Richard T. Jones
& Mary Hughes Evans Jones
(1819-1897) (1825-1897)
Richard
Jones was born 5 March, 1819
in Llangoranog, Cardiganshire, South Wales. His father, William Jones was born 18 March, 1771, and his mother Mary
Thomas was born 1 January, 1783,
at Llanmorganshire, Cardigan, South Wales.
The
residence of the family was at Llanybyther.
His parents kept a Tavern, which was called “Cross Hands”. He was always known as Richard Cross
Hands. Richard became a member of the
Latter-day Saints Church while a very young man. He was baptized in March, 1846. He was not a gifted speaker, but was an
exceptionally good singer and often accompanied the Elders of the Church on
their missionary travels contributing his efforts in song.
He was a
tall stately man with large blue eyes.
At the age of nineteen, his hair was as white and wavy as at the time of
his death. All his life, he was a man
who had very little to say and as he did not enjoy very good health, he did
very little hard labor, but he had the ability to take care of the means he had
acquired. Through his frugality and the
assistance of an ambitious wife, they left the family in good circumstances,
considering the hardships of pioneer life through which they passed.
Mary Hughes
Evans Jones was born 8 November, 1825
in Llanybyther, South Wales. She was the daughter of William Evans and
Elinor Hughes. Three children were born
to this couple but only the two girls, Rachel and Mary lived. When these girls were young, the gospel was
being preached to a great extent in Wales. Through the manifestation which the younger
girl, Mary, received they were converted to the gospel.
Their
family had frequently attended meetings held by the missionaries but was not
convinced of the truth. One evening,
Mary had a remarkable dream. She saw two
young men who appeared to be flying through the air, at least they were above
the ground, and one of them offered her a book, which was the “Book of Mormon”. This dream impressed her very much, but more
so when the next day, two missionaries came to their door and one of them had
in his hand a book identically the same as the book she had seen in her
dream. This man was Captain Dan Jones,
who took such an active part in the early history of the church.
Mary met
and fell in love with Richard T. Jones.
They were married 20 August,
1848.
Mary and
her sister Rachel were baptized August, 1849.
Their mother was very much opposed to this as she was very prejudiced
against Mormonism, as early converts were urged to come to America
and Zion.
Their first
child, Alexander, was born in Wales
and died there. There is no record of
him. Their second child, a daughter
named Ellen, was born 29 August, 1850
in Wales. She was only five weeks old when the family
left Wales for America.
They took
passage on the ship “Joseph Badger”, leaving Liverpool,
England, 17 October, 1850, under the
leadership of John Morris with 227 souls on board. Baby Ellen cried day and night during the
entire trip. Mary often said this was
the most trying time of her entire life.
This was accompanied with seasickness and the thought of leaving her
Mother, alone and brokenhearted over the loss of her two daughters and
families. Mary was entering a new land
and facing new associations. All
combined was almost more than she could stand.
The encouragement she received from her devoted husband and her abiding
faith in God and the new Gospel sustained her.
They arrived at New Orleans,
22 November, 1850 and
traveled up the Mississippi. They left Kanesville,
Iowa in the spring of 1851, beginning the
long tedious and perilous journey across the plains for Utah,
arriving there 27 September, 1851.
They
remained in Salt Lake
a little over three years with no permanent home. Richard worked for Heber C. Kimball most of
the time. He looked upon Heber as a
father, and he later named one of his grandchildren after him. In October, 1853, they moved to Brigham
City, Utah.
While in Salt
Lake City, their third child, a daughter, Mary Jane
was born 19 January, 1853. Other children came to bless their home while
they lived in Brigham City: Rachel Ann, born 30 May, 1855; Richard E. born 10 November, 1857; William T. born 18 March, 1860; Hannah, born 17 June, 1862; and Margaret Hettie,
born 24 October, 1864.
During the
sojourn at Brigham City, the order
came from President Brigham Young to move south as Johnston’s
army was coming and threats had been made to completely annihilate the
Mormons. It was another trying time for
this family which was continually increasing in number to pick up and leave
their few possessions and flee for safety.
At this time, Mary also learned of the death of her mother in Wales,
who died of a broken heart soon after her daughters left for America. To add to her loneliness, her sister Rachel
and family, hearing of the gold rush in California,
moved their family to California,
where they remained a few years. The
father Benjamin Jones died. Only two
months later, his wife gave birth to a baby girl and both she and the baby
died, leaving four young children alone in California. The oldest boy, William, only seventeen years
old, assumed full responsibility of father and mother and putting their few
belongings into a wagon drawn by two span of fine horses, he and his two
brothers, Benjamin and Jedd and his little sister, Mary, began their long and
tedious journey back across the hot desert to Utah. He had promised his dying Mother he would
take the children back to his Aunt Mary.
