Willden Family History

Mary Smith McEwen, daughter of John Smith and Mary Matthews, was born in Hillsborough, Derby Co., Ireland on April 5, 1814. When she was about six years old, her family moved to Scotland where she grew to maturity. She visited Ireland once after leaving there.

On the fifteenth of May, 1834, she married Matthew McEwen in Parcade, Glasgow, Scotland. His parents were William McEwen and Mary Craig. He was born near Donomanugh, Londonderry, Ireland, (sometimes shortened to Derry). His parents also moved to Scotland when he was a child.

Mary's first child, a daughter, Mary was born on her birthday. Their second child, a son, was also born in Glasgow and was named Matthew for his father. Within a few weeks after little Matthew's birth, the father came to America, supposedly finding work around Philadelphia. He was a silk weaver and calico printer by trade, but we don't know what work he did in Pennsylvania.

Mary must have been happy a year later, as she with her two children set sail for America to join her husband whom she had not seen for almost a year. But her joy was soon turned into anxiety and sorrow. The sea was very rough and stormy. Prayers were offered by the passengers for their safe arrival. Little Mary became ill, passed away and was buried at sea. Finally after three months on the water they reached America in the summer of 1837.

Mary's next two children, Martha and Eliza, were born in Philadelphia. Her husband joined the Mormon Church in August, 1841, and it is possible that Mary was baptized the same day.

The next record we have of them is January, 1842, when Matthew received a patriarchal blessing from Hyrum Smith in Nauvoo, Illinois.

Their hearts were saddened in December of that year by the passing of two-year-old Eliza.

My grandmother, Margaret was born to them in Nauvoo, the next December. She was only six months old when the prophet was martyred, but she was always proud that her mother held her to see the remains of Joseph and Hyrum even though she was too young to remember it.

Tradition also says that Mary was a charter member of the Relief Society. If not, I'm sure she belonged the year it was organized.

They were driven from Nauvoo with the Saints and spent about five years in the Mormon Camps at Council Bluffs, Iowa, and Winter Quarters (now Florence, Nebraska). Three more children were born to Mary during this time, Hannah Marian, Moroni, and Elizabeth. As far as we know, Hannah died there.

The McEwen's came to Utah in 1852 with the Company of .

They drove three cows and two oxen. While crossing the plains, they had to head many of the streams because of high water. They witnessed the scalping of a father and son by the Indians. However, these two were not members of their company and had irritated the Indians.

The McEwen's went to Fillmore, Utah where they lived for the next five or six years in a frame story house. They belonged to the United Order. Their five year old boy , Moroni, died there. Two sons Joseph and James were born to them in Fillmore. Matthew farmed and raised cattle where Cove Fort now stands. He sold this grazing land later to Charles William Willden, Sr/

Then the family moved to Beaver, Utah where Matthew and Mary built a double log house. Here Mary gave birth to twins, Matilda and Hyrum, making twelve children that had blessed their home. Matilda must have died as a baby. Matthew farmed and did some weaving. He was very stern with his family.

Mary received the first telegram sent to Beaver. She boarded the men who built the line and they showed their appreciation this way.

She helped care for her daughter Martha Fran who was bitten by a wolf and died from rabies.

Mary and Matthew kept birth records etc., in a large family Bible. Some of the family still have this Bible.

She did work in the Nauvoo, and St. George Temples. From these records we know she had a sister, Betsay.

In the fall of 1874 her husband passed away and was buried in the Beaver Cemetery.

During her later years Mary was blind. She had suffered hunger and cold, been persecuted for her religion, had braved elements both on land and on sea, had seen her loved ones suffer and leaver her, but losing her sight must have been the hardest of all to bear. Her sight came back enough the last month or so before she died that she could distinguish the organ across the room. She was strong as she had always been in her trials.

She had sold her little frame house on the West side of the North end of Beaver's main street to Isaiah Taylor and his wife, Mercy Veator for $500.00 They paid for it by taking care of her for $10 per month.

In the late summer of 1899 her daughter Lizzie Walters and Hyrum's daughter Ila came from Cortez, Colorado and took her mother to Colorado to spend her remaining weeks with her and her other daughter, Margaret Willden of Mancos and her sons Hyrum and James. Mary died at the age of 85 in Mancos, on October 15, 1899, having survived her husband by 23 years. She was laid to rest in the old Mormon Cemetery there.

Their children who grew to maturity married as follows:

Matthew Jr. and Sarah Stevens - resided in Goldendale, Washington
Martha and James Farr - Beaver, Utah
Margaret and John Willden - Mancos, Colorado
Elizabeth and Henry Walters - Cortez, Colorado

Joseph married late in life. I don't know whom he married. He lived in Milford, Utah
James and Melissa Puffer - Delores, Colorado
Hyrum and Harriet Williams - Cortez, Colorado

Those who went to Colorado went across Southern Utah, ferried the Colorado River at Hite and went through Bluff, Utah in 1887.

Her husband, Matthew, was a Seventy in the Church.

As there were Mathews families in Fillmore and Beaver when the 1860 census was taken, it is possible they could have come on the boat with Mary.

Much of the historical information came from Mary's and Matthew's son, Joseph.