Mary Hurren: Her Father Refused to Amputate Her Frozen Legs — She Walked Again in Three Years

Mary Hurren was 7 years old when she crossed the plains with her parents in the Willie Handcart Company in 1856. She had sailed from England on May 2, traveling with her parents James and Eliza Hurren, two sisters, her grandfather David Reeder, and an Aunt Caroline. Her baby sister Selena was born at Iowa City and lived only two weeks. Her grandfather David Reeder died near Fort Laramie — it was later remembered that he had been giving his own food rations to his grandchildren before he died. Aunt Caroline died near Independence Rock.

Despite these losses, Mary's parents were known in the company for their strength and spirit. Her father James kept morale alive. Captain Willie said that if only one man reached the Valley, it would be James Hurren.

As a small girl, Mary walked virtually the entire distance across the plains. During the worst of the crisis, the company's last flour was given out two days before the rescue wagons arrived. The family boiled pieces of rawhide from the handcarts, scraped the hair off, and ate them. Mary's feet and legs became severely frozen.

She later gave this account: 'I counted 14 bodies in one grave. The grave was dug shallow, as no one had strength to dig it very deep, and the soil was frozen and hard. They were buried in the clothes in which they died. Two more members of our company died while these fourteen were being buried.'

On the rescue: 'As a small girl I could hear the squeaking of the wagons as they came through the snow before I was able to see them. Tears streamed down the cheeks of the men and the children danced for joy. As soon as the people could control their feelings they all knelt down in the snow and gave thanks to God for his kindness and goodness unto them.'

When the family finally arrived in Salt Lake City, doctors examined Mary's frozen legs. One doctor said plainly: 'She'll never get over this. There's nothing we can do here.' The next morning the doctors recommended amputating one leg above the knee and the other below the knee.

Mary's father refused. He said: 'His little girl had not walked for a thousand miles across the plains to have her legs cut off.' Her mother told the doctor: 'If she dies, she dies with her feet on.'

An elderly woman in Brigham City advised applying fresh beefsteak to the legs. Mary's father walked 20 miles round-trip to Ogden to obtain fresh beef. When the beef was removed after three days and homemade ointment applied, the dead flesh fell away. Within a few days new flesh began to grow. It took three years before Mary could walk again — but she walked.

Mary went on to marry and have 13 children. She took in a dying orphan girl with tuberculosis and nursed her for four years. President Heber J. Grant attended her 88th birthday party. She remarked that she had shaken hands with every modern prophet to that day except Joseph Smith. Even in her old age, at 70 years old, she was found carrying a sick stranger's child into her home.