"In 1833 we moved to Kirtland, and in 1834 I was married to Orson Hyde, and became fully initiated into the cares and duties of a missionary's wife, my husband in common with most of the elders giving his time and energies to the work of the ministry.
"In the summer of 1837, leaving me with a three-weeks old babe, he, in company with Heber C. Kimball and others, went on their first mission to England. Shortly after his return, in the summer of 1838, we, in company with several other families, went to Missouri, where we remained till the next spring. We then went to Nauvoo. In the spring of 1840 Mr. Hyde went on his mission to Palestine; going in the apostolic style, without purse or scrip, preaching his way, and when all other channels were closed, teaching the English language in Europe, till he gained sufficient money to take him to the Holy Land, where he offered up his prayer on the Mount of Olives, and dedicated Jerusalem to the gathering of the Jews in this dispensation. Having accomplished a three-years mission, he returned, and shortly after, in accordance with the revelation on celestial marriage, and with my full consent, married two more wives. At last we were forced to flee from Nauvoo, and in the spring of 1846, we made our way to Council Bluffs, where our husband left us to go again on mission to England. On his return, in the fall of 1847, he was appointed to take charge of the saints in the States, and to send off the emigration as fast as it arrived in a suitable condition on the frontiers; also to edit a paper in the church interest, the name of which was Frontier Guardian.
"In the summer of 1852 we brought our family safely through to Salt Lake City, where we have had peace and safety ever since.
"In 1868 I was chosen to preside over the branch of the Female Relief Society of the ward in which I reside, the duties of which position I have prayerfully attempted to perform."
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Mary Ann Pratt deserves mention next. It will be remembered that the apostle Parley P. Pratt lost his first wife at the birth of his eldest son. He afterwards married the subject of this sketch, and she becomes historically important from the fact that she was one of the first of those self-subduing women who united with their husbands in establishing the law of celestial marriage, or the "Patriarchal Order." She gave to her husband other wives. Taking up the story of her life with her career as a Latter-day Saint, she says:
"I was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the spring of 1835, being convinced of the truthfulness of its doctrines by the first sermon I heard; and I said in my heart, if there are only three who hold firm to the faith, I will be one of that number; and through all the persecution I have had to endure I have ever felt the same; my heart has never swerved from that resolve.
"I was married to Parley P. Pratt in the spring of 1837, and moving to Missouri, endured with him the persecution of the saints, so often recorded in history. When my husband was taken by a mob, in the city of Far West, Mo., and carried to prison, I was confined to my bed with raging fever, and not able to help myself at all, with a babe three months old and my little girl of five years; but I cried mightily to the Lord for strength to endure, and he in mercy heard my prayer and carried me safely through. In a few days word came to me that my husband was in prison and in chains. As soon as my health was sufficiently restored I took my children and went to him. I found him released from his chains, and was permitted to remain with him. I shared his dungeon, which was a damp, dark, filthy place, without ventilation, merely having a small grating on one side. In this we were obliged to sleep.
"About the middle of March I bid adieu to my beloved companion, and returned to Far West to make preparations for leaving the State. Through the kind assistance of Brother David W. Rogers (now an aged resident of Provo), I removed to Quincy, Ill., where I remained until the arrival of Mr. Pratt, after his fortunate escape from prison, where he had been confined eight months without any just cause.
"Passing briefly over the intervening years, in which I accompanied my husband on various missions, first to New York, and thence to England, where I remained two years; and, returning to Nauvoo, our sojourn in that beautiful city a few years, and our final expulsion, and the final weary gathering to Utah; I hasten to bear my testimony to the world that this is the church and people of God, and I pray that I may be found worthy of a place in his celestial kingdom."