- Born 18 Oct 1838 Randolf, , Missouri
- Died 10 Jan 1883 Lewiston, Cache, Utah
- Parents: Stephen Billings Shumway and Wealthy Eddy
- Spouse: Ebenezer Griffin Cherry (md. Abt 1862 Richmond, Cache, Utah)
- Children: Wealthy Jane Cherry, Charles Stephen Cherry, Thomas Billings Cherry, Joseph Aaron Cherry, Clarissa Rebecca Cherry, Margaret Ann Cherry, Porter Nathan Cherry, Amanda Drucilla Cherry, Levi Eddy Cherry, Samuel Allen Cherry, Parley Pratt Cherry
Mary Amanda Shumway Manwill Cherry
*****
"Her father was Stephen Billing Shumway who was born 20 July 1806 in Massachusetts. He joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in the first year it was organized, which was 1830, and married Wealthy Eddy, who had run away from her home and family to join the church. Stephen was 24 and Wealthy was 20. They married 6 January 1831."They were the parents of three children. The first two were born in Orange, Rockland, New York. The first, Clarissa, born 30 Nov 1831 died before she was two years old as a result of exposure during the night her parents were driven from their home by a mob. Their second child, a son named Ammi Warren Shumway, was born 16 Dec 1832. Then they moved west as the Mormons migrated from New York to Kirkland, Ohio and then to Missouri.
"Mary Amanda’s parents were traveling with a small group of Saints to join the Mormon settlement at Haun’s Mill, Caldwell County, Missouri when their third child, Mary Amanda Shumway, was born on October 18, 1838. Her birth caused them to stop over in Randolf County, Missouri for a few weeks, and so her family was spared from the massacre that took place at Haun’s Mill twelve days later.
"After the Haun’s Mill massacre and other episodes of mob in Caldwell and Jackson counties, Joseph Smith was imprisoned and the Saints were driven out of Missouri. Although very ill prepared for the forced and hurried exodus, the Saints retreated to Nauvoo, Illinois. It was a time of great suffering. The particulars are not known, but the Shumways abandoned their plans to settle in Missouri and headed for Nauvoo.
"In Nauvoo, Mary Amanda, with her brother Ammi Warren and her parents, was a member of the Nauvoo Third Ward. Tragically, her father died of Appendicitis when she was 14 months old. Two years later, her mother married a man whose wife and baby had died. He was William Dickinson Pratt, the older brother of Parley P. and Orson Pratt. William and Wealthy had four children, but only one, William Jared Pratt, lived past childhood because of the terrible persecutions and circumstances of the Mormon plight during those years.
"The little family lived through all the Nauvoo persecutions, the martyrdom of the prophet and his brother in 1844, and the expulsion from Nauvoo two years later in the February 1846 when Mary Amanda was eight. They suffered from mob on several occasions.
"Existing records seem to be a little incomplete as to when they actually left Nauvoo and if William Pratt was with them when they made the trek to Winter Quarters—it would seem that he was not, but he was not (see story of Wealthy Eddy). Her mother tells of doing sewing so the men would build her a little log cabin. It had no doors or window panes, and it was a cold winter. Her mother tells of her family moving into this log cabin and being grateful for shelter. It was storming the same night they moved their meager belonging in. They also had to move their cows that same night. After Wealthy, her mother, put Mary Amanda and William Jared to sleep, she and Ammi went for the cows. On the way both of them felt her husband’s presence and heard him say, “I will often be with you and help you.”
"They wanted to go West where they could feel safe and be able to worship God unmolested. Obviously, they were very poor and as the husband was absent, they fitted a wagon together, as best they could and used a harness that was made of different pieces of what they could get. Using a horse and a cow to pull their wagon, they crossed the plains when Mary Amanda was nine to fourteen, probably 1848–52. These facts, coupled with the years of their migration indicate that they were among the poor Saints that Brigham Young insisted would not be left behind. He called upon the members of the Church to help the poor Saints, who couldn’t afford to come on their own, with provisions, etc. so they could all be together in Utah.
