HISTORY OF THOMAS CARADOC DAVIES
by Marilyn L. Williams Grua
Thomas Caradoc Davies was born 14 Jun 1818 in Mount
Pleasant, Merthyr Tydfil,
Glamorganshire, Wales to John Davies and
Mary Thomas. Mary is listed in parish records as Mary Edwards, as her previous
deceased husband was Edward William. (Family records list her as Mary Thomas
Williams).
Thomas was the ninth
of eleven children. His father and father's family were well-to-do farmers. following is a list of the family and their dates of
birth:
Parents:
John David or Davies born 1783/4 in Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorganshire, Wales.
Mary Thomas born 1778
in Llangibby, Monmouthshire, Wales
Children:
Mary Davies born 11
Nov 1802 in Merthyr Tydfil,
Glamorganshire, Wales
Margaret Davies born
1803 in Merthyr Tydfil,
Glamorganshire, Wales
William Davies born
1805 in Merthyr Tydfil,
Glamorganshire, Wales
John Davies born 3 Mar
1805 in Merthyr Tydfil,
Glamorganshire, Wales
Sarah Davies born 1807
in Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire, Wales
Ann Davies born 7 Aug
1808/09 in Merthyr Tydfil,
Glamorganshire, Wales
Martha Davies born
1811 in Merthyr Tydfil,
Glamorganshire, Wales
Lewis Davies born 1812
in Merthyr Tydfil,
Glamorganshire Wales
Martha Davies bap 24
Mar 1815 in Merthyr Tydfil,
Glamorganshire, Wales
Jacob Davies born 1814
in Llandilo or Llanfynydd,
Carmarthenshire, Wales(1)
Thomas Caradoc Davies born 14 Jun 1818 in Merthyr Tydfil,
Glamorganshire, Wales
Daniel Davies born
1820 in Merthyr Tydfil,
Glamorganshire, Wales
David Davies born 1820
in Merthyr Tydfil,
Glamorganshire, Wales
Living in the parish
of Merthyr Tydfil between
1803 and 1820 must have been frustrating for this farming family. The fertile land
in the Merthyr Vale was gradually taken
over for housing with the development of mining companies in the city of Merthyr Tydfil and
surrounding areas. The growth of mining encouraged
immigrants from all over the Welsh countryside to move to the mining centers
for better wages. The population explosion helped to force out of Merthyr Tydfil all
farming concerns.
Between 1820 and 1831,
the family moved to the parish of Llantwit Fardre, located south of Merthyr Tydfil where one of their daughters, Ann, married Danson Wride on 9 Apr
1831. The oldest daughter Margaret married Benjamin Jones abt 1839 in Eglwysilan,
Glamorganshire, Wales. On the 26 May 1840, the
ninth child Martha married David Thomas in Llanishen,
Glamorganshire, Wales.
In the 1841 Census for
the parish of Barry, Thomas is listed on a farm with his mother and father, his
eldest married sister Margaret who was listed as married (no spouse present)
with her child Martha,1, his oldest brother William
(who never married), and the twin brothers David and Daniel.(2) The parish of
Barry was a very small one, only a few farms, and some major railroad lines,
and the boatloading concerns at Barrydock. The Barry Railway System moved coal from the
northern fields to the boat docks in Barry, Penarth, Porthkerry, Rhoose, Aberthaw and Gileston.(3)
The family moved again
between 1841 and 1851, going north to the parish of Bonvilston.
In 1851, the Davies family was living on a farm calledPencarreg consisting
of 180 acres. The father John David, his wife Mary, eldest son William, and
youngest twins David and Daniel were present.(4) John
and his three sons probably worked together on the farm, as the census says
that he employed "4 labourers". The
census also says that John David was born in the parish of Merthyr Tydfil, and his wife
Mary Thomas was born in the county of Monmouth. The sons
William, David, and Daniel list their places of birth as Merthyr Tydfil. The father
John died in 1856, and the mother Mary died
in 1852.
