EARLY HISTORY OF
THE JOHN LEWIS AND MARTHA EVANS FAMILY
G. Reed Marchant
Not a great deal is known about our Lewis Clan prior to their emigration to the
Salt Lake Valley in 1856. However, with the various comments that have been
passed down, and with the research which has been done over the years, we are
reasonably assured of the information that follows.
John Lewis and Martha Evans were married in the Parish of St. John on May 1,
1813. The record reads as follows:
John Lewis of the Parish of St. Mary (yeoman) and Martha
Evans of the Parish of St. John (spinster) were married
In this church by banns, with consent of parents, this
first day of May in the year One Thousand Eight Hundred
Thirteen, by me
A. B. Bavies, curate
The marriage was solemnized between us;
signed John Lewis
X (mark of Martha Evans)
In presents of: Enoch Evan
Lewis Evans
(GS 104,495-item 5)
From this entry we learn that John Lewis (yeoman) had reached some level of
financial and social independency by the time of his marriage. We also have
reason to believe that John and Martha, although devout Christians, were not
devout members of the established church. As near as we can determine,
Martha's parents, Enoch Evans and Susan Williams, were of the Independent
persuasion. We also know that the eldest son of John and Martha was a Deacon
in the Calvinist Methodist church near Pentre Estil. His name was also John,
after his father.
We know that the family came from the city and suburbs of Swansea, which in the
early part of the 1800s was called Abertawe. The city was an industrial
seaport city at the time. It was primarily known for its mining and iron
works. It is highly possible that our people moved to the industrial city with
the industrial revolution that took place about that time. However, except for
the indication that Enoch Evans was born in Cardiganshire, we at present have
no concrete proof of from where.
In searching the established church records for the birth of the children of
John and Martha, we have been able to find only this entry:
G.S. 104,478 pt 21 -- Llangyaflech Parish B.T. -- 5 April 1817
birth of Margaret, daughter of John and Mary Lewis.
No entries have been found for any other children. However, from family and
temple records we have indications that at least eight other children were born
to this fine couple between their marriage in 1813 and 1840.
The year 1840 must have been a particular difficult one for our John Lewis. It
was on July 15 of that year that his beloved wife of twenty-seven years died
suddenly of convulsions at the age of fifty. On September 19 his mother passed
away at age eighty-four. By this time the eldest son (named John after his
father) had married and was beginning to raise his own family. Enoch, who was
21, and David, who was 15, were probably able to care for themselves. By this
time Daniel, the twin brother of Elias, had died on October 12, 1839, and
apparently daughter Margaret and at least one other daughter had passed on.
This left John with the two youngest boys at home: William John, who would
have been seven, and Elias, who would have been five at the time of their
mother's passing.
For the first year after the death of his wife, John tried to be both father
and mother, as he lived alone with his two boys. During that year both boys
had smallpox and scarlet fever. It was a difficult time because both boys were
very ill and, since their father had to work each day to earn a living, there
was often no one to care for the sick boys.
After the boys recovered, they all went to live with the eldest son John and
his wife, who had been married about four years and had children of their own.
This arrangement also had its difficulties because the two families did not get
along well together. One is left to his own imagination as to what the
difficulties were and why. Nevertheless, they were difficult enough that
William John left the home at the tender age of ten to shift for himself and
began work in an iron foundry.
Apparently at some time after his marriage John Lewis had given up farming and
had taken up labor as a coal miner because at the time of his wife's death he
is listed as a collier (coal miner). Each of his sons seemed to follow their
father into the mines, or went into the iron foundries.
Apparently the boys all grew up with strong feelings about religion and a
feeling that there was truth beyond that available in the established church
because indications are that they were raised as non-conformists. Also,
shortly after the first LDS missionaries came to the area, they all (with the
exception of the eldest brother John) joined the new church founded in America.
In fact, family records indicate that during 1849, first Enoch (April 28), then
William John (July 4), David (July 29), and finally Elias (September 18) came
into the church. By this time Enoch had married Jane Ann Morgan and had begun
raising his family.
Our records indicate that the oldest brother John, who was a Deacon in the
Calvinist Methodist church, remained there to his death in Wales on January 14,
1886. Another brother, Thomas, was killed in a coal mine accident. The
following story has been told about his death:
One evening as William John had returned from work and was
sitting alone in his room, the door opened and Thomas with
several other men walked in. Thomas told William John,
"William, I was killed today, all the men in the cage were
killed in the coal mine." Pointing to the others with him,
"We were going down the shaft in the cage when the rope
broke which held the cage, letting the cage fall 300 feet.
I was standing on my feet, and the weight drove the bones
of my legs up through my body and I was killed instantly.
Now there is some work I want you to do for me when the
time comes." (That work, meaning temple work, has been
done.) Thomas was living about thirty miles from his
brother and it was several days before he got word of
his death by mail. Thomas met his death just as his spirit
told William John.
We know very little about the parents of John Lewis. We know only that their
names were John Lewis and Margaret John, that Margaret died on September 19,
1840, at the ripe old age of eighty-four, and we have reason to believe that
John died on May 10, 1818. Both appear to have lived and died in the area of
Swansea, South Wales. Our records indicate that Margaret was born on September
7, 1858. We have no knowledge of the parents of either.
On the Evans side of the family we have about the same amount of information.
Family records indicate that the parents of Martha Evans were Enoch Evans and
Susan Williams. All we seem to know about them is that they were of the
Independent persuasion and that Enoch was born in Cardiganshire. Our research
is continuing.
We do know that William John was called to serve a church mission to North
Wales in 1851. We know that he was released to emigrate to Zion in the spring
of 1856. We must assume that the four brothers were close in spirit because on
April 19, 1856, Enoch, his wife and two children; David, his wife Ann Lewis and
three children; William John and his wife of ten days; and Elias departed
together from Liverpool on the same sailing ship Samuel Curling with a group of
707 Welsh Saints.
They arrived in Boston on May 23, 1856. They then traveled by train to Iowa
City, Iowa. This was the terminus of the railroad. Here they stopped to make
preparations for crossing the plains by handcarts. It was at this outfitting
camp that Elias and a Welsh girl named Eleanor Roberts were married under a
shade tree on June 4, 1856. It was also here, on June 6, 1856, that David and
Ann's fourteen-month-old baby was laid to rest.
The Lewis' joined the third handcart company. The story of their difficulties
on reaching the valley is left to other publications. Needless to say, only
the heartiest of souls could have survived. We have a great heritage. We
should honor it.
