MARY JOHN JONES—BIOGRAPHY
By Mary Diantha Jones Jolley
Mary John Jones was
born 27 April 1832 in Dowlais, Glamorganshire, South Wales. Her mother died when she was three years
old, and she was raised by a stepmother (Ann Jones) who was good and kind.
She was baptized a
member of the Mormon Church in January 1847, Nantyglo Branch, Monmouthshire. She was among some
of the early converts in that country. Five years later she married a young man
named John G. Jones whom her father had converted. [Mary came from royal
lineage.]
Her father left for America soon
after Mary’s marriage and three years later, with their baby Adelaide,
John and Mary too came to America arriving in New Orleans in
1856. From there they went to St. Louis, then to Illinois. In 1859
they came to Utah with the Edward Stevenson Company, having then had
another child. Upon arriving she learned that her father had died the year
previous. The shock caused severe illness, but as soon as she recovered they
journeyed on to Provo. They settled in the Fourth Ward where they are
still identified.
Mary learned to wash
wool, cord it, spin and weave it into material, dyeing the cloth with dye made
from sagebrush, oak, and quaking aspen, using coperus and
onion skin to make unfadeable dyes. She
made lye by pouring boiling water over wood ashes, stored in barrels, and let
stand until the water was clear. Soap was made from fat and grease. She
gathered roots and leaves of certain plants and cooked for greens. Herbs were
used for eating and medicinal purposes. Mary dried wild berries for winter use,
enjoying the fresh ripe ones in season. These were the things all pioneer women
learned to do and many early recipes were both palatable and delicious.
She made all the clothes for her children and
husband, sewing by hand as there were no machines then. She was the mother of
twelve children.
She spent many hours helping the sick and
during one bad epidemic of diphtheria she worked ceaselessly without
contracting the dreaded disease, and none of her children had it. She was a
prayerful woman and expressed her thanks to her Father in Heaven for his loving
protection at all times.
Mary braved the worries and fears she always
felt about the Indians who constantly begged for the supplies she worked so
hard to accumulate, knowing their unfriendly and dangerous dispositions if she
refused to share with them. She was alone quite often, as her husband worked on
the railroad, as did many of the early settlers.
For the first six years in Utah she
exchanged or traded the things she made for the things she needed and wanted.
Few dollars were ever seen in her home.
She taught Relief Society for 25 years and was
active in many church activities.
She met with a fatal accident which killed
her. She was thrown from a buggy when the horses bolted. Her back was broken.
She died 24 hours later in September 1886. She is buried in the Provo City Cemetery.
