Mary Ann Jones

Mary Ann Jones

was born on May 9, 1836, in Shropshire, England. Shropshire was a rural county bordering Wales, characterized by agricultural estates and early industrial ironworks. Converting to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints as a young woman, Mary Ann chose to emigrate from her English home to join the gather in the American West, traveling by ship across the Atlantic and then joining a wagon company to cross the plains.

^{[GED]GED — Genealogy DatabaseGEDCOM Master File: William Erastus Platt}

In Utah, Mary Ann married pioneer leader Edmund Lovell Ellsworth as a plural wife. Together they established households in Salt Lake City, Weber County, and eventually the high country of northern Arizona. Mary Ann managed agricultural and domestic duties while Edmund traveled for railroad construction and church missions.

Pioneering in Show Low

In 1880, the family moved to the remote settlement of Show Low in Navajo County, Arizona Territory. The high country was a challenging environment, with heavy winter snows and short growing seasons. Mary Ann managed their log home, raising vegetables, tending poultry, and processing milk and cheese.

Plural marriage on the remote frontier required cooperation and independence. Mary Ann worked alongside Edmund's other wives to manage their large families, ensuring their children were educated and clothed. Her son, Louis Ellsworth, born in Salt Lake City in 1865, grew up to become a prominent farmer and stockman in the Salt River Valley.

A Long Life of Devotion

Mary Ann lived a long life, witnessing the growth of Arizona from a wild territory into a modern state. She survived her husband, Edmund, by more than thirty years, staying in northern Arizona where many of her children established ranches and farms.

Mary Ann died in Show Low on April 26, 1925, at the age of eighty-eight. She was buried in the Adair Cemetery alongside her husband. Her journey from the green valleys of Shropshire to the pine forests of northern Arizona exemplifies the courage and adaptability of the early pioneer women.