”
108<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
They settled with family, including Mary’s mother <strong>and</strong> half-<br />
sister Phebe Burk Bingham, in Minersville, Utah. When a Relief<br />
Society was organized there in 1869, Mary was its first president. 7<br />
By 1880 Adam was unable to earn a living, <strong>and</strong> he passed away in<br />
1885. Mary lived the rest of her life in economic destitution, being<br />
supported as a widow of Joseph Smith through remittances <strong>by</strong> the<br />
Church. She frequently spoke at large gatherings, remembering the<br />
earliest days of the Church <strong>and</strong> her experiences in it.<br />
She died December 17, 1913, <strong>and</strong> was buried in the Minersville<br />
Cemetery.<br />
Life Experiences<br />
On July 20, 1833, Mary Elizabeth Rollins <strong>and</strong> her sister<br />
Caroline watched in dismay as vigilantes opposed to the Mormon<br />
gathering in Independence, Missouri, destroyed the Church’s printing<br />
establishment, operated <strong>by</strong> William W. Phelps. Choosing an opportune<br />
moment, Mary <strong>and</strong> Caroline rushed in to save unbound<br />
sheets from the <strong>Book</strong> of Comm<strong>and</strong>ments, the earliest formal collection<br />
of Joseph Smith’s revelations, which was at press when the<br />
attack occurred. The sheets the Rollins sisters saved from the print<br />
shop were used, with others, to fashion copies of the book; fewer<br />
than three dozen copies are known to exist today. 8 Nevertheless,<br />
Mormon Pioneer Overl<strong>and</strong> Travel Database, 1847–1868, The Church of Jesus<br />
Christ of Latter-day Saints, accessed November 29, 2011, http:// mormontrail.lds.<br />
org; Compton, Sacred Loneliness, 218.<br />
7. Compton, Sacred Loneliness, 221.<br />
8. Peter Crawley, A Descriptive Bibliography of the Mormon Church: Volume One,<br />
1830–1847 (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University, Religious Studies Center,<br />
1997), 37–40. See also Robin Scott Jensen, <strong>Richard</strong> E. <strong>Turley</strong> <strong>Jr</strong>., <strong>and</strong> Riley M.<br />
Lorimer, eds., Revelations <strong>and</strong> Translations, Volume 2: Published Revelations, vol. 2<br />
of the Revelations <strong>and</strong> Translations series of The Joseph Smith Papers, ed. Dean C.<br />
Jessee, Ronald K. Esplin, <strong>and</strong> <strong>Richard</strong> Lyman Bushman (Salt Lake City, UT:<br />
Church Historian’s Press, 2011), 4–12.
Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner (1818–1913) 109<br />
the valor of Mary <strong>and</strong> her sister has inspired subsequent generations.<br />
Decades afterward, Mary recounted the experience in her<br />
autobiography.<br />
The mob resumed their Efforts again <strong>by</strong> tearing down<br />
the printing Office, a two Story Building, <strong>and</strong> driving<br />
Brother Phelps Family out of the lower part of the House<br />
<strong>and</strong> putting the things in the Street. They brought out<br />
some large sheets of paper, <strong>and</strong> said “here are the Mormon<br />
Comm<strong>and</strong>ments.”<br />
My Sister Caroline <strong>and</strong> myself were in a corner of a<br />
fence watching them. When they spoke of the com<strong>and</strong>ments<br />
I was determined to have some of them. Sister said if<br />
I went to get any of them, she would go too, but said they<br />
will Kill us. While their backs were turned prying out the<br />
Gable end of the House, we went <strong>and</strong> got our arms full,<br />
<strong>and</strong> were turning away, when some of the Mob saw us, <strong>and</strong><br />
called on us to stop, but we ran as fast as we could, <strong>and</strong> two<br />
of them started after us. Seeing a gap in a fence, we entered<br />
into a large Corn field, laid the papers on the ground, <strong>and</strong><br />
hid them with our Persons.<br />
The Corn was from five, to six feet high, <strong>and</strong> very thick.<br />
They hunted around considerable, <strong>and</strong> came very near us,<br />
but did not find us. After we satisfied ourselves, that they<br />
had given up the search for us, we tryed to find our way out<br />
of the field. The Corn was so high we could not see where<br />
to go. Looking up I saw trees that had been Girdled to kill<br />
them so followed them.<br />
Soon we came to an Old log Stable which looked as<br />
though it had not been used for years. Sister Phelps, <strong>and</strong><br />
Children were carrying in brush <strong>and</strong> piling it up at one side<br />
of the Barn, to lay her Beds on. She asked me what I had. I<br />
told her. She then took them from us, which had made us
110<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
feel very bad. They got them Bound in small <strong>Book</strong>s, <strong>and</strong><br />
sent me One, which I prised very highly. 9<br />
Besides this well-known event, Mary’s autobiography includes<br />
a wealth of other interesting experiences. The excerpt that follows<br />
covers the years 1842 to 1848, when Mary, her husb<strong>and</strong>, Adam<br />
Lightner, <strong>and</strong> their small children were living in Nauvoo <strong>and</strong> the<br />
surrounding regions.<br />
[O]n the 23 d of March [1842] I was confined with my<br />
3 d child. We called him George Algernon. Mr Lightner had<br />
settled up his Business in Farmington [Iowa], paid his debts<br />
<strong>by</strong> giving up all his tools &c which left us poor indeed,<br />
but as some of the Brethren owed us nearly two thous<strong>and</strong><br />
Dollars, we thou[gh]t we could get some of it to help us.<br />
But those that owed us the most, took the benefit of the<br />
Bankrupt law <strong>and</strong> refused to pay us. One man offered to let<br />
us have a bbl [barrel] of Pork <strong>and</strong> a coffee pot, if we would<br />
give him back his note of five hundred dollars which we<br />
held. We did so, <strong>and</strong> was very thankful for it. But when<br />
we opened the Barrel, we found the meat sour, <strong>and</strong> full of<br />
measles.<br />
My Husb<strong>and</strong> could get no work, <strong>and</strong> I commenced<br />
teaching painting to Julia Murdoc Smith, Steven Marks<br />
9. Lightner, Autobiography, pp. 6–7 <strong>and</strong> 20–26. This document appears to<br />
have had some instances of punctuation added at a later date, which are included<br />
here. It was printed in redacted form in Utah Genealogical <strong>and</strong> Historical Magazine<br />
17 (1926): 193–205 <strong>and</strong> 250–60. The trail portion of this publication was reprinted<br />
in Kenneth L. Holmes, ed., Covered Wagon Women: Diaries & Letters from<br />
the Western Trails, 1862–1865, Volume 8 (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press,<br />
1999), 95–108. Other life writings of Mary, including her original trail diary, are<br />
available at the Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day<br />
Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah, hereafter cited as Church History Library. Mary’s copy<br />
of the <strong>Book</strong> of Comm<strong>and</strong>ments today is held in the DeGolyer Library, Southern<br />
Methodist University, Dallas, Texas.
Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner (1818–1913) 111<br />
Daughter, <strong>and</strong> Sarah Ann Whitney. 10 I also painted fig<br />
leaf aprons for the twelve on Lamb skin, also fifty Masonic<br />
Aprons for the Lodge. 11 I also procured a lot a Block below<br />
the Joseph Mansion.<br />
But as we could get no more work in Nauvoo, Mr<br />
Lightner found a job cutting cord wood, 15 miles up the<br />
River at a place called Pontoosuc [Illinois]. He got a little<br />
log room with a Puncheon floor, made of logs split in too,<br />
<strong>and</strong> very Rough. Joseph [Smith] on learning that we were<br />
going to leave there, felt very sad, <strong>and</strong> while the tears ran<br />
down his cheeks, he prophesied that if we attempted to leave<br />
the Church, we would have plenty of Sorrow; for we would<br />
make property on the right h<strong>and</strong>, <strong>and</strong> lose it on the left;<br />
we would have sickness, on sickness, <strong>and</strong> lose our children.<br />
And that I would have to work harder than I ever dreamed<br />
of <strong>and</strong> “at last when you are worn out, <strong>and</strong> almost ready to<br />
die you will get back to the Church.” I thought these were<br />
hard sayings, <strong>and</strong> felt to doubt them. But the sequal proved<br />
them true.<br />
Before leaving Nauvoo, on a 4th of July there was a general<br />
parade of the [Nauvoo] Legion. 12 About noon Emma<br />
10. Julia Murdock Smith Dixon Middleton (1831–1880) was the adopted<br />
daughter of Joseph Smith. Steven Marks is perhaps Stephen Markham (1800–<br />
1878), <strong>and</strong> Sarah Ann Whitney (1825–1873) was a daughter of Newel K. <strong>and</strong><br />
Elizabeth Ann Whitney. Sarah Ann was also a wife of Joseph Smith.<br />
11. These aprons were part of the ceremonial clothing used in the temple. See<br />
“Temples” <strong>and</strong> “Temple Ordinances” in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, ed. Daniel H.<br />
Ludlow, 4 vols. (New York: Macmillan, 1992), 4:1444–45 <strong>and</strong> 1448–65; Matthew<br />
Brown, “Girded About with a Lambskin,” Journal of <strong>Book</strong> of Mormon Studies 6,<br />
no. 2 (1997): 124–51. On Freemasonry in Nauvoo, see Glen M. Leonard, Nauvoo:<br />
A Place of Peace, a People of Promise (Salt Lake City, UT: <strong>Deseret</strong> <strong>Book</strong>, 2002),<br />
313–19; Samuel M. Brown, In Heaven as It Is on Earth: Joseph Smith <strong>and</strong> the Early<br />
Mormon Conquest of Death (New York: Oxford University Press, forthcoming),<br />
ch. 7.<br />
12. See <strong>Richard</strong> E. Bennett, Susan Easton Black, <strong>and</strong> Donald Q. Cannon, The
112<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
came to me to borrow my dining Table, as the Officers were<br />
to dine with her, <strong>and</strong> Joseph came also. He said the Lord<br />
comm<strong>and</strong>ed him to Baptize us that day. 13 Emma asked,<br />
“Why is this? They have always been good members in the<br />
Church? And another thing, dinner will be ready soon; <strong>and</strong><br />
you certainly wont go in those clothes?” No, he said, he<br />
wanted us to be ready <strong>by</strong> the time he was, for he would not<br />
wait for dinner. As we lived on the Bank of the River, we<br />
were soon ready. Brother Henry <strong>and</strong> Wife [Evaline Walker],<br />
Aunt Gilbert [Elizabeth van Benthuysen] <strong>and</strong> myself were<br />
Baptized, <strong>and</strong> Confirmed. Joseph tried hard to get Mr.<br />
Lightner to go into the Water, but he said he did not feel<br />
worthy, but would some other time. Joseph said to me that<br />
he never would be Baptized, unles it was a few moments<br />
before he died.<br />
It was with sorrowful feeling that I went to Pontoosuc<br />
to live, but <strong>by</strong> my taking in sewing we made out to live, <strong>and</strong><br />
that was all. A Lady called on me <strong>and</strong> asked me if we had a<br />
cow. I said, no. She said if I would let her have my Bedstead,<br />
she would give me a cow, <strong>and</strong> two pigs. I gladly accepted her<br />
offer, <strong>and</strong> slept on the floor until we could nail up a substitute.<br />
In a short time George [Algernon Lightner] was taken<br />
sick, <strong>and</strong> died. I was alone with him at the time; husb<strong>and</strong><br />
had gone to a neighbors for assistance. An Old Lady helped<br />
me dress him, <strong>and</strong> Mr Lightner had to make the coffin, as<br />
he was the only carpenter in the place. The two men that<br />
Nauvoo Legion in Illinois: A History of the Mormon Militia, 1841–1846 (Norman,<br />
OK: Arthur H. Clark Company, 2010).<br />
13. In the early days of the Church, members often were rebaptized to symbolize<br />
their rededication to the gospel. Rebaptism was a common practice starting in<br />
Nauvoo <strong>and</strong> lasting to the 1890s. D. Michael Quinn, “The Practice of Rebaptism<br />
at Nauvoo,” BYU Studies 18 (Winter 1978): 226–32; Jonathan A. Stapley <strong>and</strong><br />
Kristine Wright, “‘They Shall Be Made Whole’: A History of Baptism for Health,”<br />
Journal of Mormon History 34 (Fall 2008): 69–112.
Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner (1818–1913) 113<br />
dug the grave, <strong>and</strong> a little girl was all that went to Bury my<br />
darling. I felt that the Prophets words were begining to be<br />
fulfilled.<br />
We then moved to a more commodious House. In<br />
[18]43 my 3d son Florentine Matthious was Born. When he<br />
was two months Old, I comenced teaching a few children<br />
in spelling & Reading. I had not taught long before I took<br />
a severe cold that caused inflamation of the bowels. I was so<br />
low that my life was despaired of <strong>by</strong> two Physicians. Mother<br />
was sent for. She brought some consecrated oil with which<br />
she anointed me, <strong>and</strong> prayed for me. 14 I felt better, <strong>and</strong> persuaded<br />
her to fix quilts in a chair, <strong>and</strong> let me try <strong>and</strong> sit up<br />
to have the Bed made, for it had not been made for over<br />
two weeks, but she was afraid to try it, as the Doctor said<br />
I could not live 3 days. But I plead so hard, they granted<br />
my request. By fixing Quilts, <strong>and</strong> pillows in a large Rocking<br />
chair tipped back as near like a Bed as they could then lifting<br />
me in a sheet, I was placed on it. Mother was so afraid it<br />
would make me worse, she put on my stockings & slippers<br />
<strong>and</strong> wrapped me up in Quilts while she made my Bed more<br />
comfortable.<br />
I was in the 2 nd story of the House, in a large Room.<br />
There were two more on the same floor, <strong>and</strong> a hall. While<br />
lying there a heavy storm came up, <strong>and</strong> our House was<br />
struck <strong>by</strong> Lightning, <strong>and</strong> all of us badly shocked. The door<br />
casing was torn out <strong>and</strong> struck mother on the Shoulder <strong>and</strong><br />
bruised her terribly. All were senseless for some time. There<br />
were seven of us in the family at the time. I was the first to<br />
come to my senses; <strong>and</strong> I found myself acrost the foot of the<br />
14. Female administration of healing rituals was common in Mormonism from<br />
the early Kirtl<strong>and</strong> period to the mid-twentieth century. Jonathan A. Stapley <strong>and</strong><br />
Kristine Wright, “Female Ritual Healing in Mormonism,” Journal of Mormon<br />
History 37, no. 1 (Winter 2011): 1–85.
114<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
Bed, my head one side of the foot post of the Bed <strong>and</strong> limbs<br />
on the other. As I looked around <strong>and</strong> saw them on the floor,<br />
I thought they were all dead.<br />
I called for Mr Lightner, who had gone into the next<br />
Room. Not getting any answer; I arose <strong>and</strong> went through<br />
the Hall, to find him on the floor, as rigid as a corpse. The<br />
Window in the Hall had been torn out, <strong>and</strong> the water was<br />
pouring in, in torrents. I took a small Bucket <strong>and</strong> would<br />
dip up the water, <strong>and</strong> pour it over him as fast as I could<br />
but could not do him any good. Soon the Dr. <strong>and</strong> 2 or 3 of<br />
the Neighbors came in. They saw the Lightning Strike the<br />
House <strong>and</strong> as they could see no one moving; they concluded<br />
that we were all killed. But when they saw me, they were<br />
frightned. The Doctor got a Quilt <strong>and</strong> wrapped it around<br />
me <strong>and</strong> carried me to a neighbors.<br />
This was about 4 O clock, the 6 th of June [1843]. It was<br />
nine at night before they could bring Mr Lightner to the use<br />
of his limbs. He said he suffered more, in being treated for<br />
to live, than he would in dying. But I, who had been turned<br />
over in Bed for 2 weeks <strong>by</strong> the sheets (for I was so swollen,<br />
<strong>and</strong> inflamed in my Bowels, I could not bear to have them<br />
h<strong>and</strong>le me) was Entirely cured, <strong>and</strong> dressed myself <strong>and</strong> went<br />
about my duties. But for 2 years when a storm came up, I<br />
was very sick while it lasted. Our House was torn to pieces;<br />
the Lightning had forked over it <strong>and</strong> ran from the Roof to<br />
the ground in 7 different places. People came from a distance<br />
to see it, <strong>and</strong> wondered that we were all not all killed.<br />
A few days after this, I went out to milk my cow; when<br />
about half done, she stepped over the Bucket, <strong>and</strong> fell down<br />
dead. This was a great trial to us, for my long sickness had<br />
used up our means. We were Obliged to leave the House,<br />
<strong>and</strong> move into one close <strong>by</strong>. We when all of us came down<br />
with the chills <strong>and</strong> fever, no one to do any thing but Mr<br />
Lightner, his ague come on every other day, so he had all
Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner (1818–1913) 115<br />
the cooking, <strong>and</strong> looking after the rest of us to do. My case<br />
proved to be Billious fever in a bad form. 15 I was again given<br />
up to die.<br />
We got a little Girl to stay a day. Then Mr L took the<br />
Babe on a pillow, <strong>and</strong> rode Horse back to Nauvoo, for<br />
Mother to take care of. I never Expected to see it again.<br />
The thoughts of leaving my little children in the condition<br />
we were in, seemed more than I could bear. I thought of<br />
all Joseph had told me, <strong>and</strong> felt in my heart that it was all<br />
true. I prayed for help to get well. But the Dr coming in;<br />
said there was no hope for me. But I dreamed that an Angel<br />
came to me, <strong>and</strong> said if I would go to Nauvoo, <strong>and</strong> call for<br />
Mr Cutler that worked on the Temple to administer to me I<br />
should be healed. But we could get no Team to go.<br />
I was in despair; however my Brother was impressed to<br />
send for me. He felt that something was wrong. So he sent a<br />
Boy with an Ox Team after me. I was so glad, that for a few<br />
moments, I felt new life. But the People said I would not<br />
get a mile from Town, when he would have to bring back<br />
my dead Body. But I said I wanted to be buried in Nauvoo,<br />
<strong>and</strong> plead with them to take me there dead, or alive. So after<br />
fixing my bed, in the Wagon, they placed me on it. The<br />
neighbors bid me good <strong>by</strong> as they supposed for the last time<br />
(they were not of our faith). We went a mile, <strong>and</strong> stopped<br />
the Team; they thought me dieing, as a green liquid was<br />
running out of my mouth, <strong>and</strong> the hue of death was on my<br />
countenance. All the children were crying. I had my senses,<br />
<strong>and</strong> motioned for them to go on.<br />
We went a few miles further; stopped at a House <strong>and</strong><br />
asked to stay all night. The Woman was willing until she<br />
saw me. She said I would die before morning; <strong>and</strong> she did<br />
15. Ague is a combination of fever <strong>and</strong> chills. A “Billious fever” is a fever accompanied<br />
<strong>by</strong> jaundice, often associated with malaria.
116<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
not want me to die in her House. Mr Lightner told her that<br />
I would certainly die if I was left in an open wagon all night.<br />
She finaly let us in, made us as comfortable as she could.<br />
Fixed me some light food. After drinking some tea 16 I felt<br />
better, <strong>and</strong> had a good nights rest. But she was glad when<br />
we left, for she thought I would never see Nauvoo. After<br />
traveling a few miles further, the same green liquid began<br />
runing, runing from my mouth, <strong>and</strong> continued for some<br />
time. Finaly we reached Nauvoo. They stil thought me dying.<br />
Mr L asked Mr [John Mathias] Burk 17 if there was an<br />
Old man <strong>by</strong> the name of Cutler working on the Temple? He<br />
said Yes. Mr L then told him my dream, Soon they brought<br />
him, 18 he administered to me, <strong>and</strong> I got up, <strong>and</strong> walked<br />
to the fire alone. In 2 weeks I was able to take care of my<br />
children.<br />
But just previous to this last sickness; Joseph, <strong>and</strong> Hirum<br />
[Hyrum], were taken to Carthage jail <strong>and</strong> the men around<br />
Pontoosuc formed a Company to go to Carthage they said,<br />
to protect the Smiths, but I thought otherwise; also to go<br />
against Nauvoo if [illegible] dem<strong>and</strong>ed. I was called to make<br />
a Flag for this Company; I refused, for I felt so low spirited I<br />
could hardly keep from weeping all day. I could not account<br />
for these awful feelings. But there was no one that knew how<br />
to make the flag but me. And I was compelled to make it, or<br />
suffer the consequence. For I was the only Mormon in the<br />
place.<br />
In the afternoon of the same day, this Company started<br />
16. Known as the Word of Wisdom, the prohibition against alcohol, tobacco,<br />
coffee, <strong>and</strong> tea was not strictly enforced in the Church until the early twentieth<br />
century. Alex<strong>and</strong>er, Mormonism in Transition, 258–72.<br />
17. John Mathias Burk (1793–1853) was Mary’s stepfather.<br />
18. Alpheus Cutler (1784–1864) was a member of the Nauvoo High Council<br />
<strong>and</strong> a close associate of Joseph Smith. He eventually broke from the body of the<br />
Church <strong>and</strong> started the Church of Jesus Christ (Cutlerite).
Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner (1818–1913) 117<br />
for Carthage. They returned in the night. As soon as we<br />
were up in the morning, 8 or 10 men came to the door<br />
<strong>and</strong> called us to come to the door. We did so, when they<br />
told us that the Smiths were killed <strong>and</strong> that a great light appeared<br />
at their death. I said that should prove Joseph a true<br />
Prophet of God. O no, said one, it would prove that God<br />
was well pleased with those that killed him. I said no, for<br />
he said whosoever killeth shall not have forgiveness in this<br />
World, nor in the World to come. This angered them; <strong>and</strong><br />
they said if we attempted to go to the funeral, we should be<br />
shot. I said you can shoot me here if you want too. But an<br />
Old man spoke up <strong>and</strong> said that if I staid at Home, I should<br />
not be hurt, unles the Mormons came against them. Then<br />
I would be the first one to be killed. And Mr Lightner too,<br />
unles he joined their Side. We were obliged to remain three<br />
months. When they thought I would not live to get there,<br />
they let us go. But when Mr L went back for our things, he<br />
had to give the most of them to pay rent <strong>and</strong> Dr Bills. Even<br />
some of my clothes were taken for debts. In fact we were<br />
Robbed of many things. But I felt thankful to be away from<br />
there with my life.<br />
After leaving Pontoosuc, the Lightners moved to Nauvoo for<br />
a second time, where they found the Latter-day Saint community<br />
adjusting to Joseph Smith’s death. Church leaders were uncertain<br />
about their responsibility towards Joseph’s widows. Plural marriage<br />
in Nauvoo is difficult to characterize briefly, especially Joseph Smith’s<br />
practice of the principle. In several cases, Joseph had married women<br />
who were already married <strong>and</strong> living with their husb<strong>and</strong>s. After<br />
Joseph was killed, Church leaders offered to marry his widows in a<br />
manner patterned after the levirate marriage of the Old Testament. 19<br />
The individuals who participated in these subsequent marriages had<br />
19. Deuteronomy 25:5–6.
118<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
varied experiences. Some women joined the households of their new<br />
husb<strong>and</strong>s; others did not. Mary was one of this latter group. She<br />
was convinced <strong>by</strong> a divine manifestation that her marriage to Joseph<br />
was designed <strong>by</strong> God. The following paragraphs of Mary’s writings<br />
describe the complex relationships <strong>and</strong> difficult transitions during<br />
the exodus period: 20<br />
Soon after I got well, the Temple was ready for Giving<br />
the Endowments. I with Others, received the Ordinances of<br />
that House with its Blessings. I was also sealled to B Young<br />
as proxy for Joseph. 21 Our persecutions at that time were<br />
very hard to bear, <strong>and</strong> we were again obliged to leave our<br />
Homes. But we had no means to go with the Church; in<br />
fact, we could hardly get enough to eat. But Mr L. sold<br />
some L<strong>and</strong> for W. W Phelps 22 <strong>and</strong> got money Enough to<br />
take us Deck passage to Galena [Illinois.] Brigham asked<br />
me if I would go with the Saints. I told him I wanted to. He<br />
said that was right.<br />
20. For a scholarly introduction to polygamy <strong>and</strong> the wives of Joseph Smith,<br />
see Kathryn M. Daynes, More Wives Than One: Transformation of the Mormon<br />
Marriage System, 1840–1910 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2001);<br />
B. Carmon Hardy, Doing the Works of Abraham: Mormon Polygamy: Its Origin,<br />
Practice, <strong>and</strong> Demise (Norman, OK: Arthur H. Clark Company, 2007); Todd<br />
Compton, In Sacred Loneliness: The Plural Wives of Joseph Smith (Salt Lake City,<br />
UT: Signature <strong>Book</strong>s, 1997).<br />
21. Although Mary was sealed to Joseph while he was living, their sealing<br />
was repeated on multiple occasions after his death. On January 17, 1846, Mary<br />
was sealed to Joseph Smith for eternity with Brigham Young acting as proxy. She<br />
had her sealing to Joseph Smith repeated in the St. George, Manti, <strong>and</strong> Salt Lake<br />
Temples. Mary Rollins Lightner, Statement, February 8, 1902, Mary Elizabeth<br />
Rollins Lightner Collection, BYU Special Collections; Joseph F. Smith, comp.,<br />
“Sealings <strong>and</strong> Adoptions, 1846–1857” (ca. 1869–70), Family History Library, The<br />
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah.<br />
22. William Wine Phelps (1792–1872) was Joseph Smith’s amanuensis <strong>and</strong><br />
sometime ghost writer.
Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner (1818–1913) 119<br />
A few days after this conversation, Mr Burk came in <strong>and</strong><br />
said B Young <strong>and</strong> family were crossing the river on the ice.<br />
I went out to see if it was true. It was. I felt stun[n]ed. The<br />
thought came to me that Poligamy was of the Devil <strong>and</strong><br />
Brigham knew it, or he would have cut off his right h<strong>and</strong><br />
before he would have left me, for he said he would give anything<br />
to have seen what I had. 23 And if it had not have taken<br />
place, I should have denied the Faith, there, <strong>and</strong> then.<br />
I wept myself sick, <strong>and</strong> felt to give up, <strong>and</strong> go among the<br />
Gentiles. In fact I felt as though I was like one in an open<br />
Boat at Sea, without Compass or Rudder. So when spring<br />
opened we went aboard the War Eagle bound for Galena.<br />
Just before we started, B Young sent word back from Winter<br />
Quarters, for me to come on; <strong>and</strong> the Lord would bless me.<br />
I was destitute of clothes for myself <strong>and</strong> children, <strong>and</strong> not<br />
a dollar to call my own. How could I go? And to add to<br />
my distress, I was watched night, <strong>and</strong> day. Some One had<br />
betrayed me.<br />
After reaching Galena, we did make out to get work,<br />
<strong>and</strong> thought we should do pretty well. Vain hope. The last<br />
week in June 1847 I was washing <strong>and</strong> got a needle in my<br />
wrist close to the pulse, <strong>and</strong> broke of[f], leaving half of it<br />
in my wrist. My h<strong>and</strong> was drawn up to my Breast, <strong>and</strong> the<br />
pain was excruciating. I went to 4 different Doctors but<br />
could get no help, neither could I sleep, only when I was<br />
perfectly Exhausted, <strong>and</strong> then only for a moment or too. It<br />
was September before I could sew on anything.<br />
On the ninth of Febuary I had a son born, we named<br />
him John Horace Gilbert. In about six weeks, I was able<br />
to take in sewing for a Tailor. I made forty pair of pants,<br />
at 40 to 50 cents a pair, for which I received pay out of<br />
23. This allusion likely refers to the angelic visitation that influenced Mary to<br />
accept plural marriage.
120<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
a store, no money. As Mr Lightner could get no Work, it<br />
seemed impossible to for us to live <strong>and</strong> pay rent. At length<br />
a Mr [Horace Haskins] Houghton, Editor of the Galena<br />
Gasett [Gazette], learned of our circumstances, offered us<br />
fifty Dollars a month; <strong>and</strong> our passage free if we would go<br />
to St. Croix Falls Minnesota <strong>and</strong> over see a Hotel in which<br />
he was interested. We gladly availed ourselves of this Offer,<br />
considering it a blessing from God.<br />
In the ensuing years, the Lightners lived in a number of communities<br />
in Minnesota <strong>and</strong> Wisconsin where they managed hotels<br />
<strong>and</strong> farmed. Sickness, death, <strong>and</strong> financial setbacks haunted their<br />
steps. After experiencing the deaths of four children <strong>and</strong> failing in<br />
business, Mary <strong>and</strong> her husb<strong>and</strong> determined to join the Saints in<br />
Utah. They arrived there in 1863.<br />
In the midst of Mary’s setbacks, she could not deny the faith<br />
that had sustained her through the trials of life. Even in her old age,<br />
she raised her voice to testify:<br />
The words of the Prophet [Joseph Smith] that had been<br />
revealed to him have always been with me from the beginning<br />
to the end of the Gospel. Every principle that has been<br />
given in the Church <strong>by</strong> the Prophet is true. I know wherein<br />
I st<strong>and</strong>, I know what I believe, I know what I know <strong>and</strong> I<br />
know what I testify to you is the living truth. As I expect to<br />
meet it at the bar of the eternal Jehovah it is true. 24<br />
What I have said in regard to the trials of this Church;<br />
is no fancy sketch—but stern reality for [I] have passed<br />
24. Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner, Discourse, April 14, 1905, “Remarks<br />
<strong>by</strong> Sister Mary E. Lightner who was sealed to Joseph Smith in 1842,” pp. 1–2,<br />
Stenographic report <strong>by</strong> Sadie Preston, Mary Elizabeth Lightner Papers, L. Tom<br />
Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University,<br />
Provo, Utah.
Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner (1818–1913) 121<br />
through it all from the Begining, <strong>and</strong> Know whereof I speak.<br />
May we so live as to gain the approbation of our Father in<br />
Heaven; <strong>and</strong> be permitted to Enter in to the Marriage supper<br />
of the Lamb of God. 25<br />
25. Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner, “Speech for the 24 th 1889,” Photocopy of<br />
holograph, p. 5, Mary Elizabeth Rollins Lightner Collection, 1865–1957, Church<br />
History Library.
Chapter Forty-Five<br />
Strong, Independent,<br />
Confident, <strong>and</strong> Heroic<br />
Gwenllian Matthew Marley (1818–1905)<br />
Am<strong>and</strong>a Kae Fronk<br />
Biographical Sketch<br />
Gwenllian Matthew, daughter of William <strong>and</strong> Sarah Williams<br />
Matthew, was born June 7, 1818, in Llantrisant, Glamorgan,<br />
Wales. 1 She was a small, dark-eyed girl. In 1840 Gwenllian married<br />
1. The source material for this chapter is taken largely from two histories<br />
written <strong>by</strong> Lydia Marley Weston, a gr<strong>and</strong>daughter of Gwenllian Marley: “The<br />
History of Gwenllian Marley: Daughter of William Matthew <strong>and</strong> Sarah William<br />
Matthew,” retyped <strong>by</strong> Jarette Lykins, April 9, 1997, available at Romeril, Romriell,<br />
Romrell Family, www.romrell.net/Bio/GwenMarley.doc; “A History of John Chinn<br />
Marley,” retyped <strong>by</strong> Jarette Lykins, April 10, 1997, available at Romeril, Romriell,<br />
Romrell Family, www.romrell.net/Bio/JohnMarley_w.doc. All information comes<br />
from these two histories unless otherwise noted.<br />
There is some debate over the spelling of Gwenllian’s name. Though her gravestone<br />
spells her name Gwenlion, Welsh orthographic rules <strong>and</strong> naming practices<br />
suggest that her name was most likely spelled “Gwenllian.” Since her name is not<br />
common even in Wales, it is hard to say for sure, but all Welsh records with this<br />
name have the spelling used in this chapter.<br />
122
Gwenllian Matthew Marley (1818–1905) 123<br />
John C. Marley, an Englishman, in Bethany Chapel at Cardiff,<br />
Wales. Gwenllian <strong>and</strong> John would later be sealed in the Endowment<br />
House in Salt Lake City, Utah, on October 24, 1870. 2 After<br />
their marriage, John joined the family trade of coal mining with<br />
Gwenllian’s father. Sometime later, John was introduced to the<br />
gospel <strong>by</strong> a fellow collier. In early 1849, Gwenllian <strong>and</strong> John joined<br />
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.<br />
Gwenllian had a strong desire to journey to Utah to gather<br />
with the Saints there. Before being able to leave, the Marleys<br />
needed to save money, as well as wait for John to serve a mission in<br />
Wales. Finally, in March 1860, Gwenllian <strong>and</strong> her family left from<br />
Liverpool, Engl<strong>and</strong>, on the Underwriter for New York City. The<br />
journey to Utah was a long one for the Marleys. Little <strong>by</strong> little they<br />
saved money to move to the next town westward, stopping in New<br />
York City; Minersville, Pennsylvania; <strong>and</strong> Florence, Nebraska. They<br />
left Florence July 1, 1861, with the Joseph Horne Company in one<br />
of the first wagon trains furnished <strong>by</strong> the Church to transport what<br />
would otherwise have been h<strong>and</strong>cart pioneers.<br />
After arriving in Utah in September 1861, the Marleys lived in<br />
North Ogden. Gwenllian learned to card cotton <strong>and</strong> spin yarn <strong>and</strong><br />
became quite skilled at making both men’s <strong>and</strong> women’s clothing. In<br />
1865, she <strong>and</strong> John moved to the Bear Lake area of Utah <strong>and</strong> Idaho<br />
as some of the founding settlers. While there, Gwenllian began a<br />
service of midwifery that she continued for the next forty years.<br />
About a decade later, the Marleys moved to Robin, Bannock<br />
County, Idaho. There Gwenllian spent the rest of her days, raising<br />
her children <strong>and</strong> then some of her gr<strong>and</strong>children who lost their<br />
mother when they were young. She died December 5, 1905, <strong>and</strong><br />
2. Before the Salt Lake Temple was completed in 1893, several buildings were<br />
used for the administration of temple ordinances. In Salt Lake City one such<br />
building was the Endowment House, which was in operation from 1855 to 1889.<br />
Lamar C. Berrett, “Endowment Houses,” in Encyclopedia of Mormonism, ed.<br />
Daniel H. Ludlow, 4 vols. (New York: Macmillan, 1992), 2:456.
124<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
was buried in the Robin cemetery, next to her husb<strong>and</strong>, who had<br />
preceded her seven years earlier.<br />
Life Experiences<br />
Gwenllian Matthew Marley’s faith sustained her during a life<br />
that began in her homel<strong>and</strong> of Wales <strong>and</strong> ended in a sparsely settled<br />
region of the American West.<br />
A Message Sewn to Her Heart<br />
Gwenllian <strong>and</strong> her husb<strong>and</strong>, John, were seekers of truth. Like<br />
many of the early Latter-day Saints, John <strong>and</strong> Gwenllian were students<br />
of the scriptures <strong>and</strong> the words of Christ. After searching for<br />
a correspondence between the teachings of Christ <strong>and</strong> the sermons<br />
taught <strong>by</strong> differing denominations, John decided there was “no consolation”<br />
<strong>and</strong> stopped searching for a church that taught the true<br />
gospel of Jesus Christ. 3 Feeling a “darkness <strong>and</strong> confusion” similar to<br />
that which Joseph Smith felt, John was introduced to the restored<br />
gospel <strong>by</strong> a fellow miner who met Latter-day Saint missionaries<br />
around 1849. 4<br />
John wanted to know more <strong>and</strong> invited the missionaries to his<br />
home for supper. When John <strong>and</strong> the two missionaries reached the<br />
Marleys’ home, Gwenllian asked, “Why did you bring those men<br />
home to supper?” 5 She served them <strong>and</strong> promptly left the room to<br />
do her sewing. Yet she sat near enough to overhear the missionaries’<br />
words. Gwenllian was an independent thinker <strong>and</strong> would not<br />
thoughtlessly listen to these two men, who must have seemed odd<br />
to her. She was a God-fearing woman <strong>and</strong> had a gift of spiritual<br />
awareness. Gwenllian had not sewn very many stitches before her<br />
work fell to her lap, her ears turned to the messengers’ words, <strong>and</strong><br />
3. Weston, “History of John Chinn Marley,” [1].<br />
4. Joseph Smith–History 1:13, Pearl of Great Price.<br />
5. Weston, “History of Gwenllian Marley,” [1].
Gwenllian Matthew Marley (1818–1905) 125<br />
her heart found truth, especially in their teachings on salvation for<br />
the dead.<br />
At the end of the meeting, the missionaries told the Marleys<br />
they were to have a congregational meeting soon in a town ten miles<br />
away. John had to work, so thirty-year-old Gwenllian carried her<br />
infant daughter <strong>and</strong> walked with her two boys (both under six years<br />
old) the whole way there <strong>and</strong> back. Once Gwenllian heard the message<br />
of the gospel, she held on tight to it <strong>and</strong> never let go. Just as she<br />
independently chose to make her own way to the missionaries, so<br />
she chose for herself to be baptized in March 1849. John followed in<br />
her footsteps <strong>and</strong> received baptism on April 2, 1849.<br />
A Sacrifice to Join the Saints<br />
After their baptism, the Marleys felt a strong pull to gather<br />
with the Saints in Utah. John, a miner, worked to save money to<br />
go to America. Though regulations prohibited children under nine<br />
years of age from working in the mines, the Marleys’ son John began<br />
working at age eight, joining his father <strong>and</strong> eleven-year-old<br />
brother William. Her mothering instinct resisted sending her two<br />
young sons into such a dangerous workplace, but Gwenllian saw<br />
the importance of gathering with the Saints in Zion. It was no small<br />
act of faith for a mother to sacrifice the safety of her children, but<br />
Gwenllian did just that <strong>and</strong> relied on the Lord to protect them.<br />
Through hard work <strong>and</strong> diligent saving, the family was able to secure<br />
enough money to travel to Utah as well as to buy clothing to<br />
last them for two years.<br />
With everything in order for traveling to America, Gwenllian<br />
<strong>and</strong> John received the first test of their faith: John was called to serve<br />
a two-year mission in Wales. Gwenllian was left to hold together<br />
their family of six children, <strong>and</strong> she was pregnant with another son.<br />
Though she was now a mature woman in her early forties, her responsibilities<br />
were great <strong>and</strong> most assuredly overwhelming at times.<br />
Despite the strains she felt without her husb<strong>and</strong> to help teach <strong>and</strong>
126<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
raise their children <strong>and</strong> take care of the necessities of life, she carried<br />
on heroically with seven children.<br />
An incident during John’s mission highlights a blessing<br />
Gwenllian received because of her continued Church activity.<br />
Although John was on a mission, his area of service was not far<br />
from where the Marleys lived. While out preaching the gospel, John<br />
<strong>and</strong> his companion were robbed, beaten, <strong>and</strong> dragged through the<br />
streets. As this was happening, Gwenllian was attending a Church<br />
meeting in which members spoke in tongues. These prophecies,<br />
once interpreted, told of the missionaries being beaten. Immediately,<br />
the congregation, with Gwenllian, ran to help the abused men. This<br />
spiritual event saved the two missionaries from having to find help<br />
in their feeble <strong>and</strong> pained state. Gwenllian’s presence at a bleak moment<br />
in John’s mission served as a blessing of peace for them both.<br />
The two young Marley boys continued to work in the mines<br />
in their father’s absence, but <strong>by</strong> the time John returned in 1860,<br />
the family members’ clothing had worn through <strong>and</strong> their savings<br />
were partly used. On his arrival home, John told Gwenllian that<br />
he should go back to the mines to earn money once more for the<br />
journey to America. Gwenllian, in her eagerness to join the Saints,<br />
replied, “No! We will take our money <strong>and</strong> go as far as it will take<br />
us.” 6 They determined to leave their homel<strong>and</strong>, where Gwenllian<br />
had grown up <strong>and</strong> where her parents, her gr<strong>and</strong>parents, <strong>and</strong> unknown<br />
numbers of other ancestors <strong>and</strong> relatives had mined, farmed,<br />
lived, <strong>and</strong> died. 7<br />
Gwenllian left behind two siblings <strong>and</strong> many nieces <strong>and</strong> nephews<br />
to travel with her husb<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> children to Liverpool, Engl<strong>and</strong>.<br />
There they awaited their departure for New York. Joining some six<br />
hundred other British <strong>and</strong> Swiss Saints, the Marleys set sail on the<br />
Underwriter on March 30, 1860. For passage, John <strong>and</strong> Gwenllian<br />
paid the whole of their savings, some eight hundred dollars. On their<br />
6. Weston, “History of John Chinn Marley,” [2].<br />
7. Gwenllian’s parents had both died in the 1850s.
Gwenllian Matthew Marley (1818–1905) 127<br />
arrival in the United States on the first of May, John <strong>and</strong> Gwenllian<br />
<strong>and</strong> their seven children entered New York City with nothing more<br />
than worn clothes on their backs <strong>and</strong> faithful prayers in their hearts.<br />
John got a job at twenty dollars a month. With this meager income,<br />
Gwenllian was able to clothe, feed, <strong>and</strong> shelter her family of<br />
nine, while also saving enough money to travel to Minersville (near<br />
Scranton), Pennsylvania, where John could earn more as a miner, as<br />
could their two oldest sons.<br />
A Miracle Wrought in Faith<br />
Minersville, like most mining towns in Pennsylvania, was a foreign<br />
town in the heart of America. Its large deposit of anthracite coal<br />
attracted immigrants from Germany, Irel<strong>and</strong>, Engl<strong>and</strong>, Scotl<strong>and</strong>,<br />
<strong>and</strong> Wales, who flooded the towns of Pennsylvania seeking the familiar<br />
work of their homel<strong>and</strong>s. John Marley <strong>and</strong> his sons were<br />
among these workers. In some ways, Minersville felt like home to<br />
the family. Like Llantrisant, Wales, Minersville was tucked within<br />
rolling hills of wooded green. The Welsh population of the town also<br />
added to the comfort of Minersville for the Marleys. 8<br />
Just as it was in Wales, mining was a dangerous career, then <strong>and</strong><br />
still today. Death <strong>and</strong> injury were part of the job. From the time of<br />
the American Revolution to 1987, one anthracite coal miner died<br />
every sixty hours in Pennsylvania alone. 9 A sampling of The Miners’<br />
Journal, the local newspaper, showed one miner’s death nearly every<br />
week, often accompanied <strong>by</strong> a description of coal falling or a chain<br />
breaking, “killing [the miner] instantly.” Miners who survived accidents<br />
might be horribly injured. One article told of a miner who<br />
had “one of his legs broken, <strong>and</strong> his shoulder dislocated, <strong>by</strong> a fall of<br />
8. Harold W. Aur<strong>and</strong>, Pennsylvania Trail of History: Anthracite Heritage Museum<br />
<strong>and</strong> Scranton Iron Furnaces (Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole <strong>Book</strong>s, 2002), 21.<br />
9. “District 1—Coal Mine Safety <strong>and</strong> Health: History of Anthracite Coal Mining,”<br />
Mine Safety <strong>and</strong> Health Administration, www.msha.gov/District/Dist_01/<br />
History/history.htm.
128<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
coal.” Another notice told of the “fearful crushing <strong>and</strong> maiming of<br />
two boys.” 10 The mines were dark <strong>and</strong> claustrophobic workspaces,<br />
but this atmosphere was life for John <strong>and</strong> Gwenllian—a day of work<br />
for John <strong>and</strong> a day of worry for Gwenllian. Once again, Gwenllian<br />
sent not just her beloved husb<strong>and</strong> into the mines but two sons as<br />
well.<br />
With the odds against them, the Marleys inevitably fell victim<br />
to the treacherous Pennsylvania mines. A rock ledge fell on John,<br />
crushing his rib cage. Expecting John to be dead, his fellow miners<br />
pulled him out of the debris, surprised to find he was still alive,<br />
though in critical condition. When he reached home, Gwenllian<br />
sent for the missionaries <strong>and</strong> for a doctor. The doctor arrived first.<br />
Seeing John’s bleak state, he said: “I can do nothing for him. He will<br />
not live two hours as his body is crushed.” Full of faith, Gwenllian<br />
told the doctor he could at least “clean the coal out of his bones <strong>and</strong><br />
head <strong>and</strong> draw it together.” 11<br />
She waited for the missionaries. All others around her saw only<br />
a man near death, but Gwenllian saw a possible miracle. Though<br />
it seemed everyone had given up on John, Gwenllian took faithfilled<br />
actions, never quitting while he still kept breathing. When the<br />
missionaries arrived, they gave her husb<strong>and</strong> a blessing of healing.<br />
Afterward, his broken bones made the sound of a crushed wicker<br />
basket snapping back into shape. John was healed, due at least in<br />
part to Gwenllian’s unwavering resolve <strong>and</strong> faith.<br />
A Long Journey West<br />
The year 1861 marked the beginning of the American Civil<br />
War. With many Saints in the East earning money to make their<br />
way west, Church leaders advised the new converts to travel to Utah<br />
as fast as they could. The Marleys sought safety in the West not only<br />
10. “Accidents,” Miners’ Journal, October 6, 1860; “Fatal Mining Accident,”<br />
Miners’ Journal, August 25, 1860.<br />
11. Weston, “History of Gwenllian Marley,” [1].
Gwenllian Matthew Marley (1818–1905) 129<br />
from living amid the perils of war but from the conscription of their<br />
two oldest sons, now eighteen <strong>and</strong> fifteen, who would be forced<br />
into the army at age twenty. 12 The family journeyed to Florence—<br />
formerly Winter Quarters—in Nebraska Territory, where they made<br />
preparations for the westward trek. Florence was packed with Saints<br />
gathering from the East <strong>and</strong> newly arrived from Europe. 13<br />
All the Saints were anxious to get to Utah before the fever of the<br />
Civil War set in. Here the Marleys bought harnesses <strong>and</strong> ordered<br />
h<strong>and</strong>carts made. Before the h<strong>and</strong>carts were complete, however, authorities<br />
in Salt Lake City sent wagon trains to help the immigrants<br />
journey to Utah. Those like the Marleys who could not afford their<br />
own wagons received a loan through the Perpetual Emigration Fund<br />
for wagons, food, <strong>and</strong> clothing. Asked to give all the money they<br />
had, the Marleys gave every cent of the six hundred dollars they had<br />
saved, not even holding back money to buy milk along the way.<br />
On July 1, the Marleys started their journey west in the Joseph<br />
Horne Company. The journey was long <strong>and</strong> tiresome. Gwenllian,<br />
John, <strong>and</strong> their seven children (ages eighteen, fifteen, thirteen, nine,<br />
six, four, <strong>and</strong> the youngest only twenty months) walked nearly the<br />
whole way but were grateful they were spared having to pull a h<strong>and</strong>cart.<br />
Though Gwenllian was pregnant during the course of the journey<br />
<strong>and</strong> experienced the same exhaustion as her whole family, she<br />
could not rest at night. In the evening, she prepared for the next<br />
12. Michael T. Meier, “Civil War Draft Records: Exemptions <strong>and</strong> Enrollments,”<br />
Prologue 26, no. 4 (Winter 1994), www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/1994/<br />
winter/civil-war-draft-records.html. Though conscription was not a national practice<br />
until 1863, talk of the draft was present at the start of the war. The Marleys<br />
would not have known the minimum draft age, which could have been lower.<br />
(The Confederacy created a draft with a minimum age of eighteen a year before<br />
the Union did.) See The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military (New York:<br />
Berkley <strong>Book</strong>s, 2001), s.v. “Conscription Law of 1862/1864,” accessed November<br />
14, 2010, www.oxfordreference.com/.<br />
13. William G. Hartley, “‘Down <strong>and</strong> Back’ Wagon Trains: Bringing the Saints<br />
to Utah in 1861,” Ensign, September 1985, 29.
130<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
day’s journey <strong>and</strong> made bread over the coals of the fire. After traveling<br />
for nearly two <strong>and</strong> a half months, the wagon train arrived in Salt<br />
Lake City on September 13, 1861.<br />
Once they arrived in Utah, the Marleys began to send in payments<br />
for their emigration fund loan. Ever willing to be perfectly<br />
obedient, John <strong>and</strong> Gwenllian sent payments for years until they<br />
received notification that their loan was paid.<br />
An Independent Woman in an Unsettled L<strong>and</strong><br />
Even with their long journey completed, the Marleys’ obedience<br />
<strong>and</strong> sacrifice were not yet fully tested. In the fall of 1865, they were<br />
called to help settle the area around Bear Lake in Utah <strong>and</strong> Idaho. 14<br />
The Marleys lived in Meadowville, Utah, on the southwest shore<br />
of the lake. The first winter John <strong>and</strong> two of their sons returned to<br />
North Ogden (where they had first settled after arriving in Utah)<br />
to secure provisions for the winter. Forty-seven-year-old Gwenllian<br />
was left with little food in a new l<strong>and</strong> to take care of the remaining<br />
children, 15 including a six-month-old ba<strong>by</strong>. This was not a time for<br />
the faint of heart. Settlement was sparse, having begun only two<br />
years before, in the fall of 1863. 16 Once again, Gwenllian showed<br />
her independence <strong>and</strong> competence in the face of a harsh <strong>and</strong> lonely<br />
winter. She was a woman of strength <strong>and</strong> confidence but also a<br />
woman of faith in the Lord.<br />
John’s journey did not go well. He got wet trying to rescue a<br />
wagon bed full of turkeys that detached <strong>and</strong> floated downstream<br />
while he <strong>and</strong> his sons were crossing Blacksmith Fork. They had to<br />
14. Bear Lake spans the border of Utah <strong>and</strong> Idaho. During their time in the<br />
area, the Marleys lived in both states near the lake.<br />
15. John <strong>and</strong> Joseph are the two Marley boys who went with their father.<br />
William, the oldest son, was already married at this time <strong>and</strong> thus was no longer<br />
living at home.<br />
16. Leonard J. Arrington, Charles C. Rich: Mormon General <strong>and</strong> Western Frontiers<br />
man (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University Press, 1974), 250.
Gwenllian Matthew Marley (1818–1905) 131<br />
leave many of their other supplies behind on their way home. John<br />
ended up with badly frozen feet that incapacitated him for the rest<br />
of the winter. Bears raided the supplies left behind, ruining many<br />
of them. Gwenllian <strong>and</strong> her family spent the winter caring for John<br />
<strong>and</strong> subsisting on boiled wheat <strong>and</strong> fish.<br />
The area was a hostile place to live on account of conflicts with<br />
Indians who lived near<strong>by</strong>. After a few other moves in the area, the<br />
Marleys settled in Laketown, Utah, directly south of the lake. There<br />
they lived for the next ten years.<br />
A Time of Happiness <strong>and</strong> Sorrow<br />
Gwenllian began to serve as a midwife during this time, <strong>and</strong> she<br />
would continue doing so for the next forty years. As the mother of at<br />
least eight children herself, 17 she must have enjoyed welcoming each<br />
ba<strong>by</strong> into the world <strong>and</strong> presenting the child for the first time to his<br />
or her mother. One story about Gwenllian describes her gift of spiritual<br />
impressions <strong>and</strong> faithful obedience to the Spirit. Once during<br />
a blizzard in the middle of winter, Gwenllian traveled on horseback<br />
fifteen miles, prompted <strong>by</strong> a feeling that she was needed. She arrived<br />
at a home just in time to assist with a difficult birth. Because of this<br />
journey, Gwenllian’s ears <strong>and</strong> fingers were frozen <strong>and</strong> would bother<br />
her for the rest of her life. 18<br />
In contrast to the joys of new lives beginning, Gwenllian was<br />
also called to witness the sorrows of death. In July 1868 Gwenllian’s<br />
ten-year-old son, George, was helping bring back logs to build the<br />
Marleys’ home. George fell from atop the logs loaded on the wagon,<br />
<strong>and</strong> the wagon wheel rolled over his head. He died instantly. His<br />
17. Sources conflict regarding the number of children Gwenllian bore. There is<br />
a possibility that she had ten children—two dying at an early age—but confirming<br />
evidence has not been found.<br />
18. J. Patrick Wilde, Treasured Tidbits of Time: An Informal History of Mormon<br />
Conquest <strong>and</strong> Settlement of the Bear Lake Valley (Montpelier, ID: J. P. Wilde, 1977),<br />
308.
