This was told by her daughter Martha Lusk Evans and written down by her daughter in law, Gladys Thorpe Evans, wife of her son William Lusk Evans. (about late 1940’s)
Mary Ann Jenkins was born, 14 May 1867, in Pendoylan, Glamorganshire, Wales. Her father, Thomas Jenkins, born 23 August 1831, in Llanbury, Glamorganshire, Wales, came from a well to do family and married into the working class. His parents thought that he had married beneath him. Her mother was (Mary) Ann Evans, born 30 September 1830, in Pendoylan, Wales.
Thomas Jenkins worked in the coal mines after he got married and some weeks he never saw the sun. He would go to work in the dark and come after the sun had gone down.
His wife died when Mary Ann was two years old and Daniel was only four days old. The grandparents wanted to take the children but Thomas refused to split the family up. He hired a housekeeper, Emma Lewis, and she stayed with them for years. Before they left Wales to go to America he married her. At that time Mary Ann was ten years old. Thomas brought all but two of his children to America. They were Thomas and Lewis and Lewis’ wife. They were already to come when Lewis’ wife refused to go and they stayed in Wales for the rest of their lives. His family came over in the ship, U.S.S. Montana.
Thomas was active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and held many cottage meetings in his home in Wales. Sunday was definitely a day of rest to him. On Friday they cleaned the house and Saturday they cooked enough food for two days so they could rest on Sundays.
After they settled in Malad Valley Thomas joined the Reorganized LDS church because he felt it was more like the LDS church he attended in Wales.
The family settled at first in North Ogden and then they moved on several acres in Samaria, Oneida, Idaho, where many of the people that were living there were from Wales also. He lived there until his second wife died and then he lived with his children.
Mary Ann lived at home until she was old enough to find work doing house work for other families until she got married. One of her childhood friends was Annie Thomas and they both had come from Wales. Their parents were friends and the two girls married brothers. Mary Ann married William Jefferson Lusk, born 25 March 1965, Perry, Box Elder, Utah. Annie married William’s half brother, John Winters Lusk.
Will Lusk was a farmer and a freighter. He freighted between Collingston (which is now Corrine, Utah) and Samaria. He homesteaded 160 acres up on Devil Creek, north of Malad. He went on a note to help his father out financially and lost it all.
Mary Ann had seven uncles, seven sons and seven grandsons. She also had seven brothers, being the only girl in the family. Her brothers were Thomas, born 14 July 1854; Lewis, born 30 August 1856; William, born 7 Nov 1858; David, 27 October 1860; Henry, born 25 May 1863; Eustance Evans, born 8 April 1865; and Daniel, born 8 June 1869. They were all born in Pandoylan, Wales.
Mary Ann had ten children; Thomas Jenkins, born 22 October 1890; Samuel J. born 20 March 1892; William Boyd, born 11 September 1893; Mary Ivy, born 14 December 1895; John Leslie, born 17 April 1898; Earl, born 12 June 1900; Martha, born 12 January 1903; Henery Cleon, born 15 July 1905; Lavean, born February 1908; David, born 26 April 1911.
Will farmed and freighted and Mary Ann lived the life of a farmer’s wife of that time. When they lived on Devil Creek they milked cows, made butter and cheese and Will would take the produce to town and sell it. They always had a garden and their own orchard. Mary Ann bottled and stored fruit for the winter. After the three oldest boys were born they moved into Malad into a log house on the corner that the LDS Stake building is built on now. Will bought 160 acres more land a mile north of town and they spent the farming season there and lived in town only a few months in the winter. He raised wheat and hay. When Will retired at age 75, he sold the farm to his son William Boyd.
Will Lusk was a great lover of horses and enjoyed and took pride in his horses as his father did before him. Will was the gardener in his family.
Mary Ann loved to quilt, crochet and sew. She was a very good wonderful mother. Their recreation was just enjoying one another and their family. Occasionally they would go on a picnic with some of the family or see a picture show. Almost every Sunday evening some of their family would visit with them and the other members of the family that were there.
Mary Ann and Will had a gift of seeing beyond the veil. Will rested during the day on the floor. A few years before his death he frequently mentioned seeing his Mother. Every time he would go to speak to her, she would disappear. When Mary Ann had been sick with spotted fever and was getting well, Martha, a daughter, was at the foot of her bed and she asked Martha who that little short woman was standing with her hand on her shoulder. She said that I have seen her so many times before. Mary Ann described her to a relative of her mothers and to a friend. They told her that the woman resembled her mother. She at one time saw a woman floating above the ground and she turned to Will beside her to ask if he saw her and she had disappeared.
Mary Ann had frequent attacks and sicknesses and her first request was to have the Mormon Elders in to administer to her and to give her a blessing. She thought that the blessing gave her more hope than the doctors. When she had the mountain fever she just passed out and her nurse, Sara Hughes, thought that she died. She sent Martha for help who got John Mifflin , a neighbor, to come and he administered to her and after she opened her eyes she said, “ Oh Matt, I can see the door now, “ and she improved from then on.
When Will was ill he asked for the Mormon elders regularly and they always made him feel better and he rested better. They were not church attenders but they had a great faith in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and they loved their religion.
Their friends were the ones that lived close around them. They didn’t travel far from home.
Will Lusk, the son of John Winters Lusk and Marthat Tidwell came to Malad Valley with his mother and dad in April 1866. They lived in a dugout and two covered wagons during the first year. In the fall his father built two log rooms. His father had three wives, two in pologamy. Will’s mother, Martha Tidwell, died when he was 17 years old. She left nine living children, Sarah Jane, born 26 October 1860; Lousia, born 9 July 1862; Samuel, born 12 March 1864; died 9 April 1864; William Jefferson, born 25 March 1864; Emma Rose, born 21 April 1877; Lovisa, born 19 August 1869; Alma Hyrum, born 17 Dec 1871; fJoseph Tidwell, born 24 June 1875; Elizabeth Maria, born 29 April 1877; Charlotte E., born 15 January 1881. Will’s half brothers and sisters , the children of Ester Catherine Park were, John L, Parry L. , David, Till, Sarah; Ludretia, Cynthia, and Mary (Bolingbrook). After Mary Ann died, Aunt Ester took the family over. There was some conflict between the families. Aunt Ester had a bit responsibility, but she did her best. Aunt Ester’s family was a little domineering over Martha’s children. Aunt Ester tried to be fair with both families. Will and his half brother, Dave, were very close. Will always thought that his mother died of a broken heart. Martha Tidwell was an attractive woman and Will would tell his daughter Martha that she resembled her Grandmother Mary Ann. Will worked out for wages until he homesteaded. He would freight grain to Corrine, Utah. It was a risk because of the roads and the Snake River to cross and the Malad River to cross. He freighted produce to the north over the Snake River. The grain was packed in sacks. He loaded up with groceries and produce for the stores to have a load coming home. They would buy their winter supply of clothes in Collinston.
Mary Ann’s grandparents, Ann Evans are buried in Kamas, Utah. Mary Beards and Mary Ann are first cousins. JoAnn Goodworth, lived in Kamas and she is Ann Evan’s sister. Mary Ann’s hair was black as jet and she had big brown eyes. Will was a blonde with blue eyes. They had a buggy and a buggy with a black top, wagons and sleighs, but never a car.