This story was compiled by Kristine Halls Smith in December 1998 from material printed in a booklet called History of Joseph Barker and His Family, published in 1954; from Miller, David E., Hole-in-the-Rock, University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City, Utah, 1966; and from Freeman, Ira S., A History of Montezuma County Colorado, Johnson Publishing Company, Pueblo, Colorado, 1958.
Mary had been born on
April 11, 1837 at Brayshop, Stokeclimsland, Cornwall, England to John Deoidge,
Jr. and Mary Nepean Doidge. She had three brothers, William, Richard, and
Edward, and two sisters, Susanne and Emma.
Joseph and Mary Ann’s
daughter, Dora Barker Burnham, wrote about Mary Ann’s life. She said, “Charming
and one of leisure, was the girlhood life of Mary Ann Doidge before joining the
L.D.S. Church in 1857. Living in the little town of Brayshop, Cornwall,
England, she spent many happy hours roaming the hills and downs, close to her
hometown, gathering the wild flowers that grew in such abundance there. She was
once crowned “Queen of the May” in May Day festivities. This day was celebrated
by the people who gathered from all the countryside for dancing, braiding the
Maypole, and picnicking.
“She was the daughter
of a prosperous merchant and had always lived a carefree life, having only to
work as she desired. She was never an idler, however, but assisted in clerking
in the store and in preparing lunches for miners.
“She had a fair
education for her time, being well versed in Bible scripture as that book was
used as a text for reading. She was also a good writer and speller.
“Her parents, John
and Mary Nepean Doidge, provided well for their family, having hired help to do
the heavy work of the home and giving them all a fair education. So, in
sheltered comfort, Mary Ann grew up, learning to cook, sew, and perform the
small duties of the household, under the guidance of her mother. Her people
belonged to the Church of England and taught their children that faith. She
learned to read the Bible well and learned the teachings of that church.
Addition: The family was always taught to honor their
beloved queen of England, who was Queen Victoria. Mary Ann told of seeing the
Queen riding in her carriage drawn by six white horses. There was a law that no
one in England should drive a carriage drawn by six white horses. But some, to
show their daring, did so but were not caught.
“When yet in her
teens, Mary Ann was attending the funeral of a relative. While standing with
her own group, she was attracted by beautiful singing coming from another part
of the cemetery, where the funeral of a small child was being held. Out of
curiosity and appreciation of the lovely music, she edged closer to the other
assemblage. The words and melody of the song ‘Oh My Father’ floated to her on
the breeze. As she came nearer, she could hear them singing:
‘For a wise and
glorious purpose,
Thou hast placed me
here on earth.
And withheld the
recollection
Of my former friends
and birth.
Yet oftimes a secret
something
Whispers ‘You’re a
stranger here,’
And I felt that I
have wandered
From a more exalted
sphere.’”
Dora wrote, “Mary Ann
had often felt just that way, and had spent much time wondering and meditating
about it. Listening to the sermon which followed, she learned the service was
being conducted by a group of Mormon missionaries. Inquiring further, she found
where she could attend their meetings. When her people called her to return
home with them, she reluctantly pulled herself away. She attended the Mormon
meetings, more to hear them sing at first, but later she became interested in
their message. Because she knew her family was very set against the Mormons,
she attended the meetings in secret, and gave the missionaries money from her
own allowance to help carry on their work. Finally, after much deliberation,
she asked to be baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
She was baptized in Devonport, Devonshire, England on August 4, 1857. She was
well aware of what it would mean to her. But she knew the message to be the
word of God, by the continued uplifting of her spirit, of the enlightening
principals taught. Things that had been shrouded in darkness were now clear to
her mind. As she expected, her parents outrageously disapproved of this
‘preposterous act’ of their daughter. Her mother pleaded with tears in her
eyes, and her father stormed and angrily threatened to throw her out of the
house if she did not give up this fanaticism. However, she had the courage to
stand by her convictions and left her lovely home with nothing but the clothes
she wore. She went to another town where she procured work to earn her living.
This was an added cross as she was not accustomed to hard labor; but never once
did she consider giving up the inner joy she had exchanged for the outward
labor.”
In Devonshire, Mary Ann met and learned to love Joseph Barker.
