Item Detail
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Egan, Amanda Ann Andrus
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1847-1925
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MSS SC 188
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Biography
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Amanda Ann Andrus Egan was born November 19, 1847 in Council Bluffs, Iowa to Milo Andrus and Abigail Jane Daley Andrus. She was their sixth and last child. Milo was called on a mission to England and left with his second wife, so Abigail and the children made the trek to Utah alone in 1848. From age ten to twelve, it was Amanda's responsibility to herd cows. As she went throughout the day, she would pick an apron full of weeds which were cooked and served as greens for the evening meal. Dramatics were encouraged at this time, and Amanda took the leading part in many plays. Amanda married Howard Ransom Egan in the Endowment House on October 10, 1864. She was sixteen years old at the time. They lived in Salt Lake City for three years after which they moved to Deep Creek, Utah where they owned a store and a feed stable and established an eating house. They had some trouble with the Indians there: '[Amanda] said she had seen the stage coach come in many times with an Indian dragging behind it, whom they had wounded because of his part in ambushing the stage.' During this time Howard acted as an Indian interpreter, carried mail by the pony express, and later drove the mail by overland stage to Salt Lake City. In 1869 they moved back to Salt Lake City with their three children. In 1870 they moved to Richmond, Utah where they settled for the rest of their lives, homesteading a farm. Amanda and Howard were the parents of twelve children: Annie T., Julia J., Howard Milo, Mary Egan, William J., John Ransom, Linnie J., Charles E., George E., Walter, James Alva, and Inis P. Amanda and Howard lived to see all of their children married. Howard died of pneumonia on March 17, 1916. In her later years, Amanda was known as Aunt Mandy by many. She kept an immaculate house, gardened, and did handwork. She died November 28, 1925.
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This five-page, typewritten biography is in the third folder of the Andrus family collection. This biography was written by Amanda's granddaughter, Vivian Egan Marcusen Auhder, in 1956. Someone has made grammatical corrections on the manuscript in red pen. The biography gives little information on Amanda's childhood. Instead, Auhder outlines the major events in Amanda's life and then spends the majority of the biography talking about the daily activities of pioneer women. She describes chores like making bread, doing the family wash, churning butter, and sewing clothing. She also explains that infants were nursed for a full year and then given wheat or corn cereal, cow's milk, eggs, fruit, and vegetables. On the last page of the biography, Auhder gives tribute to her grandmother and lists her and Howard's children and their birth and death dates.
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