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Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Vol.2, HORNE, MARY ISABELLA
From 1870 to 1904 Mary Isabella Hales Horne (1818-1905) was president of the Senior Cooperative retrenchment association, an organization that spearheaded a number of women's activities, including a Churchwide retrenchment from "worldly," or materialistic, pursuits in the 1870s, and a movement in support of plural marriage in the 1880s. During most of the three decades, she was also president of the Salt Lake Stake Relief Society and treasurer of the Central (later General) Board of Relief Society.
Mary Isabella Hales was born on November 20, 1818, in Rainham, Kent County, England. She was the oldest of seven children born to Stephen and Mary Ann Hales. Her father was a shoemaker and her mother a seamstress. The Hales family immigrated to York (now Toronto), Canada, where Isabella met Joseph Horne at a Methodist camp meeting in 1834. They were married on May 9, 1836, and were baptized members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in July 1836 by Orson Hyde, an apostle. The newlyweds became friends of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and both had a firm testimony of his prophetic calling. In 1838, they gathered with the Saints to Far West, Missouri, and subsequently suffered through the violent expulsion of the Saints from Missouri. They moved to Quincy and Nauvoo, Illinois, and then crossed the plains to the Salt Lake Valley in 1847. The Hornes had fifteen children, including three sets of twins.
In 1869 President Brigham Young challenged Isabella Horne to encourage the women of the Church to spend less time preparing elegant meals and sewing fancy clothing, and more time nurturing their spiritual development. On February 10, 1870, the Senior Cooperative Retrenchment Association was formally organized, with Mary Isabella Horne as president. Under her direction, the association also supported local Relief Society, primary, and young women's organizations; the woman's exponent; the 1876 centennial fair; and the United Order. It also supported mass meetings in which resolutions were drafted in strong support of woman suffrage.
In December 1877, Isabella Horne was called to preside over the Salt Lake Stake Relief Society. She served twenty-six years, directing a total of sixty-five ward Relief Society presidencies. She presided over Relief Society sessions of the women's conferences of the stake, which were attended by many women from throughout the territory until the first general auxiliary conferences were inaugurated in 1889. She also instituted a nurse training program in the stake that was later adopted by Relief Society's general officers. In 1880 the Central Board of the Relief Society was organized and she was appointed treasurer, a position she held until 1901.
In addition to these assignments, Isabella Horne served as a member of the Deseret hospital committee (1882-1894); as a counselor to Zina D. H. Young in the presidency of the Deseret Silk Association, established in 1876; and as president of the Women's Cooperative Mercantile and Manufacturing Institution from 1890 to 1905.
She died on August 25, 1905, at the age of eighty-six. At her death, Emmeline B. wells, another prominent leader among Utah women, said of her that she "was a born leader, a sort of General among women and indeed in this respect might surpass most men, of extraordinary ability…. A woman of great force of character, and wonderful ability, such a one as might stand at the head of a great institution and carry it on successfully…. Sister Horne can appropriately be called a stalwart, a champion for the rights of her own sex, and indeed for all mankind" [Woman's Exponent 36 (Apr. 1908):58].
Illustration
Mary Isabella Horne (1818-1905) was an original member of the
Relief Society in 1842. She was Relief Society president in the
Salt Lake Stake for 30 years. At the same time, she was president of the
Senior Cooperative Retrenchment Association from 1870 to 1904.
Bibliography
Horne, Mrs. Joseph. "Migration and Settlement of the Latter-day Saints." Typescript, 1884. Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Kramer, Lyneve Wilson, and Eva Durrant Wilson. "Mary Isabella Hales Horne: Faithful Sister and Leader." Ensign 12 (Aug. 1982):63-66.
SUSAN ARRINGTON MADSEN Copyright © 1992 by Macmillan Publishing Company ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- EXPIRED COPYRIGHT (1884) REPRESENTATIVE WOMEN OF DESERETA BOOK OF BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES TO ACCOMPANY THE PICTURE BEARING THE SAME TITLE.COMPILED AND WRITTEN BY AUGUSTA JOYCE CROCHERON MARY ISABELLA HORNE,
TREASURER OF THE PRESIDING BOARD OF TIlE L. D. S. WOMEN'S ORGANIZATIONS.