Joseph was baptized on June 5, 1860 and a few days later, they were married at
Stonehouse, Devonshire on June 11, 1860.
Nearly a year later a baby, Sarah Jane, was born to them on April
24, 1861.
Journey to Zion
For some time they had greatly desired
to emigrate to the United States. Joseph Barker was having a hard time making a
living as a tailor and they were unable to save the money necessary to emigrate
abroad. Finally, Mary Ann decided to wean her baby, and putting her on a
bottle, she nursed the baby of some rich people to earn the money for their
ship transportation. They crossed the
Atlantic in 1862, taking six weeks to make the voyage. During the trip, Sarah, their baby, became
seriously ill on the journey over the seas. Her mother sorrowed that she
perhaps had become ill on account of being weaned so young. Through God’s
kindness, she lived and became happy and playful again.
Baby Sarah threw their only comb into
the sea. It was while this voyage was being made that Mary Ann’s mother died. Upon reaching America, Mary
wrote lovingly to her parents whom she missed so much. The answer to her letter
was stunning to her for it was from her father. He told her that her mother had
died of a stroke while she was on her way over the ocean. In unforgiving words
he said, “You have killed your mother. She died
of a broken heart. May the Lord bring judgment upon you.” Mary was broken-hearted,
not only at her mother’s death, but also at her father’s unforgiving spirit.
Dora wrote, “The big problem after reaching America was to find a
way to cross the plains and join those of their faith in Utah. Joseph found a
chance to drive a team of oxen, but there was no way for Mary Ann and the baby
to come at that time, so he went on ahead. Three weeks later, Mary Ann found
she could have her baby and few possessions taken by agreeing to do the laundry
for the captain of a company and his family. As there was no room for her to
ride, she walked all of the one thousand miles from Missouri to the Salt Lake
Valley. They were three months on the journey. The days seemed endless with the
hot sun burning into her back and her only shoes worn to shreds. At night she
was so tired she could have slept on a rock, as well as on her solitary
comforter. It seemed that for weeks there would not be a tree or a shrub of any
kind to break the endless monotony of the dry prairies, and both the eye and
soul became famished for a haven of rest. But in the evening, when they
gathered within the circle of wagons for song and prayer before retiring, she
received a new strength and courage from an unknown source to carry her through
yet another day. At times when she felt as though she could not take another
step, she would softly sing one of her favorite songs, ‘Come, come ye saints,
no toil nor labor fear, but with joy wend your way.’
“One especially hard day, everything seemed to go wrong. In the
early morning she had washed for the captain’s family and herself and baby, by
rapidly rubbing the soiled places between her hands, in the water of the stream
by which they had camped. When they came to a stop at noon, she stretched a
line between two wagons and hurriedly hung the clothes to dry, while the others
were eating. But as no water could be found for the horses, the call came to
move on. So, weary and faint, she gathered in the wet clothes and trudged on
all afternoon without the sustenance of food. In the evening she again hung up
the clothes, then helped prepare the evening meal. Just as they were ready to
eat, the call came to gather for prayers. During this day she had been more
depressed than ever before. She was tired, hungry, and discouraged. She had
been shocked to hear the President’s son swear at his cattle. She had never had
definite proof that this she followed was the truth, nor that there was a
future existence. Had she been wise in giving up her family, friends, her home
and way of life, everything she possessed, to come to this wild, unbroken
country not knowing what she had to meet? Such thoughts had gone through and
through her mind during the day. Could it be she was following a false
delusion? While she was going to join the evening session of prayer, she was
completely overcome by hunger and fatigue. Everything seemed to go black and
she fell to the ground. Her spirit seemed to leave her body, and she was taken
by the hand of a girl companion who had died some time before, and led to the
spirit world. There she saw relatives and friends, all of whom she knew had
passed away. Everyone there seemed to be engaged in school, some of them
learning the rudiments of education they had missed in this life. It was so
very pleasant and peaceful that she longed to stay with them. But she knew she
must go back to fulfill her mission upon the earth.
