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JOHN EVANS, OUR WELSH HERO
A compilation of writings by his
sons, Thomas and John,
his daughter, Martha, and a
great-great granddaughter,
Elaine Nelson McIver
John
Evans & Elizabeth Davies|
Thomas
M. Evans & Rachel Wright|
Hortense Evans
& Alphonzo J. Nelson|
Herman
Nelson & Thora Mickelsen|
Elaine Nelson & Walter McIver
The McIver Children and
Grandchildren
It was further and darker and colder
than he thought it would be. Nine-year-old John wondered if perhaps he had
made a very large mistake in deciding to go to the big city to find his
father. He had made the acquaintance of a stranger who was herding many sheep
through John’s little Welsh town. The man was on his way to Merthyr Tydfil, where John’s
papa had gone to work. When the stranger took an interest in John and
promised that he would help him find his father, it sounded like a wonderful
idea. John was tired of the emptiness he felt when thinking of his papa whom
he loved and missed a great deal. He was too young to realize that the man
was probably far more interested in obtaining help with the sheep than in the
boy's well being.
John made his sister promise to
tell his mother where he had gone, thinking that would put his mother's mind
at rest. John could not imagine the tears and sleepless nights he generated
for her. But that was far from his mind during the trip. He was having a new
adventure and felt no concern until they arrived at their destination. Even
in 1836 Merthyr Tydfil, Wales was
quite a large city, and finding his father was much more difficult than he
had imagined.
It was a joyous reunion indeed
when John finally found John Thomas Evans, his papa. Actually, the father
found the son, for by now the entire family was searching all over for young
John. John, Sr. was most surprised to think his son missed him badly enough
to leave home to find him. After that experience his parents decided that if
John wanted to be with his father that badly, perhaps the whole family should
move to Merthyr.
This move to Merthyr eventually brought John into contact with
the Mormon missionaries and his first step toward becoming a Mormon pioneer.
The story above is true. Perhaps it will help us
understand the courage and determination John Evans had even as a very young
boy. He had a special place in the lives of all who knew him and is
definitely regarded as a family hero.
The following is an excerpt from
the book, Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah, by Susan Easton
Black, p. 863: "...Came to Utah Sept. 8, 1861, Harvey Hulanger company...Family home Brigham City, Utah.
Seventy and high priest; missionary toLlandovery 1851
and to Nebraska 1857. Assisted in building first telegraph line
across the plains. Settled at Brigham City 1861; labored at Bear
River City 1866 to 1868. Served as watermaster;
labored at Honeyville 1868. Assisted in
building the tabernacle and ward meeting houses. Worked on C.P. railroad.
Member martial band 30 years; worked on Utah Northern railroad 1870.
Missionary to Europe 1880-82. Member tabernacle choir 30
years."
John was born in Llandovery, Carmarthenshire, Wales,
known as one of the prettiest spots in the country. The mother who was left
to behind to worry when he went on his Merthyr Tydfil adventure was named Hannah Williams.
The family has copies of John’s handwritten biography and
a missionary journal. It is interesting to read his writings because he
spelled with an accent. In other words, he didn’t know the correct spelling
and just spelled the words as he heard them. This is no surprise since John
had little schooling except what he absorbed in Sunday School where he
learned to read the Bible.
At the age of nine he started to work in the iron mines as
a tram-boy, a worker who placed blocks of wood in front of the wheels to stop
the cars of oar. As he grew older, he gradually advanced and was eventually
made a station engineer. He belonged in the ranks of hundreds and hundreds
who sometimes risked their lives in the mine and who paid a price for
inhaling dirty, black dust into previously clean lungs. He worked in the
mines until he decided it would be in his best interest to move to America.
While yet a young a man, he became
fascinated with Mormon missionaries preaching in the streets. Some of his
best friends had joined their new church which prompted him to investigate.
He was baptized on February 23, 1849 in the Taf River.
The light of the Gospel brightened up his life so much that after being
confirmed, that he said, "It is the Kingdom of God or
nothing for me now."
Upon learning of John's joining the Church, his family
felt that they had been disgraced. However, later they became somewhat
reconciled to the new beliefs. Some of them also joined but later left the
Church. The persecution of the day made it difficult for people to stand up
for their beliefs when they were not the popular doctrines of the day. His
sister Ann, however, remained firm and true to the faith for a number of
years. She married a David Powell and moved to America years before
John did. She and her husband, after coming to America, settled in the
old fort at Brigham City, Utah and later on a farm four miles
north of Brigham City. This is where John located his sister when he
came to Utah eight or ten years later.
His church membership brought an added benefit. At various
Church meetings he became attracted to a young woman named Elizabeth Davies
who was working in the mission home. The romance blossomed quickly, and they
were married November 15, 1852.
