Mary Jane's mother had died and her father sent her to America with her grandparents.  They sailed to America in 1849 on the ship Henry Ware, who died while en route to America.  The rest of her journey to Utah was with her aunt Ann  and Joseph Coates and their family. 

 

Mary's name appears with the Coates family in the 1850 and 1860 U.S. Census.

 

Her birth and death dates are confirmed by the inscription on her gravestone, and her death date is also confirmed by her death certificate.