MARY ANN PILLING
Mary Ann Pilling was born 31 March, 183ó, in Wadington, Yorkshire, England. She was a daughter of John Pilling and Peggy Banks. She emigrated from England to America. She married George Washington Adams the 1st of April, 1856 in Salt Lake City, Utah. She died the 3rd of August, 1910 at Layton, Davis County, Utah.
The following is a story Mary Ann related to Hazen F. Adams, her grandson:
She left from Liverpool, England, in the 1830's with a group of Saints. There were three small sailing vessels in the group. It took them six weeks to make the journey across the Atlantic Ocean. They landed in New Orleans and small tugboats came and pulled the vessels up the Mississippi River to St. Louis.
While they were between Cuba and Florida, a big storm arose and they had to bring down the sails. They ran into a sand bar. The captain was shouting at the men to help and to pull the ship out of the sand bar. He ordered every man who could lift a hundred pounds to come up top and help pull. When he had just about given up, the Elders asked if they could take over. They held a meeting and prayed, meeting on deck in the elements. By the time they had finished, the storm calmed down and the boat was moved off the sand. The captain was so overcome by what he had seen that he said he wanted to be baptized when they reached St. Louis. He said he had never seen anything like it in his life.