132<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
grave was the first in Laketown’s cemetery. Five years later, Gwenllian<br />
lost another child, eighteen-year-old Sarah. Gwenllian <strong>and</strong> John<br />
buried her next to her brother.<br />
In 1876, Gwenllian moved with her family northeast to Marsh<br />
Valley, Idaho. This place brought Gwenllian more sorrows. In 1877<br />
her fifteen-year-old son, Walter, died. Now fifty-eight, Gwenllian<br />
had buried four of her children, each one before the age of twenty.<br />
But Gwenllian kept going, serving in the midst of her own sadness.<br />
Months after Walter died, the oldest Marley son, William, lost his<br />
wife, leaving five children, including an infant. Gwenllian mothered<br />
these children until they were all grown <strong>and</strong> the youngest married.<br />
Gwenllian continued to care for the children after her husb<strong>and</strong>’s<br />
passing. She appears in the 1900 U.S. census as an eighty-two-yearold<br />
head of household caring for her gr<strong>and</strong>daughter Hannah. 19<br />
A Home, Sweet Home<br />
After a decade of sorrowful partings, John <strong>and</strong> Gwenllian moved<br />
for a final time to Robin, Idaho, sometime after 1877. There they<br />
eventually built a comfortable home, the largest <strong>and</strong> nicest in the<br />
area. It was made of logs <strong>and</strong> located next to a spring—a luxury in<br />
frontier life. They were among the first settlers in the area, <strong>and</strong> for<br />
generations afterward Marleys would remain in that part of Idaho.<br />
Gwenllian was called to be the first Primary president of the Garden<br />
Creek Ward. She held that office for several years.<br />
On July 3, 1898, after some twenty years of peace in Robin,<br />
Gwenllian’s companion in faith <strong>and</strong> through trials passed away in<br />
their home. John was buried in the Robin cemetery. He was seventyseven<br />
years old. 20 Gwenllian lived seven more years. She continued<br />
to be active for the remainder of her life. She was known to stay<br />
up half the night reading. In the final months of her life, during a<br />
gr<strong>and</strong>daughter’s visit, Gwenllian reported, “I have read the Welsh<br />
19. 1900 U.S. Census, Portneuf, Bannock Co., Idaho, 27B.<br />
20. John Chinn Marley was born March 25, 1821.
Gwenllian Matthew Marley (1818–1905) 133<br />
<strong>Book</strong> of Mormon <strong>and</strong> English, <strong>and</strong> now I am going to read the<br />
Welsh <strong>and</strong> English Doctrine <strong>and</strong> Covenants.” 21 Gwenllian died<br />
December 5, 1905, at age eighty-seven <strong>and</strong> was buried next to John.<br />
Her lifelong faithfulness remains an example to all who know her<br />
story.<br />
Gwenllian, like many other unheralded pioneer women, was<br />
strong, independent, confident, <strong>and</strong> heroic. She was a leader, constantly<br />
encouraging her family to the actions that represented their<br />
faith.<br />
21. Weston, “History of Gwenllian Marley,” [3].
Chapter Forty-Six<br />
“I Had Left All”<br />
Mary Ann Weston Maughan (1817–1901)<br />
Wendy Peacock<br />
Biographical Sketch<br />
On March 10, 1817, Mary Ann Weston was born to Thomas<br />
Halford <strong>and</strong> Elizabeth Walker Thackwell Weston in Corse<br />
Lawn, Gloucestershire, Engl<strong>and</strong>. 1 The second of eight children,<br />
Mary Ann had a pleasant childhood. She helped with her younger<br />
siblings <strong>and</strong> later with the family mercantile business, enjoyed socializing,<br />
<strong>and</strong> was active in the Wesleyan Methodist Church.<br />
In 1839 Mary Ann began an apprenticeship in dressmaking<br />
<strong>and</strong> millinery in near<strong>by</strong> Leigh. There she met Wilford Woodruff,<br />
who baptized her <strong>and</strong> two of her friends late one night in the village<br />
pond. At a meeting for members of her new faith, The Church<br />
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she met John Davis of Tirley.<br />
1. Mary Ann Weston Maughan, Autobiography, 1894–1898, Holograph, n.p.,<br />
Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake<br />
City, Utah, hereafter cited as Church History Library.<br />
134
Mary Ann Weston Maughan (1817–1901) 135<br />
They were married December 23, 1840. The newlyweds opened<br />
their home for Church meetings, but the meetings attracted violent<br />
protesters. Once a mob turned on Davis, who never fully recovered<br />
from the beating he received; he died April 6, 1841. On May 4, after<br />
settling the estate <strong>and</strong> business, Mary Ann joined a group of Latterday<br />
Saints migrating to Nauvoo, Illinois. They crossed the Atlantic<br />
on the ship Harmony.<br />
In Kirtl<strong>and</strong>, Ohio, Mary Ann stopped to earn money <strong>by</strong> making<br />
dresses <strong>and</strong> then took up her journey with a company leaving<br />
for Nauvoo. Peter Maughan, a newly widowed father of five, was<br />
part of this group. They arrived in Nauvoo on October 10, 1841.<br />
On November 2, Mary Ann <strong>and</strong> Peter were married <strong>by</strong> John Taylor.<br />
Together they had eight more children over the next two decades.<br />
The years following their marriage were difficult, filled with sickness<br />
<strong>and</strong> striving to support their family. After many of the Saints had left<br />
for what became Utah, the Maughans moved to Wisconsin to earn<br />
means for their own journey west.<br />
In 1850, with two wagons <strong>and</strong> eight children, the Maughans<br />
headed westward, traveling with the Warren Foote Company. Their<br />
company suffered much sickness, <strong>and</strong> disaster struck when threeyear-old<br />
son Peter died after being run over <strong>by</strong> the family’s wagon.<br />
With amazing perseverance that characterized their life together, the<br />
Maughans carried on, arriving in Salt Lake City on September 18,<br />
1850. 2<br />
Settling in Tooele <strong>and</strong> later E. T. City (named after Ezra T.<br />
Benson), the Maughans struggled in their relationship with local<br />
Goshutes <strong>and</strong> faced grasshoppers, poor harvests, <strong>and</strong> the death of<br />
another son. Willard <strong>Richard</strong>s called Mary Ann to be a midwife, <strong>and</strong><br />
she served faithfully until late in life, delivering hundreds of babies.<br />
When Peter Maughan was called to settle Cache Valley in 1856,<br />
2. “Mary Ann Weston Maughan,” Mormon Pioneer Overl<strong>and</strong> Travel Database,<br />
1847–68, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, accessed June 9, 2011,<br />
http://mormontrail.lds.org.
136<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
Mary Ann drove the first wagon into the valley; twelve days later<br />
she gave birth to her first daughter. Peter was frequently absent on<br />
account of his duties in the territorial legislature, as a probate judge,<br />
<strong>and</strong> as presiding bishop for Cache Valley, leaving Mary Ann to<br />
shoulder a lot of responsibility. They experienced tensions with the<br />
Shoshone, severe weather, <strong>and</strong> much moving around, but Mary Ann<br />
persevered, feeding <strong>and</strong> housing many who came to settle. In 1869<br />
she became the Relief Society president of Cache Valley. 3 Widowed<br />
again in 1871, Mary Ann kept busy with her family, Church calling,<br />
midwifery, <strong>and</strong> temple work. She enjoyed the society of friends <strong>and</strong><br />
family until her death at age eighty-four in 1901.<br />
Life Experiences<br />
Late in her life, Mary Ann Weston Maughan assembled her<br />
notes <strong>and</strong> daybooks to make a three-volume Autobiography. In it she<br />
recounts a happy <strong>and</strong> busy childhood, with everyone contributing to<br />
the family mercantile business, either <strong>by</strong> watching siblings, traveling<br />
to purchase items, or working in the store itself. They were a close<br />
family <strong>and</strong> very active in their church. With this upbringing of work,<br />
travel, <strong>and</strong> faith, Mary Ann’s character was formed, <strong>and</strong> she was prepared<br />
for a life full of adventure, trials, service, <strong>and</strong> devotion to God.<br />
At age twenty-two, Mary Ann left home <strong>and</strong> began a one-year<br />
apprenticeship in dressmaking <strong>and</strong> millinery in Leigh. There, in<br />
1840, she first learned about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday<br />
Saints when William Jenkins, husb<strong>and</strong> of her sewing instructor,<br />
was baptized on a visit to friends in Herefordshire. Mary Ann recalled:<br />
Soon Brother [Wilford] Woodruff came to our house.<br />
There was no one at home but me. He sat <strong>by</strong> the fire <strong>and</strong><br />
soon comenced singing, “Shall I for fear of feeble Man the<br />
3. The Cache Stake was not organized until 1877; according to her own<br />
words, Mary Ann was the Relief Society president for Cache County. Maughan,<br />
Autobiography.
Mary Ann Weston Maughan (1817–1901) 137<br />
Spirits course in me restrain.” 4 Br. Jenkins had told us that<br />
he had left his home in America, Crossed the Sea, <strong>and</strong> come<br />
to Preach this Gospel to the people in Engl<strong>and</strong>. While he<br />
was singing I looked at him. He looked so peacefull <strong>and</strong><br />
happy I thought he must be a good Man <strong>and</strong> the Gospell he<br />
Preached must be true. There was a small Society of United<br />
Bretheren in this place. I think they all joined the Church<br />
<strong>and</strong> Emegrated to Navoo. Soon as the people were Baptized,<br />
the per[se]cution comenced. One sunday afternoon while<br />
some were being Bap[tized] a Man threw a dog in the Pond<br />
saying he would Baptize the Dog. 5<br />
Mary Ann, along with her friend Hannah Simonds <strong>and</strong> a Mrs.<br />
Hill, were baptized in the village pond at midnight to avoid persecution.<br />
Her apprenticeship over, Mary Ann moved home <strong>and</strong> began<br />
her dressmaking business. Her relatives “did not obey the gospell,”<br />
she wrote, “but they did not opose me.” Still, their refusal to accept<br />
the gospel message “made me sorrowfull <strong>and</strong> lonely,” she recounted.<br />
“I attended all the meettings I could, often walking many miles<br />
alone to <strong>and</strong> from them.” 6<br />
That summer, at one of those meetings, she met John Davis,<br />
“a Cooper <strong>and</strong> Carpenter <strong>by</strong> trade, <strong>and</strong> a young man of much<br />
promis.” 7 The two were married on December 23, 1840. Mary Ann<br />
remembered:<br />
4. This popular hymn, “Shall I, for Fear of Feeble Man,” was composed <strong>by</strong><br />
German Johann Joseph Winkler in 1708. The hymn was translated into English<br />
<strong>by</strong> John Wesley <strong>and</strong> first appeared in John Wesley, ed., A Collection of Psalms <strong>and</strong><br />
Hymns (London: Bowyer for Hutton, 1738), 65–66.<br />
5. Mary Ann Weston Maughan, “Three Volume Journal,” Typescript copied<br />
from the original <strong>by</strong> Joel E. Ricks, vol. 1, p. 11, Joel E. Ricks Collection of<br />
Transcriptions, Merrill-Cazier Library Special Collections, Utah State University,<br />
Logan, Utah. The holograph is located at the Church History Library.<br />
6. Maughan, “Journal,” vol. 1, pp. 11–12.<br />
7. Maughan, “Journal,” vol. 1, p. 12.
138<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
My husb<strong>and</strong> had a home nicely furnished in Tirley, <strong>and</strong><br />
we went there to live imeaditialy. We both had good treads<br />
[trades] <strong>and</strong> pleanty of work <strong>and</strong> were very happy. The<br />
Elders soon called to see us. Brothers Willard <strong>Richard</strong>s <strong>and</strong><br />
Leivi [Levi] richards, Woodruff, Rushton <strong>and</strong> others that I<br />
do not remember their names. There was no Saints in that<br />
place so Brother <strong>Richard</strong>s counciled us to open our house<br />
for Meetings. We did so, <strong>and</strong> the first held in our house a<br />
lot of Roughs led <strong>by</strong> a Apostate Methodist came <strong>and</strong> made<br />
a disturbance. . . . Notice was given for a Meeting in two<br />
weeks, <strong>and</strong> the Mob came again. But we succeeded in hiding<br />
the Preacher, <strong>and</strong> one of the Brethren took him away.<br />
The Mob then turned on my husb<strong>and</strong>, knocked him<br />
down, <strong>and</strong> kicked him. He was brused, Internaly, <strong>and</strong> was<br />
never well afterwards. About this time he had a fall that hurt<br />
him some, <strong>and</strong> he soon commenced to Bleed at the lungs.<br />
I sent for our family Physician. He gave Directions that he<br />
must remain in Bed <strong>and</strong> be kept very quiet, no noise or exitement<br />
alowed near him. . . .<br />
Soon he had a dispute with his mother about Mormonism.<br />
This excited him, <strong>and</strong> I was forced to ask her to<br />
leave the room. She did, but alase to[o] late; he fainted. . . .<br />
From this he took a relaps. . . . This was a very trying time<br />
for me, as we were the only Saints in this place. And worse<br />
still, we were surounded <strong>by</strong> per[se]cutiors who watched<br />
our house, <strong>and</strong> if the Elders called would send word to his<br />
Mother. She was sure to come in, <strong>and</strong> thus we were deprived<br />
of the privilege of conversing with the Elders as we very<br />
much desired to do. . . .<br />
We were alone most of the time, <strong>and</strong> this we prefered,<br />
as it was better than having those who were not of our faith<br />
<strong>and</strong> would ridicule our Religion. My husb<strong>and</strong> did not suffer<br />
much pain but graduly grew weaker every day. He was<br />
confined to his Bed on the 14 th of feb, <strong>and</strong> I did not leave
Mary Ann Weston Maughan (1817–1901) 139<br />
him <strong>by</strong> day or night or lie down to sleep during his Illness.<br />
The last few days, some one or two kind friends staid with<br />
us. But he would not take anything from any h<strong>and</strong> but<br />
mine. . . . He passed peacefully away on the 6 th day of Apr<br />
1841. . . . He was a good kind husb<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> a faithful laterday<br />
Saint. . . .<br />
. . . our Physician, a good kind man, came to see me<br />
<strong>and</strong> advised me to leave that place imeaditily <strong>and</strong> travel for<br />
my health or I would soon follow my husb<strong>and</strong>. The next<br />
day I left my home a sad lonely Widow, where less than four<br />
Months before I had been taken a happy Bride. I did not<br />
go home, for I felt that my Parents would try to stop me<br />
from gathering with the Saints. I had many homes offered<br />
me, <strong>by</strong> friends, but I went to Board with Mr & Mrs Hill<br />
of Turkey Hall. They were getting ready to go to Navoo. I<br />
prayed for strength to settle our Bissiness, <strong>and</strong> then I would<br />
gather with his Saints.<br />
I had no debts to pay, <strong>and</strong> the Lord Blessed me with<br />
success in collecting the Money due my husb<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> myself,<br />
or the most of it. My health continued very poor, but<br />
I joined with a Company that was getting ready to go to<br />
Navoo. . . . I realized Money enough from my sale [furniture,<br />
tools, dishes] to pay my Passage <strong>and</strong> Board to Navoo.<br />
This was a very trying time for me. Every day I had to take<br />
leave of some dear friend that I never expected to see again<br />
in this world. . . . The last <strong>and</strong> hardest triel was to take leave<br />
of Father, Mother, Brothers, <strong>and</strong> Sisters. My dear good<br />
Mother was most Broken hearted to see me go. . . .<br />
. . . Thus on the 4 th of May 1841, I left all that was near<br />
<strong>and</strong> dear to me. . . . when we came to the place where we<br />
would lose sight of Fathers House, I sat down <strong>and</strong> I might<br />
have staid there if some of the Company had not come back<br />
for me. I was Sick <strong>and</strong> quit[e] over come with the greif <strong>and</strong><br />
sorrow I had passed through in the last three months. . . .
140<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
We were a sorry Company that traveled to Gloucester that<br />
morning. Myself <strong>and</strong> others wept all the way. . . . On seeing<br />
the Church [where I was married,] I thought of the girl I<br />
was not six months ago. Now I had left all <strong>and</strong> was traviling<br />
alone to a l<strong>and</strong> unknown to me. But I had cast my lot with<br />
the people of God, <strong>and</strong> in him I put my trust. 8<br />
Mary Ann <strong>and</strong> her fellow emigrants crossed the Atlantic Ocean<br />
on board the Harmony. Except for one terrible storm in which the<br />
main mast was broken, the Harmony <strong>and</strong> its passengers traveled<br />
without harm, docking safely in Quebec. The next part of their<br />
journey to Nauvoo was very uncomfortable, 9 <strong>and</strong> part of the group<br />
decided to break up their journey <strong>and</strong> rest in Kirtl<strong>and</strong>, Ohio. This<br />
proved fortuitous as it was there that Mary Ann met her future husb<strong>and</strong>,<br />
Peter Maughan, a widowed father of five, with whose group<br />
she later traveled to Nauvoo.<br />
In the spring of 1844, Joseph Smith called her husb<strong>and</strong> on a<br />
mission to establish a coal mine in Rock Isl<strong>and</strong>, Illinois. This came<br />
at a time of violent upheaval. Mary Ann recounts how “we took<br />
our share in these times. Mr. Maughan st<strong>and</strong>ing gaurd <strong>and</strong> us at<br />
home in constant dread of the Mob, our house being on the street<br />
on which they would come into the City on. My first Babe was born<br />
on the 24 th of May 1844.” On “June 28 th Dr W[illard] <strong>Richard</strong>s <strong>and</strong><br />
S. W. [Samuel Harrison] Smith Brought the remains of the Murderd<br />
Prophets to Navoo. I saw them come in on Mulhond [Mulholl<strong>and</strong>]<br />
street in 2 wagons covered with gre[e]n boughs to keep off the<br />
sun. . . . (I hope never to see another such a sight).” 10<br />
The mission in Rock Isl<strong>and</strong> was halted <strong>by</strong> sickness, or “the<br />
ague,” <strong>and</strong> the Maughans returned to Nauvoo. Mary Ann wrote<br />
8. Maughan, “Journal,” vol. 1, pp. 11–14.<br />
9. Maughan, “Journal,” vol. 1, pp. 16–17. Mary Ann was so badly bitten <strong>by</strong><br />
bedbugs on the steamer ride that she became ill <strong>and</strong> could not even walk. She had<br />
to be carried about for a few days.<br />
10. Maughan, “Journal,” vol. 1, pp. 21–22.
Mary Ann Weston Maughan (1817–1901) 141<br />
that “Mr Maughan was sick one year. I think this was the hardest<br />
one of my life. As I had to Provide for a family of eight in the best<br />
way I could.” She too became ill, <strong>and</strong> “sometimes there was not one<br />
able to get a drink of water. I have seen them [the children] creep on<br />
their h<strong>and</strong>s <strong>and</strong> knees to get a drink of water for others.” Mary Ann’s<br />
sewing kept them going, as many women willingly helped out in the<br />
Maughan home in exchange for a hat. At an April 1846 conference,<br />
Orson Hyde counseled them “to scatter out <strong>and</strong> Earn means to follow<br />
the Church.” The Maughan family moved to Wisconsin, where<br />
they had friends working in the lead mines. 11<br />
In April 1850, they finally set off for the west with the Warren<br />
Foote Company. Mary Ann kept short daily accounts of their trek,<br />
noting road quality, weather, distance traveled, <strong>and</strong> availability of<br />
wood <strong>and</strong> water. Too soon she added how many were sick from<br />
cholera <strong>and</strong> then began a tally of deaths, burials, <strong>and</strong> how many<br />
graves they passed daily. After describing a terrible storm they endured<br />
on July 11, she added in later years:<br />
This is the last I wrote in my jurnal for some days. For<br />
the next day I was called to pass through one of the hardest<br />
triels of my life in the Death of my little [son] Peter. Friday,<br />
July 12, 1850, about noon as we were traveling along on a<br />
good plain road, my little Peter, about 3 years old, was sitting<br />
in the front of my wagon, betwene his brother Charles<br />
11. Maughan, “Journal,” vol. 1, pp. 25–27. Following Hyde’s counsel to “be<br />
faithfull, live your Religion <strong>and</strong> you shall be Blest in gathering means of all kinds<br />
to make you comfortable <strong>and</strong> in time shall come to the Bosome of the Church<br />
with your familes,” the Maughans worked hard. Then “in the winter of 1849 Mr<br />
Maughan dreamed that he saw a row of Mineral holes comenceing near our garden.<br />
He awoke <strong>and</strong> told me his Dream. I said are there any holes where you saw<br />
them. He said no but there will soon. In the morning he went <strong>and</strong> looked over the<br />
ground where he saw the holes. Thanked God for the Dream.” Peter <strong>and</strong> his sons<br />
“took out 800 dollars worth of Mineral in 8 weeks. Thus [the] Lord opened our<br />
way to get menes to come to Salt Lake.”
142<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
<strong>and</strong> his sister Mary Ann. They were looking at a cow that<br />
had lost one horn.<br />
He leaned forward, lost his balance, <strong>and</strong> fell before the<br />
wheels. The first passed over him, <strong>and</strong> he tried to escape the<br />
other one. But alase the wagon stoped just as the hind wheel<br />
stood on his dear little Back. The Brethren from behind ran<br />
up <strong>and</strong> lifted the wheel <strong>and</strong> took him from under it. He was<br />
Brused internaly, so that it was Impossiable for him to live<br />
long. We done all that was possible for him, but no earthly<br />
power could save him. He did not suffer much pain only<br />
twice for a very little time.<br />
The people left their Wagons <strong>and</strong> gathered around<br />
mine, <strong>and</strong> all wept for the dear little Boy that we knew must<br />
soon leave us. I had talked to him many times to be carefull<br />
<strong>and</strong> not fall out of the wagon, or he might be hurt very bad.<br />
He only spoke twice. I said to him, Pete did you fall? And<br />
he said, Yes, <strong>and</strong> seemed to know that he would leave us <strong>and</strong><br />
asked for his father.<br />
I did not know that his father had fainted <strong>and</strong> fell down<br />
in the road, for the Brethern stood to hide him from my<br />
sight. On my asking for him, they said he would come<br />
soon. As soon as he was able, he came to the wagon covered<br />
with dust. But his little Boy could not speak to him. But he<br />
opened his eyes <strong>and</strong> looked so loveingly at us then gently<br />
closed them <strong>and</strong> passed peacefuly away <strong>and</strong> left us weeping<br />
around his dear little brused Body.<br />
Then loveing h<strong>and</strong>s tenderly dressed him in a suit of<br />
his own white linnen clothes, <strong>and</strong> he looked so lovely. I<br />
empt[i]ed a dry goods Box, <strong>and</strong> Bro[ther J. P.] Wood made<br />
him a nice Coffin. And [this] even was a mournfull satisfaction,<br />
for we had seen our Brothers <strong>and</strong> sisters bury their dear<br />
ones without a coffin to lay them in. We Buried him on a<br />
little hill on the North side of the road. The grave was consecrated,<br />
<strong>and</strong> then they laid him in to rest. Some one had
Mary Ann Weston Maughan (1817–1901) 143<br />
made a nice headbored with his name printed on; also his<br />
age <strong>and</strong> date of his Death.<br />
This was all we could do, <strong>and</strong> many prayers were offered<br />
to our heavenly Father, that he might rest in peace <strong>and</strong> not<br />
be disturbed <strong>by</strong> wolves, as we had seen many on our way,<br />
<strong>and</strong> we turned away in sorrow <strong>and</strong> grief. A few days after, we<br />
heard that his grave had not been tuched, but a nother little<br />
one made beside it. And afterwards some more was Buried<br />
<strong>by</strong> them. This was a great satisfaction to us to know that he<br />
remained as we left him.<br />
Our dear [s]ons name was Peter Weston Maughan,<br />
Born in New Diggins, Wisconcin Terrotiry. . . . It is nearly<br />
38 years since that sorrowfull time, but if it was not so painfull<br />
to me, I could add much more to this account. 12<br />
Carrying her grief, Mary Ann continued taking footsteps toward<br />
Zion. Finally, on September 18, 1850, she recorded:<br />
We rose at day break <strong>and</strong> all are happy because our long<br />
[journey] is so near done. . . . On arriveing in the City, we<br />
soon found many kind friends. . . . I think this is destined<br />
to be a great place. There are stores <strong>and</strong> houses going up in<br />
all directions. We staid [in] Salt Lake City one week . . . ,<br />
then were counciled to settle in Tooele 35 miles west of S.L.<br />
City. . . . Here I found 2 old friends from Engl<strong>and</strong> . . . <strong>and</strong><br />
some of our friends from Navoo. . . .<br />
We camped in tent <strong>and</strong> wagon on our City lot untill<br />
we Built a nice large duble log house. We moved into our<br />
house in the midle of November 1850. I had not eat or<br />
slept in ahouse since we left our own home in New diggins,<br />
Wisconsin. . . .<br />
I soon received a letter from Dr Willard <strong>Richard</strong>s<br />
apointing me Midwife for Tooele, saying I should have<br />
12. Maughan, “Journal,” vol. 2, pp. 4–5.
144<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
the faith <strong>and</strong> prayers of the Council of Health <strong>and</strong> should<br />
be Blessed <strong>and</strong> Prospered in that calling <strong>by</strong> the God of<br />
Isreal. . . . This caused me much sorrow, for I had a large<br />
family to take care of <strong>and</strong> felt that I needed rest. But I could<br />
not back out unless I was released, so was called to attend<br />
some sisters, before I went to the City.<br />
When I went to see Dr. <strong>Richard</strong>s <strong>and</strong> stated my case to<br />
him, hopeing he would release me <strong>and</strong> send someone else<br />
out there, but he said I was just where he wanted me, So I<br />
was Blessed <strong>and</strong> Ordained to that Office <strong>by</strong> Bros. <strong>Richard</strong>s,<br />
Benson, <strong>and</strong> Maughan. The Dr being speaker pronounced<br />
many great Blessings on my head. One in particular was<br />
that no harm should [come] to my family in my absence,<br />
<strong>and</strong> this has been a comfort to me many times, for no harm<br />
has hapened to me or mine. 13<br />
Living in Tooele <strong>and</strong> E.T. City were “truly . . . hard times for<br />
me,” Mary Ann wrote. “My family was large, my health poor, <strong>and</strong><br />
Breadstuff scarce.” The Maughans suffered the loss of another son,<br />
raids on their stock <strong>by</strong> local Goshutes, <strong>and</strong> crops ruined <strong>by</strong> lack of<br />
water, alkaline soil, <strong>and</strong> grasshoppers. Hearing this, Brigham Young<br />
13. Maughan, “Journal,” vol. 2, pp. 10–11, 29. Mary Ann continued as a midwife<br />
until late in life. This blessing appears all the more strengthening as the next<br />
story in her journal details how some “Indians stole some horses” <strong>and</strong> later killed<br />
one of the townspeople near her house. She <strong>and</strong> her family moved into a fort for<br />
protection, just as they later did in Cache Valley, where they also experienced tensions<br />
with Indians. In addition to these dangers, midwifery took a physical toll<br />
on Mary Ann, requiring her to leave her family at a moment’s notice, often in<br />
the middle of the night, <strong>and</strong> once even in the middle of her own birthday party.<br />
Of that event she wrote: “Every thing pleasant till 5 o clock when George Benson<br />
came for me to attend his wife in her Confinement her babe Elise was soon Born<br />
both doing well. of Course thise broke up my Party but all felt happy to do so<br />
under the circumstances.” Maughan, “Journal,” vol. 2, p. 29. Her midwife record<br />
is located in the Peter W. Maughan Papers, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special<br />
Collections <strong>and</strong> Archives, Utah State University, Logan, Utah.
