BIOGRAPHY: Mary Isabella (Hales) Horne; State of Utah Transcribed by W. David Samuelsen ************************************************************************ USGENWEB ARCHIVES(tm) NOTICE: All documents placed in the USGenWeb Archives remain the property of the contributors, who retain publication rights in accordance with US Copyright Laws and Regulations. In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, these documents may be used by anyone for their personal research. They may be used by non-commercial entities so long as all notices and submitter information is included. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit. Any other use, including copying files to other sites, requires permission from the contributors PRIOR to uploading to the other sites. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. http://www.usgwarchives.net/ut/utfiles.htm *********************************************************************** EXPIRED COPYRIGHT (1884) REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF DESERET A BOOK OF BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES TO ACCOMPANY THE PICTURE BEARING THE SAME TITLE. COMPILED AND WRITTEN BY AUGUSTA JOYCE CROCHERON MARY ISABELLA HORNE, TREASURER OF THE PRESIDING BOARD OF TIlE L. D. S. WOMEN'S ORGANIZATIONS. "I was born November 20th, 1818, in the town of Rainshaw, County of Kent, England. I am the daughter of Stephen and Mary Ann Hales, and the eldest daughter of a large family. My parents were honest, industrious people. I was taught to pray when very young, to be honest and truthful, to be kind to my associates, and to do good t. all around us. My early years were spent in attending school and in assisting my mother in domestic duties." "Mrs. Horne's father was a Methodist, and her mother a member of the Church of England. Mrs. Home as a child, had very strong religious tendencies, and when requested by her Sabbath School teacher to commit to memory two or three verses from the Bible, she would learn a whole chapter or perhaps two, and recite without being prompted. "When only in her eleventh year, she became so fascinated with the Bible that her leisure hours after the labors of the day were over, were employed in reading and studying the history and incidents, the sublime parables and teachings contained in that sacred work; thus prepared to receive in due time the Gospel of the new and last dispensation. In 1832, Mrs. Home's parents decided to emigrate, and concluded to go to upper Canada. April 6th, they left England with a family of five sons and two daughters. "One little boy died upon the way. On the 16th of June, they arrived in York, strangers in a strange land, where the cholera was making fearful ravages, but the Lord preserved them all in health. The following spring, 1833, the family removed to the country, about eight miles from York. Mrs. Hales' health was delicate and the care of the whole family devolved upon Mary Isabella, only fifteen years of age. "In the spring of 1834, she attended a Methodist camp meeting in the neighborhood, where she first met Mr. Joseph Horne, and two years afterward, Joseph Horne and Mary Isabella were united in marriage on the 9th of May, 1836." Only about one month of their wedded life had passed when they heard a rumor that a man professing to be sent of God, to preach to the people would hold a meeting about a mile distant. Mr. and Mrs. Horne attended this meeting and there they first heard the Gospel, proclaimed by Elder Orson Pratt, but little knew how the course of their life would be changed by receiving this great light. Mrs. Home was baptized in July, 1836, by Elder Orson Hyde, and ever after her house was a home for the elders, and a place where meetings were held. In the latter part of the summer of 1837, she first saw the Prophet Joseph, also Sidney Rigdon and Thomas B. Marsh.” She says: "On shaking hands with the Prophet Joseph Smith, I received the holy spirit in such great abundance that I felt it thrill my whole system from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet. 1 had never beheld so lovely a countenance, nobility and goodness were in every feature. I said to myself, '0 Lord, I thank thee for granting the desire of my girlish heart in permitting me to as sociate with prophets and apostles.' " "In March 1838, while the weather was still wintry, Mr. and Mrs. Horne bade farewell to their home, and with a few saints started for the gathering-place of the people of God. At Huntsville, Mrs. Horne was introduced to Father and Mother Smith; Father Smith was the Patriarch of the church, and under his hands she received a patriarchal blessing. In August, with a babe less than a month old, they removed to Far West, and were obliged to go into a log house without doors or windows. It was about this time thatthe excitement in Missouri raged, and persecution was at its height. Mrs. Horne was alone much night and day, her husband being on guard. In the spring of 1839, Mrs. Horne and family left Missouri as exiles, and sought an asylum in Quincy, Ill., where for awhile