Written August 13, 1954
by herself
I was born on the 23 day of January 1885 at Harrisburg, Utah, a small ghost town some three miles south of Leeds, Utah.
My father was Isaiah Cox, Jr. and my mother was Abigail McMullin Cox daughter of Willard Glover McMullin and Mary Ann Holmes McMullin. My grandfather Willard Glover McMullin was a convert to the church, and was born in the New England States. My grandmother, Mary Ann Holmes was born in England.
I belong to a large family having 5 brothers and 2 sisters. Three of my brothers are now dead. I lived in Harrisburg until I was nine years of age, then my parents moved to St. George, Utah that their children might have better schools to attend. I have pelasant memories of my childhood in Harrisburg. There I lived near my grandmother McMullin and my grandmother Cox came to visit often. Another pleasant memory was an old gray horse named "Gray Bill". I loved to ride and he was safe for a very young child to ride. We also had many pleasant picnics with our young friends to the canyon where the Quail Creek went through the hill east of Harrisburg. The water came down the ledge causing ferns to grow, the place was cool and very pretty in the summer, though there was danger of floods when it was stormy. There was also a large tree where swings were put at Easter time when the weather was good, and the town gathered for a picnic.
Soon after I came to St. George to live my father was called on an LDS mission to the Southern States. I attended school at the old Third ward school on the corner of Third North and Third West. There were many vacant lots in St. George at that time one of them was across the street west from the school. This is where the boys played baseball and the girls played little rounders on the school lot. Miss Zaidee Walker was my first teacher after moving to St. George. I loved her very much as she was very kind to me, and most of the students were much older than I. That year I became very ill with rheumatism and lost two months of school, so my mother and teacher decided I should take that grade over the next year. From than on I attended school with children my own age and liked school much better, and was really happy in my new home in St. George, Utah, though I loved to go back to visit my cousins and Grandmother at Leeds.
My father returned home from his mission in less than a year, he became very ill with rheumatism and could not remain longer, because of the damp rainy weather. As soon as he arrived home where the air was dry and warm he could walk with a cane. A few years later he bought a home on the corner of Fourth North and Fifth West. Here I lived until I was married.
I was married to William Worthen on the 16th of November 1904. He was the son of Joseph Smith Worthen and Mary Jane Heaps Worthen. He was 25 years of age at the time of our marriage and I was 19. We were married in the LDS Temple at St. George, Utah. My grandmother Cox was with me but my father was not there as he was out of the state and very busy. My mother had died before I was married, so the Worthen's gave us a reception at their home and all our near relatives and friends were invited. I wore a white silk dress I made myself.
Our married life was very happy and on the sixth day of September, 1905, our first child arrived. We named him William Gordello Worthen, the first name was for his father. To me he was really a beautiful child. He was all I could carry by the time he was four months old, but with the aid of a new baby buggy I trundled him around town where ever I cared to go. And when he was six months old we left St. George to live in St. Thomas, Nevada. That town is now covered by Lake Mead. A lake created by the Hoover Dam. The water is used for irrigation and producing electric power.
After leaving St. Thomas, I moved back to St. George for a short time, later moving to Joahannsburg, California. Here my husband hauled freight from the railroad to Bullfrog. Here he made good money which we used to buy our first home in St. George. It was at Fifth West and Fourth North. Here on the 28th day of February 1911, our second child was born. We named her Clesta. She inherited red hair from her grandfather Worthen.
In the year 1926, we moved into our new home on Second North 364 West. Both the children were in high school and very pleased to move into a new home. Here we all lived happily together and in 1927 my son was married to Mary Andrus. The marriage was in the LDS Temple on the 23 of November. My son and his wife later built a new home on 3rd North between Second and Third West and here they lived until they moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, in 1942. Five of his six children were born in St. George, the 6th in Las Vegas.
On November 22, 1933 , my husband died suddenly causing us much grief as he was much too young to die, being only 54 years of age, and it has always seemed to me we had just began to enjoy life when he was taken away and I was left alone with my daughter, as my son had married six years earlier. However he was living near, and my father was living next door with his second wife whom we called Aunt Anna. And my daughter remained with me one and one half years longer. This meant much to me as it gave me time to think and decide what to do next.
My daughter now lives in Arizona having married Alonza D. Adams on May 28, 1935. She has lived in Arizona since her marriage but has come home often to visit. She now has three children (two girls and one boy). My son has four girls and two boys, making nine grandchildren. Three of my grandchildren are married and I already have three great-grandchildren.
I am now living in St. George alone though I now have two apartments in my home to rent. This is a help with my living expenses and is also much better than living in a big house alone.
I am writing this story to please my granddaughter, Isabel Worthen, who is gathering genealogy.
As the daughter-in-law of Mary Ann Cox Worthen, I would like to add a little more information that she gave us over the years to her story. Mary A. Worthen
Many times she talked of her mother's illness and death which was a most sad experience for a young girl. Through the long painful weeks of suffering, it was Mary Ann's duty to be nurse as well as mother to the remainder of the family. Her father was busy earning the lving, often out of town.
Illness was endured at home. There were no hospitals available. All the water for domestic use was carried from the ditch early each morning before the cattle were turned out to drink and graze. There was no indoor plumbing. The toilets were outdoors in the back of the lot. Laundry was done by hand on the washboard.
Grandma Abigail McMullin Cox being very wise and fearing her sickness contagious insisted that all waste from her room be buried to protect her loved ones. In March, 1904, the young mother of 43 years passed away. Her baby girl only 4 years old she entrusted to Mary Ann's care.
The following six months Mary Ann filled her mother's place caring for her five brothers and two sisters as best she could.
William Worthen had found Mary Ann the girl of his dreams and for sometime he had been special to her. She often told of his waving his mason trowel in greeting as she passed the Woodward School building where he was working. At this time, she was attending school in the basement of the St. George Tabernacle, and passed regularly each day. Mary Ann's education took her through the 8th grade and a part of the 9th. The first year the Woodward School was used in 1901 she attended the 8th grade.
Her training as a seamstress began very early in life, sewing late into the night to create a dress for herself or something for the family. She became most efficient at drafting and altering patterns and whatever item when completed whether it was a costume or ball dress was finished with the same neatness and perfection. When she was left a widow, she did sewing for others to help with her income.
As she has stated she and William were married in November, his schooling finished at the 7th grade and he was working as a stone and brick mason, the trade of the father, grandfather and several of his brothers. His sister, Jane Worthen Booth, told of his carrying mortar buckets when he was so young he could hardly lift them from the ground. Many buildings in an around St. George, Utah, show his handwork. His first experience of laying up a stone arch was at the east entrance of the Dixie College about 1911.
Mary Ann held her mother's family together as best she could. All were welcome to come whenever they cared to. She wrote letters often to each one and kept the family ties together up until her death. She was kind and good to her father in his old age. He passed away April 17, 1949, about six weeks after Mary Ann's first great granddaughter, Margaret Worthen, and his first great, great granddaughter was born, making five generations .
Mary Ann was a teacher in the Primary organization. From 1935 to 1938, she was called as a counselor in the West Ward Relief Society where she used her sewing ability clothing the needy, making burial clothes and articles for the bazaars that were held.
She was a small woman, very quiet, reserved, never spoke ill of others, a hard worker, clean and neat. Her last few months were spent in our home where she suffered greatly without complaint but deeply appreciated any care she received. She truly taught by example to each of us as a family a lesson on the virtue of patience and enduring to the end. She died March 4, 1961, in Las Vegas, Nevada.