“When she opened her eyes, her clothes were wet with the water
that had been used to try to revive her. ‘Oh, Mary Ann,’ her friends exclaimed,
‘You gave us such a fright; you have been unconscious for over an hour. We
thought we could never bring you to.’ This experience gave her a testimony of a
future existence, and that progression goes on after this life. The next
morning she again trudged on her weary journey, but the way seemed easier
knowing for sure that there was a hereafter when she would again meet her
people and be free from earthly cares. Never again did she waver, but went on
to the end of her journey with a steadfast heart. ”
Parowan,
Utah
After reaching Salt Lake City, Joseph and Mary Ann were sent to
help settle southern Utah. Their second daughter was born on January 30, 1864
in a little town called Washington. She was named Mary Ann after her mother.
Not long after that they moved to Parowan, Utah where Joseph was
ordained an Elder in the church on February 9, 1866. It was here that Emma Amelia*
was born on July 22, 1866. Catharine Maria, called Kate or Cassie was born on
April 2, 1869, and Ellen Melissa, sometimes called Ella, was born on June 4,
1871.
Theirs was a difficult life living under pioneer conditions. Both
parents worked at anything they could find to do. Joseph couldn’t find work as
a tailor, so he herded sheep and hauled freight to the mining camps near
Pioche, Nevada. Mary Ann would do a day’s washing on the wash board for a quart
of molasses or a pan full of flour. In the fall, she would take the girls to
pick up potatoes and to the grain fields to glean the heads of grain left by
the harvesters. Dora wrote, “I have heard my older sisters tell that when they
would go with Mother to glean, they would each pick their hands full of wheat,
then Mother would call, ‘Bundle,’ and they would all run with what they had and
she would tie it all together. Thus, she made play of it. She had a good sense
of humor, making jokes many times.” This grain was made into flour for their
bread. She also spun and wove the cloth for their clothes.
Stories were told of Joseph and Mary Ann’s daughter, Mary.
Granddaughter Jeanie Weston Dawson wrote down some of those stories. One story
about her said, “I was a sickly child and could eat very little. Once I felt a
great craving for milk, but we had no cows. I prayed hard for some cows and
sure enough, we got cows. But we didn’t keep them long. Pa had a chance to
trade them for horses and that’s what he did. It made me mad. I just told him
that he needn’t expect me to get him any more cows to trade off.”
Another story that Jeanie wrote, quoting Mary, said, “Once Emma*
and I were playing in a deep, dry ditch. All at once a shaft of light shot by
our faces. Emma* said, in an awed voice, ‘That’s a sign!’ ‘Yes,’ I said, ‘It’s a
sign we’d better get out of here fast.’ We had hardly scrambled up the bank
when a great head of water, enough to drown us, came down.” Jeannie added, “In
speaking of this in later years, Emma* always regarded it as a sign from Heaven.
Mary held that it was the reflection of light on the advancing water. How right
they both were!”]
Again quoting Mary, “Mother loved to go out in the evenings to
social affairs. Pa usually preferred to stay at home with the baby. The rest of
us would go with Mother. When we came home, we would find Pa reading by candle
light. The book he read most was Shakespeare’s Complete Works in One Volume.”
Jeanie adds, “What a strong man Joseph Barker must have been!” Mary said,
“Mother was a great reader, too, but she preferred something of a lighter
nature than the plays of Shakespeare.”
One of Mary’s most pleasant recollections was of her trips to
Pioche, Nevada with her father. He would take a wagon load of supplies –
chickens, eggs, butter, and other produce that he purchased in Parowan – and
sell it to the miners. “Once a tire came loose,” she said. “It was miles to the
nearest blacksmith’s shop. Pa didn’t want to leave me alone in the wagon, so he
rolled the wagon wheel and carried me on his back all that way and back again.”
Another of Mary’s pleasant memories of this time was “Mother’s
flowers. She had about every variety that was grown at that time. She had an
arch over the front gate with morning glories trained over it.” Morning glories
were always one of Mary’s favorites in memory of the ones that gave her such
pleasure as a child.
When Ella was a baby, in 1872, they went to Salt Lake City to go
through the endowment house and receive their sealings. While in the city, they
bought their first stove and a Howe sewing machine. Until this time the cooking
was done over the fireplace and the sewing was done by hand.
On June 19, 1873, Georgina Madora, called Dora, was born.
Sometime before 1874, Joseph’s mother, Sarah Pickersgill Barker,
came to Utah. She died in Parowan on September 3, 1874.
