THE HISTORY OF JANE
ANN MAXWELL MARCHANT
1860-1934
By WANDA CRANDALL
BROADBENT
(Granddaughter)
Jane Ann Maxwell Marchant was born
in Goshen, Utah
County, Utah
on the 22nd of January 1860.
Her parents, Arthur Maxwell and Elizabeth McCauslin, were both natives
of Glasgow, Scotland. They heard the gospel and joined the
Latter-day Saint Church there. They were
married in Scotland before
sailing for America to join
the saints in Utah. During the voyage over, some relatives died
leaving a small orphaned girl name Elizabeth Durrah. The young couple took her and raised
her. They traveled west pushing
handcarts across the plains to Utah. All of their own children, one son and five
daughters, were born in Utah. Their first home was in Goshen.
In about 1864, they were sent by Brigham Young out into the Summit County
area to settle and open up the territory there for others to follow. Their settlement was named Peoa. Jane’s father, Arthur Maxwell, was a
counselor to Bishop Abraham Marchant in that settlement. Jane Ann and her brothers and sisters knew
what it was to be pioneers. When told of
the fort out in (Wooden Shoe) the sough end of Peoa, where everyone gathered
when there was trouble with the Indians.
Times were hard, and they lived in log cabins, often with very little to
eat. Jane Ann grew up during the time of
polygamy and chose to become the second wife of John Alma Marchant. He was 12 years older than she.
John Alma’s family were also early
settlers of the Peoa area. His father
was Bishop Abraham Marchant, so their families were very closely associated. The Abraham Marchant family came to Utah from England,
having also joined the church before leaving.
John Alma was born in Bath, Sommersetshire, England, May 17, 1848. His first wife was Hannah Russel, with whom
he already had several children when Jane and John Alma were married.
John Alma Marchant owned farm land
in Peoa, range land in Weber
Canyon and the Marchant
Mercantile Co. in Peoa. At first, I
believe, both families lived together, but during the time that the law was
after the Mormons for living in Polygamy, Jane Ann and her family lived in many
different places. She called this living
in the underground. At one time, she was
sent to what she called over Jurden.
I believe it must have been across the Jordan River, perhaps where West Jordan is presently
located. She spent some time living in a
cabin on the ranch up in Weber
Canyon. Her daughter Ruby was born up there in August
of 1850, and for this reason her birthplace is listed as Oakley, the ranch
being just a few miles up the canyon from Oakley. The family lived there at least one winter,
because Grandma said that Grandpa had to visit her on snowshoes.. However all of her hardships and deprivations
did not keep her husband out of jail. He
was arrested and imprisoned for practicing polygamy. In her own words, “He was caught by the law
and put in the pen.” I believe that his
first wife, Hanna, must have died a short time later, because she gave birth to
a daughter, Myrtle, who was very close to the same age as Ruby, and Grandma
always told how she raised them together from the time they were babies. The first wife’s family were mostly boys,
Abraham, Albert, Austin, Franklin, John, Millard and but one girl, Myrtle. Some of the boys were old enough to be on
their own when their mother died. But
she raised the younger children along with her own. There were nine of her own, Arthur, Jane Ann,
Pearl, Elbert, Ruby, Clyde,
Ivy, Adelbert, and Gilbert. Pearl died when she was
very young.
Grandpa taught his boys the value
of hard work. They farmed, clerked in
the store, and drove a mail rout to Kamas and Park City. John Alma Marchant died January 27, 1908.
Somehow Jane Ann managed to keep
the children together and provide for them.
I don’t know why financial circumstances had changed so much, because at
one time Grandpa Marchant was a relatively wealthy man. Grandma always said he was never the same man
after he was released from the pen.
Believe he went bankrupt. The
store and the Weber
Canyon property no longer
belonged to the family. The older
married boys got some of his property in Peoa, and Grandma was left with only
the home and the small farm adjacent.
The home testified of more prosperous times being furnished very well. The parlor had both a piano and a beautiful
organ as well as a plush divan and other excellent pieces of furniture. I remember especially a large beautiful gold
framed mirror. The furnishings excelled
anything in the community at that time.
Shortly after John Alma’s death, or
just preceding it, I’m really not sure, the wife of his son Austin died,
leaving four small girls, Irene, Hannah, Myrtle, and Myrna (the latter
twins). Grandmother took these also into
her home and cared for them until Austin
remarried, a few years later. In 1916,
Aunt Agnes, the wife of Uncle Willard, died leaving three children. Grandma also took the two older of these
children into her home. Ione and Russel
lived a good part of their early life with her.
The baby, Hyrum was reared by a brother, Abraham, and his wife. Again in 1920, when her daughter Ruby, the
wife of Leslie Crandall, died leaving six children, Grandma took five of us to
raise, George Isabell, Wanda, Jack, and Thelda.
The baby was taken and raised by Crandall relations. AT that time her three youngest sons were
still at home, and they ran the farm and hauled timber. I am sure that it was due to their efforts
that Grandma was able to keep up the home and provide for us. This was probably one of the reasons why
Uncle Clyde and Uncle Del married quite late in life. Grandma was sixty-five years old when we came
to live with her. With all of her other
problems she was afflicted with rheumatism throughout the later years of her
life. Until we were old enough to help
with the work, she had to have hired girls to help care for us. Among them I remember Chloe miles, Ethel
Marchant, and Matilda Maxwell, all of whom were very nice to us.
