Hughes, Jane (Mason) - Biography

JANE MASON HUGHES

Jane Mason Hughes was the daughter of Elizabeth and Thomas Mason. She was born in Dukestown, Monmouthshire, England, January 22, 1859.

Her parents were converted to the Mormon faith in April 1848, and they soon had a desire to come to Utah. They were poor and had very little money as the father and brother worked in the coal mines, seldom seeing daylight the year around. So it was decided that my grandmother Elizabeth should come to America and bring the two little girls, Jane and Mary with her as the other daughter, Ann, was married. The father, Thomas Mason, and the son, Dan, would come later when they had earned enough money for their passage.

Grandmother felt very meek and lonely as she bade goodbye to the rest of the family and started for America with the two little girls, seven and four years old on 30 April 1866. They were six weeks crossing the ocean on the vessel, John Bright. On the way a severe electrical storm came up with heavy rain, wind, thunder, and lightning. The ship was tossed about like a cork. The captain said the ship would be dashed to pieces: there wasn't a chance, but the Saints on the ship prayed for protection and during the night the storm ceased. The next morning the captain came out of his cabin and told the Saints that only their prayers had saved them. My mother has told me many times how brave grandmother was as she and her sister clung to her in fright.

When they reached America, they started across the great continent by ox team, walking most of the way. My mother was very sick with mountain fever so it was a worry to Grandmother to have sickness, hardships, little food, and to be among strangers.

Upon arriving in Salt Lake City, Utah September 25, 1866, Grandmother had no place to go and knew no one. She was truly a stranger in a strange land. She sat on her carpet bags, crying and wondering what to do. But a very dear friend who had known them in Wales and who now lived in Woods Cross had read their names on the emigrant list; so he came and took Grandmother and the girls to live with his family and share their one room home. They lived there for two years until my grandfather and my uncle Dan came.

During this time Grandmother went out washing, ironing and scrubbing to help make a living. When Grandfather came things were a little easier. He raised a garden of vegetables and took them to Salt Lake City to sell. Mother said that while Grandfather was selling the vegetables, she and her sister Mary would play on the great granite blocks which were used to build the Temple. Mother has told me how they would walk to Salt Lake City to hear Brigham Young.

They lived in Woods Cross for several years, and then decided it would be wonderful to own a home in Idaho; so they moved to Samaria, Idaho and bought a home where so many of their Welsh friends resided that they had known in Wales.

I have heard my mother tell so many times about how Grandmother would sit and sing in the evening the Welsh songs they loved so well and how thankful they were that they had a home in this land of plenty where they could see the glorious sunshine all day. My mother was eighteen years old when she married my father. She was the mother of twelve children, ten of whom are still living, and one stepdaughter.

The children living are Taliesin, Jr., Thomas, Elizabeth Neeley, Margaret Purser, Jacob, Mary Price, Sarah Cowley, Ada Ipsen, Isabelle Hess, Edward, and a stepdaughter Maria Williams.

She was a pioneer along with Father in settling Pleasant View. Mother was a very thrifty person, helping Father build a home and provide for the large family. She did the knitting for the children and all the sewing, washing, and ironing. She was a beautiful seamstress and sewed for many people. She was the second postmistress in Pleasant View. Then, as her daughters grew older, she bought a carpet loom and wove carpet for people over the valley so she might give her six daughters work at home. For many years Mother and Father had bees and produced several hundred pounds of honey and bees wax each year.

She was active in religious affairs of the ward. Then the children's Primary was organized and she was called to be the first president of the association in the Pleasant View ward. She was also secretary of the Relief Society and attended church whenever possible, taking her family with her.

In her later years when the family had grown up, Mother sewed for her grandchildren and did beautiful crocheting and tatting, at which she was very skillful. Her hands were never idle. Her education was meager, but she read a great deal. She was a beautiful writer and never mispelled a word.

Her life was one of service to her Father in Heaven, to her husband, to her children, and to her many associates.

- Ada H. Ipsen, daughter