They became well-acquainted with many of the early church
leaders who stopped at the mission home en route to other areas. John became
acquainted with and preached with Dan Jones, an early Welsh convert and
missionary who was a friend of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and who was with him
at Carthage Jail.
Their first baby boy was born October 24, 1853; a year
later they set sail from Liverpool for America on the "Clara
Wheeler". There were 422 Saints on board, directed by Henry E. Phelps.
They were eight weeks crossing due to bad storms. Their baby became very ill.
They reached New Orleans on January 11, 1855,
sailed up the Mississippi on the Oceania and disembarked in St.
Louis. They traveled on to Gravois, a suburb of St. Louis, where about two
weeks later their baby passed away, leaving them sad and lonely in a strange
land.
John found work in the coal mines
of St. Louis but was ill with malaria quite a bit. They were
blessed there with a new baby named Thomas Maddock.
At the beginning of the next year John was called on
mission to build a new settlement on the plains for the benefit of the
emigrants who were on their way to Utah. The little family traveled up
the Missouri River to Florence, Nebraska then traveled by ox
team and ferry to a place called Beaver Creek where they helped build up the
town of Genoa. They stayed three years before adventure called out to
them again.
While in Genoa a prairie fire broke out. The
very name strikes terror to the hearts of those who have witnessed such
fires. A very pregnant Elizabeth had to run for river banks; an
Indian squaw carried little Thomas. John liberated the pig; the house was
saved but they lost all their grain and food. Shortly after that the
government took their place over for a reservation for the Pawnee Indians
which necessitated their moving away hurriedly.
They left Genoa, going farther west, and crossed the Loup Fork River on
the ice, taking a great risk as the thaw had already commenced. Soon after
they landed the ice gave way. They crossed on the 22nd day of February, 1860.
Here they encountered cold and wintry weather, and they had to make fires out
in the open for heat and cooking. John had to hold a blanket around his wife
while she washed and dressed her baby in order to protect them from the cold.
They traveled seventy-five miles through a desolate Indian country alone,
camping out two or three nights.
They arrived at Wood River, 25 miles west of Grand
Island, Nebraska, near Fort Kearney, where they settled for a
while. While here in 1861, Buffalo County was created and
named. John was appointed the first deputy sheriff and later became sheriff
when the former sheriff was asked to leave office.
John had a good place at Wood River; plenty of
water, timber, hay and grass. He assisted in building the first telegraph
line that came west. He also had considerable experience in hunting buffalo
and other game upon which they mostly subsisted. John and some other men were
hired by men who were his neighbors to build a store for them at Kearney City,
a small town near the fort. They built it of sods, as no other material was
available. So with strong ox teams they plowed the sod and then cut it in the
desired lengths with a spade and hauled it to where the store was to be
built.
At this time the Pikes Peak gold mine rush was
on and people were going there by the hundreds. Sometimes one hundred a day
would camp there, and as one company moved out another moved in. This
occurred all summer, making things very prosperous. Many of the travelers had
their violins and other instruments with them, and they held dancing parties
and entertainments in which John took a part. He was quite a favorite with
them when they learned he could sing and step-dance. He was often called on
to participate, and they wondered how he could make his feet go so fast in so
many positions.
Near Fort Kearney is Grand Island, in
the middle of the Platte River. It is about sixty miles long, and
is owned by the government. It was used then for the benefit of the fort,
where they raised hay for the cavalry horses, also wood, and kept their stock
there. Some men contracted to put up the hay, and John was hired to help. He
did the raking and they put up two hundred ton one year.
At this time the war broke out between the North and the
South, and soldiers were being sent to the front. A company of soldiers under
the command of Colonel May, a large and handsome man with whom he was
acquainted, was among them. John asked him all about it. Colonel May and the
soldiers told him that firing had commenced that morning, and they had
received a telegram to leave immediately. They drank all the milk the folks
had and all the water in the well.
John took the produce to Fort Kearney to
sell. One day when he was taking a load of watermelons there, he met some
soldiers who bought them all and gave him a good price. On his way home, in a
lonely place, an Indian came up to the wagon and snatched his whip away from
him. John jumped out and regained the whip, but the Indian drew his bow and
aimed straight at him. At this, he let his team go on and walked backwards,
keeping his eyes fastened on the Indian until he was out of sight. The
Indian, however, did not shoot and John was greatly relieved when out of
range.
He went some miles away to talk to a Brother Joseph E.
Johnson, to discuss plans for the future, and Brother Johnson said,
"Whatever you do don't remain in this country for another winter, for
this is the very war predicted by the Prophet Joseph Smith twenty-nine years
ago, and when the Indians learn that the people of the nation are at war with
each other they will take advantage of the situation and take the law in
their own hands, and it won't be safe to live here any longer." He also
said, "I wouldn't live here another winter for all I'm worth." They
decided to go to Utah that summer.
