Pioneer 1848-1868 Companies

1866 (age 18), Greenhalgh (Mace), Mary Ann (England)

I, Mary Ann Greenhalgh Mace, was born April 21, 1848, at Maulesfield, Cheshire, England, the daughter and eldest child of Mary Moorcroft and Thomas Greenhalgh. My father was a silk warper and worked at his trade in the city of Manchester in Lancashire. He learned this art when a very young man. I can not remember the time when he had any other trade than that of a silk warper. At the age of twelve years I started to work in a cloth factory where my father warped. I never attended school as my parents were in need of my help at home. At nights, however, when my father came home from work, his working hours were from six until six, he taught me to read, write, spell and figure. When I was twelve years old the Civil War broke out in America. This made it necessary for me to work in the factory with my father to help support the family, which by this time included five children. I earned about three and one-half dollars each week winding skeins of yarn on spools.

To America, 1865/Aftermath of Civil War
On April 29, 1865, our family of nine children with father and mother, left Liverpool for America on a sailing vessel called the Belle Wood. This ship was in charge of Captain Freeman, a large red-headed yankee, who said he had crossed the ocean six times. Our trip on the ocean lasted five weeks and two days. The captain said it was the nicest trip he had ever taken across the Atlantic Ocean. We landed at Castle Gardens, New York, June 2, 1865, and found the country in deep mourning over the tragic death of Abraham Lincoln. Everywhere we saw soldiers who were returning home from the Civil War. I remember one troop carrying what remained of a huge American Flag. The center had been taken out by a cannon ball, and soldiers were carrying it down the street by its corners. They looked ragged, tired and sick as they dragged themselves down the street to their quarters amid the sound of cheers and martial music.

Stay in New York/Brother Died
My baby brother, who had been sick on the voyage, died one month after we landed in New York and was buried in the Green Wood Cemetery. A short service was held at the grave. The undertaker's name was John Mace. Our family stayed in New York City until the middle of September, where my sister Sarah and I obtained work in a silk factory. We were dissatisfied here because father could not find work and we did not like living in a city either, but we were obliged to stay until we could do better. In a short time we heard of a manufacturing town called Cohoes, which was eleven miles from Albany, so we moved there. Here we obtained a comfortable house in which to live, and secured work for us all; that was, for my sister Sarah, father, and myself. It was while we were living here that I attended one quarter of night school, the only school I ever attended in my life. We lived here until July 10th or 12th, 1866, when father decided to move west to Utah. When all was ready we sailed down the Hudson River for about three hundred miles from Albany to New York. Here we waited for more people whom we learned were also going to Utah. We were obliged to take a round about way to come west as a satisfactory agreement could not be made with the company which had been handling the immigrant traffic.

To Wyoming, Nebraska/Did Not Like Travel Arrangements
Our route took us into Canada by way of the Great Lakes of Huron and Michigan, then to Chicago, from here to a place called Wyoming. We rested a few days and left on July 24, 1866, about noon after we had cooked our dinner around a camp fire. We were met by a company of eighty-two covered wagons which had been sent out from Utah by Brigham Young to meet the immigrants. Two families were assigned to travel in each wagon on the journey to Salt Lake City. This arrangement did not meet with my mother's approval, as she did not like the looks of some of the immigrants. She thought they might have vermin, or that we children might contract some disease from them. After talking with several of the drivers, we were assigned to ride in a wagon that carried some freight. It consisted of two large flat wooden boxes which just fit into the bottom of the wagon box and completely covered the floor. Packed into these boxes were the materials for the Great Salt Lake Tabernacle organ.

Pleasant Trip Riding With Freight Wagon
During the journey we had delightful weather. It was warm with a few gentle rains. When we grew tired of riding we walked to rest ourselves. At night we camped in a half circle. The oxen were put in a corral made by the wagons, and we slept in the corral made by the wagons or in the wagon boxes. Every night guards stood at the opening of the circle, the men in the party together with the drivers acted as guards. We passed over hundreds of miles of prairie country.

Indian Scare
The advice given us was "always keep in sight of the wagons when walking." One morning a girl friend and I were standing, perhaps within a stone's throw of the wagons, washing our faces and combing our hair by a small stream, suddenly almost before we had finished; we decided to run back to the wagons, we had no more than reached them when fifteen or twenty big Indians rode into our camp. The captain of the company gave them sugar, flour, and other things to eat. I remember how they stood and looked at mother's baby, which was only a month old, and then offered to trade her a horse for it.

