Amos Jones & Leah
Parry Jones
(1837-1913) (1844-1924)
Amos Jones
was born 19 December, 1837,
in Ruabon, Denbighshire, North Wales. He was the oldest child of Richard Peter and
Eliza Edwards Jones. He was baptized in
1846 and immigrated to America
in 1856 with his family. Soon after
arriving, his sister Margaret and brother Lewis died. The family lived in Williamsburg,
Iowa, for about four years, before
continuing on to the Salt Lake
Valley, arriving there in
1861. Amos came across the plains laying
the first telegraph lines into Salt Lake.
Leah Parry
was born 30 June, 1844, in
St. George, Denbighshire, North Wales, the 11th
child of Thomas R. Parry and Ann Roberts.
She was baptized in 1852 in Wales. Five of her older brothers and sisters came to
America before
Leah did. She came with her parents and
remaining family 23 April, 1860,
aboard the ship “Underwriter”. Then they
traveled with a team and a covered wagon in the James D. Ross Wagon Company,
arriving in Salt Lake City, 3 September, 1860.
Leah's
mother, Ann had an infection in her hands which took a long time healing. Leah was left with the responsibility of
cooking and washing, and most of the manual work. She turned 16 on the trail. She has told her children and grandchildren
of how she would make yeast from a start, and would mix bread in the morning
and put it in the wagon during the day's travel to be baked in the evening over
the campfire. Her shoes wore out from
all the walking. Pieces of canvas were
cut to put inside her socks until they wore out also. When they were almost there, the wagons broke
down and they put packs on their backs to go the rest of the way. They were met at Emigration
Canyon by loved ones. She settled with her family in the 15th
Ward of Salt Lake City.
Leah is
described as short and chubby, always happy with a great love of life. She loved to sing and had enjoyed singing in
the choir of her church in Wales. She joined the 15th Ward Choir
upon her arrival. It was here that she
met Amos Jones. They courted for four or
five months, and then were married March
10, 1862. They were sealed
in the Endowment House 31 January, 1863.
The Salt Lake
Temple was being built. Amos learned to be a mason and worked with
his father-in-law, Thomas R. Parry.
Their first
child, Anna Louisa was born 5 February,
1863; followed by Edward Richard, born 13 September, 1864; and Amos William, born 4 September, 1866.
Brigham
Young called for volunteer soldiers to protect settlers on the southern border
of Utah settlements from the
Black Hawk Indians. At that time,
Brigham was Governor of the State of Utah. Amos left a house partially built and went to
help. He was gone for three or four
months. Amos once said that one of the
worst experiences of his life was seeing his best pal shot down by his side by
those Black Hawk Indians in the skirmishes.
During this time, Leah had a hard time providing for her children. She was helped some by her father. When Amos returned, he was presented with a
bill of $30 for tithing. He was very
angry, for during those months he had received no pay and his family was pretty
destitute. Upset and angry, Amos decided
to leave the church.
The next
winter was a hard one for the family.
There was little work to be done.
Amos went to Tooele where he did what odd jobs he could, such as digging
ditches and repairing fences. Leah and
the family lived the best they could.
They had raised a garden during the summer. At one time, Amos was paid for his work with
molasses. Then they had to sell or trade
molasses for the necessities they needed.
Many times they used molasses for sugar and bacon grease for
butter. Leah learned to make great
molasses candy, which she could sometimes sell.
By 1877,
Amos and Leah had had 6 more children:
Thomas Parry, born 9 July 1868; but died 26 August 1870; Leah Elizabeth
was born, 12 August 1870; Sarah Emma was born 27 July 1872; Margaret was born
22 April, 1874 and died the same day; Isaac Parry was born 16 October, 1875;
and Mary was born 30 June 1877. They moved
their young family to “The Point” near Malad, Idaho,
where Amos' parents had settled. He felt
that a farm would be best for his sons.
While they
were living there, one night Anna Louisa, their oldest daughter was going down
to Grandpa Richard Jones' home when she heard Indians yelling and
whooping. She was terribly
frightened. She stood perfectly still
and listened. Soon she heard other
Indians on the other side of the ditch answering them. She feared an attack, and turned and ran home
and told her family. They waited, but
nothing happened. In the morning, they
learned that it was a signal to say an old Indian had died at Washakie.
About this
time, they returned to Salt Lake City. A son, John, was born 18 April, 1879 but he only lived about 4 days. Leah was not very well and could not be
contented, so they moved back to the farm on “The Point”. In 1880, Amos joined the Reorganized LDS
group in Malad.
On 12 September, 1881, Bernard A,
another son was born and named after Leah's oldest brother who died crossing
the plains. Lily May was born 12 May, 1883 and died the same
day. They moved the family back to Salt
Lake where the last two children
were born: Leah Mabel on 30 May, 1884 and Rozella on 14 June, 1886. Then they returned again to Idaho,
moving into Malad City.
Amos and
his sons became well known and respected for their honesty and for their
excellent mason work. They built most of
the homes in Malad and Samaria. Amos Jones died March 21, 1913. He
had a wonderful funeral at the Opera House and was buried in the Malad
Cemetery at 75 years of age.
Grandma
Leah is remembered as wearing dark dresses covered by a starched spotless white
apron. She was always singing and happy
and kept a very clean house. Though Amos
and her children had become embittered and antagonistic toward the Mormon church and joined the Reorganized LDS, Leah and her oldest
daughter Louisa kept their faith and membership in the LDS
Church. Leah Parry Jones died 1 September, 1924.
She was 80 years of age. Her funeral
was in the LDS Stake Tabernacle and she was buried in her temple clothes in the
Malad City
Cemetery.
(Taken from "A Family History of Bernard A. and Mary L.
Jones, 1774 - 1994, compiled and organized by Teri
Jones Cook, Mabel Jones Gabbott, and Sue Gabbott Dewey. Courtesy of Teri Jones
Cook)
