The daughter of James and Phoebe Morton Angell, she was born in Seneca, Ontario County, New York. When she was quite young, her parents moved to Providence, Rhode Island. Mary Ann became a Free Will Baptist and was also a Sunday School teacher. Deeply religious and studious of the Hebrew and Christian scriptures, she vowed never to marry until she met "a man of God" in whom she could confide her spirituality and with whom her heart could unite in the active duties of a Christian life. In 1831, because of her abusive father, Mary Ann, her mother Phoebe, and brother Truman O. Angell left Providence, and moved to China, New York, where Truman was baptized a Mormon in January 1832; Mary Ann was soon baptized thereafter by Elder John P. Greene. Mary Ann then set out alone for Kirtland, Ohio, the gathering place of the early Mormons.
Marriage and family
There she met and married Brigham Young and remained a devoted wife to him for the next 45 years. She survived him by nearly five years. Mary Ann Angell and Brigham Young had six children. One of these children was Brigham Young Jr., who was ordained an apostle by his father in 1864, but was not placed in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints until 1868. John Willard Young, another one of her sons, was also an ordained apostle and was the first counselor in the First Presidency of the church at the end of Brigham Young's administration as church president. Another son was Joseph Angell Young, who was ordained an apostle in 1864 but never became a member of either the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles or the First Presidency. One of their daughters, Eunice "Luna" Caroline Young who married George Washington Thatcher, became the matriarch of the wealthy Thatcher–Young family of Logan, Utah. George was a prominent Utah pioneer who at one time, managed a number of Brigham Young's business interests and was instrumental in developing political, business and church interests in Cache Valley, on behalf of Brigham Young and the LDS church.
Legacy
Mary Ann was also a skilled herbalist and folk doctor. During her trek across the plains to the Salt Lake Valley in 1848, she used these skills to treat many fellow pioneers. She also brought many seeds with her and is credited with planting the beautiful trees that grow along the eastern end of South Temple Street in Salt Lake City, which was once known as Brigham Street. James H. Crockwell wrote of her, "She was a very gifted and intelligent woman, highly cultured, yet humble and meek, ever ready to help the poor and needy, or ease the suffering of the afflicted. She passed through great trials and privation but through it all she was a faithful wife, model mother, and Latter-day Saint, in whose heart native goodness and benevolence abounded." Mary Ann Angell was the sister of Salt Lake Temple architect Truman Angell.