Mary Ann Weston Maughan (1817–1901) 145<br />
asked Peter Maughan in 1856 to look over Cache Valley. Thus, “we<br />
again took up our line of march for some place in the North,” Mary<br />
Ann chronicled. “Thus it happened that I drove the first Wagon that<br />
came into Cache Valley for a settlement. . . . When we got to the<br />
mouth of the Canyon, we stoped to look. . . . My first words were,<br />
O what a beautifull Valley.” 14 Her first daughter was born just twelve<br />
days later.<br />
Life still had its adventures <strong>and</strong> hardships, as the Maughans experienced<br />
severe winters, tensions with local Indians, <strong>and</strong> a short<br />
move south because of the approach of a federal army in 1858.<br />
On their return to Maughan’s Fort (now Wellsville) in 1859, Mary<br />
Ann discovered that “travelers <strong>and</strong> their horses had Camped in my<br />
house” <strong>and</strong> stolen her goods. “Our chairs <strong>and</strong> other effects,” she<br />
wrote, “were visiting all over the fort <strong>and</strong> Indians camps. From this<br />
time people came every day to look at the country.” The newcomers<br />
stayed with the Maughans. “Sometimes I have not slept in my Bed<br />
for a week at a time,” she recorded, “<strong>and</strong> my floor was covered with<br />
beds.” Numerous settlements were soon established throughout the<br />
region, <strong>and</strong> Peter named Weston, Idaho, in Mary Ann’s honor. 15<br />
In 1869 Mary Ann was called to be the Relief Society president<br />
of Cache County. Under the date of February 1, 1870, she wrote:<br />
This morning at 10, I went to the Hall. Was surprised<br />
to find all the Brethren in <strong>and</strong> around the Hall. . . . The<br />
Brethren were feelling good, thinking they were going to<br />
hear the Sisters speak on Polygamy. But my Instructions<br />
were to Copy after the Mass Meeting held in Salt Lake, <strong>and</strong><br />
there was not one Man present. 16<br />
The meeting she sought to copy was a large “indignation<br />
14. Maughan, “Journal,” vol. 2, p. 12.<br />
15. Maughan, “Journal,” vol. 2, pp. 15, 17. Her eldest stepson, John Maughan,<br />
“built the first house in Weston.”<br />
16. Maughan, “Journal,” vol. 2, p. 20.
146<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
meeting” held in Salt Lake City the previous month. In that meeting,<br />
“the Tabernacle was densely packed with ladies of all ages”—not<br />
men—to protest legislation against plural marriage. 17<br />
Determined to follow the instructions she was given, Mary Ann<br />
proceeded to exercise her authority as Relief Society president. She<br />
recounted:<br />
Was sorry to disapoint the Brethren of their fun, but I<br />
intended to obey my Instructions. So on Entering, I took a<br />
seat in the Congr[eg]ation. The Bishop came to me. I told<br />
him what my Instructions were <strong>and</strong> wished him to hold his<br />
meeting, <strong>and</strong> we would wait <strong>and</strong> then hold ours. He returned<br />
to the st<strong>and</strong>, spoke a few words to the Brethren, <strong>and</strong><br />
they all withdrew except the Sec[retary] <strong>and</strong> Decon.<br />
I now Comenced, the first Mass Meeting over which I<br />
was called [to] preside. Spoke at some length on the injustice,<br />
Cruelity, <strong>and</strong> Percusition of the Bills before us, <strong>and</strong> was<br />
followed [<strong>by</strong>] many of the sisters on the same subject. . . .<br />
At the Close of this meeting, a team was waiting to take<br />
me to Hyrum . . . <strong>and</strong> [I] held another Mass Meeting. . . .<br />
Most of these people [in Hyrum] are Danish, <strong>and</strong> as I<br />
looked in their Earnest faces, I prayed God to Bless them,<br />
<strong>and</strong> give me a word in season for their Benifitt. After meetting,<br />
they crow[d]ed around, saying, We like to hear you<br />
talk; you talk good. Come again soon, Sister Maughan;<br />
come back soon. I left them feeling well paid for my visit.<br />
May god Bless them.<br />
Another cold Sleigh ride to Paridice [Paradise]. Here we<br />
had a large Party at night, then held a Mass meeting at 10 in<br />
the morning. I spoke first, stated the Object of our meeting,<br />
17. “Great Indignation Meeting,” <strong>Deseret</strong> Evening News, January 14–15, 1870.
Mary Ann Weston Maughan (1817–1901) 147<br />
encouraging the Sisters to be faithfull <strong>and</strong> true <strong>and</strong> st<strong>and</strong><br />
firm in the truth. 18<br />
Although Mary Ann had faced great hardship in joining the<br />
Church, defending her faith, migrating to the United States, <strong>and</strong> pioneering<br />
in the American West, she also received great blessings for her<br />
sacrifices <strong>and</strong> obedience. In 1894, she felt gratified <strong>by</strong> two surprise<br />
celebrations held on consecutive days to commemorate her seventyseventh<br />
birthday. The first celebration came in the form of a large<br />
group of women going through the temple with her on Friday, March<br />
9, 1904. “The Company was so large,” she wrote, “that it was a great<br />
suprise to me. . . . But this was only the beginning of the suprise.”<br />
On Saturday, March 10, she spent a pleasant day at her son<br />
Willard’s home. “On returning home in the Evening,” she wrote,<br />
“I found our house full of Brothers <strong>and</strong> Sisters who had come with<br />
their picnic for a feast, <strong>and</strong> to show respect to Sister Maughan on<br />
her 77 th Birthday. This was indeed a suprise to me. . . . Three tables<br />
were spread with Beautifull food, <strong>and</strong> 70 or 80 persons sat down to<br />
partake of the Bounties of delicate provisions set before them. After<br />
supper speches were made, <strong>and</strong> [a] general time of rejoysing was<br />
enjoyed <strong>by</strong> all. I had taken a severe cold so could only speak a few<br />
words of thankfullness to my friends who had thus Honoured me,<br />
<strong>and</strong> thus Ended the happyest Birthday I ever had.” 19<br />
Mary Ann spent her later years as a worker in the Logan temple<br />
<strong>and</strong> as a nurse to her family in sickness. By the end of her life, she<br />
had been a widow for nearly thirty years. 20 She endured a great deal<br />
for the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. But the Lord rewarded her<br />
faithfulness with happiness on earth <strong>and</strong> a hope of eternal life with<br />
loved ones in the world to come.<br />
18. Maughan, “Journal,” vol. 2, pp. 20–21.<br />
19. Maughan, “Journal,” vol. 3, p. 12.<br />
20. Peter Maughan died on April 24, 1871.
Chapter Forty-Seven<br />
“The Lord Will Provide”<br />
Margaret Ann Howard McBride (1814–1891)<br />
Anna T. Rolapp<br />
Biographical Sketch<br />
Margaret Ann Howard McBride lived a life of devotion to her<br />
family <strong>and</strong> to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.<br />
She was baptized into the Church in Preston, Engl<strong>and</strong>, <strong>and</strong> in 1856<br />
migrated to America with her husb<strong>and</strong>, Robert, <strong>and</strong> their five children.<br />
They left behind Margaret’s parents, Peter <strong>and</strong> Ann Wright<br />
Howard, <strong>and</strong> other family members they would never see again.<br />
The McBride family embarked on the ocean voyage across the<br />
Atlantic. They took the train from Boston, Massachusetts, to Iowa<br />
City, Iowa, <strong>and</strong> then journeyed with the Martin H<strong>and</strong>cart Company<br />
to the Salt Lake Valley. The family experienced their share of sorrow:<br />
Robert, died en route, but Margaret <strong>and</strong> the children survived<br />
“against great odds,” despite starvation <strong>and</strong> exposure. 1<br />
1. Bruce L. McBride <strong>and</strong> Darvil B. McBride, Against Great Odds: The Story of<br />
the McBride Family (Anaheim, CA: KNI Incorporated, 1988), title page.<br />
148
Margaret Ann Howard McBride (1814–1891) 149<br />
Margaret was incapacitated most of the way to Utah Territory;<br />
her children often thought she was close to death. Their h<strong>and</strong>cart<br />
company was ultimately rescued <strong>by</strong> wagon companies dispatched<br />
<strong>by</strong> Brigham Young. After arriving in the Salt Lake Valley, the family<br />
eventually moved to Ogden, where they lived for a time in impoverished<br />
conditions. Margaret married a widower, Samuel Ferrin, who<br />
added plural wives to the household at about the same time she was<br />
sealed to her first husb<strong>and</strong>, Robert.<br />
She eventually left her husb<strong>and</strong>, moved to Eden, Utah, <strong>and</strong> continued<br />
raising her family alone. Margaret served for many years as a<br />
Relief Society president in Eden <strong>and</strong> eventually lived with some of<br />
her children. She later spent time in St. George, where she assisted in<br />
the building of the St. George Temple. After a long <strong>and</strong> productive<br />
life, Margaret passed away on July 5, 1891, at age seventy-six.<br />
Life Experiences<br />
Margaret Ann Howard, from Lancaster, Lancashire, Engl<strong>and</strong>,<br />
was just eighteen in 1833 when she married thirty-year-old Robert<br />
McBride III from Scotl<strong>and</strong>. The young McBride couple had two<br />
small children when they were introduced to The Church of Jesus<br />
Christ of Latter-day Saints <strong>by</strong> seven missionaries, including two<br />
apostles, sent from Kirtl<strong>and</strong> to Engl<strong>and</strong> <strong>by</strong> Joseph Smith. 2<br />
Margaret <strong>and</strong> her husb<strong>and</strong>, along with many others, heard the<br />
American missionaries teach the restored gospel in late July 1837.<br />
Robert was baptized within a day or two of hearing their message,<br />
but Margaret delayed her baptism until January 4, 1838, as her father<br />
2. Joseph Smith called <strong>and</strong> set apart apostle Heber C. Kimball to lead the<br />
group; Orson Hyde, also an apostle, assisted him. The other missionaries included<br />
Willard <strong>Richard</strong>s, Joseph Fielding, John Goodson, Isaac Russell, <strong>and</strong> John Snyder.<br />
James B. Allen <strong>and</strong> Glen M. Leonard, The Story of the Latter-day Saints, 2nd ed.,<br />
rev. (Salt Lake City, UT: <strong>Deseret</strong> <strong>Book</strong>, 1992), 127; James B. Allen, Ronald K.<br />
Esplin, <strong>and</strong> David J. Whittaker, Men with a Mission, 1837–1841: The Quorum<br />
of the Twelve Apostles in the British Isles (Salt Lake City, UT: <strong>Deseret</strong> <strong>Book</strong>, 1992),<br />
23–28.
150<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
“strenuously opposed her acceptance of the Mormon faith.” 3 In the<br />
five months between their two baptisms, Margaret <strong>and</strong> Robert buried<br />
their two-year-old son, Elijah James; their second child, Sarah Jane,<br />
was buried a year later, on the anniversary of Margaret’s baptism.<br />
Like many other Saints, Margaret <strong>and</strong> Robert were filled with<br />
the spirit of gathering, <strong>and</strong> over a period of sixteen years they made<br />
preparations to migrate to the United States. They appear to have<br />
been able to support their family with a degree of comfort. During<br />
their years of preparation to gather to Zion, they had seven or eight<br />
more children—one or two of whom were stillborn (the record is<br />
unclear), <strong>and</strong> another, Nancy, who did not survive childhood.<br />
Margaret <strong>and</strong> Robert enjoyed family associations, living close<br />
to both sets of parents at different times. Their planned migration<br />
was directly tied to a desire to follow their leaders’ counsel <strong>and</strong> migrate<br />
to the Salt Lake Valley to join the Saints. None of Margaret’s<br />
relatives joined the Church, <strong>and</strong> like many other pioneer women,<br />
she left behind family members she would never see again. Having<br />
sold everything at auction, the McBrides saw their migration as a<br />
permanent move, with no expectation of ever returning to Britain.<br />
Son Heber recalled that it was “very hard for Mother to part with<br />
her brothers <strong>and</strong> sisters <strong>and</strong> her mother who was getting old . . . but<br />
she had to go.” 4 Unlike her children, Margaret did not keep a written<br />
record, <strong>and</strong> conclusions must be drawn from other sources about<br />
the faith that motivated her to travel to America to gather with the<br />
Saints.<br />
Margaret, Robert, <strong>and</strong> their five children left Liverpool in 1856<br />
<strong>and</strong> traveled to Utah as members of the ill-fated Martin H<strong>and</strong>cart<br />
Company. The oldest daughter, Janetta, was sixteen on their ocean<br />
3. “Margaret Ann Howard McBride Ferrin,” in Pioneer Women of Faith <strong>and</strong><br />
Fortitude, comp. International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 4 vols. (Salt<br />
Lake City, UT: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1998), 2:961–62.<br />
4. Heber Robert McBride, “The Life of Heber Robert McBride,” n.d., Typescript,<br />
p. 2, copy in private possession.
Margaret Ann Howard McBride (1814–1891) 151<br />
<strong>and</strong> overl<strong>and</strong> journey; she had been blessed <strong>and</strong> named <strong>by</strong> Brigham<br />
Young at birth. Heber began his travels as a carefree <strong>and</strong> often mischievous<br />
thirteen-year-old who loved ocean travel. Perhaps Margaret<br />
named him after Heber C. Kimball, who had baptized her.<br />
Heber <strong>and</strong> Janetta soon had to mature beyond their years to assist<br />
their family with its very survival. Ether was just a boy of eight<br />
who walked much of the way from Iowa to Utah so that his ill parents<br />
could ride in one of the family’s h<strong>and</strong>carts. He was somewhat<br />
lame his entire life due to the exposure he endured in 1856. Peter<br />
was barely six on the journey, <strong>and</strong> little Margaret (Maggie) turned<br />
three near the beginning of their overl<strong>and</strong> travels. As Margaret faithfully<br />
began this journey with her husb<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> their young family,<br />
her heart must have been full of grief balanced with faith.<br />
On the surface, it might have seemed that the McBrides were<br />
leaving their culture entirely behind, but Margaret <strong>and</strong> her family<br />
traveled with many of their fellow countrymen <strong>and</strong> carried with<br />
them their customs, traditions, <strong>and</strong> dialects. In 1840 Heber C.<br />
Kimball had encouraged Church members to gather with the Saints<br />
in the United States, <strong>and</strong> in 1856 their sixteen years of planning<br />
finally came to fruition.<br />
Margaret <strong>and</strong> her family boarded the half-clipper ship Horizon<br />
in Liverpool, where the adventure began. The sailors <strong>and</strong> ship’s officers<br />
began bickering, <strong>and</strong> a fight erupted. Eventually, the first mate<br />
drew two pistols to restore order, <strong>and</strong> the disruptive sailors were<br />
taken off the ship in irons. The ninety-five emigrants were delayed<br />
several days while waiting for additional sailors to crew the ship. 5<br />
They eventually departed <strong>and</strong> traveled in relative comfort. The<br />
ship was fairly new, the captain was competent, <strong>and</strong> they had pleasant<br />
weather for most of the five-week ocean crossing. At one point,<br />
however, fog was so thick that they could not light c<strong>and</strong>les, <strong>and</strong> the<br />
fog horn blew continually for three days.<br />
Not surprisingly, Heber reported that he was “delighted at the<br />
5. McBride, “Life,” 2.
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Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
thought of being on the water in such a big ship; it was all fun <strong>and</strong><br />
pleasure for me. I was in <strong>and</strong> out of everywhere <strong>and</strong> . . . kept my<br />
parents in hot water all the time.” Heber, thirteen, was ripe for the<br />
adventure; he recalled that he “was not seasick any of the way” <strong>and</strong><br />
that he was “almost sorry” when they reached Boston <strong>and</strong> had to<br />
disembark. The family endured the st<strong>and</strong>ard three-day delay waiting<br />
for medical releases <strong>and</strong> cargo inspections. During that time, several<br />
small boats loaded with people came out to see the Mormons. The<br />
migrants were allowed to spend time in Boston. The ever-energetic<br />
Heber remembered that “the little boys had a good time all over<br />
town <strong>and</strong> [got] into all kinds of mischief. I know our parents were<br />
very glad to get us on the [train] cars where they could watch us a<br />
little better.” 6<br />
The rail journey to Iowa City was uncomfortable; they were<br />
crowded into cattle cars for part of the way. Arriving in Iowa City,<br />
they endured a severe thunder <strong>and</strong> lightning storm. Ether, who was<br />
eight years old when the family arrived in Iowa, remembered:<br />
We had to walk about three miles to camp . . . luggage,<br />
bedding, etc. was hauled <strong>by</strong> teams. It was so dark we could<br />
see nothing <strong>and</strong> the parents <strong>and</strong> children were separated <strong>and</strong><br />
lost. We secured [one of the tents]. . . . Everything <strong>and</strong> everybody<br />
were as wet as could be. We were all together in<br />
the morning after passing a very miserable night, <strong>and</strong> were<br />
glad to feel the morning sun . . . <strong>and</strong> spread our things out<br />
to dry. 7<br />
Not surprisingly, Heber “got lost from the rest of the company.<br />
[He] made out . . . the road <strong>by</strong> the help of the lightening [because]<br />
Iowa can beat the world for lightening <strong>and</strong> thunder.” 8<br />
6. McBride, “Life,” 2.<br />
7. Ether Enos McBride, “Autobiography of Ether Enos McBride,” Typescript,<br />
n.d., p. 1, copy in private possession.<br />
8. McBride, “Life,” 3.
Margaret Ann Howard McBride (1814–1891) 153<br />
Margaret <strong>and</strong> Robert’s group was delayed in Iowa City while<br />
h<strong>and</strong>carts <strong>and</strong> wagons were built. Brigham Young had explained the<br />
merits of h<strong>and</strong>carts over horse- or oxen-drawn wagons: “I can go<br />
on foot across the plains. As old as I am I can take a h<strong>and</strong> cart <strong>and</strong><br />
draw it across those plains quicker than you can go with animals <strong>and</strong><br />
with loaded wagons, <strong>and</strong> be healthier when I get to the Missouri<br />
river.” 9 Most of the ten h<strong>and</strong>cart companies did travel across the<br />
plains faster than typical ox-drawn wagon trains. The Martin <strong>and</strong><br />
Willie companies were the tragic exceptions.<br />
Poor communication between Church leaders in Britain <strong>and</strong> the<br />
Utah authorities resulted in significant delays. The Saints mistakenly<br />
expected their h<strong>and</strong>carts to be waiting for them when they arrived.<br />
Under the direction of Captain Edward Martin, they had to use inferior<br />
materials, including green, uncured wood to build their carts<br />
<strong>and</strong> wagons. Each delay put their journey later in the year <strong>and</strong> more<br />
likely to be subject to the perils of wintry travel. Ether later reported<br />
enduring “a delay of three weeks . . . [which] caused much dissatisfaction<br />
<strong>and</strong> uneasiness, as all knew there was a long tedious journey<br />
before us, <strong>and</strong> that cold weather would arrive before [the journey]<br />
could be accomplished.” 10 The delays eventually proved fatal for perhaps<br />
a quarter of the members of the Martin H<strong>and</strong>cart Company. 11<br />
The first three hundred miles of the trek were relatively<br />
9. Brigham Young, in LeRoy R. Hafen <strong>and</strong> Ann W. Hafen, H<strong>and</strong>carts to<br />
Zion: The Story of a Unique Western Migration, 1856–1860 (Lincoln: University of<br />
Nebraska Press, 1960), 251.<br />
10. McBride, “Autobiography,” 1.<br />
11. The mortality rate of the Martin H<strong>and</strong>cart Company is estimated to have<br />
been between 18 <strong>and</strong> 26 percent. Of the 575 members of the company, there<br />
were 103 documented deaths; the exact toll is unknown because not all deaths<br />
were recorded. The Willie H<strong>and</strong>cart Company had a mortality rate of about 15<br />
percent (74 deaths), <strong>and</strong> the accompanying wagon companies much lower rates:<br />
Hodgetts, 5 percent (9 deaths) <strong>and</strong> Hunt, 8 percent (21 deaths). Andrew D. Olsen,<br />
The Price We Paid (Salt Lake City, UT: <strong>Deseret</strong> <strong>Book</strong>, 2006), 401–2; Howard A.<br />
Christy, “Weather, Disaster, <strong>and</strong> Responsibility: An Essay on the Willie <strong>and</strong> Martin<br />
H<strong>and</strong>cart Story,” BYU Studies 37, no. 1 (1997–98): 53, 71.
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Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
uneventful, but the members of the Martin H<strong>and</strong>cart Company<br />
were detained at Council Bluffs, Iowa, for two weeks as they waited<br />
for other groups to join them. Four months of travel <strong>and</strong> delays began<br />
to take their toll on Margaret. She was forty-two years old <strong>and</strong><br />
had given birth to nine or ten children. Just as the h<strong>and</strong>cart pioneers<br />
crossed the Missouri River into present-day Nebraska <strong>and</strong> began the<br />
remaining one thous<strong>and</strong> miles to Utah, Margaret became ill with<br />
chills <strong>and</strong> fever. She remained sick for the rest of the journey. Her<br />
faith was tried <strong>and</strong> tested as she, for the most part, was unable to assist<br />
her husb<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> their five children.<br />
How frightened Margaret <strong>and</strong> her family must have been when<br />
they encountered “5,000 Sioux Indian warriors all in their war<br />
paint” on their way “to fight the Pawnee.” Their interpreter told<br />
the pioneers that the Indians would not fight a group that included<br />
mostly “squaws <strong>and</strong> papooses,” <strong>and</strong> the Mormons were allowed to<br />
continue their journey. They had been warned not to kill buffalo<br />
but to “hire the Indians to kill [them] <strong>and</strong> thus keep their friendship.”<br />
Overl<strong>and</strong> travelers often wrote of seeing vast herds of buffalo,<br />
<strong>and</strong> Ether later reported that “some herds [were] estimated [to have]<br />
50,000 head.” 12<br />
Traveling with their sick mother foreshadowed worse events to<br />
come. Heber reported that his mother “would start out in the morning<br />
<strong>and</strong> walk as far as she could <strong>and</strong> then would lie down <strong>and</strong> wait<br />
until we came along.” Janetta <strong>and</strong> Heber had to manage food rations,<br />
which were soon cut to a half <strong>and</strong> then to a quarter. Robert’s<br />
health began to decline. He “got so reduced he could not pull any<br />
longer on the h<strong>and</strong>cart,” reported Heber. That left Janetta <strong>and</strong><br />
Heber to pull the h<strong>and</strong>carts themselves the rest of the way. 13<br />
Their two younger brothers, Ether <strong>and</strong> Peter, “managed to walk<br />
<strong>by</strong> holding to the h<strong>and</strong>cart.” Presumably, three-year-old Maggie<br />
rode in one of the h<strong>and</strong>carts most of the time. “No tongue or pen<br />
12. McBride, “Autobiography,” 2.<br />
13. McBride, “Life,” 3.
Margaret Ann Howard McBride (1814–1891) 155<br />
could tell what my sister <strong>and</strong> I did pass through,” wrote Heber. Both<br />
of their parents were now too sick to help out much <strong>and</strong> were occasionally<br />
allowed to ride in the wagons. Heber believed that “death<br />
would be a blessing,” <strong>and</strong> he <strong>and</strong> Janetta began to pray “that [they]<br />
might die to get out of [their] misery, because <strong>by</strong> night [they] would<br />
lay <strong>and</strong> suffer from the cold.” Eventually, the teams accompanying<br />
the h<strong>and</strong>cart company gave out, <strong>and</strong> the McBride children had to<br />
carry their parents in the h<strong>and</strong>carts. Heber recalled that they would<br />
“find Mother <strong>by</strong> the side of the road first <strong>and</strong> [they] would haul her<br />
until [they] could find father lying as if he were dead.” 14 Janetta <strong>and</strong><br />
Heber felt the heavy responsibility of caring for their parents <strong>and</strong><br />
three cold <strong>and</strong> hungry younger siblings.<br />
In Heber’s mind, “the captains of the campers were worse than<br />
brutes.” One can envision the fortitude it took to keep the company<br />
moving under such trying circumstances. On one rainy evening, the<br />
children were sure their mother was about to die. They somehow<br />
managed to get a little fire started for her out of “a few sunflower<br />
stalks <strong>and</strong> wet buffalo chips.” They were called to prayer but were<br />
unwilling to leave their mother; a captain came <strong>and</strong> “kicked out<br />
[their] fire <strong>and</strong> spilled the water that [they] were trying to get warm<br />
to make a little tea for mother.” 15 Historian Rebecca Bartholomew<br />
reported that there were other “instances of pettiness <strong>and</strong> cruelty”<br />
but that “instances of bravery . . . [<strong>by</strong>] far predominated.” 16<br />
Janetta recalled that “it began to snow at the upper crossing of<br />
the Platte River” near present-day Casper, Wyoming. 17 Heber was<br />
able to get his father into one of the few remaining wagons as he<br />
14. McBride, “Life,” 3–4.<br />
15. McBride, “Life,” 4a.<br />
16. Rebecca Bartholomew <strong>and</strong> Leonard J. Arrington, Rescue of the 1856<br />
H<strong>and</strong>cart Companies (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University, Charles Redd Center<br />
for Western Studies, 1993), 57n86.<br />
17. “Life of Janetta Ann McBride Ferrin,” n.d., Typescript, p. 1, copy in private<br />
possession.
