Mary Jones 1812

MARY JONES 1812

Mary Jones Walters was born 1 May 1812 at Lampeter, Cardiganshire, South Wales. Her father, John Jones and mother, Leucretia Jenkins. She had two brothers named: David and Evan. David died and was buried in Cardiganshire, South Wales. Evan was born in Lampeter, Cardiganshire, South Wales, and came to the United States, died in Adamsville, Utah, 19 January 1881, and was buried in the Beaver Cemetery.
Mary attended some school and could read and write in both English and Welch. Her father and mother were very religious, they belonged to the Methodist Church and taught the family the same. She was very good at remembering and was able to quote so many scriptures. She spent her childhood in Cardiganshire and Glamorganshire, South Wales.
On 5 February 1842 she married John Walters who was a loving and wonderful husband and father. At this time there were many different religions preaching different doctrines. The Mormon Elders came to where she lived. So many of the people opposed the Mormon Church and it was very hard to decide what one to join. But with a lot of fasting and prayer she was baptized 4 December 1846, by Alfred Clark and confirmed by Dan Jones at the same time. She was the mother of two children at the time of her baptism, one had died just two days after birth. To this union was born six children, four girls and two boys:

Born                                 Died
Lucretia- 23 December 1842                25 December 1842
Walter- 15 June 1844                          29 April 1848
Mary Ann- 7 May 1848                        9 August 1854
Leucretia Jane -11 September 1852      17 February 1926
Catherine Ann- 23 December 1855       28 May 1863
John- 30 March 1857                          17 August 1857
 
Only one of her children lived to maturity. After her youngest daughter died, she adopted a little girl by the name of Margaret Williams. She lived in Dowlais, Glamorganshire, until July of 1868 when they wanted to come to America. They had wanted to come to America for such a long time but they didn't have the money for passage for all of the family. Her husband sent her and the two girls and he stayed in Wales and worked and saved enough money for him to come a year later. Mary and her two daughters sailed on the steamship Minnesota on Tuesday 30 June 1868 from Liverpool, England. There were five missionaries on ship. The people were divided into four general divisions, then they were subdivided into 11 wards with native Elders to preside over them. The native elders were: Elders William Grant, George Hunter, and Joseph Grange. It was a pleasant voyage, the crew said they never had such a favorable and delightful passage over the ocean before. No deaths occurred on board. All enjoyed good health with the exception of a couple of days of sea sickness. Captain of the ship was James Price and his conduct towards the Saints was gentle, manly, and kind. The people enjoyed singing and dancing. Meetings were held twice each Sunday (once in the open air). On July 4th, a concert was given as requested by the cabin passengers which was enjoyed by both Saints and others. They arrived safely in New York 12 July 1868.
The immigrants continued their journey by railroad to Laramie, Wyoming (the terminus of the Union Pacific railroad) July 22nd. The following is on films in the archives:
Mary Walters and two daughters, 20 August 1868, arrived in Salt Lake City in Captain Chester Loveland's mule train and Church Chronology 1868 Thursday August 20 Captain Loveland of 40 wagons and about 400 passengers which left Laramie City July 25 and arrived in Salt Lake. Two deaths occurred on the journey.
She and the girls lived in Lehi, Utah for a year until her husband joined them. On his arrival they made plans to go to the Endowment House to have their endowments and be sealed to each other. This was done 8 November 1869. They were so happy because they had waited so long for this blessing.
This same year they moved to Adamsville, Beaver County, Utah. When they arrived there they soon built a log house and planted a garden. A few years after her husband became ill. From this time on he suffered with asthma and was unable to work most of the time. Her faith was also tried because she became blind, but being the kind of person she was, this didn't prevent her from doing so many things that would seem impossible. She would keep house and she was a beautiful knitter. She made stockings and would sell them for 75¢ a pair and send the money to the St. George Temple to help with temple work.
In her later years she came to live with her daughter Cressia Jones and died at Frisco, Utah, 1900, and was buried in Beaver City Cemetery. She was a very religious woman, attending church and doing all she could to help in her ward. Although she was handicapped she was blessed with a cheerful disposition, to know her was to love her. She was always willing to sacrifice her own pleasure to make others happy.