they bad peace. While in Quincy, Mrs. Horne was one of those favored ones who had the privilege of entertaining and waiting upon the Prophet Joseph and Hyrum, the Patriarch. In the month of March, Mr. and Mrs. Horne moved to Nauvoo by wagon, over the then wild prairies. They lived in a lumber shanty for eight months, and in November Mr. Horne moved his family into his own house, still unfinished. Here in 'Nauvoo the beautiful,' Mr. Horne through diligent labor at last succeeded in establishing a flourishing business and his family were looked upon by the Saints as quite well situated. On the 2nd of April, 1844, Mrs. Horne received a patriarchal blessing under the hands of Hyrum Smith, the patriarch of the Church." On the 27th of the June following, occurred the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum. Mrs. Horne says, "On the 28th day of June, I took my last look on earth of Joseph and Hyrum Smith! May I never experience another day similar to that. I do not wish to recall the scene." On the 9th of July was born her fifth son. In January, 1846, Mrs. Horne went into the Nauvoo Temple, receiving the ordinances of the House of the Lord, and assisted in administering to others. In February Mr. Horne closed his business and bade adieu to their home and camped with the Saints on Sugar Creek, Iowa. In March moved on to Garden Grove, and then to Mt. Pisgah. Here, Mrs. Horne had born to her a daughter, born in a wagon. When the babe was three days old, Mrs. Horne started again on her way, arriving at Council Bluffs about the last of June, moving into a log cabin. Here she was so sick it was feared she would not recover. Elder Orson Pratt administered to her and prophesied she would do a good work in Israel. In June of the same year, she left with the first company across the plains that followed the pioneers to the valley of Salt Lake. That was indeed a remarkable journey and all those who traveled hither at that time deserve the title of pioneers. They opened the way and braved the perils of the desert and the experience of living in this sterile land. They ploughed and planted and fought against the fearful odds of crickets, grasshoppers and death. The company in which Mrs. Horne traveled, arrived here October 6th, 1847, and as soon as the Fort was completed she moved into it, and lived in a log cabin two years, enduring all the exigencies incident to the settling of a new Indian country, among which were living on short rations, a part of which was roots and thistles. On the 16th of January, 1849, another daughter was added to the family. As soon as possible after arriving in a new and destitute country, Mr. and Mrs. Horne made themselves a home in the Fourteenth Ward, which they still retain. In speaking of her first knowledge of the order of celestial marriage, she says, she has had strong testimony for herself that it is of God. Mrs. Horne has borne herself nobly in all the different phases of plural domestic relations. Mrs. Horne was a member of the Relief Society in Nauvoo, and in the first organization of the Fourteenth Ward in this city, was a counselor to President Phoebe W. Woodruff. In May, 1858, Mrs. Horne moved as far south as Parowan, her husband being called on a mission still further south, in Dixie. Against every disadvantage, Mrs. Horne performed this journey of two hundred and fifty miles, this mother with her ten children, the youngest a babe of six months. In September their mission was fulfilled and Mrs. Horne returned home, Mr. Horne returning from his mission soon after. December 12th, 1867, Mrs. Horne was chosen by Bishop A. Hoagland, of the Fourteenth Ward, to preside over the Relief Society in that ward. It was a great surprise to her, she was at that time very timid. Under the wise management of the Pregident, the society increased in numbers, great good was accomplished in the relief of the poor and afflicted, and means multiplied in the Treasury. A two story brick building has been erected by the society, part of which is rented for a store, and the upper story used for meetings. The society also own a good granary and a quantity of wheat. Mrs. Horne's success as a leader was so apparent and her course so consistent, President Young had such confidence in her, he gave her very important mission among the sisters; this was called Retrenchment. In due time a meeting was held in the Fifteententh Ward Schoolhouse, and from there adjourned to the Fourteenth Ward Assembly ‘Rooms, and from that time until the present, Mrs. Horne has presided at these regular semi-monthly meetings of the Ladies' General Retrenchment Associations. When President Young instructed Sister Eliza to go through the Territory and organize the young ladies into associations for mutual improvement, Mrs. Horne was called to assist. She has organized many of the Young Ladies Associations, also Primary Associations. At the time of the passage of the Cullom Bill in January, 1876, a grand Mass Meeting was called to convene in the Old Tabernacle, Salt Lake City. Mrs. Horne took an active part in the