Daughter of Charles Payne and Charlotte Squires.

Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel, 1847–1868
Mellor, Mary Ann Payne

Birth Date: 23 Jan. 1817
Death Date: 15 Sep. 1895
Gender: Female
Age: 39
Company: Edward Martin Company (1856)

Came with family:
Mellor, Mary Ann Payne (39)
Mellor, James (37)
Mellor, James, Jr. (8)
Mellor, Louisa (15)
Mellor, Mary Ann (10)
Mellor, William Charles (5)
Mellor, Charlotte Elizabeth (14)
Mellor, Clara Althea (3)
Mellor, Emma Marintha (3)

Source: http://lds.org/churchhistory/library/pioneercompanysearchresults/1,15792,4017-1,00.html

From the pioneer history of Louisa Mellor Clark, daughter of MaryAnn Payne Mellor:

My mother, being still weak, finally gave up and said she could go no further. The company could not wait for her, so she bade my father goodbye and kissed each one of the children Godspeed. Then my mother sat down on a boulder and wept. I told my sister, Elizabeth, to take good care of the twins and the rest of the family, and that I would stay with Mother. I went a few yards away and prayed with faith that God would help us, that He would protect us from devouring wolves, and asked that He would let us reach camp. As I was going back to where my mother was sitting I found a pie in the road. I picked it up and gave it to my mother to eat, and after resting awhile we started on our journey, thanking God for the blessings. A few miles before we reached camp we met my father coming out to meet us. What a joyful meeting that was! We arrived in camp at 10:00 p.m. o'clock. Many times after that Mother felt like giving up and quitting; but then would remember how wonderful the Lord had been to spare her so many times, and offered a prayer of gratitude instead. So she went on her way rejoicing while walking the blood-stained path of snow." [Early September 1856. (see p. 52 of Gregerson's "The Mellors Through the Years."]

"The outlook was very discouraging. The Captain called a meeting and told us there was only enough food for one more day and asked us if we would rather have it all or divide it into three days. We all agreed to divide it. And despite our desperate situation we sang the handcart songs. One was, "If we should die before our journey's through, Happy day! All is well!" The camp gave up to die, if need be, and scarcely a dry eye was left to see the dying. [About October 24, 1856, (see Gregerson's "The Mellors Through the Years," bottom of page 56].

Source: Clark, Louisa Mellor, Reminiscences, 3-4. (Trail excerpt transcribed from "Pioneer History Collection" available at Pioneer Memorial Museum [Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum], Salt Lake City, Utah.
http://lds.org/churchhistory/library/source/1,18016,4976-18557,00.html

Mary Ann's story is one chronicled in the movie, 17 Miracles, a T. C. Christensen film, 2011.

Obituary - Mary Ann Payne Mellor - Deseret News, 8 February 1896, p.30.
Obituary courtesy of the Utah Digital Newpapers, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah.

MARY ANN MELLOR

FAYETTE, Sanpete Co., Utah, Jan. 15, 1896, -- Mary Ann Mellor died Sept. 15, 1895, at Fayette, Sanpete County, after an illness of nine months. She was born in Warwick, Warwickshire, England, in 1819, and moved with her parents when a young child to Leicester, Leicestershire. She was the mother of twelve children. She first heard the Gospel in Bradford, Yorkshire, where she, with her husband and children, had moved to secure work. In 1844 her husband had heard of the Latter-day Saints and going to hear what they preached he came home and told their belief and read the Bible to her of the angel flying through the heavens, and of their speaking in unknown tongues, of healing and miracles, until she desired to go and hear them herself. So in 1844 her husband took care of the children and let her go and hear for herself, as she lived some two miles away from the place of meeting. She went, and while there listening to the testimonies and the speaking in tongues, a vision of beautiful stars seemed to pass before her eyes, back and forward. She could not keep her seat but got up and asked what she should do to be saved. The presiding Elder said, repent and be baptized and she should receive the Holy Ghost. She gave in her name and was baptized that same night.
On their return to Leicester her husband was ordained to the office of Elder and set apart to preside over the Leicester branch and surrounding villages, which he did until May, 1856, when he received a notice from Liverpool office to be there with eighteen, including himself and family, by the 19th of May, to set sail in the ship Arizona. They arrived in time and while her husband and most of the family were on board of the vessel, Sister Mellor stayed on shore. She gave birth to twins, who died. She was taken on a stretcher and bed just in time to catch the boat. Some one said to the captain they had brought a dead woman on board. He asked who authorized her to be brought there. She was finally placed in the ship's hospital. Brother S. H. Wheelock was on board and laid hands on her and prophesied that she should go safe to Zion with her children, and should go into the temple of the Lord. She commenced to improve slowly and got safely to Boston harbor, and from there by rail to Iowa.
At the camping ground where the company was having handcarts made she had to stay some three weeks. She had two twin girls a little over two years old; one of them was taken sick on the camping ground and was so low she was not expected to live; she did not eat anything for two weeks. Many young children had died -- some 14 or 15 -- but the family got off about a half mile the day of starting, and had to carry the little girl, as she could not lie down in the handcart. The child slowly got better on the way to Winter Quarters. From there all went on very well until the Black hills were reached. There a heavy snow storm was encountered which kept the company for about nine days, until help and a fresh supply of provisions came from Utah, which they did in good time. There were three Elders from Utah came into camp with the news that some ten or twelve wagons loaded with food were some fifty miles away, so Elder Mellor started next day with his sick wife and children.
The family arrived in Salt Lake City all safe -- none left behind. They moved to Provo; stayed the winter there and in the Spring of '57 moved to Springville, stayed there until March, 1861, then moved with a company of about twenty-four wagons to the Sevier valley, to where Gunnison now is, but with four or five others moved back to what was called Warm Creek, now Fayette. There they started gardens, orchards and farms, and prospered in horses, cattle and sheep for some four years, when the Black Hawk war broke out. Then they had to guard and move their families to Gunnison and other parts. The Indians drove off most of the horses, cattle and some sheep, and stopped the farming for a time, until peace was effected in 1868. While in Gunnison Mary Ann Mellor was taken sick and the illness lasted in her system more or less for years; but after getting settled in Fayette again she improved in health. She acted as a teacher in the Relief Society and also as teacher in the Sunday school, and some time before she was confined to her bed she called all her children together and told them all to stand firm to the Gospel and not go astray but be faithful to it under all things. She left her native land for Zion with seven children, five girls and two boys; had one boy after she got here, at Springville. They all live and married. She leaves eight children, ninety-one grandchildren and sixty-one great-grandchildren. She has been to the temple and started the work for the dead so that the prophecies made over her all have been fulfilled.