Sometime between 1841
and 1851, Thomas Davies received training as a surveyor, and married Jane
Temperance Stoddard from Cardiff in 1847. In the 1851 Census, he is
listed with his wife in Merthyr Tydfil. According to Surveyor Davies= temple records, Jane
died in 1855. Between 1855 and 1861, he married for a second time to a lady
with the first name of Ann. Family tradition says that he was the surveyor in Cardiff for
25 years. There were no known children from either his first or second
marriage. In the 1861 census, Thomas and his second wife Ann were living in the
Parish of Llanwonno, in the city of Pontypridd. Thomas was listed as a surveyor again in this census.The census also listed a servantCathrine Thomas,
and a visitor Mary Jones.(5)
Sometime in the 1860s,
Thomas met the Mormon missionaries. He welcomed and embraced this new religion
from the United States, but his wife Ann would have nothing to do with
Mormonism, even to the point of not wanting the elders to come into her home.
Thomas was determined to be baptized and to emigrate to the United States,
then to Utah. He was baptized in the Pontypridd branch
of the church in 1868.(6) Soon after his baptism, he arranged his personal
affairs, separated from his wife Ann, and left Wales at the Liverpool, England
port on 14 Jul 1868 on the ship "Colorado"(7)
Family tradition
indicates that he was the only one of his siblings to join the church, but this
is not quite correct. His sister Martha who married David Thomas did join the
church; she and her husband and four living daughters emigrated to
the United States on the ship AGeorgeWashington@
in March of 1857. Where they settled is unknown, except that it was Aback
east@. Thomas= older sister Margaret did emigrate (as a widow) along with
Thomas and with her daughter Martha who was married to Evan Wride, a grandson of Barry and Ann Wride through
their son Thomas Wride. Three of Thomas' sister
Ann Davies Wride's children did emigrate
with their uncle; Mary Wride (John), Barry Wride, and AnnWride (Stubbs).
All were members except for Margaret, whose membership is unknown. The total listing of emigrants are: Jane Wride,
19; EvanWride, 20; Martha Wride,
26; Margaret Thomas, 59; Thomas Davies, 49, Rachael Davies, 22; and Elizabeth
Thomas, 22.
Thomas' sister
Margaret Davies Jones Thomas died just three months after she arrived in the Provo valley,
26 Oct 1868.
Family tradition says
that Thomas then married a Mrs. Higby in Utah,
but soon after, the marriage was dissolved because she was an alcoholic. Thomas
Thomas is shown in the
1870 census of Utah in Provo City 2nd Ward as a surveyor, single status, and
living with Evan Wride, 27; Martha Wride, 30; and Thomas Wride,
5 months old.(8) Thomas became known as "Surveyor Davies" among his
associates and friends. He surveyed the original highway between Provo,
Springville, Spanish Fork, Salem and Payson, Utah, and
surveyed some of the first mines in Eureka, Utah. I have three
letters that were written during 1872-? that are
included here. The original spelling is used, and spaces are shown when the
word is not clear. The first is written by Thomas’ brother David Davies' widow
to Thomas about her situation:
"Mr. Thomas Davies
Pentyrch July 8, 1872
Dear Brother:
I am sorry to tell you
that it is with great difficulty in tryin to
write these few lines to you in good state of health and prospect in every
respect few months ago I thought I should have the pleasure of seeing you by
this time if the Lord would spare me but in sted of
that I am left here to greveand vex about my
Dear children as I expect Mr. David John as arrived over by this time and that
he has told you all about my concurne in
not coming over with him you can believe me that I never felt so sorry and
unhappy in my life as I have since David John as left the country. I tried all
in my power to get the means to go with him but as I am sorry to tell you that
the little sum of money that was left after my Dear Husband your brother David
is not in my hands to do as I please with it if it was I can asure you that I would have come out there with my
Dear little children who as been so ancoius to come but of course they know nothing of the concequence yet only thought they should see you &
Martha & JaneWride; those relations wich they remember. It was all my wish to come out
with D John without mention to either of my relations but as I told Martha in
my last letter, that your Brother Daniel
& William my Brother are Trustees over the children. I have nothing to say
against your Brother he would let me have the money to go over there but it is
my own Brother is the object I only wish he had nothing to do with it the
reason I did ask him to be one with Daniel was because there was six pounds to
be paid for papers of Administrations I could not pay it myself and your
Brother said he could not pay it for me so I was bound to ask William to pay it
for me and he is like meny more in this
country he thinks it better to stay here if one was to starve and I will unless
something will turn out for me and my children more than any of our relations
in Wales will do for us Peter Wride kept
Johnny for few months with him at Cardiff but because Mrs. Jones did not like
the trouble, he sent him to me to do what I like with him. While he was with
Peter, I stayed with one of my nieces at Llanilturn.
