Biographical Note:
Mary Lucetta Shumway Thompson was born on November 13, 1883 in
Clarkston, Cache, Utah, to Charles M. and Agnes Jardine Shumway. She was
raised and educated in Cache County, Utah. On February 4, 1902, she
was married to James J. Thompson in the Logan LDS Temple. Mrs. Thompson
was a practicing member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints,
and with her husband, raised eight children in Garland, Utah. The children,
three boys (J. Delos, Odell S., and W. Blaine Thompson) and five girls (Agnes,
Blanche, Melba, Laura, and Lola Ruth) remained close to their mother until her
death on February 29, 1976 at the age of 92. (Biographical information obtained
through obituary contained in the March 4, 1976 issue of the Tremonton
Leader/Garland Times.)
Scope and Content:
Exemplifying a senior woman’s life in rural Utah from the 1930's to the 1970's, the
Shumway Thompson collection focuses on the daily activities of Mary Lucetta
Shumway Thompson, including what she termed in her diaries as “Mormon
handicraft,” or netting and sewing, and her daily interactions with her family
members, particularly her daughters. Mrs. Thompson was constantly surrounded
by family, and she noted in her 1958 journal that until her husband’s death that year,
she had spent only a few nights alone. The collection also contains routine events
Thompson encountered as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
Saints, including her weekly attendance of Sunday School, and her interactions with
local ecclesiastical leaders.
Who is this family member?