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Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
“was very bad this morning <strong>and</strong> could hardly sit up in the tent.”<br />
They were not quite halfway across Wyoming near Red Buttes<br />
( present-day Bessemer Bend). “That was the last time we ever saw<br />
him alive,” Heber remembered. In the evening they “made mother<br />
as comfortable as possible [<strong>and</strong> then] went to try to find father.”<br />
They were unsuccessful <strong>and</strong> had to retire for the night, not knowing<br />
his whereabouts. By morning “the snow was about eighteen inches<br />
deep <strong>and</strong> [it was] very cold.” Heber eventually found his father under<br />
a wagon on the frozen ground, dead. “I felt as if my heart would<br />
burst as I sat down beside him on the snow <strong>and</strong> took his h<strong>and</strong> in<br />
mine <strong>and</strong> cried, Oh father, father.” Heber’s grief is unimaginable.<br />
“There we were way out there on the plains with hardly anything<br />
to eat or wear <strong>and</strong> father dead <strong>and</strong> mother sick <strong>and</strong> [now] a widow<br />
with five children <strong>and</strong> not hardly able to live from one day to the<br />
next.” 18 Heber cried for a time <strong>and</strong> then returned to his family to tell<br />
them the sad news.<br />
Six-year-old Peter later reported that his sick father had worked<br />
a few days earlier “pushing <strong>and</strong> pulling h<strong>and</strong>carts through the icy<br />
waters of that dangerous [Platte] river [<strong>and</strong> helped] many people<br />
with all their belongings to reach the other side.” Robert had “made<br />
some 25 trips across the river to give help.” 19 This service may have<br />
cost Robert his life. He was buried in a common grave with twelve<br />
other pioneers. Peter wept as he ran toward his father’s grave. Some<br />
attempted to give him comfort, but he cried, “My father had my fish<br />
hooks in his pocket <strong>and</strong> I want them.” 20 Ether later recalled of his<br />
sick mother that she “was left with . . . five fatherless children. No<br />
18. McBride, “Life,” 4a. Heber was later called <strong>by</strong> Brigham Young to help rescue<br />
other str<strong>and</strong>ed immigrants near this same place.<br />
19. Olsen, Price We Paid, 329.<br />
20. Peter Howard McBride, “Life Sketch,” in Susan Arrington Madsen,<br />
I Walked to Zion: True Stories of Young Pioneers on the Mormon Trail (Salt Lake City,<br />
UT: <strong>Deseret</strong> <strong>Book</strong>, 1994), 45.
Margaret Ann Howard McBride (1814–1891) 157<br />
home, no money, <strong>and</strong> without food on the unknown prairie in the<br />
wintertime. How my brave mother carried on, I will never know.” 21<br />
Margaret <strong>and</strong> her children mourned Robert’s death as they<br />
fought for survival. Conditions deteriorated further as temperatures<br />
plummeted <strong>and</strong> winter storms raged. The surviving members of the<br />
Martin H<strong>and</strong>cart Company were on the verge of death from starvation<br />
<strong>and</strong> exposure. Janetta remembered saving “her [bread] crusts<br />
. . . [to] give a few crumbs at a time to her younger brothers <strong>and</strong><br />
sister . . . to coax them along.” One night Peter was found with<br />
“his hair frozen to his quilt,” <strong>and</strong> Janetta remembered several mornings<br />
when her own “hair was frozen to the ground.” Her biographer<br />
reported that “Janetta had to make several trips [across the freezing<br />
Sweetwater River]. First she pulled her h<strong>and</strong>cart across, then she<br />
went back <strong>and</strong> carried the children across . . . this froze her clothes<br />
stiff <strong>and</strong> she could hardly walk.” 22 The ox teams that accompanied<br />
the h<strong>and</strong>carts began to die, <strong>and</strong> Heber remembered that they were<br />
“devoured very quickly <strong>and</strong> us little boys had strips of rawhide” to<br />
eat. 23<br />
Brigham Young finally received word from apostle Franklin D.<br />
<strong>Richard</strong>s <strong>and</strong> Daniel Spencer, missionaries returning from Britain,<br />
that “two h<strong>and</strong>cart companies numbering a thous<strong>and</strong> souls were<br />
str<strong>and</strong>ed on the plains <strong>and</strong> in the high altitudes of Southern<br />
Wyoming. . . . They had last been seen more than a month<br />
[earlier].” 24 President Young was convening the October 1856 general<br />
conference in Salt Lake City <strong>and</strong> exhorted the Saints:<br />
I will tell you all that your faith, religion, <strong>and</strong> profession<br />
of religion, will never save one soul of you in the<br />
21. McBride, “Autobiography,” 2.<br />
22. “Life of Janetta McBride Ferrin,” 1–2.<br />
23. McBride, “Life,” 4a.<br />
24. Darvil B. McBride <strong>and</strong> Bruce L. McBride, Chariots of Hope (Pasadena, CA:<br />
Pacific <strong>Book</strong> <strong>and</strong> Printing, 1983), ix.
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Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
celestial kingdom of our God, unless you carry out just such<br />
principles as I am now teaching you. Go, <strong>and</strong> bring in those<br />
people now on the plains, <strong>and</strong> attend strictly to those things<br />
which we call temporal, or temporal duties, otherwise your<br />
faith will be in vain; the preaching you have heard will be in<br />
vain to you, <strong>and</strong> you will sink to hell, unless you attend to<br />
the things we tell you. 25<br />
The rescue was organized immediately. An advance party with<br />
sixteen wagons left right away, <strong>and</strong> two hundred fifty wagon teams<br />
soon followed. Delayed <strong>by</strong> snowstorms themselves <strong>and</strong> <strong>by</strong> the h<strong>and</strong>cart<br />
companies being farther east than the rescuers expected, the<br />
advance party had few supplies left when they reached the beleaguered<br />
group but offered hope that more assistance was on its way.<br />
Heber was relieved when ten wagons arrived to help them <strong>by</strong> “taking<br />
the sick into their wagons.” 26 Ether later reported, “Oh, the joy <strong>and</strong><br />
thanks <strong>and</strong> praise to God, for our deliverance from certain death.” 27<br />
According to Janetta’s biographer, at the time of the h<strong>and</strong>cart pioneers’<br />
rescue the snow was “two or three feet deep <strong>and</strong> they were<br />
all barefooted.” 28 Sufficient teams eventually arrived, <strong>and</strong> the nearly<br />
dead McBride family was “placed in a wagon belonging to Ebenezer<br />
<strong>Richard</strong>son of Ogden City. [They] travelled along slowly, early <strong>and</strong><br />
late.” 29<br />
After months of traveling under the most trying circumstances,<br />
the frozen <strong>and</strong> half-starved Martin H<strong>and</strong>cart Company finally arrived<br />
in the Salt Lake Valley on November 30, 1856. Though saddened<br />
at the loss of her husb<strong>and</strong>, Margaret must have been grateful<br />
25. “Remarks,” <strong>Deseret</strong> News [Weekly], October 15, 1856.<br />
26. McBride, “Life,” 5.<br />
27. McBride, “Autobiography,” 2.<br />
28. “Life of Janetta McBride Ferrin,” 2.<br />
29. McBride, “Autobiography,” 2.
Margaret Ann Howard McBride (1814–1891) 159<br />
for the safety <strong>and</strong> relative well-being of her five children, as approximately<br />
one in five persons had perished en route.<br />
The McBride family settled thirty miles north of the Salt Lake<br />
Valley in Ogden as the growing Church spread out into the Utah<br />
Territory. Their first winter was difficult, Margaret being “sick most<br />
of the time.” They were housed in a one-room shack with a dirt roof<br />
<strong>and</strong> floor. Ether recollected asking his mother, “Is Zion . . . such a<br />
place as this?” Reflecting later, he responded to his own question,<br />
“What were the thoughts of mother who had always lived in comfort<br />
<strong>and</strong> good homes, I know not; but I do know her answer to our questions,<br />
<strong>and</strong> our complaints, ‘Never mind, the Lord will provide.’” 30<br />
Margaret eventually married the twice-widowed Samuel Ferrin<br />
in 1857; he had treated her family with great kindness upon their<br />
arrival in Ogden. She added her five children to his large household.<br />
Some months later, she was sealed to her deceased husb<strong>and</strong>, Robert,<br />
in the President’s Office (<strong>and</strong> later in the Endowment House) in Salt<br />
Lake City. In 1860, Margaret gave her consent for Samuel to marry<br />
a second wife, Ann Plant, who may have been a friend of hers. Ann<br />
“had left her husb<strong>and</strong> in Engl<strong>and</strong> because he refused to emigrate.” 31<br />
One year later, Margaret protested when Samuel, age fifty-seven,<br />
“announced his intentions of marrying Ann’s daughter, Anna, [who<br />
was] just nineteen. [Margaret] refused to have any part of it <strong>and</strong><br />
threatened to leave if he carried out his plans.” Samuel married the<br />
nineteen-year-old within a week; Margaret endured for about a year<br />
<strong>and</strong> then “took up a home in Eden <strong>and</strong> there finished raising her<br />
family <strong>by</strong> herself. There was no divorce, but she went back to her<br />
former name of Margaret McBride.” 32<br />
Margaret spent her remaining years in relative peace giving service<br />
for many years as a Relief Society president in Eden, Ogden<br />
30. McBride, “Autobiography,” 2.<br />
31. Stanley Ferrin Wangsgaard, “Biography of Samuel Ferrin,” Pioneer<br />
Memorial Museum, International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 123.<br />
32. Wangsgaard, “Biography of Samuel Ferrin,” 124.
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Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
Valley, Utah. Her children enjoyed her company, <strong>and</strong> she lived with<br />
some of them, primarily Heber, over the years. Heber called his<br />
mother his “best girl.” 33 The bond in the McBride family was ironclad<br />
after the ordeal of 1856. Margaret had raised a faithful family<br />
who “[acknowledged] the h<strong>and</strong> of God <strong>and</strong> his protective care.” 34 She<br />
lived for a short time with Maggie <strong>and</strong> contributed to the completion<br />
of the St. George Temple <strong>by</strong> “sewing carpets <strong>and</strong> curtains.” 35<br />
Margaret was still serving as Eden Relief Society president when<br />
she died in 1891 at age seventy-six. The obituary printed in the<br />
Woman’s Exponent praised her as a “noble woman . . . faithful sister<br />
<strong>and</strong> an active President . . . <strong>and</strong> kind friend [whose] goodness<br />
<strong>and</strong> patience <strong>and</strong> uncomplaining endurance [were] worthy of . . .<br />
imitation.” 36<br />
Margaret’s five surviving children all lived into their eighties:<br />
Janetta <strong>and</strong> Heber died within seven months of each other in 1924<br />
<strong>and</strong> 1925; the younger three siblings, Ether, Peter, <strong>and</strong> Maggie, died<br />
within twelve months, 1933 to 1934. They were united as a family<br />
in the monumental 1856 migration <strong>and</strong> in the proximity of their<br />
deaths. The five children remained active in the Church <strong>and</strong> were a<br />
credit to their mother, Margaret Ann Howard McBride.<br />
33. McBride, “Life,” 20.<br />
34. McBride, “Autobiography,” 3.<br />
35. “Margaret Ann Howard McBride Ferrin,” 2:962.<br />
36. Martha A. Ferrin, Margaret Larsen, <strong>and</strong> Catharine Andreason, “One More<br />
Gone to Rest,” Woman’s Exponent 20, no. 5 (September 1, 1891): 40.
Chapter Forty-Eight<br />
“Tried Like Gold”<br />
Laura Clark Phelps (1807–1842)<br />
Carol L. Clark<br />
Biographical Sketch<br />
Laura Clark was born in New Fairfield, Connecticut, July 28,<br />
1807, to Timothy Baldwin <strong>and</strong> Polly Keeler Clark. Laura <strong>and</strong><br />
her husb<strong>and</strong>, Morris Charles Phelps, <strong>and</strong> their two young daughters,<br />
Paulina <strong>and</strong> Mary Ann, were among the first white settlers of<br />
the Plainfield region located about thirty-five miles southwest of<br />
Chicago, Illinois.<br />
In the early summer of 1831, Morris received a letter, possibly<br />
written <strong>by</strong> his sister who lived near Kirtl<strong>and</strong>, Ohio. He recorded its<br />
contents in his autobiography. The letter’s author wrote “concerning<br />
a new <strong>Book</strong> Called the <strong>Book</strong> of Mormon that it was translated from<br />
writings on . . . plates.” The writer reported: “Several families . . .<br />
had comensed a new chirch, <strong>and</strong> this was all don under the directions<br />
of a Prophet. Verry respectable men <strong>and</strong> women had joined<br />
their Chirch. . . . Several of their preachers will soon leave f[or] the<br />
west. Perhaps you may see some of them.” Morris wrote, “Reading<br />
161
162<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
of this new Church <strong>and</strong> a Prophet created such a Curiosity <strong>and</strong> anxiety<br />
mingled with Joy that I could not refrain from weping.” 1<br />
On June 7, 1831, Joseph Smith received the revelation recorded<br />
in Doctrine <strong>and</strong> Covenants 52, in which Lyman Wight <strong>and</strong><br />
John Corrill were comm<strong>and</strong>ed to “take their journey speedily” to<br />
Missouri. The comm<strong>and</strong>ment directed, “Let them preach <strong>by</strong> the<br />
way in every congregation, baptizing <strong>by</strong> water, <strong>and</strong> the laying on<br />
of the h<strong>and</strong>s <strong>by</strong> the water’s side.” 2 They did just that. As they made<br />
their way to Missouri, they taught <strong>and</strong> baptized Sanford Porter Sr.,<br />
a close friend of the Phelps family. Porter then taught the gospel<br />
to Laura <strong>and</strong> Morris <strong>and</strong> baptized them August 18, 1831, in the<br />
DuPage River in Cook County, Illinois. Laura’s sister Rhoda Cooper<br />
<strong>and</strong> her husb<strong>and</strong>, John, were also baptized.<br />
Life Experiences<br />
Laura <strong>and</strong> Morris Phelps <strong>and</strong> their family gathered with the<br />
Saints to Jackson County, Missouri, arriving on March 6, 1832.<br />
Laura gave birth to their third daughter on April 7 in Lyman Wight’s<br />
tent. Morris <strong>and</strong> Laura named her Harriet Wight; family lore claims<br />
she was the first Mormon girl born in Independence. 3<br />
In the fall of 1832, Laura <strong>and</strong> Morris took John Murdock’s<br />
young son John into their home, making him a part of the Phelps<br />
family when the senior Murdock was called on a mission. Young<br />
John was the brother of the Murdock twins whose mother, Julia,<br />
had died at their birth the previous year, on April 30, 1831. Unable<br />
1. Morris Charles Phelps, “Reminiscence, 1870,” Holograph, p. 17, L. Tom<br />
Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University,<br />
Provo, Utah.<br />
2. Doctrine <strong>and</strong> Covenants 52:7, 10.<br />
3. Morris Calvin Phelps, “Life History of Laura Clark,” Typescript, p. 1,<br />
Church History Library, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake<br />
City, Utah.
Laura Clark Phelps (1807–1842) 163<br />
to care for the twins himself, their father asked Joseph <strong>and</strong> Emma<br />
Smith to raise them; Emma had recently borne twins who died.<br />
The Phelps family was driven with the rest of the Saints from<br />
Jackson County into Clay County, Missouri, during the winter<br />
of 1833. They rented a farm, about which daughter Mary Ann<br />
reported: “The Prophet Joseph came <strong>and</strong> preached at our house,<br />
which was the first time I ever saw him. While at our house he put<br />
me on his knee <strong>and</strong> blessed me, <strong>and</strong> I knew him ever afterwards, <strong>and</strong><br />
he always remembered me.” 4<br />
Laura’s husb<strong>and</strong>, Morris, noted in his scant diary: “Here I rented<br />
a farm. Zions Camp came, cholera came amongst the saints generally.<br />
September 30 [1834] I left my family <strong>and</strong> started with David<br />
Patten, Orrin Parish, <strong>and</strong> E. H. Groves on a mission.” 5 He left Laura<br />
“with three small children without means of support.” 6 Along with<br />
running the farm, she taught school <strong>and</strong> acted as a midwife to support<br />
herself <strong>and</strong> her children. Mary Ann remembered, “My mother<br />
was such a good manager <strong>and</strong> kept things going.” 7<br />
Morris’s mission took him back to Illinois, where he built up<br />
Church branches in Calhoun <strong>and</strong> Cook counties. Mary Ann recorded:<br />
“My father went to Chicago <strong>and</strong> while there converted my<br />
mother’s father, mother <strong>and</strong> family. They came to Missouri where<br />
mother was living <strong>and</strong> helped her look after her family, while father<br />
proceeded on his journey to Kirtl<strong>and</strong>, preaching the gospel. . . .<br />
4. Mary Ann Phelps Rich, “Early History,” in Autobiography of Mary Ann Phelps<br />
Rich, Microfilm of typescript, p. 1, Family History Library, The Church of Jesus<br />
Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah, hereafter cited as Family History<br />
Library; “Mary Ann Rich,” in Andrew Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical<br />
Encyclopedia, 4 vols. (Salt Lake City, UT: Andrew Jenson History Company, 1901–<br />
36), 3:497.<br />
5. Morris Phelps, “His Diary,” accessed June 13, 2011, http://morrisphelps.org/<br />
morris/morrisdiaries. Grammar has been st<strong>and</strong>ardized.<br />
6. Rich, “Early History,” 5.<br />
7. Mary Ann Phelps Rich, “Girlhood Days,” in Autobiography of Mary Ann<br />
Phelps Rich, Microfilm of typescript, p. 15, Family History Library.
164<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
He stayed there most of the winter <strong>and</strong> received his Washings <strong>and</strong><br />
Anointings in the Kirtl<strong>and</strong> Temple.” 8 Because Morris was a carpenter,<br />
he was enlisted to help complete the Kirtl<strong>and</strong> Temple.<br />
After Morris returned to his family, Laura <strong>and</strong> he “were driven<br />
<strong>by</strong> a mob to Far West, Caldwell County, Missouri.” 9 There Morris<br />
bought a home, <strong>and</strong> Mary Ann recalls that her father “soon had<br />
everything comfortable around him.” 10<br />
Laura experienced a short season of peace before living through<br />
a series of dark, terrifying trials in Far West. Although some dates<br />
<strong>and</strong> details are inexact, stories from Laura’s life remain compelling<br />
<strong>and</strong> inspiring.<br />
As persecution against the Saints escalated in Caldwell County,<br />
Laura had more confrontations with mobbers. Morris Calvin Phelps<br />
(the son of Laura’s husb<strong>and</strong>, Morris, <strong>and</strong> his second wife, Sarah<br />
Thompson, whom he married after Laura’s untimely death), related:<br />
“The mob came into the Morris Phelps’s yard <strong>and</strong> shot the animals,<br />
<strong>and</strong> when Harriet tried to protect her pet pig they were going to<br />
shoot her. Laura ran out <strong>and</strong> said, ‘Shoot all the animals you desire<br />
but leave my little girl alone.’” 11 Laura’s daughter Mary Ann Phelps<br />
Rich recorded another dramatic episode: “They [mobbers] would<br />
even come into her yard <strong>and</strong> shoot the chickens <strong>and</strong> kill the pigs.<br />
Mother had her house full of women <strong>and</strong> children, in the mean<br />
time, who had been driven from their homes <strong>by</strong> the enemy. These<br />
women wanted mother to go into the woods to escape the mob, but<br />
she told them ‘No,’ that if she had to die, she would die in her own<br />
home, so they decided to stay with her.” 12<br />
8. Rich, “Early History,” 5; James B. Allen <strong>and</strong> Glen M. Leonard, The Story<br />
of the Latter-day Saints, 2nd ed. rev. (Salt Lake City, UT: <strong>Deseret</strong> <strong>Book</strong>, 1992),<br />
109–11.<br />
9. Phelps, “His Diary.”<br />
10. Rich, “Early History,” 5.<br />
11. Phelps, “Life History.”<br />
12. Rich, “Early History,” 5.
Laura Clark Phelps (1807–1842) 165<br />
During this same time in 1838, Morris was arrested <strong>and</strong> thrown<br />
into the Richmond Jail with Parley P. Pratt <strong>and</strong> four others while<br />
Joseph <strong>and</strong> Hyrum Smith <strong>and</strong> five others were taken to Liberty Jail.<br />
Mary Ann noted, “Father was told many times that if he would burn<br />
his Mormon Bible <strong>and</strong> quit the Mormon Church he could go free<br />
. . . but he chose to be firm in his religion; so he was held in prison all<br />
winter, <strong>and</strong> mother had to support her family the best way she could;<br />
her provisions <strong>and</strong> every thing had been destroyed <strong>by</strong> the armies.” 13<br />
It seems amazing that in such circumstances Laura managed to<br />
visit her husb<strong>and</strong> every two weeks <strong>and</strong> take him provisions so he had<br />
something to eat besides the prison food that was often so coarse as<br />
to be inedible. During one of her visits, Heber C. Kimball also went<br />
to the jail. He wrote:<br />
On our arrival at Richmond, I went directly to the<br />
prison to see Parley, but was prohibited <strong>by</strong> the guard, who<br />
said they would blow my brains out if I attempted to go<br />
near him. In a few minutes, Sister Morris Phelps came to<br />
me in great agitation <strong>and</strong> advised me to leave forthwith, as<br />
Brother Pratt had told her that a large body of men had assembled<br />
with tar, feathers <strong>and</strong> a rail, who swore they would<br />
tar <strong>and</strong> feather me, <strong>and</strong> ride me on the rail. 14<br />
Brother Kimball added a few noteworthy sentences in Laura’s<br />
obituary that give more detail about her efforts to save him: “When<br />
my life was sought at Richmond, <strong>and</strong> my brethren in prison had<br />
great anxiety on my account, she interceded with my pursuers, who<br />
were nearly thirty in number, <strong>and</strong> actually convinced them that I<br />
was another person, altogether, <strong>and</strong> the pursuit was stopped.” 15<br />
13. Rich, “Early History,” 6.<br />
14. Heber C. Kimball, President Heber C. Kimball’s Journal (Salt Lake City, UT:<br />
Juvenile Instructor Office, 1882; Heber City, UT: Archive Publishers, 2003), 87.<br />
15. Heber C. Kimball, “Obituary,” Times <strong>and</strong> Seasons 3, no. 9 (March 1, 1842):<br />
714.
