THOMAS WILLIAMS
Thomas Williams was born 4 Oct
1811 in Morriston, Llangyfelach,
Glamorganshire, Wales. He was the second
child in a family of six children. Following are the names and birthdates of
each:
Parents:
David Williams
b. 1787 in Felinfoel, Llanelly,
Llanelly, Carmarthenshire, Wales
Catherine Jones b. 1787 in Llangyfelach, Glamorganshire, Wales
Children:
David Williams
b. Aug 1807 in Morrison, Llangyfelach,
Glamorganshire, Wales
David Williams
b. 24 Jan 1809 in Morriston, Llangyfelach,
Glamorganshire, Wales
Thomas Williams
b. 4 Oct 1811 in Morriston, Llangyfelach,
Glamorganshire, Wales
Jane Williams
b. 1813 in Morriston, Llangyfelach,
Glamorganshire, Wales
Mary Williams
b. 1815 in Caswddi, Llanelly,
Llanelly, Carmarthenshire, Wales
Ruth Williams
b. 1817 in Caswddi, Llanelly,
Llanelly, Carmarthenshire, Wales
John Williams
b. 1819 in Llanelly, Carmarthenshire, Wales
Thomas lived in Morriston for a short time, then
the family moved back to his father's ancestral parish of Llanelly
in Carmarthenshire. The Williams family had lived in this parish as far back as
1665.
The family's first recorded
Williams:
Griffith Williams b. about 1665
in Llanelly, the father of
John Williams
b. about 1690 in Llanelly, the father of
John Williams
Jr. b. about 1716 in Llanelly, the father of
Henry Williams b. about 1736
(wife Jane David) in Llanelly, the father of
John Williams
b. 1758 in Llanelly (wife Mary Jones) in Llanelly, the father of
David Williams
b. 1787 in Llanelly (wife Cathrine
Jones) in Llanelly, the father of
Thomas Williams b. 4 Oct 1811
in Morriston, Llangyfelach,
Glamorganshire, Wales.***
On 11 Dec 1835, Thomas married
Margaret David (b. 8 Apr 1811 to Thomas David and Mary Johnson) in the Llanelly
Parish Church(1).
They were about the same age and had a happy marriage, but no children came
from this union.
Margaret and Thomas listened to
the LDS missionaries, and were baptized in the Pontyberem
LDS Branch by Elder Howell Williams on 19 Apr 1849(2).
Thomas' occupation in Wales was a
station engineer. The company recommendation written for Thomas follows:
"Glendraeth,
Llanelly, Wales
16 May 1866
To bearer, Thomas Williams has
been employed here during several years as an engineer. He has invariable given
satisfaction, having at all times proved himself a capable
and trustworthy man for the charge of an engine.
David Wakely
per William Harries, Agent"
Before leaving Wales, Thomas
spent a great deal of time in gathering genealogy. Following is a portion of
the writings from his diary he brought to Utah (originally in Welsh):
"Thomas Williams commenced
this record October 5, 1854. I name many: my father's name comes first in this
book, then his children and their children, third, my father's sister's
children and their children, fourth, my father's brothers and children and
their children. I have recorded the dates of their birth and where they were
born, and of their death and burial. Being put to much
inconvenience in getting these names, I hope they will be of a future use to
everyone of them. Also, as I am about to finish this book, I lived at Pont-a-Berem in the year 1857. I was thinking of leaving Babylon where I had been
for nearly forty-seven years. My wife was nearly the same age as myself and we
lived happily and could see alike in every thing in regard to the building up
of the Kingdom of
God. We
came to the conclusion to go to Zion
this year to be able to perform the ordinances"(3).
Margaret died on 4 Oct 1863, so
Thomas emigrated as a widower. On 18 May 1864, Thomas boarded the "General
McClellan" at Liverpool for the USA. The trip across the ocean
lasted six weeks. When Thomas had been on the voyage for three weeks, the
vessel crashed into an iceberg, causing a panic on board the ship. A very
exciting time followed, during which all on board thought they were destined to
sink. The ship arrived at the New
York harbor and was forced to remain in the bay for
three days before landing.
In the New York passenger list, Thomas is listed in
line next to a widow, Ann Rees Griffiths, along with her four daughters from
her first marriage. They are not listed as man and wife at this time, so they
must have married after they left the boat(4). Family
tradition says that they were married in Feb 1864, but the record cannot be
found. Thomas knew Ann and her deceased husband Herbert Griffiths in the Pontyberem LDS Branch. The microfilm records indicate that
both Thomas and Herbert performed ordinances for each other's families(5).
The Williams family started
across the states by train. They arrived in St. Joseph, Missouri
during the Civil War and had difficulty in obtaining food. From St. Joseph, they traveled
by ox-team and wagon in the company of Captain Warren. The Indians proved very
troublesome. On the trail they witnessed the burning of fourteen wagons of
another company. Another time the Indians stampeded the pioneer's tethered oxen
and the wagon in which the Thomas Williams family was riding was overturned. No
one was seriously hurt, although one of the oxen was killed. The drinking water
was very muddy until they reached Sweetwater, Wyoming; the water was better the rest of the way to Utah.