An independent company was
organized, with Harvey Hullinger as
captain and John Evans appointed chaplain. On July 8, 1861 they started for Salt
Lake City, quite well equipped. John had three yoke of oxen, two yoke of
cows, two wagons, two plows, and two stoves which were rare in those days,
and a number of other things. George Day, a boy of twelve years, drove one of
his teams. When about to leave, a fine pair of oxen went missing which were
never recovered. They later learned of
some killings by the Indians. One case was of a father and his two
sons.
They arrived in Salt Lake City on September 8,
1861 having spent two months on the way. Upon arriving they camped where the City
and County building now stands, which was an open square at the time. They
saw the old Salt Lake Theater in the process of construction. One of the
first things John did upon arriving in Utah was to give one of his
cows as tithing.
After a visit with his sister,
Mrs. Ann Powell who with her husband was settled on a farm north of Brigham
City, John intended to go either to Cache Valley, Wellsville, or Logan.
But they were so happy being together again that the Powells insisted
that they remain with them for the winter. This they did, but it did not
prove to be so successful as it was hard
for the two families to live together in one small house and have their
property intermingle.
Due to the long winter it took the sale of about one half
of John's property to buy feed for the other half, and as a result they were
unable to continue on to the Cache Valley.
In February, 1862 they moved to Brigham
City and lived in a small adobe house near where the Tithing Office
stood. On March 1, 1862 another boy was born, John Gomer. Later John
purchased a lot on which there was a two-roomed cellar with a dirt roof.
Strangely, enough it was considered a very nice place to live. In this house
another son, Joshua, was born on March 6, 1864.
John disposed of the place and
purchased a lot with a four-room adobe house on it, situated on 2nd West
between 1st and 2nd North Streets; this was their permanent home. Two
daughters were born; Mary Elizabeth on April 7, 1867 and Martha Madoraon November 20, 1871.
In 1875 they were called to part with their beautiful and
brilliant boy, Joshua, which was a great blow to them. Joshua was eleven
years old he died, a victim of diphtheria. This was a sad blow to the family,
especially to mother, as she had great hopes and expectations for him.
John worked at whatever he could find to do; farming,
gardening, hauling wood from the canyon for himself and others, helping to
make roads and ditches, working on public and private buildings, and
generally building up the place. He also did work as a sub-contractor on the
Central Pacific Railroad which is now the Southern Pacific, also on the Utah
Northern which is now the Oregon Short Line Railroad.
After coming to Utah, hard
luck seemed to follow John. He purchased some land just west of where the
sugar factory now stands, which was a very choice piece of property and one
of the best in the field. During the spring season the water in Box Elder
Creek rose so high that it flooded over, washing rock and gravel all over the
land. John Gomer Evans, his son, says that he remembers working
with John and Brother Jeppson and others
with the water up to their knees, trying to build a willow fence to turn the
current in another direction and save the land from further damage. This was
impossible, however, and the land was practically ruined.
John then obtained some farm land
between Bear River City and Tremonton, and helped survey Bear
River City, where he secured a lot and intended to live in order to be
near the farm. Water was taken from the Malad River
to irrigate the land, but the mineral in it ruined the soil He worked for
years trying to overcome this condition but to no avail, and it proved to be
almost a total loss.
John later took up claim about
three miles southwest of Brigham, near Perry and built a nice log house with
a shingle roof on it. They lived there one summer. The eastern half of the
property was suitable for farming, and the west portion was meadow. One year
John raised 265 bushels of wheat, which was considered very good from land without water. This was the first dry
land wheat raised in that part of the country.
The place, however, was better adapted to dairying
purposes. Two railroads ran through the property; the Southern Pacific and
the Oregon Short Line. Everything looked quite prosperous when one of the
engines set fire to the meadow portion of the land, and the grass and sod
were ruined.
John's little half-acre lot in Brigham
City proved to be quite profitable. He raised peaches and other fruit as
well as vegetables. In the fall of the year, he and John Gomer would
load the wagon with peaches and go to Cache Valley, Malad, and vicinity to exchange them for wheat. A bushel
of peaches went for a bushel of wheat.
John was a member of the
Tabernacle Choir for twenty-five or thirty years, and a member of the Martial
Band for forty years. He played the flute and fife and had a fine bass voice.
He sang in public, and on many occasions
he and Elizabeth sang character songs together. It always impressed
his family and many others when he would give _expression to his feelings in
song, which he did often in fast meetings.
