Mary Jane Nuttall Broadbent History

Mary Jane Nuttall Broadbent

From the book,

Our Pioneer Heritage They Came In 1861

Mary Jane Nuttall Broadbent was born in Rochele, Lancashire, England, the daughter of Thomas and Mary Standring Nuttall.  When she was three years old her father passed away and from then on until she was nine Mary Jane made her home with her aunt, Elizabeth Rigg, who had joined the Latter-day Saint Church.  Here she was taught the gospel principles and soon after she, too, entered the waters of baptism.

            When Mary Jane was thirteen her aunt emigrated to America.  Two years later Mary had earned enough money to pay for her immigration to Utah where she arrived September 8, 1861.  In her own words:  “I very shortly hired out amongst the Saints and found friends wherever I wished to go.”  Moving to Lehi, she found employment in the home of a family by the name of Taylor.  She renewed her acquaintance with Thomas Broadbent whom she had known in England an on the 11^th day of April, 1863, entered the order of plural marriage and become his wife.  Mr. Broadbent had one wife, Elizabeth Gledhill, and one living child, but through the years these two women were more than sisters to each other.

            With fifty other families, Thomas Broadbent and his families started south in search of a place where they could build permanent homes.  The stopped in Spring City where Mr. Broadbent’s sister, Mary Schofield, lived.  Here Mary Jane’s first child was born February 26, 1864.  For two years they made their home in Monroe but owing to Indian troubles, the Broadbent families went back to Spring City.

            Mr. Broadbent had acquired a knowledge of music and was known for his ability as an organizer of musical groups.  Thomas was called to take his family and got to the little town of Goshen, there to organize a choir and do various kinds of church work for which he was promised a home and land.  Again the family moved, this time to a log home in Goshen valley.  Mr. Broadbent found work in the Tintic mines, at the same time farming a small tract of land and taking care of the church duties assigned him.  Theirs was a happy family.

            After seven years in the Goshen home the family moved to Santaquin where Bishop George Halliday called Mr. Broadbent on a mission to assist the branch of the Church at Spring Lake and to organize a choir.  Several times each week the family would ride to the meetinghouse in Spring Lake for various functions.  On December 27, 1877 Thomas married Chana Ellen Spainhower and from then on she was “Aunt Chana” to the family.  Soon a new home was erected in Santaquin.  It was one and one-half story, made of adobe brick.  Work on the house was done by members of the family with very little help from the outside.  They kept a splendid garden and took a keen interest in keeping their fences and yard clean.  A few choice trees were planted and the father’s work in the Tintic mines helped the family financially.  In the winter the boys of the family peddled fish which they caught in Utah Lake.  When all work was done the children attended school which was taught by Wm. Chatwin and a Mrs. Stickney.   The girls hired out for housework sometimes earning as much as $2.00 per week.  It seems as if ambition and religious conviction, coupled with ingenuity and endurance, kept unity among the groups.

            “Father always had a grist of wheat or corn in the mill.  This  insured our bread and cereal.  We raised our own meat, usually pork.  Milk was quite certain, yet the children often asked, ‘Shall we dip or spoon,’ according to the amount on hand.  Dried fruit, especially ground cherries, was common.  Molasses or honey was used extensively.  Butter was a treat as most of it was sold to buy necessities.  It sold for 10 cents a pound and eggs at 10 cents a dozen.  Sugar was 10 to 15 cents per pound.  Much of the cooking was done over a fire place with a sheet iron oven, bricked up.  We were always clean, even if we went to bed while our clothes were being washed and ironed.  Our hats were often made of straw, or of blue demin (sic), then starched very stiff.  Underwear was heavy and thick but by the time they were passed on to the next child and the next, they became very light and worn.  Possibly the surest and most promising crop of all was the family of children.”

            In the latter part of Feb. 1885, Mr. Broadbent took his wife Chana and their three little daughters, Nancy, Sarah, and Nora together with Joseph and David and returned to Sevier County where they secured a farm of 120 acres between Elsinore and Monroe.  About 15 acres had been cleared but the 14 and 15 year old boys with their father toiled incessantly to clear the rest of the land.  They made a dugout and after the crops were in built a log room.  Of this time, Joseph said,  “The young courageous wife kept the place scrupulously clean.  Our clothes were always clean and mended and the meals well prepared.  If any preference was shown in favoring one or another, it was not her own little girls, but the working boys.  She must have been converted to the great cause of multiplying and replenishing the earth and subduing it.”   The crops raised were wheat, oats and alfalfa, also potatoes and vegetables.  There were a few chickens, cows and hogs but no fruit.  Milk and butter were often traded for other things.  The largest amount of fresh fruit I ever saw on the farm was a carton of twelve half-gallon jars of peaches sent by sister Mary from Provo.”

            The family took their recommends to Elsinore ward.  Soon a branch of the Church was organized called Brooklyn and Thomas was named the presiding elder.  During this time the family in Santaquin lost two children, Geneva Lovina and Leo Moroni.  As the families were about a hundred miles apart, it took four day and nights to make the trip, so Mr. Broadbent moved Mary Ann (Jane?)and Elizabeth with their families to Brooklyn in the spring of 1888.  Here each family had their own home.

            At this time the Edmunds-Tucker law was passed in Congress, and, in the spring of 1889, Mr. Broadbent was arrested and sentenced to serve three months in the penitentiary with a fine of $300.00 and the costs of court.  Once again he was appointed chorister this of the prison choir.  Good behavior brought a promise that time and money would be cut in half.  However, he tried to send a letter home without having it censored and was rigidly disciplined.  His time was doubled and the full amount of money exacted.  “Those were hard times for us.  Aunt Chana went on the underground and father had to be hidden, sometimes sleeping in grain fields, on a ditch bank or in someone else’s house.  The children were questioned, taught to tell the truth, but to say very little.”

            Christmas was a happy time as this family kept holidays, birthdays, and home gatherings.  There were seldom gifts but everyone rejoiced when home-made candy, doughnuts, tasty tarts and home-made ice cream were served.  Church socials were held regularly and ofttimes Mr. Broadbent loaded the old organ in his wagon with as many of his family as it would hold and took them to Church.  He always led the singing.  “We grew up about like most children do.  We contended often, lied a little, fought frequently, stole now and again, but after many years we have learned the effects of right teaching.”  Through the combined influence of the mother and father the children were sent to the best schools and later to the Brigham Young University.

            Mary became the mother of eleven children and each felt they were blessed to have such a mother.  Sylvester, on of her sons, who is still living, said of her, “She was a beautiful character, hones, sympathetic, loving, and appreciative of all that was good and beautiful.  Her life was spent for her family.  I never heard her speak ill of friend or foe.”  Mary Ann (Jane) moved to Provo into a three room adobe house, later into a better home, where perhaps the most peaceful part of her life was spent.  She sold milk, fruit and vegetables from her garden and home-made butter for the up-keep of her home.  There was always someone calling on her, someone going on a mission, getting married, old friends traveling through Provo.  The father spent his last days as an agent for th Wheeler and Wilson Sewing Machine.  He died in Santaquin Dec. 14, 1901.  While visiting at the home of a son in Heber, Mary became ill and passed away May 10, 1919.---Serena B. Vance.