MERCY ANN PITCHFORTH
Compiled by Blanch Fowkes Cloward
Mercy Ann Pitchforth Jenkins, the daughter of Ann Hughlings and Solomon Pitchfoth, was born at Brighouse, Yorks, England on 29 Decenber 1831 or 1834 and died 20 January 1917 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Mercy's mother, Ann Hughlings, after joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, left England with her children to come to America. They sailed on the "Palmyra" in 1845 leaving Solomon Pitchforth, the husband and father, behind in England. Perhaps he, like her parents and other family members were opposed to the church because they never did accept the teachings of the gospel.
The family was very grateful when they finally arrived in the beautiful city of Nauvoo where they felt contentment as well as the spirit of brotherly love abounding. Their stay there was not for long due to mob violence and being driven from their homes in the cold winter month of February. This heartbreaking experience we have heard many times before.
The mother, Ann Hughlings, due to the hardships experienced passed away on 26 October 1846 near Winter Quarters. Before she died she admonished her family to continue on and follow the saints and to stay together as a family. She left her son Samuel and Samuel's wife Mary Mitchel and three daughters, Mercy Ann, Sarah Barbara and Annie to go on alone.
One day, with a steep incline to go up, the wagon could go no further. They all pulled as hard as they could. Mercy said, "We just have to make it up the hill." All prayed and prayed for a way out of their dilemma. Then Mercy Ann started to sing "Lead Kindly Light," the rest joined in song and at that moment some good saints came and helped them up the hill.
After arriving in Salt Lake in 1847 and remaining there for a short time Brigham Young asked Samuel to go to Sanpete. The family wanted to remain together as their mother had requested therefore they all left to go together to Sanpete. At Nephi, then called Salt Creek, the team gave out and it was here they stayed and made their home.
Samuel had learned the printing trade from John Taylor and so was the one who printed the first newspaper in Nephi. He also kept a diary from day to day along with his many other duties.
Samuel's first wife, Mary Mitchel, told Samuel that since she was unable to have a family that he should go to Salt Lake and talk to John Taylor about this matter. John Taylor introduced Samuel to Sarah Ann Goldsbrough. Sarah worked in a store as a hat designer. Samuel courted her for 3 or 4 days and then went back to Nephi. They corresponded for a short time, then 3 to 4 months later when they went to conference in Salt Lake, while there he married Sarah Ann. They had 12 children. Their first child and daughter Mary Amelia had the distinction of being the second white child born in Nephi.
Sarah Ann was to have her seventh child. She had miscarried three babies because she did not have enough to eat and give them the strength necessary for them to live. Mercy Ann, known to her family and friends for her great mercy and caring of others, felt so badly about the loss of the babies that she wanted to help pout. The corn meal and bran flour was too course and made Sarah Ann sick. Mercy got a horse and gun for protection and told her family that she was going to Salt Lake and get a job and work for white flour for Sarah Ann. The family hated to see her go alone but her mind was made up to help Sarah Ann. She stopped between Santaquin and Payson the first night. She slept with the gun across her chest. Then she stopped the next night in Lark.
After arriving in Salt Lake, Mercy found work at a family's home by the name of Jennings. The horse was kept in a pasture near by. She worked two months for a sack of white flour. She then left and took the flour to Nephi to Sarah Ann.
Then Sarah Ann had her baby, it was a girl and Sarah Ann said, "The baby's name shall be Mercy."
Mercy was also known for always being cheerful and happy and showing great courage.
The Genealogical Society shows that a Mercy Ann Pitchforth was married to Samuel Harvey Marble but no date seems to be available. Neither do we have a record of any children, if any, born to them.
Mercy Ann Pitchforth married Richard Jenkins and was endowed 7 December 1861. The had eight children:
1. Annie Elizabeth who married Thomas Philemon Tidwell
2. Richard Walter who married Alvira Tidwell
3. James Edward who married Clarissa Owen
4. Mary Alice who married Henry Harrison Hoyt
5. Ada who died 1 July 1870 (Twin)
6. Ida Virginia who married Henry John Hawkins (Twin)
7. William Wallace who married Mary Melinda Hawley
8. Rose who married Stanley Randolph Hansen
Mercy was a very proud person. She had money left to her from her grandparents who lived in England. She was always very trim and stylish and those who knew her could probably recall a beautiful plush cape which she wore around her shoulders.
Mercy Ann lost her devoted husband Richard Jenkins on 17 July 1905 so she was a widow for 11 to 12 years. She lived with her children during most of those years as a widow.
Just before she left for Salt Lake to stay with her daughter Rose, she walked about eight blocks and visited with her granddaughter Helen who was a teenager. She told Helen that she was going to Salt Lake and she would never come back again. She gave Helen a dust cap and a gold thimble which Mercy's grandmother had worn.
Mercy's brother Samuel's daughter Mary Amelia and her daughter, Madge May Houston went to see Mercy Ann in Salt Lake. She was very sick and she said to her niece that she was going to die. Mercy was 86 years old then and Mary said. "Oh, you are not." Mercy said, "Yes, I am an old woman, I have lived a good life and I am ready to go." Mercy then asked a granddaughter and grandson to play and sing for her until she died. They said, "We just cannot do that - - and how will we know when you are dead?" Mercy said, "I will put my foot out of the covers and when you see by [my] big toe quit wiggling, then you will know I am dead." So the two grandchildren sang "Oh My Father" as she had requested until she died.
Mercy Ann's brother and his marriages have already been related. Samuel married Mary Mitchel on his way to America on board the "Palmyra." They could have no children and so they adopted an Indian boy, Lee who was sealed to them. To Sarah Ann Goldsbrough Samuel's second wife twelve children were born to them:
1. Mary Amelia
2. Samuel Goldsbrough
3. Alice
4. Leonara Ann
5. Harry Hughlings
6. Sarah Elizabeth
7. Mercy (17 Aug 1869)
8. Sofie May
9. John Taylor
10. Ann
11. Edward Powell
12. William Henry
Sarah Barbara married John Kenkie - they had one son Ace
Ann or Annie married Robert Rollings. - they had a daughter Gertrude
This was written in the newspaper at the time of Mercy Ann's death:
Mrs. Mercy Ann Pitchforth Jenkins, an old pioneer and former resident of Nephi, passed away last sunday January 20, in Salt Lake at the home of a daughter. Mrs. Jenkins was born at Grove House Yorkshire, England, December 29, 1831, and was 86 years old at the time of her death. She was baptized into the Mormon Church at Douglas Isle of Man, and came to America in 1843 and lived at Nauvoo, Illinois, and was among the Saints who were driven out of the city.
Sister Jenkins was the adopted daughter of President John Taylor, and came to Utah with his company, arriving in Salt Lake City in the year 1847. She was a pioneer of Nephi and married Richard Jenkins in this city to whom eight children were born. Three sons and two daughter survive. W. R. Jenkins of Salt Lake, Mrs. Ida Rockwell and Mrs. Rose Hansen of Salt Lake and Mr. James Jenkins and W. W. Jenkins of Nephi.
Funeral services were held Tuesday at the Richard Ward, L.D.S. Meeting House and Interment took place in the family plot at the Wilford Ward Cemetery.
Note: Sources of information:
Genealogical Society - Salt Lake City, Utah
Granddaughter Helen Hoyt Chadwick - 206 West First North S.L.C.
Madge May Houston
Bell Bracken
Tessa Roberts (daughter of Bell Bracken) S.L.C.
Letters Ann Hughlings PItchforth wrote to her parent in England and to her sister Sarah Hughlings Jackson.
Last Updated: June 27, 2002
