Each of the 8,000 entries in "Pioneer Women of Faith and Fortitude" tell important things about a pioneer life. The following examples were chosen at random. In some cases, biographies have been slightly abridged.
ELIZABETH DAY GAMMONBorn: April 10, 1817; Petrockstow, Devon, England
Died: Feb 23, 1899, Vinyard, Utah County, Utah
Pioneer: 1853; Henry Ettleman wagon train
Elizabeth Day Gammon was born into an aristocrataic and wealthy family. She was an educated, intelligent, refined and talented woman. Her handwriting was beautiful, and she was meticulous in recording the births of her children, even giving the time of day they were born.
Elizabeth learned to play the organ in her youth, and after she was married her parents gave her a treadle organ. When she left England to come to America, she took it with her as well as several other pieces of beautiful handwork she had made. Elizabeth and her husband, Thomas, also brought with them across the Plains an adobe mold, a tin lantern and several window panes. They used the mold in building their home in Provo, but it was slow, tedious work, as they could make only two bricks at a time. When the house was completed, however, it was a very comfortable home and the first one in Provo to have glass windows.
Elizabeth was neat and clean and a perfectionist in all she did. She was a good wife, mother, homemaker and neighbor.
ELIZABETH PATTERSON HUNTER
Born: Oct. 6, 1822; Red Row, Devon, Scotland
Died: Feb. 26, 1914; Salt Lake City, Utah
Pioneer: 1852; John Higbee wagon train
When Elizabeth was 5, her father died. Her mother had no means of support so married William Sharp in desperation. He decided that Elizabeth would go to work in the coal mines.
Children were needed because the tunnels were too small for adults to enter. The cars were heavy, and Elizabeth had to use the top of her head to help push the loads. The bump that built up on her head from pushing the cars remained all of her life. Her stepfather kept all of her wages for himself.
She married Adam Patterson Hunter, and they joined the LDS Church. They decided Adam would go to America so he could earn money to send for his wife and family. Elizabeth joined him in 1850, landing in New Orleans. They then secured passage on a brand new steamboat, the Big St. Louis. They were fortunate to arrive safely, because on the return trip to New Orleans, the boat blew up and all on board were killed.
As they prepared to cross the Plains, cholera broke out. Elizabeth's mother and a stepbrother both died. Adam was ill and pleaded with the Lord to spare his life, that he might be able to reach the Valley of the Mountains with his wife and children. He promised the Lord that if he lived, he would work to build the temple until the end of his days. His prayer was answered.
When they arrived in Utah in 1852, they camped in Red Butte canyon. Adam immediately went to work cutting stone for the temple and donated his oxen to haul the stone to the valley. Adam died in 1879; not living long enough to see the completion of the temple.
MARY ANN PARK BRYCE
Born: Jan. 24, 1837; Warwick, Kent, Ontario, Canada
Died: April 10, 1897; Bryce, Graham County, Arizona
Pioneer: Late summer, 1850
Mary Ann moved with her parents to Nauvoo and then to Winter Quarters. She was 10 when the family came to Utah, crossing the plains in a prairie schooner and settling in what was known at that time as Big Cottonwood. She met and married a young Scotsman named Ebenezer Bryce in 1854. Her most treasured wedding present was a pair of silver spoons, an item unavailable on the Utah market at that time.
Mary Ann and Ebenezer moved many times, as they were called to various locations to help build sawmills, shingle mills and flour mills, first in Tooele, then in Rush Valley, Spanish Fork and East Weber. When Ebenezer was 29, he was sent to St. George. There were 40 days of rain that winter while they lived in a covered wagon with five small children. The family went on to Pine Valley to help build a sawmill. But Ebenezer was advised to move to a warmer climate for the benefit of Mary Ann's health. He homesteaded in Tropic, near the canyon and national park that now bear his name.
The extreme cold of the winters, as well as the primitive living conditions, caused Mary Ann's health to further decline. In the fall of 1880, the family traveled to Arizona, where they would spend the rest of their lives. Mary Ann was a religious, spiritual and devoted wife and mother of 12 children. She endured the hardships of the times while fulfilling her role as wife and mother.
CHARLOTTE JAMES DAVIS MACKAY
Born: Aug. 20, 1830; Langynde, Carmarethenshire, Wales
Died: May 7, 1901; Taylorsville, Utah
Pioneer: 1850; Dan Jones company
Charlotte was born in Wales. Her father was very unkind to her mother and deserted her when Charlotte was just a baby. Her grandfather, Evan James, took them in to live with him. The James family joined the LDS Church about 1848.