It was not long until Uncle Gib
went away to school and Uncle Del
and Clyde bought the only store in town, a
general merchandise store which they called Marchants’ Cash Store. Del was
chosen to run it while Clyde worked the
farm. They also secured more farming
property of their own. After a few years
they divided interests and each was on his own.
Financially things were going well in our home until the boys al married
within a few years time. George had also married. It was also at this period of
time in Jane Ann’s life that her youngest daughter, Ivy, wife of Irvin Maxwell,
died. This really broke Grandma’s heart,
because Ivy had been such a thoughtful daughter, helping her mother in every
way that she could. They were very close.
She and her family came home to stay more than any of the other
children. These events all transpired at
the beginning of the great financial depression in this country, from 1928 to
1931. Financial conditions in her home
were very bad. Our father, Less
Crandall, had helped with our support in the past, but he was also feeling the
effects of the depression and could give very little help, however he was able
to provide the money for Isabell to go to college.
Grandma’s health deteriorated; she
became an invalid; and she sold her home and property to Uncle Gib, who moved
into part of the home and drove to Kamas to teach school. We lived in the other part. I had just graduated from high school and was
the most logical one to stay home and take care of Grandma. Isabell was teaching school and Jack and
Thelda were still in high school. This
was the winter of 1932-33. Grandma
taught me many things about life, as well as the household duties. We had many long talks about her life and
experiences. I am so sorry that I didn’t
realize the importance of recording them.
She often spoke of her son Elbert who had married Vivian Hall of California
and had gone so far away to live. She
loved to have her family close to her.
At one time in her life, she took the train to California to visit them. This trip she really enjoyed, as it was the
only traveling she ever did. That winter
her children came often to see her. It
made her very happy when Uncle Arthur and Aunt Emma from Midvale could
come. Dell, Clyde,
Gib, Willard, and Janie all lived in Peoa and came often. When Grandma was most
ill, Aunt Myrtle Wilkins from Salt
Lake and Aunt Janie
Walker each came a week at a time to help nurse her. That summer Isabell and Thelda cared for
Grandma while I worked in the store. In
the fall it was decided that each of her children would take turns having her
live in their homes to care for her.
Isabell had married, I was to live with Uncle Dell and Aunt Velma when I
wasn’t away at school, Jack with Uncle Clyde and Aunt Mary, and Thelda with our
brother George and his wife Jean.
Grandma didn’t live long; she died
that winter, February 14, 1934, while she was staying with Clyde
and Mary in their home, right next to her home in Peoa. She is buried in the cemetery at Peoa at the
side of her husband, John Alma.
Grandma’s life seemed to be
dedicated to helping others. In her
younger days when there were not many doctors, she acted as a midwife and
helped to bring many babies into the world.
She was very active in the church, and I especially remember her working
in the Relief Society. She was loved and respected by all who ever
knew her. Her children called her Ma,
her grandchildren called her Grandma, and friends and relatives alike referred
to her as Aunt Jean or Aunt Jane. All
her life her home was a haven for her children and grandchildren, who loved to
visit her, and she never tired of them.
They came for every occasion and there were extras for dinner every
Sunday. On every holiday there was a
large crowd. I recall we always had two
tables full, the first and the last. The
children always sat at the last table and ate what was left. There was always plenty, but my brother,
George, jokingly said he never knew that there was any part to the chicken
except the neck and the part that went over the fence last, until he graduated
to the first table. It was really
something when you were old enough to sit with the grown-ups. We didn’t need a holiday for the relatives to
come to Grandma’s. They came for
thrashing, to pick flowers form the hills for decoration day, to pick berries
and to help can fruit.
Of course Grandma never considered
remarrying, this didn’t fit her character, and her life was too full to even
think of it, but we used to tease her about two old widower friends in the
town. She would say, “What would I want
with that old tobacco box?” Or “What would
I do with that old tight wad?” She took
everything so seriously that jokes ran off her like water off a duck’s
back. She never got the point. Grandma was a woman of very strong
character. She was obeyed by all of her
children. She seemed to leave the
impression with them that they must do what was right because of her. They all wanted her love and respect. She
lived her religion and expected those in her charge to do likewise. She could be very strict and severe with you,
if you got out of line. She, however,
had the wisdom of Solomon in the way that she advised and taught young
people. I remember well some of her
sayings. If you were inclined to be lazy
she would remind you that idleness is the Devil’s workshop. If you were vain, she suggested that pretty
is as pretty does. If one strayed occasionally from the truth, it
was tell the truth and shame the Devil.
If selfishness was the problem, she insisted that one should treat
others as one would desire to be treated.
Concerning immorality she was most adamant. “Death for one of her,” she said, “would be
preferable.”
All of the
children whom Grandma reared and all of the grandchildren whose lives she
toughed are considered good respectable, law-abiding citizens and for the most
part have remained rue to the church and are leaders in it. I think it can be very said that she left a
great impression on many lives.
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