Following is the account of Mary Jane Quinn (McNEIL), daughter of Thomas QUINN and Mary (Hamilton) Quinn and second wife of John Corlett McNEIL. It is taken from various sources, all gathered together in an account of the McNeil family being written by Peter McDonald. The account will reference other relatives who have accounts elsewhere; please follow the appropriate links to learn more about them. Especially there will be sections in her husband's account which will be linked to here. There is also an account of their son Thomas McNeil.

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In 1840, some seven years before John McNeil's first marriage, a child was born in Liverpool, England to Thomas Quinn and Mary Hamilton Quinn, named Mary Jane Quinn. She would later become John McNeil’s second wife.

In a document named, "The life story of Mary Jane Quinn McNeil" it says the following: "The first year of the Great Potato famine in Ireland was 1840. Mary Jane’s parents and other members of the family emigrated to England."

Mary Jane’s eldest sister, Elizabeth Ann, died in November 1846. The same year that John Edward was born, Mary Jane Quinn was baptized, 18 May 1848. In March of 1849, 3 months after the birth of John and Margaret’s son, Mary Jane Quinn went from Liverpool, England to New Orleans, Louisiana on the ship, "Hartley". Mary Jane Quinn was, at the time, 9 years of age according to ship records.

Mary Jane Quinn's family settled about 10 miles out in the suburbs of St. Louis, Missouri. Thomas Quinn, her father, was a blacksmith by trade and made squares and snaps for halters and bridles during the Civil War. (The Civil War didn't happen for quite some time after Mary Jane and John McNeil were married and had left St. Louis).

John McNeil set up a shoe shop in St. Louis. On 27 June 1854, Margaret Cavendish passed away in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri. About this time, John’s brother’s, William and Richard who wanted to "see more of the world" left St. Louis, one going to Iowa and the other to Australia.

John McNeil married Mary Jane Quinn on 14 December 1854 in St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri. (According to an account of the life of John Edward McNeil, "John later met and married Mary Jane Quinn in September of 1854. Little John Edward had a mother again, a very kind and good one.")

Mary Jane was married to John McNeil when she was 14 years old and he was 31 years old. She was a mother at the age of 15. When she was 18 she was the mother of 3 children:

Thomas McNeil (see below) -Born 24 July 1855

William Richard McNeil -Born 28 October 1856

Mary Jane McNeil-Born 28 May 1858

other children born in Utah are listed at the bottom of this page

John and Mary Jane lived in Banum Township, a suburb of St. Louis, where he made shoes and plated straw hats for plantation owners and for their slaves. John made shoes for their livelihood. He was paid very well for this.

Their sons, William and Thomas, were nearly the same size, being just 15 months apart. Mary Jane had a little wagon she used to put children in and walk ten miles to market. She would stay all night with her parents and return home the next day.

Their greatest desire was to go to the Great Salt Lake and they worked and planned to that end.

The family prepares to leave for Utah

John McNeil prepared to make the trek to Utah in 1859. He helped the Saints repair their wagons and hand carts, and as a blacksmith aid, set and fit the iron tires. He stayed behind until he could supply himself with a wagon, two yoke of oxen, two heifers and a horse.

The following account is written by John McNeil’s 3rd wife, Mary Ann Smith McNeil, who takes excerpts from John McNeil’s own journal. Mary Ann Smith McNeil adds her comments parenthetically.

"I started April first in 1859 and crossed the plains with one wagon, two yoke of 3 year old steers, two yoke of heifers and some loose stock. The company consisted of myself, wife and four children. The company they should have started with, left before he got ready to go with them, but he (John McNeil) started out anyway (and this, I, Mary Ann Smith McNeil, 3rd wife, heard my husband tell our Bishop Hans Hansen of ShowLow) that when they got out quite a way from home, they came to where the roads forked and he stopped the team and said to his wife, Mary Jane, say I am going out there to pray to see which road to take and if ever you prayed in your life pray now and the first thought that comes into your mind that will be it. So when he got back to the wagon, he said have you got it and she was crying but nodded and pointed straight ahead and he said that's me, so they started on again and when they had went quite a long way on the road, they were met by a large band of Indians and they stopped them but as they couldn't under stand one another, he told his wife to get a dishpan and fill it with crackers to give the Indians, as they were very much afraid of them and it took three pan full to go one cracker around and when that was done, about a dozen chiefs went off to themselves and talked it over and when they came back, they motioned for them to move on. I sure think there was the hand of the Lord in the way they were preserved from being destroyed.