While waiting for a wagon train to take them to the Salt Lake Valley, Charlotte's mother and grandfather died in a cholera epidemic. Charlotte was left in the care of an Uncle David. But he left with a small group of men who wanted to go on to California in search of gold. She did not hear from him again. Alone, she joined one of the Welch companies going to the Salt Lake Valley.
She married Thomas Sloan Mackay in the Salt Lake City Endowment House in 1853 in plural marriage. She was the second wife. She lived with him and his first wife, Ane. Four years later, Thomas married his third wife, Sara Franks. Charlotte and Sarah shared a room. They lived like sisters.
Charlotte was a small, shy, frail woman who suffered much pain from rheumetism and arthritis most of her life. She was a hard worker, inside and outside the home. She milked the cows, took care of the milk and cream. She fed and took care of the poultry, gathered eggs and made large quantities of butter. Her work was done in a cold, damp, dirt cellar that brought on her arthritis and eventually led to her being confined to a wheelchair. She also did handwork such as quilting, knitting and mending.
Charlotte was a very good woman, meek and quiet. Her childhood was full of sorrow, but her life with Thomas Mackay was a happy one.
MATILDA MINER CURTIS
Born: Jan. 12, 1840; Lima, Adams County, Illinois
Died: Sept. 27, 1909; Aurora, Sevier County, Utah
Pioneer: 1848; Warren Foote wagon train
Matilda was 10 years old when she walked across the Plains barefoot. When her feet were worn and bleeding from the journey, another girl took off her shoes and shared them with Matilda. From that moment on, Matilda was willing to share anything she owned with others. Her kind heart won her numerous friends.
She had very little schooling but very early in life learned the value of work and was a most congenial and willing helper. She knew how to prepare medicines, native herbs and salves, which she carried with her in a little black bag.
When Matilda was 15, she married John White Curtis in plural marriage in Brigham Young's office in Salt Lake City. Because Matilda was 25 years younger than her husband, she took on the hardest manual work, which she did with a zeal. When Brigham Young requested colonization of South-central Utah, the family left the comforts of Springville and started over in another wilderness.
Matilda was very quiet and never took part in public affairs, but was diligent in her church callings. She served in the Relief Society for many years and was a faithful visiting teacher throughout her life. Matilda's life was one of hard work, family service, financial struggle and quiet noble deeds done without boasting or reward.
POLLY CHADWICK PERRY
Born: June 24, 1789; Tyringham, Mass.
Died: Dec. 30, 1878; Springville, Utah
Pioneer: 1850; James Pace wagon train
Polly's parents came from proud New England lines. She was the second child in a family of eight children. She married Asahel Perry in 1806 and took up residence in Madison, N.Y., where they bought 40 acres of land. Later they moved to Middlebury, N.Y.
Polly was 43 when she was baptized into the LDS Church and the Perrys moved with the saints to Kirtland, Ohio -- where Asahel gave his farm to the church to help pay off a debt the church owed. They went on with the saints to Missouri and Nauvoo.
In 1850, they arrived in Utah and went to Hobble Creek, east of Springville, to settle. They lived in a fort for a while, then later built homes and lived in Springville. Polly moved 13 times during her marriage and bore 10 children.
Polly was a hard worker, working in the home and in the garden; producing clothing and food for the family. She was good at making ends meet. The Perrys enjoyed their home, their children and great-grandchildren for the next 19 years.
BETSEY BONNEY MURDOCK GREEN
Born: May 6, 1810; Hamilton, New York
Died: Oct. 1, 1883; American Fork, Utah
Pioneer: 1847, Daniel Spencer wagon train
Betsey's parents were wealthy landowners in their community and had a number of people working for them. They were living in the midst of all the religious excitment in New York. Betsey joined the LDS Church in 1836 and married Alphonso Green two years later. The Murdocks and Greens moved to Nauvoo and to Winter Quarters before going West with some of the earliest pioneer companies.
After living in Salt Lake City for six years, they were called by President Young to colonize American Fork. They opened a hotel for travelers. Betsey did all the cooking, specializing in apple and peach pies. The hotel became very popular. The stagecoach stopped there, and weary travelers would always find delicious food and a comfortable bed waiting for them.
Betsey was kind to everyone, especially to Indians and tramps. They were always invited to a delicious hot meal. She was a wonderful cook, organizer and manager. She was always canning food and preparing other things for future use.
