Mary Ann Dudley
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Mary Ann Dudley was born on August 11, 1834 in Gilmanton, New Hampshire to Oliver Hunt and Mary Ann Robinson Dudley. She became a baptized member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints when she was eight years old by Orson Hyde in the Boston Harbor. She was confirmed by Heber C. Kimball.
Her family moved to Nauvoo, Illinois to join the Saints leaving in May 1844 and arriving in June. She loved living there. She loved our prophet, Joseph Smith, and loved to tell her children about him. When she and her family left Nauvoo for Salt Lake Valley in 1849 her father was ill so May Ann drove their team which consisted of one horse and one cow. She celebrated her 15th birthday on August 11, 1849 while traveling to Salt Lake. On the 24th of December, 1852, in Salt Lake City, she was married, as a second wife, to Edmund Lovell Ellsworth. The sealing took place in the Office of the President by Brigham Young. Mary Ann was a deeply religious woman and upheld the authorities of the Church. She felt it her privilege and duty to bare her testimony of the truthfulness of the gospel and advised her family to do the same. "Be proud of your family" she would say. "You have good blood and are as good as anyone if you behave yourself." The responsibility of conducting the family life fell upon the shoulders of the mothers and this she did very well. She gave birth to nine children of which two died in infancy. The other seven lived to rear large families. In 1866, Edmund moved his families to Weber County and there they stayed until 1880 when Edmund moved to Arizona taking Mary Ann Jones and Mary Ann Bates and families with him. He had hoped to bring the rest along later but this never came about. Mary Ann and her family moved to the Snake River Valley in Idaho. It seems as if she was to pioneer again. Here they stayed until 1900 when most o the family moved to Rexburg, Idaho. Her widowed sister, Susan, shared her home and they enjoyed taking care of each other. She is described by her children as five foot five inches tall, thin and wiry. She had blue eyes and fine brown hair which never turned grey. She was observing and possessing a keen intellect. She was an exceptionally good reader, she wrote well and excelled in spelling. On the 16th of December 1916, Mary Ann passed from this life peacefully and will long be remembered by those who knew her. As she whispered, "I'm coming," one knew that she was neither alone nor disappointed as she moved into a new activity. compiled from "The Life and Times of a True American Frontiersman: Edmund Lovell Ellsworth"
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