Ann Shelton was born 20 Feb. 1817 in Rock Hill, Worcestershire, England to Joseph and Mary Cooper Shelton. Joseph and Mary Shelton had four children with only two reaching adulthood. Ann was the third child and the only girl. She had pretty blue eyes and beautiful auburn hair. Ann was tall, 5'8", well-proportioned, and slender; but in time after bearing eleven children (including a set of twins), she eventually weighed close to 200 pounds. Ann took great care of her lovely auburn hair. She always had it in ringlets and curls all about her head as was fashionable at the time. She wore it that way until after her fourth child was born, then styles changed and she dressed it in the incoming mode.

Ann was working as a clerk in a Grocery Store when a fine young man, Joseph Howard, son of William and Tamar Mills Howard, came to make some purchases. Joseph was attracted by her looks, her charming manner and pleasing personality. After a courtship, they were married in the St. Peter & St. Paul' Church in Aston, Warwickshire, England on 24 Nov.1842. They began their married life together on a five-acre lot adjoining Joseph's father' in Gravely Hills near Birmingham.

Joseph was of a spiritual nature reading the Bible and attending Bible classes. When the ‘Mormon' Elders came with the Gospel tract, it was like a message he had once known but forgotten. He and Ann were readily converted. They were baptized 27 November 1851 by Elder William [Whitman] Griffin, in a font constructed on their own farm. The font had steps leading down into the water, was fed by a spring and beautifully surrounded by willow trees. They had five young children, ages 8 years to 8 months at the time.

Ironically, Elder (later Bishop) Griffin had previously tried to convert the Howards to the Church of England without success. Joseph said Whitman Griffin didn't preach according to the scriptures. Later, Griffin joined the LDS church, gained a knowledge of the scriptures and converted the Howards to Mormonism.

Not long after, Joseph was appointed as President of the Allison Street Branch. It was a challenge for Ann to care for their large, very young family with Joseph's long work hours and his being away from home so much with church duties. They had six children under the age of ten at the start, but Ann didn't complain as she supported her husband in his eleven years as Branch President. It was later called the Hockley Branch.

The family dreamed of joining the Saints in Zion (Utah), so to better earn money for the journey, Joseph changed his occupation, left the five acres and went to work at Webb's Smelting and Refining Works. This work was very hard and only a strong man such as he could have stood it.

The Church faced heavy persecution in New Birmingham. The Branch meetings were held in an upstairs room. Many times because of hearing singing, undesirable people congregated on the stairs causing a disturbance and Joseph Howard being a strong, husky man, was obliged to throw them down the stairs. Despite the opposition, membership grew and it was necessary to get larger quarters. The Hockley Chapel was leased for 99 years.

The very day Joseph completed the details of leasing the chapel, he took a short cut home across land where new houses were being built. Some ruffians were hiding behind these houses. When Joseph came along, they attacked him from behind. They beat him, knocking parcels he was carrying all over the ground and trampling him in the dirt. As fast as he tried to arise, he was again knocked to the ground until he was almost unconscious. "Take that you bloody Mormon!" His clothes were torn to shreds, his silk hat battered in and his face cut and bleeding. Even a neighbor refused to help the poor man in his plight so he was forced to stagger on his own to his home. Imagine the horror in Ann's face as she saw Joseph when he arrived home. For months after, he was accompanied home by some of the Saints.

The family had a meeting and Thomas and William volunteered to go to America with an LDS group and obtain work, sending back to England whatever money they could save to assist in bringing the rest of the family to Zion. How Ann worried when their two oldest sons, Thomas and William, ages 17 and 16 sailed April 23, 1861 for America.

In a letter Feb. 20, 1862, Joseph responded to a letter from his son, William, which shows the task was not easy for the boys. Things didn't work out with certain people and they had to find other employment. The father writes: "My dear boys, when you write again tell us whether you are living together or not and who you work for and what you work at and if all your things are safe. Well, lately, my dear boys, ever since you left England, we have had hard work to struggle along. James [age 16] is at work at Webbs, getting four shillings and I get what I can catch and we have not been able to save any for emigration yet, but I hope it will be a little more favorable another year. We have left Hope cottage, the rent was more than we can pay. We are living by Lewis' Coal Yard. My dear boys, above all things live your religion, obey those that are placed over you and make all the improvements you can in your education."