"After arriving in Utah, Mary Amanda and her mother and siblings settled in Payson, where they lived for many years. Her mother married William Cornwell Patten in 1854 when Mary Amanda was about sixteen. Her mother had known William in the Nauvoo Third Ward. He was now a widower with two little s whom Mary Amanda’s mother also raised. Her mother and William had one child of their own, Sarah Wealthy Patten.
"Mary Amanda Shumway first married Daniel Booker Manwill and there are no known children from that marriage. Next she married Ebenezer Griffith Cherry in about 1862 when she was 24 years old. Ebenezer was 24 years older than she was. He had been a farmer from Ohio. He and his first wife Susannah and family had joined the church in 1846 and had crossed the plains in the Charles C. Rich company of 1847. They had settled in Centerville, Utah. Altogether, he and his first wife had 12–13 children between 1835–63. Susannah died in 1887.
"Mary Amanda and Ebenezer were married at Logan, Cache County, Utah and raised all eleven of their children. They first lived and farmed in northern Utah at Richmond, Cache County, where their first two children were born. The second, Charles Stephen Cherry, born in 1864, is our ancestor. Then they accepted a call from the Church to moved North over the mountains into southern Idaho, following Apostle Charles C. Rich who colonized the Bear Lake region in 1864. When they migrated to Idaho, there were approximately seven hundred settlers there. They settled by the little town of St. Charles in the Bear Lake region, known for its long, cold winters. There they had three more children and stayed until late 1868 or early 1869.
"Next they moved back to Utah and located in Centerville, Davis County where they stayed until late 1873. Centerville was where Ebenezer’s brother, Aaron Benjamin Cherry, who had also crossed the plains with him, had settled with his family. However, Aaron had already passed away when Mary Amanda and Ebenezer moved there. Three more children were born here. Their last move was to Lewiston, Cache county, Utah about 1874 where their last three children were born.
"Mary Amanda and Ebenezer had eleven children in all, and they all lived to maturity. Some of their names reflect their family heritage: Wealthy Jane Cherry named after her mother, Charles Stephen Cherry and Thomas Billings Cherry named after her father, Joseph Aaron Cherry named after Ebenezer’s brother Aaron Benjamin Cherry, Levi Eddy Cherry named after her mother, and Parley Pratt Cherry named after her step-uncle Parley P. Pratt.
Mary Amanda, however, did not live to raise all of her children. In 1883, she died at the age of 45 when her oldest child was twenty and her youngest child was 2½ years old. Her mother’s home became the headquarters for her older children and her seven year old daughter Margaret Ann Cherry went to live with her. Mary Amanda was buried in Lewiston, Utah, as was Ebenezer when he died five years later."
--Author unknown
 |
| Deseret News, 1883-01-31, p. 16 |
* * *
Bibliography
Ebenezer Griffin Cherry Pedigree and three Family Group Records, Family Search: Ancestral File, CD ROM, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints Genealogical Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.
The Family of Swanty and Nancy Benson, Geraldine B. Shirley and Oren S. Peterson, private publication.
Gives an excerpt from the Dairy of C. C. Rich about the difficulty of the winter of 1864 and the difficulties in the years following it.
Heart Throbs of the West, Kate B. Carter, Daughter of Utah Pioneers, Salt Lake City, Utah, Volume 7, pp. 536–578, 1946.
Gives details of the early settling of Idaho.
Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah, page 801.
Contains photograph of Ebenezer Griffin Cherry. Lists wives and children.
LDS Infobase, Early LDS Membership: LDS Collectors Library 97, 1996, CD ROM, Provo, Utah.
Gives vital statistics, church ordinance data, and pertinent comments about early church member Ebenezer Griffin Cherry and Aaron Benjamin Cherry. All of Mary Amanda’s children are listed, but her name under “Marriage Number 2” is missing.
Excerpt from MY PIONEERS: The Mormon Pioneer Ancestors of Suzanne Scott Jennings
July 1997
Mary Amanda Shumway
came by covered wagon as a child 1848– 1852
Her birth saved the family from being at Haun’s Mill during the massacre.
came by covered wagon as a child 1848– 1852
Her birth saved the family from being at Haun’s Mill during the massacre.
From http://jared.pratt-family.org/histories/mary-amanda-shumway.htm
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