Mary Thorpe Morris Beal

Mary Thorpe was only eleven years of age when she went to work in the mills of England.  She was a hardworking woman all of her life.

In England shew was married to Joseph Morris.  They were the parents of three children who all died in infancy.  In the Spring of 1853, Mary and Joseph immigrated to Utah.  Mary was pregnant and walked the entire distance form St. Louis to Green River, Wyoming, where she gave birth, two months prematurely, to a daughter born on top of a load of freight.

Within a few days the company met a herd of buffalo that frightened and stampeded the oxen.  Mary was thrown on the ground with the baby in her arms.  One wheel of the heavy freight wagon ran over Mary's body just under her arms and crushed her ribs.  This accident left her crippled for life, with one side of her body shorter than the other.  Her baby survived the accident.

She later divorced her husband Joseph when he left the Church.  He was accidentally killed in the Ogden, Utah area in 1859.  She married Henry Allen Beal in Ephraim in 1854.   Their marriage was solemnized in the Endowment House on February 14, 1857.

Mary was well read and was one of the first teachers in Ephraim.  Her intelligence and spiritual influence were so strong that her physical deformity was insignificant.  Mary washed, picked, corded and spun wool into cloth and made it into clothing.  She also operated the community store in one room of her home.

Mary endured many trials and hardships during her life, but found comfort and strength in the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Children:

Ann, 28 December 1847

Sarah Jane, 25 June 1849

Joseph, 26 December 1851

Ann Eliza, 2 September 1853

Children with Henry Allen Beal:

William Henry, 23 September 1855

John Samuel, 29 June 1857

George Albert, 8 September 1859

Henry Thomas, 9 October 1861

David Nelson, 15 November 1863

Mary Jimmima, 13 March 1866

Emma Rosebelle, 14 December 1868

(Source: Pioneer Women of Faith and Fortitude, Vol 1 A to E, International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers, p.190.)