Mary Ann Pratt ( (née Frost; born January 14, 1809, Groton, Vermont; d. August 24, 1891 in Pleasant Grove, Utah Territory) was a midwife and early member of the Latter Day Saint movement who was the second wife of Parley P. Pratt, one of the original twelve apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. She accompanied Parley P. Pratt on several missions, including one to Europe and was instrumental in publishing his writings and poems. Mary Ann joined with the church and followed Brigham Young to Utah with the Mormon pioneers, arriving in Utah Territory in 1852. She is also considered by some to have been one of the plural wives of Joseph Smith the founder of the Latter Day Saint movement. Her life paralleled much of the early history of the church.
Early life
Mary Ann Frost was born in Groton, Vermont and was the daughter of Aaron Frost, a farmer, and his wife Susanna Gray Bennett Frost. Their first children were born in Berwick, Maine, where Aaron's family lived. They later moved to North Yarmouth, Maine where Susan's family lived and three more siblings were born. After the birth of Mary Ann and two more siblings in Groton, the family moved to Bethel, Maine (then a province of Massachusetts). There, Mary Ann's four last siblings were born.
She married Nathan Stearns, her first husband, on April 1, 1832. She gave birth to her first child, Mary Ann Stearns, on April 6, 1833. Nathan Stearns died of typhoid fever on August 25 of the same year leaving Mary Ann, whom also had contracted the illness, a widow with a four-month old daughter.
Conversion to mormonism
Patty Bartlett Sessions, one of the relatives of Mary Ann's husband Nathan Stearns, and her husband were baptized by missionaries in Maine in 1834. Her uncle Orange C Frost brought news of the missionaries to Mary Ann's mother although never joined the church to appease the criticisms from his immediate family. In the late summer of 1835 Brigham Young, and a number of other Mormon missionaries preached for a week in Bethel, Maine where Mary Ann converted to the faith and was baptized by Mormon Apostle David W. Patten. Mary Ann's mother and grandmother Frost were also baptized by Patten at that time. The teaching of the church of the redemption of the dead was pivotal in the conversion of Mary Ann and her family. Mary Ann's father, grandfather and her sister Olive Grey Frost – who would later marry both Joseph Smith and, after Smith's death, Brigham Young – were baptized shortly afterwards by John Pack. In 1836, following preaching by apostles of the Church now in Kirtland, Ohio, convinced Sessions and her husband to move to Kirtland. Mary Ann followed Sessions and arrived in Kirtland in August 1836.
Marriage to Parley P. Pratt
Mary Ann met Parley P. Pratt in Saco, Maine during a conference of the young church. In late 1836 Mary Ann and her sister moved to Kirtland, Ohio, where the church gathered and built its first temple. While in Kirtland, Mary Ann met with recently widowed Parley P. Pratt, one of the original twelve apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Pratt had just returned from a mission in Canada, perhaps planning on courting Mary Ann upon his return. They were married in Kirtland on May 9, 1837 by Frederick G. Williams in the house of Hyrum Smith. Joseph Smith opposed a speedy wedding of Pratt and other widows so shortly after the death of their prior spouse. In July Parley P. Pratt left on a mission trip to New York City. During this trip Pratt published the second edition of The Book of Mormon and his book A Voice of Warning defending the new restorationist faith.
In April 1838, as a result of church members being expelled from Ohio, Pratt and Mary Ann moved to the town of Far West in Caldwell County, Missouri. Their first child, Nathan Pratt, was born there on August 31, 1838. On October 30, her husband was arrested by the Missouri Militia and imprisoned for 8 months in Independence and then Richmond, Missouri. Parley P. Pratt had participated in the Battle of Crooked River, near Ray County, Missouri on 25 October 1838. For his role in the battle, he was apprehended and was jailed at Richmond in Ray County and later in Columbia in Boone County from late 1838. In December Mary Ann joined her husband in jail along with her two children until March 17, 1839 when she joined other Mormons in Far West, Missouri before moving to Quincy, Illinois. On July 4, 1839 Pratt escaped from jail and reunited with Mary Ann and her children at Quincy on July 11. During a second imprisonment, Mary Ann didn't join Parley in prison during which time she was instrumental in publishing Parley's writings and poems.