A Story of the Life
of
Martha
Price
and
Thomas
Jones
Compiled by Kayleen Jones Wissel
Farr West, Utah - December 2000
PROLOGUE
WALES AND THE WELSH
Wales was
settled by a warlike Celtic people from Eastern Europe.
It is a country smaller than the state of Massachusetts
and is located on the western side of England,
just east across the Irish Channel from Ireland. In 1066 the Normans invaded England and moved westward thus
ending Welsh isolation. St. David is the patron saint of Wales who, in the 6th
century, traveled the principality preaching Christianity. The most famous
castle in Wales is Harlech Castle, built in 1283. It was one of 14
castles erected by the English king, Edward I, that formed an iron ring of
castles in the north and west of Wales to subdue and dominate the
people. They held the territory under English rule for nearly 120 years until
1400 when the charismatic leader, Owen Glyndwr, successfully led a rebellion
against English rule and united the Welsh people under his leadership. He is,
to this day, considered the greatest of all Welsh heroes. Since about 1530, England and Wales
have constituted one country governed from London, England.
Monmouthshire, although it is technically a county in England, is predominately Welsh.
The common description of Wales
is:Wales
and Monmouthshire.
In 1536, King Henry VIII
ordered the dissolution of the monasteries partly to symbolize his break with
the Vatican
and partly to fill his empty coffers as he established the Church of England as
the official state church.
Although Wales is a part of the United Kingdom, it has maintained a strong
cultural identity and, unlike Ireland
and Scotland,
has managed to resist erosion of the native language. Still spoken widely
today, the Welsh language is an ancient Celtic tongue more akin to
French-Briton than to Gaelic. They have always had a fierce pride in their
national identity and have passed this onto successive generations as part of
their heritage. They are very proud of their uniqueness and separateness from England
who rules over them.
The country is mainly
mountainous and agricultural except the southern valleys are industrial. Sheep
have always been the economic mainstay of Wales and much of the scenery is
lush, green pastures or fields on rolling hills separated by rock walls or
trees and bushes. It is a very charming and beautiful land of castles,
cathedrals, thatched-roofed cottages, gristmills, old fortresses and ruins
dating back to the days of the Roman Empire.
There are many beautiful mountain streams and waterfalls and coastal seascapes
on three sides of the land (an artist's dream).
It's a misty and enchanting
land known for it's myths and legends and fairies. Whereas most of the homes
are not very colorful or beautiful, a barn might be painted red to protect it
from evil sprits. Like the English, Irish, and Scots, they were a superstitious
people. There are tall and mighty mountains in the extreme north of Wales called Snowdon.
It is said that Owen Glyndwr himself haunts the mountains because it was here
that, outlawed and defeated, he sought shelter from the English.
HEARTS THAT SING
Wales is
also known for its choral music. Choral music was established during the
industrial revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries and
is still very important in their culture today, flourishing in every part of Wales.
It is interesting to note that a young Welshman, Evan Stephens, brought his
accomplished choir of Welsh Saints from the community of Willard, Utah
to sing at Conference. He later became one of the most significant conductors
in the annuls of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, taking it from local to national
renown as it became, under his inspired leadership, a musical emissary for the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Their beautiful land is known
to the Welsh as 'Camry' which means a kind of fellowship. It is the spirit of
the Camry which best defines the people, for although it is only a small
Nation, it has a great heart, a heart that sings out to the rest of the world.