I was going out to sew every day and Mary was in school, but now we are too
many to be in my neice, for they have six
children their own. Now I take a house for me and this
children at Penturch, I got to pay
eight shillin a month for it. What I earns
by sewing is but very little---help to keep the children, as they are now getin big and very expenceveand
I have alway been so wishful to give them
good schooling that they might be able to shift into something to get their
living. If Mary could have twelve monts of
good schoolin now she would be able to get
a situation in some where. There in some sort of
school so far but it is very likely that they must go to service very soon and
I must also do the same myself. I could easy get a situation if I add the means
to put the children away in some school. Know (now) it as
come to a point that I must do what I never did like to do that is to beg on
you if you can any how give me a little help towards risin the children. Johnny is a strong harty boy and I hope he will turn out a good boy and I
can asure you that Mary is as smart & sharp
a girl as you can see any were. I often things it a great pity that she could
not have good schooling. Its not
myself only that says so, but all the knows her. I don't want to tell you that
you often thinks of them for I know you do
and it was all my wish to bring them over with David John if I had the means to
do so. I wrote to Martha in February; I told her how it was about the money
then and I was in hopes that you would write to me then, and give me some
information about comeing for you knows how
people is in this country; we must not speak our mind about going out there,
they only makes fun of us. Perhaps you will think it bould in
me to write to you in this way, but it is all true and I hope you will answer
this letter very soon for I am anxious to hear from you. Martha promised to
write to me soon, but she did not. Now I must close with our kind love to you
all as relations from yours truly,
Eliza Davies
Johnny's writing
outside this letter
Address: E. Davies,
Temperance Row
Penygarn, Pentyrch Mary
Davies"
The other letter was
written to Martha Davies Wride from one of
Martha Davies Thomas= daughters:
"Salt Lake City March
23 (no year)
Dear Cousin Martha:
I suppose Uncle Thomas
told you the proposition he made mother before leaving the city. I mean in
relation to coming to Provo to live. The last time I wrote you I told
you that she had about concluded to go East to
Father which I heartily endorsed. But since seeing the President and accepting
his advise all our plans have assumed a different
shape. What kind of a reception the news will meet with when I tell you she has
concluded to come there to live. I am unable to tell her intention now with
uncles approval is to dispose of some things that she don't really need and the
means to put up a couple of rooms on your lot and by so doing avoid the
inconvenience of being so crowded. You know a frame building can be put up"..(9)
The third letter was
written by Surveyor Davies, but never sent:
AOffice of
Thomas Davies,
Civil Engineer and U.S. Mineral
Surveyor for Utah.
Salt Lake City, Utah, 27th August, 1872.
Dear Lizzie:
I acknowledge the
receipt of yours of the 29th July although I confess I am negligent
in writing. I think you will believe me when I say I was very glad to hear from
you. I do not wish to refer to anything you said with reference to the
manifestation of good feeling on the part of your Father towards me but suffice
it to be that I know your Father to be one of the best men that ever lived. Let
us speak of a man as we find him, and censure alone what we see, but from
faults there are none of us free.
I am sorry your Health
is not good and as to your inducing your Father to come out I must say that you
and him must be the best judges in that
respect. However, if your Health does not improve I think you had better return
in the fall. You know I have written to John W. Young respecting a situation
for your Father to which I have never had any response. I do not wish to say
anything that would discourage him to come here, and at the same time I am
afraid to say much that would encourage him to do so.
If things will
continue with me the same as they have for the last twelve months I shall
consider myself doing very well. I have made more money within the last six
months than I ever did in the same time in the old country, but you must
distinctly remember that I have not made it through the Mormon Fraternity. I
think there is no ready & good pay to get from the Mormon people their
whole life seems self and that alone.
I am glad you think
your Father can get along as well without you, under the circumstances I would
not try to induce him to leave for the present.The
money has arrived all safe for your mother.
I would not be in any
hurry to buy a farm at Provo. If your Father has two or three hundred
dollars to spare, I think he could take up a 3 section of land within seven
miles of Salt Lake City that would pay him well within a few years, say within
five years. I have no doubt that same land will sell for $25.00 or $30.00 per
acre and perhaps for a great deal more at any rate there is no money to be lost
by investing in real estate in and around Salt Lake City.
