By Mrs. Ada Ipsen 

Jane Mason Hughes was the daughter of Elizabeth and Thomas Mason.   She was born in Dukes Town, Monmouthshire, South Wales, Jan 22, 1859. 

When she was but a girl of seven, her parents were converted to the Mormon church and they had a desire to come to Utah.  Her parents were poor and had very little money as the father and brother worked in the coal mines the year around, seldom seeing the daylight.  So it was decided that the mother, my grandmother, should come to America and bring the two little girls with her as the other daughter was married, and the father and son, Dan, could come later when they had earned enough money for their passage.  The sister was named Mary.  She became the wife of Joseph Thorpe Sr.  

So Grandmother felt very meek and lonely as she bade goodbye to the rest of the family and started for America with two little girls, seven and five years old.  They were six weeks crossing the ocean in a vessel named, John Bright. On the way a terrible storm came up, the wind blew, it lightning and thundered and rained and the ship was tossed about like a cork.  The captain said the ship would be dashed to pieces, there wasn’t a chance, but the Saints on the ship prayed for protection and during the night the storm ceased.  The next morning the Captain came out of his cabin and told the Saints that only their prayers had saved them.  My Mother has told me many times how brave Grandmother was as she and her sister clung to her in fright. 

When they reached America they started across the great continent by ox team, walking most of the way.  My Mother was very sick with Mountain Fever so it was a worry for Grandmother to have sickness, hardships, little food and to be among strangers. 

Grandfather had paid a man in the company a sum of money to take care of grandmother and the girls, but on the way he deserted them and left them to come alone.  When they reached Salt Lake City, six months had passed away since they had left their native land. 

Grandmother had no place to go and knew no one.  She was truly a stranger in a strange land.  She sat on her carpet bags, crying and wondering what to do.  But a very dear friend who had known them in Wales and now lived in Woods Cross had read their names on the emigrant list and he came and took Grandmother and the girls to live with his family and share their one room home.  They lived there for two years until Grandfather and my uncle came. 

During this time Grandmother went out washing, ironing and scrubbing to help make a living.  When Grandfather came, things were a little easier.  He raised garden vegetables and took them to Salt Lake City to sell.  Mother has told me how they would walk to Salt Lake City to hear Brigham Young talk. 

Mother said while Grandfather was selling the vegetables, she and her sister, Mary, would play on the great granite blocks which were being used to build the temple. 

They lived in Woods Cross for several years and then they decided it would be wonderful to own a home in Idaho so they moved to Samaria and bought them a home where so many of their Welsh friends resided that they had known back in Wales. 

I have heard my Mother tell so many times about how Grandmother and Grandfather would sit and sing in the evening the Welsh songs they loved so well and how thankful they were that they had a home in this land of plenty where they could see the glorious sunshine all day.  My Mother was 18 years old when she married my Father.  She was the mother of 12 children,  ten of whom are still living, and one step daughter. 

The children living are Taliesin Hughes Jr.,  Thomas Hughes, Elizabeth Neeley, Margaret Purser, Jacob Hughes, Mary Price, Sarah Cowley, Ada Ipsen, Isabelle Hess, Edward Hughes, a step-daughter, Maria Williams of Idaho Falls.  

She was a pioneer Mother along with Father in settling Pleasantview.  Mother was a very thrifty person, helping Father build a home and provide for the large family.  She did the knitting for the children and all the sewing, washing and ironing.  She was a beautiful seamstress and sewed for many people.  She was the second postmistress in Pleasantview.  Then as her daughters grew older she bought a carpet loom and wove carpet for people from all over the valley so she might give her six daughters work at home.  For years, Mother and Father had bees and produced several 100 lbs of honey and beeswax each year. 

She was active in religious affairs of the ward.  When the children’s primary was organized she was called to be the first president of the association in Pleasantview.  She was also secretary for the Relief Society and attended church whenever possible, taking her family with her. 

In her later years when the family had grown up, Mother sewed for the grandchildren and did beautiful crocheting and tatting which she was very skillful at.  Her hands were never idle.  Her education was meager but she read a great deal. She was a beautiful writer and never misspelled a word. 

Her life was one of service to her Father in Heaven, to her husband, her children and her many associates.