| OCR Text |
Show • TI TLE PAGE PIONEER NAME MARY DtJ-DIX- L-OW-E H-OW-ARD- - ---------- 8 I RI'H DATE AND PLACE November 20 , 1837, Walbrook St affordshire , England DEATH DATE AND PLACE -----1-91-4 ----------------- Fl\T HER Richard Lowe MJ.I'HER Sarah Dudly WHO Ml\RRIED AND DATE Thomas Howard YEAR ARRIVED IN Ul'AH ---18-64' '------------------- NA.1vlE OF COMPA.~ William Hyde Company h'HO WIDI'E HIS'IORY AND DATE Sarah Howard Tuttle, Feb. i2, 19J6 • WHO FILED HIS'IORY AND DATE Saundra Peterson, April 17, 1992 Cll~1P NAME South Morgan mUNTY NAi'1E Morgan CA11P HIS'IORIA~- -L-u-ci-lle- -O.' -W-il l-ia-m-s ---------- --- ADDRESS CDUNTY HIS'IORIAN B-ar-ba-ra- -C.- -P-or-t e-r ------'-------- ADDRESS • SOUR::E OF INFORMtl.TION AND PAGE NUMBERS : • JPEG-Bk13 • • • A LIFE SKETCH OF MARY DUDLY LOWE HOWARD Mary Dudly Lowe Howard was the wife of THomas Howard, and daughter of Richard and Sarah Dudly Lowe . She was born November 20, 1837 at Walbrook Staffordshire, England and was the third in the family. She was the first one to join the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints . Her mother died when she was six years old, and she lived with her grandmother Dudly for a few years until her father married again, and at 14 years of age she went out to work and became a special cook with wealthy families and made very good money . There was no free schooling in those days and children soon went out to make their own living ; however, mother learned ta read and write very well . She was head cook for a wealthy family who was religiously enclined . They had the minister come and read to them very often , but mother never seemed satisfied . She heard of some Mormon meetings that were being held some six miles from her home and she walked there to investigate. Joseph Howard was the District President and invited her to stay to their night meeting . Apostle Penrose who spoke that night seemed to be inspired and said the very things she had been wanting to know . Joseph Howard , who later became her father-in-law took her home and she could hardly wait for her next Sunday off to visit the meetings again . As she became more interested one of the servants told the people she was working for that she was attending Mormon meetings . They thought a great deal of mother and had the minister talk to her . They said she was too good a girl to be going to such meetings . But she prayed earnestly that if the Mormons were right that nothing would stand in her way or prevent her from becoming one of their people . She promised the Lord that she would rather live on potatoes and salt and be with His people than to live on the riches of the land without the true gospel , and she was surely put to the test. Mother met with the minister a number of times at the request of the people she lived with, but the more she talked with him the more discontented she became, until she refused to see the minister and her mistress told her she would never have another girl that she thought so much of, but she would not have the minister treated that way and she would have to leave. They gave her a good letter of recommendation and said that she was very honest, trustworthy, agreeable and a good cook but that she would associate with the Mormons . She looked a long time for work but no one would hire her being a Mormon. She fin~lly found some people that said they a peculiar religion too and it didn't make any difference to them although she had to take lower wages and work much harder. Mother kept going to the meetings and Joseph Howard said his son Thomas was younger and could take her home as he was better able to walk that distance . They began keeping company until he came to Utah, he was to come here and help earn money with his brother , William, to bring her and the JPEG-Bk13 2.H • • • --·---------·---------------------------------------------- rest of the family . They agreed that if either one met anyone they liked better before they were united in Utah they would get married when she arrived . Mother had a number of chances for marriage with well thought of young men from wealthy families, but none of them seemed to appeal to her as Thomas Howard did . Mother Joined the church in England about 1861 at Gravely Hill and was baptized by Joseph Howard and traveled to Utah with him and his family in 1864 with the William Hyde Company. She went through many trials but she never complained . Mother was a few wagons ahead of Joseph Howard when his wife became very ill . I have heard my mother say she went back of the wagon and looked through the canvass saying, "Mother, how are you tonight?" and she replied, I'll never see my dear boys again . " Early the next morning