Moroni Rees was born in Victoria,
Monmouthshire, South Wales on October 20, 1848. At the age of
eight he went to work in the coal mines. On June 4, 1868, when 20 years of age,
he sailed to America on the ship, “Packet John Bright.” After nearly six weeks
on the ocean he landed in New York
City on July 13th. From New York
he traveled with a company of people to Omaha,
Nebraska under the direction of
James McGan. From Omaha
the company traveled to Fort
Laramie, a distance of
537 miles. In the company were 722 Latter Day Saints and 176 of them were
Scandinavians. Brother Rees was proud to be counted among these good people.
From Fort Laramie he walked to Echo Canyon
in Captain Murdock’s mule train. In Echo
Canyon he stopped and worked on the
railroad for a short time but, with Zion as his
treasure goal, he moved eagerly onward and arrived in Salt Lake City in September, 1868. During
this winter he worked in Weber
Canyon. When spring came
he went to Provo
and found work there. It was while he was in Provo that he met a lovely young woman – Emily
Vaughan. Their friendship ripened into love and on the 28th of June, 1869, they
were united in marriage in the holy temple of our Lord in Salt Lake City.
I should like to interrupt my story here and give you a
brief look into the life of this lovely woman.
Emily Vaughan was born in Cwmbach,
Glamorganshire, South Wales
on July 15, 1852. She was born into the church and was baptized when eight
years of age by John Davis. Wishing to seek their fortune in the New World,
Emily’s father left his family for a while and came to America. He
worked for a very short time in a coal mine when he met with a serious accident
that later caused his death. With impaired health, but with determination, he
worked hard until he had enough money to send for his family. What a happy
reunion took place when the family came to America. For two years they lived
in the East where Emily’s mother nursed the sick to help earn a livelihood for
the family. With the golden dream of Zion ever
in their hearts, they welcomed the year of 1863 when this dream was realized
and they came to Zion
in Brother Bullock’s train. One of Emily’s sisters was sick during the long
trip across the plains and died three months after coming to Salt Lake City. After a few months in Utah, a friend persuaded
the family to move to Lehi and make their home.
Thus we see two young people coming from the little
country of Wales
across the great ocean, finding love and becoming man and wife. Five months
after their marriage they moved to Malad Valley
and settled on a small farm. To help the family financially, Brother Rees took
up freighting into Challis, Bay Horse and Clayton County, Idaho. After a while
he again took up farming, going into it more extensively and buying more land.
He made a success of dry farming. To this good couple God sent nine children – three
girls and six boys. Life was not easy in those pioneer times and they all had
to work hard for the necessities of life.
In September 1904 he retired from farming, sold his
property in Malad
Valley and moved to Ogden, where he made his home. He spent his
time in buying and selling property. In January 1919, God called home his
faithful wife. He lived in Ogden for a few years
and then moved to Salt Lake City
where, bowed down by age, he answered the call of his Maker on October 2, 1931.
He preceded all of his children in death.
Moroni Rees was a good man who had a hard life but battled
bravely in life’s great game. He was a poet at heart and in his later years
read and wrote poetry. He had several books of poetry he had composed.
