Mary Josephine Parker was raised by her grandparents, Eliza and Polly Hull.

After her marriage to John Madison Chidester, December 28, 1830, they moved to Michigan where they were taught the gospel. They joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in 1832.

They were living in Florence, Ohio, when a call came for volunteers to join Zion's Camp, to go to the aid of the Saint in Missouri. John and Mary, with their two children, John Peck and Eunice, traveled to Liberty, Clay County, Missouri, but were run out by the mobs. Two children born during this time died because of the hardships the family had to endure.

The family came across the Plains with the Warren Foote Company arriving in the Valley, September 17, 1850.

They lived first in Bountiful, the Palmyra, Utah, where John was mayor and Presiding Bishop.

In 1854, John was away with the Militia and Mary had the responsibility to farm and care for her children. Palmyra was finally abandoned.

In 1862, the Chidester were called to the Cotton Mission in Utah's Dixie. They lived in Washington, Utah, were Indian problems, malaria, and want were their lot. John was a carpenter by trade and Mary assisted him by lining the caskets with fine, white cloth.

Mary died at the age of seventy years. Both Mary and John are buried in Washington, Utah.

Pioneer Women of Faith and Fortitude, Vol. I, p. 554.