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James Harvey Dunton
Mary Ann Barker Dunton
James Dunton
Born: 9 Apr 1829 at Howard, Steuben, New York, USA
Parents: James Cyrus Dunton and Mary Comfort Knowles
Married: (2) Mary Ann Doidge Barker, 14 June 1878 at St. George, Washington, Utah, United Stat
Died: 21 MAY 1901 at Paragonah, Iron, Utah, United States
Mary Ann Doidge
Born: 11 April 1837 at Brayshop, Cornwall, England
Parents: John Doidge, Jr. and Mary Nepean
Died: 29 June 1910 at Redmesa, La Plata, Colorado, United States
A brief history of the life of Mary Ann Doidge
Written by her daughter, Madora Barker Burnham
My mother, Mary Ann Doidge, was born in the quaint little town of Brayshop, Cornwall,
England, April 11, 1837. She was the daughter of John Doidge, Jr. and Mary Nepean Doidge.
Her father was a prosperous merchant and provided well for his family. Having hired help
to do the heavy work of the home, Mary grew up in sheltered comfort, learning to cook,
sew and perform the small duties of a household, under the loving guidance of her mother.
She had always lived a carefree life, having only to work as she desired. She was never
an idler, however, but assisted in clerking in her father's 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. She learned to
read the Bible well, and recite the catechisms of the Church of England as her people,
belonging to that church, taught their children that faith.
A child of nature, she loved to roam over the green, rolling hills of the countryside,
gathering wild berries and nuts that were to be found in the woods and flowers that
grew in such abundance everywhere. It was in that country that May Day had its origin
because of the many flowers that bloomed at that time in spring. This day was spent in
dancing, braiding the Maypole and picnicking, by the people who gathered from all the
countryside. More than once she was crowned "Queen of May" in May Day activities.
When my mother was about twenty years of age, she was attending a funeral service of a
relative and while at the cemetery, was attracted by sweet 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 drew close and stood listening to
the beautiful hymn, "O My Father". The words and melody of the song 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 oft-times a secret something
Whispers, "You're a stranger here,
And I feel that I have wandered
From a more exalted sphere."
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. They observed her interest and asked her if
she would like to visit some of their meetings. 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 accepted the invitation to attend their meetings,
more to hear them sing at first, but later she became interested in their message. She
would often give the Elders money from her own allowance to help carry on their work,
but only secretly, as her parents were very much opposed to the Mormons.
Finally, after much deliberation, she asked to be baptized into The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter Day Saints. She was very well aware of what it would mean to her but
she knew the message to be the word of God, by the continued gift of the spirit, over
the enlightening principals taught. Things that had been shrouded in darkness for her
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;
never once did she consider giving up the inner joy she had exchanged for the outward
labor. This must have caused her mother deep grief and probably caused her premature
death only four years later. Mary Ann Doidge faced a cold world alone.
She was forced to make her own living for several years.
She was baptized in Devonport, Devonshire, England. It was there she met Joseph Barker,
my father, and they were married at Stone House, Devonshire, England, 11 June, 1860. He
was baptized into the church just a few days previous to their marriage. About a year
later baby Sarah was born to them. Joseph Barker was a tailor but barely made a living,
and they were unable to save money to emigrate to America as they greatly desired.
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 transportation.
Her own baby, Sarah, became quite sickly. On the ocean voyage she was very ill and had
spasms. One time they thought her dead, and Mary Ann feared she would have to bury her
baby daughter in the sea, but her life was spared and she reached America. They crossed
the Atlantic in a sailing vessel, taking six weeks to make the trip as they met great
storms that would drive the vessel back for days at a time. During the trip, baby Sarah
threw their one and only comb into the sea. It was while this voyage was being made that
Mary Ann's mother died. Sometime after reaching America, she received a letter from her
father. In harsh, unforgiving words, he wrote, "You have killed your mother; she died of
a broken heart. May the Lord bring judgment on you."
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; there was
no way for his wife and 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, agreeing to do
the laundry for the Captain of the company, and his family. There was no room for her to
ride; she walked all of the 1000 miles from Missouri to 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. Sometimes 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 the soul became famished for a haven of rest. At eventide, 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."
On 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 wagons and hurriedly hung the clothes
to dry while the others were eating. No water could be found for the horses so the call
came to move on. 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, and then helped prepare the evening meal.
