Hettie was the daughter of Jerome Jefferson Adams and Mary Angeline Frost.

Hettie's parents originally came from Ohio and Illinois. They moved to Utah,where Hettie was born, then Nevada, and Arizona. In 1889 they moved to Mexico, as part of the Mormon flight to Mexico to avoid prosecution for polygamy.

While in Mexico, Hettie and her parents met Ammon Meshach Tenney, who was in Mexico doing church work. Ammon was already a polygamist, with two wives and eleven children. He had served two years in prison for polygamy.

In 1889 Ammon requested permission from church authorities to take Hettie as a third, plural, wife. They advised him to have the ceremony performed in Mexico, which he did.

Hettie and Ammon were married March 24, 1890, in Colonia Diaz, Chihuahua, Mexico; Ammon was 46 years old, Hettie was 17.

That same year, Ammon moved his other two families to Colonia Diaz. Hettie and Ammon lived in Colonia Diaz for several years, but, later, moved to Colonia Dublan, Mexico. Ammon's second plural wife, Eliza Ann Udall, and her children moved also. Ammon left his first wife, Anna Sariah Eagar Tenney, and her children, behind in Colonia Diaz.

In 1912, Hettie and her family were expelled from Mexico by Mexican revolutionaries, who were pushing all foreigners from Mexico. Hettie went to live in Arizona; Ammon went to El Paso, Texas. Although Ammon joined Hettie in Arizona from time to time, they had essentially separated as a couple prior to leaving Mexico.

Hettie and Ammon had ten children together:

Millicent Tenney (1890 - 1977)
Eugene Adams Tenney (1892 - 1952)
Helaman Pratt Tenney (1895 - 1978)
Paul Frost Tenney (1897 - 1921)
Anthony Ivins Tenney (1899 - 1955)
Udall Adams Tenney (1901 - 1965)
Ezra Strong Tenney (1903 - 1963)
Allen Dwight Tenney (1905 - 1971)
Meshach Adams Tenney (1907 - 1993)
Sarah Tenney (1910 - 1911)
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April 21, 1957 (Sunday) - Arizona Republic (Phoenix, Arizona); Page 22 (Newspapers.com)

Hettie A. Tenney

MESA - Funeral services for Hettie Adams Tenney, 84, will be at 10 a.m. tomorrow in the Mildrum Mortuary here.

Mrs. Tenney, who came to Arizona in 1875 and settled in former Brigham City near Wilslow, died Friday in a Phoenix hospital.

Mrs. Tenney lived in northern Arizona until 1941, when she came here. She was an active worker in the Arizona Temple of the Latter-day Saints Church.

Survivors include a daughter, Mrs. Millicent McKeller of Tempe; five sons, U.A. of Prescott, and H.P., E.S., A.D., and N.A., all living out of Arizona; 13 grandchildren; and 14 great-grandchildren.

Friends may call at Meldrum's from 4 to 6 p.m. today. Burial will be in Thatcher.
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NOTE: The death date of "May 20, 1957" engraved on Hettie's headstone is incorrect; her death certificate gives her death date as April 19, 1957. That date is confirmed by the obituary printed in the April 21, 1957 edition of the Arizona Republic (above).