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The public is invited to the Lehi Historical Society’s unveiling of the Mary Wanlass Hutchings historical marker at 101 E. Main St., on Sat. Apr. 26, at 11 a.m.A short program featuring Mary’s descendants and a children’s Primary choir from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints will honor Mary’s bravery, faith and fortitude during her youth. Then the family will unveil the marker.
Shortly, before 14-year-old Mary’s stepmother died in 1862 in Missouri, she said to Mary, “Don’t give your father any peace until he goes to the Rocky Mountains.”
Mary vowed within herself to take the family even if they had to go alone. It was the greatest desire of her stepmother that the family live in Utah with the prophet and other members of the LDS Church.
Upon her stepmother’s death, Mary assumed the role of mother to 4-year-old twins, a 6-year-old sister and a 9-year-old brother as well as the role of caretaker for her bedridden father, Jackson Russell Wanlass, who had suffered a severe stroke.
The family traveled by covered wagon. However, soon after they started Jackson suffered another stroke, and they were left behind never to catch up. Yet, the Lord blessed them, and Mary fearlessly guided them to Zion. They survived storms, Native Americans in war paint, renegade men who had deserted armies and stampedes by buffalo and cattle. Friendly Native Americans even gave them food and directions as they unknowingly traveled through dangerous territory. Every bit of the journey was miraculous.
In 1863, the entire family arrived in Lehi, where their uncle, William Wanlass, lived. For their first winter, they built a dugout home on his property at what is now 101 E. Main St. In 1864, Mary married William Lawrence Hutchings of Lehi and had 10 children, including John Hutchings, who founded Lehi’s Hutchings Museum.
The marker will be the eighth of 36 large historical markers to be installed over the next three years through the Lehi Historical Marker Program.
The program was founded in 2022 when the Lehi Historical Society won funding through a generous donation and continued support from the John David and Danaca Hadfield family of HADCO Construction and a large Lehi City PARC grant.
For more information, contact the historical society at 801-768-1570 or [email protected].
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
101 E Main St, Lehi, UT 84043-2237, United States