DAN JONES-MISSIONARY TO WALES
Significant to the history of
my Welsh ancestors is Captain Dan Jones, a Welshman who became a Mississippi
River boat captain, bringing Mormon immigrants up the river from New Orleans to Nauvoo,
Illinois. Jones, a friend to the Prophet
Joseph Smith, went to Carthage
jail with him in June 1844. The night before the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum
Smith, the prophet asked him if he was afraid to die. Dan said, "Has that time
come, think you? Engaged in such a cause, I do not think that death would have
many terrors." Joseph replied, "You will yet see Wales and fulfill the mission
appointed you, before you die,"
Joseph's prophecy concerning
Dan Jones was literally fulfilled. The next day he escaped an attempted ambush
by twelve riflemen and was sent to report the situation to the governor who
told him he was unnecessarily alarmed for the safety of his friends, that the
people were not that cruel. Upon attempting to reenter the jail, the guard
would not let him in. So he lived to serve two missions to Wales, the first from 1845-1849. He
went at once to Merthyr Tydfil where he
organized himself and family into the Welsh conference. He commenced preaching
the gospel with such success that in just the first two years he became the
means of baptizing and adding to the Church about 2000 souls in Wales.
Although persecution raged against him, the more his opponents persecuted, the
better success he had. In February 1849, he sailed with 240 immigrating Saints
on board the ship Buena Vista. This was
practically the introduction of the Welsh element into the Church. His second
mission was from 1852-1856.
From the book, 'Mormon
Tabernacle Choir,' in speaking of the conversion by Dan Jones of Evan Stephens'
parents, it says:
Jones
returned to his homeland as a missionary during the 'hungry forties,' a low ebb
in the history of that proud land. Through their belief in the prophecies of
Joseph Smith, the Mormons could speak of the United
States as a Zion
in religious as well as economic terms- a place where men could be free to
work, and free to be saved. Within 20 years of Dan Jones' first mission, more
than 20 percent of all foreign immigrants coming to Utah
were from Wales.
The reaction of merely
mentioning the name of Dan Jones to a missionary from Merthyr Tydfil to
Colorado in 1999 brought forth both recognition and obvious love and reverence
of this great little man who seems to be very much remembered still.
MERTHYR TYDFIL
For many decades the
coal-rich seams of the Merthyr Valley were a source of great wealth for the city of Cardiff and produced the main image of South
Wales where my ancestors came from. The true center of the 'black
country' was Merthyr Tydfil in the county
of Glamorgan or
(Glamorganshire) where around the year 1750 Mr. Bacon began to develop the
mining of coal and iron and lead from the mountain sides. Huge iron 'works'
were everywhere - smoking, burning, hammering, melting, smelting and molding
while first ponies and donkeys, then a narrow canal in 1798 and railroads in
1841 were ever conveying south towards the seaport cities of Cardiff
and Swansea,
the coal, iron and lead for the benefit of all lands.
The soil is lean and clayey,
pinching the life out of plant and animal and making one wonder how anyone
could have survived here before the days of mining and manufacturing. The
population rose dramatically from 7,705 in 1801 to 96,891 in 1871 and great
fortunes were made. The proprietors of the iron works lived in the castle or
one of the several mansions that were surrounded by green grounds and trees
that compared strikingly with the scenes of grimy, ugly industry immediately
surrounding them. Crude houses were crammed together for the purpose of housing
as many miners and iron workers and their families as cheaply as possible.
The great iron works and
mines belonging to these proprietors gave employment to tens of thousands of
men, women and children, whose annual earnings would amount to a good sum. Were
it not for the curse of intemperance and its associated vices, this region
with all its drawbacks, might have been the home of people marked by all the
elements of prosperity and happiness - a physical Sodom
associated with a moral and social paradise. Almost as much energy and
effort were put into combating the evil with good by erecting many churches and
superior schools and attempting to make the social conditions more tolerable as
was put into the wasting or spoiling of the resources of the earth in that area
- but only almost.
CONDITIONS IN THE MINES
In 1913 this area was producing
almost one-third of the worlds coal exports. More than a quarter of a million
men worked in the mines. Their shifts were 12 hours long, 6 days a week. Today
most of the seams have been worked out. There are only a few workings pits
left. Some have been preserved to keep the tradition of coal mining alive. One
such place is the big pit at Blaenavon (pron. Blyn-alfin.) One thousand miners
used to work in the underground there, some of them women and children.
