Williams, David D. and Gwenllian Jordan - Biography

This is a sketch of the lives of Grandfather and Grandmother David Jordan and Margaret Watkins Jordan.

Written by a Granddaughter Martha Evans

David Jordan was born the 7th of February 1820 at Merthyer, Tydfil Glamorganshire, south Wales.  He was the son of Benjamin and Mary Evans Jordan.  And she was born September 10, 1816 at Merthyer, Tydfil, Glamorganshire, Wales.  And she was the daughter of Thomas Watkins and Marget Mordecai Watkins.


David Jordan’s parents were of a religious turn on mind and taught the Bible when he was just a boy, refined and of a gentle manner.  The Jordan family consisted of two brothers and two sisters.  Their mother died when David was just a young man.  His two sisters had married and had their own homes.  His brothers were younger than David.
David courted Margret Watkins and married her in 1840.

Grandfather and Grandmother Jordan were very refined and considered High Class people and of a high moral and religious character.  They were always proud of their personal appearance, always well dressed.  At this time Wales was in a prosperous condition and David and Margret were soon settled in which was very comfortable and spacious.  They had extra room so that his father and one brother could live with them in their home.  His father lived only two weeks, when he died.  His brother continued to live with David and his wife.

They were very devoted brothers, they lived and worked together with kind and friendly for each other.  When David and Margret had children they all lived as a loving family together.  This brother was named John Jordan.

Margret Jordan lost her mother when she was very young , leaving her father with a family of small children.  While the family was without the mother’s care, Margret met with an accident which left her with a crippled arm for the rest of her life.  This happened when she was about 2 years old.  It happened when her sister was carrying her on her back, when she slipped and fell.  The child , Margret, cried for days from pain before they learned that she had a broken arm at the elbow.  It had already started to set, it had been so long since it happened that they thought the child could not stand to have it rebroken and set properly, so it was never properly taken care of.

Margret’s father married again and brought into their home a most worthy and wonderful new mother to the children.  Grandmother used to tell us that she never remembered her real mother but their step mother was all that our real mother could have been.
When Margret was still in her teens and because of her crippled arm, she was apprenticed in a school for sewing.  The sewing at that time was all done by hand, they had no sewing machines.  Margret took to that kind of work very readily and was very satisfied to become a very good seamstress, while still a very young woman.  She was able to construct some of the finest work in the area.
Margret had a blind brother who learned to play the harp.  He was often requested to play, to entertain for groups at entertainments.  He carried his harp with him everywhere he went.  He was employed to play at different places and went alone to his employment places with his harp.  He became very popular and was loved by all his friends and family.

Grandmother Margret continued to follow her trade as a seamstress after her marriage to Grandfather David Jordan, because she was very popular among the people of her community for her sewing.  As her family duties increased on her time, they had six children, two of which died in infancy, she gave up a lot of her sewing and devoted most of her time and energies to her family responsibilities.

David and Margret were there among the very first in their area to embrace the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  They were baptized in January of 1849.  Their children all grew up in the church.

At this time there was a large Branch of the Church in their area of Wales.  Their family was very faithful and devoted to their new church.  David was a good singer and also composer and a poet.  He composed quite a number of beautiful poems.  One song in particular was  in honor of the Prophet Joseph Smith.  As children, we remember hearing him sing this beautiful song, the music was very sweet and the words were all in Welch.  We only understood it in part, but there was just something about the song that touched us very deeply.

Whey they embraced the true LDS Church, they had two little children, Mary and her older sister Gwyn who were 3 and 5 years old.  They were raised in the church and were baptized when they reached 8 years old.
Grandfather David was a coal miner.  He and his brother went to work every day in the coal mines.  They were paid good wages at the time, so they did very well economically.

One day David’s shift in the mine interfered with his Priesthood meeting so he traded shifts with a friend of his.  He was the secretary of his group and felt like he should attend his Priesthood meeting.  Grandmother Margret told us that she remembers this incident very well.  It was a beautiful day and all was peaceful and calm, then at 9:30 a.m.  word came that there had been an explosion in the mine.  People rushed to the place and it was soon learned that a large number of miners had lost their lives in the explosion and among them was David’s friend who was working in his place.  This was a great sorrow for David.  He loved this man very much and he was there instead of David.

As time went on, conditions changed.  Little by little the miner’s wages were reduced causing hard times.  Then there were strikes putting men out of work entirely for months.

Their two girls had by now grown into their teens.  They found employment and became independent.  There was also two little boys in the family.

Margret now returned to her sewing again to support the family during the hard times.  In a few years, the two girls got married and came to Utah, leaving their parents and the two brothers in Wales.  This happened in 1864.

They had now been members of the  LDS Church for 20 years.  They were however very happy and contented until their daughters left for America.  They were also making every effort to join their daughters in Utah.

Then they were made very sad by the death of their youngest son.  He was 11 years old.  Many of the members of their church had gone to Utah, and they were feeling lonesome and sad.

The Elders that served as missionaries in their area always found a big welcome in the Jordan home, even in the middle of the night would stop by and found a welcome and told them that it was like ‘coming home’.

They themselves were making every effort to prepare to go to Utah themselves.  They were planning to sail with the next company of Saints that were to leave by ship for New York, America.

It was now 9 years since their two daughters had gone to Utah.  One day the Elders called on them and told them that the next ship would sail in three weeks.  They counted their money, which they had saved and it was not enough.  So they decided that they would have to wait for a later sailing date, until they could accumulate some more funds.

