MARY ANN BUTLER GRAHAM (1804-1846)
Mary Ann Butler was born on 18 April 1804 in New Castle County, Delaware, one of 9 children born to her parents, George Butler and Mary Elizabeth Cobner. Nothing is known of Mary Ann’s childhood years.
Mary Ann married about 1824 James Graham, who was born in Enniskillen, Fermanagh, Ireland. The couple first resided in Laurel Hill, Chester, Pennsylvania, where at least the first 6 of their 11 children were born. Their fifth child, Elenor, died in 1834 or 1835 at age 17 months in Pennsylvania.
It is not presently known when Mary Ann and her husband joined the LDS Church, although they may have been living in Hancock County, Illinois prior to the Mormon exodus from Missouri to Illinois in 1839. The earliest known LDS baptism date in their family is of their son Robert Graham, who was baptized in 1841. Their ninth child, born in August 1840, was named Joseph Smith Graham in honor of the Mormon prophet. It is presumed, therefore, that Mary Ann and her husband joined the LDS Church about 1840.
By 1840 Mary Ann and her family were residing in Bear Creek, Hancock, Illinois, a rural settlement outside Nauvoo. She and her husband appear to have been very active Latter-day Saints, her husband being a High Priest who received a Patriarchal Blessing on 17 January 1842 at the hands of Hyrum Smith.
On 3 February 1846 Mary Ann and her husband were endowed and sealed in the Nauvoo Temple by Amasa M. Lyman. At this time, Mary Ann and James Graham were “adopted” to Brigham Young and Augusta Adams Young. Also on this same day her husband James was married polygamously to Orilla Crandall, whom he later divorced.
Shortly after her sealing, Mary Ann’s eleventh and last child, Brigham Graham (presumably named in honor of Brigham Young), was born in April 1846 in Nauvoo, after the majority of the Saints had already departed for the West. Mary Ann apparently waited for the birth of her last child before starting the exodus from Nauvoo.
It is assumed that Mary Ann suffered greatly during the trek across Iowa, for she died in Iowa in August 1846 at the relatively early age of 42 years. She was buried in Iowa in an unmarked grave.
Mary Ann’s husband James Graham and her surviving children continued to Utah with the Howard Egan Independent Company, which left Kanesville, Iowa on 18 April 1849 and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on 7 August 1849. Her son Joseph Smith Graham died 2 months later on 19 October 1849 at the age of 9 years. James Graham settled in Riverdale, Weber, Utah and married polygamously three more times prior to his death on 9 December 1857 in Ogden, Weber, Utah.
Mary Ann’s son Robert Graham settled in Millville, Cache, Utah. Her daughter Mary Elizabeth Graham Allen settled in Huntsville, Weber, Utah. Some of Mary Ann’s children seem to have suffered from her and her husband’s early deaths, becoming involved with various lawless groups in Utah. Two of her sons, James and Samuel Graham, were executed in Weber County, Utah on 24 July 1861 for thievery. The husbands of her daughters Mary Elizabeth Graham Allen and Margaret Graham Luce also had troubles with the law.
Submitted by: Joy M. Belnap