In 1874, Joseph left the family and went to Nevada to stay,
sending money to them when he could. So when Dora was a baby ten months old,
Mary Ann was left alone to raise her family. She started a school in her home.
She was one of the first teachers in Parowan. Evenings she had a writing school
for adults. Mary said that her mother was “a lovely writer and she used to stay
up long after the adult pupils had gone home setting copies for the next
night’s classes. It was the task of us older girls to clean up the school room
between classes.” As pay, Mary Ann would take any commodities her pupils could
give – wood, foodstuffs, leather for shoes – anything she could use for her
family. “She would receive a piece of leather from one patron while another
would sew it into shoes in payment for his children attending school.”
It was remembered that “one cold Christmas Eve, after the little
girls had retired and their stockings were hanging for an expected gift, Mary
Ann scraped the last flour from the bin to make some sugar cookies as a
surprise. She had made a rag doll for each girl. A knock came on the door and
she opened it to see a neighbor lady with small baskets for each girl made from
molasses candy. Each one was filled with sweets. The girls remembered this as
one of the happiest Christmas they ever had.”
The Girls Go to Work
Finally she had to let the four older girls go into other homes to
work and earn their own living. Sarah, who was fourteen, went to Washington to
work in a weaving factory. Mary, twelve, went to Cedar City to work for Mr. and
Mrs. Cory. Emma* went to Summit to a family named Hullett. Before this she had
worked in Parowan for Bishop Dame and his two wives. But they said, “We would
like the little fat one.” This was Kate. So at eight years of age, Little
Cassie went out to earn her own way.
Kate remembered some of her experiences when she was working for
the Dames. “Brother Dame was the president of the stake. Many of the officials
of the church came to visit. I remember Brigham Young and ‘Young Brig’ as we
called his son. I believe my favorite visitor was Wilford Woodruff. He came on
a visit once, while I was reading his book, Leaves from my Journal. He took the
book and went through it with me, telling me many interesting facts which he
had not put in the book.” She said, “All the Mormons in our community brought
their tithing to President Dames. The times were hard and there was little
money, so most of it was in produce. The nearest to a spanking I ever received
during my five years at the Dames was on an occasion when I let a ‘tithing
rooster’ out of its pen.”
Later Emma* went to Paragonah to work. She even helped with the
farm work. Her wages were fifty cents a week and every week, the money was sent
home to her mother. Because of the necessity of working out, these older girls
were deprived of much of their education.
Second Marriage
About 1878, four years after Joseph left, James Harvey Dunton, who
already had a wife, four grown children, and a young, adopted Indian girl asked
Mary Ann to marry him. So, after divorcing Joseph, she was remarried, thinking
she would have help to raise her children. Mr. Dunton was forty-nine years old
at this time and Mary Ann was forty-one.
Kate said that “after Mother married Mr. Dunton, they moved to
Paragonah, about six miles from Parowan. Every Saturday, Mother would ride back
with Mr. Topham, a butcher, and spend the day with me. I was always homesick,
and after Mother left I would go upstairs and cry. The Dames wanted to adopt
me, but Mother would not let them. She said I could stay as long as they were
satisfied and I was satisfied and she was living close by. The Dames put money
into the ‘Co-op’ herd of cattle for me. I drew this money out after I married,
and it was three times the amount of the original investment.”
On April 15, 1879, a boy, John Harvey Dunton, was born to Mary Ann
and James, the only child of that union. In the fall of that year, they were
called by church authorities to go with others to southeastern Utah to settle
the San Juan River territory. Early in 1879, James Dunton went with an
exploring company by way of Moab to find a place for settlement on the San Juan
River and build a cabin. The members of that first group started a settlement
which was called Montezuma Fort. After starting a cabin, James returned to meet
up with the main party of “Hole-in-the-Rock” pioneers. He left all his
foodstuffs with the few people who were staying at the fort but were nearing
starvation, saying, “I won’t need it. I have my gun and I won’t starve.”