166<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
When Governor Lilburn W. Boggs issued the extermination order,<br />
Laura took her family, now enlarged <strong>by</strong> the birth of a son named<br />
Joseph, to the jail to see their father before they fled from Missouri.<br />
“The jailer allowed father to step down stairs with us <strong>and</strong> carry the<br />
ba<strong>by</strong>,” Mary Ann wrote, adding, “We left our home <strong>and</strong> every thing;<br />
just packed up what few things we could <strong>and</strong> came away, we never<br />
got a cent for our property.” 16<br />
Laura wrote a letter to her family in Chicago about the exodus<br />
from Far West, Missouri, to the Mississippi River, which she crossed<br />
into Quincy, Illinois. The letter read in part: “I drove my wagon all<br />
the way; turned over once with my children under the load, but hurt<br />
them but little—I can safely say this day, I am not sorry I ever joined<br />
this Church, for I recollect this company that John saw come up<br />
through great tribulation. We have to be tried like gold seven times<br />
tried.” 17<br />
Laura followed her father, Timothy Baldwin Clark, from<br />
Quincy to Commerce <strong>and</strong> then back across the Mississippi River to<br />
Montrose, Iowa, where he <strong>and</strong> some of his sons (including Ezra T.<br />
Clark, Laura’s younger brother) decided to settle. According to her<br />
daughter Mary Ann, Laura<br />
looked around to find a place for herself <strong>and</strong> children <strong>and</strong><br />
found an old house in the middle of a corn field. The people<br />
who had lived in it . . . told [her] that she was welcome to<br />
move into the old house, but they did not think it was fit for<br />
anyone to live in as they had stabled horses in it <strong>and</strong> it was<br />
in very bad condition. After looking at the place, however,<br />
mother decided that any place was better than to be right<br />
out of doors. The sun was getting so very hot; so she unpacked<br />
our things <strong>and</strong> went to work cleaning up the place.<br />
In cleaning it, Laura’s daughter recalled, “We . . . shoveled the<br />
16. Rich, “Early History,” 6.<br />
17. Phelps, “Life History,” 3.
Laura Clark Phelps (1807–1842) 167<br />
manure out, whitewashed the place, <strong>and</strong> then washed the floor . . .<br />
<strong>and</strong> moved in.” 18<br />
Laura determined to return to Missouri to see her husb<strong>and</strong><br />
<strong>and</strong> attend his trial. Her brother John Wesley Clark joined her on<br />
this journey of 150 miles on horseback. They arrived in Columbia,<br />
Boone County, where the prisoners had been transferred, to find<br />
that Orson Pratt, Parley’s brother, had also arrived for the trial.<br />
Parley wrote: “Previous to their arrival the Lord had shown me in<br />
a vision of the night the manner <strong>and</strong> means of escape. . . . Mrs.<br />
Phelps had the same thing shown to her in a vision previous to her<br />
arrival.” 19<br />
Parley wrote at length of this daring escape; his account shows<br />
Laura’s courage <strong>and</strong> resolve:<br />
Our plan was this: My brother, Orson Pratt, was to wait<br />
on the Judge <strong>and</strong> Attorney, <strong>and</strong> obtain various papers <strong>and</strong><br />
arrangements. . . . He <strong>and</strong> Mrs. Phelps <strong>and</strong> her brother were<br />
to stay with us until the 4th [of July], <strong>and</strong> after celebrating<br />
the day . . . he <strong>and</strong> the young Mr. Clark were to take<br />
leave with their horses, <strong>and</strong> also with the horse <strong>and</strong> saddle<br />
on which Mrs. Phelps had ridden, on pretence of taking<br />
him home with them to Illinois, while she stayed with her<br />
husb<strong>and</strong> a few weeks in the prison; in the meantime engaging<br />
her board in the family of the keeper, who occupied part<br />
of the building in connection with the prison.<br />
This measure, on the part of Mrs. Phelps, served the<br />
double purpose of lulling them into serenity, <strong>and</strong> also of<br />
furnishing a third horse; as there were three of us [Parley P.<br />
Pratt, Morris Phelps, <strong>and</strong> King Follett]. . . .<br />
In this, as in most other fields of battle, where liberty<br />
18. Rich, “Early History,” 7.<br />
19. Parley P. Pratt, Autobiography of Parley Parker Pratt, ed. Parley P. Pratt <strong>Jr</strong>.<br />
(Chicago: Law, King, <strong>and</strong> Law, 1888), 266–67.
168<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
<strong>and</strong> life depend on the issue, every one understood the part<br />
assigned to him <strong>and</strong> exactly filled it. Mr. Follett was to give<br />
the door a sudden pull, <strong>and</strong> fling it wide open the moment<br />
the key was turned. Mr. Phelps being well skilled in wrestling<br />
was to press out foremost, <strong>and</strong> come in contact with<br />
the jailer; I was to follow in the centre, <strong>and</strong> Mr. Follett, who<br />
held the door, was to bring up the rear, while sister Phelps<br />
was to pray.<br />
The plan was enacted as described. Parley continued, “One or two<br />
leaps brought us to the bottom of the stairs, carrying the old gentleman<br />
[jailer] with us headlong, helter skelter, while . . . Mrs. Phelps<br />
exclaimed, ‘O Lord God of Israel, thou canst help.’” 20<br />
Mary Ann’s retelling of her mother’s adventure adds a few details:<br />
Mother said she sat back on the bed in the kitchen, <strong>and</strong><br />
pretty soon she could hear steps <strong>and</strong> a rumbling noise, heard<br />
the jailer call out, <strong>and</strong> she said his wife rushed up stairs to<br />
where he was (she weighed about two hundred pounds.)<br />
The jailer had father clinched, but father jumped down two<br />
pair of stairs, six steps each, <strong>and</strong> with the jailer’s wife hanging<br />
on to one of his arms. He would get rid of her when he<br />
jumped, but she would clinch him again when she again<br />
reached him. . . . Mother said . . . she thought she could<br />
pray if she could do nothing else. She thought she was whispering<br />
a prayer, but they said she hollered just as loud as<br />
her voice would let her, <strong>and</strong> she said, “Oh! Thou God of<br />
Abraham, Isaac <strong>and</strong> Jacob, deliver Thy Servant.” Father said<br />
he felt as strong as a giant when he heard those words; he<br />
just pushed the jailer <strong>and</strong> his wife off as if they were babies<br />
<strong>and</strong> cleared himself. 21<br />
20. Pratt, Autobiography, 268, 274–75.<br />
21. Mary Ann Phelps Rich, “A Hazardous Mission of Love,” in Autobiography<br />
of Mary Ann Phelps Rich, Microfilm, pp. 9–10, Family History Library.
Laura Clark Phelps (1807–1842) 169<br />
Orson Pratt <strong>and</strong> John Wesley Clark held the horses at the<br />
agreed-upon meeting point. Mary Ann recounted what followed:<br />
When he [Morris Phelps] got to his horse, the enemy<br />
had retaken Brother Follet, <strong>and</strong> they had mother’s horse,<br />
which she had given to Mr. Follet. Father was so exhausted<br />
that uncle John had to help him on his horse <strong>and</strong> put the<br />
whip in his h<strong>and</strong>. . . . It soon commenced to storm, <strong>and</strong><br />
father’s hat was knocked off in the struggle with the jailer; so<br />
he was bareheaded.<br />
The enemy returned with Brother Follet on my mother’s<br />
horse, which, of course, was pretty plain evidence against<br />
her. The jailer called her [Laura] everything <strong>and</strong> told her to<br />
be gone out of his sight. She told him to get her shawl <strong>and</strong><br />
bonnet <strong>and</strong> she would leave; he told her to go up stairs <strong>and</strong><br />
get them, but she said no, for them to bring them to her, as<br />
she knew the windows were open up there, <strong>and</strong> she thought<br />
they might throw her out of one. 22<br />
It is remarkable that Laura, a lone woman, chose to remain at<br />
the scene, her own life at risk. Parley P. Pratt wrote of Laura’s experience<br />
with the jailer <strong>and</strong> the mob after the brethren escaped:<br />
As soon as the prisoners had cleared from the jailer, <strong>and</strong><br />
were fairly under way, Mrs. Phelps, who was still an inmate<br />
of the dwelling, became the particular object of their spite<br />
<strong>and</strong> rage. The old jailer <strong>and</strong> his wife commenced to rail <strong>and</strong><br />
curse her as the author of all the mischief. They threatened<br />
her with instant death, <strong>and</strong> finally turned her out of doors in<br />
the dusk of the evening, <strong>and</strong> in the midst of a mob who had<br />
gathered in great numbers around the prison <strong>and</strong> raging like<br />
22. Rich, “Hazardous Mission,” 9–10. King Follett was released from jail several<br />
months after his recapture on account of his age <strong>and</strong> his not being a Church<br />
leader.
170<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
so many tigers disappointed of their prey. Being a stranger<br />
<strong>and</strong> without money, friends, or acquaintances in the place,<br />
she knew not where to go or what to do. She finally sat<br />
down in the open air in the midst of the mob, <strong>by</strong> whom she<br />
was assailed, cursed, insulted, threatened, <strong>and</strong> abused in the<br />
most unfeeling manner for some time. 23<br />
Mary Ann recorded some additional details her mother must<br />
have told her:<br />
A gentleman . . . seeing the door-ways crowded with<br />
men <strong>and</strong> boys, said to the jailer, ‘How do you expect this<br />
lady to get out of this place;’ the jailer said he did not care<br />
how she got out . . . if she did not get out of his way before<br />
dark, he would soon put her out of the way. This gentleman<br />
said he would see her safely out, <strong>and</strong> took her <strong>by</strong> the h<strong>and</strong>,<br />
<strong>and</strong> as they went out she picked up my father’s hat. 24<br />
He left her in the prison courtyard.<br />
A little boy surnamed <strong>Richard</strong>son had witnessed the entire event<br />
<strong>and</strong> heard the jailer’s threat. He ran home, “crying as though his<br />
heart would break.” Upon hearing his story, his parents took him<br />
back to the courthouse. Mr. <strong>Richard</strong>son said to his wife: “Elizabeth,<br />
you take this lady to our home. If her husb<strong>and</strong> were the greatest<br />
murderer in the world, we could not see anyone in our town treated<br />
with such cruelty as this.” 25<br />
The <strong>Richard</strong>sons proved to be true friends. They returned to<br />
the jail the next day <strong>and</strong> collected items belonging to Morris. They<br />
searched until they found the sidesaddle that the mobbers had disfigured<br />
<strong>and</strong> discarded after one of them rode Laura’s horse while<br />
searching for the escapees. After a few days Mr. <strong>Richard</strong>son located<br />
23. Pratt, Autobiography, 287.<br />
24. Rich, “Hazardous Mission,” 10–11.<br />
25. Rich, “Hazardous Mission,” 11.
Laura Clark Phelps (1807–1842) 171<br />
Laura’s horse, too, which had been sorely used. Mr. <strong>Richard</strong>son repaired<br />
the saddle <strong>and</strong> nursed the horse back to health. Mary Ann<br />
wrote, “Mother stayed with these good people ten days; never heard<br />
a word as to whether father was dead or alive, but mother was a<br />
woman with lots of faith <strong>and</strong> courage.” 26<br />
Laura was determined to return to her family, despite the<br />
<strong>Richard</strong>sons’ concerns about the dangers for a woman traveling<br />
alone through unsettled country where b<strong>and</strong>its roamed. Finally, they<br />
all agreed that Laura would travel a good part of the way with the<br />
mail boy. “They had to travel late at night <strong>and</strong> start out early in the<br />
morning, but she told them she could st<strong>and</strong> it. She had preached<br />
Mormonism to them all the while she was there, <strong>and</strong> she left a <strong>Book</strong><br />
of Mormon <strong>and</strong> a Hymn book with them. She had also sung to<br />
them the songs of Zion, as she was a great h<strong>and</strong> to sing.” 27<br />
Laura told her daughter about the last miles she traveled alone<br />
after leaving the mail boy. Mary Ann wrote: “She had ridden fifty<br />
miles <strong>and</strong> was just starting into the woods (the timber in that country<br />
was very thick,) <strong>and</strong> she said this was the first time her courage<br />
failed her, she had such a lonesome, dismal feeling come over her . . .<br />
<strong>and</strong> she did not know what would accost her . . . because it was getting<br />
dark.” Then, amazingly, she saw a man coming on horseback. It<br />
proved to be King Follett’s son who had been sent to find out if she<br />
had ended up in prison because no one had heard from her. With<br />
him she traveled to Quincy, Illinois, where Morris was recovering<br />
from eight months in prison <strong>and</strong> three days without food or rest<br />
during his escape. Laura also found that Orson Pratt <strong>and</strong> her brother<br />
John had safely arrived there after walking more than a hundred<br />
miles from Columbia, Missouri. 28<br />
Laura <strong>and</strong> Morris still feared for Morris’s safety <strong>and</strong> did not<br />
26. Rich, “Hazardous Mission,” 11–12.<br />
27. Rich, “Hazardous Mission,” 12.<br />
28. Mary Ann Phelps Rich, “A Happy Reunion,” in Autobiography of Mary Ann<br />
Phelps Rich, Microfilm, pp. 12–13, Family History Library.
172<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
dare stay even with the kind people of Quincy. After only a few<br />
days, Laura <strong>and</strong> her husb<strong>and</strong> left their children with neighbors <strong>and</strong><br />
traveled to Kirtl<strong>and</strong> to see Morris’s family, whom Laura had never<br />
met. Laura <strong>and</strong> Morris attempted to teach his Phelps relatives the<br />
gospel, to no avail. During their lengthy time away from Illinois,<br />
Laura gave birth to Jacob, her fifth child.<br />
In July 1840 the family was reunited. “We were overjoyed at<br />
seeing our father <strong>and</strong> mother again,” Mary Ann wrote. “No tongue<br />
could express our feelings at being together again, all alive <strong>and</strong> well.”<br />
But this season of happiness <strong>and</strong> reunion was not to last. The last<br />
sentences in Mary Ann’s account of her mother’s life are tender:<br />
We moved to a town twenty miles from Nauvoo<br />
called Masedonia. Here we located <strong>and</strong> soon all were our<br />
friends. . . . We lived there about a year <strong>and</strong> a half, which<br />
were the happiest of our lives; then my mother was taken<br />
sick <strong>and</strong> died, leaving her five children, three girls <strong>and</strong> two<br />
boys, the ba<strong>by</strong> one <strong>and</strong> a half years old. We were all heartbroken<br />
<strong>and</strong> did not know how to manage without mother.<br />
She was buried in Nauvoo. . . . Hard work <strong>and</strong> exposure had<br />
broken her health.” 29<br />
Heber C. Kimball, author of Laura’s obituary <strong>and</strong> a speaker at<br />
her funeral, said: “It is with deep regret that we announce the death<br />
of our highly esteemed <strong>and</strong> worthy sister, Laura Phelps, consort of<br />
Morris Phelps, who departed this life Feb. 2d, in the 36 th year of her<br />
age. . . . She was one of the first who embraced the gospel . . . [<strong>and</strong>]<br />
manifested to the world that no sacrifice was too great for her to<br />
make for the cause which she had espoused.” 30<br />
The Prophet Joseph Smith said at her funeral that “she had<br />
29. Rich, “Happy Reunion,” 14.<br />
30. Kimball, “Obituary,” 713.
Laura Clark Phelps (1807–1842) 173<br />
lived her life very fast <strong>and</strong> her salvation was sure.” 31 In the compiled<br />
History of the Church she is remembered thus:<br />
Sister Laura Phelps, wife of Morris Phelps, died, age 36<br />
years. She was driven from Jackson county in 1833, was in<br />
the persecution of Missouri, in 1838, <strong>and</strong> went from Iowa<br />
to Missouri to assist in liberating her husb<strong>and</strong>, <strong>and</strong> was left<br />
in the prison yard when he made his escape, willing to suffer<br />
all the abuses a savage horde could inflict upon her to set her<br />
companion free from the grasp of his murderous enemies.<br />
Her rest is glorious. 32<br />
31. Rich, “Happy Reunion,” 14.<br />
32. Joseph Smith, History of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, ed.<br />
B. H. Roberts, 2nd ed. rev., 7 vols. (Salt Lake City, UT: The Church of Jesus<br />
Christ of Latter-day Saints, 1932–51), 4:513.
Chapter Forty-Nine<br />
“A Good Old Mother <strong>and</strong><br />
a Fine Old Lady”<br />
Mary Presdee Phillips (1773–1871)<br />
Jay G. Burrup<br />
Biographical Sketch<br />
In the 1830s, Mary Presdee Phillips, a widow <strong>and</strong> midwife, was<br />
one of several hundred devout members of the United Brethren<br />
religious sect residing in the rural agrarian villages of Engl<strong>and</strong>’s West<br />
Midl<strong>and</strong>s. Despite being somewhat advanced in years, Mary resolutely<br />
decided in the spring of 1840 to leave the Primitive Methodist<br />
movement <strong>and</strong> become a Latter-day Saint. That choice <strong>and</strong> its dramatic<br />
consequences, which included migrating to America, profoundly<br />
shaped her future for the next three decades. Nearly all<br />
those years were spent living a hardscrabble pioneer life on the western<br />
frontier of the United States. Although Mary was illiterate <strong>and</strong><br />
left no life writings, her profound faith, undaunted courage, <strong>and</strong> resilient<br />
determination distinguished her as a Latter-day Saint convert<br />
<strong>and</strong> pioneer. 1<br />
1. Church of Engl<strong>and</strong>, St. Andrew’s Parish, City of Worcester (Worcestershire),<br />
174
Mary Presdee Phillips (1773–1871) 175<br />
Although various sources suggest that Mary was born in December<br />
1773, her christening occurred a year later on De cember 27,<br />
1774, in the Church of Engl<strong>and</strong> parish of Alfrick, Worcestershire.<br />
Mary’s parents were James <strong>and</strong> Mary Purshull Presdee, <strong>and</strong> she was<br />
the eldest of ten children. 2<br />
About five months after Mary’s father died in 1793, she was<br />
united in marriage at age twenty with William Phillips, of Oxenhall,<br />
Gloucestershire. The couple was married <strong>by</strong> license on December 3<br />
of that year at St. Andrew’s Parish in the city of Worcester. 3 The newlyweds<br />
settled near<strong>by</strong> in the village of Leigh, where their first several<br />
children were born. 4 William worked as a farmer <strong>and</strong> laborer to support<br />
his family, which burgeoned to twelve children. Presumably,<br />
three of the children died before reaching age twelve. The Phillipses<br />
Parish registers, 1754–1934, Microfilm, Family History Library, The Church of<br />
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah, hereafter cited as Family<br />
History Library. Mary signed her marriage entry with an “X,” indicating she was<br />
illiterate.<br />
2. Church of Engl<strong>and</strong>, Alfrick Parish (Worcestershire), Parish registers, 1655–<br />
1812, Microfilm, Family History Library. Mary’s patriarchal blessing given on<br />
January 31, 1853, <strong>by</strong> John Smith states she was born December (no day listed)<br />
1773. The blessing given on February 17, 1865, <strong>by</strong> John Young gives her birth<br />
date as December 2, 1773; copies in author’s possession. Blessing of 1853 is on<br />
file at the Church History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah, hereafter cited as Church<br />
History Library. Wilford Woodruff’s journal entry of November 12, 1864, states<br />
that Mary “will be 91 years old in 3 weeks.” Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, ed.<br />
Scott G. Kenney, 9 vols. (Midvale, UT: Signature <strong>Book</strong>s, 1983–84), 6:195–96.<br />
Mary’s gravestone uses the date December 4, 1773. See also Jeanne R. Mooney,<br />
Family Group Record for James <strong>and</strong> Mary Purshull Presdee, 1989, copy in author’s<br />
possession. A common variant spelling of Presdee is Pressdee. Family records often<br />
record Mary’s name as Mary Ann, although christening <strong>and</strong> marriage records refer<br />
to her simply as Mary.<br />
3. Church of Engl<strong>and</strong>, St. Andrew’s Parish, Registers, 1754–1934.<br />
4. Jay Greaves Burrup, Family Group Record for William <strong>and</strong> Mary Presdee<br />
Phillips, 1981, copy in author’s possession; “Ancestral File Record: Mary Presdee,”<br />
NewFamilySearch, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, accessed<br />
December 7, 2011, https://new.familysearch.org.
176<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
moved frequently between rented farms in Leigh, Worcestershire;<br />
Cradley, Herefordshire; <strong>and</strong> Oxenhall, Gloucestershire, tight-knit<br />
villages located near each other but in three different counties. 5<br />
Because of incomplete records, some of William <strong>and</strong> Mary’s children’s<br />
birth or christening dates cannot be determined. 6<br />
In November 1825, William died at age sixty-two at Longley<br />
Green, near Suckley, Worcestershire. Mary, then aged fifty one, was<br />
left to care for six children under age eighteen; her two eldest daughters<br />
<strong>and</strong> eldest living son likely had households of their own. The<br />
couple’s son Edward, who was only twelve years old at the time,<br />
assumed partial responsibility for supporting his mother <strong>and</strong> several<br />
siblings <strong>by</strong> farming <strong>and</strong> blacksmithing. 7<br />
Life Experiences<br />
Mary Presdee Phillips was religiously inclined <strong>and</strong> enthusiastic<br />
in her pursuit of spirituality. Christened in the Church of Engl<strong>and</strong>,<br />
she distanced herself from Anglicanism <strong>and</strong> united with the<br />
Countess of Huntingdon’s Connexion, a Calvinistic evangelical sect,<br />
for about fifteen years. After becoming disaffected from that persuasion,<br />
she joined a local Primitive Methodist break-off sect called the<br />
“United Brethren.” 8 This group, superintended <strong>by</strong> Thomas Kington<br />
of Dymock, Gloucestershire, was composed of several hundred adherents<br />
who had organized themselves into congregations <strong>and</strong> obtained<br />
non-conformist licenses that allowed them to use members’<br />
homes as sites where the group’s male <strong>and</strong> female preachers rotated<br />
their sermons according to a published schedule. 9 Edward Phillips,<br />
5. Sylvia Phillips, “Biographical Sketch of Edward Phillips,” 1889, p. 1, Church<br />
History Library. Burrup, Family Group Record for William <strong>and</strong> Mary Presdee<br />
Phillips.<br />
6. Birth <strong>and</strong> christening information is lacking for Elizabeth, Ann, <strong>and</strong> James.<br />
7. Phillips, “Biographical Sketch,” 1.<br />
8. “Obituaries,” <strong>Deseret</strong> News [Weekly], February 1, 1871.<br />
9. Cynthia Doxey Green, “Wilford Woodruff: Missionary in Herefordshire,” in
Mary Presdee Phillips (1773–1871) 177<br />
then in his mid-twenties, served as one of the Brethren’s fervent circuit<br />
preachers. 10<br />
In early March 1840, Latter-day Saint apostle Wilford<br />
Woodruff, who was proselytizing in Staffordshire’s famed pottery<br />
district, felt inwardly compelled to visit his friend William Benbow’s<br />
brother John, who resided some distance away at Hill Farm in Castle<br />
Frome Parish, Herefordshire. John was an earnest member of the<br />
United Brethren <strong>and</strong> a successful farmer. John <strong>and</strong> his wife, Jane,<br />
were quickly convinced of the truth of Elder Woodruff’s message<br />
regarding the first principles of the gospel <strong>and</strong> the restoration of<br />
biblical doctrines through Joseph Smith, a modern-day prophet.<br />
John perceived this message as the further light <strong>and</strong> knowledge that<br />
the United Brethren had been prayerfully seeking. John, Jane, <strong>and</strong><br />
other Benbow family members were soon baptized <strong>and</strong> began inviting<br />
groups of fellow Brethren <strong>and</strong> neighbors to gather at their commodious<br />
home <strong>and</strong> outbuildings to hear Elder Woodruff’s dynamic<br />
sermons. Reportedly, news of the conversions “flew through all parts<br />
of the country like electricity.” 11<br />
Edward Phillips was one of the Brethren invited to attend meetings<br />
held at Hill Farm. He remembered that as he left home one<br />
day to hear Elder Woodruff preach, his “good old mother” said,<br />
“Edward, I should think you will not come back without being<br />
baptized.” 12 Edward obeyed her counsel, <strong>and</strong> after being baptized<br />
Banner of the Gospel: Wilford Woodruff, ed. Alex<strong>and</strong>er L. Baugh <strong>and</strong> Susan Easton<br />
Black (Provo, UT: Brigham Young University, Religious Studies Center; Salt Lake<br />
City, UT: <strong>Deseret</strong> <strong>Book</strong>, 2010), 153–54. See also “United Brethren Preachers’<br />
Plan of the Frooms Hill Circuit, 1840,” in James B. Allen, Ronald K. Esplin, <strong>and</strong><br />
David J. Whittaker, Men with a Mission, 1837–1841: The Quorum of the Twelve<br />
Apostles in the British Isles (Salt Lake City, UT: <strong>Deseret</strong> <strong>Book</strong>, 1992), 127.<br />
10. Phillips, “Biographical Sketch,” 1. See also “United Brethren Preachers’<br />
Plan.”<br />
11. “Elder Woodruff’s Letter (Concluded),” Times <strong>and</strong> Seasons 2 (March 1,<br />
1841): 327–28.<br />
12. Phillips, “Biographical Sketch,” 1.
178<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
on March 30, 1840, at Frome’s Hill, he was ordained to the office<br />
of priest <strong>and</strong> assigned to take charge of the branches at Ashfield <strong>and</strong><br />
Crocutt near Leigh. 13 In the fall he was ordained to the office of<br />
elder <strong>and</strong> assigned to proselytize with fellow convert John Gailey<br />
in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, an area in which some of<br />
Edward’s relatives lived. 14<br />
Mary soon followed the counsel she had given Edward. Less<br />
than a month after her son was baptized, she was baptized <strong>by</strong><br />
Elder Woodruff on April 27 at Moorend Cross near Mathon,<br />
Herefordshire. 15 Mary’s daughter Susanna <strong>and</strong> son-in-law John<br />
Hyrum Green were soon baptized, as well. 16 Susanna had married<br />
John, a widower with a young son, in 1835. John was a locally renowned<br />
pugilist of Acton Beauchamp, near Alfrick. He had previously<br />
married Susannah Burrup, <strong>and</strong> the couple had a son, Thomas,<br />
in 1826. 17<br />
Another of Mary’s daughters, Ann, had married John Burrup<br />
(Susannah Burrup’s brother), who was a farmer <strong>and</strong> carpenter,<br />
in 1832. Ann died four years later at age twenty-five after giving<br />
birth to three sons, two of whom died in early childhood. John had<br />
13. Phillips, “Biographical Sketch,” 1. See also Kenney, Wilford Woodruff’s Journal,<br />
1:381, 444. Although Edward apparently did not remember the date of his<br />
baptism, Wilford Woodruff recorded that he baptized Edward on March 30, 1840,<br />
<strong>and</strong> ordained him to the office of priest about a month later, on April 26.<br />
14. Phillips, “Biographical Sketch,” 1.<br />
15. Kenney, Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, 1:384–85.<br />
16. Phillips, “Biographical Sketch,” 1. For Susanna’s baptismal date, see Record<br />
of Members, Layton 1st Ward, Davis Stake, early to 1907, Microfilm, Church<br />
History Library. Susanna reported that she was baptized in 1840 <strong>and</strong> confirmed <strong>by</strong><br />
William Jenkins. For John H. Green’s baptismal date, see Bountiful Utah Orchard<br />
Stake, Melchizedek Priesthood minutes <strong>and</strong> records (of Davis Stake), 1884–1915,<br />
Microfilm, Church History Library. John reported he was baptized “in the month<br />
of May 1840” <strong>and</strong> confirmed <strong>by</strong> John Cheese.<br />
17. Inez Robinson Preece, “History of John Hyrum Green,” p. 1, Daughters of<br />
Utah Pioneers Museum, Salt Lake City, Utah, copy in author’s possession.