Ann had other worries about her precious family. Joseph Jr., fourteen years old, was employed in a gun factory at the time of the Civil War in the USA. It was his work to put three iron bands around the rifle barrels. Mr. Armstrong, the man that ran the factory, supplied the Confederate Army with fire arms until the English Government found out and closed his place of business. Mr. Armstrong immigrated to America and started a gun factory in the southern states.

It took several years, but on 3 June 1864, Joseph and Ann, four sons and five daughters, finally sailed for American despite Ann's brother's offer of money if she'd stay. The steamship Hudson left with 863 saints under the leadership of John McKay. They knew the journey would not be easy, but little did they know the heavy price they would pay before Zion was reached.

They were on the water one month and sixteen days. On the ship they were divided into wards with a steward placed over each ward. The families were in one ward and the single men in another and the single women in another. Joseph, at age 15, was in a bachelor ward as he was too old to stay with the women and small children. Joseph was a steward. His duty was to carry food (which the emigrants had to supply for themselves) to the kitchen for cooking then carry it back and parcel it out.

Because it was the time of the Civil War (1861-1865), when they neared New York, gun boats were sent out to see if they were friend or foe. After two days, they were all ordered on deck. When the officers saw the women and children, they believed it was an emigrant vessel and allowed them to land in New York, 19 July 1864. Many, including Joseph and son James were in a weakened condition from a fever when they landed and were not fit for the journey ahead of them. But again they crowded into a little steamer which was used to transport cattle which had not been cleaned and there was no place to sit or lie down. They took this boat from New York and went around by way of New Orleans and up the Mississippi River to St. Joseph, Missouri.

Joseph hired a man, his team and wagon to carry his family, and the land journey to the Rocky Mountains commenced. At Council Bluffs, Nebraska, they joined with The William [not Rozell] Hyde Company which started with 179 teams on 2 Aug.1864 arriving in Salt Lake 26 Oct.1864. The wagon they rode in was furnished by the Church. A Brother Howell drove it. Two families shared the wagon. So many passengers with belongings made it difficult to ride and hence most of the journey was made by foot. Their driver was very cross and would never let them ride no matter how tired they were, saying the wagon was already too heavily loaded for the oxen.

About two hundred miles out on the plains just before the Platte River, James and Joseph hired out to drive three-yoke-ox teams for a man who had a freight wagon train who paid $5.00 [$25] per month. Being only 18 and 15 years of age made it hard for them to leave their parents and family but they needed the money. Ann worried who would see they had stockings and underwear without a mother's care. James was still in a weakened condition from the fever he had contracted, but he set out with the freighters. They lived on rations and were often hungry sometimes with only a half a pancake for a meal. Their bed consisted of a small horse blanket, they used half over and half under which didn't provide much comfort by the time they arrived in Salt Lake in November.

The Howard family's meals were often only pan cakes and water also. Thirteen-year-old Mary Ann and her friend (a young girl whose parents had sent her from England in the custody of the Howard family) walked ahead of the wagon train and filled their aprons full of buffalo chips with which they made a fire in the evening to cook their food. One day some rich people came along in a white top, two seated buggy and invited them to ride. They rode as far as they dared because they had to build a fire for their folks at night. So they got out of the buggy and thanked the people for the only ride they ever received in walking to the Salt Lake Valley. When her folks caught up with them, they were chastised for taking that ride. Joseph and Ann feared they had been kidnapped or some wild animal had killed them.

It was August, the weather was hot and they had scarcely water to even drink. Upon arriving at a small creek, Joseph could hardly walk. Although warned not to drink of the creek water, he crept on his hands and knees and drank long and deep of the perhaps germ infested water. It did not seem to hurt him for he grew better in his health and strength. When Tamar's little three-year-old legs grew weary, her mother had to carry her. The Indians were on the warpath and the pioneers were in constant fear. It took courage and faith but the Company continued west.

