Edwards, Thomas III - Biography

Thomas Edwards, the 3rd

"Our Welsh Cowboy"

Written by Helen Edwards Bennett and Ruth Kelly

Born: March 15, 1849 in Merthyr Co., Wales
Died: February 23. 1923 in Whittier, CA

Thomas Edwards was the 9th child out of 10 born to Thomas and Elizabeth (Lewis) Edwards. His family had lived in South Wales (Glamorgan) for many generations.

Thomas was 5'11" tall, weighed 120 pounds and had dark brown hair, blue eyes and had a jolly disposition (he was not above playing practical jokes on friends). In his later years, he wore a goatee and mustache and weighed about 140 pounds. Friends eulogized his character as honest in all his dealings, trusted and beloved by all.

His father -- Thomas Edwards

His father worked in the iron ore mines as a collier.¹ He was born in Ystradfodwy in January of 1793 and christened on December 7, 1794 to Thomas and Mary (David) Edwards. In his early 30's, he married Elizabeth Emphouse. Their son David was born in 1828 and not long after his wife died.

His Mother

Elizabeth Lewis was born to Rees and Gwenllian (Hopkins) Lewis in Aberavon, Glamorgan, Wales on April 15, 1804. She was 10 years younger than her husband. They married the last day of the year in 1836. Their first son was born in November of 1835 in Aberaman where they lived for the next five years. Some time in the 1840's they moved to Merthyr Tydfil probably because of a better job offer.

Merthyr Tydfil was a disgrace to humanity. Because of the mining, the population grew from a small farming community to large town that did not have the facilities for a large town (no water-except the River, no plumbing for human waste, no infrastructure of streets and housing). It became one large shantytown where plagues of cholera and other diseases flourished.

"There were rows of houses where the filth of the collieries lives. The half-breed Welsh, Irish and English did the jobs that colliers would never do and they were allowed to live and breed because the mine owners would not spend money when they could get their services so much cheaper. For a pittance, they carried slap and muck, they acted as scavengers and lived their lives in that manner. Their children were put to work at 8 or 9 years of age so that more money could come into the house. Most of them lived only to drink. Their houses were pigsties.²

His parents could not abide the filth and started searching for a better way of life. His mother was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1850. A year later, his father was baptized. This new religion changed their lives especially after they left Wales.

In 1854 the family traveled to Liverpool and booked passage on November 13, 1854 on the Clara Wheeler. There were 422 LDS passengers. Elders Henry E. Phelps, John Parsons and James Crossley presided over the Saints. They left Liverpool, England on November 24, 1854 only to return to port six days later because of bad weather. Seasickness was rampant. Thomas doesn't remember much about the voyage except being seasick. They set sail again on December 7 and cleared the Irish Channel in three days. Measles broke out among the passengers (20 children and two adults died at sea). Upon arrival at New Orleans on January 11, 1855, one more child died.

On January 12, the day after their arrival in New Orleans, they boarded the steamer Oceana and headed up the Mississippi to St. Louis, Missouri. After arriving in St. Louis, his father found work and a place to stay. They lived in St. Louis until Thomas was 11.

Mary Edwards Marries

Thomas's older sister Mary married John James and they had a baby girl they named Kathryn. Mary's husband died between 1859 and 1861. Some time between these years, the family moved to Florence, Nebraska to make ready for their journey to Utah. Mary married her second husband William Alfred Hymas in May of 1861 in Omaha, Nebraska.

Crossing the Plains

When the Edwards family left for Utah on June 7, 1861, Thomas Jr. was 12 years old. They traveled with Job Pingree³ and arrived in Salt Lake on August 24, 1861. They traveled with 33 wagons and 3 carriages.

Job Pingree wrote, "No deaths occurred in our company while crossing the plains, but there was one birth and taking it all together, our trip was very pleasant."⁴

Later in 1862, his older sister Mary Edwards Hymas and her husband William crossed the plains in James Wareham's Company. Their first set of twins died just before they left Nebraska. They arrived in Utah on September 26, 1862. They left Utah in 1864 and settled the town of Liberty, Idaho, which is located in the southeast corner of the State close to the Wyoming border.

