Representative Women of Deseret: A Book of Biographical Sketches

by Augusta Joyce Crocheron

TREASURER OF THE PRESIDING BOARD OF THE L. D. S. WOMEN'S ORGANIZATIONS.

"I was born November 20th, 1818, in the town of Rainshaw, County of Kent, England. I am the daughter of Stephen and Mary Ann Hales, and the eldest daughter of a large family. My parents were honest, industrious people. I was taught to pray when very young, to be honest and truthful, to be kind to my associates, and to do good to all around us. My early years were spent in attending school and in assisting my mother in domestic duties."

"Mrs. Horne's father was a Methodist, and her mother a member of the Church of England. Mrs. Horne as a child, had very strong religious tendencies, and when requested by her Sabbath School teacher to commit to memory two or three verses from the Bible, she would learn a whole chapter or perhaps two, and recite without being prompted.

"When only in her eleventh year, she became so fascinated with the Bible that her leisure hours after the labors of the day were over, were employed in reading and studying the history and incidents, the sublime parables and teachings contained in that sacred work; thus prepared to receive in due time the Gospel of the new and last dispensation. In 1832, Mrs. Horne's parents decided to emigrate, and concluded to go to upper Canada. April 6th, they left England with a family of five sons and two daughters.

"One little boy died upon the way. On the 16th of June, they arrived in York, strangers in a strange land, where the cholera was making fearful ravages, but the Lord preserved them all in health. The following spring, 1833, the family removed to the country, about eight miles from York. Mrs. Hales' health was delicate and the care of the whole family devolved upon Mary Isabella, only fifteen years of age.

"In the spring of 1834, she attended a Methodist camp meeting in the neighborhoood, where she first met Mr. Joseph Horne, and two years afterward, Joseph Horne and Mary Isabella were united in marriage on the 9th of May, 1836."

Only about one month of their wedded life had passed when they heard a rumor that a man professing to be sent of God, to preach to the people would hold a meeting about a mile distant.

Mr. and Mrs. Horne attended this meeting and there they first heard the Gospel, proclaimed by Elder Orson Pratt, but little knew how the course of their life would be changed by receiving this great light. Mrs. Horne was baptized in July, 1836, by Elder Orson Hyde, and ever after her house was a home for the elders, and a place where meetings were held. In the latter part of the summer of 1837, she first saw the Prophet Joseph, also Sidney Rigdon and Thomas B. Marsh." She says: "On shaking hands with the Prophet Joseph Smith, I received the holy spirit in such great abundance that I felt it thrill my whole system from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet. I had never beheld so lovely a countenance, nobility and goodness were in every feature. I said to myself, 'O Lord, I thank thee for granting the desire of my girlish heart in permitting me to associate with prophets and apostles.'" "In March 1838, while the weather was still wintry, Mr. and Mrs. Horne bade farewell to their home, and with a few saints started for the gathering-place of the people of God.

"At Huntsville, Mrs. Horne was introduced to Father and Mother Smith; Father Smith was the Patriarch of the church, and under his hands she received a patriarchal blessing. In August, with a babe less than a month old, they removed to Far West, and were obliged to go into a log house without doors or windows. It was about this time that the excitement in Missouri raged, and persecution was at its height. Mrs. Horne was alone much night and day, her husband being on guard. In the spring of 1839, Mrs. Horne and family left Missouri as exiles, and sought an asylum in Quincy, Ill., where for awhile they had peace. While in Quincy, Mrs. Horne was one of those favored ones who had the privilege of entertaining and waiting upon the Prophet Joseph and Hyrum, the Patriarch. In the month of March, Mr. and Mrs. Horne moved to Nauvoo by wagon, over the then wild prairies. They lived in a lumber shanty for eight months, and in November Mr. Horne moved his family into his own house, still unfinished. Here in 'Nauvoo the beautiful,' Mr. Horne through diligent labor at last succeeded in establishing a flourishing business and his family were looked upon by the Saints as quite well situated. On the 2nd of April, 1844, Mrs. Horne received a patriarchal blessing under the hands of Hyrum Smith, the patriarch of the Church." On the 27th of the June following, occurred the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum. Mrs. Horne says, "On the 28th day of June, I took my last look on earth of Joseph and Hyrum Smith! May I never experience another day similar to that. I do not wish to recall the scene." On the 9th of July was born her fifth son. In January, 1846, Mrs. Horne went into the Nauvoo Temple, receiving the ordinances of the House of the Lord, and assisted in administering to others. In February Mr. Horne closed his business and bade adieu to their home and camped with the Saints on Sugar Creek, Iowa.

In March moved on to Garden Grove, and then to Mt. Pisgah. Here, Mrs. Horne had born to her a daughter, born in a wagon. When the babe was three days old, Mrs. Horne started again on her way, arriving at Council Bluffs about the last of June, moving into a log cabin. Here she was so sick it was feared she would not recover. Elder Orson Pratt administered to her and prophesied she would do a good work in Israel. In June of the same year, she left with the first company across the plains that followed the pioneers to the valley of Salt Lake. That was indeed a remarkable journey and all those who traveled hither at that time deserve the title of pioneers. They opened the way and braved the perils of the desert and the experience of living in this sterile land. They ploughed and planted and fought against the fearful odds of crickets, grasshoppers and death. The company in which Mrs. Horne traveled, arrived here October 6th, 1847, and as soon as the Fort was completed she moved into it, and lived in a log cabin two years, enduring all the exigencies incident to the settling of a new Indian country, among which were living on short rations, a part of which was roots and thistles. On the 16th of January, 1849, another daughter was added to the family. As soon as possible after arriving in a new and destitute country, Mr. and Mrs. Horne made themselves a home in the Fourteenth Ward, which they still retain. "In speaking of her first knowledge of the order of celestial marriage, she says, she has had strong testimony for herself that it is of God. Mrs. Horne has borne herself nobly in all the different phases of plural domestic relations." Mrs. Horne was a member of the Relief Society in Nauvoo, and in the first organization of the Fourteenth Ward in this city, was a counselor to President Phoebe W. Woodruff.