James, Mary (Aug 20, 1843 – Nov 15, 1913)

LIFE SKETCH OF MARY JAMES.

Mary James – was born 22 Aug 1843 in a beautiful little village called
Willis in Ambleston Parish, S-Wales. She was the daughter of Thomas
James and Sarah Vaughn, Mary [sic] was the only girl in the family of
six children. At the age of ten, She [sic] had the misfortune of
loosing her mother, and the responsibility of taking care of her
brothers became hers. With in a few years her father married again and
three more children were added to the family two boys and a girl.Then
[sic] once more they were left without a mother and Mary assumed the
responsibility of the large fam�ily.  About this time her father
became interested in the Gospel of Latter Day Saints, He [sic] join�ed
the Church and opened his home as head-quarters for the missionaries.
Mary had not become interested in the new religion as yet and although
she was required to prepare meals and do other things for the Elders
she would not stay in the house while they were presant. but [sic] as
time went on the spirit of the Lord was at work in this home and in the
heart of this young girl, and so the time came that she received a
testimony of theGospel [sic] and her own words the testimony came "It
was as though I had received a shock of electricity". At this time the
peo�ple were very bitter toward the Mormons, and it was dangerous to
let anyone know that you were intending to join them, So [sic] it
happened that on a beautiful moon light night, on the 8th. of Feb 1876
Mary accompanied by her father, daughter Annie and Elder Thomas Evans
of Spanish-Fork made their way accross [sic] a beautiful meadow to a
large pond of clear sparkeling [sic] water and by the lig�ht of the
moon Mary was baptized into the Church.

Soon after this they decided to come to America, Mary was afraid to let
anyone know of her new faith and would liked to have continued in her
vocation as seamstress, or sold some of their house hold goods but
nothing would be accepted by their friends and so they were not able to
raise very much money, but in april [sic] 1876 they set-sail for
America and Utah, They [sic] came in a sailing vessel and were three
weeks on the water, landing in New York.  From there Mary and her
Father and two small daughters Emma and Annie went to Salt Lake and
then were sent with other immigrants to Ogden where they lived with a
McKay family for a while, going from there to Port�age in BoxElder
[sic] county, Utah.

In Portage her father met up with Thomas John who had left Wales in
1861 with his wife and family, here Mary met James John the son of
Thomas John in the spring of 1877, and on the 16th. of May 1877 they
were married in the St-George Temple after traveling down there by team
and wagon.  They built a two room log house just north of her
husbands [sic] first wifes [sic] home and south of his fathers [sic]
home, Her Father [sic] became sick and passed away on the 6th. of Nov
1877, that brought sadness in the home for her and two daughters, She
[sic] lived on here for about fifteen years and became the mother of
five children, and as her husbands [sic] first wife Hannah Abbott died
on the 30th .of [sic] July 1886 and left her children, she had to help
take care of them and later on when the older girls were married off
she took the younger children and cared for them as she did her own.
About 1900 she and her husband and children moved about two miles north
west near the mouth of middle canyon where they had bought about five
hundred acres of government land, They [sic] finally built them quite a
nice home, and did well reising [sic] lots of grain, horses and
cattle.  Mary was a good Latter-day Saint, she was the first to
take her bushel of wheat to Portage to the ReliefSociety [sic] as
donation that they called for, She [sic] walked and carried it all the
way, She [sic] was very kind hearted and many were the things she gave
to those whom she thought were in need and as far her children there
never was a better mother ever lived, she did all her sewing by hand,
made clothes for all the children also knit the stockings and socks for
all the family and many times sit [sic] up most of the night by the
candle doing her work, she died 15 Nov 1913, at home,Buried [sic] in
the Portage Cemetary. [sic]