In Utah
After reaching Utah, the first settlement we came to was Coalville at Silver Creek, a small village with a few buildings. We did not stop here, however, as our destination was Salt Lake City, where we arrived Oct. 4, 1866. Here we camped in the lot just east of the Tabernacle grounds in the tithing office sheds. The roof had been put on the tabernacle and the foundation for the temple was just laid. Not far from these was the old Salt Lake Theatre, which was completed and had been in use for four years. We were to stay in the sheds until we could find another place. The next day however, I had a chance to get work peeling fruit in a private home. I worked all day. At night when I went back to the tithing sheds my folks had gone. I was very puzzled and did not know where to find them. After inquiring I learned they had gone to the First Ward schoolhouse because they could camp there in more comfortable quarters. I decided I must find them as it was growing dark, and I determined to hurry. As we were coming into Salt Lake City I remembered our teamster saying we were passing through the first ward, so I had an idea that I could find the place where my parents were camped and started on my way. As I hurried along I came near the Salt Lake Theatre, people were going to the show. Hesitatingly I stepped up to a lady and her escort and asked if she would please direct me to the first ward schoolhouse. "My child," she said, "you have no business on the street alone at this time of day." However, she directed me and I hurried on as fast as I could go.

At length I reached the schoolhouse but there was no light in the building. In the house next to the school building I could see a light so I hurried along and rapped at the door. I knocked repeatedly, but could get no response, so I returned to the schoolhouse where I found the door standing ajar. It was dark, but I walked in feeling my way along the wall until I came to a bench, where I sat down to wait until day dawned. Occasionally during the night I heard slight noises which seemed to come from the farthest corner of the room, but in the darkness I could see nothing, and feeling strange and timid I remained quiet. When morning came I found I was not the only occupant of that room; huddled together in the opposite corner were some Danish immigrants. They smiled as they recognized me, as we had traveled in the same train. At daylight I went outdoors and sat on the stoop. The sun came up and people began moving about the city, when suddenly I looked up the street and saw Mr. Chase, the father of our teamster, coming in my direction. I ran up to him and told him my trouble. He said my folks had gone to the tenth ward schoolhouse to camp, and accompanied me to that place.

First Water-powered Weaving Looms
Our family stayed here a few days and then moved out to Mill Creek near Cottonwood Canyon where there was a factory in which blankets were being woven on hand looms. My father now began setting up the power looms that had been freighted along with our company. These were the first waterpower looms to operate west of the Mississippi river.

I intended going to work with my father in the factory but was prevailed upon to stay in Salt Lake City and assist with the housework in the home of Bishop Sheets, who had sickness in his family and was badly in need of help. I earned two dollars per week in cash and stayed here until the middle of April, when father told me I must come, as he needed me badly in the factory. I worked with father until October, weaving cloth of many kinds, including linseys and jerseys. The cloth was made of cotton warp and wool filling. On the 7th of October my father moved his family to Dixie to set up some water-power looms there in the Washington factory, Washington County. We arrived in the little town of Washington on November 7, 1867. Here we found a factory operating Mendenhall hand looms. Father now started to set up power looms immediately, and I began to weave cloth as soon as he got the first loom set up.

Father and I worked in the factory from the years 1867 to 1871, and in all that time we did not see one cent of money. In fact there was no money in the country. We received cloth for our labor, this was called factory pay, and we exchanged cloth for everything we needed. If we wanted fruit we traded cloth for it. People came from all over the country to trade their products for cloth, some brought butter and cheese, others brought corn and wheat and many other things which we needed and were glad to trade cloth for. At this time, 1867, the first orchards of Dixie were beginning to bear fruit. One day a man passing through the country bought two bushels of peaches from us and gave us a dollar for them, we simply did not know what to do with that cash; I believe we did buy some postage stamps with some of it. This was the first and the last money that I saw while I lived in Dixie. I worked in the Washington factory until June 21, 1869 when I married George Mace. We journeyed to Salt Lake to be married. My husband's sister, Jane, and her husband accompanied us. We were gone the best part of one month going and coming.

Source: Our Pioneer Heritage © Carter, Kate B., ed. 20 vols. Salt Lake City: International Society, Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1958-1977. All rights reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced in any form or by any means without permission in writing from the publisher. Documents and images are exerpted by permission from the LDS Family History Suite CDROM from Ancestry.