Spackman Family of Utah and England - Histories -
History of Mary Ann Clark Stephens
Mary Ann Clark
Mary Ann Clark was born in Leicestershire, England Dec. 11, 1850. She was the daughter of Alfred and Rose Hannah Waterfield Clark. Her early childhood days were sent in this place. There were ten children in the family so it was a struggle to make ends meet. Some of the children had to go to work at a very early age to help out. Mary Ann, at the age of seven went to work in a factory pinning bows on mittens.
When she, her parents, brothers and, sisters heard the Gospel they embraced it and were baptized.
The family left England in 1866 sailing on a vessel called the "John Bright". Mary Ann was sixteen years old. The Clark family emigrated to Utah in Samuel D. White Company. She walked all the way and cheerfully bore the many hardships of the long weary journey. They arrived in Utah September 5, 1866, coming to Ogden, and settled near the corner of Madison and Twenty-sixth streets. Her father was a dyer by trade and she assisted him whenever she could and also did work for others, that she might help her parents in making a living for the family.
Early in the year of 1868, she met Daniel Monroe Stephens. They felt in love and married in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City on the 21st day of December 1868. They first lived in an adobe house which he had built, having made the adobes himself. It was a one-roomed house sixteen by eighteen feet. on the corner of thirty-third street and Washington Avenue.
It stood as a landmark until 1915. They then moved into a frame house twelve by fourteen feet which he had previously built on five acres of land his father had given him.
They reared a large family which consisted of eight sons and one daughter. They lost one son who died in infancy and the rest have grown to manhood and womanhood staying with the standards of the Church which their mother had embraced in childhood.
She carded and spun wool which was made into clothing, also sewing rags to make carpets.
The Stephens family raised the first flax and also the first cotton in Weber County. Mary Ann's husband was a builder of houses and built the first apartment house in Ogden City. From the cotton that they grew, she freed it from the seeds and carded batts to make quilts. She made all the clothing the little family were.
When they had five children, her husband Daniel Monroe was called to fulfill a Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to the Southern States which he willingly accepted. During his absence Mary Ann and her children planted the crops, cared for them and later harvested them, getting them to market with great success. Besides keeping her husband on his Mission, she supported the family and saved $300.00 during his absence. She also buried her infant son while he was away bearing the grief alone feeling that if she sent for him to come home, her loneliness would be worse after he returned to his Mission.
She was an ardent worker in the Relief Society for forty-six years. being Presiding Teacher for the greater part of that time. Many were the homes she visited, soothing comforting and giving aid to those in need of temporal and spiritual help. If there were any sick in the county whether they were of her Faith or not she was always there with her sunny smile and gentle voice and her willing hands, to help comfort them. If anyone passed away she was there to help lay them out for burial. Coming in such close contact with the people. she learned much about their private lives, which was never made idle gossip of for what was sacred to them was sacred to her.
For years she had charge of the quilts of the Relief Society and many were the quilts she fashioned from scraps both old and new. They were always ready to give to the poor or sold for any worthy purpose.
When the cruel War 1 broke out and threatened the world, Mary Ann was there in the Garment Room, with her willing capable hands to help. She was there with her dollars for the Red Cross and Liberty Bonds.
Mary Ann lived to celebrate her Golden Wedding, on the 21st of Dec. 1919. She died on the 13th day of Jan. 1920 and was survived by her husband and children, 31 grandchildren and 1 great-grand child. The ward in which she lived missed her and her lovely spirit. When a person has striven
in all purity of soul and singleness of purpose to keep and upheld the commandments of the Lord, the world has been made a better place by their having lived in it.
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