Just as they were ready to eat, the call came to gather for prayers. During the 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 religion she followed was the truth, nor that there was a future
existence. Had she been wise in giving up her family and friends, her home and way of
life—everything she possessed—for this and the gospel? Such thoughts had gone through
her mind over and over 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 seemed to be engaged in school.
Some of them were learning the rudiments of education they had missed in this life. It
was so very pleasant and peaceful, 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 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 Mother a testimony of a future existence and that progression goes on
after this life. Never again did she waver, but went on to the end of her journey with
steadfast heart.
After reaching Parowan, Utah, they were taken in by some kind people named Moody, until
they could build a place of their own. Theirs was a life of privation and hardship, under
pioneer conditions. Here five more girls were born to them. Dora, the youngest, born June
19, 1873, is the narrator of this story. Both parents worked at anything they could find
to do. Father did hauling to Pioche, Nevada and Mother would do a day's washing on the
washboard, for a quart of molasses or a pan full of flour. In the fall she would take us
to the grain fields, to glean the heads of grain left by the harvesters. This grain was
made into flour for our bread. When the girls 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, made a joke many times.
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 had been done over the fire place
and the sewing done by hand.
When Dora was a baby ten months old, Mary Ann was separated from her husband and left
alone to raise her family. She started a school in her home. She was one of the first
teachers in Parowan. In the evenings she had a writing school for adults. As pay she would
take any commodities her pupils could give—wood, food stuffs, leather for shoes, anything
she could use for her family. 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, to Cedar City, to work for Mr. and Mrs. Cory,
Emma 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", as we called her, went out to earn her
own way. 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.
Four years after their father, Joseph Barker, left, James Dunton, who already had a wife,
six children and a young adopted Indian girl—asked Mary Ann to marry him; this she did,
thinking she would have help to raise her children. Mr. Dunton was 49 years old at this
time and Mary Ann was 41. A baby boy, John, was the only child of that union. When John
was about a year old, they were called by Brigham Young to go with others to the San
Juan Mission to settle new country and make peace with the Indians. So after all the
hardships as a pioneer in Utah, Mary Ann was required to go to this new place and pioneer
again, with the threat of unfriendly Indians ever hovering over them. Mr. Dunton went
with the first company, to get a claim and build a cabin. When he returned to get his
family, he left all his foodstuff with the people of the fort who were nearing starvation,
saying "I won't need it, I have my gun, and I won't starve."
Early in 1879, Harvey Dunton went with an exploring company by way of Arizona 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,
Harvey 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 Harvey’s grown sons from his first marriage who also made the trip: James
Cyrus and Marius Ensign. They traveled in a lumber wagon, bringing what few household
belongings they could, including the stove and sewing machine that she so valued. Previous
to this she had cooked over an open fireplace and spun, woven, and sewed by hand. 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.
James Harvey Dunton helped his son on the Hole in the Rock route for a distance, then
went back home to get his second wife Mary Ann (1835-1910). Then Harvey and Mary Ann
made the trip through the Hole and to Montezuma with three of their children, two of
which were from Mary Ann's first marriage: Ellen Barker 9, Madora Barker 7, and John
Dunton Jr., 16 months (Ron McDonald).
He with his wife and three youngest children, he left for Montezuma Fort on the San Juan
River. Because of our load on the trip, it was necessary for Mary Ann and Dora to walk much of the way.
Ella rode to take care of the baby, John. This was the second company to go down through
"Hole in the Rock", which was a long narrow crack in the rock walls above the Colorado
River. This crevice had to be widened, with pick and shovel in many places, before the
wagons could pass through. The descent was so steep the men blocked wheels and then held
back on the rear of the wagon to keep it from overturning onto the horses. To this day
one may see the scratches on the rocks made by the hubs of the wheels as they passed
through. The Colorado River was crossed by driving the four horses and the wagon onto a
ferry boat. Little seven-year-old Dora was so afraid she covered her head with quilts.
They spent the winter in a fort on the San Juan River, east of Bluff City, Utah. In
telling the story, Dora says, "I don't know how we lived through that bleak winter. I
remember towards spring, we children gathered leaves from the grease-wood 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 n
ot allowed outside of the square. During the winter the men made large, frame water
wheels, for the purpose of lifting the water from the river to the irrigating ditches.
