WWAD: Mary Ann Hafen

Mary Ann Hafen
Recollections of a Handcart Pioneer of 1860:
A Woman's Life on the Mormon Frontier
(Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1938)

Born Mary Ann Stucki in 1854, her family emigrated from Switzerland to America in 1860. Mary Ann was only six at the time. Her family had been converted to the Mormonism by missionaries who had traveled to Switzerland from America. Once converted, it was time to move to America and join the Mormons on their mission of developing their place in the world. The journey to America from Switzerland was not easy. The sea voyage was rough but it was only the beginning of an adventurous life.

Once the Stucki sea voyage was over, the real character of this family was shown. Their ship pulled into New York and now they were on their way to the long trip to the west! The trip was made by handcart. This was not an easy trip. The handcarts had to be pulled on the long journy from New York to the Nebraska Territory. It was a long, long trip. During this trip the family was faced with many hardships. Problems navigating the trail, interaction with Native Americans and a lack of food all played a great toll on the family. "Even if we were short on rations, if we met a band of Indians the Captain of our Company would give them some of the provisions so the Indians would let us go in safety." The trial and tribulations of this long hard journey would remain with the handcart pioneers and Mary Ann for the rest of her life.

Once the handcart journey ended the adventure didn't! Now the Stucki family was faced with a new life in a new land. While in Southern Utah, the family had built their first home. It was a wigwam mad from dried willows. While in Southern Utah the rain became another problem facing the family.

Mary Ann grew up in the Utah Area and became a woman. "As a young women I took I took an interest in parties, dances and different kinds of fun." At age nineteen, Mart Ann decided to marry. She entered a polygamous marriage with her uncle John Reber. "Naturally, I had many young men callers. But none of them appealed to me so much as did John Reber, my uncle who had been so miraculously healed in the Old Country. He was much older then I, married to my father's sister, and had four children." The Mormons believed in Plural Marriages at this time. If a man was able to provide for more then one family then he should. "In this way more persons in the spirit world would have the opportunity to come to this earth and have bodies." This first marriage ended only days after it started. John Reber was killed in a horse and wagon accident.

Mary Ann moved back with her parents but soon was being courted by John Hafen. Hafen also already had a wife. Mary Ann decided to marry him anyway. This marriage was Mary Ann's last but not John's last. The Hafen family produced many children. Problems arose when US marshals came to Utah to arrest polygamists.

"Polygamy was hard to live, both for the men and the women. But we went into it in the obedience to the Lord's command and strived to subdue our jealous feelings and live in accord with the spirit of the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

This authentic look into Mormon life in the developing west is refreshing. The roles that Mary Ann Hafen had to endure in her lifetime are incredibly documented. Recollections of a Handcart Pioneer of 1860...is a unique experience in itself.