Ogden, Utah

Thomas Jr. worked on his father's farm in Ogden. He loved horses and learned to ride while very young. He would ride bucking horses for the amusement of his friends so it was only natural for him to move away from city life. Ogden was a growing metropolis. He hired on as a cattle herder for John Houtz, who lived near Snowville, Utah. He met Joseph and Nancy (Allen) Nicholas who was living in Curlew (now Snowville) and was besotted with their 13-year-old daughter Helen when he was 23. He made up his mind then to wait for her. In the meantime, the Nicholas family moved back to their old home in Willard, Utah.

Whenever Thomas Jr. would to go Ogden to visit his family, he would always stop by Willard to see the Nicholas family. Through the years Thomas and Helen became very good friends and were very much in love. Although he had been baptized and raised a member of the LDS church, his life style of cow poking distanced him from the gospel.

While working on one of his jobs of herding cattle to Oregon, he found the little valley of Almo, Idaho and was determined to make his home there.

Thomas Marries Helen Nicholas

On January 1, 1877 Bishop Ward married Thomas Edwards and Nancy Helen Nicholas in Willard, Utah. At first they lived in Malad, Idaho with Helen's sister, Eunice Nicholas Ward.

On October 29, 1877, they moved to the Stafford Ranch below Almo, Idaho. They lived there 1½ years and then moved to Sweetzer Ranch. Thomas Edwards homesteaded 160 acres on what is now known as Edwards Creek (named after him) in Almo in 1878. He built their first home consisting of two rooms and a lean-to. He homesteaded some land to the East and when mother's sister, Maryann Nicholas married William Jones, they moved to Almo and father gave them the lower half of the place so they would be near.

"In 1878 M. B. Durfee, H. R. Cahoon, Lee Owsley and William Miller arrived in Almo, but only Durfee stayed. More men arrived in 1879 (Matt Durfee, H. D. Durfee, H. R. Cahoon Sr., Val Brackenbury, William Jones, John Lowe, Alfred Ward, and Robert Wake. Mrs. Helen Edwards was the first white woman to settle in Almo. --an argument ensued regarding what to name the settlement, Almo, a Spanish word meaning 'great battle' was chosen. The rifle pits and burned wagons found on ranches belonging to William Tracy and Arley Cahoon gave evidence of a great battle fought there sometime in the past. It was a site used by relic hunters for several years. William E. Eames had many relics from the site that he kept and showed to keep the history alive."⁵

It was very lonely for Helen the first few years of their marriage, as there had been no other women in the valley and then when some moved in, there were only two other women in the valley -- one at the EY ranch and another in the City of Rocks. These were long distances in those days and transportation was difficult as well as the added hazard of Indians on the warpath. Thomas continued to trail cattle through to Oregon for the next two years after he married having many harrowing experiences.

Helen Edwards Bennett wrote, "He came across two wagons burning. The Indians had killed all the people, stolen their horses, and taken all of their belongings. Thomas knew that they must not be very far away. He was really frightened but had to go on with his steers. As he looked up, he saw a man coming toward him on horseback. Well, this is it, he thought but as he drew nearer and waved his hat, Thomas sighed a relief. He never told about this experience without being overcome with emotion.

In 1861, a wagon train of 60 wagons with 300 people had left Missouri bound for California and when they came to the City of Rocks, Indians attacked them. Only 5 people escaped with their lives, the rest were massacred and the wagons were burned.

Thomas began to farm his place and stopped running cattle. His first three children were born in Willard since there were no doctors or midwives available in Almo.

Thomas & Helen Edwards children:

	Date of Birth
Mary Eunice Edwards	31 JUL 1878
Thomas Andrew Edwards	14 APR 1880
Helen Nancy Edwards	15 OCT 1883

A midwife, Mary Lowe finally came to Almo so the rest of their children were born in Almo:

Joseph Nicholas Edwards	27 APR 1885
Gordon Ira Edwards	3 JAN 1889
Clarissa Pauline Edwards	4 JUL 1892
Dorcas Louise Edwards	22 Sep 1894

Joseph, Gordon and Clarissa were all born in the old house in the middle of the farm, but Thomas had built a house on the upper half of the place because the highway ran close by. Dorcas was delivered by a neighbor, Louise Wynder, in the new house. It had just been completed and was a three-room house. Their children were all healthy except for common diseases such as measles, mumps, scarlet fever and hooping cough. The children did not see any doctor since the closest one lived in Albion, which was about 45 miles to the north (a huge distance on horseback).