"I was born November 20th, 1818, in the town of Rainshaw, County of
Kent, England. I am the daughter of Stephen and Mary Ann Hales, and the eldest
daughter of a large family. My parents were honest, industrious people. I was
taught to pray when very young, to be honest and truthful, to be kind to my
associates, and to do good t. all around us. My early years were spent in
attending school and in assisting my mother in domestic duties."
"Mrs. Horne's father was a Methodist, and her mother a member of the
Church of England. Mrs. Home as a child, had very strong religious tendencies,
and when requested by her Sabbath School teacher to commit to memory two or
three verses from the Bible, she would learn a whole chapter or perhaps two,
and recite without being prompted.
"When only in her eleventh year, she became so fascinated with the Bible
that her leisure hours after the labors of the day were over, were employed in
reading and studying the history and incidents, the sublime parables and
teachings contained in that sacred work; thus prepared to receive in due time
the Gospel of the new and last dispensation. In 1832, Mrs. Home's parents
decided to emigrate, and concluded to go to upper Canada. April 6th, they left
England with a family of five sons and two daughters.
"One little boy died upon the way. On the 16th of June, they arrived in
York, strangers in a strange land, where the cholera was making fearful
ravages, but the Lord preserved them all in health. The following spring,
1833, the family removed to the country, about eight miles from York. Mrs.
Hales' health was delicate and the care of the whole family devolved upon Mary
Isabella, only fifteen years of age.
"In the spring of 1834, she attended a Methodist camp meeting in the
neighborhood, where she first met Mr. Joseph Horne, and two years afterward,
Joseph Horne and Mary Isabella were united in marriage on the 9th of May,
1836."
Only about one month of their wedded life had passed when they heard a
rumor that a man professing to be sent of God, to preach to the people would
hold a meeting about a mile distant.
Mr. and Mrs. Horne attended this meeting and there they first heard the
Gospel, proclaimed by Elder Orson Pratt, but little knew how the course of
their life would be changed by receiving this great light. Mrs. Home was
baptized in July, 1836, by Elder Orson Hyde, and ever after her house was a
home for the elders, and a place where meetings were held. In the latter part
of the summer of 1837, she first saw the Prophet Joseph, also Sidney Rigdon
and Thomas B. Marsh.” She says: "On shaking hands with the Prophet Joseph
Smith, I received the holy spirit in such great abundance that I felt it
thrill my whole system from the crown of my head to the soles of my feet. 1
had never beheld so lovely a countenance, nobility and goodness were in every
feature. I said to myself, '0 Lord, I thank thee for granting the desire of my
girlish heart in permitting me to as sociate with prophets and apostles.' "
"In March 1838, while the weather was still wintry, Mr. and Mrs. Horne bade
farewell to their home, and with a few saints started for the gathering-place
of the people of God.
At Huntsville, Mrs. Horne was introduced to Father and Mother Smith;
Father Smith was the Patriarch of the church, and under his hands she received
a patriarchal blessing. In August, with a babe less than a month old, they
removed to Far West, and were obliged to go into a log house without doors or
windows. It was about this time thatthe excitement in Missouri raged, and
persecution was at its height. Mrs. Horne was alone much night and day, her
husband being on guard. In the spring of 1839, Mrs. Horne and family left
Missouri as exiles, and sought an asylum in Quincy, Ill., where for awhile
they bad peace. While in Quincy, Mrs. Horne was one of those favored ones who
had the privilege of entertaining and waiting upon the Prophet Joseph and
Hyrum, the Patriarch. In the month of March, Mr. and Mrs. Horne moved to
Nauvoo by wagon, over the then wild prairies. They lived in a lumber shanty
for eight months, and in November Mr. Horne moved his family into his own
house, still unfinished. Here in 'Nauvoo the beautiful,' Mr. Horne through
diligent labor at last succeeded in establishing a flourishing business and
his family were looked upon by the Saints as quite well situated. On the 2nd
of April, 1844, Mrs. Horne received a patriarchal blessing under the hands of
Hyrum Smith, the patriarch of the Church." On the 27th of the June following,
occurred the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum. Mrs. Horne says, "On the 28th day
of June, I took my last look on earth of Joseph and Hyrum Smith! May I never
experience another day similar to that. I do not wish to recall the scene." On
the 9th of July was born her fifth son. In January, 1846, Mrs. Horne went into
the Nauvoo Temple, receiving the ordinances of the House of the Lord, and
assisted in administering to others. In February Mr. Horne closed his business
and bade adieu to their home and camped with the Saints on Sugar Creek, Iowa.