Said they traveled about 1700 miles and arrived in Utah all well and camped on the bench just below where Camp Douglas now stands, August first 1859 and did rejoice and thanked the Lord for preserving our lives to see the Valley of the Mountains, the gathering place of the saints. On the second we camped where the Bathhouse now stands. On the 4th we went to Bountiful and lived by Daniel Woods and harvested for him the next five days and wintered there and purchased 10 acres off him. 1860, next year, purchased a city lot of George Hogan and next 1861 year bought a house and lot off William Wood and lived there until 1870 and made me a farm two miles at the mouth of what is called North Canyon creek."

Mary Jane Quinn McNeal on her own in Bountiful, Utah

John McNeal left with his third wife, Mary Ann and their five children to fulfill his call. Mary Jane chose to keep her family together and stay on the farm.

They were a very ambitious family. The next few years, with the help of the older children, the farm was improved, more land cleared and the dairy herd increased. They raised chickens and pigs, fruits and vegetables. They would go to Salt Lake two or three times a week to deliver milk, butter, cottage cheese, eggs, fruit and vegetables to regular customers. Among these customers were Simon and Jake Bamberger, the Auerbacks, Cohen and Kearns families. She served the Bambergers and others for more than forty years and considered them among her best friends.

They preserved the fruits she raised on the farm for winter use. She would split the peaches, put them in a big molasses boiler with the skimmings from the molasses boiling them into jam, and then pack them into jars for winter use. She loved to go to auction sales and bought many beautiful things there.

All the McNeil family loved dancing and a good time. They were considered wonderful dancers. The boys called for many of the square dances. Mary Jane and her children would get into the buckboard wagon and go to the dances together. People have said that when the McNeil's came in many would rush to the door to get to dance with them. After the dance Mary Jane would have all her family go to her home with their escorts. There would be great platters of fried chicken and hot baking powder biscuits awaiting them. They were a very united family.

Mary Jane continued serving her customers in Salt Lake until 1904, when she suffered an accident losing the sight of one eye. She was milking a cow when the cow switched her tail hitting Mary Jane in the eye. This cut her eye so badly it had to be removed. She wore an artificial eye the rest of her life. Mary Jane grieved and was very self conscious about this loss. Her daughter, Elizabeth, was blind from glaucoma and she was very conscious of this affliction.

She was a firm believer in the Latter-day Saints principles and did most of the doctoring in the family using herbs, Quaken Asp bark, and other remedies. She thought if prayer, faith, and works would not save them they were not to be saved.

Mary Jane raised two of her grandchildren, Inez, daughter of her son Joseph, and Hattie, daughter of her daughter, Mary Jane. She also took her blind daughter, Elizabeth, and her two children home to care for them and help raise the children. She was a very devoted mother to them all and they loved and respected her.

Her grandchildren have many precious memories of this wonderful woman. Some of them are on bright sunny mornings there would be a row of copper milk pails and pans, scalded and set to sun on a long plank which had been scoured white and clean; the underground cellar where the milk and cream was kept; the big barrel churn and the golden, pounds of butter ready to go to market.

Others remember the shelves of fruit jam, jellies and pickles in the cellar; the two long rows of chicken coops where dozens of eggs were gathered each day; the big yard and pens where the pigs were kept; the green fields where the cows and horses grazed; the huge barn with its hayloft where the children loved to play; and the beautiful cutter (sleigh) lined with velvet and the surrey with the fringe on top.

Sunday was the family day at grandmothers, all the family, husbands, wives and children would have wonderful fried chicken dinners, finished off by delicious fruit pies. We always marveled at the pies grandmother made in the pantry of the kitchen. There were also days of quilting when daughters and daughters-in-law would get together around the guilt and the grandchildren played house on the long veranda.

