Mary Elizabeth Hughes
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"My grandma was born December 14, 1854 in Wales [Lllandudno, Wales]. She married grandpa on September 18, 1878. She died March 19, 1923."
Parley R. Neeley writes: "Like they did many times, the first male child took the name of the mother, which as Hughes, but [grandma's] father was an Owens -- Hugh Owens. [So Peter, grandma's father, became Peter Hughes, but for purposes of genealogy, he is Peter Owens.] She didn't know this and it wasn't until one of her great, great, great grandchildren found the line about 6 or 8 years ago [(ca: 1975) that anyone knew.]
"I don't remember much about grandma because we associated mostly with grandpa -- hunting, fishing, and doing things of that nature. Grandma was a very good cook and we had lots of enjoyable meals with them. When they moved from Kamas they settled in a farm in Marion by the old cemetery. I remember one thing about that farm: it had a barn that was made of logs and it had eight sides to it. I slept many times in the loft there. Grandma was sick much of the time and we know now that she died of consumption. When they moved to Salt Lake City we'd go to see her and she'd be sitting back by the stove and she'd say "Now children let's just talk, don't come close, just talk" because she was afraid of giving it to us."
"I know that they, grandma and grandpa, lost two children to diphtheria who are buried in the Francis cemetery -- Lou and Laurett. We go every year and take care of the graves like Dad did while he was alive and like grandma and grandpa did while they were alive.
"Grandma came by handcart* across the plains (she would have been maybe 4 or 5 -- actually 6) and they had a hard time of it, because her parents had
asecond and third daughters whowaswere even younger, and they had to push and pull that handcart over the plains. Now you look at the picture of great grandma Paul in the four generations picture and see how small she was! For about the last 500 miles grandpa Hughes became very ill and they put him in the handcart and they pushed him to Salt Lake City that last 500 miles. He died in Salt Lake City just shortly after they arrived there --just a couple of years(3 days!) later on September 17, 1861."Parley R. Neeley writes: They came over to the United States and got lost in New York and for a period of about one year she made men's ties to keep them alive . . . then the General Authorities found them and started them across the plains.
Also, "Now grandma had 2 sisters and one of them, the youngest (Annie Lloyd), died on the plains (we cannot locate the grave). Her
olderyounger sister (Martha Maria, who married Angus Munn Cannon) is named Cannon and she was one of the first lady doctors in Utah in the early 1880, and one of the first women to go to the Legislature."* My corrections/additions in red above. I do not know what to make of Grandpa's statement 'by handcart' because LDS.org shows the family coming across the plains in the Joseph Horne Company (1861) which was a wagon company and not a handcart company. Then again, Grandpa knew her very well, so maybe he is correct and there were a few handcarts with the wagons?
"I remember grandma Paul (she was called 'Paul' not 'Hughes' because she remarried after grandpa died) and that we'd go see her and have many fine meals with her and also that there was a mulberry bush in the front yard. She told us the story that after they had come into the valley, Brigham Young called them in and told them to raise cocoons, to raise worms to make silk, and they had to have mulberry trees in order to feed the worms the leaves. So they started raising these silk worms and they'd take the leaves off of the trees in order to feed them. I've heard grandma (Mary Elizabeth Hughes) say that she could lay there in her bed at night and hear the silk worms munching on the leaves and eating the leaves."