Thomas would ride night or day to bring a doctor if anyone in the community needed one. Helen and Thomas were the first ones summoned to a sick bed and everyone loved them because of their unselfish work. Thomas set many a broken leg and cured a rattlesnake bite by sucking the blood from the wound. Helen washed and laid out nearly everyone who died in Almo until an undertaker was close enough to call and that was years later. (Her father Joseph Nicholas had always helped with funerals by transporting bodies to the cemetery in his wagon.) Thomas was always on hand to sit up with the sick and dying and never missed a funeral and helped dig graves.

He helped bury the dead of a massacred wagon train of 25 people. One woman and one child escaped and lived on wild rose buds until they were rescued. The small settlements in this section of Idaho were not molested probably because they followed Brigham Young's instructions to feed the savages instead of fighting them.

He was a great mixer in the community and always called for the square dances and helped everyone have a good time. If he saw a "wall flower", he would ask her to dance with him and then find her a partner for the next dance. In those days, one usually danced the first and last dance with her beau and with everyone else in between.

Thomas was a real jockey and rode in all of the races on the 4th and 24th of July or any other holiday. Many would bet on him and not the horse in a race.

Helen Edwards Bennett wrote, "I well remember the last time he rode a race. We were in Burley and mother and I begged him not to ride but everyone kept cheering him to ride so when he came through the race two lengths ahead, he came over to the 'White Top' where we were. He was white as a sheet and he said, "well, that is my last race". I think that it was the first time that he felt like he was getting old."

He was a great hunter and in the fall when the crops were all in, there were many of sage hens in the fields. His daughter Helen who was called "Nellie" was always on hand to go. She would walk ahead of him and scare the sage hens up, then fall flat on her face so he could shoot over her. He seldom missed getting his game. They had a little book to keep track of all the chickens. We never shot more than we could use at a time. Nellie was the dog, as they didn't have a hunting dog. They had cattle on the range up Almo and Edwards Creek. Thomas did lots of riding in the summer to look after the little calves that were born away from the ranch. He always carried fishhooks in his hatband and when he came to the creek, he would make himself a fishing pole out of willows and fish for an hour or so. When he came home, he usually had fish in every pocket (good old mountain trout).

Helen Bennett wrote: "He was very good at playing jokes. There was an old man named Davie Jones who lived with us. Thomas sent him over to the Nicholas Ranch to get something. He was no sooner out of sight when Thomas ran ahead with a sheet draped around him. He stood in the road and pounded an old stovepipe. Davie dropped everything and ran with Thomas right behind him. Davie fell down and as he did so, he pulled a knife from his pocket saying, "I can't run but I can fight." This joke was really on Thomas. Another time, a group of friends were at our home and Thomas and Uncle Gordon Nicholas (mother's brother) slipped away and went toward the hills. They built a bonfire and wrapped blankets around themselves and kept going around the fire pretending that they were Indians as some had been around that day. There had been so many massacres in and around Almo that the residents were always on alert. However, when it was discovered that Thomas and Gordon were not around, we knew right away that there is a "joker in the woodpile."

Helen was dying some clothes a beautiful blue. Thomas took two of his white chickens and stuck them in the dye. An old friend, Dick Lessey, came by and saw them and was real thrilled with such beautiful chickens. Thomas told him that he could have a pair for $25. He bought them and took them to Elba. In a few days the dye wore off and here came Mr. Lessey with the chickens. Thomas got a big kick out of it and gave him his money back.

In the middle of the night one fall evening, a man by the name of Bill Owsley came riding pell-mell up to the house and called Thomas out telling him that there had been a terrible massacre in the City of Rocks. There were a lot of men on the range rounding up cattle. Thomas had been on many roundups so he went back to bed as if nothing had happened. In a few minutes, they heard wagons coming. Six families from Grape Creek with their bedding and food had arrived at Thomas and Helen's so that they could band together and protect themselves from the attack. When trouble arose, people came from the nearby settlements to the Edwards home until the trouble was settled.

