Mary Ann Evans

HISTORY:

Mary Ann Andrew Evans, daughter of Fredrick Chadwick Andrew and Mary Ann Fisher, was born January 30, 1859 in Salt Lake City, Utah. She was the third child in a family of nine children, three of whom died in early childhood. They were Emmaline Alfred Fisher, and Annie Eliza. The other children, William Robert, Esther Alice (Jackson), Albert Fisher, Christina (Bowles), and Orson Fisher, lived to ages past sixty years.

Mary was given the same name (Mary Ann) as her Mother but was lust called Mary all her life. Her Mother, a pioneer from England, had arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1854. She heard the gospel of the Church of Jesus Christ preached by missionaries and had the desire to join the main body of the Church in Salt Lake.

Their property was located on Fourth South, 1/3 of a block west of Main Street. It had trees, a garden, and space for the Father's Blacksmith shop which was a very important business in pioneer days. In that home, Mary Andrew Evans was born and lived until she was married. Her fine Mother was an excellent housekeeper who taught her children habits of cleanliness and order, to work hard, and be dependable from the time they were very young. She taught her daughters to sew, which Mary loved to do, so that when she was a teenager she was making her own dresses.

This good family were active Church members of the Seventh L.D.S. Ward whose meeting house was a short distance from their home, and they tried faithfully to perform their duties in the Church. Mary turned eight years old on January 30 in cold weather, but she was not baptized until April 2, 1868. She was given a Patriarchal Blessing on September 23, 1866, by Charles H. Hyde. She loved going to Sunday School. She was a quiet, reserved girl who listened and never missed what was being said. When she was 12 and 13 years old, she received prizes of books which were given as rewards of merit by her Sunday School. They are still treasured possessions of her family. One of the books is a first edition of Eliza R. Snows poems of 1856, printed in Liverpool, England. In the front of the book is written : Presented to Mary Andrew by the Seventh Ward Sunday School as 1st prize for proficiency and good behaviour - signed by Wm. Mctackland." Brother McLackland was the First Councilor to the bishop, and also the Sunday School Superintendent. When Mary was a young married woman, she received a New Testament with a similar inscription in the front of the book.

Mary's formal education which was given in the 7th Ward School took her only through the 6th Grade, but she loved to read and kept on learning all she could. She especially enjoyed literature and poetry, as her scrap book, kept for many years shows. It contains much valuable information and fine bits of verse cut from newspapers and magazines. She helped the neighbors with sewing and the care of their children.

She saved her money and bought a medium-sized trunk for her very own best clothes and possessions. Later that trunk became her hope chest and now is treasured by her family. It holds now the basque, or the top part, of the dress she wore at her wedding reception. It was beautifully made by her with sewing as fine on the inside as it was on the outside. For her winter wedding in February, Mary made the dress of light grey and mauve colored, brocaded wool. It had collar and cuffs of shirred, wine-colored silk. The white cotton night gown had a yoke of embroidered insertion and clusters of very fine pin tucks.

It was in the 7th Ward where John Edward Evans, a fine young man, son of Bountiful, Utah pioneers met and fell in love with Mary. On her birthday he gave her a lovely walnut desk, or writing box. It had an oval shaped metal plate set into the lid with the engraving: "Mary A. Andrew - Jan. Moths 1880.|" It also is a family treasure. They were married the following year on February 24, 1881, by Daniel H.

Wells, in the old Endowment House on the Salt Lake Temple block. In the evening a wedding supper was given in her home. A prized English delicacy, a creamy oyster stew, was served as the main treat. A news paper clipping in Mary's old scrapbook gives the following account: "Feb. 25 Hymeneal. 1881 In the usual column elsewhere, this morning, appears an important notice - important, at least, to the principle parties and their relatives and friends. We refer to the marriage of Mr. John E. Evans and Miss Mary A. Andrew, which event took place yesterday. The groom is a young man of sterling integrity and worth, and is well known, having for a long time past been salesman in Dinwoodey's furniture establishment. The bride is a young lady known and admired among her friends and acquaintances as possessing many of the attributes essential to a genuine woman, and as being of an amiable disposition. Both are to be congratulated on their mutual good fortune. A reception held at the residence of the bride's mother, last evening, was the occasion of the gathering together of a host of relatives and friends who were well entertainers and had an enjoyable time. The young couple received a large number of beautiful and useful presents; and good wishes as to their future hapiness were as hearty as they were profuse."

