Show the march edition of the utah educational review contains the following article by leal edgar young professor of western history of the university of utah relating to mary jane dilworth hammond the school teacher of utah mrs hammond was the wife of the late frances A hammond a pioneer citizen of southeastern utah and for years president of the san juan stake she was the mother of the late F B hammond sr of moab and grandmother of bishop W D hammond boyd S hartmond Ha romond and west hammond now residing at moab editor the pioneer companies that came to utah in the late forties were composed mostly of americans of puritan and quaker descent the leaders of the first company who settled on city creek salt lake valley in july 1847 were descendants of fore bearers who had made their homes in massachusetts in the seventeenth century and the fathers of many of them saw service in the american revolution prominent in pennsylvania history was a family named dilworth which settled in westchester county not far from philadelphia in the seventeenth century caleb dilworth and his wife ellza wollerton joined the mormon church in the early forties and in 1844 they moved to nauvoo illinois they had a large family among whom were six daughters who emigrated to utah with the early day companies here they lived and witnessed the growth of the state from primitive conditions to a condition of culture one of the daughters mary jane was a member of the company commanded by jed edlah M grant which arrived in salt lake in september of that year mary jane dilworth was bom in westchester county pennsylvania in 1830 her people were quakers and she and her sisters were reared in an atmosphere of strict religious discipline the family was natu raly gifted and all the sisters were known for their love of books when the father cast his lot with the cormons mormons Mor mons the entire family moved westward to illinois and then to the valleys of the mountains caleb dilworth brought to utah considerable of a library and among the books were copies of t landley murray readers and the old webster blue back spelling book the cormons mormons had settled on the missouri river during the winter of 1848 there they built a little town and called it winter quarters in fact it was a city for it had civic officers and 0 few well defined laws while in winter quarters to utah mary dilworth taught school in the early spring of 1847 on the banks of the missouri river she gathered the children about her and gave them instructions in reading writing and arithmetic and dally she wad to them chapters from the bible in the summer of that year in company with her father and mother and her five sisters rebecca maria elizabeth levland and harriet she crossed the plains of otah in the company wn w n many children and during the three months that the emigrants nearly one thousand in number were on the trail mary often went from wagon to wagon and told the children stories and taught them songs and games on sunday afternoons she would gather the chen ch en around her and teach them t olk songs of her old duiker dav in pennsylvania it Is said that t company was met by brigham while he was on his way winter quarters in the autu f 1847 and mary jane was bik 0 o open a school tor the little as soon as she should arrive in e valley the company came safely through emigration canyon east of salt lake city in september and took up quarters in the old port in october possibly the mary jano opened the first school in utah in an old military tent shaped like an ordinary indian tepee rough logs were used for seats and the teachers desk was an old camp stool the tent continued on last page grandmother OF MOAB MEN UTAH S FIRST SCHOOL TEACHER continued from first page was near the center of the square in the old fort which vas built during the first summer by the pioneers A description of that first school comes down to us in the memoir of mrs maria a sister of mary jane 1 I attended the first school in utah taught by my sister mary jane the school was opened just three weeks after our arrival in the valley I 1 remember mary jane saying to us come children come we will begin now some of us went into the tent sat down on the logs in a circle and one of the brethren offered prayer there were possibly fifteen or twenty children that first day of course all could not get into the school room but we gathered about the entrance and made a large tire of sage brush which kept us warm A few slates and pencils and some paper had been brought by the pioneers but most of the children were taught to write by using charcoal and practicing on the smooth faced logs at times the children would bring colored clay and mix it with water and draw pictures of animals and indians it was not unusual in those days to dry the bark of the white mountain birch and use it for writing material sometimes we played indian and made bows and arrows says lorenzo young who attended miss DU school the children had some books for all the emigrant companies which came to utah in 1847 and later were urged to bring books and paper to the valley the children were taught to read from the bible and the older students had the use of a number of copies of the landley murray readers the late william W alter who tor many years was the chairman of the board of regents of the university of utah was a pupil of miss DU school he said on one occasion we had spelling matches and we drilled incessantly on words taken from the lessons found in the old blue backed speller another interesting textbook used in that early day was entitled A new and complete arithmetic Arih composed for citizens of the united states it Is said that this text was the first arithmetic ever written by an american and was published at the close of the lath century in newport massachusetts achu was recommended tor the schools by george washington and in the preface of the old book is i found a reprint of recommendation ommen dation on november 17 1848 mary jane allworth became the wife of francis A hammond and in 1851 she with her little baby accompanied her husband to tha sandwich islands whither he had been called as a missionary in service of the mormon church their journey to san diego california by ox team was filled with hardships and risks and on one occasion they were compelled to give nearly all their food to the indians the were then on the karpath warpath and threatened death to all the overland emigrants of that year mr hammond with his family returned to utah in 1857 and the following year took up temporary 1 residence with other of his people in payson in order to avoid conflict with the united states soldiers who had marched to utah mr hammond finally settled in huntsville utah in 1865 and while there engaged in the boot and shoe trade and mary jane true to her impulses taught the smaller children of the community she also took active part in both religious and civic affairs and served as the first president of the relief society of huntsville ward she died in 1877 and Is hurried in the little at huntsville in 1920 the citizens of the village where she had ched so long erected and dedicated a small monument in her honor and on the bronze tablature tab leture are these words in honor of the first school teacher in utah mrs mary jane dilworth hammond taught first school in salt lake city october 1847 came to huntsville with her husband bishop francis A hammond 1865 where she resided until her death 1877 first free school was established at huntsville mrs N S christensen entertained tuesday afternoon club this week at a bridge tea dr and mrs I 1 W alien and son dick returned last night from salt lake city |