John Thomas Evans – Biography
John Thomas Evans was born 1 May 1823 in Henllan
Amgoed, Carmarthenshire, Wales, to Thomas Evans and Mary.
He was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints 20 Aug 1847 by David Mathews. He was the only member of his
family to join the Church.
Soon after his baptism he began service as a missionary and
served for the next seven years. He found it very difficult at times to go
without purse or scrip. His teeth became loose because of lack of food and not
eating properly.
On 4 February 1854 he left Liverpool to immigrate to America with 477 other Saints on the ship Golconda. They arrived in New Orleans on 18 March
1854. From there he went by boat up the Mississippi River to St. Louis, arriving on 21 March 1854.
He drove a team for John Davis across the plains and arrived
in Salt Lake City
on 25 September 1854. During the journey many of the company contracted cholera
and died. John Thomas Evans also became ill. At one time he became very
thirsty, but he was refused water. He was able to get out of bed and get his
own. He said that the drink of water was what saved his life.
On 25 November 1855 he married Elizabeth Ann Lloyd in Salt Lake City. They set
up housekeeping in Salt Lake City until the
invasion of Johnston’s
Army in 1857. They then moved to Lehi where they
stayed with Abel Evans, a friend from Wales. John returned to Salt Lake City to serve with the home guard and was sent
to Echo Canyon. After the invasion he family
returned to live in Salt Lake City
in the Sixteenth Ward. He served for many years in the Sunday School of that ward.
About 1875 he began homesteading in the Hunter area of Salt Lake
County. Hunter was named
for Edward Hunter, Presiding Bishop of the Church. When he needed to go to
Hunter to make the land improvements required of homesteaders he took his
family. When the children found out they were going to Hunter they often began
crying because there was nothing there except sagebrush and horned lizards. The
oxen moved very slowly, and this gave the children time to run ahead of the
wagon and play in the mounds of dirt. If the children should see someone on
horseback they feared it would be an Indian.
The Hunter area was part of the Pleasant Green Branch. To
attend Church services the family had to walk or ride in wagons to Pleasant
Green (now Magna) five miles west.
The Hunter Branch was organized 19 March 1880 and John was
called as branch president. The first Hunter MIA was organized in November
1833, and John was second counselor in the presidency. On 26 August 1888 the
Hunter Ward was organized and John was called to serve as second counselor in
the bishopric.
He was called on another mission to Wales at age 66
and served from 13 August 1889 to 24 May 1891. His wife remained in Hunter and
ran the family farm.
He and Elizabeth were the parents of eight children: John
Lloyd, George Lloyd, David Lloyd, William Lloyd, Mary Elizabeth, Sarah Ann,
Martha Maria, and Thomas Jones.
John Thomas Evans was a very spiritual man and had great
faith in the Lord and in the leadership of the Church. He died 19 June 1900 in
Hunter and is buried in the Salt Lake
City cemetery.