At the April Conference in Salt
Lake City in 1880, he was called to perform missionary work in his
native land, Wales. This would mean a great sacrifice to him and his
family at this time, but the gospel meant everything to them. So on the 13th
day of the same month he, in the company with others who were also going to
perform missions, left Ogden traveling to New York then boarding the ship,
"Arizona". They landed on May 1st and on May 2nd he took the train for South Wales where he
was assigned to labor.
The second year of John's mission,
he was called to preside over the Welsh Conference, succeeding Joseph R.
Matthews, and an account of his labors is recorded in the "Millennial
Star" in Volumes 42, 43 and 44. He traveled and preached in all the
counties in Wales, visited relatives in London and other parts
of England, and in Wales gathered
genealogy. He preached the gospel and bore his testimony to all he met.
John sailed for home on April 11, 1882 on the steamship,
"Nevada" and was appointed chaplain over the company of Saints on
board. He arrived home on May 1st, and upon his return he was reinstated in
the choir and the Martial Band.
In his later years, John disposed of his farm land and
devoted his time to caring for his garden, which was a joy to see. He raised
different kinds of fruit and a variety of vegetables continuously, from
asparagus in the early spring to whatever would grow until the frost
came.
John took great pleasure in
joining his fellow countrymen, the Cambrians and Sons and Daughters of Wales
Societies in their annual festivities at Saltair where
he would take his part in singing and step-dancing. He enjoyed having his
grandchildren and great-grandchildren gather around him while he sang and
played his flute for them; and they enjoyed it as well.
John's family, together with other Welsh families of
Brigham, Willard, and Perry promoted a number of Eisteddfods, and fine
educational programs were rendered in both Welsh and English and old Welsh
customs renewed.
In 1914, when far advanced in
years, John met with a terrible accident while visiting in Salt Lake
City. Being fond of walking, he decided he would like to go over the road
upon which he had emigrated into the Salt Lake Valley fifty-three
years before, which road was through Parleys Canyon. He wished to
note the changes which had taken place since that time. He had gone quite
some distance up the canyon and was on his way back to the city when he
noticed some workmen on the railroad. The foreman called to him and asked him
to ride down the canyon with them as they had seen him going up the canyon in
the morning. They thought it was wonderful to see a man of his age taking
such a walk. John declined, preferring to walk, but the men rather pressed
the invitation and he consented. When they had gone a short distance
something went wrong with the car, and it left the track. John was thrown
from the car, and when he recovered consciousness, they were nearly to Salt Lake.
His nephew, Mr. Prosser, was contacted and took John to
his home where a doctor was called and the family notified. His injuries
proved to be a broken collarbone, two broken ribs, a very badly wrenched back
and terrible bruises all over his head and body. He was absolutely helpless,
and no hopes were entertained for his recovery. A trained nurse, together
with members of his family, took care of him until he was able to be taken
home.
John recovered rapidly, however, but it left him in a very
nervous condition, and he could sleep neither night nor day and was too
nervous to even remain in bed. He improved some, but never entirely recovered
from this condition.
In his later years, and after
Elizabeth died in May 1914, John devoted much of his time to reading, to
visiting the aged, sick and homebound, and doing genealogical and temple
work. John became much filled with the spirit of Temple work and
spent as much time as he could working in
behalf of his dead relatives.
He was so devoted to Temple work that he would
not give it up, and he died performing that work in the Salt Lake Temple.
He fell while working in the Temple and was taken to the Holy Cross Hospital,
in Salt Lake City, where he died April 15, 1920, being at the time over
ninety-one years of age. His fall necessitated an operation. This he
survived, but passed peacefully away the next day.
John ever bore a strong testimony of his faith in the
gospel, and died as he had lived--a doer and not a mere believer of the Word
of God.
At a family reunion in honor of John Evans and Elizabeth
Davies Evans, the following poem written by their grandson, Joshua T. Evans,
was read:
TO GRANDPA EVANS
A name rings out both loud and clear,
A name we love and will revere,
A name we honor and hold dear,
The name of Grandpa Evans.
A pioneer of staunchest type;
Who always tried to do the right;
Who braved the hardships, won the fight,
Was
dear old Grandpa Evans.
A welcome hand at every door,
Visiting sick, comforting poor,
Fatherless, widows, many more--
Fine old Grandpa Evans.
His heart was good, his soul was pure,
He stood for right, fought evil's lure
The aid and sympathy was sure
Of cherished Grandpa Evans.
Who footsore walked and fainted not?
Whose kindly calls are not forgot?
Who judged no man for much or aught?
Good-natured Grandpa Evans.
Who loved to sing a nice Welsh air?
Who step-danced, too, at gay Saltair,
And played the flute with talent rare?
Delightful Grandpa Evans.
We, then, have cause to celebrate;
Praise deeds we try to emulate;
And many more we could relate
Of honored Grandpa Evans.
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