THOMAS PERGRIN AND ANN MATHEWS

Our Perkins ancestors over the last several hundred years, have developed their surname from what seems to have been the word 'peregrinator' or 'a person who journeys from place to place.' If there is an evolution of the surname, it would be Peregrine, Peregrin, Pergrin, and finally Perkins. Other spellings such as Pergreen exist but are orthographic misinterpretations of what was actually said to the person writing the name.

Family tradition states that when John Taylor was in Wales as a missionary he used to stay at the home of Thomas Pergrin. One evening he suggested that the name be changed from Pergrin to Perkins. According to the tradition, this was done about 1849. As will be seen by the 1841 and 1851 census records used in compiling this history, the tradition could certainly be correct.

Thomas Perkins was born 24 July 1784 at Abertawe, as it is spelled in Welsh, or Swansea in Glamorganshire, Wales, the son of Thomas Pergrin and Mary Anthony David.[1] His father was an Independent minister and brought his family up in like religious belief. Thomas learned in his youth to be hard working, thrifty and honest. These traits served him well in his youth and as he grew into manhood.

In 1807 Sketty, situated to the WSW of Swansea, was a cluster of farms bordering on the suburbs of this industrial port. Today it forms part of Swansea proper. It was here on 16 Feb 1807 that William, son of Thomas Pergrin and Ann Evans, was born. When Thomas was a young man of about 26 years of age he became involved with a young girl, Ann Evans, by whom he fathered a child. Ann was born 16 Feb 1780/81 at Swansea.[2] The names of her parents are not known. Whether through social pressures or just because of a lack of understanding, Thomas and Ann decided that it would be best if he took the baby after its birth. It is probable that the baby William was cared for by the mother for several months and then turned over to Thomas' mother until he married the following year. Ann later married John Jenkins and had one child. They lived and died at Caebricks in Swansea.

The year following William's birth on 3 May 1808 at Loughor, Glamorganshire, Wales, "Thomas Pergrine, bachiller was married to 'Ann Mathew, spinster."[3] Ann Mathew was born 2 Dec 1786 at Loughor, a daughter of Joseph Mathews and Margaret Beddow. Ann's father died when she was about 7 years old.[4] This marriage proved to be a happy one. Ann accepted the child of her husband as though he were her own and loved him as her own throughout her life. Thomas and Ann were the parents of two sons and 7 daughters all born at Loughor.[5]

Ann                         b.   1808                  Mary                       b. 1823

Thomas                   b.   1811                  Ruth                        b. 12 June 1827

Margaret                 b.   1814                  Elizabeth                 b. 4 Apr 1829

Mary                       b.   1817                  Catherine                 b. 18 July 1833

Joseph Thomas       b. 24 Sep 1820

Thomas worked in the mines in the area where they lived and was a very humble, simple person. He spoke but little English, never having had much opportunity at schooling. Ann, on the other hand, spoke English quite well and was more educated than her husband. All of the children learned to speak both English and Welsh.

Joseph Thomas says that at the age of 8 he began working at the mines where he earned or was paid the sum of 6 pence a day. At the age of 11 his wages were raised and he received a shilling and two pence a day. At the age of 19 he received the munificent sum of one shilling six pence a day.

Thomas and Ann were hard working, thrifty parents, and devoted to the Mormon Church after joining it in 1844. Thomas was baptized 23 Oct and Ann 16 November.[6] Their daughter Ruth had been the first to join the Church on 15 Mar 1840. William and his wife joined the same day as did Thomas. Joseph and Kitty joined in 1846, Elizabeth in 1850 and others of their relatives were converted from time to time.

In the story of his life, Joseph tells of some tragic and faith promoting experiences that affected the entire family. At one time he was asleep and having a terrible dream when he was awakened by his bedfellow, Elder John Taylor, who later became President of the Church. Elder Taylor asked him what the cause of his distress was. Joseph related the dream and was advised by Elder Taylor not to go to the mines that day. At 7 a.m. (he should have gone to work at 5 a.m.) his father called to say that the mine was on fire. Another time he went out selling gospel tracts instead of going to the mine, and an explosion killed many of his fellow workers that day, among them about 19 elders of the Church.