I have all I can to in
surveying and am making a little money there is a good deal on money out for me
but I think it is all good. I have done lots of surveying on the Emma Hill but
not for the Emma Co. I have done all Marshall & Carther surveying and things look well for the future.
Mind Lizzie I do not covet the revolver but if your Father has it to spare I
would esteem it a favour if he sent it. My
kind regards to yourself and especially as to your Father.
Your affectionate
uncle, Thomas Davies@
In 1878/79, Thomas met
Margaret Rees Edwards/Thomas, (recently divorced from her husband Frederick
Edwards/Thomas) with her three young children, at his home in Provo. There
seemed to be a family connection between Margaret and one of the Wride cousins, Barry or Evan Wride,
as an earlier history says that "Thomas had engaged Margaret's Uncle Wride to attend his home." Margaret returned to Ogden where
she was employed cleaning train carriage cars. Margaret and Thomas
corresponded, and in 1881 were married. Thomas bought Margaret a home inProvo that was still standing in the 1980's. Thomas
earned a very good salary; between $300 and $400 a month, which was
exceptionally high for that time. A son, Thomas Caradoc Davis,
was born 28 Nov 1881 in Provo, Utah. Another son John Daniel Davis
was born 9 Apr 1883 in Provo,Utah.
The younger son John Daniel died 14 Feb 1884 of complications from a tragic
fall into a boiling hot tub of water.
Margaret's daughter
Elizabeth Ann and sons Rees and Phillip began to use their stepfather's name of
Davies. Because of their love and respect for Surveyor Davies, the three
stepchildren were eventually sealed in the Salt Lake Temple to
their stepfather, along with Margaret's two deceased children from her first
marriage; Gwenllian b. 9 Mar 1870 and Hyrum
b. 9 Aug 1871.
Thomas had always had
a desire to own a piece of farming land and farm as his father had done in Wales.
Thomas purchased some farmland in "The Bottoms" area of Spanish Fork,
and the family moved from Provo to Spanish Fork City,
to a home still standing between 300 and 400 West on Center Street. Thomas
loved horses, and he drove a beautiful black horse and shiny buggy. On 27 Dec
1892, Thomas died of a heart condition. He is buried in the Spanish Fork Cemetery in
Spanish Fork, Utah, Utah.
REFERENCES
1. FHL film #0104210,
1851 Census Cadoxton pp. 404-405; FHL film
#0543228, 1861 Census Ystradyfodwg, Treherbert Village, Middle Hamlet; FHL film #0849479,
1871 Census Ystradyfodwg, Blaenycwm-Blaenrhondda, E.D. #1.
2. FHL film #0464327,
1841 Census Barry, pp. 3-5
3. Barry: The
Centenary Book, Ed. Donald Moore, 1984, 942.97/B2 H26 Salt Lake FHL.
4. FHL film #0104198,
1851 Census of Bonvilston, pp. 93-94.
5. FHL film #0543226,
1861 Census of Llanwonno, Town of Pontypridd, p. 61.
6. FHL film #0104168, Pontypridd LDS Branch Records.
7. FHL film #0025692,
LDS Emigration Records.
8. FHL film #0027758, Utah 1870
Census, Utah County, Provo City 2nd Ward, p. 279.
9. Family Records of Delila Gardner Williams, 103 East 400 South, Spanish
Fork, Utah, now in possession of Marilyn W. Grua,
1054 South Heber Lane, Grantsville, UT 84029.
OTHER INFORMATION
Included here are some
other pieces of information that may be helpful.
1. John David/Davies'
father, ac p. 307, is William Davies born in Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorganshire, Wales in
1764. Two other films include temple work done by Thomas Caradoc Davies and his wife Margaret; #0170381 p. 90 and #0170386 p. 333.
2. Daughter Margaret
Davies married Benjamin Jones abt 1839. In
the 1841 Census, she is listed with her parents and without her husband. She is
listed as "Margaret Jones, 35, with a daughter Margaret Jones, 1."
Her daughter's name is actually Martha according to the birth certificate.
Martha is listed as Martha Ann Jones Wride in
other family branch records. In the 1861 Census of Bonvilston,
Margaret is now listed as "Margaret Thomas, 58, widowed sister of William,
b. Merthyr Tydfil,
Glamorganshire." Margaret married a Thomas Thomas,
farmer, of Barry, Glamorganshire, Wales, and he had died before 1861.