John rented the 3 room end of an old house which was located on 3rd South near 1st West, where they set up housekeeping. He was a "Fix Up" person who was always trying to improve the looks of things. So after two years of repairing and painting here and there, the place looked quite nice, a more suitable home for his lovely wife who kept things in fine order. Then the Landlord surprised them and raised the rent. The young couple realized they had learned a valuable lesson and decided henceforth to do "Fixing Up" on on their own property, even if it was only a shabby little shack that they were buying themselves. They found a little place on top of the hill on Almond Street and went to work trying hard to improve it. So with this "Fix-Up Method" after four different moves through the next few years it helped them to get a nice home built to their own plans much sooner than they could have otherwise had it.

They bought a piece of ground in a sparsely settled area at 943 Lake Street - 1/2 block east of Liberty Park and 1/2 block south of 9th South, where they planned to build their home. They rented a three room house on 8th East, three doors south of 8th South, where they could live while their home was being built just two blocks away, and they could also help with the work of building their new home.

The place they rented was a small frame dwelling in the rear of the Hannibal Family Home which was near the First Ward Meetinghouse and very convenient to pass the days while they were having their work done.

They moved from the Seventh Ward into the First Ward on December 27, 1890. When they moved into the First Ward, it was discovered that some of the records from the Seventh Ward had been lost. This made it necessary for Mary to be re-baptized. This was done by Brother John T. Thorup, who also confirmed her on May 10, 1893.

Mary's brother, Albert Andrew who was a carpenter, built the house with the help of family members. It was of red brick with a steep pitched roof and floored attic, with stairs leading to it for bedrooms to be finished at a later time. The main floor had five rooms which was fine since they had only three children then. Mary and John with their children moved into their new place in 1893 just 12 years after they were married. That was their home for the rest of their lives.

Mary became the mother of nine children five of whom lived to be past 70 years of age. With six children to raise, the parents were anxious for them to learn to help keep things clean and orderly so they would be happy and proud of their home. Their family used to hear the mottos quoted: A Place for Everything, and Everything in its place" and A Job Worth Doing, is Worth Doing We11. Everybody had their work to do from the oldest to the youngest member. Their Chores as their Father called them, were taken for granted.

They were happy in the First Ward and tried to keep active doing their Church duties. That brought new experiences and responsibilities to them. Mary was appointed to be the First Councilor in the newly organized Primary Association, which position she held for six years. She did Temple work and had the privilege of doing the Endowments for her Great Grandmother, Mary Beswick, on June 30th 1893. Mary Beswick was born about the year 1765 or 1766. Mary Evans served as a Relief Society visiting teacher from 1902 to 1917.

A year after Fred left for his mission, a great sorrow came to Mary and the family when their oldest daughter, Myrtle, took sick with a bad cold, followed by pneumonia and passed away on May 11, 1904. She was 13 years old and was greatly loved by everyone who knew her. The funeral was one of the first held in the new 31st Ward meeting house.

Fred filled an honorable mission in the French speaking part of Switzerland and later was able to visit a great Library in Paris which held some rare histories of the earliest settlers of America giving added proof of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon. That started a life long interest in the study of all evidences that could be found in the long buried old histories to substantiate that new book of scripture. This all brought interest and joy to the family. Fred also made his parents happy when he married a fine L.D.S. girl in the Salt Lake Temple on the 12th of November 1908. She was Jane Elizabeth Pickering whom he always called Jenny. They brought two girls and a boy to add to Mary and John's fine group of grandchildren all of whom they were very proud.

Mary's life became busier and more complicated with her church duties added to her home responsibilites. Mary passed away on the 22nd of November 1919, at the age of only 60 years.

Written by Edith Evans Chytraus, daughter June 28, 1978.

SOURCE: The Ancestors and Descendants of Frederick Chadwick Andrew." Pages 289-290.

DEATH: Cause of Death: Chronic Interstitial Nephritis (duration 5 years)

BURIAL: Name: Mary Ann Andrews Evans Birth Date: 0 0 1859 Death Date: 24 November 1919 Death Place: SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH Burial Date: 24 November 1919 Cemetery: Salt Lake City Cemetery Source: Sexton Records Grave Location: L-5-7-2-E