Mary Ann Burnham
Born 12 Oct. 1845 in Nauvoo, Hancock Co., Illinois.[1] Daughter of James Lewis Burnham and Mary Ann Huntley.[2] Migrated to the Salt Lake Valley, beginning June 1852, probably traveling with the Harmon Cutler pioneer company, arriving 8 Oct. 1852.[3] Settled in Bountiful, Davis Co., Utah Territory, 1852–1861.[4] Taught school in Richmond, Cache Co., Utah Territory, 1861.[5] Married James P. Freeze, 7 Mar. 1863, in Richmond; nine children.[6] Living in the Salt Lake City Eleventh Ward, by 1864.[7] President of the Eleventh Ward Retrenchment Association, 1871–1878; also president of the renamed Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association (YLMIA) for the Eleventh Ward, 1878–1886.[8] President of the Salt Lake Stake YLMIA, 1878–1898.[9] Attended an executive session of the Woman’s Suffrage Association of Utah with EBW; election of officers included EBW, Oct. 1891.[10] Chair of the suffrage meeting held in the Eleventh Ward and attended by EBW, 15 Jan. 1892.[11] Requested by EBW to go to the stake in San Juan Co., Utah Territory, as a missionary, 14 Oct. 1891; departed 11 Apr. 1892; reported to EBW on her mission to the San Juan Stake, 6 June 1892.[12] Worked in the Salt Lake and Logan temples and at the Bureau of Information on Temple Square.[13] Member of the general board of the YLMIA, 1898–1912.[14] Died 21 Jan. 1912 in Salt Lake City.[15] Recognized for contributing articles to the Utah Women’s Press Club, 1928.[16]
[1] “Endowments of the Living, 1861–1864,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Endowment House, vol. D, p. 21, line 9, Mary Ann Burnham, 10 Aug. 1861, microfilm 1149525, DGS 7226466, FHL. 1850 U.S. Census, Pottawattamie Co., IA, Mary Burnham. “Family Tree,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org, accessed 4 Oct. 2021), Mary Ann Burnham (KWJ8-W4P).
[2] “Endowments of the Living, 1861–1864,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Endowment House, vol. D, p. 21, line 9, Mary Ann Burnham, 10 Aug. 1861, microfilm 1149525, DGS 7226466, FHL. Vermont Secretary of State, General Index to Vital Records of Vermont, Early to 1870, Burnham, R.–Burroughs, M., Lewis Burnham and Mary Ann Huntley, 1 Dec. 1834, microfilm 27495, DGS 4542971, image 1665/3920, FHL.
[3] Augusta Joyce Crocheron, Representative Women of Deseret (Salt Lake City: J. C. Graham, 1884), 52–53. “Mary Ann Burnham,” Pioneer Database (https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/overlandtravel/, accessed 4 Oct. 2021).
[4] Augusta Joyce Crocheron, Representative Women of Deseret (Salt Lake City: J. C. Graham, 1884), 52–53.
[5] Augusta Joyce Crocheron, Representative Women of Deseret (Salt Lake City: J. C. Graham, 1884), 53.
[6] Record of Members Collection, Richmond Ward, 1859–1891, James P. Freeze and Mary Ann Burnham, 7 Mar. 1863, Richmond Ward, Part 1, 1907–1912, CR 375 8, image 46/466 (restricted access), CHL. Augusta Joyce Crocheron, Representative Women of Deseret (Salt Lake City: J. C. Graham, 1884), 52. 1900 U.S. Census, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake Co., UT, ED 48, p. 6, Mary A. Freeze.
[7] Augusta Joyce Crocheron, Representative Women of Deseret (Salt Lake City: J. C. Graham, 1884), 53. Susa Young Gates, History of the Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from November 1869 to June 1910 (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1911), 74.
[8] Eleventh Ward, University West Stake, Manuscript History and Historical Reports, YLMIA, CR 2569 2, CHL. Augusta Joyce Crocheron, Representative Women of Deseret (Salt Lake City: J. C. Graham, 1884), 53, 55. Mary E. Connelly, “Mary A. Freeze,” Young Woman’s Journal, Mar. 1912, 125. Susa Young Gates, History of the Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from November 1869 to June 1910 (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1911), 74.
[9] Salt Lake Stake, Manuscript History and Historical Reports, 21 Sept. 1878, LR 604 2, box 1 (restricted access), CHL.
[10] “Local and Other Briefs,” Salt Lake Herald, 6 Oct. 1891, 8.
[11] EBW, Diary, 15 Jan. 1892.
[12] “It Was Awful in Its Majesty: Mary Ann Burnham Freeze’s 1892 Mission to San Juan,” Journal of Mormon History 39, no. 4 (Fall 2013): 124–126, 140. EBW, Diary, 6 June 1892.
[13] Mary E. Connelly, “Mary A. Freeze,” Young Woman’s Journal, Mar. 1912, 126.
[14] Susa Young Gates, History of the Young Ladies’ Mutual Improvement Association of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from November 1869 to June 1910 (Salt Lake City: Deseret News, 1911), 433.
[15] “Utah Death Certificate Index, 1904–1961,” database and images, Utah State Archives (http://archives.utah.gov, accessed 1 Oct. 2018); from Utah Department of Health, Office of Vital Records and Statistics, series 81448, file no. 92/620. “In Memoriam, Mary A. Burnham Freeze,” Woman’s Exponent, Feb. 1912, 45.
[16] Mary F. Kelly Pye, Utah Women’s Press Club Papers, Utah Women’s Press Club, MS 3339, CHL.