When they had secured the money they needed, they sent word to their daughters of their plans so they would expect them.  (Departure 29th of July 1872)


After a lazy and weary journey crossing the Atlantic Ocean, they landed in New York City on the 13th of August 1872 and remained in New York with their 15 year old son.  They found employment and remained there until October.  They received a letter from their 2 daughters containing money for them to continue to Utah.  Some of the money came from their daughter Mary’s husband, who sold his team of horses to get the money to send to them.

    They arrived in Brigham City, Utah on the 10th day of November 1872, after visiting in Ogden with their oldest daughter Gwenie Williams, and then continued on to Brigham City         where their daughter Mary Evans lived.
It is useless to try and describe how happy they all were to be back together again after 9 years of being apart, and praying for the time when they could all be together in Zion.

    Their first winter in Utah was very hard on them because of the extreme cold temperatures and the abundance of snow.  It was particularly hard on Grandfather David because he was used to working underground in the coal mines of Wales.

    Their daughter Mary and her husband William Evans, were living in their two room log cabin at 1st East and 3rd South, just one half block south of the First ward meeting house.  They had 4 children by now, Margret, Mary Jane, Martha, and Abraham, who was just one week old when their grandparents arrived in Brigham City from Wales.  These newly arrived grandparents remained with William and Mary and their 4 children in their small home the rest of the winter of 1872.

    At this time the railroad was being built from Ogden to Logan and the three men, Grandfather Jordan, son-in-law William, and the 15 year old son of David and Margret Jordan, all found work building the railroad.  It was very difficult for David and his young son to endure working out in the awful cold weather through that first winter.

    Two years later, William Evans purchased another house on a large lot.  The house had 4 rooms in the Third Ward at the corner of 3rd West and 3rd North.  It was on the Northwest corner of the intersection.  When they moved into the bigger house with their 4 children, they sold the old house to David and Margret who lived in their log home for the rest of their lives.

    They lived comfortable and made it very attractive and comfortable.  They were neat and tidy people and they kept a beautiful garden which they were very proud of and they produced a lot of products for their table.

    They were very interesting people to talk to and had many interesting and the conditions and memories of their lives in Wales and the extensive knowledge and testimony of the gospel, made it always a pleasure to visit with them.

    As time went on they worked at many different things that there was to do around Brigham at that time, which was all real hard labor.

    Their son Thomas grew into manhood and they decided that they would build themselves a better house.  They erected the foundation and bought as much of the material for the house as they could the first year, with hopes that the next year they thought and hoped that they could continue building the house.

    However the winter came on and there was no work to be had for them.  Their son Thomas decided to go to Evanston, Wyoming to work, putting up ice, and they had some relatives.  He obtained employment in one of the coal mines near by.  He was doing well and was very happy there with the thought that he would be able to help his parents with their new home building.
    This was not to be because Thomas was severely  injured in an accident and word was sent to his parents in Brigham City.  His father , David, went to Evanston to see his son but Thomas died just one hour before his father arrived on February 28, 1880.

    This was a great sorrow to Thomas’ family and destroyed all their hopes for completing their home building plans.  When spring came, David sold all the building materials that he had accumulated for their new home, spent the rest of their lives in the original small log house.

    Their sorrow over the loss of their son weighted so heavily upon them that it changed their life’s hopes for their future.  However, their faith and convictions in the gospel and the LDS Church which they accepted in Wales; and the trust in their Heavenly Father never failed them.  Faithfully they continued to attend to all their church duties and their testimonies grew and were wonderful to hear them speak.

    Grandfather David was able to adapt himself to most any kind of employment; and with the products of their well kept garden and the fruit that he raised in the yard at their home, they had a comfortable living.

    They also took a great interest in the Temple work of the church and were some of the first to attend the new Logan Temple after its dedication in 1877.

    They had their family genealogy all in order so that when the temple was ready, so were they.  They traveled to Logan often to do temple ordinances for the members of their family and stayed a week at a time on many occasions to do this temple work.
    This work of love continued until David’s health began to fail, but he continued to obtain information and prepare records on the members of their family for the work to be done in the temple for their dead ancestors.

    Grand father David Jordan’s life came to a peaceful end November 26, 1893 in Brigham City, Utah.  So peaceful and sweet was his passing away that our family can well be proud of that dear old Grand Sire.   He was the first fruits of the gospel in our family.

    Grandmother Margret was now the last one in their little home, and she felt the loss of her companion very keenly, but she was  visited and comforted by her living daughter and grandchildren.  She wanted to continue living alone in their home.

    It had been 25 years since she and her dear husband came to live in that little log cabin; and there she wanted to stay until she could go to again join her dear departed companion.

    She lived another 7 years after her husband died.

    She died November 19, 1902, at home in Brigham City, Utah.  She was buried in the Brigham City Cemetery beside her beloved husband.

This was written by a granddaughter Martha Evans

Note:  This story was copied from a note book, in the hand  writing of Martha Evans, a granddaughter of David and Margret Jordan and the daughter of William and Mary Jordan Evans.


This note book came to me just recently from my brother Irving Andersen along with 2 note books in which my grandfather Niels Andersen recorded the story of his life in his handwriting , in his Danish language.  I have still to have his notes translated into English.


It is probably a repetition of the story I have previously translated from his hand written record that I have previously had translated and distributed some years ago.  However, I am sure that it is much more in detail than the one I translated previously because there is much more of it.
Yours truly,

Wesley Andersen
10 May 1986