Mary Branagan, the daughter of Anne Forsyth and George Branagan

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Mary Branagan, born in August 1833, was the daughter of Irish parents, Anne Forsyth and George Branagan. At the age of 23, Mary was secretly baptized into the Mormon Church and ran away from her home in Dublin, Ireland to join the Mormon converts on their way to a new life in Utah. Amazingly, Mary travelled alone and she was the first woman to pull a handcart across America, a huge accomplishment!

Converts like Mary were part of a larger wave of Irish Latter‑day Saints who emigrated amidst economic hardship and famine. The church in Ireland began seeing conversions in the 1840s and 1850s

She can be found in the Church History Biographical Database: https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/chd/individual/mary-branagan-1834?lang=por&timelineTabs=all-events&utm

She  lived out her life in Springville, Utah as a teacher. This article was found in the Utah Enquirer on March 28, 1890 that mentions her. https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=1410873&q=%22mary+b+crandal%22&sort=rel 

She married Spicer Wells Crandall on 2 March 1857 in Salt Lake City. 

In this Deseret News transcript of the Emigrants that left Florence, Iowa on 5th June 1856.  Mary is found in the “Handcart Company” that left on June 9, 1856.  Crandall is shown as one of the Counselors. https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/chd/transcript?name=transcript-for-emigrants-for-utah-deseret-news-6-august-1856-176.

Mary also is said to have written this  autobiography, which offers insight into the everyday life, struggles, and faith of pioneer women. See her story in the Young Woman’s Journal.

 

Mary was an active leader in her local community, until her death in 1919. https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/ark:/87278/s6nc7644/10254984

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