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James Pettyjohn Hirons

Question: Did James P. Hirons’ wife, Mary Ann, join the Mormon Battalion with him in 1846?

Answer: James Pettyjohn Hirons was born 15 July 1819 in Highland, Highland, Ohio, son of John Hirons and Debra Pettyjohn. He married Jemima Ann Hackett 2 April 1840 in Jefferson County, Illinois and had two children, but later divorced.

James married Mary Ann Jameson in 1846. Mary Ann was the oldest daughter of Charles Jameson and Mary Ann Hetrick. Charles Jameson and his wife were baptized members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Later-day Saints in 1834 and Charles was at Haun’s Mill, where he received four shots, which he carried throughout his life. Charles became a member of the Mormon Battalion in Company E, and he made it all the way to California. His wife died in Nebraska, and Charles remarried and made it to the Salt Lake Valley in 1853. He settled in Provo, Utah and then in Minersville, Beaver County, Utah.

James became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in July 1846 and was ordained an Elder. He enlisted in the Mormon Battalion as a private in Company D, at Council Bluffs, Iowa Territory on 16 July 1846. His wife, Mary Ann, volunteered to be a laundress in Company D. James marched with the Battalion from Council Bluffs to Santa Fe, New Mexico. During the march, his left hip and knee were injured. He and his wife were sent with the Sick Detachment to Fort Pueblo, Colorado, where they spent the winter of 1846/47. In the spring, the Sick Detachment headed to the Salt Lake Valley, arriving there in July 1847, a few days after Brigham Young’s Vanguard Company.

James and Mary Ann never had any children and separated soon after their arrival in the Salt Lake Valley. James married Sarah Ann Ivie, a widow, on 25 February 1850 in Provo, Utah, Utah. Sarah had two children with her first husband, who had been killed in Provo when a cannon he was working with exploded.

James and Sarah Ann had two children together: Sarah Melissa, who was born in Provo (1851) and James Franklin Hirons (1855), who was born on their way to San Bernardino, California to be with the Saints there. Sarah divorced James due to his drinking habit and moved back to Utah.

By 1860 James had moved back to Jefferson, Illinois, where his father and some of his siblings were living at the time. His father passed away in 1863 at the age of 67.

Boone County, Arkansa

By 1870, James had moved to Arkansas and applied for a Homestead, where he is listed as a farmer. Here James married Sarena Thomason on 13 February 1890 in Boone County, Arkansas. James died on 13 February 1892 in Boone County. There is no record of his burial.

Source: Excerpts from “James P. Hirons, (1819-1892),’ FamilySearch.org; Sources listed under James P. Hirons, FamilySearch.org



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