Mary Jane Stan"d"ley - Great, Great Grandmother

Mary Jane Stanley 1856 - 1936

This good woman is my Great, Great Grandmother, the Grandmother of my Grandmother, Lucille Chase McCracken Beard.

Mary Jane, sometimes called Polly, was born in Arrow, Warwickshire, England. She married John Taylor in Astley, Worcestershire, England, in 1873.

To begin with, let’s consider her surname, Standley. The story, whether true or not, has been handed down that the original family name was Stanley. The Stanley family was either wealthy or titled, or both; at any rate they had servants. A son married a house maid, which was considered a disgrace, so the family disowned him. That of course made him very angry, so he felt that changing the spelling of the name was a way to "get even" with them, therefore he added the “d” making his name Standley. The first ancestor with the “d” in our line is William Standley, born in 1739, so I can only guess that he was the rogue speller.

Mary Jane’s father, William (1830 – 1917) was not trained to earn a living and struggled raising a family. However, an acquaintance who had come to America and joined the Mormon faith, returned to England on a mission. He visited the Stanley’s and told them of the advantages of coming to America and the help they would receive from the Mormon Church if they would convert. Stories lead one to believe that the conversion was economical rather than spiritual, but I don’t believe it was, because William was baptized in 1851, but did not emigrate for 27 years. The Standley family embarked for America on May 25, 1878, on the ship Nevada and brought with them three children, but leaving behind three daughters, including Mary Jane who was married by that time.

Prior to her parents’ departure, on January 24, 1875, Mary Jane became the mother of a baby girl whom she named Emily Francis (my Great Grandmother).  Two more children were born to Mary Jane before the family was finally able to follow Mary Jane’s parents to America on June 10, 1882, on the ship Wisconsin. They settled in Spanish Fork, Utah, near her parents and eventually added five more children to their family, for a grand total of eight.

Mary Jane and her husband were baptized in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on June7, 1883, at Spanish Fork by Elias Lewis.

They were hard working farmers in Spanish Fork, planting wheat, hay, potatoes, and sugar cane.

In 1901, they moved to Rudy, Idaho (this town was later known as Beach and is now known as Clark). It snowed 4 inches on their first 4^th of July in Idaho and Mary Jane wanted to move back to Utah.

The following are some memories of Mary Jane by her grandsons: 

• She lived in a 2 room log house on a farm northeast of Rigby, Idaho.
• Mary Jane was short and stocky. 
• She wore her hair bobbed and was strong enough to heft a half a hog by herself.
• Mary Jane always wore a long black skirt with a fitted bodice top that had a high neck. She never left her neck exposed because was embarrassed by her neck which was deformed due to a broken collar bone.



Funnel Hearing Device

• In her later years Mary Jane became very hard of hearing and would use a funnel type instrument that she put to her ear to amplify the sound.
• Mary Jane was stern; while her husband John was easy going.
• After her husband’s death, Mary Jane lived with her children. It is hard to imagine, but while staying with her daughter Sophia’s family, this stern woman engaged in tea fights with her grandson Ezra. She would fill a spoon and with tea and flip it at him to start the fight. She enjoyed doing that and found great sport in it.
• Mary Jane hid her money in her shoe where no one could find it because she didn't want to be without money.