Mary's Story
Birth: April 22nd, 1843 | female | in Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Death: July 29th, 1852 | 9 years old | in Nebraska about 300 miles west of the Missouri River
Memorial: Stone 3 | left column
Mary Frances Smith is the third of seven children born to John Pearson Smith and Jane Hart Opdycke, both from Pennsylvania. John and Jane were married in New Jersey in 1835.
As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the family had a desire to cross the plains to the Great Salt Lake Valley. They joined the Uriah Curtis Company to journey west with other Saints.
Exhaustive travel conditions, disease, injury, lack of food and medicine, prematurity, and extreme weather were some of the greatest threats to pioneers. While the cause of Mary Frances’ death is unknown, many in the camp fell victim to cholera (a bacterial disease caused from contaminated water).
Eleven-year-old Mary Frances was buried in Nebraska along the Mormon Trail about 300 miles west of the Missouri River.