ELIZA NEWMAN JONES
Mother of Joseph Jenkin Jones
Eliza Newman Jones was born in Worcester,
England, March 10, 1840 and
was baptized in England
in 1842. She was the second child of John and Mary Ann Williams Newman. When
she was 15 years old her father died and a short time later her mother and her
two brothers and three sisters started for Utah. They were six weeks on the ocean.
When they arrived at Iowa
City, they joined the Willie Handcart Company. They
had to wait for carts, yokes, tents, and other equipment to be constructed.
When they arrived at Florence
some of the emigrants wanted to wait until spring but they were overruled. So
they started out. Their troubles soon started with mid-summer heat and dust;
soon the rains converted the latter into mud, making travel very difficult.
The carts had been constructed of green timber and in the
summer heat they soon dried out and began falling to pieces. Almost from the
start they were put on rations. They were unable to replenish their supplies as
they had planned to do at Fort
Laramie.
Many of the carts became useless and had to be left behind.
The rest were so heavily loaded that while crossing the steep slopes west of Fort Laramie
the emigrants were forced to throw away much badly needed bedding and clothing.
The heavy snows and extremely cold weather set in earlier
than usual. Heavy snows and winds piled the snow 1 ½ feet deep on the level.
Many of the weaker ones died and were hastily buried. Food supplies were scant
and they were unable to continue their journey further because of sheer
exhaustion. They made camp in hollows and willow thickets to await whatever
fate awaited them. They were allotted four ounces of flour per day but that was
soon gone. Fifteen persons died in one night.
Governor Young heard of their plight through missionaries
who had seen them. He sent out rescue trains to hunt them up. When they arrived
at the camp they found children eating bark off trees, their food having been
used up a few days before.
The horsemen who preceded the wagon train carried a few
crackers which kept the people alive until the wagon train arrived four days
later. They finally arrived at Salt
Lake City. Here they were taken into homes where they
were fed and nursed until they were well.
Her mother and the family stayed in Salt Lake
a short time; then the family were brought to Parowan
by Bishop Wm. E. Jones and Guymon of Parowan.
Eliza soon married Bishop William Edward Jones. They were
married by George A. Smith of the Twelve Apostles. They lived in Parowan for a
while. Her first baby, Ellen Marie was born in Parowan. They soon moved to Paragonah. To them were born 8 children, most of whom died in infancy and early childhood.
She died 9 June 1873, in childbirth, leaving three children,
Ellen Marie, Joseph Jenkin, who was about four, and
Susan Lovina, who was two. Endowments were done on
December 25, 1878.
JOHN NEWMAN AND MARY
ANN WILLIAMS NEWMAN
Grandparents of
Joseph Jenkin Jones
Mary Ann Williams (Newman) was born April 16, 1817, in Hereford, Worcester,
England. She
married John Newman, who was born 30 of October 1812. John Newman was a
blacksmith. They had six children.
They embraced the gospel about 1840 and worked toward coming to
Utah. They
had saved enough money for the seven members of the family to come to Utah and were going to
leave their second child a boy, named Johnny, to earn his own way.
In January 1856 John Newman took sick and died. On his death
bed he made his wife promise to take Johnny to Utah in his place. Mrs. Newman somehow got
enough money to bring her family to Utah.
In 1856 Mrs. Newman and her family left England. They
were six weeks on the water. They came to Utah with the Willie and Martin Handcart
Companies. The hardships they endured were almost unbearable, especially for a
widow with six children, the eldest 18 and the youngest 5.
They arrived in the Salt
Lake Valley
in November 1856. They stayed there a few days and were then brought to Parowan
by Bishop Wm. E. Jones of Paragonah and Guymon of
Parowan.
Mrs. Newman went to the Endowment House or Temple
in Salt Lake City
and had her endowments and was sealed to her husband on 16 October 1859. She
died 27 January 1880.