By the time they reached Utah,
Richard was planning a move further north, yet when this family arrived, they
welcomed them into the family and they became one large and happy family. Mary did not show partiality to any of the
children, but did as much for one child as another.
In June,
1865, this double family entered the valley
of Malad, Idaho,
accompanied by the Thomas Daniels and Daniel Thomas families and a few
others. When they arrived, there were
only five families, all settling on what is known now as Bannock
Street, this being done for the protection from
the Indians. The five families who were
the first settlers were: Henry Peck,
Benjamin Thomas, Bill Williams, Peter Thomas and George Gaulters.
Here in Malad,
Idaho, their last child, David E. was born 8 April, 1866.
As soon as
the Jones family arrived, they immediately erected a two room log house. The house was thatched with wheat grass which
covered quaking asp willows or poles, after which dirt or clay was thrown on
top. As there were no
sawmills at that time there were no boards for floors, so large flagstones were
used. A large fireplace built of
rocks added comfort and warmth to the home.
On this fireplace they used a reflector and cooked their food over the
fire.
The
furnishings of the house were very crude.
The bedsteads were made of logs hewn down to the required size. Ropes were drawn tightly from one side to the
other. On these were placed ticks of
straw or wheat grass. The chairs were
made by splitting logs and boring holes in the rounded side for the insertion
of logs leaving the flat side up. Their
tables and cupboards were on the same order.
Later, a sawmill was run by John Williams and
Richard Jones, and there was a decided change of furniture.
Grandmother
had learned the art of making an oven and when her neighbors learned of this,
they all tried to bake the same day and have the use of her oven. It was constructed of rock and mortar to the
height of 18 or 20 inches in the shape of a mound. This was covered with sand and a coating of
mortar was placed over the sand, then another layer of sand and mortar and so
on for several thicknesses. Then the
door or opening was removed and all the loose sand taken out except a covering
for the floor of the oven about four inches deep. A fire was then built and when there was
plenty of heat inside, the fire was removed, the bread inserted and the door
replaced for one hour and a half. The
result was bread with a beautiful brown crust and a delicious flavor.
Richard was
a weaver by trade. Land was plentiful
when they first settled in Malad and while part of the boys assisted in
farming, the others did considerable freighting. Soon the family was in a position to erect
what at that time was a modern large home.
It was built of red brick. That
was about 1880.
Their home
was always open to friends and strangers, as they lived next to the church
square. Always at stake conferences,
their home would be crowded to its fullest capacity. Beds were made all over the floors. Quite frequently the table, at mealtime would
be reset two or three times. People in those days traveled by team and it was not unusual
to see three or four teams unhooked in their yard staying several days. The Jones family provided food for both the
people and their teams. If Apostles came
from Salt Lake City, they usually made
their home here. Mary was especially
generous to everyone.
On one
occasion an Indian came to the home while the men were at work in the
field. He demanded food. Mary showed him the bread was all gone but
that some was baking and that she would give him milk instead. He slouched down in the doorway, deciding to
wait for the bread. She was greatly
alarmed as she was unable to pass him to go outside. She had sent the two girls out to look for
the cows, and she was afraid they might be molested by other Indians who might
be lurking around. In a few minutes, the
shrill voice of her daughter, Mary Jane was heard. Both she and the Indian rushed out toward the
corral from where the cry came. Mary
Jane was holding her arm and crying pitifully.
The Indian was the first to reach her.
She pointed to the ground where a large spider was lying. It had stung her and she had brushed it to
the ground. The Indian jumped upon it
with his foot and said “Heap poison—papoose maybe die.” Her cousin William H., who had heard her
cries came running and was told by the Indian to find some pointed sticks. The Indian, by this time, had untied a dirty
rag from his neck and tied it firmly around the child’s arm. Taking a small stick, he twisted it very
tightly to stop the circulation of blood.
Then he and William hurried out into the poison segos and soon, with the
use of the pointed sticks, secured some of them. These the Indian pounded into a pulp and
after piling it on a clean rag, placed it over the wound. In a short time, he removed this to show a
dark green color on the poultice. He
repeated this process several times, then the swelling began to go down and
color came back to her arm. He then
untied the rag and said that she would be all right. Her arm healed, but she always had a
scar. The Indian was taken into the
house, given a good supper and plenty of provisions for some time. He was always a welcome visitor to the Jones’
home thereafter and was a good friend.
He was a brother of Chief Pocatello.
Richard and
Mary were good people. They were very
affectionate to each other and Richard always desired their journey through
life would end about the same time. His
wish was granted, for Mary died August
28, 1897 at the age of 72 and he lived but one month longer. He died 30 September, 1897, at the age of 78. They were both buried in Malad
City Cemetery.
(Taken from "A Family History of Bernard A. and Mary L. Jones,
1774-1994", compiled and organized by Teri Jones Cook, Mabel Jones
Gabbott, and Sue Gabbott Dewey. Courtesty of Teri Jones
Cook.)
