Rachel Stephens Jones
By D. Harold Jones
My great-grandmother, Rachel Daniel or Stephens, wife of
David Jones, and mother of Henry Jones, was born in Pencader,
Llanfihangel ar Arth Parish, Carmarthenshire, Wales,
on February 25, 1805. She
was the fifth child of a family of twelve, born to Daniel Daniel
Stephens and Ann Phillips.
Rachel took the patronymic name of Daniel, which means she
used her father's given name, as her surname. On her marriage certificate, and
on her son Henry's birth certificate, she gave her name as Rachel Daniel. When
she came to America
she used the Stephens name.
Rachel joined the Mormon Church and emigrated
to America with
her son Henry, coming on the ship Constitution, June 23, 1868. After having come from the east by train
as far as Wyoming, they had to
walk many miles over the Continental Divide coming into Utah.
For some years she and her son, Henry, lived in Willard,
Utah. After Henry married Catherine Pierce,
they moved to St. John. Rachel's
house was in the field below the ditch, where my home now is (Harold Jones) in
1984.
Three of the Stephens clan emigrated
to America, and
finally lived and died at St. John.
They are: Rachel Jones, her sister, Ann Daniels, who brought two sons, and a brother David Phillips Stephens, who has many
descendants in the Malad
Valley.
As Rachel grew older and her health began to fail, her house
was moved over to Henry and the family. The grandchildren loved to go to
Grandma Rachel's and they spent many, many hours with her. She knitted and mended
all the stockings for the Jones family.
The grandchildren took turns staying with Grandma at night.
The night she died, she was restless and kept fussing about Maggie. The younger
grandson was with her when finally she asked him to go get Maggie (who was her
favorite). Maggie came, gave Grandma a drink, crawled into bed, held her hand,
and soon sleep came. In the morning, Grandma was found dead. She died October 15, 1899, at nearly 95 years
of age.
(From St. John, Oneida County, Idaho: A collection of
personal histories from the time of the first settlers to the present day,
p. 170.)