The dark and dripping tunnels
would have become a familiar working place. There is nothing so dark as the
inside of a cave. The men were sometimes cramped into tunnels no more than two
feet high. Operating the air doors to control the ventilation was a task
usually given to the children who worked underground. These children were 6-8
years old and in the 1800's they were even younger. They would sit by the door
with nothing for light but a candle. Once the door opened, the rush of air
would blow out the candle and they could be there for an hour before someone
would come along to light their candle again. But many little children never
had a candle to start with. They would be in the dark all day long and their
shifts would be 10-12 hours long. A lot of them had no shoes or socks on their
feet. At the end of each shift, the 'pits' or mines, all but bottomless, would
release the thousands of grimy, blackened workers, each with a Davy lamp in
hand, who hastened to their humble homes to wash, eat and rest. When the
daylight hours were shorter, they would only get to see the sun once a week.
Any wonder these ancestors of ours would hope for something better for us?
A STORY OF THE LIFE OF MARTHA PRICE AND HER
HUSBAND,
THOMAS JONES
THE JEREMIAH
PRICE FAMILY
Jeremiah Price was born in
Kellegory, Llanyre, Radnorshire, S. Wales, a
son of Rees Price and Ann Watts Evans on 13 Aug 1804. By the age of 24, he was
living in Merthyr Tydfil. On the 20th
of February 1829 he married a 19-year-old young woman of that town by the name
of Jane Morgan. Jane was born 28 January 1810 in Merthyr
Tydfil, the oldest of 9 children born to John Morgan and Margaret
Llewelyn. She was raised on a farm in Gelligaer and her father was a stone
mason. Between 1754-1837 the only legal form of marriage was by parish
minister. The young couple were members of the Methodist Church.
Jeremiah is said to have studied for the ministry but apparently he was never
ordained. His grandfather Isaac was an itinerant preacher, one of the first
Non-conformist in his area. His father was also a preacher.
Jeremiah's vocation in Merthyr Tydfil seems to have been that of an agent or
overseer in a coal mine with about 500 men working for him. He also owned a dry
goods and general merchandise store and 7 brick houses that he rented out. Jane
did the buying for the store in Bristol, England, probably going by train across the Bristol Channel. They lived in Merthyr
Tydfil until around 1845. The children born to them there were:
Enoch born in 1830 at Merthyr Tydfil
Jane born in 1831 at Merthyr Tydfil
Josiah
David born 8 April 1832 at
class=Section3>
Merthyr
Tydfil
Margaret
born 1 November 1834 at Merthyr Tydfil
David Rees born 1836 at Merthyr Tydfil
Ann
born 1 August, 1837 at Merthyr Tydfil
Richard Rees born 1840 at Merthyr Tydfil
Sarah
Ann born 7 February 1842 at Merthyr Tydfil
John
Rees born 7 July 1844 at Merthyr Tydfil
Welsh children worked in the
coal mines as soon as they were old enough and many times were caught in mine
disasters which took their lives. So was the case in the Price family and they
lost their little 8-year-old son, David Rees in 1844 and eight-year-old Richard
Rees in 1848. There may have been a couple more of these children who died as
infants or children who were all buried in one grave in Merthyr. These would
possibly be the oldest child, Enoch and second child, Jane. According to an
account from Everett Baird, there may have been as many as five in the one
grave but he may have been including one who died while crossing the ocean. He
did not remember the source of his information.
The family moved to Rhymney
in Monmouthshire around 1845 and a son, Isaac Rees was born to them on 7 August
1846. Another girl, Jemima was born 1 February 1849 and finally Jane, at age 43
had twin daughters, Mary and Martha Ann born 12 December 1852. The last child
is the subject of this story as she is my great-grandmother.
In Rhymney they lived about
five miles from Jane's parents, John and Margaret Morgan in Merthyr Tydfil.
Martha's older sister, Sarah Ann would very often walk the distance in order to
spend time with her grandmother when she was ten and maybe younger. She states
that on the way she had to choose between two routes, either to pass a cemetery
or a large iron works and she was very much afraid to pass either one.
