A DREAM COME TRUE

by Kathy Lindsay, 1988

Searching for roots is a fascinating hobby. It is more than a hobby for Mormons, it is a commandment. Our Mom, Elsie Richards Kohler, felt keenly about this. Her roots were in Wales and Denmark and so the records needing researching were in foreign languages. Over the years she paid a great deal of money to professional researchers to do this work. The Welch line has been particularly difficult and not much has been accomplished on it. Most of what we know comes from the Temple work David Richards did. As I helped work on this line I dreamed of someday taking a trip to Wales and seeing the area.

When Stuart's mission was nearing completion, Ben and I decided to go to meet him and take a few days and visit the Lindsay roots in Scotland and the Richards roots in Wales. As we drove from London to Wales, I knew we were going to experience the area that heretofore had only been names in genealogy.

Cwmcracken was to be our first stop. Grandfather recorded in his Bible that he was born at "Cwmcracken, near Nantyglo in South Wales on 9 April 1825." As we drove into Nanty Glo (population 6000) we looked for someone older who would be able to answer our questions. We saw an older gentleman on the sidewalk, stopped and told him we were searching for information about my Grandfather who was born near here. He said he would not be able to help us, but knew who would. He told us to drive down the street, around the corner and up a hill and we would find some men sitting on a bench and they could answer our questions. He said, "If they don't know it, it isn't worth knowing!" We asked, "Will they be there now?" He said, "Sure they will be there now, they are always sitting there!" He got into his car to show us the way (incidently his car looked about like our small cars except it had just one front wheel located right in the center). We followed him to the bench and sure enough there sat two men: Jimma Preece and Archie Davis. After very kind introductions, we showed them a genealogy sheet and asked if they could help us with any information. Jimma was appalled when I mentioned David Richards, born at Cwmcracken in 1825. He said that just a month previously a dark headed American lady, about 25 or 30 years old, came asking for the same information. He told her where Cwmcracken was located and she left. Who could have been inquiring about Grandfather??? A bit spooky! (When we returned home, we found that a friend of Barbara's who traveled to Wales had been there and inquired for Barbara.)

Jimma began telling us stories about the area: how it has been an iron and coal mining area for many years. The ironworks was owned by Crocha Bailey; he controlled the area and all of the people! He told stories of what it used to be like: the working conditions were terrible, pay was very low. He said that in the early 1800s Nanty Glo and Cwmcracken were separate towns. Today Cwmcracken is only a very small area in the town of Nanty Glo.

While Jimma went to tell his wife that he would go with us to show us around, we visited with two women who lived across the street from the bench. They were sisters, Charlotte Elizabeth Harris Jones and Phyllis Maria Harris Hale. Their Grandfather who was born in 1850 was named Benjamin Harris!!!!! Our great Grandfather was Benjamin Harris, born in about 1891. It seemed we were so close and yet so far away!!

Jimma took us to visit each of the people named Richards who now live in Nanty Glo. This proved to be unprofitable as they didn't even know their own grandparents names let alone anything about them or other ancestors. We spent time searching the cemeteries of the area; no information found. Then Jimma took us to the home of Trevor Rowson, the community historian, who is in the process of compiling history of this area, has published one book and is working on another.

The Rowson home looked much like others in the area, but Mr. & Mrs. Rowson didn't. Trevor was dressed in clothing that had not been changed for days, he had wild looking hair (what there was of it), and had one tooth on the top. His wife was equally dirty, she had just 4 huge teeth in her mouth. They were unkept, but so kind!!! They couldn't have been more helpful. There were piles of pictures and photos and documents every where. He brought one large pile from the corner and began to show us and relate stories. It was so exciting to hear the history of this area. On one of the pictures he pointed out a furnace that a puddler would have tended (David Richards states that his occupation was "puddler." Trevor said that a puddler tended the furnaces, and many went blind at an early age because of the extreme heat of the furnace. It was the puddlers job to test the temperature and quality of the iron being heated in the furnace. The job was prestigious and paid more than some of the others. Trevor promised to send us a copy of his book and also several photos. He gave me a penny minted in Wales in 1798 (a coin about the size of our silver dollar). He urged us to go to the Registry Office at Tredegar which might give us genealogical information. Jimma wanted us to go to the Gwent District offices. Our researcher has already searched these records.

Our next stop was in Merthyr Tydfil about 15 miles from Nanty Glo. It is here that David Richards lived, he was married here in the Bethesda Chapel, and some of his children were born in Merthyr. As we drove into the city, my eyes popped out; there was the Bethesda Chapel!! The big sign across the front said, "Bethesda Chapel Remodeled in 1880." We questioned an older gentleman standing by the chapel and he told us it was built in the early 1800s, used as a church until 20 years ago, and was the only Bethesda Chapel in Merthyr Tydfil.

We were hunting a store so we could buy a map and explore the city. Merthyr is a city of about 50,000 today. As we drove up the street, we found a Mormon chapel!! In front was a Utah DUP sign telling of the establishing of the Welch Mission in 1840 (note Grandfather's birthplace on the next page!). The chapel was being renovated so we wandered through it, found a sister working there. She told us of the history of the area. It was similar to that of Nanty Glo, a mining area for iron, coal and tin works, terrible working conditions extremely low pay. One man, William Crocha, controlled it all!! Women and children had the job of washing coal before it could be used in furnaces. It was put in large troughs and they had to get into the trough to do the work. Shifts were 12 hours a day, 6 days a week. Children started work at the ironworks when 7 years old. The mortality of children during the 1800s was appalling; 3 of every 5 children died by 5 years of age.

David Richards lived in Merthyr in 1844 at the time of his first marriage. In 1847 his daughter Miriam was born here. By 1848 he had moved to Britton Ferry, Wales where his second daughter was born and it was in Britton Ferry that he was baptized a member of the Church.

Wales is so beautiful; so green, the villages were quaint, the larger cities modern. As we visited each area we imagined what life was like for our ancestors. From the stories we heard, we assume their lives were filled with challenges and hardships.

We know that Grandfather's Mother, Ann Harris, lived in Bath, England at one time. His diary notes, "I wrote a letter to my mother in Bath." We decided to head for Bath and see that area. Bath is a beautiful resort area; very historical old buildings magnificently well preserved. We saw the old Church of England, the Bath Abbey, built in 1499. We spent some time in the archives and searched the records, but found nothing.

As we drove back to London, there was time to reflect on what we had seen: Grandfather's place of birth, place where he lived, probably where he grew up, where he was married, and where some of his children were born. We had fasted and prayed for inspiration to know where to look for genealogy clues. We came home with only very remote clues to follow. As we stood on those streets, more than once I bowed my head in humble gratitude for Grandfather's willingness to listen to the Gospel, gratitude that he accepted the Gospel of Jesus Christ, made the sacrifices necessary to go to America. He remained faithful to his testimony. Perhaps I feel a special kinship to Grandfather because I was born on his birthday. I wondered if it was a dream of Mom's to visit her Father's homeland. It was a dream for me, a dream come true!!!