Grandfather, Joseph Howard, came for mother to help lay his wife, grandmother, away. They had no casket, or boards, they just put clean underwear and a dress on her and sewed her in a clean sheet and buried her in a grave which the children lined with goldenrod . Mother had to hurry to gather her few cooking utensils and get them in the wagon as they were all starting to move. She looked back and saw the smoke burning up from the grave . They built a fire on all the graves to keep the animals away . Grandmother died as many other saints--a martyr for the Gospel and she will wear a martyr's crown. Mother was older than grandfather's daughter ' s and therefore, took the responsibility of the family until grandfather married again . While they were traveling on their journey,they would mix up a little sour dough bread and let it hang under the wagon and bake it in a camp kettle at night. Sometimes it would be burnt on the outside and dough in the middle . There was no time to cook as they journeyed each day . No wonder the poor saints were sick and died . I have heard my mother say that father's two little sisters were also sick and they said to her, "Thomas will have a chicken for us when we get to Utah." But they never lived to get there . Mother walked most of the way across the plains and was sick most of the time. She was the only member of her family to come here other than a half sister and step-mother who came in later years . When she arrived here she went to West Bountiful where she met and married Thomas Howard on Christmas day. They were married by Bishop William Muir as they could only go the endowment house as they were called. and she had two children before she was married in the endowment house by D. H. Wells, then later she and father had their second endowments in the Salt Lake Temple . They lived in West Bountiful for the first ten years of their married life and made many dear friends that she loved as long as she lived . She always felt though that that was JPEG-Bk13 • • • her Utah home . Her furniture was mostly home made . She brought some fancy lawn dresses from England with her, but she said they looked out of place here as they all dressed in home spun clothes, so she made some little window curtains out of them. Also a ruffle for her bed and clothes for her first baby. Later, they moved to a dairy ranch up near what is now the Mueller·s Park, which at that time was a saw mill. This was their home until their family was raised and all married. She was the Mother of six children, four sons and two daughters, all married in the temple of the Lord. At the time of this writing her posterity numbered 160, and out of all of her posterity there is not one but what is sound in body and mind. Mother was five feet two inches tall and weighed about one hundred and forty pounds, had dark brown curly hair and large brown eyes, her cheeks were rosy even in her old age. She was a very cheerful girl and had a good sense of humor . She was usually the life of her company and had a good voice. She also had poise and was very ladylike . My earliest recollections of mother was her singing while she sewed and mended clothes . Father also had a good voice and we had many a happy evenings singing the Mormon hymns. Flowers were her hobby and she sent them to the sick and thee well both to friends and people she was not acquainted with. Some she put in a bouquet in a basket of butter she sold . She was always giving to someone she thought was in need. She could never endure to see any animal abused or hungry and would make sacrifices when necessary in order to feed them. When we couldn't all have clothes to go to church, mother would stay home in order for father and the children to be able to attend their duties. She always insisted on her family keeping the Sabbath Day Holy . Honesty and truth were her motto . When mother and father had their home dedicated, Patriarch Kynaston and Patriarch Tolman were there. Patriarch Kynaston walked across the room and put his hands on mother's head and gave her a blessing in tongues. Brother Tolman interpreted it and said it was spoken in the Hebrew tongue. He said the Lord was pleased with her for the sacrifices she had made and for the teachings she had given her children, and through this the Lord promised her that He would not suffer the children to be lost, though they wavered, they would be caught even as a hook cast into their jaw and they would be brought back. Mother died at the age of 77 years and was bedfast but one day. She had very few gray hairs when she died . Mother was loved most by those who knew her best • This biography was written by her daughter, Sarah Howard Tuttle February 12, 1936 JPEG-Bk13 |