A NEW RELIGION
In 1851 the Price family
first heard the message of the missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints (commonly called 'Mormons'). As they were converted, they
embraced the teachings and demonstrated their faith by being baptized - first
Jeremiah, his son Josiah David and daughters Ann and Sarah on 4 December 1851.
This was done in the nighttime under a bridge to avoid the persecution that
normally accompanied those baptisms when they were found out by some members of
the community. Jane was baptized on 26 April 1853, one and a half years later.
Not a Protestant Church, but one claiming to have all the keys and authority of
Christ's original Church restored through an American prophet, this would have
been considered a Non-conformism religion, or in other words, a break from the
established churches in Wales and England at the time. So it definitely was not
a change lightly entered into and was a major turning point in their lives.
Jeremiah was second counselor in the branch presidency in Rhymney from July
1852 until November 1853 when a new branch was established at Twyn Carno with
32 members from Rhymney being transferred to establish it. Jeremiah was called
as Branch President. This would have required the family to walk to meetings
five miles away at Merthyr Tydfil for a time.
In common with most of their
friends in the branch of the Church in Merthyr, the family was anxious to
emigrate to Zion to be with the main body of the 'Saints' (as members of the
Church were called). By the 1850's this Zion was located in America, in the
valley of the Great Salt Lake, Territory of Utah. Jane, however, was not
thoroughly converted to the idea of leaving a good home and plenty to go to Zion.
But as soon as it was learned that they were Mormons, Jeremiah was discharged
from the mine. So he decided to send 20-year-old Josiah and 10-year-old Sarah
to Zion in December of 1852 traveling with some close friends from Merthyr,
hoping to have the rest of his family follow in a few years. The twin babies
were only about a week old and 15-year-old Ann would surely have been needed to
help with their care. Jane feared she would never see her children (Josiah and
Sarah) again. They may have moved from Rhymney back to Merthyr Tydfil about
this time. Jeremiah went to work on a canal.
Because of the persecution,
Jeremiah was unable to sell his interests in Wales. So leaving all, in early
1855 he took his family and went with other Saints about 80 miles north to Liverpool,
England by caravan. This was a major port of departure for members from Europe because
of a shipping office set up there by the church for the purpose of chartering
ships and organizing the emigrants. The leaders of the Church had set up a fund
called the Perpetual Emigration Fund, through the donations of those already in
the Territory of Utah to lend financial assistance to those wishing to heed the
'Spirit or Gathering.' This fund provided for even the poorest of Saints to add
strength to the main body of the Church in America and escape the persecution
they faced in their own lands. The fund was replenished as they established
themselves in their new land and paid back into the fund from their surplus.
However, the Price family
must have had mixed feelings, not only because of the pride and love they felt
for their homeland but because their oldest daughter, Margaret (21) had married
and was staying in Wales or England and a couple of little grandchildren as
well. This daughter eventually had a large family of 12 children. There was the
grave of their deceased children to leave. Jane's father died of chronic
bronchitis on 2 February, just about two months before they left and Jane's
next younger sibling, a brother born 16 years after her, died a few weeks later
on 23 February 1855. He was only 29. This left only her 20-year-old sister,
Alice to care for their mother as all the rest of the family had died as
infants or children except another sister by the name of Sarah Jeffreys who was
living in Keokuk, Iowa in 1853. Jane's mother lived to be 100 but was gored by
a bull when she went out to milk the cow. She died in Wales in 1892. Leaving
family behind would have been very hard for Jeremiah and Jane but they set
their faces toward Zion.