The family arrived in Salt Lake City in October, 1864, and left immediately for
Spanish Fork, Utah,
to make their home. They had to live in a rough dug-out until Thomas could provide
better living quarters. Food was extremely scarce, and the family had to eat
weeds many times to maintain life. Thomas did farm and masonry work as well as
working in David Bowen's molasses mill for many years. Thomas also worked as a
Night Home Guard during the time that the Indians were so troublesome in the
Spanish Fork vicinity. Because guns were so scarce, he had to go on guard duty
with only a club for a weapon.
Thomas and Ann had five
children from their marriage. Three of the five children were farmed out to
other families to raise because of poverty and Ann's mental illness due to the
"extreme
hardships suffered by the early pioneers and a lack of medical care. Mother's (Ann) mind failed her at times and for this reason she was
unable to care for the small babies" (6).
A physical description of
Thomas Williams comes from his son William "T" William's
autobiography:
"My only recollection of
my father was, I think, somewhere around the age of eight to ten. I was living
in Salem at the
time with the Simeon Comfort Powell family. My adopted grandfather, Samuel Cornaby, or some of the family had made arrangements for me
to meet my father at Grandpa Cornaby's. I was dressed
in my Sunday best one morning and my step-parents said to me 'You may walk over
to Spanish Fork and visit with your father at Granpa Cornaby's'.
It seemed strange to me at that
young age that I was sent alone, but I am thankful that they let me see him. I
walked to Spanish Fork and arrived at Grandfather Cornaby's
at 10 or 11 o'clock. I knocked and the door was opened. In one corner of the
room sat an old man, his whiskers and hair were gray and he wore a pair of
spectacles. His head and hands shook with the palsy. He was close to 70 at the
time. I was then introduced to my real father and I think it was the first time
that I had ever been introduced to anyone. They asked me to go and shake hands
with him as he was my father. I was rather bashful and shook hands rather
shyly. He asked for a drink of water and I was permitted to get one for him. We
visited for perhaps an hour or two, then I walked back to Salem"(7).
Thomas was a faithful
Latter-day Saint from the time he was converted to the church to his death. He
died in Spanish Fork, Utah,
Utah, on 10 Apr 1881, and was
buried in the Spanish Fork Cemetary. He left his wife
Ann with four surviving children. The family is following:
Parents:
Thomas William b. 4 Oct 1811 in
Morriston, Llangyfelach,
Glamorganshire, Wales
Ann Rees Griffiths
b. 25 Aug 1828 in "Mynyddcarig" Pontyberem, Llanddarog,
Carmarthenshire, Wales.
Children:
Thomas
Williams Jr. b. 22 Feb 1865 in
Spanish Fork, Utah, Utah.
Herbert Rees Williams
b. 20 Nov 1866 in Spanish Fork, Utah,
Utah.
Margaret "Lottie" Williams b. 24 Oct
1869 in Spanish Fork, Utah,
Utah
William "T" Williams b. 26 May 1871 in Spanish Fork, Utah, Utah
Eva Williams
b. 1873 in Spanish Fork, Utah,
Utah, died about 1875.
(The two names with quotation
marks indicate additions to their original names. They used these to identify
themselves, but were not part of their birth names. Margaret's nickname may
have been Dottie instead of Lottie.)
Marilyn L. Williams Grua
1054 South Heber Lane
Grantsville,
UT 84029
((The above history is a
compilation of histories from Archie Williams (son of Herbert Rees Williams),
William "T" Williams, Allen Berry Williams (son of William
"T" Williams), and Allen's wife Delila
Gardner Williams, with additions and corrections by Marilyn L. Williams Grua.))
***This descendency
is modified from the original, taken from Margaret "Lottie"
Williams Pew's record book which Nadine Pew Brown wrote out in long hand.
Nadine is the daughter of Rees Pew who is the son of Margaret "Lottie" Williams Pew. At the time of the original
writing, Nadine and her husband Marvin Brown were serving as President of the
Argentine Mission. The original information was obtained by Delila
Gardner Williams on December 30, 1974 at Spanish Fork, Utah. I modified the original because of
marriage and birth dates found in the Llanelly Parish
records FHL film #0105163, that contradicted and made
implausible the original dates. Following is the original:
Griffith Williams born 1692 the
father
of John Williams born 1714 the father
of John Williams Jr. born 1736 the father
of Henry Williams born 1754 the father
of John Williams born 1771 the father
of David Williams born 1789 the father
of Thomas Williams born 1811 the father of Thomas, Herbert
Rees, William "T", Margaret, and Eva.
REFERENCES
(1) Llanelly
Parish Records FHL film #0105163
(2)Llanelly
LDS Branch Records FHL film #0104169
(3) Family Sources--original
journal given to eldest son Thomas Williams Jr., his family had held it until
Archie, son of Herbert Rees Williams, and Mary Williams, daughter of Archie
Williams had the journal copied, then a translation was made into English. The
Journal was returned to that branch of the family; as of 1998, the journal
cannot be located.
(4)LDS Ship Records--FHL film #0025692 p. 132 the "McClellan"
(5)Llanelly
LDS Branch Records FHL film #0104169
(6)&(7)
History of William "T" Williams, related to his daughter-in-law, Delila Gardner Williams
