Margaret Mae Palmer Jones 

In the year 1877, on April 16, a baby girl was born to Joseph and Maria Gardner Palmer. She was the third child in a family of nine children–three boys and six girls. The oldest to the youngest respectively were:  William H., Martha Elleanor, Margaret Mae, Sarah, Elizabeth, Maria, Joseph, John G. and Ida. These children were reared under the rigors of what may be termed as pioneer life during the early history of the development of Malad Valley. 

The facilities for education at this time were very limited. Margaret with her brother and sisters walked three and one-half miles to school, from the Palmer farm on the “Big Bend” to St. John. Due to weather conditions in the winter they could only attend school in the spring and fall. This condition, of course, left them with a scant elementary education from a book learning point of view. But as defined by one great man who said, “Education is the power to do,” this family was outstanding in many respects. This family, it seems, were never idle. From their industrious father and mother, they learned the doings of life. The older boys, taking after their father, became fine horsemen and frugal farmers. The girls, taking after their mother, became fine seamstresses and housekeepers. 

Margaret’s early life was a strenuous one. Along with helping in the house, she did much work outside. She was a strong, robust girl and helped clear the land for farming and helped with the milking of cows and making hay. In her early girlhood, for one summer, she worked on a dairy farm that specialized in making cheese. Here she learned by doing the very necessary art in those days of making cheese and butter. It is very interesting to hear her relate how they handled around a hundred cows and handled the milk until it was rich golden cheese. 

This is only one of the many things Margaret has the “power to do” which in the mind of this great thinker who was Brigham Young, would make her a highly educated person. 

From this fine background of experience she developed into an outstanding manager in all household affairs. 

Her parents built a home in Malad and she had the privilege of attending school there where it was much more convenient. 

She was married to Hugh W. Jones on April 4, 1899, at her parents’ home in Malad by William H. Richards, the father of our Stake President, Thomas W. Richards. Her sister, Martha and Hugh’s brother, T.D. Jones, were witnesses. 

Margaret’s first activities in working in the Church came through Bishop J. Peter Jensen. She was called in the summer of 1913 to be second counselor to Rachel R. Thomas in the Primary. When Sister Thomas was released on December 27, 1914, Margaret was appointed first counselor to Sister Jennie Evans. She was released November 28, 1915, and a short time later was sustained as a class leader in the Primary. The ward was reorganized on June 16, 1918, and the new Primary president was Verda Michaels with Sarah Ward and Mary Colton as counselors. Very little Primary was held during the fall of 1918 due to an epidemic of influenza that raged through the nation as an aftermath of the first great world war. All schools and public gatherings were abandoned for a time because of the seriousness of this disease. 

In 1925, Margaret was appointed Relief Society block teacher and she remained in this work until June 1935. For her partners in this visiting work she had Sister Sarah Ann Evans, Lilly Caldwell and Maggie Petersen. 

In June 1935, when the ward was divided, she was made second counselor to President Mary D. Crowther with Sister Blodwin Thorpe as first counselor. In 1943, Sister Thorpe was released to take over the presidency of the Primary and Margaret was put in as first counselor and Maude W. Call as second counselor to Mary D. Crowther. 

Margaret served on the committee for making burial clothes while Sister Kholer and Sister Bessie Jones were Presidents of the Relief Society from 1929 to 1935. During the time she has worked in the presidency of the Relief Society, she has been in charge of the sewing which has grown to be a big job since the establishment of the Church Welfare work. 

Margaret did considerable sewing and Red Cross work during World War I. One or two afternoons a week was spent in the cutting room upstairs in the Co-op. The cut material was distributed in the districts. Sister Elizabeth B. Jones was supervisor of Margaret’s district. This district turned in more completed sewing and Red Cross knitting than any other. Margaret knitted twenty-nine pairs of socks, six sweaters, three helmets, two scarves and wristlets. She did some sewing for the Red Cross during World War II. 

While Jesse H. Dredge was Bishop, she received a recommend to go to the temple where she took out her endowments and was sealed to her parents. This was a great privilege and one that she was thankful for. 

Margaret is a member of the Native Daughters of the Idaho Pioneers. 

Margaret is the mother of five children, three girls and two boys, all of whom are living. This sketch was written by her eldest child, Very J. Vaughan in March 1946. Note: Margaret Mae Jones was released from Relief Society April 14, 1946.