Mary A. Jones

Mary A. Jones is one of seven children born to Marvin Jones from Kentucky and Rachel from Arkansas. As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the family joined the Seth M. Blair / Edward Stevenson Company of 1855 to journey to the Great Salt Lake Valley.

Exhaustive travel conditions, disease, injury, lack of food and medicine, prematurity, and extreme weather were some of the greatest threats to pioneers. Twenty miles after beginning their journey, the company was exposed to cholera (a bacterial disease caused from contaminated water). On June 19, 1855, Mary’s father, Marvin, was the first of the family to fall victim of the disease. Four days later, 12-year-old Mary passed away from the same disease. She is buried near Atchison, Kansas. Mary's brother, James, and sister, Sarah, died the day before, and sister, Margaret, died three days after her. Within a week, the Jones family lost a father and four children.