In October 1879, Mary Ann and the three youngest children, Ella,
Dora, and John joined up with the main party of “Hole-in-the-Rock” pioneers,
probably traveling with the families of James’s grown sons from his first
marriage who also made the trip. They traveled in a lumber wagon, bringing what
few household belongings they could, including the stove and sewing machine
that she so valued. The pioneering group headed for the Colorado River not
really knowing where they were going to be able to cross the river. Eventually
it was determined that a crossing might be made where a crevice in the steep
cliffs was widened with dynamite, pick and shovel and much hard work before the
wagons could pass through. The descent was so steep, the men blocked the wheels
and then held back on the rear of the wagons to keep them from rushing into the
horses. They finally crossed the Colorado River on January 28, 1880 by driving
the horses and wagons onto a ferry boat. After crossing the river, they still
faced difficult travel over very rugged country before they reached the San
Juan, arriving at their new home in April. The trip that was supposed to take
six weeks instead took six months.
While traveling on this trip, eight-year-old Ella developed a
special fondness for her little half-brother who was less than a year old.
Being the oldest child, she was allowed to ride in the wagon to care for him.
She was a motherly type and spent many hours caring for him and carrying him on
her hip even though he was a husky child.
By the time most of the “Hole-in-the-Rock” pioneers got to the San
Juan River at what is now Bluff, Utah, they had had enough and they established
their new community on the San Juan River there, instead of traveling on to
Montezuma Fort. Since James had already built a cabin at the fort, however, he
took his family on and they spent the winter there. In telling the story, Dora
says, “I don’t know how we lived through that bleak winter. I remember toward
spring, we children gathered twigs and leaves from the greasewood bushes for
greens. The fort was built for protection from the Indians. The houses were
touching each other in the form of a square, with the fronts facing inside. The
children were not allowed outside of the square. During the winter the men dug
ditches and made large frame waterwheels for the purpose of lifting the water
from the river to irrigate the farms. This work was all in vain and the
experiment failed, as when the high waters came in the spring from the melting
snows above, the waterwheels were washed out of the sandy soil and down the
river. The people were obliged to leave there and look for new wilds to
conquer. Later when I went back over the same route, the river was running
through the place where the fort had stood.”
In May of 1881, when Dora was eight and Ella was ten, they again
loaded their belongings into the wagon and started for an unknown destination.
They moved north of Durango, Colorado, where James Dunton hauled lumber from a
sawmill to Durango. Here, Mary Ann found work doing laundry for others. The
first house they lived in there was a dugout and the children helped clear and
then plant and harvest crops. Dora says “We helped Mother make tallow candles
which we used for light, and soap for our laundry. We helped with the laundry
and gleaned in the fields to get money to buy our school clothes. Mother,
through it all, never looked on work as a drudgery, but was always glad to do
anything she could to help make our way, and we learned to do the same. Always,
it seemed she was able to look on the bright side of life.”
Mancos, Colorado
In the fall of 1882, they moved to Mancos, Colorado and took up a
farm on land that they homesteaded, living in a tent until they could build a
dugout home for them and then later a log house. It was remembered that, “The
girls were unable to attend school at first because of a lack of clothes to
wear. They had received some schooling in Parowan and also had instruction from
their mother. The school in Mancos was two miles away and it was necessary to
cross a river on a plank.” Dora remembered that the second spring, their mother
“told Ella and me that we might go to school if we could go to town and get
some rose bushes and other things we had sent for by mail, without falling in
the river. The bridge had been washed out by high water and there was only a
narrow foot bridge without a railing, across the stream. We went in high hopes
of having the privilege of going to school. So far we had not been able to get
much education. We went across bravely enough and obtained the things we were
to bring home, but on our return journey, I got dizzy and called to Ella, who
had already made it across, to come and help me. She came back for me, but she
fell into the rushing torrent. A woman and her son, who lived close by, had
been watching us and when they saw her fall, the young man ran to the stream
and rescued Ellen, who was able to grasp a willow on the bank. I dropped to my
knees and crawled on across the bridge, which I should have had sense enough to
do in the first place. No school for us that year.”
They were finally allowed to go to school after Mary Ann again
began taking in washings and was able to get suitable clothes for school for them.
It was cold in winter with deep snow. Their mother would wrap their feet in
burlap to keep them warm.
Dora writes, “At our new location, everyone worked. Brother Dunton
grubbed the brush to clear the land with a common grub hoe, and we girls piled
it in big piles for burning in the evening. The colorful flames leaping into
the dusk which had fallen over the valley were a source of enjoyment for all
family members as they ran from one pile of brush to another igniting the dry
wood.
