After the Bryants moved to eastern Australia, Mary Ann married John Porter in 1844. Not much is known of John Porter. He was an English butcher and an abusive alcoholic.
Mary Ann and John Porter had four children: William (1845), Elizabeth (1847), John (1849), and Samuel (1851).

Mary Ann joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and separated from or divorced her husband sometime before leaving for America on the Julia Ann along with her children and other members of her family. Also on the boat was Thomas Parkinson. By the time Mary Ann and Thomas reached America they had decided to get married. The records are unclear on whether they were married on the boat or right after disembarking. They married on 12 Jun 1854.

"There is no evidence to suggest that the children suffered by their mother's decision. When she married Thomas Parkinson on the same day that the Julia Ann docked at San Pedro, they received a kind and honest man as their new father." (Parkinson, James Parkinson of Ramsey: His Roots and Branches, 66.)

Thomas and Mary Ann Parkinson and Sarah and Charles Stapley settled in the Mormon colony of San Bernardino where they lived until the settlement was called back to Utah in 1857. The Bryants settled in Beaver, Utah, and the Stapleys settled first in Cedar City and eventually Toquerville, Utah.

Beaver was a two-year-old settlement lying in a fertile valley at 6000 feet above sea level.

"Thomas and Mary Ann began homesteading in the southeast section of Beaver near the abrupt embankment of South Creek that winds its way out of the canyons from the east. Ditches were dug to channel the water for irrigation purposes. Several springs in the area assured the family of sufficient fresh, sparkling water to drink. The rocky land above falls away here to spongy meadows which produced good grazing pastures. With much hard but cheerful work from the growing family, the land was cleared, fences built, and crops planted. Soon, a frame house was built in which the family congregated for more than a century." (Parkinson, 62.)

When they arrived in Beaver, the Parkinsons had six children, the four Porter children, and their two daughters. By 1868, they had 11 children.