Richards, Alice - Biography

Alice Richards was born Feb. 11, 1827, to David and Jane James Richards of Merthyr Tydfil, Wales. The 1841 Welsh census reports that Alice was 14, living with her father David, her brother Lewis, and her sister Ann. In 1849 Alice was passenger #8 at age 22 on the Buena Vista for a journey of 50 days that made her acquainted with fellow Welshman Edward David Evans from Hirwaun. Merthyr Tydfil and Hirwaun are within eight miles of each other. Alice's father David Richards, age 50, was also a passenger while her younger sister Ann at age 18 was passenger #49. The ship sailed from Liverpool Feb. 25, 1849, bringing her family from Wales to the United States. Leader of their Latter-day Saint group was Dan Jones, a missionary of Welsh heritage. They arrived in New Orleans April 19, 1849, took a steamboat to St. Louis, and then went on to Council Bluffs. On Nov. 6, 1849, Alice and Edward D. Evans were married in Council Bluffs by William Morgan, leader of the Welsh who were unable to continue to the Salt Lake Valley that year. Even the next year did not see the new couple move on. Between 1849 and 1863 they found work in Missouri and Nebraska, states in which five of their seven children were born. Daniel, David, and Mary Jane were born in Missouri while Edward and William joined the family in Nebraska. In 1863, when Daniel was 13, David was 10, Mary Jane was 8, Edward was 6, and William was 3, the family traveled by ox-driven wagon to Logan in the territory of Utah. There twin daughters Alice and Annie joined the family. In 1868 the Evans family moved to the Welsh community of Malad in what would become the state of Idaho. In Malad the Evans clan lived in the same neighborhood. Oldest son Daniel and his wife Ann lived in the house just east of his parents Edward and Alice, who were in a home on a corner lot at 290 West 300 North. The corner on which Edward and Alice lived was across the street from daughter Mary Jane, whose home was a block south of the original First Ward chapel. When Daniel and Ann bought a lot three blocks north on the same side of the street as the chapel, they sold their first home to younger brother Will. Edward died in Malad on Jan. 14, 1882, and Alice followed him on July 24, 1888.