JOHN D. PETERS’ ACCOUNT OF THE OWENS
FAMILY
Brigham
City, Utah
June 18, 1913
Mrs. Jane P. Owens
Willard, Utah
Dear Sister Owens:
In accordance with my
promise, I send you the data which I found in a little memoranda book kept by
my father. I regret very much that I was
not able to find the book earlier on Sunday.
However, I think I was able to translate correctly what my father had
written in the Welsh language.
I want to say, Sister Owens,
and no doubt I should have said it on the day of the funeral, but it did not
happen to come to my mind, that I have heard my father and mother say that the
coming to Utah was an experience which few people were be able to comprehend.
That very few of the Welsh Company could speak or understand the English
language. My mother lived until she was
eighty-four years old and never made an effort to learn. But, the part I wanted to mention is, I have
heard my mother say that William Owens and his wife were a splendid type of
humanity. That Elenor,
as mother called her, was a woman of wonderful character and will power.
When we stop to reflect, it
does not need any testimony to proclaim her bravery when we recall that she
started out with an invalid husband and seven children to this far western land
where every thing was undeveloped and she was unable to speak the language of
the people among whom she expected to live.
I have no way of expressing it better than to say that she must have
been a mighty brave woman.
May the blessings of the Lord
be with you, Sister Owens, and with the splendid sons and daughters that are
left you by your husband. I look upon your daughters and upon all the
daughters of Brother Owens as the best type of womanhood, and those who are
married are ideal mothers. It is upon
our children that the responsibility of perpetuating the name and the standing
of a family depends, and your good name will be well sustained. You will pardon me for this sort of
digression. Now to my
promise.
William Owens was baptized by
David Roberts on September 17, 1848. Magdalene and Richard Owens on October
12, 1848, by David Peters. Ellen and Cadwalander Owens on October
15, 1848, by Able Evans. Owen Owens and Catherine
Owens on November 5, 1848, by Jason Thomas. Margaret Owens on November 19, 1848 by Able Evans, William Owens and
Alice Owens on November 30, 1848 by David Eames.
All of these baptisms were
performed at Festinog, and when I was back in Wales
an old lady by the name of Roberts who was living in father’s old home, took me
out to the place which is just below the old water wheel that turned the
machinery for my father’s little carding and spinning factory and she said,
“this is the place where those saints were baptized.” To me this explained why father made the
account.
The next memoranda
which we have referring to the Owens family is the following: Magdalene and Catherine Owens died on Friday,
the 15th day of December 1848 and were buried in the same grave on
Monday. The first of the girls was
seventeen years of age and the latter thirteen, (so that it looks to me as
though Catherine and your husband were twins or father made a mistake in their
ages, because if I remember the splendid sketch given by your grandson, gave
the age of Brother Owens as thirteen when he left Wales.)
The next account of your
people is as follows: and I will copy it
as nearly as possible in the language it is written because that is in English.
On May 7, 1849, Jane, the
daughter of William and Ellenor Owens of Crossor, Llanfrothan, Merionethshire, North Wales, Great Britain, died and was
buried on the banks of the Mississippi River.
Also William, son of the said William and Ellenor
Owens, and Alice their daughter died and were buried on May 8, 1849. Also Ellenor Owens, the mother of the above named children died
on May
9, 1849. Also William Owens, the father of the above
named children, died on May 12, 1849, and they were buried on the banks of the Mississippi River. Also Richard
Owens, son of the above William and Ellenor Owens
died on May 18, 1849.
The days of the week, while
not mentioned in this little account, were as folows: Jane died on Monday, William and Alice on
Tuesday, the mother on Wednesday, and the father on Friday, all of the same
week, and Richard died on Friday of the following week. All of these good people died of Cholera,
sometimes called “Black Plague.”
Assuring you, Sister Owens,
that if this little data is of any service to you, I am doubly paid in the
privilege of furnishing it.
With kindest regards, I am
Very truly yours,
(signed)
John D. Peters,
Brigham City, Utah