In March moved on to Garden Grove, and then to Mt. Pisgah. Here, Mrs.
Horne had born to her a daughter, born in a wagon. When the babe was three
days old, Mrs. Horne started again on her way, arriving at Council Bluffs
about the last of June, moving into a log cabin. Here she was so sick it was
feared she would not recover. Elder Orson Pratt administered to her and
prophesied she would do a good work in Israel. In June of the same year, she
left with the first company across the plains that followed the pioneers to
the valley of Salt Lake. That was indeed a remarkable journey and all those
who traveled hither at that time deserve the title of pioneers. They opened
the way and braved the perils of the desert and the experience of living in
this sterile land. They ploughed and planted and fought against the fearful
odds of crickets, grasshoppers and death. The company in which Mrs. Horne
traveled, arrived here October 6th, 1847, and as soon as the Fort was
completed she moved into it, and lived in a log cabin two years, enduring all
the exigencies incident to the settling of a new Indian country, among which
were living on short rations, a part of which was roots and thistles. On the
16th of January, 1849, another daughter was added to the family. As soon as
possible after arriving in a new and destitute country, Mr. and Mrs. Horne
made themselves a home in the Fourteenth Ward, which they still retain. In
speaking of her first knowledge of the order of celestial marriage, she says,
she has had strong testimony for herself that it is of God. Mrs. Horne has
borne herself nobly in all the different phases of plural domestic relations.
Mrs. Horne was a member of the Relief Society in Nauvoo, and in the first
organization of the Fourteenth Ward in this city, was a counselor to President
Phoebe W. Woodruff.
In May, 1858, Mrs. Horne moved as far south as Parowan, her husband
being called on a mission still further south, in Dixie. Against every
disadvantage, Mrs. Horne performed this journey of two hundred and fifty
miles, this mother with her ten children, the youngest a babe of six months.
In September their mission was fulfilled and Mrs. Horne returned home, Mr.
Horne returning from his mission soon after. December 12th, 1867, Mrs. Horne
was chosen by Bishop A. Hoagland, of the Fourteenth Ward, to preside over the
Relief Society in that ward. It was a great surprise to her, she was at that
time very timid.
Under the wise management of the Pregident, the society increased in
numbers, great good was accomplished in the relief of the poor and afflicted,
and means multiplied in the Treasury. A two story brick building has been
erected by the society, part of which is rented for a store, and the upper
story used for meetings. The society also own a good granary and a quantity of
wheat. Mrs. Horne's success as a leader was so apparent and her course so
consistent, President Young had such confidence in her, he gave her very
important mission among the sisters; this was called Retrenchment. In due time
a meeting was held in the Fifteententh Ward Schoolhouse, and from there
adjourned to the Fourteenth Ward Assembly ‘Rooms, and from that time until the
present, Mrs. Horne has presided at these regular semi-monthly meetings of the
Ladies' General Retrenchment Associations. When President Young instructed
Sister Eliza to go through the Territory and organize the young ladies into
associations for mutual improvement, Mrs. Horne was called to assist. She has
organized many of the Young Ladies Associations, also Primary Associations. At
the time of the passage of the Cullom Bill in January, 1876, a grand Mass
Meeting was called to convene in the Old Tabernacle, Salt Lake City. Mrs.
Horne took an active part in the proceedings, being one of the committee to
draft resolutions. In February following, the bill was passed, granting
suffrage to the women of Utah. Mrs. Horne was one of a committee of ladies who
waited upon Governor S. A. Mann to express the gratitude of Mormon women for
his signing of the document. December 1877, Mrs. Horne was chosen to preside
over the Relief Societies of this stake of Zion. She was elected a delegate
from Salt Lake County, to the Territorial Convention held in this city,
commencing October 9th, and was called upon to address them. Mrs. Horne was
one of the committee appointed to wait upon the delegate nominated at the
Convention, and inform him of the honor conferred upon him.
