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Show Volume XXIV Issue XXIV The Ogden Valley news Page 9 February 15, 2018 Mary Jane Dilworth Hammond—Pioneer Teacher area that would later be Utah. She taught them (Based on Young Wayfarers of the Early inside a tent. According to Warburton’s article, West by Olive Woolley Burt, pages 84–102.). “Her school house was a small tent in the cor- And by them their children were taught to ner of the fort. The children used logs for chairs read and write (Moses 6:6). and thre were few books or supplies for Mary to When she first heard the restored gospel in instruct her students.” Chester County, Pennsylvania, where she was The following is related by Philip L. Orth in born July 29, 1831, Mary Jane Dilworth knew an article he wrote titled “In Memory of Utah’s it to be true. Her family and many of their First School Teacher.” The article ran in the friends and neighbors also believed the teach- LDS magazine The Improvement Era – Volume ings of the elders. All were baptized into The 23 in 1920. Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This was the first effort in teaching that is Mary was baptized June 18, 1845 recorded in the Territory of Utah, and was the After the Prophet Joseph Smith was killed, first stone in the foundation of the present magthe Dilworths traveled to Illinois in 1846 to nificent school system of which Utah is proud. join the Saints preparing to leave Miss Dilworth married Elder Nauvoo and journey west. When the Francis A. Hammond, and after Dilworths arrived, they found that performing a mission with her husmany Church members had already band to the Sandwich Islands, they been forced to leave the city. Helped settled in Huntsville, in 1865, where by her three married sisters and Elder Hammond was later ordained their husbands, Mary Jane and her bishop. She was an active worker, family soon set out across Iowa both religiously and in civic affairs for Council Bluffs (Winter Quarters) in the young ward, holding the on the Missouri River. According office of president of the Relief to a biographic article by Brian A. Society, being the first sister to Warburton, they were part of the hold that office in the ward. In the Jedediah M. Grant Company of pionext few years, Mary dealt with the neers who left for the Salt Lake death of two of her children and her Valley on June 19, 1847. mother. Mary died in Huntsville, At first, the younger children June 6, 1877—two weeks after givenjoyed running and playing along- Mary Jane Dilworth ing birth to her twelfth child, in side the wagons as they traveled May 1877. She was forty-six years Hammond through the tall grasses, but when old. Her body was the first interred July 29, 1831 the weather changed and they had in the present cemetery (at cemetery June 6, 1877 to stay in their wagons, boredom point in Huntsville). set in. Fourteen-year-old Mary Jane decided to The proposition for a monument was preentertain them by pretending to be their school sented to Elder David O. McKay, of the Council teacher. She sang with them, told them stories, of the Twelve, who heartily endorsed it, and and taught them spelling and arithmetic. The used his good offices in its promotion. To take time seemed to fly. Part of every day from then care of the erection of the monument, Bishop on was spent “playing school.” Joseph L. Petersen selected as a committee to After they arrived at Council Bluffs, Mary find a suitable rock, Philip L. Orth, Peter H. Jane found herself appointed nursemaid to Olsen, Jr., and Arthur Grow; and as a commitabout a dozen young children. She did the same tee to prepare the design and inscription, Prest. thing that had worked so well on the trail. She Thomas E. McKay, Architect S. T. Whitaker, began amusing them with rhymes and pictures Mrs. Amelia Grow, Philip L. Orth, and Peter (drawing with charcoal on the tailgates of wag- M. Jensen. The committee found a rock on the ons) to teach them their ABCs. She sang songs, mountain side near the mouth of South Fork told stories, and played games. canyon, and its condition and dimensions, are One day Brigham Young paused to listen. as nature designed, unhewn by human hands. He was impressed with her manner and with It is of sedimentary sandstone formation (probthe attention she received from the children in ably converted by metamorphic action into a her care. Months later, when he had led the first quartzite), eight feet nine inches long, two feet pioneer company to the valley and was return- eight inches wide, with an average thickness ing to Winter Quarters for another group, he of ten inches. In contemplating the monument, passed the company Mary Jane was traveling it is wonderful what a beautiful rock it is—the west in. After again observing her teaching the pink color—the smooth surface—the dark vein children, he said, “Sister Dilworth … I have a running through it—and withal without a blemspecial mission for you. As soon as you reach ish, check or seam. It is a slab that will endure the city, I want you to start a school for the for ages. It is placed on the school campus in younger children. Let any who wish to, attend, a concrete base, 41 inches by 62 inches, and 3 and encourage all to do so. And God bless you.” feet deep, and is over seven feet above the surTwo weeks and three days after arriving face of the lawn. It stands as a token for service. in Salt Lake Valley, on October 19, 1847, The monument was unveiled at the homecomMary Jane Dilworth, then sixteen years old, ing celebration, held in Huntsville some three welcomed children to the first school in the years ago (1917?); the late Elder Fletcher B. Hammond, then her oldest living son, was present at the ceremony. The cut of the monument and the inscription follow: 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 UTAH’S FIRST FREE SCHOOL WAS ESTABLISHED AT HUNTSVILLE Note: Mary Jane Dilworth was born July 29, 1831 in Uwchlan, Chester County, Pennsylvania to Caleb Dilworth and Eliza Wollerton. From The Past . . . Photograph of monument to Mary Jane Dilworth that was erected in Huntsville, Utah. The monument still stands on the old Valley Elementary school property—though no school still graces the grounds around it, nor do Valley school children play in its shadow each day where classes were long held. For All Your Engine Needs! 2668 Grant Avenue, Suite #104A, Ogden, UT Ash Wednesday Masses, February 14, will be held at 8:00AM and 6 :00 PM with distribution of ashes. St. Florence Catholic Church is undergoing some remodeling. Join us at our temporary location at the Eden Park Bowery at 2100 N 5600 E in Eden. Saturday Night 5:00 p.m. Sunday Morning 8:00 a.m. Sunday Morning 10:00 a.m. No Tuesday Mass during the redecoration. Fr. David Gaeta 857-247-0770 Before and after any Mass or by appointment. Saint Joseph Catholic Elementary, Middle School, and High School Providing a challenging, college-focused education in the proven tradition of Catholic schools, for the families of the Ogden Valley. We want to teach your children! 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