They left Liverpool on 17
April 1855 aboard a chartered ship called the 'Chimborazo' with 432 Welsh and
English Saints. Three days out on the ocean a terrible accident happened when
Martha's twin sister, Mary (aged two) was playing on the upper deck and fell
down the hatchway to the lower deck while being tended by one of her older
brothers. She landed on her head and was bleeding profusely from her nose and
mouth. In spite of everything that could be done for her, she passed away two
days later on Sunday, 22 April and was buried at sea that afternoon. Much
sorrow and sympathy were expressed to the Price family from all the passengers,
especially their friends from the Merthyr Tydfil Branch. This included the
Daniel Lewis Jones family from Merthyr Tydfil and their 17-year-old son,
Thomas, who is said to have comforted little Martha on the loss of her sister
and also was one of the pallbearers. The Jones and Price families were close
friends and apparently this was the third crossing of the ocean for Thomas as
he is listed with Josiah and Sarah Ann when they came to America in 1853. In
the records his age varies so he may have been about 20 years old at this time.
He was born 17 March 1835 to 1838.
ARRIVAL IN AMERICA
On 22 May 1855 they arrived
at Philadelphia where they stayed a short time with other Welsh families. The
only piece of furniture they brought across the ocean was a large hardwood
chest. The majority of the ship's passengers continued on together by way of Pittsburgh
and St. Louis. The chief outfitting post for the pioneers that year was a camp
called Mormon Grove, located west of Atchison, Kansas near the Missouri River.
In articles written about
Mormon Grove at the time it was stated that most of the emigrants had never put
up a tent before. Many of the oxen sold had never pulled a wagon and driving
the oxen was as new an experience for nearly all of the emigrants as mastering
English must have been. The Price family purchased a wagon with a team of four
oxen and a cow. They left Mormon Grove on 28 July with the C. A. Harper Company
arriving in Salt Lake City on 29 October 1855 taking three months to cross the
plains.
Martha's older brother,
Josiah had taken some land in North Ogden, about 50 miles north of Salt Lake
City and there built an adobe house. His farm was located one mile west of North
Ogden in what is now known as Pleasantview. He was engaged to a young lady
named Rachel Bowen before he left Wales and she accompanied his family to America.
They were married a year later.
Since coming to Utah two
years earlier, Martha's older sister Sarah Ann, now 13, was working for a
family in North Ogden (about 6 miles from Ogden). Immediately upon hearing of
her family's arrival, she set out walking the 50 miles to Salt Lake City to
meet them, wading across Mill Creek (in Bountiful - just north of Salt Lake
City). There was some snow on the ground. She returned to North Ogden to work
for another family. Sarah Ann continued the custom practiced in her homeland of
hiring out at an early age to various families who paid her room and board. She
did live with her folks for a time before her marriage at age 15 however. Her
folks resided at first in North Ogden in the house built by their son. It was a
one-room house with a basement.
TOUGH TIMES
Having been quite prosperous
in Wales, Jeremiah had contributed money so that other Saints might also be
able to emigrate, but because of adverse conditions these people were unable to
repay the money they had borrowed. Therefore, when the Price family arrived in Utah,
they found themselves in dire financial circumstances.
During 1855 and 1856 the
Saints experienced a severe famine in Utah Territory. A drought caused many of
the crops to fail and a grasshopper plague invaded the existing crops. In
addition to these problems, great number of cattle died on the range because of
the severity of that winter. The lessening of the available food became
critical. Sarah Ann states that this was the year her folks subsisted on sego
roots. This is when President Brigham Young declared a fast day once a month so
that those who had bread could put their families on rations in order to save
the poor who had none. President Heber C. Kimball felt there was a hidden
blessing and warning to the Saints in the midst of these difficulties when he
stated, "Perhaps many feel a little sober because our bread is cut off, but I
am glad of it, because it will be a warning to us, and teach us to lay it up in
future, as we have told. How many times have you been told to store up your
wheat against the hard times that are coming upon the nations of the earth?"
The heavy immigration of Saints during 1855 added further to the burden placed
on the food supply and rigid rationing became necessary to see the people
through the winter and spring.
Such was the refiners fire
that these pioneers were called to pass through for the purpose of purifying
the Saints of God, that they may be, as the scriptures say, as gold that has
been seven times purified by fire. Through these trials they learned to place
their dependence on God and trust in Him, to observe his laws and keep his
commandments.
