{History of Mapleton} Harriet Susannah Perry Whiting (1855-1935)

This is from The History of Mapleton, by Ralph K. Harmer and Wendell B. Johnson, on page 179-180.

Harriet Susannah Perry was born in Springville, Utah on November 29, 1855. She was the daughter of Stephen C. Perry and Margaret Eleanor Stewart. During her youth she worked for Kate Dougal and was paid ten cents a week for helping care for her children. She attended school while living with the Dougals for three years. At fifteen Harriet went to work for her sister, Tryphena Whitney, in Tintic. Mrs. Whitney operated a boarding house and taught Harriet how to do the various household chores, as well as how to sew, darn, knit and tat lace.

Harriet married Albert Milton Whiting who lived across the street from her Springville home on December 22, 1873. They spent a short time in Springville, moved to Arizona to help settle a town there, and then in 1877 they moved to Mapleton, Utah. It was here that Harriet bore and raised the majority of her sixteen children and became an established member of the town.

Her work days were long, since there were sixteen young people to rear. Still, she seldom complained and even after the death of her husband when she still had eleven children at home she served as a model mother. Thirteen of her children attended Brigham Young University. All of them became respected members of the communities in which they lived. Many of them and their families have held important positions in their church and in local and state government. When her youngest daughter, Lorna, graduated from the BYU Harriet was selected as the Mother of the Class and was congratulated by LDS Church president Heber J. Grant.

Harriet’s life was a busy one from her youth to her old age. She died November 17, 1935 a respected member of the hard working Mapleton community. In her pocket was two yards of tatted lace and her lace shuttle.