Mary Ann Eccles Robinson biography by Anna Deal Robinson Black

Mary Ann Eccles

born September 1844 in Lanshire, England daughter of Thomas and Mary Alice Hardman

married Richard Smith Robinson 1858 - 59  (She was fourteen years old)

died 19 July 1906 Provo, Utah, Utah

The following was told me by two daughters-in-law of Mary Ann Eccles, Mrs. David (Nellie) Robinson and Mrs. Wilford (Maude) Robinson. Both knew her personally. Maude knew her before Maude married into the family.

Mary Ann Eccles was born 6 September 1844 in Lanshire, England, the daughter of Thomas and Mary Alice Hardman. The church records state that the two girls Mary Ann and Martha were with their parents when they crossed the ocean. Mary Ann was five years old. They crossed the plains this same year with the first hand cart company, walking most of the way. (note: Mary Ann Eccles and her family were part of the Martin handcart compant - Rhonda)  They arrived in Salt Lake Valley in 1851. Soon after they were called to settle on the Santa Clara in Southern Utah. Here they suffered the trials and hardships of that country. As the meadows and grazing lands were not sufficient for those there, the group separated and part went to Santa Clara and part to Pinto. Thomas Eccles and family went to Pinto. While living here Mary Ann's sister Alice Jane was born.


Mary Ann was quite tall, very, very slender, weighing nearly one hundred pounds, light brown complexion, very attractive. As a young lady she was full of life.

Mary Ann hired out to work for Richard Smith Robinson, who ran a dairy. Soon after, she became his second wife. This was in 1858-59, when she was fourteen years old. Mary Ann and Richard had 10 children born to them.

They built their home in Pinto and milked cows and sold dairy products for a living to the travelers on their way to California from Salt Lake City. Their first home was a dugout built partially back into the bank, one long narrow room. The stove and table with benches were at the door end. The beds were along one side to the back and the barrels used for brewing beer along the other side.

Later, while still in Pinto, the Robinsons built a two-story home that stood until recently.

In 1866, Richard married a third wife, Mary Kate Eldridge, who died two years later leaving one son, Joseph Eldridge Robinson.

In 1859 Elder James G. Black writes, "17 July 1859, Pinto was organized with Richard Smith Robinson President of the Branch, Amos J. Thornton, first counselor, Benjamin Hulse, second counselor, and Thales H. Haskell, clerk. At this time the settlers at Pinto were: the four above men and their families, Prime T. Coleman and family, Widow Eccles and family, Benjamin Knell, and George Day." From this we know that Mary Ann's father was dead in 1859. Thomas Eccles was the first man to die in Pinto.

Mary Ann's mother later married David Wilson Tullis who had been working with Jacob Hamblin on an Indian Mission. When they had split their cattle herd up, he had gone into the dairy business in Pinto. To this union was born one son, Thomas Eccles Tullis.

In the spring of 1876, Richard and his family were called to upper Kanab. A settlement east of the town of Alton, Utah. This move was made when Wilford was nine-years-old (from Aunt Maude). Here they built a four-room house, two rooms on the ground floor and two upstairs. Here at Upper Kanab, James Hardman was born in 1878. Then in 1883 Hyrum Charles was born at Pinto, Utah.

At Upper Kanab, they ran a dairy and farmed. The next move was to Kanab, Utah, when Richard was called as a bishop in 1884. We know this place today as lower Kanab. He sold his ranch at Upper Kanab, but soon after, bought the sink Valley Ranch not far from his former home. This was a place for his boys to take care of and also one of his wives lived there.

The home they owned in Kanab is a large brick home. Mary Ann used one side and Elizabeth the other. Also, there were lumber buildings near the home that the boys slept in and a blacksmith shop at the rear of the home. Here Mary Ann's last child was born 29 July 1886 and named Amos Parley. He died a year later.

Together these two wives suffered the hardships of frontier life. Night after night, at Pinto and Upper and Lower Kanab, they worked until midnight by candle light, busily patching, darning, sewing, or running the spindle wheels for clothing for their family.

One day Aunt Maude went with her mother to visit the Robinsons, they visited with Elizabeth while she sewed for a while, then went to visit with Mary Ann, who was doing the family wash with terribly burned hands. The tears were streaming down her face, the pain was so intense.

There was the usual polygamy setup in their home, with the first wife being favored. Mary Ann didn't receive much attention, and when she needed anything, she always had to go ask for it. If it was flour for bread, she was given just enough sieves to make a batch. If she needed sugar,

only a cup at a time was given her. One time, she asked Wilford to go but her a bag of tea and please not tell anyone. She hid it carefully in the cupboard and he remembered how very much she enjoyed her cup of tea each day. She was very grateful to him for this. Her children loved her, and just as soon as Lizzie was old enough, she took over the cooking and baking for this large family. Elizabeth died on

Those that remember Mary Ann through her married life say she was very retiring - never demanding. She was a frail, thin woman, had a very sad look on her face. She had very poor health. Her ten children had been born without medical care and only the help Elizabeth could give her. When her health broke, she was taken to Provo, because there was no old folks home or other place she could go. When they took her away, her only daughter, Lizzie, wept like a child, she so wanted to take care of her mother.

Richard died 9 May 1902 at Sink Valley.

Mary Ann Eccles died 19 July 1906 in Provo and was brought to Kanab where her remains were laid at the side of her husband in Kanab Cemetery.

Mary Ann's son, Robert, writes of his mother, "I never realized the worth of mother while she lived. She was true to her calling, faithful to her husband and children. She never had much of this world's pleasures - she never lived to be real old (62). She died after a long illness. In her casket, she looked sweeter than an angel, and if any of her children ever meet her again, they must live as she lived. Keep themselves free from sin and obey the laws of the Celestial Kingdom of God."

Children of Richard Smith Robinson and Mary Ann Eccles:

1. Alice Ann b. 4 May 1861 at Pinto, d. 27 March 1862

2. Robert Eccles b. 24 April 1863 at Pinto, d. 16 December 1933, md. Cora Cutler 29 September 1826

3. Thomas Edward b. 31 July 1865 at Pinto, d. 18 October 1952, md. Delaney Millet 12 March 1903

4. David Henry b. 5 January 1868 at Pinto, d. 5 December 1928, md Nellie Brown 22 December 1893

5. Wilford Smith b. 15 May 1870 at Pinto, d. 17 May 1930, md. Maude Swapp 10 December 1907

6. Mary Elizabeth b. 19 March 1873 at Pinto, d. 27 July 1928, md. Jediah G. Shumway 17 December 1895

7. Richard Lafayette b. 25 November 1875 at Pinto, d. 8 September 1955, md Sethia Alpha Dean Johnson 11 October 1900

8. James Hardman b. 31 March 1878 at Upper Kanab ( Pinto) d. 13 December 1899

9. Hyrum Charles b. 12 October 1883 at Pinto, d. 30 January 1951, md. Macy Brown 4 October 1906

10. Amos Parley b. 29 July 1886 Upper Kanab, d. 25 September 1887

The last eight children are buried in Kanab Cemetery. There is a high board fence around the little Robinson graves. Alice Ann is one of these babies. This is near a large two-story house in the extreme eastern part of Pinto. This was Richard Smith Robinson's home.