Serious trouble arose early on; two of their girls became sick with what was called "mountain fever" and before the Company arrived at the South Platte River, three-year-old Tamar died and a burial took place. Laying her darling baby in a desert grave with no coffin was hard, but the crowning trouble came to her when ten days later she had to say "good bye" to her lovely five-year-old. After crossing the river and traveling for ten days, Matilda, twin sister of Elizabeth also died of the fever. With her broken heart and her worry about her sons who had left, it was no wonder Ann grew weaker and exhausted in both body and spirit. Still she carried on.

They were three months crossing the plains. Daughter Mary Ann's shoes wore out and she prayed everyday that somehow she might have some new shoes. One day soon after, in their traveling they saw a pair of shoes sitting along side of the road, evidently left by a company ahead of them. They were just her size and though they weren't new, they were much better than her own.

Ann's greatest hope was to reach the Great Salt Lake Valley and see her sons Thomas and William who had gone three years earlier and James and Joseph who had left with the Freight Train. In October, in her weakened condition, Ann contracted mountain fever but she insisted upon walking along with the others. On October 7th, she reeled backwards and forwards and would have fallen if Joseph hadn't caught her in his arms. He told the driver that Ann needed to ride. The man said Ann wasn't sick, she was lazy and could not ride. Joseph told the man he was a liar and after many angry words, he stopped the wagon. Joseph unloaded some of their necessities and carefully lifted his wife into the wagon but there wasn't room for her to lie down. She would sway from side-to-side, not having strength to sit up. Joseph tried to steady her by walking back of the wagon holding her with his hands.

But at last Emma sat in the wagon and held her mother between her knees and her mother leaned against her. That night Ann had pillows to lean against and Emma slept under the wagon with the rest of the family. On the morning of October 8, 1864, the oxen were hitched and ready to leave when Ann passed away in twelve-year-old Emma's arms. She was 47 years old. They were just 250 miles from the Valley she had so longed to reach.

Their clothing was sewn up in a big burlap sack which had been painted black to keep water out. The sack was opened and Ann's best clothes were taken out. Sister Jones and Sister Lowe, who later married son Thomas, washed Ann and dressed her and Emma combed her mother's auburn hair. While this was going on, the men dug the grave which was on the south side of the road at Bitter Creek on the Sweetwater in Wyoming [25 miles west of Martin's Cove and east of the Willie Handcart Site]. [Originally was Cottonwood Bitter Creek—now just Cottonwood Creek & Three Crossings/Hat Ranch.] Sage brush was put in the bottom of the grave and then more sage brush was put over her. The earth was packed down. They piled sage brush on top of the grave and burned it to keep the wolves from digging her up. Then more sage brush was put on top.

The family arrived at Pioneer Square in Salt Lake City, October 26, 1864. The two brothers Thomas and William were there to greet them but were so deeply saddened to learn of their dear mother and two sister's deaths. On the flip side, they were surprised to see their father standing erect and strong as it had been reported that he was dead. They set up housekeeping in a covered wagon and endured many hardships that first cold winter, subsisting basically on roots and weeds. It was a welcome move when they went to live and work on the Muir farm in Bountiful for seven years. Later, Joseph married Caroline Richards Woodall (for time only--her husband having died crossing the plains) to help him care for his family.

At the time they were reunited in the valley, Joseph was 44, Thomas (21), William (20), James (18), Joseph Jr. (15), Mary Ann (13), Emma (12), John (10), Samuel (8), and Elizabeth (5).

The four older boys and Emma were married when Joseph and son, Thomas, in-as-much as the lower land was taken, went high on the foothills of Bountiful to homestead 320 acres so their cows could have the mountains on which to graze. They raised hay for winter feed, and took their butter wrapped in grape leaves and walk some five miles into town to Salt Lake stores once a week. From the money received, they paid tithing and donated to the Immigration Fund. They did not have ice and refrigeration, but they had several springs that bubbled ice cold water. The cream and butter were put in containers until ready for use. The spring water was dammed up in ponds and then let free to water delicious grapes and other fruits, crisp cabbages and other produce. They sold numerous sacks of dried fruits and many barrels of molasses.

In June 1882, Joseph Howard, son James and daughter Emma, journeyed to St. George, Utah and did the temple work and ordinances for their beloved wife and mother, Ann Shelton Howard. Ann's joy was, and is, the valiant and noble lives of her children as they grew and raised their own families.

(Courtesy of Karol Gerber Chase)