She gave birth to four children of her own and raised four of her daughter's children. She also raised an Indian girl to adulthood. Betsey believed in polygamy and was delighted when her husband took a second wife.
She became deaf in her later years and was hit by a train as she was crossing the railroad tracks.
ANE KIRSTINE PEDERSEN REYNOLDS
Born: Mar. 6, 1842; Faurholt, Albaek. Denmark
Died: Jan 16, 1913; Mt. Pleasant, Utah
Pioneer: 1861, Samuel Wooley wagon train
Ane Kirstine, 13, and her mother, 56, joined the LDS Church in 1856. Her father was never converted. Because of ther beliefs and persecution toward members of the church, they began making preparations to join the saints in Zion. It took six years, and then 19-year-old Ane Kirstine, gathering her courage, stepped aboard the Monarch of the Sea with nearly a thousand other converts for the 33-day voyage to New York.
The converts entered the United States to find the Civil War in progress. It became harder to migrate across the land to reach Florence, Neb., the gathering place, and many times the railroad was reduced to piling the converts in cattle cars for the long trip across the country.
They arrived in Utah in 1861 and went to Pleasant Grove. Shortly afterward Ane Kirstine married William F. Reynolds, a widower with six children needing a woman's care. Ane and William went on to have nine more children, two of whom died in infancy. They were called to live in Sanpete County, as Mt. Pleasant was in need of settlers. They lived a frontier life of danger, hard work, worship and contentment with the good of living.
ELIZABETH DUNN STUBBS
Born: Jan. 18, 1840; Manchester, Lancashire, England
Died: Aug. 22, 1922; Provo, Utah
Pioneer: 1852, Abraham O. Smoot wagon train
Elizabeth came to Utah at age 12 with her parents and settled in Salt Lake City. In 1856, she married Peter Stubbs, when she was 16 and he was 32. He was also from England, and she remembered him working in the bakery where they bought bread.
Elizabeth was the mother of 11 children, two of whom died as infants. She also raised seven children of her husband's second wife after that woman's death.
At the time Johnston's Army was stationed in Utah, Elizabeth would go with her husband to take supplies to the soldiers in exchange for money and goods. With the money they received, they opened a bakery shop in Provo and worked hard to make it a success.
Elizabeth was a mid-wife, a Relief Society teacher and a diligent worker church worker. She died in Provo at age 82.
ELLEN "NELLIE" PURCELL UNTHANK
Born: Nov. 6, 1846; Vale House, Tintwhistle, England
Died: Jule 21, 1915; Cedar City, Utah
Pioneer: 1856; Martin Handcart company
Ellen had her feet frozen during that terrible storm on the high Plains of Wyoming. When she arrived in Salt Lake City, her feet had to be amputated in order to save her life. In spite of walking on her knees all the rest of her life, she married William Unthank in 1871 and raised a family of six children.
Her community service was that once every year, she took her children to the meeding house to clean it. The boys carried the water, the girls washed the windows, and Ellen, on her knees, scrubbed the floor.
Ellen took in washings to provide for her family. Kneeling by a tub on the floor, she scrubbed the clothes to whiteness on the washboard. She knit stockings to sell, carded wool and crocheted table pieces. She seldom accepted gifts or charity from friends and neighbors, unless a bundle of darning or mending came with them, which she could do to repay the kindness.
She is honored on a monument to pioneer women on the campus of Southern Utah State University in Cedar City.
MARY ANN WARD WEBB
Born: Oct. 24, 1840: Walpole, St. Peters, England
Died: July 30, 1929: Salt Lake City
Pioneer: 1864; Warren S. Snow wagon train
Mary Ann's early life was spent on a farm in the flat country of Norfolk, England, with its fertile acres, its woods and beautiful green country lanes. She joined the LDS Church in 1851, and when she was 21, she went to London to work. In 1864, she and her sister left London for Utah, sailing on the ship Hudson, which landed in New York and then sailed up the Hudson River to Albany. She traveled by rail to Missouri, and then walked most of the rest of the way to Salt Lake City.
She married George Webb in 1865 and moved to Lehi, where she spent most of the rest of her life.
Mary Ann was active in religious and community service in the following positions: member of the Lehi choir for 20 years, president of Primary, Sunday School teacher for 30 years, counselor in Primary Association, Relief Society teacher, the first president of the Lehi branch of the Woman's Suffrage Association and a stake board missionary in Relief Society. Besides her public work, she did a great deal of work among the sick in her neighborhood, always being ready to help in time of need.