On cold winter days, grandmother always made us a big pitcher of ginger tea. The tea was hot milk with ginger, sugar and butter in it. We all thought it was delicious.

I remember the big front parlor and in the corner was a large picture of Aunt Mary Jane in a beautiful gold frame, standing on an easel. On the floor in front of it was a snow white bearskin rug, on either side were beautiful painted vases about two feet high, and on the mantel to the side stood several other beautiful vases with a clock with cherubs on it. I remember the dark green wallpaper and the border of huge cabbage red and pink roses, the lovely lace curtains at the window, and the antique chairs. This was a truly beautiful room. There was a china cupboard in the dining room filled with beautiful Blue Willow Wear. I remember the long cedar chest under the window in one bedroom filled with material and beautiful laces and insertations. Grandmother had beautiful picture albums filled with pictures of loved ones, family, and friends. Grandmother bought almost everything at the COOP (Z.C.M.I.). She said one always got good things there.

Grandmother was always interested in everyone around her. We will always remember her goodness to others.

Her hair was just as pure and white as her soul. Her rough hands as warm as her heart. Her home and her heart were always open to render a kindness. Grandmother died in the home she had helped to build, which was truly her home. Grandfather deeded the home to her on the 26 of November 1901, for one dollar and love and affection.

Many tributes were paid to this fine, religious woman. Among them one by Mrs. Sarah Harrison, Blanch Harrison's mother- in-law. She said, "She was the very best woman that ever lived. She was always doing some kindness for someone." Sister Harrison lived on 1st North and 2nd East and would walk out to her father's farm where she would pick peas and beans. This farm was located on approximately 28th South and 4th East in Bountiful. Grandmother would see her coming for about a quarter of a mile with one child in her arms and one or two small children clinging to her skirt. Grandmother would call to her to come in and rest and have a cup of tea. Some hot biscuits with jam or honey would also be on the table. These biscuits were baked after she saw Sister Harrison coming. Grandmother's biscuits were made from rich, thick cream and were really delicious.

Mary Jane Quinn McNeil passed away at seventy years of age, 10 September 1910. She was laid to rest in the Bountiful City Cemetery. A tiny, white-haired grandmother, loved by friends, neighbors and family.

She spun and wove their clothes and stockings and made three stockings for each one. They she would wash and dry it change it with the other one and wash it. That way she kept clean stockings for each one, washing the dirty one at night so it would be clean and ready to wear in the morning. She made the back and front of the boy’s trousers the same as she could change them front to back, they called this jumping. They turned them around when they were worn thin to make them wear longer. She also wove their hats of straw and would take the hides of calves to make their shoes.

She ground the whole wheat and soaked it, then mixed it with molasses and salteratus from the Lake (it served the same purpose as soda does) to make her bread.

She could split the peaches and put them in the big molasses boilers with the skimmings from the molasses, boiling them into a jam, stirring with a hoe. These would be put in a jar and kept for winter use. She also made butter and cottage cheese and sold buttermilk in the winter to help take a living.

In the summer she peddled to Salt Lake from house to house. She served Jake and Simon Bamberger for 40 years. She did this until 1904 when she lost sight of one eye. She went out to milk the cow, while doing so the cow switched her tail and hit her in the eye. There was a huckle burr caught in the cow’s tail. The burr tore the pupil of her eye causing her to lose her sight. Mary always grieved and was self-conscious about it. Her daughter, Elizabeth, being blind made her feel that, perhaps, people would not understand.

She was a strong believer of the L.D.S. faith and for this reason always did her own doctoring using Quaken Asp bark tea. She thought if faith and works would not save them they were just not to be saved.

She raised two grandchildren, one the daughter of her son, Joe, Her name was Inez McNeil. The other was the daughter of her daughter, Mary Jane, her name was Hattie Kirkham. She was a very devoted mother to them as well as to her own. She was always interested in everyone around her. We will always remember her for her goodness to others. Her hair was just as pure and white as her soul. Her hard, rough hands and warm heart were always ready to greet you. I sure hope this short sketch will, in a way, pay a small tribute to her for the many good things she did. Let's cherish the thought of her in her declining years as she retired from her long life of toil and strife and of the lessons left behind.