Mary Presdee Phillips (1773–1871) 179<br />
subsequently married Martha Grice <strong>by</strong> the time Elder Woodruff ar-<br />
rived in the West Midl<strong>and</strong>s. 18 Mary’s interest in the restored gospel<br />
apparently caught John <strong>and</strong> Martha’s attention <strong>and</strong> that of John’s<br />
widowed <strong>and</strong> elderly mother, Susanna Dutson Burrup. 19 Within<br />
only a few months, a substantial number of the interrelated Phillips,<br />
Green, <strong>and</strong> Burrup families had become Latter-day Saints. Most of<br />
the converts eagerly embraced the doctrine of leaving Ba<strong>by</strong>lon be-<br />
hind <strong>and</strong> gathering to Zion in Nauvoo, Illinois, with the Prophet<br />
Joseph Smith <strong>and</strong> thous<strong>and</strong>s of fellow Saints.<br />
Although the doctrine of gathering must have seemed inspiring<br />
<strong>and</strong> adventurous to the new converts, it likely caused deep contem-<br />
plation on Mary’s part. She was an elderly widow who relied heavily<br />
on family members for support. If she emigrated, she would have to<br />
offer the Lord her solemn personal sacrifice: never returning to her<br />
homel<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> never again seeing her children <strong>and</strong> gr<strong>and</strong>children<br />
who would remain behind. A strenuous <strong>and</strong> potentially dangerous<br />
voyage to America lay ahead, <strong>and</strong> it would surely test the limits of<br />
her physical <strong>and</strong> emotional endurance. Fellow Latter-day Saint con-<br />
vert William Clayton, who immigrated to Nauvoo the year before<br />
Mary, commented on the courage that new converts <strong>and</strong> immigrants<br />
needed: “Those that come to this l<strong>and</strong> must set their minds firm to<br />
come through all <strong>and</strong> not flinch if death should stare them in the<br />
18. Jay Greaves Burrup, Family Group Record of John <strong>and</strong> Ann Phillips<br />
Burrup, 1981, copy in author’s possession.<br />
19. Kenney, Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, 1:385. See also William Thurgood,<br />
Diaries, January 21, February 7, <strong>and</strong> April 17, 1859, Microfilm of holograph,<br />
Church History Library. John <strong>and</strong> Martha’s baptismal dates have not been determined,<br />
but in April 1859 they <strong>and</strong> other apparently longst<strong>and</strong>ing members<br />
who remained in the Suckley, Worcestershire, area were excommunicated <strong>by</strong><br />
Elder Thurgood for “total neglect of duty <strong>and</strong> for refusing to comply with the<br />
Reformation.” One of the requirements of the Reformation was being rebaptized<br />
as a sign of recommitment.
180<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
face. The Lord calls for valient hearted men who are not afraid to<br />
die.” 20<br />
Sister Melling, another British convert <strong>and</strong> migrant, echoed this<br />
counsel <strong>and</strong> added her own caution:<br />
In gathering to this l<strong>and</strong> many shake out <strong>by</strong> the way,<br />
<strong>and</strong> others after they arrive, but one solemn fact is, all those<br />
who fall away immediately begin to curse <strong>and</strong> swear, tell lies,<br />
<strong>and</strong> get drunk, <strong>and</strong>, finally, if they do not speedily repent,<br />
will go down to hell. Do not persuade any barren soul to<br />
come here—we want men of faith, who can sacrifice their<br />
all for Christ’s sake <strong>and</strong> the Gospel’s. 21<br />
Undoubtedly added to Mary’s concerns about her own trial of<br />
faith <strong>and</strong> endurance was the worry of what to do with her ten-yearold<br />
gr<strong>and</strong>son, James Burrup. His mother Ann, Mary’s daughter,<br />
was dead, his two younger brothers had also died, <strong>and</strong> his father<br />
<strong>and</strong> stepmother were focused on their own family. James’s widowed<br />
paternal gr<strong>and</strong>mother, Susanna Burrup, was almost as elderly as<br />
Mary. Susanna had been baptized <strong>by</strong> Elder Woodruff <strong>and</strong> yearned to<br />
gather to Zion, too. Although they had also been converted to the<br />
new faith, James’s father <strong>and</strong> stepmother seem to have been either<br />
reluctant or financially unable to migrate so quickly. Mary probably<br />
debated in her mind what would become of young James were he<br />
left in Engl<strong>and</strong>. She must have concluded that he would be better<br />
off spiritually if he left with her <strong>and</strong> the extended Phillips family.<br />
Stoked with the fire of faith <strong>and</strong> trust in the Lord, Mary took James<br />
20. William Clayton to Edward Martin, November 29, 1840, Nauvoo Res to ration<br />
Inc. Collection, Church History Library.<br />
21. “Extract of a Letter from Sister Melling, who lately emigrated from Preston,<br />
Engl<strong>and</strong>, to Nauvoo, United States,” Millennial Star 2 (October 1841): 96.<br />
Attempts <strong>by</strong> the author to determine the exact identity of Sister Melling have been<br />
fruitless. She may have been the wife of Peter Melling (1787–1844), first patriarch<br />
of the British Mission.
Mary Presdee Phillips (1773–1871) 181<br />
under her wing <strong>and</strong> determined to do the best she could <strong>by</strong> sharing<br />
responsibility for his upbringing with his gr<strong>and</strong>mother Burrup.<br />
The only known account of the voyage of Mary <strong>and</strong> her family<br />
to America is preserved in Edward’s brief reminiscences. He remembered<br />
that a group of about one hundred converts, many from<br />
the Herefordshire area <strong>and</strong> superintended <strong>by</strong> Thomas <strong>Richard</strong>son,<br />
traveled first to Gloucester <strong>and</strong> then to Bristol, where they boarded<br />
the ship Caroline. Setting sail on August 8, 1841, the ship arrived in<br />
Quebec, Canada, after “a tedious voyage of eight weeks <strong>and</strong> three<br />
days.” 22<br />
A newspaper in Quebec, La Gazette de Quebec, noted the<br />
Mormon migrants’ arrival. Referring to an unnamed English newspaper’s<br />
assessment of the group, La Gazette reprinted the paper’s<br />
comments:<br />
Public curiosity has been quite excited during the last<br />
few days, in the city of Gloucester, <strong>by</strong> the departure of a<br />
great number of deceived peasants (Mormonites), young<br />
<strong>and</strong> old, for the “New Jerusalem” in America. Some of those<br />
poor dupes, who have sold comfortable households <strong>and</strong><br />
properties, are on the brink of their own grave, but believe<br />
that when they arrive in their American paradise, they will<br />
be rejuvenated <strong>and</strong> will live one thous<strong>and</strong> years! 23<br />
Another issue of La Gazette reported further:<br />
A group of Mormons, numbering 60 to 70 individuals,<br />
passed through this city [Quebec] a few days ago, bound for<br />
Nauvoo, Illinois. . . . They are represented as being harmless<br />
<strong>and</strong> not without some resource. Believing in the efficacy<br />
of prayer as the means of curing all diseases is for them an<br />
22. Phillips, “Biographical Sketch,” 1.<br />
23. “The Mormonites,” La Gazette de Quebec, October 23, 1841, translation of<br />
article in author’s possession.
182<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
article of faith. After arriving here, they found shelter in the<br />
places of refuge provided for the immigrants. While there,<br />
one of their children suffered from a toothache, <strong>and</strong> immediately<br />
two members of the sect laid their h<strong>and</strong>s upon his<br />
head, <strong>and</strong> asked the Almighty to heal him. It would seem<br />
that those unfortunate creatures have fallen victims to the<br />
cupidity of certain mountebanks who deal in the transportation<br />
of such travelers. It is the more shameful since it seems<br />
that these new immigrants have placed themselves completely<br />
at their mercy. 24<br />
After leaving the French Canadians, the converts progressed<br />
steadfastly toward Nauvoo. Edward remembered:<br />
From Quebec, we went to Montreal <strong>by</strong> steamer, <strong>and</strong><br />
from Montreal through the lock to Kingston <strong>and</strong> then we<br />
sailed along Lake Ontario to Lewiston. We had a fine view<br />
of the city of Toronto. From Lewiston we boarded a train<br />
(which was drawn <strong>by</strong> mules) for Niagara Falls. There we tarried<br />
one night <strong>and</strong> had a fine view of the beautiful falls.<br />
The next day, we boarded the train for Buffalo [New<br />
York] <strong>and</strong> arrived at that place after dark. We put up at the<br />
farmers exchange for a week. We then boarded the Ches[a]<br />
peake for where now st<strong>and</strong>s the great city of Chicago. We<br />
hired a man to take us from there to Nauvoo with a team<br />
which contract he filled. We arrived at Nauvoo in the latter<br />
part of October 1841 on Saturday. On Sunday, I was<br />
anxious to see the prophet [Joseph Smith]. I attended meeting<br />
there <strong>and</strong> saw him for the first time. I did not need an<br />
introduction for I knew him the moment I saw him. He<br />
24. “A Group of Mormons,” La Gazette de Quebec, October 21, 1841, translation<br />
of article in author’s possession.
Mary Presdee Phillips (1773–1871) 183<br />
preached the gospel of salvation to us that morning which<br />
caused my heart to rejoice. 25<br />
After arriving in Nauvoo, Mary settled at Camp Creek, a Latter-<br />
day Saint farming community about fifteen miles east of the city.<br />
Mary’s son Edward <strong>and</strong> his wife, Hannah Simmons, whom he mar-<br />
ried in 1842, joined her there. Susanna Burrup also settled at Camp<br />
Creek with gr<strong>and</strong>sons James Burrup <strong>and</strong> Thomas Green. 26 Mary was<br />
delighted at the birth of Edward <strong>and</strong> Hannah’s first two children,<br />
Frances Sarah <strong>and</strong> William Robert, <strong>and</strong> likely served as the attending<br />
midwife during their births. Subsequently, grief struck the Phillips<br />
family when Frances died at age one <strong>and</strong> William at two months.<br />
The location of their graves is unknown. 27<br />
During the fall of 1845, anti-Mormon mobs began threaten-<br />
ing the Saints <strong>and</strong> burning the homes <strong>and</strong> fields of Nauvoo’s sat-<br />
ellite farming communities. The antagonism <strong>and</strong> hostilities soon<br />
reached Camp Creek. Church leaders in Nauvoo encouraged the<br />
outlying Saints to move into Nauvoo as quickly as possible <strong>and</strong> or-<br />
ganized teams <strong>and</strong> wagons to help transport them to the city’s safer<br />
confines. 28 Mary, Edward, Hannah <strong>and</strong> family, Susanna <strong>and</strong> James<br />
Burrup, <strong>and</strong> Thomas Green were likely among those who moved to<br />
Nauvoo to escape further threats <strong>and</strong> incendiary attacks. Reportedly,<br />
Mary was quite ill during the forced relocation. 29 Susanna Burrup<br />
25. Phillips, “Biographical Sketch,” 1.<br />
26. Camp Creek Branch, Record, 1842–1845, Church History Library. See<br />
also Phillips, “Biographical Sketch,” 2. James Burrup was not baptized until May<br />
or June 1844. It seems that the branch record was not kept current.<br />
27. Hannah Maria Phillips Layton, “Brief Sketch of the Life of Hannah<br />
Simmonds Phillips,” 1926, p. 2, Church History Library.<br />
28. Journal History of the Church, September 14, 16, 23, <strong>and</strong> 24, 1845,<br />
Church History Library, hereafter cited as Journal History.<br />
29. “Obituaries.”
184<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
may have died around this time, leaving young teenager James to the<br />
care of the Phillips <strong>and</strong> Green families. 30<br />
In preparing to leave with the Latter-day Saints ab<strong>and</strong>oning<br />
Nauvoo under mob pressure in early 1846, Edward tried to sell his<br />
farm at Camp Creek. In the process, he encountered bitter anti-<br />
Mormon resentment in a potentially deadly situation. He recorded:<br />
I went to McDonald’s near McAween’s [McQueen’s] Mill<br />
to try to sell my little farm. There I found a few of Joseph<br />
<strong>and</strong> Hyrum’s murderers drinking together. One of them was<br />
“Old Tom Dickson” of Locus[t] Grove, <strong>and</strong> an old professed<br />
friend of mine. If it had not been for him, I expect they<br />
would have butchered me also for they placed a pistol in the<br />
h<strong>and</strong>s of a little boy about eight years of age, <strong>and</strong> told him<br />
to say [to me] “Damn you Sir, I could kill you.” The little<br />
fellow swung his revolver <strong>and</strong> acted bravely over the affair. 31<br />
Fortunately, Edward was able to disengage himself from the malevolent<br />
scene without being harmed. He did not record whether or not<br />
he was able to sell his property to others.<br />
Family sources record that Mary brought with her from Engl<strong>and</strong><br />
several chests of fine linens, which she was obliged to sell in order<br />
to raise money for her family to outfit themselves for the journey<br />
to Iowa <strong>and</strong> then to Utah. 32 She <strong>and</strong> her family, including seven<br />
gr<strong>and</strong>children, left for Iowa in May 1846 <strong>and</strong> settled near Winter<br />
Quarters. There they later joined the congregation of Saints near<br />
30. Susanna took part in baptisms for deceased family members in the Nauvoo<br />
Temple on August 10, 1844. No record of her life beyond that date has yet been<br />
found. Her death was not noted in the Camp Creek (Illinois) Branch records,<br />
<strong>and</strong> her name does not appear in the Lake Branch (Iowa) records of ca. 1848–49.<br />
Details regarding her death <strong>and</strong> burial location appear to have gone unrecorded.<br />
31. Phillips, “Biographical Sketch,” 2. McQueen’s Mill was located a few miles<br />
north of Camp Creek near Shokokon, Henderson County, Illinois.<br />
32. Colleen Willey, “Mary Ann Pressdee Phillips” (unpublished manuscript,<br />
August 1986), p. 2, copy in author’s possession.
Mary Presdee Phillips (1773–1871) 185<br />
Council Bluffs identified as “Lake Branch.” 33 It appears that Mary<br />
suffered the loss of nearly all her remaining possessions in a fire<br />
while living in the Saints’ temporary settlements in Iowa. 34<br />
Mary <strong>and</strong> gr<strong>and</strong>son James traveled from Iowa to Utah in 1849<br />
with Mary’s son Edward, his wife, Hannah, <strong>and</strong> their family. They<br />
migrated with the Samuel Gully–Orson Spencer Company, arriving<br />
in the Salt Lake Valley in the latter part of September 1849. Mary’s<br />
daughter Susanna, her husb<strong>and</strong> John Green, <strong>and</strong> their family joined<br />
the George A. Smith–Dan Jones Company. They arrived in the<br />
Salt Lake Valley in October 1849, only one month after the Gully–<br />
Spencer Company arrived. 35 Edward described one of the challenges<br />
the Gully–Spencer Company faced while crossing Nebraska:<br />
The cholera was very troublesome on the road, it being<br />
the year of the California gold craze. A great many of<br />
the emigrants died of cholera. It also got among the Indians<br />
<strong>and</strong> made them very angry with the whites for crossing<br />
their country. A great many of them were camped at Scotch<br />
[Scotts] Bluffs, <strong>and</strong> were threaten[ing] to war with the emigrants.<br />
When we arrived at Scotch [Scotts] Bluffs, soldiers<br />
were called for at Fort Laramie to come <strong>and</strong> meet us which<br />
they did <strong>and</strong> guarded us through in safety. 36<br />
After arriving in Utah <strong>and</strong> settling temporarily in Salt Lake City,<br />
Mary once again uprooted herself in April 1850 <strong>and</strong> moved with<br />
33. Lake Branch (Iowa), Record, 1848–1851, Church History Library.<br />
34. “Obituaries.”<br />
35. “Samuel Gully/Orson Spencer Company (1849),” <strong>and</strong> “George A. Smith/<br />
Dan Jones Company (1849),” Mormon Pioneer Overl<strong>and</strong> Travel Database,<br />
1847–1868, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, accessed December<br />
7, 2011, http://mormontrail.lds.org; Phillips, “Biographical Sketch,” 3. See<br />
also Journal History, Church emigration of 1849, pp. 6–7 (following entry for<br />
December 31, 1849).<br />
36. Phillips, “Biographical Sketch,” 3.
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Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
Edward’s family, the Greens, <strong>and</strong> gr<strong>and</strong>son James to settle in what is<br />
now Kaysville. 37 Close friends William <strong>and</strong> Mary Bennett Kay <strong>and</strong><br />
family joined them a day later. 38<br />
At age seventy-six, Mary had finally established her last home—<br />
a rustic log cabin situated in an austere, semiarid desert bordered <strong>by</strong><br />
snow-capped mountain peaks on the east <strong>and</strong> the desolate shoreline<br />
of the Great Salt Lake on the west. The setting was almost completely<br />
opposite that of her native Alfrick, nestled in the undulating<br />
green hills <strong>and</strong> lush meadows of Worcestershire. Settling into<br />
her Spartan circumstances in Zion, Mary quickly immersed herself<br />
in serving the fledgling community as a midwife. Family tradition<br />
suggests that she delivered nearly a thous<strong>and</strong> babies in the Kaysville<br />
area in the twenty years she lived there. Her medical skills seem to<br />
have been multifaceted—one of her descendants recorded that when<br />
David E. Layton’s lip was cut badly, Mary sewed it up with needle<br />
<strong>and</strong> thread, <strong>and</strong> it healed nicely. 39<br />
Living on the western frontier presented unusual situations that<br />
Mary would not have encountered in Engl<strong>and</strong>. After losing nearly<br />
all her possessions in a fire in Iowa, she had only a few pieces of<br />
willow-ware china remaining. Family tradition recounts that an<br />
Indian appeared at Mary’s door one day <strong>and</strong> threatened violence<br />
if she did not give him the remaining dishes. Mary surrendered<br />
the china but somehow managed to retain one small piece <strong>and</strong> a<br />
c<strong>and</strong>lestick. 40<br />
Occasionally, Mary’s life was briefly noted in the <strong>Deseret</strong> News<br />
<strong>and</strong> in Wilford Woodruff’s journals. In 1857 the News commented<br />
under the heading “A Hale Old Lady”:<br />
37. Andrew Jenson, Manuscript History of Kaysville Ward, entry for 1850,<br />
Church History Library, hereafter cited as “Manuscript History.” See also 1850<br />
U.S. Census, Utah Territory, Davis County schedules.<br />
38. Jenson, “Manuscript History,” entry for 1850.<br />
39. Willey, “Mary Ann Pressdee Phillips,” 3.<br />
40. Willey, “Mary Ann Pressdee Phillips,” 4.
Mary Presdee Phillips (1773–1871) 187<br />
Sister Mary Phillips, of Kaysville, Davis co., is now 84<br />
years old, enjoys good health, <strong>and</strong> can walk 20 miles in a<br />
day. In the summer of 1854 she gleaned 20 bushels of wheat<br />
<strong>and</strong> raised 20 bushels of potatoes; <strong>and</strong> last fall she donated<br />
a yoke of cattle to the P. E. [Perpetual Emigrating] Fund for<br />
gathering the poor. 41<br />
When Wilford Woodruff visited Kaysville on November 12,<br />
1864, he recorded in his journal:<br />
I attended the meeting at the meeting house. I there<br />
met Mother Mary Philips the oldest person in the territory.<br />
She will be 91 years old in 3 weeks. She will thread a needle<br />
readily without glasses <strong>and</strong> walked to meeting as spry as a<br />
girl. I Baptized her in Herrifordshire in 1840. 42<br />
The minutes of the Kaysville Ward Relief Society record:<br />
In May 1868, the Church’s local branch of the Female<br />
Relief Society was organized in Kaysville. Mary <strong>and</strong> daughter<br />
Susanna Green were admitted to membership at a meeting<br />
held June 23 of that year. A couple of weeks prior,<br />
General Relief Society President Eliza R. Snow had attended<br />
the Kaysville Ward Relief Society meeting <strong>and</strong> encouraged<br />
<strong>and</strong> blessed the sisters in their efforts to provide community<br />
service. About a month after being admitted to membership,<br />
“Gr<strong>and</strong>mother Phillips” <strong>and</strong> daughter Susanna Green<br />
contributed 50 cents each to the Society’s fund that was regularly<br />
tapped to provide quilts <strong>and</strong> bedding for local needy<br />
families. 43<br />
41. “A Hale Old Lady,” <strong>Deseret</strong> News [Weekly], June 24, 1857.<br />
42. Kenney, Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, 6:195–96.<br />
43. Relief Society Minutes, June 23 <strong>and</strong> July 21, 1868, Kaysville Ward, Davis<br />
Stake, Church History Library.
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Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
The inevitable consequences of old age finally weakened <strong>and</strong> debilitated<br />
Mary’s health. A fall in 1868 dislocated her shoulder <strong>and</strong><br />
broke her collar bone. Another fall about two years later, in October<br />
1870, seemed to hasten her death, which occurred on January 19,<br />
1871, in Kaysville. 44 She was ninety-seven.<br />
Mary’s obituary was published locally in the <strong>Deseret</strong> News <strong>and</strong><br />
in Great Britain in the Church’s Millennial Star. The Star’s account<br />
bore the headline “A Fine Old Lady.” Brief snippets of information<br />
regarding her life were included in the obituaries:<br />
She officiated in the capacity of midwife for forty-five<br />
years; <strong>and</strong> until she was ninety-six years of age waited upon<br />
some thirty women annually, <strong>and</strong> never lost a woman under<br />
her administration, <strong>and</strong> never a child until two years before<br />
her death. She had 11 [12] children, two of whom were in<br />
the valley at the time of her death, the youngest fifty-four<br />
years of age. She had thirty-five gr<strong>and</strong>children in the Valley<br />
<strong>and</strong> thirty-one great-gr<strong>and</strong>children. When eighty-two years<br />
of age she gleaned over twenty bushels of wheat <strong>and</strong> raised<br />
thirty bushels of potatoes <strong>and</strong> dug <strong>and</strong> carried them into her<br />
cellar. She fatted two hogs, <strong>and</strong> gave a good yoke of oxen<br />
the same year to emigrate the poor from Engl<strong>and</strong>. . . . She<br />
made a will of all the property she had, including some fifteen<br />
head of horned stock, to emigrate her relatives from<br />
Engl<strong>and</strong> to Utah. She possessed a great memory, which she<br />
retained with her intellect in full up to her death. She appointed<br />
six of her gr<strong>and</strong>sons to be her pall bearers, who fulfilled<br />
her request. 45<br />
Mary’s family invited Wilford Woodruff to speak at her funeral,<br />
44. “Obituaries.”<br />
45. “Obituaries.” See also “A Fine Old Lady,” Millennial Star 33, no. 9<br />
(February 28, 1871): 138–39.
Mary Presdee Phillips (1773–1871) 189<br />
which was held on Sunday, January 22, in Kaysville. Elder Woodruff<br />
recorded in his journal:<br />
I took [railroad] cars to Kays ward to attend the funeral<br />
of Mary Philips who died in her 98 year. I Baptized her into<br />
this Church in 1840 31 years ago. The funeral Commenced<br />
at 11 oclok. We had a large Congregation. I spoke one hour<br />
but had a severe Cold upon my lungs which troubled me<br />
much about speaking. G. D. Watt reported my Discourse. I<br />
was followed <strong>by</strong> Brother Wm Kay & Bishop [Christopher]<br />
Layton. The corps was followed to the grave <strong>by</strong> 61 full<br />
loaded waggons & Carriges & some Horsmen. 46<br />
Unfortunately, Elder Woodruff’s funeral sermon, likely taken<br />
in shorth<strong>and</strong> <strong>by</strong> George D. Watt, one of the Church’s first British<br />
converts <strong>and</strong> prominent clerks, has not survived. Andrew Jenson,<br />
assistant Church historian, later noted in a history of Kaysville Ward<br />
that Mary attributed her long life “to the keeping of the comm<strong>and</strong>ment<br />
‘Honor thy father <strong>and</strong> thy mother.’” 47<br />
Mary’s obituaries befittingly summed up her life of deep commitment<br />
<strong>and</strong> determination in these words:<br />
She has been true <strong>and</strong> faithful to her family, her friends,<br />
her religion <strong>and</strong> her God, <strong>and</strong> has gone down to her<br />
grave like a shock of corn fully ripe, <strong>and</strong> awaits a glorious<br />
resurrection. 48<br />
The only known photograph of Mary shows her seated beside<br />
an unidentified young gr<strong>and</strong>son, thought <strong>by</strong> family members to be<br />
Alma Phillips (1853–1927). The rather unusual image, probably<br />
taken in the early 1860s, conveys the impression that Mary took<br />
46. Kenney, Wilford Woodruff’s Journal, 7:5–6.<br />
47. “Manuscript History,” entry for 1871.<br />
48. “Obituaries.”