“That was one of our few sources of recreation in those days. When
the grain matured, Brother Dunton would cut it with a cradle, an implement
consisting of a long knife and several wooden fingers. The fallen grain would
be tossed into a clump by the cradle fingers and my sister, Ella, and I would
bind it by making a band of the greener stems to wrap the sheaf, the ends of
which were twisted to tie the bundle.
“Mother planted a garden including fruit bushes as well as
vegetables. She soon had a lovely flower garden, also, in our front yard.
“She took in washings from town folk to help support the family.
The clothes had to be brought out to the farm on an old yellow mare, which
would often mire down in the swamps which dotted the road between our home and
the community. Mother was always glad to get the work.”
About Ellen, it was remembered that “she loved to dance and take
part in sports. Many times after dancing nearly all night, she would go home
and put on her house dress and help her mother in doing washing. She and her
sister would ride horseback to gather and deliver the clothes which they washed
for others.”
Dora said, “From the home, we children walked to school in town
part of the time and rode a horse when the roads were bad. We had a cow and
chickens to help provide the living, and with the extra money Mother brought
in, we faired pretty well.”
In 1882, two years after Mary Ann had left Parowan, the four older
girls went to Colorado. They were taken as passengers with a group that was
going to Colorado. Progress was so slow that they covered most of the distance
on foot, keeping behind the advance guard of horsemen and ahead of the
slow-moving wagons. Mary considered this trip the adventure of her life. She
never tired of telling about it and of the thrill of crossing the Colorado
River on a ferry boat. They crossed the river at Lee’s Ferry and it was said
they enjoyed the crossing so much that they went back on the empty ferry and
crossed a second time. Kate said of the trip, “Emma* and I rode with Marius
Dunton, Mr. Dunton’s second son. Sade and Mary paid $20.00 each to ride with a
family named Rolly. I had an easy trip, because I got to sleep in the wagon
nights with Mrs. Rolly and her baby. It was my job to keep him in bed mornings,
while Mrs. Rolly prepared breakfast. He was a cute baby. The entire trip took
us about a month.” They arrived in Mancos shortly before Christmas.
 |
| Mary Ann (bottom center) with children. Emma* is on bottom right. |
Kate said, “Mr. Dunton met our wagon train at Bluff City. When we
got close to home, Mr. Dunton told me of a turn-off ahead and said to follow it
till I came to a big gate and that was where we were to live. I ran on ahead,
found the gate, went through and ran to find Mother. The first side of the
house had a chimney on it. I ran to another side and there was a window level
with the ground. I could look through and there was Mother with the three
younger children. She had the table set with some lovely china with gold bands
around the edges. Everything was so clean and comfortable, it looked like
heaven to me. I ran back around the house the way I had come, to the other end.
There was another window, but no door in sight. I could wait no longer. “I can
see my mother,” I called, “but where is the door?” It did not take long to find
the door then. Mother and the children ran toward it from the inside and I ran
around to meet them. I was never so happy in my life.” The girls had to sleep
in a wagon box as there was no room in the house for them.
The girls soon obtained work to make their own way and to help
their mother. Kate said, “The next three years were happy years. We attended
many dances, magic lantern shows, amateur plays, and many kinds of parties. In
this small town, girls were scarce and we were very popular.”
The girls stayed in the Mancos area until they married. Emma* was
first to wed, on May 19, 1884 to Joseph Willden. Kate married Charles Pinkerton
in June 1885. Sarah was married to William McDonald Devenport on December 15,
1885. Ellen married William Halls on June 11, 1888, and Mary married Roy Weston
on January 1, 1889. Dora was married to Lewis Burnham on May 16, 1897. Mary
Ann’s son, John Dunton, stayed with his mother as long as she lived, and never
married. Dora stated that his not marrying “was sad for him, as he was alone
and went from place to place, like a lost sheep.”
On September 9, 1884, a branch of the church was established in
Mancos and James Harvey Dunton was set apart as Presiding Elder. On July 5,
1884, the first Relief Society in Mancos was held and Mary Ann was assigned as
secretary. She also served as President of the Relief Society in Mancos from
May 1891 until November 22, 1892. Kate said, “Mother taught school in Mancos
for a while. School was held in the church and Mother rode sidesaddle on a
horse called ‘Old Yellow’ to and from school.”
