Mary INGHAM

Mary INGHAM Kay

As told from Yvonne Kay Marshall - daughter of Mary Ingham

July 5, 1909 - Oct. 13, 1981

Mary Ingham as a Baby

FROM ENGLAND TO SALT LAKE

On my mother's side of the family, Mary Ingham Kay's grandparents, were Charles Henry Ingham and Mary Ann Barron,who were converted to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in England, and then came over to the United States. Whether they were married just before they were converted or just after isn't clear, but they were married very close to the time they left England, because their first baby was born on the plains of Wyoming as they were crossing to come to Utah. They had settled down in the Salt Lake area. The first and second children were both boys. Mary 's father (William Henry Ingham) was the second child and both of these older boys remained active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints - LDS and raised their families in the church. However apparently something happened, either with an individual or with the ward , I don't think anyone knows exactly what, but my mother's grandparents (Charles Henry Ingham and Mary Ann Barron) became very hurt with the church. Sometime after their first few children were born they stopped going to church. The two older boys continued to go to church and be active, but not the other seven children . As the two older boys grew up they apparently asked their parents questions about their ancestors but their parents would not give them any information.

Mother's parents, William Henry Ingham and Mary Agnus Pack, were from the pioneers that came across the plains at the time Brigham Young came . William Henry Ingham had served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints in Tennessee, in January of 1894. He was also the first councilor in the Bishopric for the last ten years of his life. He and his wife,Mary Agnus Pack, were very active in the church and raised their family in the church. They had six children, Madelon, Helen, Ardell, Alta, Ward, and Mary. As it turned out my mother(Mary Ingham Kay), Aunt Dot(Ardelle Ingham Kay) and my Uncle Ward were married in the temple, however none of the others did. Yet my cousin (Maureen Perona - Aunt Alta's daughter )and I, used to kind of wonder, how it happened that it seemed none of the girls had very strong testimonies, it just seemed strange to us.

William Henry Ingham owned a shoe store called "The Ingham Shoe Company" in Sugarhouse, UT. And that's were he earned his living, selling shoes. One of the things that mother (Mary Ingham Kay)used to tell me was that she loved shoes, and of course she was very small build and had small feet. So she was able to fit into almost any pair of shoes, but she says she probably ruined her feet trying to fit into shoes that were way too small.. She always seemed to have good feelings whenever she talked about her parents. Besides owning a shoe shore her father is also reported to have been working for the FBI. When she spoke of her mother she seemed to like her, but I don't know how close they were because that's not something that she would talked to me about. I think she was close to her sisters, especially her oldest sister, Madeline. Madeline seemed to have helped raise a lot of the younger ones. When she spoke of Madeline it wasn't so much Madeline liked her as she liked Madeline. She talked about how she and her brother were close as they were growing up. Mother (Mary Ingham Kay) was fifteen when her father died on March 7, 1924. She said she could even remember seeing him in the chair as he had passed away, it was a real shock for her. He'd had a sudden very sever stroke (apoplexy).

But apparently after he died the family lost the shop and her mother, Mary Agnes Pack Ingham, didn't really have any way to support the family. By that time her two oldest daughters were married. The oldest, Madelone, married Delbert Cushing Guiver and stayed there in Utah. The second oldest, Helen, Graduated from University Of Utah in June of 1922 and then went out to Oakland, California where she taught High School. There she met Gerald Arnold John Beukers, they were married Oct. 25, 1929.

Gerald A. J. Beukers, had a yard business selling coal and lumber, along with all kinds of building commodities and landscaping materials. He was doing well and he began to buy property there throughout Oakland and Berkeley. He was a widower himself, he'd married Grace Frances Bartlett who had died Oct. 15, 1928. They had one daughter, Barbara Jane Beukers, born Aug. 9, 1923. She was six years old when Helen and Gerald were married. Helen raised Barbara along with their other three children (Gerald, Helen and Donald). They were doing well, so Helen talked her mother(Mary Agnes Pack Ingam ) into bringing what was left of the family out to California, where the girls could earn a better living. In the meantime, my mother (Mary Ingham) had finished business school in Salt Lake City UT, so she was able to earn a living. She had a younger brother (Ward Ingham) that I'm pretty sure still needed to finish school. But whatever family my grandmother Ingham still had living established a place and found work.

Mary Ingham and John B. Kay (my parents) actually met while attending the Oakland ward, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Mary Ingham's sister , Ardell Ingham, also met and married John B. Kay's only brother James Kay. Their mother, Margaret Young Kay, encouraged them to be married in the Temple, and financed their trip to Salt Lake City. They were both married on the same day in the Salt Lake Temple by, Joseph Fielding Smith. Times were hard then and traveling money hard to find. They may not have done so without their mother's help……. FYI -she was also known as Grandma Kay to me (Yvonne Kay Marshall), and others.

Even though John Black Kay and Mary Ingham Kay became inactive for many years they, considered their Temple marriage to be the reason they stayed together throughout many difficult years. It was truly a blessing for them and me(Yvonne Kay Marshall), their daughter. They struggled to overcome financial problems until Mary Ingham Kay received a large inheritance from her aunt Jean (Eugene Pack Kilpatrick) in 1946/47. That enabled them to move away from "The City" and its influences, to Menlo Park where they bought a home.

Mother (Mary Ingham Kay) told me of an experience, when I was about one year old. She was driving in a car with her brother, my uncle Ward. And with her mother (Mary Agnes Pack Ingham---my grandmother Ingham) and my Aunt Pearl;(Pearl Irene Pack) who was my grandmother Ingham's sister. I think there were one or two more in the car, but I don't know who they were. Plus I don't recall where they were headed, but I had been sitting on my grandmother Ingham's lap in the back seat. My mother tells me that she suddenly handed me to her, in the front seat and told her something like, she thought she shouldn't hold me any longer. And mother was a bit surprised, because she had thought everything was fine in the back seat, and that that seemed unusual. However just a moment after she handed me to her, they were hit by a drunk driver. They were hit on the side of the car were my grandmother was sitting, she was knocked out of the car and killed instantly. My Aunt Pearl and my Uncle Ward were injured. Mother said everyone in the car was injured except for her and I. Again, she was the one that was holding me. (see more on this stories in mom's history History of Yvonne Kay Marshall