Jeremiah is said to have
purchased a small home in North Ogden. In the spring of 1858 he took his family
and went south with the rest of the Saints when General Johnston's army was
sent by President Buchanan to squelch a supposed rebellion among the Mormons.
President Buchanan made this assumption by acting on false testimony put forth
by enemies of the Church. It was a pitiful state of affairs but the Saints were
determined to sacrifice everything they had rather than suffer the oppression
they would have to endure at the hands of military rule. After the matter was
settled peaceably on 26 June, their prophet and leader, Brigham Young sent word
that it was safe to return to their homes.
SETTLED IN PAYSON
The Price family had gone as
far south as the town of Payson, 57 miles south of Salt Lake City. He decided
to buy a small ranch and stay in Payson and went into the poultry business
(another account indicates it also may have been sheep). On 16 Mar 1859,
Jeremiah declared his intention to become a U.S. citizen. He would have been in
his mid-fifties and suffering from rheumatism, when he is said to have walked
from Payson to Salt Lake City for General conference, a round trip of about 114
miles. It certainly shows his true mettle as he demonstrated his testimony and
desire to hear the counsel of the prophet.
By the year 1860 all of the
older children had married - Josiah married Rachel Bowen in 1856, Ann married
Rosser Jenkins in 1856, and Sarah Ann married Joseph Godfrey in 1857. This left
the younger four still at home - John 15, Isaac 13, Jemima 11 and Martha 7.
On the 19th of
March of that year, Martha's father was drowned in Payson Lake (later called Utah
Lake). The morning of his death his wife Jane, on bidding him goodbye, told him
she would never see him alive again. He and his son, John, were making a
deliver of chickens to a settlement across the lake and decided to walk over on
the ice instead of making the long trip around. They went four miles on the ice
and were within the width of a house from the shore when the ice broke and both
went down. John was able to get out but the father, perhaps heavier and less
agile, trying time and time again until his fingernails had almost worn away,
gave up. He refused to allow his son to aid him further for fear they both
would be lost. The father talked to his son during his remaining time,
entrusting his mother and younger brother and sisters to the young boy's care
and telling him of the life he would have him live. The son knelt down and
offered a heartfelt prayer for his father, bade him goodby and awaited the end.
When Jane heard through one of her neighbors of her son's return, she told them
she knew her husband was drowned. His body was recovered and buried in Payson
on 26 March 1860.
From Payson, Jane and her
children moved back to North Ogden near Josiah and his wife Rachel. This was
possibly the same house they had left a few years before as there would have
been no opportunity to sell before they left it. On 9 May 1860 Josiah, Rachel
and Jane went to the Endowment House in Salt Lake City to take endowments and
be sealed. The Salt Lake Temple was not completed until 1893 so these eternal
ordinances believed to be so necessary for one's eternal progression and family
relationships were performed in the Endowment House at that time. In February
of 1866, Jemima was married to Moroni Coleman. The North Ogden ward records for
21 Apr 1866 lists (19-year-old) Isaac Price, William Godfrey and Henry Baker
leaving to go to Salt Lake on a mission to the Missouri River to take supplies
to the foreign immigrants coming west that year.
MOVE TO MALAD VALLEY
Hearing from their Welsh
friends that there was good farmland available, Josiah and his brothers John
and Isaac took land and moved the family about 65-70 miles north across the
border into Idaho in the Malad Valley. This was possibly in 1866 or 1867. They
bought and sold stock on the ranch there about three years then bought 40-50
acres 10 miles up in the valley closer to town, which was good hay land. They
all lived together in town. This may have been just during the winter months
because that seems to be a custom of many of the farmers around Malad to this
day, to keep two homes.