Helen said, "Tom, you would lay here and let us all be killed? I heard what Mr. Owsley said." Thomas said, "I don't believe a word of it. It is probably just a tenderfoot and the boys were having some fun." The next day, to satisfy the women, the men got on their horses to view the scene in the City of Rocks. It was just as Thomas had said; a few of the cowboys had left camp and came back later shooting and whooping it up. The rest of those in camp had all fallen over as if shot. The poor tenderfoot had simply left for parts far and away where no one could hope to catch him. He spread the news to Oakley, Albion, Elba and back to Almo. All of these communities were upset about the Indian attack.

Thomas made friends with the Indians, and had learned their language whenever he could. He fed them rather than fight them. They called him, "The Great Man". They trusted him.

Many times, Thomas tracked cattle and horse thieves bringing them back to face the law.

Thomas was not much of a churchgoer but if anyone was in need, he was the first to take a grist of flour, a quarter or beef, or a sack of potatoes and no one ever knew about it, not even his wife. When Thomas moved away, a lady came to Helen and said, "I don't know how we'll ever get along. You know, Mr. Edwards has brought us our flour for years."

In the summer of 1910, Thomas and Helen took a vacation trip into Yellowstone National Park. Their two teenage daughters, Clarissa and Dorcas accompanied them. This 3-month camping trip was quite an adventure for the family. Not only did they see the sights of Yellowstone but they also visited with many relatives including Thomas' sister Mary Edwards Hymas and her family in the southeast corner of Idaho. It took them 19 days of traveling and stopping to see friends and relatives to arrive at the Park. They spend the next 6 days viewing the wonders of nature and then headed back towards Idaho. It was quite a reunion when they reached Liberty, Idaho where Aunt Mary (William and Mary Hymas) lived. See the detailed story written by Helen Edwards.

His children were all raised in the LDS church but Thomas and Helen never married in the temple. Thomas had progressed to an Elder in the church but by request, on February 24, 1911 at age 62, he was excommunicated from the church. It may have been about the time that his youngest daughter became pregnant by Crandle Eames and they had a shotgun wedding, which of course, did not last. After their divorce, Dorcas' son used the name Max Edwards and never used Eames except in the Almo Ward Records. This small town scandal may have driven Thomas from the church and prompted him to move to Burley. Almo had grown into quite a large settlement but people will talk and couldn't hold their tongues when it came to a scandal.

Clarissa Edwards married J. Roy Eames in 1914.

In 1914, Thomas & Helen Edwards bought a home in Burley, Idaho⁶ from Ida Yund, a single woman from Helena, Montana. Their youngest daughter Dorcas and her child Max moved with them. Thomas became extremely ill with the flu in 1918 from which he never fully recovered. It left him with a weak heart.

Their daughter Helen had married William Bennett and had moved to California in 1921 and upon the his doctor's recommendation that Thomas move to a different climate, he moved his family to Los Angeles and stayed with the Bennetts from October 1922 to January 1923. Those of the Edwards family who moved to California were: Dorcas, Max, and Gordon & family.

Thomas & Helen bought a home in Whittier, California in January and on February 24, 1923 Thomas Edwards died. His wife took him to Burley, Idaho where he is buried.

At his funeral, John L. Smith (a member of the Stake Presidency) said, "Thomas Edwards was a thoroughly honest and honorable man. His word was as good as his bond. He always went the extra mile to help a friend in need. He did not knowingly or intentionally harm or inconvenience anyone. He had no enemies and he could always see some good in every one."

1851 Census called his occupation as ironstone.
Richard D. V. Llewellyn Lloyd, "How Green Was My Valley", New York, The Macmillan Co., 1940.
Pioneers & Prominent Men of Utah, p. 953
Emigration, Feb. 28, 1851 to Feb. 2, 1855, #1044 p. 181-189.
Chronicles of Courage, p. 380, Daughters of the Utah Pioneers published book.
Mortgage dated 28 JUN 1914, covering lot 10 in block 166 of Burley Townsite, Cassia Co. ID, securing payment of $1,000.