Mary Page

CHILDREN:

1. Ruth, 1May 1823
2. David, 17 Nov 1824
3. Daniel, 23 Jun 1828
4. Joseph, 6 Feb 1830
5. Lucy Ann, 3 Sep 1831
6. Jonathan Socwell, 4 Jun 1833
7. Mary Ellen, 1 Mar 1835
8. George Washington, 15 Nov 1836
9. William Whitaker, 15 Feb 1839 (died at 5 months)
10. Lorana, 17 Aug 1843
11. Jeremiah Day, 21 Feb 1847

Biographical Summary:

Mary Page Socwell was the sixth child born to Jonathan Socwell, Jr. and Lorena Whitaker Socwell. When she was seventeen, she married Daniel Page. They farmed and had eight children by the tie the financial panic of 1837 affected them.

During this time, Daniel lost his property. Daniel and his sons went west to find a new home. They found work in the forests, cutting timber until they reached Illinois. Mary and her oldest daughter found work in a cotton factory in Pennsylvania.

While her husband and sons were in Illinois, they joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. After being apart for four years, Daniel and his son, Daniel, returned and persuaded Mary and the rest of the family to return to New Jersey. In 1843, the missionaries came to their home and Mary became baptized a member on September 29, 1843.

In January of 1850, Daniel and Mary decided they were ready to join the Saints. They went to Council Bluffs, joined the Joseph Outhouse Wagon Company, and crossed the Plains to Salt Lake City. They had difficulties with Cholera, storms, oxen stampedes, rattlesnakes, thirst, wagon breakdowns, killing buffalo, and Indians stealing their horses. Mary and Daniel settled in Provo where they lived in their wagon by the Provo River for many months.

In 1853, the settled in Payson. Daniel was often ill, suffering from rheumatism. Mary and her daughter, Ruth, assisted with the family's support by taking in washing, knitting, and sewing. They also took wool to work on in shares. They washed it, picked it, and spun it in order to keep one half of it. Mary and Ruth would glean the fields for wheat for their own use after the wheat was harvested. They helped with the raising of gardens, pigs, and cattle. Eventually, they settled permanently in Mt. Pleasant.

Mary was an educated woman. She wrote several poems to her daughters. She valued education and saw to it that her children could read and write.

Mary and Daniel enjoyed taking trips to the temples to do work. She had a great prosperity and an abiding faith in the gospel.

Mary passed away on April 4, 1884 in Mount Pleasant, Utah just twenty-two days short of being seventy-nine.

SOURCE: “Pioneer Women of Faith and Fortitude” Daughters of the Utah Pioneers