3. William Davies
lists his place of birth as Merthyr Tydfil in the 1851 Census of Barry. In the 1861 Census
of Bonvilston, he listsMonmouthshire,, (cannot read parish name) as his place of birth. He
also lists ABathern@. He died in 1864 in Bonvilston.
4. Jacob Davies is not
listed as a brother to Thomas Davies in the original family records that I now
have. Only as I began to search the temple records of Thomas' adopted daughter,
Elizabeth Ann, (my grandmother) did I find Jacob with his whole family in Ystradyfodwg, and lists Thomas Davies in the upper right
hand corner as his brother. His place of birth is inconsistent with the other
family records, but there is some circumstantial evidence that the Davies
family's ancestral home was in Carmarthen, Carmarthenshire. Grandmother
Annie Davies wrote several letters trying to locate this Jacob Davies, and
insisting that he was a brother to Thomas.
5. Martha Davies
married David Thomas. They may have emigrated in
the 1850's to the United States. The Mar 23 letter and the “Dear Lizzie”
letter are related to Thomas Davies’ sister Martha Davies Thomas. Martha and
her husband David Thomas had twelve daughters. Martha and David were last found
in Pennsylvania in the 1880 Census. One of their daughters, Elizabeth
Mary Thomas relates to the “Dear Lizzie” letter.Elizabeth married
a man with the last name of Keene in “the east”. He died not long
after they were married. Elizabeth came to Utah and married
James H. Hart as his third wife. They lived in Idaho.
6. Daniel Davies
married Jane Elizabeth Evans on 27 Aug 1868 in Llanishen,
Glamorganshire, Wales. She was born in Oxford, England.
Daniel died on 19 Feb 1892 in Whitchurch,
another area that the Wride/Davies families
lived in for several years. No children from this marriage.
7. According to SL
Temple records done by Delila Gardner Williams(Elizabeth Ann's daughter), David Davies married an
Elizabeth Holcombe ofCoscheston, Pembrokeshire, who was born about 1825. They were sealed in
the Salt Lake Temple 9 Sep 1943. David died about 1870/71.
.
8. My mother Delila Gardner Williams, daughter to Elizabeth Ann
Edwards/Thomas Davies Gardner submitted a large group of name for sealing to
the Salt Lake Temple in 1943 with "Thomas
Davies--deceased, inst." No one in our family can now identify who these
names connect to. They seem to be a list of ancestors and some marriage, birth,
and death dates. Our list of family names are listed
below. A similar list of names weresubmitted
to the Alberta Temple on a different Day and month of the same
year of 1943. (see film #0170768 pp. 6441,
6468) The name listed in that record lists a "Thomas Davies, inst." als Alberta temple. This
second set is on film #0170768 pp. 6441, 6468. I tracked the grandson of this
submitter down and spoke to him; his grandfather's name was Thomas Ivan Davies
of Alberta, Canada. The grandson cannot see any connection, but as
one can see from looking at both lists, the similarities are striking.
It is possible that
the Davies family were originally one family
in Carnaervon; but split to Shropshire, England, and then to a farm named Penlanin the parish of Carmarthen in the county of Carmarthenshire.
Descendency group that I received from my mother:
1. William Davies b.
1646 of Penlam married about 1670 Elizabeth Harries
b. 1650 of
Coed-y-Garth, Carmarthenshire, son Evan Davies born abt. 1667.
2. Evan Davies b. abt 1667 md 1692 at Penlam, Carmanthen, md Elizabeth
Richard b. abt 1671, son
Williams b. abt. 1692. Evan Davies died 1733. (have
verification of his man and his death in the parish of Carmarthen.)
3. William Davies b. abt 1692 md. ??? abt 1724, son Evans Davies b. 1724 at Penlam, Carmarthen, William Davies died 1729.
4. Evan Davies b. 1724
at Penlam, Carmarthen, married ????
* Note: there are two
Evan Davies listed who are married to Elizabeth Richard--Evan Davies b. 1667 at Penlam Carm, md 1692;
and Evan Davies b. abt 1682 at Penlan, Carm, died
1733.
Marilyn W. Grua
1054 South Heber Lane
Grantsville, UT 84029
