Item Detail
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Armstrong, Mary Kirkbride
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1814-1894
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MSS SC 594
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Biography
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Mary Kirkbride Armstrong was born 20 June 1815 in Low Crosby, Cumberland, England to John Kirkbride and Margaret Peel. On 8 September 1840 she married John Christopher Armstrong. In England her husband worked as a prosperous tailor with sixty employees, so Mary lived a luxurious life with all the comforts one could want. After hearing from Mormon missionaries they were both converted to the doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They were baptized in the river Merser on 21 July 1844, although this decision brought opposition from their families. They immigrated to St. Louis, Missouri in 1845 to be near the saints, and in this place they had their first child. However, with increasing persecution of Latter-day Saints they soon decided to make the long journey across the plains. On 26 September 1847 they arrived in the Salt Lake valley and once there they lived on the block north of Pioneer Square. During their first year in the valley Mary helped to fight off the plague of crickets threatening to eat their crops only to have a swarm of Sea Gulls devour the insects. Later Mary would have to keep house and take care of their three children alone when her husband was called on a mission back to England. Her husband died on his return home from England in the year 1857. Mary made a living for the family with her sewing, and though they struggled during this time she never turned away anyone in need, often giving all she had to help others. On 20 December 1854 Mary married Moses Wade and together they had one daughter, he passed away on 20 March 1869. Mary, in her later years, lived with her daughter Mary Elanor Adams in Teasdale, Utah and passed away at age 79 on 26 November 1894.
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This manuscript is eight typewritten pages long. The first four pages are a family history of John Christopher Armstrong and Mary Kirkbride Armstrong. Johns biography is two pages long and speaks mostly of his life after his marriage to Mary. Following this history there is a two-page biography on Mary covering major moments in her life such as; birth, baptism, move to America and then Utah, and her death. Also included are brief stories demonstrating her great faith and charity. This four-page history of John and Mary is followed by another four-page family history of their third son John Graham Armstrong and his wife Mary Jane Simkins Armstrong, again with a two-page biography on both son and wife. This manuscript was compiled by their granddaughter Marcia Armstrong Jolley and grandson James Vernon.
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1814-1935