Mary Ann Jones Jacaway Bates Davis

Mary Ann Jones Jacaway Bates Davis ( Susannah Jacaway Black’s Mother)

Mary Ann Jones born 13 April 1817 in Maury, Tenn. Died 5 April 1905 in Raymond Alberta, Canada, Daughter of Richard Jones and Margaret Jenkins. Married (1) Fields B. Jacaway, born 2, April 1811 in Upper Alton, Madison Co, Ill. (2) just northeast of St. Louis, son of Samuel Jacaway and Temperance Bradshaw and grandson of Joseph and Susannah Jaquet (Jaquette) of French Canadian lineage (3).

About 1832-33 Mary Ann Jones fathers family moved from Tenn. To Smith (probably Smithville), Clay Co, Missouri where, there 12th and 13th children were born. Mary Ann Jones and Fields B. Jacaway met and were married in Clay or Scott Co. (4) at one time they owned 160 acres of property in Kansas City, Missouri .

It is not known that Mary Ann and Fields were members of the L..D.S. church at that time; but they undoubtedly were in sympathy with the saints and joined in their expulsion from Missouri. At the time of the birth of their 2nd child in 1836, they were living in Pike Co., Illinois  further evidence e 0 f their living in Pike is given in the 1840 census.

The first definite indication of their L.D.S. church membership is given in the minutes at Commerce, Nauvoo, Ill 6-8 Oct. 1839, when Fields was appointed an Elder of the church , family record reveal that Mary Ann was baptized a member in 1840 . The following year, on 15 Nov. 1841, Fields and Mary Ann received Patriarchal blessings at Nauvoo from the stake Patriarch, Hyrum Smith .

Fields was ordained a High Priest at Nauvoo. Early church records state he enrolled 17 Nov., 1844 (14) weather this date refers to enrollment quorum, school, or church group is not clear. Neither are the details of his death wholly known. His family at the time of his demise was purportedly living In Upper Alton, Madison Co., Ill. Tradition indicates that he was killed in a duel in 1845 Dueling was yet common practice in Frontier Territory was brought into use to settle personal differences and affairs of honor. Church records, however, state that Fields hung himself . His suicide may have been the aftermath of the duel, and suggests, an unfortunate reaction to the torment and persecution that he was called upon to bear. He and Mary Ann had many trying experiences, including the passing away of three children while very young.

1. Susannah Jacaway, born 18 Sept 1833-34-35, Clay or Scott Co., Mo. Married George Black
2. Richard Jones Jacaway, born 16 June 1836, Pike County, Ill.
3. John Franklin Jacaway, born 27 June 1838, Pike County, Ill. Married Eveline Boggs.
4. Rosalie Jane Jacaway, born 7 Mar 1840, Pike County, Ill. died 1844
5. Mary Ann Jacaway, born 7 Mar, 1842, POike County, Ill. died 1844

After Jacaways death, Mary Ann Jones lived in New Orleans. There she met and married 2nd husband in 1844, James Bates, born 1814 of New Orleans.  He was a ships carpenter by trade and traveled up and down the Mississippi, River. Mary Ann spoke of James Bates as a brilliant man an individual of whom one might well be proud. He left New Orleans for St. Louis, where he hoped to obtain money for the family to travel to Utah, but he contacted cholera along with h the others on the boat and died in Feb. 1849. 1849. A hearse met the boat at the dock in St. Louis and carried the dead to a cemetery, where they were buried without ceremony. Sometime later a letter from the owners of the ship, written to Mary Ann Jones, spoke of the plague that had taken so many on board and their remains were buried in the Bellefontaine cemetery in St. Louis. George Black while on a mission to the central states reported finding James Bates grave in the Bellefontaine Cemetery St. Louis.

Mary Ann Jones married her 3rd husband Thomas Davies a recent convert to the church and immigrant from England whom she met through church contacts in New Orleans. Tradition states Mary Ann was the Mission Mother at the New Orleans mission home when she met Davis. She was then a widow with 2 children, her daughter, Susannah Jacaway, having married the previous April to George Black. After their marriage, Mary Ann and Thomas sailed up the Mississippi, River to commence the long trek to Utah. They stopped off at St. Louis a short while before proceeding westward.

At the time they disembarked from the boat at St. Louis, Mary Ann had a startling experience. She saw three men chatting together on the wharf and recognized one as her former husband James Bates. The three men walked away without recognizing her. Naturally she felt James Bates had deserted her. Later however her children suggested that she might have been mistaken in her identification, she remarked that one could not forget the appearance of a person she had married. In view of the letter from the steamship co. telling of his death from cholera, the circumstances of his disappearance will remain a mystery.

On 11 May 1852, Thomas Davis, Mary Ann, and 3 children left St. Louis, scheduled to join James J. Jepson, Capt. of the 2nd Co. at Upper Ferry, but they were placed under Capt. William Hurst. The Thomas Davies family made the trek across the plains to Utah by wagon loaded with household goods and drawn by four oxen. They drove 2 cows along with them; it was Sept. by the time they reached Salt Lake City, Utah. Then after a few days rest they moved on to Fillmore, Utah, arriving there 22 Sept, 1852. Here Mary Anns eldest daughter, Susanna Jacaway Black had settled the year before. For better protection from Indian raids, a triangular fort had been erected on the inside of which all houses were built, the rear wall of the house being against the fort wall and front facing inward. The opening of the gate was in the southwest corner in the south wall. Immediately on entering the enclosure, one turned to the right and came to a small room built by George Black, Susannah husband, where he and his wife 1ived, A little further on easterly, another brother (Peter Robinson) had built his home and was comfortably situated. Between these two houses was a little space, about 12 or 14 feet. This was utilized by building a front wall from the corner of one house, Susannah took the corner of the other and covered with logs and dirt to become the winter abode of the newcomers. Mary Ann found a piece of cloth that served as a window (22).