A book called A History of Montezuma County which includes the
picture above, says, “. . .in 1883, the whole Mancos valley, Mormons, Gentiles
and all, met at the old Log School house in Mancos for a big Thanksgiving feast
– dinner, supper and an all night dance. . . . Will Wilden furnished the violin
music.
Photo Detail: The Mancos Meeting
House (shown below) was a building that made history. The first
Mormon Church in the Webber Community and the first in the county. Original log
building in the rear, front section built on later. The original log building was
built in July 1886. The picture was taken sometime after, and the number of
people shown indicates a considerable population.
“Sentiments for a church building grew and a meeting was called
and the suggestion made that a meeting house be built. The call was responded
to with a will. Land was donated and work was started at once, although it was
the busy season of summer. . . . An effort was made to get the building
finished by July 24, 1886 so the annual Pioneer Day celebration could be held
there, and so great was the interest and enthusiasm that the building was
finished, all but windows and doors, although the time allowed was but a few
short days. Nevertheless they held their celebration in the new building. The
house was completed before winter so that thereafter they had a comfortable
building and plenty of room for any and all meetings.
“This was the first church building erected by and for the Mormons
in Montezuma County. Here all church affairs, dances, and social meetings were
held. The old building resounded to the noise and music of many a good time as
the people made life in the new land merry and decidedly worthwhile. Some time
after the first building was completed an addition of lumber was built on
making the structure a T shape. This building also served as a school house for
a time. The first teacher was Mary Ann Barker Dunton.”
The family stayed on the farm in the Webber area near Mancos until
part of the land became swampy, then sometime after 1886, James Dunton left
them and went back to Utah. Mary Ann, her daughters, and her son, John, moved
to Thompson Park in the mountains eight miles northeast above Mancos where
Sarah’s husband, Will, had taken up a farm. Will was always a good friend to
Mary Ann and offered her part of his land, so they built her a frame house
there. In the Park, Mary Ann and her family raised some crops, but mostly Mary
Ann made cheese. She had a big tub where the milk was curdled with rennet, then
the whey dipped off. The curds were scalded with hot whey, then salted and put
in the press overnight, encased in cheesecloth, rubbed with sweet butter, and
put up on high shelves in the milk house. Every day the cheese had to be rubbed
and turned, and the shelves were kept spotlessly clean. She never had enough
cheese to supply her many customers, but every tenth cheese went for tithing.
In winter they would move back to their home in Webber.
Mary Ann lived in southwestern Colorado until her death on June
29, 1910. She remained faithful to the church, paid her tithing, and was
staunch to the end. She was at the home of Sarah and Will Devenport, at
Redmesa, Colorado when her summons came. She was ill for many months. Her
daughters shared in helping to care for her with assistance from the Relief
Society.
Dora wrote, “Some time before her death, she said, ‘I’ll fight it
till the last.’ ‘What will you fight, Mother?’ her daughter asked. ‘This old
death,’ was her grim reply. She was ever a fighter for what she knew was right.
Had she not been, she would have returned to her home in England when her
brothers wrote her after she was left alone with her small children. ‘Just give
up that church and come home. We will send you money and care for you and your
children the rest of your lives.’ Had she not been of the tougher fiber, she
would not have followed the road that proved to have the greatest resistance.”
“Always, a love for the fine and beautiful things remained in her
nature. It was once said of her that she never stayed overnight in a place that
she did not plant some flower seeds in the ground.”
Kate said, “My testimony to Mormonism is the example of my
mother’s life. She told me many times that before joining the church her life
was very pleasant and easy. Up to that time she had never as much as washed a
pocket handkerchief. Then when I think of all the hardships she went through
and how faithful and earnest was her belief in the face of all these hardships,
I need no other proof of the truth of Mormonism.
Dora wrote that when her mother was lying ill before her death,
Sarah’s husband, Will, asked her who she wanted for her husband in the next
world. She answered, “Joseph Barker, of course.”
Dora wrote, “May it be that we, who follow in the civilization
which was wrought at the hands of such true pioneers as Joseph and Mary Ann
Barker, when our summons comes, be there to say, ‘I see my mother, where’s the
door?’”
