JEREMIAH JONES AND MARY JANE MORSE
Jeremiah Jones was born January 19, 1854, in Llanasa, Flintshire, North Wales, a son of William
and Sophia Jones. His parents were born in Denbigh, Denbighshire, North Wales and emigrated with their family to Utah
April 30, 1866. He was one
of eleven children. Three brothers, Mark, and twin boys, Joseph and Hyrum,
passed away before the family left Wales.
One sister, Anna Marie, died on the plains and was buried on the banks of the Missouri
River. When they reached Farmington
he made his home with his father, mother, two brothers, William and Thomas
Edward, and four sisters, Margaret, Jane, Elizabeth and Sophia.
Jeremiah was twelve years old when they arrived in Utah.
He helped his father with the driving along the way. He told his children often
of the experiences he had in crossing the rivers and streams. Soon after
arriving in Farmington his father
was called to serve in the Black Hawk War and he, being the oldest son, had the
responsibility of looking after his mother and the other children. One of his
first jobs was to gather oak brush to burn for heating and cooking. This seemed
strange to him as he had worked in the coal mines in Wales
and was used to burning coal. While living in Farmington
two sisters passed away. Since their occupation in Wales
had been coal mining they knew very little about farming and, therefore,
suffered many hardships.
In 1875 Jeremiah moved with his family to Samaria,
Idaho and there they were able to make a
better living. He worked on the farms and also hauled freight from Utah
to Montana.
January 10, 1878
he married Mary Jane Morse, who came with her parents, William and Margaret
Evans Morse from Mountain Ash, South Wales October 4, 1863. They were married in
the Endowment House, Salt Lake City, Utah.
They returned to Samaria to make
their home. To this union were born the following sons and daughters: William
Morse, Jeremiah Morse, Ebenezer Morse, Rulon Morse,
Elizabeth Jane, Margaret, Sophia, Bertha, Rachel, Leah and Mary.
In 1885 they took the opportunity to homestead 160 acres
north of Samaria, now known as
Pleasant View. Their home was a two-room log house which Jeremiah built by himself. They moved into their eight room frame home in 1904
but this, too, was a very humble home. The sagebrush was so high they were
unable to see over it. They worked very hard to clear the land and prepare it
for crops. They went through many hardships here, and they were frightened many
times by the Indians when they would come to the "big ditch" for
water. Food was scarce but wild game, mushrooms, and
water-cress were plentiful and were eaten by the family.
Sometimes Mary Jane was so frightened by the Indians that
she would take her children and hide them in the fields when she saw them
coming to their home. At times they would go into the house and take flour or
bread and help themselves to the vegetables from the garden. Later they became
very good friends to the Indians.
Jeremiah was active in building up the community and
church. He was sustained as superintendent of the Sunday School
of the Pleasant View Ward November
12, 1899. On October 17,
1906, he left to serve as a missionary to Great
Britain and labored in the Newcastle
Conference until October 17, 1908.
Mary Jane and her children, her oldest boy being only 18 years of age, ran the
farm and she purchased a loom and supplemented their income by weaving carpet,
much of which was done at night after the family had retired, and also after
she had already done a very hard day's work. She never complained for she knew
that she and her family would be blessed while they were keeping a missionary
in the field and that the way would be opened for them to do it. When Jeremiah
returned he often said that he found things at home in better shape than when
he left. The family had been greatly blessed. Mary Jane had great faith and was
truly a Latter-day Saint.
November 21,
1899, she was called to work in the Pleasant View Relief Society.
She was treasurer, then first counselor and president for nine years, thus
serving continuously in the Relief Society for 22 years. Her services in the
church and community cannot be overestimated. No night was too dark or stormy
for her to go to another in distress. She was an angle [sic] of mercy in
sickness and death. Her courage in time of need was unsurpassed. She was calm
in the most trying difficulties. There were no undertakers in the community and
she not only laid out the dead but administered and cared for the sick. She was
a mid-wife, nurse and housekeeper in many critical confinement cases. She was
never afraid to enter any home that had a contagious disease and neither she
nor her family ever took a disease from her being exposed when she went into a
home to help out.
Mary Jane was a hardworking woman and her hands were
always busy. She did a great deal of sewing and all kinds of handiwork.
Treasured by her daughters and daughters-in-law are beautiful beaded bags she
made for them. They also have a pair of pillow slips made by her with wide
knitted lace made with very fine thread. She helped make the garden, milked
cows, made butter, soap and also dried fruits and corn. She tended swarms of
bees and shared the honey with neighbors and friends as she did her fruit and
vegetables.
Jeremiah loved sports of all kinds, took pride in his
horses, enjoyed singing and used to step dance on many occasions. When he was
79 years old he won a prize for dancing in Boise,
Idaho while there visiting with his
daughter and family. He continued to farm and became interested in sheep raising. He also drove the U.
S. mail for many months from Pleasant View
to East Portage. It would take him two days to make the
trip with horses and white-top buggy.
The fall of 1935 they both received a call to work in the
temple from the Malad Stake, but Jeremiah took ill
and passed away April 5, 1936.
So this wonderful opportunity was never realized. Mary Jane passed away December 28, 1953, at the age of 93
in Salt Lake City, Utah.
They are both buried in the Pleasant View
Cemetery.
- Rachel Jones Rich, Daughter