She retired from hard work after losing the sight of her eye. She died on September 15, 1910 with ten children left to survive her: three girls, seven boys. They all have passed away but four now, one boy and three girls. Her daughter, Elizabeth, is still living in the old place.

Our grandfather Thomas McNeil was born July 24, 1855 in St. Louis, Missouri to John McNeil and Mary Jane Quinn McNeil. He was the oldest child in a family of eleven children, seven sons and four daughters. His mother was only fifteen when he was born. His father was forty-one.

He left St. Louis with his parents starting the long trek across the plains to the Great Salt Lake Valley.

Tired and weary from 4 months travel, they arrived August 1, 1859 at what is now Fort Douglas. They made camp there and after a few days moved to Woods Cross west of Bountiful. John had many trades he worked at to make a living for his family. As soon as he was financially able, he bought some land in Bountiful and built a house and moved his family there. That was home to grandpa until he was 29 years old.

They worked hard tilling the soil, getting it ready for planting. They raised hay and grain, planted some peach, pear, apple, plum trees and grape vines, and always had a good garden.

In 1878, John McNeil was called on a mission to establish settlements in Arizona. Mary Jane had eleven children at the time, the oldest being our grandfather Thomas McNeil who was 23.

John wanted the family with the oldest children to go to Arizona with him but Mary Jane chose to stay in Bountiful, so taking Mary Ann and her five young children he left, leaving all his property including the house he built for her with Mary Jane and her family.

With the help of her oldest children, Mary Jane operated a small dairy, fruit and vegetable business, driving to Salt Lake two or three times a week delivering fruit, vegetables, milk and butter to regular customers.

Somewhere along the way, Thomas McNeil met Martha Ellen Prescott. She was born March 28, 1864 in Bountiful, Utah to William Prescott and Martha Jane Hammond. She was the oldest in a family of eleven children, five sons and six daughters.

How I would like to know something about their early life. How, when and where they met, their courtship. There are many questions I can’t find the answers to. I let them all pass me by fourteen years ago when the last one that could have given me the answers slipped quietly away on 3 December 1968 taking with him all those precious memories of yesteryears. He forgot nothing, he was a walking encyclopedia. I am writing about my uncle, whose name is Tom McNeil.

On 24 December 1884, Thomas McNeil marries Martha Ellen Prescott in Bountiful, Davis County, Utah. She was 20 years old, he was 29.

They were the parents of nine children, three daughters and six sons. They were not married in the temple, but on 5 September 1888, he took grandma and their two small children to the temple and had them sealed to him for time and all eternity.

His mother gave him the land and house John built for Mary Ann; it was home to them for several years. Seven of their nine children were born there.

In the late 1890’s, they decided to move to Summit County, Utah. So, selling their property to his brother Charles McNeil, they moved to Francis, Utah. They bought twenty acres of land from Tommy Davis that had a big house on it. Later, he bought two other houses and moved them on the property, putting them together, making a home for his family. It was there that their last two children were born.

We know so very little about our grandpa. A history is something I have wanted to write for a long time but kept putting it off until it was too late to get the answers to the questions I wanted to know. When visiting with Aunt Hazel, it seemed the conversation always turned to a history. She would always say, "Arlean, why don’t you write a history?’’.

I would ask her things about grandpa. She said he had blue eyes, brown hair, always wore a mustache, stood about 5’9" tall, weighed about 175 lbs., always full of ambition and was a farmer all his life.

How I would have liked to have known him, grandpa’s are so special.

I have heard grandma say he wore the same weight clothing summer and winter. When she asked him to change into lighter ones, he always said, "Well, what keeps out the cold in the winter, keeps out the heat."

How many knew he and grandma were only married 29 years when he suffered a stroke that left him paralyzed and bedridden until he passed away at the age of 58 leaving grandma at the age of 49 with the four youngest children at home ranging in age from 7 to 17. He was buried in the old cemetery on the road to Kamas. When they purchased the land on the hill for the new cemetery, they moved his body there.

Grandma and the boys had to work hard to make a living, there was no welfare or social security for widows or children who were minors, but grandpa left them with a home to live in, some farmland and farm animals, he was only with them on the farm in Francis for twelve years before he died.