This experiment failed, as when the high waters came in the spring from the melting snows
above, the wheels were washed out of the sandy soil and down the river. Thus they lost
all the money and work they had put into the project. So they had to leave San Juan as
did most of the other families. The entire settlement was abandoned later when the river
washed out the fort.
In May, before Dora was eight and Ella ten, they again loaded their belongings into the
wagon, and started for an unknown destination. They moved to a sawmill north of Durango,
Colorado, where Brother Dunton obtained work at a saw mill, hauling wood to Durango and
Mary Ann had washings to do. In the fall, a year and a half later, they moved to Mancos
and took up a farm, living in a tent until Brother Dunton could build a dug-out home for
them. They lived in this hut a year or so until we built a log house on the farm we had
homesteaded. We lived in only one room at first and added another later.
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.
Mary Ann planted a garden including fruit bushes as well as vegetables. It was said of
my mother that she never stayed in one place overnight but that she planted some flower
seeds. She soon had a lovely flower garden in our front yard. She also 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. She never complained and was always glad to get the
work.
From the home the children walked to school in town part of the time and rode a horse
when the roads were bad. The family had a cow and chickens to help provide the living,
and with the extra money Mary Ann brought in, they fared pretty well.
We stayed on that farm until part of the land became swampy, then Brother Dunton went
back to Utah, and we moved to the Park, eight miles above Mancos in the mountains
northeast of there, where Sarah's husband had taken up a farm. Will was always a good
friend to Mary Ann, and offered her part of his land so they built a lumber frame house
and lived there for the summer where they raised some crops and rented cows. In later
years we had a winter home in Weber. In the Park we raised some crops, but mostly Mary
Ann made cheese—she made good cheese and had a ready market for all she could produce,
selling it at 15 cents a pound, which kept up expenses. Every tenth cheese went to the
bishop for tithing.
About two years after the Dunton's left Parowan, the four older girls came to Colorado.
It was just before Christmas, and late in the evening when they arrived. Through the tiny
windows of the dug-out they could see their mother sitting in a chair sewing. Cassie,
unable to restrain her pent up longing, cried out, "I see my mother, where's the door?" T
he girls had to sleep in a wagon box as there was no room in the house for them.
They soon obtained work to make their own way, and help their mother some too, until
they married. Emma was first to wed, in 1884. Her first child, Pearl, was Mary Ann's
first grandchild. Kate was only 16 years old when she got married and she lived in a
one-room log house near her mother. She married in June 1885; Sarah, December 1885; Ella,
June 1888; Mary, during the winter of 1889; and Dora, May 1897. Our half-brother, John
Dunton, stayed with his mother for the rest of her life, and never married, which is sad
for him as he was left alone and went from place to place like a lost sheep.
Mary Ann lived in this vicinity until her death, June 29th, 1910. She had taken seriously
ill in the winter of 1909. 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 long months. Kate came from Montezuma Valley
and stayed to help care for her and Emma was with her much of the time. Both of them were
most faithful attendants. They took turns going there and taking care of her, month after
month, while neighbors sat up during nights for her five months of illness from dropsy.
Dora's son Alma, was born about that time so she could only take night turns at the vigil.
Sometime 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,
in a sense of the word 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
toughest 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, she never stayed overnight in a place, that she did not plant some flower seeds
in the ground.
May it be that we, who follow in the civilization which was wrought at the hands of such
true pioneers as Mary Ann Barker, when our summons comes, be there to say, "I see my
Mother, where's the door?"
At the time of this writing, 1952, there are only three of us alive. Kate is 83, John is
73 and I am 79. Of her 48 grandchildren, 38 are living and she has innumerable great and
great-great grandchildren who have filled the far corners of the earth.
Sometime (no date) Mr. Dunton had gone back to Paragonah, Utah to spend time with his
first wife, Martha Jane McKee, and family. He deeded his property in San Juan to his
wife Mary Anne and son. Mary Ann asked him to come back and he stayed three years and
two months. He started missing his first family and went back, never returning. I believe
this was mutually agreed upon. Mary Ann spent her last years living near her oldest
daughter and son-in-law, Sarah and Will Devenport. In her last days she said she still
loved Joseph Barker and wanted to be with him in the next life, if possible.
This information about Mr. Dunton was found in a short Biography of James Harvey Dunton
“Pioneer”, received from the Daughters of Utah Pioneers and from our own family
histories.
LaVerne B. Merrill
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James Harvey Dunton
Mary Ann Barker Dunton