proceedings, being one of the committee to draft resolutions. In February following, the bill was passed, granting suffrage to the women of Utah. Mrs. Horne was one of a committee of ladies who waited upon Governor S. A. Mann to express the gratitude of Mormon women for his signing of the document. December 1877, Mrs. Horne was chosen to preside over the Relief Societies of this stake of Zion. She was elected a delegate from Salt Lake County, to the Territorial Convention held in this city, commencing October 9th, and was called upon to address them. Mrs. Horne was one of the committee appointed to wait upon the delegate nominated at the Convention, and inform him of the honor conferred upon him. When Mrs. Horne was sixty years of age, upon the demise of her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Lydia Weiler Horne, she took the babe six weeks old to raise. This after rearing a family, and seeing each take honored places in the world. Mrs. Horne has been an officer and worker in the silk industry from the beginning. At the organization of the board of officers for the Deseret Hospital, May 1882, Mrs. Horne was elected Chairman of the Executive Committee. November 20th, 1882, was the forty-sixth anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Horne's wedding day. At the reception they held, an elegant photograph album was presented from lady friends, each of whom was to contribute her picture. Congratulations from children, Mayor Jennings and Judge Miner, with loving and sincere good wishes from all, for the future, made this aday long to be remembered." I am indebted to the pen of Emmeline B. Wells, editor of the "Woman's Exponent," for the points I have selected for this sketch, to whom the original referred me as possessing all I would wish to obtain. Perhaps, it would be no more than justice to the author, to quote also from the same source, the record her family have so far, made, thereby reflecting credit upon their noble parents. It will also give to the world the history in brief of one Mormon family, reared in the teachings, examples and associations of Mormonism, not omitting the system of celestial marriage. " By their fruits ye shall know them." "Henry, the eldest son, was for eleven years Bishop in Paris, Idaho, in 1880, moved to Arizona, to assist in colonizing there. "Joseph, when about twenty years of age, was called on a mission to Switzerland, where he obtained a thorough knowledge of the German language. Returned, and was for ten years Bishop of Gunnison, Sanpete Co., again called to Switzerland to preside over the Swiss and German missions and edit the Stern. In 1878, he was called to the Bishopric in Richfield, Sevier Co., is also mayor of that city. "Richard is a teacher; was superintendent of Sunday-schools in Beaver, and has filled several home missions. "John, the youngest son, was the first President of the Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Association in the Fourteenth Ward. Her eldest daughter, Mrs. Elizabeth Webb, lives in Millard Co., a lady who might grace any society. "Nora married George, son of Orson Spencer, somewhat famous in Church history for his valuable writings and great missionary work in America and Europe. "Julia married Wm. Burton, and died one year after marriage, leaving a baby daughter. She was the first President of the Young Ladies Mutual Improvement Associaton of the Fourteenth Ward. "Cornelia was later made the President. Miss Cornelia was also for three or four years business manager of the Woman's Exponent. She is the wife of James Clayton. "Minnie, her twin sister, was for several years Secretary of the Young Ladies Mutual Improvement Association and the Sunday-school. Since her marriage with Wm. James, she is President of the Seventh Ward Primary Association. "Mattie is a counselor to the President of all the Young Ladies Mutual Improvement Associations of the Church. When the Woman's Exponent was first published, Miss Mattie was the first girl to go into the printing office and learn type setting. "Clara, the youngest, is accomplished, gifted spiritually, and an active worker. As her mother is often called from home by public duties, the charge of the home rests much of the time with her, a position she fills with dignity and ability." Three babes died in infancy. And the mother of these children now honored among men and women, drove team hundreds of miles, not one journey, but many, and nearly always with a babe in her arms. Resting now in the afternoon of life with comforts, honors and love surrounding her, Mrs. Home must look back with satisfaction and gratitude upon her life. A few years ago, when I, a timid Secretary of the Fourteenth Ward Meetings, used to steal a look at her noble face, I used mentally to compare it to that of Washington, and I think still I was not mistaken; we, to-day, are struggling for "liberty to worship God according to the dictates of our own consciences," and the spirit of such as he and his co-laborers are with us and are ours, to counsel and to lead, through difficulties unto victory.