Life History of Ann Penn Malin Parry Sharp

Life History of Ann Penn Malin Parry Sharp

ANN PENN MALIN PARRY SHARP

Ann was the third daughter of Thomas and Mary Malin, born on April 10, 1832 in Barford, England. She had large dark brown eyes that were very beautiful, soft brown hair. Growing in childhood she possessed a kind, genial disposition. Everyone said she was a delight to be around. Her father was a gardener and Ann liked to watch him plant the garden and then watch it grow. She watched the flowers bud and blossom and throughout her life she was always a student of nature.

As the family increased in numbers, Thomas Malin’s income was insufficient to supply the needs of his growing family. At the age of ten years, Ann was hired out as a servant girl in the house of a wealthy family, and from then on she earned her own living. Her least favorite job was preparing fresh eel for dinner for the household. The eel was delivered live in the trap to the kitchen and it was Ann’s job to thrust a large spike through the back of the eel and secure it to the counter while she skinned it, cut it into one-inch pieces, wash it and throw it in the pot. All this time, the eel was still fighting and would wrap its body around Ann’s arms nearly scaring her into hysterics.

When Ann grew older, she obtained employment in a glove factory, sewing leather gloves entirely by hand. Later she worked in the shirt and suit department where she made men’s white linen shirts with stiff fronts, stiff collars and stiff cuffs and worked her way up to making men’s suits.

While employed at the clothing factory, she met the Latter-Day Saint missionaries and became converted to the Church. She was baptized in November 1850. This made her parents very angry, as they were staunch Quakers. But Ann remained strong to her beliefs even when she was kicked out of her parents’ home. She was 18 at the time. She found accommodations in a boarding house and began saving her money to go to Zion. By May 1856 some of the missionaries were returning home and Ann seized the opportunity to travel with them. She went to her parents’ home to get some of her personal belongings and tell them goodbye but they refused to let her in. She eventually had to get a policeman to come with her so she could get her things. Ann was now 24 years old.

She went to the docks and hired on as a cook for the captain and crew, purchased her ticket, and set sail for American on the sailing vessel Horizon. After a rough six weeks at sea, she arrived in Boston Harbor on July 18, 1856. From Boston she traveled by railroad to Iowa City where she met up with the last two groups of pioneers that would be traveling to Salt Lake that year – the Willey-Martin handcart companies.

Ann signed on as a cook with the John Hunt wagon company. Part of her job was to travel at the back of the company to see that none were left behind to suffer and care for any who were unable to care for themselves. There are many accounts recorded of the hardships that the Willy and Martin companies endured on their trek west and Ann Malin was part of it. She would bind the children’s frozen feet in rags to try and stop the bleeding, she would comfort the little ones who became orphaned along the trip, and prepare those for burial that died along the route. When they had traveled about five hundred miles, deep snow was encountered. Many times a road had to be broken before the wagons could get through. Provisions ran out. Sickness was throughout the camp. Their clothing froze around their legs. Every morning before starting, the Captain went through the camp to inquire how many had died during the night; sometimes one, sometimes eight or ten. One morning eighteen had passed away during the night. All eighteen were buried in three graves along the road because the ground was too frozen to dig any more. Food became so scarce that if a horse or cow fell down to die from exhaustion, it was immediately killed and dressed for food. The raw hide was cut into strips and used to bind the wheels of the wagon to keep them from falling off. After a time, all the food was exhausted so the pioneers cut the raw hide from the wheels and boiled it to make soup to sustain life. A small girl of about seven years old had both feet frozen so badly during the journey that they fell off. When the companies reached Laramie, Wyoming, it was advisable that this girl, along with other sick, lame and smaller children be rushed ahead with the rescue team that came from Salt Lake, and Ann Malin went with to care for them. They arrived in Salt Lake on December 2, 1856.

It wasn’t long after arriving in Salt Lake that Ann met Joseph Perry of Ogden and became his second wife. They were married by Brigham Young and had one daughter, Ann Henrietta. Ann didn’t take too well to plural marriage. There was a lot of contention between the first Mrs. Perry and Ann. The first Mrs. Perry had three sons and when Ann had a daughter that captured her father’s heart, it caused a lot of feelings between the two wives. When the Perry family moved south, Ann chose to stay in Salt Lake with her daughter. She applied to Brigham Young for a divorce and it was granted, thus she was both married and divorced by Brigham Young.

She later married Charles Sharp on June 27, 1859 and had six more children. Mr. Sharp was a shoe maker and made boots and shoes for most of the families in Utah. He also worked on the cobble rock wall enclosing the tithing office block just east of Temple Square. In the spring of 1861 they moved to Union where again he helped to build a rock wall. This time it enclosed a ten acre plot of ground which was donated for that purpose by John Cox and was named Union Fort. Mr. & Mrs. Sharp were appointed by the U. S. Government to be Post Master, a position they held for many years. During this time three children were born to them, the first a baby boy, Charles Malin Sharp, was still born. The second child was Mary Easte in 1861 and Elizabeth in 1863.

In the spring of 1865, the family moved about two miles west to the State Road where they built a dugout to live in. It had a good lumber roof since Mr. Sharp had worked in the canyon and got some timbers. They had the three small girls, including Annie. The next spring the dugout and everything they owned were destroyed by fire. Charles Sharp set to work to make adobe bricks for a new three-room house. By fall the house was started and the walls up. They moved in as soon as the walls were three feet high. The Indians were bad in those days and there were only two families between them and the Point of the Mountain. They stretched carpets over the top for a roof when it rained and buckets and pans were used to keep the water off the beds. Before the winter was over, they obtained shingles and by spring the new roof was on. They established a travelers inn, providing horse feed, stables, a cellar, grain storage and added two more rooms where travelers could stay for the night. When the railroad was being laid, Brigham Young and railroad officials and crew usually had their dinners at the Sharp’s home. The day the track was laid south as far as was planned and the engine and caboose were going for the first trip to the end of the line, Ann Sharp and her five children were invited by Brigham Young to ride out with them in the caboose after dinner to the end of the track. She accepted the invitation gladly and went along. When they arrived at the appointed place, they got out, stood on the ground looking around and someone said, “What are you going to call this place, Brigham?” Brigham began to scratch the ground with his walking cane and finding much sand on the ground said, “We will call it Sandy.”

During the drought and grass hopper plagues, Ann made men’s suits and shirts, ladies dresses and caps, and many quilts to sell. She would also go to other homes to sew by the day, taking in exchange for a day’s work a quart of flour or corn meal. The family needed milk so she traded her husband’s shirt, trousers, and watch for a fresh milk cow.

She never attended school in her youth and never learned to write, but she helped all she could to get educations for her children. Her handiwork, her house and family were education and credit to her.

In the spring of 1897 the old seven room home was torn down and replaced by a three room red brick house. Most of the family was married and Ann’s health was failing fast. A smaller home was more comfortable and easier for her to keep up. The adobe, flooring, and doors from the old home were used, and when the new home was finished, with the green lawn and huge trees in front, it was recognized as the prettiest house in the valley south of the city.

Ann Malin Sharp was the mother or seven children. The six born alive all survived her. She lived to the age of 81 years, two months and six days leaving six children, 54 grandchildren and numerous great grandchildren. She was the only member of her father’s family who ever left England and the only one who ever joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. She died June 16, 1913.

History written by her youngest daughter, Mrs. Ada Rosella Sharp Pate