Mary Ann Bliss was born November 19, 1846 in Winter Quarters. Her mother, Elizabeth Ann Bird, divorced her father shortly after she was born and went back to Missouri. Her father, Norman Bliss, was asked by President Young to help outfit the people and get them on their way. He came to Winter Quarters with 2 wagons, but gave one to a family who was really in need. Because of this, Pres. Young told him to take one of his teams into the valley. So in the fall of 1847 they came to Salt Lake. She would ride in the front of the wagon and watch where they were going. At night her father made a trade with some of the women in the group, if they would watch and take care of MaryAnn in the evening, he would gather wood or whatever needed to be done for them. They arrived in the SL valley in October 1947. In the October General Conference in 1861 many names were read as those called to settle in the area known as Dixie – and they went to Toquerville also.

At one of the town dances she met Thomas Stapley was playing the violin for all of the dances. They were married in 1862 then sealed in the Endowment House in SLC in 1866. In 1882 they left Toquerville for Mexico – where a lot of the Saints were gathering. The Stapleys arrived in Mesa at noon on April 28, 1882 and camped in the brush on the northwest corner of Country Club and Main St. The family had for their transportation 2 wagons, 5 horses, 1 cow and tent, their bedding and furniture. They were immediately notified that the Indians were so bad east and south of Mesa that it would be impossible for them to go farther, so they decided to locate in Mesa. William Hill, whom Thomas’s parents had known before, owned 40 acres just south of Mesa on the Chandler road (Country Club) and he also owned 80 acres of land1/2 mile south of where Alma School was. He told Thomas he would give him his right to that 80 acres if he would clear the brush off of the 40 acres, which was accepted. They started farming the land and built them an adobe house with a sod roof. They had a small orchard and 5 acres of grapes. They located a place to dig a well, and after digging 25 feet, they struck a splendid stream of water. After moving to Mesa, 2 more children were born – one was my grandmother.

According to my grandmother Christy Annie Stapley Magnusson, she said that she took up being a midwife and doctoring for there were no licensed doctors in Toquerville - where she would even act as an undertaker laying out the dead and preparing people for burial, sometimes lining the caskets. Grandma said that she took up being a midwife and doctor in Mesa also because none were available either. She also taught a class in Sunday School, sang in the choir. Thomas taught her to read print but she never learned to write, which was too bad for if she could, she would have kept a diary of all of her doctoring and caring for the sick and an account of all of the babies she helped come into the world.