Although many of the family had already left home by 1841, the 1841 census shows them living in Treboeth near Thomas' son William. They lived on Penlwiss Robert Street and are recorded as follows:[7]

Thomas Pergrin   male   age 55   collier   b. in Glam

Ann            female     50               

Joseph          male      20   collier       

Elizabeth        female     12               

Catherine        female      8               

After the family was raised, about 1845 Thomas and Ann moved to Aberdare to the northeast of Swansea up in the mountain country. They resided at Abernanty groesisaf at the time of the 1851 census which shows:[8]

Thomas Perkins   Head   md.    67  Miner   Swansea

Ann            wife   md     64         Lluchen

Joseph           son    unmd   31         

Eliz.            dau           21          

Citty            dau           18         

David Mathews    visitor         28         Llangyfelach

Daniel           lodger         15            

William William    lodger         27            

The following year in June, their daughter Ann died. She had been married to David Thomas. That Christmas their only remaining son at home, Joseph thomas, got married to Margaret Martin. Joseph had been ordained an Elder in the fall of 1851 and called to preside over the Armbach branch of the Church. Later he was called as a home missionary to visit Merthyr Tydfil, Dowlaid, Ramney, Brecon, Cardiff, Cowbridge, irwin and Aberdare.

Citty also got married to William Evans and moved from home. This left just Thomas, Ann, and Elizabeth. In 1855 Joseph and his family left Wales for Utah. Ruth and her husband had already gone. They left Liverpool on 17 April on the ship Chimborazo with a company of 431 Saints under the leadership of Edward Stevenson as their captain. The company landed in Philadelphia on 21 May and after 2 days took the train to Pittsburg, then a boat down the Ohio River up the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers to atchison. From there they went to Mormon Grove and from thence with the Charles A. Harper Company across the plains to Deseret. They reached Salt Lake City on 31 Oct and from there went to Ogden.[9]

On 11 Mar 1856 Thomas was struck with a paralytic stroke. He suffered for 12 days before dying on 23 Mar at Cwmbach, a small village to the ESE of Aberdare. He was buried in the old church cemetery there.[10]

Almost immediately Ann decided to leave Wales and join her three children in Utah. In company with Elizabeth and her new son-in-law, David Evans, the three set sail from Liverpool on 19 Apr 1856 aboard the ship Samuel Curling. There were 707 Saints on the ship under Dan Jones, Captain. The ship arrived in Boston on 25 May after spending 36 days on the ocean. Ann and her party traveled to Iowa City by rail where they were outfitted for the long trip across the plains to Salt Lake City. The handcart company, under the leadership of Edmund Bunker arrived in Salt Lake City on 2 Oct.

Ann and her party were met in Salt Lake by Ruth and Joseph. The following year Ann moved to North Ogden. During the move south in 1858 (during the Utah War) Ann traveled with other Saints, but returned to North Ogden when the scare of Johnson's Army subsided.

Ann built a log house on the lot at 649 East 2600 North. Her daughter Ruth Treharne lived in North Ogden also and built a home where Aunt Lizzie Spackman lived for so many years. This home is still in use.

Elizabeth and David Evans built a home in Pleasant View, which is till standing. Joseph and his family settled in Cache Valley and southern Idaho. Two of Ann's daughters remained in Wales. Margaret, married to John Nash died there. Catherine, wife of William Evans, stayed in Wales until the death of her husband. She then married Isaac Evans and the couple and her 7 children emigrated from Wales to Utah, 15 years after Ann had come.

Ann received her endowments in the old Endowment House in Salt Lake City in 1865. She died in North Ogden on 3 Jul 1868 and is buried at the foot of the majestic mountain peak, Ben Lomond, in the North Ogden Cemetery.[11]