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Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
loving care of her posterity, even to the end of her life. In the<br />
Kaysville cemetery she shares a gravestone with other family members,<br />
including a five-month old gr<strong>and</strong>son, Daniel M. Phillips. A<br />
brief chiseled tribute to Mary has weathered away over time <strong>and</strong>,<br />
lamentably, is now unreadable.<br />
Mary’s patriarchal blessings, given in 1853 <strong>and</strong> 1865, declared<br />
that her name would be held in “honourable remembrance” among<br />
her numerous descendants <strong>and</strong> that they would “rise up <strong>and</strong> call<br />
[her] blessed” because she embraced the gospel. 49 Today, her posterity<br />
reaches into the ninth generation. Thous<strong>and</strong>s of those descendants<br />
enjoy the blessings of the gospel because of her conversion <strong>and</strong><br />
her life, whose hallmarks were faith, sacrifice, courage, <strong>and</strong> resiliency.<br />
49. Patriarchal blessings, January 31, 1853, given <strong>by</strong> Church Patriarch John<br />
Smith, <strong>and</strong> February 17, 1865, given <strong>by</strong> local patriarch John Young, copies in author’s<br />
possession. Blessing of 1853 is on file at Church History Library.
Chapter Fifty<br />
“Those Days Were Gr<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> Glorious”<br />
Martha Pane Jones Thomas (1808–1885)<br />
Amy Reynolds Billings<br />
Biographical Sketch<br />
Martha Pane Jones was born February 20, 1808, in Sumner<br />
County, Tennessee, where her family lived on the western<br />
frontier of a rapidly growing nation. 1 Martha’s parents, Isaac <strong>and</strong><br />
1. All biographical material in this chapter comes from Martha <strong>and</strong> Daniel<br />
Thomas’s memoirs <strong>and</strong> Martha’s autobiography, from which all passages quoted<br />
below are taken. The autobiography was edited <strong>by</strong> Martha’s gr<strong>and</strong>daughter Kate<br />
Woodhouse Kirkham, who explained: “It was the desire of Gr<strong>and</strong>ma Thomas that<br />
her posterity should know something of the early history of her family—something<br />
of what they endured for the gospel sake. To this end she wrote her journal. The text<br />
is not reproduced in full, however, her own words have been used as much as possible.”<br />
Martha Pane Jones Thomas [1808–1890], Daniel Stillwell Thomas [1803–<br />
1878], <strong>and</strong> Kate Woodhouse Kirkham, Daniel Stillwell Thomas Family History (Salt<br />
Lake City, UT: Kate Woodhouse Kirkham, 1927). Martha’s autobiography was<br />
written during the height of the United States government’s efforts to end plural<br />
marriage in Utah <strong>and</strong> after C. C. A. Christensen’s 1878 tour of Utah Valley with his<br />
Mormon Panorama, which focused heavily on early Mormon persecutions.<br />
191
192<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
Polly Ogles<strong>by</strong>e Jones, died while she was young, leaving Martha <strong>and</strong><br />
her three younger brothers in the care of an uncle, William Jones.<br />
Just before her eighteenth birthday, Martha married Daniel Stillwell<br />
Thomas. Their first child, Morgan, was born in December 1826,<br />
<strong>and</strong> the following year the young family moved to Kentucky. There<br />
Martha <strong>and</strong> her husb<strong>and</strong> heard about Joseph Smith from the young<br />
missionary Wilford Woodruff.<br />
Martha <strong>and</strong> her husb<strong>and</strong> joined the Latter-day Saints in 1835.<br />
They wanted to gather with the Saints in Missouri but felt they<br />
could not do so until they had made all necessary preparations. After<br />
much anticipation, the Thomases sold their property <strong>and</strong> were finally<br />
able to move to the Far West area of Missouri in February<br />
1837. 2<br />
Daniel’s brother, Henry, joined them in Missouri, <strong>and</strong> the two<br />
families enjoyed a prosperous first year bringing in a good harvest.<br />
Their peace was short lived, however, <strong>and</strong> Daniel was enlisted to<br />
join the Saints in their efforts to protect their community from the<br />
increasingly violent actions of the mob. Daniel was at the Battle of<br />
Crooked River <strong>and</strong> later was one of the first required to sign over<br />
his property to make reparations. Forced to ab<strong>and</strong>on their property,<br />
Martha <strong>and</strong> her family left Missouri on February 14, 1839, making<br />
the trek while Martha was eight months pregnant.<br />
The family arrived in Quincy, Illinois, near where Martha soon<br />
gave birth to her sixth child, a son they named after the Prophet<br />
Joseph Smith. 3 The Thomases moved to Nauvoo in the spring of<br />
1840, <strong>and</strong> Martha had fond memories of living among the Saints;<br />
she heard sermons preached <strong>by</strong> Joseph Smith, <strong>and</strong> felt proud that<br />
her husb<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> son worked on the Nauvoo Temple until it was<br />
2. Martha wrote, “[I] fear[ed] we would never get to Zion, knowing that we<br />
could not go unless we could sell our property.” When her husb<strong>and</strong> came home with<br />
the good news that their property had been sold, she wrote, “If any one ever felt like<br />
flying it was me.” Thomas, Thomas, <strong>and</strong> Kirkham, Thomas Family History, 9.<br />
3. Joseph Alma was born March 17, 1839.
Martha Pane Jones Thomas (1808–1885) 193<br />
completed. They received their temple endowments before leaving<br />
for Winter Quarters.<br />
Like many others, Martha buried a son at Winter Quarters.<br />
Though grieving for this loss, she continued to work hard to prepare<br />
her family for their journey to Utah. Martha arrived in Utah in<br />
1849. Soon after their arrival, the Thomases moved to Lehi, where<br />
Martha lived out the rest of her life, content to be among the Saints<br />
of God.<br />
Life Experiences<br />
Martha Pane Jones Thomas wrote her autobiography to explain<br />
to her posterity what she <strong>and</strong> her family members had endured for<br />
the gospel’s sake. The following extracts illustrate their sacrifices.<br />
Journey from Kentucky to Missouri<br />
We now started for Zion. After three days’ journey I was<br />
sick with a disease called sun pain. Crossed the Tennessee<br />
river, laid over one day. The pain in my head was so severe<br />
I thought I would die. [My husb<strong>and</strong>] Mr. [Daniel] Thomas<br />
came into the tent <strong>and</strong> said, “Mother! what can I do for<br />
you!” “Oh! I don’t know, can you ask Brother Sherwood to<br />
administer to me?” “Yes.” Now, this was something new to<br />
us for we had not seen any one healed. He went <strong>and</strong> spoke<br />
to him: “Certainly” said he, “I was thinking about it but<br />
thought I would let her call on me.”<br />
He came in the tent with Brother Smoot, <strong>and</strong> others,<br />
they laid their h<strong>and</strong>s on my head, I felt a calm, quiet, spirit<br />
go from my head to my feet. He said I should be healed<br />
from that moment; so I was. The pain <strong>and</strong> soreness of my<br />
eyes were all gone. I got out of my bed, washed, ironed,<br />
baked, <strong>and</strong> was ready for my journey next day.<br />
We started—it was something very new to us to be led<br />
<strong>by</strong> anyone <strong>and</strong> obey him in all things. In this we did not fill
194<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
the bill very well. It did not take him long to tell us sharply<br />
that if we did not harken to his counsel better, the wind<br />
storms would over take us.<br />
That night I thought we would be destroyed <strong>by</strong> the falling<br />
timber, but no one was hurt. I acknowledge the h<strong>and</strong> of<br />
God, for the fallen timber lay all around us. We commenced<br />
studying our duty to our God <strong>and</strong> our leader. We traveled<br />
on very quietly for several days. A few families fell in with<br />
us, going to Zion the same as we, though strangers to us.<br />
Brother Sherwood asked them to join our company <strong>and</strong><br />
he would lead them. They said, No! they could lead themselves.<br />
Our leader called them Judas’s company, they never<br />
got fairly out of sight, sometimes ahead, sometimes behind.<br />
One day it was very hot; both man <strong>and</strong> beast were suffering<br />
for water. Our leader went ahead <strong>and</strong> found running<br />
water, “but you must not noon here,” he said: “Loose<br />
your cattle, let them drink all they want <strong>and</strong> you can pack<br />
enough for your dinner.” We did not like the idea, but we<br />
had not forgotten the wind storm. We all moved on except<br />
one family. . . .<br />
It was about a quarter of a mile to the edge of the<br />
grass. There was not a tree nor a bush to shade us. Brother<br />
Sherwood had crawled under our wagon, I thought he<br />
was asleep. Old father Hendricks came walking up to our<br />
wagon, harmless as a child, saying, “I don’t see why we can’t<br />
travel without a leader as the Judas’s company do? They get<br />
along as well as we do.” I wish you could have seen our<br />
leader roll out from under that wagon <strong>and</strong> call the attention<br />
of the company.<br />
He soon got it for he spoke with such power we were<br />
fairly paralyzed. I cannot think of the hundredth part, but<br />
he said if we did not do better <strong>and</strong> acknowledge him as our<br />
leader, the judgments of God would come down upon us.<br />
“Now hitch up your teams <strong>and</strong> start. . . .”
Martha Pane Jones Thomas (1808–1885) 195<br />
. . . It was but a few minutes when we were in the most<br />
severe storm that I ever saw.<br />
It thundered, the lightning was so vivid that it almost<br />
blinded us. The rain <strong>and</strong> hail came down with such force<br />
<strong>and</strong> the wind was so strong the teamsters had to st<strong>and</strong> with<br />
their oxen, to keep the wagons quartered with the wind, for<br />
fear we might all go rolling together. . . .<br />
Where the storm came from I do not know, whether<br />
it was called down from above or up from below we could<br />
not say, but we all acknowledged the h<strong>and</strong> of God in our<br />
deliverance.<br />
Dear reader, I do not mean you to think I am finding<br />
fault with our leader. We had all confidence in him as a<br />
leader <strong>and</strong> a good man. His fireside teachings were good<br />
<strong>and</strong> noble. We all fasted with the best of feelings <strong>and</strong> he<br />
pronounced great blessings on the faithful. The fault was<br />
in ourselves. We did not know how to be led, thought we<br />
might lead part of the time. 4<br />
Mobbing<br />
Tuesday about six in the afternoon word was sent<br />
[to Mr. Thomas] to gather his men <strong>and</strong> go to the outside<br />
settlers between his house <strong>and</strong> Crooked River. The mob was<br />
gathering there for battle.<br />
They drove women <strong>and</strong> children from their homes<br />
<strong>and</strong> set their houses on fire. The prairie was on fire <strong>and</strong><br />
the smoke <strong>and</strong> flames were whirling up in the air so high<br />
it looked like the world was in a blaze. He commenced<br />
buckling on his sword. I spoke to Morgan to yoke up the<br />
oxen. He looked up with surprise. “What are you going to<br />
do with the oxen.” “I am going to town.” “What! tonight”?<br />
“Yes, I will not stay another night alone.” He saw I was in<br />
4. Thomas, Thomas, <strong>and</strong> Kirkham, Thomas Family History, 11–13.
196<br />
Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
earnest—laid down his sword <strong>and</strong> began to throw things in<br />
the wagon, pell, mell. I had a big iron kettle of beef bones<br />
boiling. He drained the water off <strong>and</strong> hoisted it in the front<br />
of the wagon; then picking up the children tossed them in. I<br />
called to him saying: “don’t set them in the kettle of bones.”<br />
We had to stop <strong>and</strong> laugh, even though all our enemies were<br />
upon us. He then gathered up his gun <strong>and</strong> sword <strong>and</strong> started<br />
on the run as his men had gone on ahead. The children <strong>and</strong><br />
I started for Far West just as the sun was setting. . . .<br />
We now had five wagons, two men, the rest were<br />
women <strong>and</strong> children. . . . We got there about ten o’clock. I<br />
drove to Bro. David Patten’s, found them all asleep. I rapped<br />
on the door he said come in. I spoke to Brother Patten.<br />
“Well! Sister Thomas, you are the last one I would have<br />
taken for a coward.” “I am no coward, but I did not feel safe<br />
so close to the mob.” Sister Patten got up <strong>and</strong> lit a c<strong>and</strong>le,<br />
saying “Bring your beds in.” She cleared a place for me on<br />
the floor, which was covered with beds. . . .<br />
We all quieted down for sleep, but there was no sleep<br />
for me. At midnight a drum was sounded, a gun fired. I<br />
called to Brother Patten. “You are scared,” he said. Another<br />
gun was heard. “That’s two,” says I. “If that is so, there is<br />
trouble.” He called to Brother Bently, who was working for<br />
him, to get his horse ready quickly. In a few minutes they<br />
were all out of sight.<br />
What took place in the next few days many have told;<br />
suffice it to say he was brought home a corpse from the<br />
battle of “Crooked River.”<br />
When I started for town, Mr. Thomas, my husb<strong>and</strong>,<br />
said he would be there early the next morning. He did not<br />
arrive until late in the evening. I was very uneasy, not knowing<br />
whether he was dead or alive.<br />
In a few days the militia marched in sight, camped on<br />
the east bank of Goose Creek. Four thous<strong>and</strong> in number;
Martha Pane Jones Thomas (1808–1885) 197<br />
it was a terrible sight to see their campfires after dark. How<br />
horrifying it was to us, to hear the yells, shouts <strong>and</strong> screams;<br />
the damned in hell could not be any worse than that was.<br />
That evening Brother Joseph <strong>and</strong> his brethren walked<br />
into camp “like lambs to the slaughter.” Never will I forget<br />
those days in time or eternity. I wish I could speak so it<br />
would be stamped on the minds of my posterity as with<br />
indelible ink, never to be ruled out.<br />
The death sentence was pronounced on them. They<br />
were to be shot next morning, but they were not.<br />
The Lord says,—“So far can you go <strong>and</strong> no farther.”<br />
So it was <strong>and</strong> so it will be, if we are faithful, keep the comm<strong>and</strong>ments<br />
of the Lord <strong>and</strong> the counsel of those whose<br />
right it is to counsel.<br />
The next morning the brethren were called out, <strong>by</strong> our<br />
own music, with double quick time; they gathered their<br />
guns <strong>and</strong> everything they had to fight with <strong>and</strong> ran to the<br />
public square. The militia was there, surrounded them <strong>and</strong><br />
marched them around in sight of the militia camp. We hurried<br />
<strong>and</strong> got breakfast but no one came to eat. We got dinner,<br />
it was the same. We could see some apostates on the<br />
house tops, all looking in the same direction. By this time I<br />
was so uneasy I could not bear it. I said to Sister Patten, fill<br />
two baskets with provisions <strong>and</strong> Morgan <strong>and</strong> I will go until<br />
we find them. There were eight men who ate at our table.<br />
“Oh! dear, can you do that?” “Yes, I dare do anything in<br />
behalf of our brethren <strong>and</strong> the kingdom.”<br />
“Well! go, I will watch the children <strong>and</strong> pray for you.”<br />
We started <strong>and</strong> soon came in sight of a long string of men.<br />
I spoke to Morgan saying, “It is the guard.” I was afraid<br />
he would get frightened, I went ahead until we came up<br />
to them, I asked them if they would please let me through.<br />
“Yes,” said one, “open the way for this lady.” I was quite<br />
encouraged to hear them call me a lady. When I walked in,
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there were four men abreast, with their bayonets glistening.<br />
About ten steps farther there was another guard. We went<br />
on, nothing daunted. They let us through. . . .<br />
I turned to the brethren <strong>and</strong> saw Mr. Thomas coming<br />
toward me, <strong>and</strong> the brethren that ate at our table. They soon<br />
made away with the food, giving a piece around as far as<br />
it would go. An officer gave orders to the guard, to march<br />
to quarters. He turned to the brethren saying, “You can go<br />
to your places of abode, you need not put out a guard, we<br />
will guard you now.” I said, “What does that mean?” Mr.<br />
Thomas pointed to the pile of guns saying, “We have nothing<br />
to guard with.”<br />
Early in the morning there was another call. “What<br />
next?” You must sign away all real estate to pay expenses.<br />
A list of names had been given <strong>by</strong> Geo. M. Hinkle for the<br />
prison. D. S. Thomas was one of that number. He came to<br />
dinner with two men to guard him. He asked them to eat,<br />
they said, “Yes, you sit there,” themselves sitting on either<br />
side of him. I was astonished at their impudence, telling<br />
him where to sit at his own table. Then they laid their yawgers<br />
across their laps with bayonets sticking out about three<br />
feet, for me to run around <strong>and</strong> wait on them. 5<br />
Henry Thomas Leaves Missouri<br />
[Daniel’s brother] Henry Thomas had moved to his<br />
home, our farms joined. He heard Mr. Thomas was coming<br />
home soon. Bro Joseph had sent word for the Saints to<br />
travel the upper road <strong>and</strong> cross at Quincy. Henry said, “It<br />
would not do as there were no farms <strong>and</strong> we would starve.”<br />
“The lower road,” he said, “was in good order <strong>and</strong> plenty of<br />
provisions to sell.” “Well,” said I, “We will go to the upper<br />
road.” “You will see when Dan comes,” he said, meaning his<br />
5. Thomas, Thomas, <strong>and</strong> Kirkham, Thomas Family History, 15–21.
Martha Pane Jones Thomas (1808–1885) 199<br />
brother. We travelled the upper road <strong>and</strong> he the lower. The<br />
Missourians would not sell them anything, they suffered<br />
much for want of food so he wrote <strong>and</strong> told us afterward.<br />
He traveled the lower road till the day of his death. He<br />
never gathered with the church again. I speak of these things<br />
that the young <strong>and</strong> rising generation may take warning <strong>and</strong><br />
obey counsel. 6<br />
Leaving Missouri for Quincy<br />
We now bid farewell to the Zion we anticipated building<br />
in Missouri. I said to Mr. Thomas, “All I want now is a<br />
house on wheels, so we can turn <strong>and</strong> travel in any direction<br />
the Lord may direct.” On the 14 th of Feb., 1839, we started<br />
across the Prairie to Tenny’s Grove, about twenty miles. The<br />
snow was about six inches deep. The children all barefoot,<br />
except the oldest boy. To hear them crying at night with<br />
their feet cracked <strong>and</strong> bleeding was a grievous sight for a<br />
mother to bear. I would often grease them <strong>and</strong> put on clean<br />
stockings, instead of making them wash them when going<br />
to bed.<br />
We are now on the upper road, as counseled. Found<br />
stations all along the road with provisions for those that had<br />
money <strong>and</strong> those that had not. We were much surprised as<br />
this was the first station we ever saw. We acknowledged the<br />
h<strong>and</strong> of God. Drew provisions <strong>and</strong> went on to the next, until<br />
we reached Quincy in safety. We could not cross for the<br />
ice; several hundred families were camped on the river bank.<br />
Brother Brunson came over the river [<strong>and</strong>] called the<br />
Brethren together. After they had talked a few minutes Mr.<br />
Thomas came back in a hurry saying, “Mother what do you<br />
think of our team going back to Far West.” “The Brethren<br />
<strong>and</strong> Sisters (for there were many widows <strong>and</strong> children) are<br />
6. Thomas, Thomas, <strong>and</strong> Kirkham, Thomas Family History, 23–24.
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all to be shot if they are not out <strong>by</strong> such a day.” “Well dump<br />
the things out <strong>by</strong> that log.” “What will you do if you are<br />
taken sick?” he said. “I will do as well as Sister Wight did<br />
in Davis County, when confined <strong>by</strong> a log in a snow storm.”<br />
“According to your faith so shall it be.” Out went every<br />
thing <strong>by</strong> the log, the looking glass <strong>by</strong> a stump.<br />
Sure enough that night I was taken sick. 7 Sent for Sister<br />
Margaret Smoot. She asked where my bed room was. “Oh<br />
there is plenty of room, you <strong>and</strong> Mr. Thomas must make a<br />
bedstead.” He drove four forked stakes in the ground, the<br />
forks up, laid some poles in each side <strong>and</strong> then roped them<br />
well with bed cord, making a nice bed. He then drove four<br />
upright posts about six feet high, laid poles on them, hung<br />
quilts all around except the foot, which was left open so the<br />
heat of the log fire would shine in <strong>and</strong> keep me warm. I<br />
have often thought a queen never enjoyed such a bedroom.<br />
It was a comfortable place but I got better, had one good<br />
night’s rest in it. 8<br />
Crossing at Quincy<br />
Both boats started out, the ice commenced floating<br />
down very thick. We made our l<strong>and</strong>ing good at Quincy. The<br />
other boat was surrounded with ice <strong>and</strong> taken out of sight,<br />
below town. I was much troubled for fear they would all be<br />
drowned.<br />
Just imagine I was left on the shore, with no living<br />
one with me, but four small children. The sun was down.<br />
I could not see across the river. I wrapped the children in<br />
the bed clothes. It was very cold, <strong>and</strong> sat down on the bed<br />
to watch for the boat. I began to look at my situation, not<br />
knowing what moment I might be taken sick. For the first<br />
7. Martha began having labor pains.<br />
8. Thomas, Thomas, <strong>and</strong> Kirkham, Thomas Family History, 25–27.
Martha Pane Jones Thomas (1808–1885) 201<br />
time the tears stole down my face, on my own account. One<br />
of the little ones said, “Mother are you sick?” “No,” said I,<br />
“the wind is so cold.” Just then Bro. Wiswager rode up <strong>and</strong><br />
asked where Bro. Thomas was. He saw I was feeling bad <strong>and</strong><br />
stayed with me until he heard the boat coming. . . .<br />
. . . We stopped <strong>by</strong> a stump five feet high, put one end of<br />
a pole on the stump, drew some quilts over it, making a bed<br />
for the children. Have two bits (25c) we hurried to town for<br />
fear the doors would be closed, spent it all in bread, which<br />
was a beautiful sight, we divided it in three meals, built a<br />
fire <strong>by</strong> the stump to watch for our lost wagon. . . .<br />
In a few days I was put to bed quite comfortablle, a fine<br />
son in my arms. We named him for our Prophet Joseph,<br />
then in chains in prison. I did not eat anything that night;<br />
we saved it for breakfast. You may think we had a good one<br />
then, so we did. We had a little meal. I told my little daughter<br />
how to serve it, brown the bran, we would call it coffee.<br />
She wet the corn meal, baked it <strong>and</strong> breakfast was ready.<br />
We asked a blessing <strong>and</strong> I am sure the Lord blessed it, for I<br />
never got along better in my life. . . .<br />
. . . I think it was in ’41 Bro. Joseph told us the Lord<br />
had called on us to build a house to His name, that we<br />
might be blessed therein. I was at the laying of the cornerstone.<br />
The Saints rejoiced to think we were privileged to<br />
build a house to the “Most High God,” who is our Father<br />
in Heaven.<br />
To my posterity I will say, we esteemed it a privilege to<br />
work on the House of God <strong>and</strong> the Nauvoo House, which<br />
your father <strong>and</strong> Morgan did, until it was finished. We were<br />
then called to the house to receive the blessings the Lord has<br />
in store for the faithful, which amply paid them for all their<br />
labors. Those days were gr<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> glorious, but have they<br />
stopped? No! you have the same privilege today, as we had<br />
then, <strong>and</strong> a great deal more means, for the Saints then were
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in the depths of poverty, but we rejoiced in building the<br />
House of the Lord. 9<br />
Martha preserved for her posterity the experiences that shaped<br />
her life <strong>and</strong> testimony. She chose to include stories of sacrifice <strong>and</strong><br />
hardship, violence, poverty, pioneering, <strong>and</strong> testimony gained <strong>by</strong><br />
obedience. Through these experiences, Martha learned that she<br />
could call upon God in times of trial <strong>and</strong> he would answer her<br />
prayers. She believed that the blessings of temple covenants more<br />
than compensated for the trials she endured, <strong>and</strong> she died in the<br />
hope of eternal life.<br />
9. Thomas, Thomas, <strong>and</strong> Kirkham, Thomas Family History, 27–30.
Chapter Fifty-One<br />
“By Our Faith <strong>and</strong> Good Works”<br />
Margaret Cooper West (1804–1882)<br />
Shirley Smith Ricks <strong>and</strong> Lynette Smith Lyman<br />
Biographical Sketch<br />
Margaret Cooper was born on December 9, 1804, in Halifax,<br />
Mont gomery County, Tennessee, the daughter of John <strong>and</strong><br />
Esther Fletcher Cooper. As a young child, she exhibited a talent for<br />
healing. Her father died when Margaret was four, <strong>and</strong> her mother<br />
when she was fifteen. 1 She missed her mother greatly <strong>and</strong> turned to<br />
religion two years later. When she was in her early twenties, Samuel<br />
Walker West asked her to marry him. She explained: “I prayed for<br />
the Lord to help me make a wise choice, <strong>and</strong> it seemed that the<br />
Spirit said, ‘You must pray together,’ to which I agreed. We were<br />
married the 29th of January, 1829, <strong>and</strong> I felt contented <strong>and</strong> happy.” 2<br />
1. John Cooper, Margaret’s father, died April 28, 1809. See Montgomery County<br />
Tennessee Genealogical Journal 6 (September 1976): 17. According to http://new<br />
. familysearch.org, Margaret’s mother died about 1820.<br />
2. Mary West Riggs <strong>and</strong> Roy A. West, Our Heritage as It Glows from the West<br />
(Salt Lake City, UT: Utah Printing, 1956), 9.<br />
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Women of Faith in the Latter Days, 1775–1820<br />
During a serious illness in 1830, Margaret dreamed that “the<br />
day of the Lord was at h<strong>and</strong>” <strong>and</strong> that “something great had either<br />
taken place, or was about to take place on the earth.” 3 Shortly thereafter,<br />
two important events occurred that she thought fulfilled her<br />
dream. In 1834, a salesman came to the door with a book, Samuel<br />
Thompson’s New Guide to Health. 4 Margaret’s interest in healing<br />
persuaded her to buy a copy for the then-huge sum of twenty dollars<br />
out of her own funds; thus began her lifelong dedication to the<br />
Thompsonian school of healing.<br />
Soon afterward, two other men also arrived at the West home<br />
with another book, the <strong>Book</strong> of Mormon. Feeling that this was a<br />
sacred book, Margaret <strong>and</strong> her family accepted the gospel message<br />
taught to them <strong>by</strong> Elde