Mary Jane Whitney
Born 17 Jan. 1844 at Nauvoo, Hancock Co., Illinois.[1] Daughter of Newel K. Whitney and Elizabeth Ann Smith.[2] Daughter of EBW’s sister wife.[3] Migrated to Utah Territory with the Heber C. Kimball pioneer company, arriving on 24 Sept. 1848.[4] Baptized 25 Mar. 1852.[5] Married Isaac Groo, 4 June 1865, in Salt Lake City; six children.[6] Member of the dramatic club in the Salt Lake City Ninth Ward.[7] Owned real estate in Salt Lake City.[8] Frequently mentioned in EBW’s diary entries.[9] Died 29 Oct. 1925 in Salt Lake City.[10]
[1] “Endowments of the Living, 1851–1884,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Endowment House, vol. B, p. 55, line 5, Mary Jane Whitney, 22 Nov. 1855, microfilm 1149524 (restricted access), FHL. “Family Tree,” database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org, accessed 9 Jan. 2018), Mary Jane Whitney (KWVG-BF4).
[2] “Endowments of the Living, 1851–1884,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Endowment House, vol. B, p. 55, line 5, Mary Jane Whitney, 22 Nov. 1855, microfilm 1149524 (restricted access), FHL. Frederick Clifton Pierce, Whitney: The Descendants of John Whitney, Who Came from London, England, to Watertown, Massachusetts, in 1635 (Chicago: printed by the author, 1895), 441.
[3] Carol Cornwall Madsen, Emmeline B. Wells: An Intimate History (Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2017), 504.
[4] “Mary Jane Whitney,” Pioneer Database (https://history.churchofjesuschrist.org/overlandtravel, accessed 12 Dec. 2017).
[5] “Endowments of the Living, 1851–1884,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Endowment House, vol. B, p. 55, line 5, Mary Jane Whitney, 22 Nov. 1855, microfilm 1149524 (restricted access), FHL.
[6] “Sealings of Couples, Living and by Proxy, 1851–1889,” The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Endowment House, vol. D, p. 487, Isaac Groo and Mary Jane Whitney, 4 June 1865, microfilm 1149514 (restricted access), FHL. 1900 U.S. Census, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake Co., UT, ED 8, p. 8B, Mary J. Groo.
[7] Daughters of Utah Pioneers, comp., Tales of a Triumphant People: A History of Salt Lake County, Utah, 1847–1900 (Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1947), 27.
[8] “Yesterday’s Real Estate Transfers,” Salt Lake Herald, 18 Mar. 1892, 8.
[9] See, for example, EBW, Diary, 29 Aug. 1874; 7 Nov. 1874; 15 Feb. 1875; 26 June 1881; 22 Oct. 1887; 16–18 Aug. 1890; 8 Jan. 1891; 24–25 Jan. 1891; 17 Jan. 1897; 17 Jan. 1901.
[10] “Utah Death Certificate Index, 1904–1961,” database and images, Utah State Archives (https://archives.utah.gov, accessed 9 Jan. 2018); from Utah Department of Health, Office of Vital Records and Statistics, series 81448, file no. 1637/600 (1925), Mary Jane Whitney Groo.