Grandma had a medium bony frame. She stood about 5’7" tall. Thin and gaunt. Weighed about 150 lbs., had blue eyes, light brown hair, bobbed on top with of her head pinned with hair pins.

She had one speed…that was slow. She never hurried when doing her housework, cooking a meal, going to the barn to milk the cows or to feed the chickens.

• Thomas McNeil: Born 24 July 1855, Place: St. Louis, St. Louis, Mo Died: 1 Jan 1913 Place: Francis, Summit, UT Buried: 5 Jan 1913 Place: Francis, Summit, Utah
• William Richard-Born 28 October 1856, Place: St. Louis, St. Louis, Mo, died 26 June 1933
• Mary Jane McNeil (Kirkham)-Born 28 May 1858, Place: St. Louis, St. Louis, Mo; Married Benjamin KIRKHAM on 17 Nov. 1881 in Salt Lake City, Died 16 Feb 1892 Place: Bountiful, Davis, Ut Buried: Feb 1892 Place: Bountiful, Davis, Ut
• Robert Corlett McNeil -- Born: 8 Jul 1860 Place: Bountiful, Davis, Ut Christened: Place: Logan, Cache, Ut Died: 31 Jul 1916 Place: Rigby, Jefferson, Id Buried: 1 Aug 1916 Place: Shelton Cemetary, Rigby, Jefferson, Id
• Joseph Henry McNeil -- Born: 10 Jul 1862 Place: Bountiful, Davis, Ut Died: 31 May 1921 Place: Bountiful, Davis, Ut Buried: 2 Jun 1921 Place: Bountiful, Davis, Ut
• George Quinn McNeil -- Born: 4 Jan 1865 Place: Bountiful, Davis, Ut Died: 26 Jun 1943 Place: Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Ut Buried: 29 Jun 1943 Place: Bountiful, Davis, Ut
• Charles Hyrum McNeil -- Born: 13 Nov 1867 Place: Bountiful, Davis, Ut Died: 18 May 1934 Place: Buried: 18 May 1943 Place
• Margaret Jane McNeil -- Born: 6 Apr 1869 Place: Bountiful, Davis, Ut Died: 8 Jun 1937 Place: Salt Lake, Salt Lake, Utah

• *Elizabeth Ann McNeil (on the right, shown with her sister Harriet) -- Born: 29 Jun 1872 Place: Bountiful, Davis, Ut Died: 6 Nov 1961 Place: Bountiful, Davis, Utah
• *David McNeil -- Born: 2 Mar 1875 Place: Bountiful, Davis, Ut Died: 10 Feb 1912 Place: Bountiful, Davis, Ut Buried: 13 Feb 1912 Place: Bountiful, Davis, Ut
• *Harriet Jeannette McNeil (shown standing on the right, with her sister Elizabeth) -- Born: 26 May 1877 Place: Bountiful, Davis, Ut; Married John Daniel Franklin BRADSHAW, Died: 19 May 1962 Place: Salt Lake City, Sl, Ut Buried: 21 May 1962 Place: Francis, Summit, Ut. Their children include Earl Clifford BRADSHAW, who had three children, including the mother of the webmaster of this page.

A complete timeline of this family, including a family picture taken at Mary Jane Quinn McNeil's funeral in September, 1910, may be found at http://www.oocities.org/iflk/mcneiltime.html. A partial diary of Mary Ann Smith McNeil may be found at http://www.oocities.org/iflk/mcneildiary.html

• Pioneers Alone, by Wagon, Across the Plains, including journal entries, family members and pictures of John McNeil and Mary Jane Quinn
• Here is a timeline of William McNeil's family, including John McNeil.
• Here is the diary for Mary Ann Smith McNeil, 3rd wife of John McNeilfrom 1898 to about 1908, when she left Mexico and moved to Douglas, Arizona.
• Click here to return to my home page.

 This history was collected by Peter McDonald; you may contact him at Peter_McD@msn.com for more information. If you are related to any of these people, please contact Peter or the webmaster of this site, (who is the husband of one of the great-granddaughters of Harriet Jeannette McNeil BRADSHAW), at confwriter@writeme.com or dakuhns@hotmail.com