When Mrs. Horne was sixty years of age, upon the demise of her
daughter-in-law, Mrs. Lydia Weiler Horne, she took the babe six weeks old to
raise. This after rearing a family, and seeing each take honored places in the
world.
Mrs. Horne has been an officer and worker in the silk industry from the
beginning. At the organization of the board of officers for the Deseret
Hospital, May 1882, Mrs. Horne was elected Chairman of the Executive
Committee.
November 20th, 1882, was the forty-sixth anniversary of
Mr. and Mrs. Horne's wedding day. At the reception they held, an elegant
photograph album was presented from lady friends, each of whom was to
contribute her picture. Congratulations from children, Mayor Jennings and
Judge Miner, with loving and sincere good wishes from all, for the future,
made this aday long to be remembered."
I am indebted to the pen of Emmeline B. Wells, editor of the "Woman's
Exponent," for the points I have selected for this sketch, to whom the
original referred me as possessing all I would wish to obtain. Perhaps, it
would be no more than justice to the author, to quote also from the same
source, the record her family have so far, made, thereby reflecting credit
upon their noble parents. It will also give to the world the history in brief
of one Mormon family, reared in the teachings, examples and associations of
Mormonism, not omitting the system of celestial marriage.
" By their fruits ye shall know them."
"Henry, the eldest son, was for eleven years Bishop in Paris, Idaho, in
1880, moved to Arizona, to assist in colonizing there.
"Joseph, when about twenty years of age, was called on a mission to
Switzerland, where he obtained a thorough knowledge of the German language.
Returned, and was for ten years Bishop of Gunnison, Sanpete Co., again called
to Switzerland to preside over the Swiss and German missions and edit the
Stern. In 1878, he was called to the Bishopric in Richfield, Sevier Co., is
also mayor of that city.
"Richard is a teacher; was superintendent of Sunday-schools in Beaver,
and has filled several home missions.
"John, the youngest son, was the first President of the Young Men’s
Mutual Improvement Association in the Fourteenth Ward. Her eldest daughter,
Mrs. Elizabeth Webb, lives in Millard Co., a lady who might grace any society.
"Nora married George, son of Orson Spencer, somewhat famous in Church
history for his valuable writings and great missionary work in America and
Europe.
"Julia married Wm. Burton, and died one year after marriage, leaving a
baby daughter. She was the first President
of the Young Ladies Mutual Improvement Associaton of the Fourteenth Ward.
"Cornelia was later made the President. Miss Cornelia was also for three
or four years business manager of the Woman's Exponent. She is the wife of
James Clayton.
"Minnie, her twin sister, was for several years Secretary of the Young
Ladies Mutual Improvement Association and the Sunday-school. Since her
marriage with Wm. James, she is President of the Seventh Ward Primary
Association.
"Mattie is a counselor to the President of all the Young Ladies Mutual
Improvement Associations of the Church. When the Woman's Exponent was first
published, Miss Mattie was the first girl to go into the printing office and
learn type setting.
"Clara, the youngest, is accomplished, gifted spiritually, and an active
worker. As her mother is often called from home by public duties, the charge
of the home rests much of the time with her, a position she fills with dignity
and ability."
Three babes died in infancy. And the mother of these children now
honored among men and women, drove team hundreds of miles, not one journey,
but many, and nearly always with a babe in her arms.
Resting now in the afternoon of life with comforts, honors and love
surrounding her, Mrs. Home must look back with satisfaction and gratitude upon
her life. A few years ago, when I, a timid Secretary of the Fourteenth Ward
Meetings, used to steal a look at her noble face, I used mentally to compare
it to that of Washington, and I think still I was not mistaken; we, to-day,
are struggling for "liberty to worship God according to the dictates of our
own consciences," and the spirit of such as he and his co-laborers are with usand are ours, to counsel and to lead, through difficulties unto victory.
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