This seems to be about the
time that these members of the Price family became discontented with the
Church. After several years of marriage, in about 1862, Rachel divorced Josiah,
and apparently it was because of his disaffection with the Church. Jane, who
had leaned heavily on her husband's faith and testimony, now found her own
testimony insufficient to bear up under the accumulation of trials she had to
endure. So Jane, Josiah, John and Isaac joined with the Reorganized LDS when
they sent their missionaries to Utah Territory. In 1866 some RLDS converts
moved from Utah up to Malad so that may have been the year and the reason this
part of the Price family made the move there. Sarah Ann and Jemima were firm in
their beliefs and so these branches of the family have remained, for the most
part, in the Mormon Church. My father, as a child, remembers Ann as being a strong
Mormon too. So Martha, being only 7 years old when her father died, seems not
to have been raised with the teachings of the Mormon Church too long thereafter
in her life.
Josiah remarried in Malad in
1867 to Elizabeth Wilson from North Ogden, who had one daughter and they had
nine more daughters. They lived in Malad for about a year after his second
marriage then moved to the northeastern corner of Kansas where he died in 1906.
John kept a home for his mother and younger brother and sister. Isaac married
Sarah Ann Thomas in January 1870 and they went to Montana Territory near Deer
Lodge. Martha Ann was married in October 1870 and moved to Montana Territory
also.
Sometime, probably between
1869 and 1906, Jeremiah and Jane's oldest daughter, Margaret, who lived in England,
made a trip to America for a visit. She came to Kansas so I assume she came to
visit while Josiah was alive then went on to visit other members of the family.
In the 1880 census John and
his mother Jane were listed as living in Elkhorn a few miles west and a little
north of Malad. They had bought land there sometime in the 1870's. Finally in
1884, at age 40, John married Frances Clifford and remained in Elkhorn to raise
a family. At this time Jane moved back to North Ogden to live with Sarah Ann.
She was suffering greatly with rheumatism. There she was rebaptized to the LDS Church,
her testimony having been strengthened. Years later she went to live with
Jemima and her family in Star Valley, Wyoming and in 1903, moved with them up
to Magrath, Alberta, Canada. This is where she died at the age of (almost) 95
years on 7 December 1904. Isaac also was rebaptized to the LDS church just
eight days before he died in Montana on 12 September 1892 at age 46.
THE JONES FAMILY FROM MERTHYR TYDFIL
Many Welsh families sort of
congregated there in the Malad Valley. Among them were members of the Jones
family. At this time I'd like to backtrack and say that the family of Daniel
Lewis Jones also arrived in Salt Lake City supposedly in the fall of 1855. They
also had sent their sons, Lewis, William and Thomas onto America to establish a
home for them two years earlier in Willard, north of Ogden in Box Elder County,
Utah Territory, having come across the ocean aboard the ship Jersey. Lewis and
William Jones came across the plains with Jesse W. Crosby's company of Saints
and Thomas came with Captain Henry Ettleman's Company, both arriving at Devil's
Gate on 19 August 1853. Thomas later
returned to Wales to help bring the families to Utah.
Daniel's oldest daughter,
Margaret Hughes, also came on the Chimborazo with them in 1855 but stayed in Pennsylvania
where her husband worked in the mines. In her very brief history she states,
(the conflict leading up to) "The Civil War was raging in the United States, a
bloody conflict between the north and the south over slavery. About 200-300
immigrants (from the Chimborazo) continued their journey to St. Louis, Missouri
by way of Pittsburgh, among those continuing were my people." As the
Pennsylvania Railroad had finished building their tracks to Pittsburgh by 1852,
it's likely they traveled at least from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh by train,
then on to St. Louis, Missouri and onto Mormon Grove, Kansas by wagon. There
were 8 companies of Saints that left Mormon Grove that season but not all of
them took time to keep a roster. We have been unable to find the names of the
Jones family but we do know from the Willard Census of July 1860 Daniel was
living there with his 23-year-old son William and seven of Margaret's eight
children. She died in September 1858 in Caseyville, Illinois and her husband
went back to Wales after sending the children to Utah with their Uncle William
who had come from Willard to get them. But Daniel's wife, Mary Williams Jones
is not listed in the Census nor have we found her listed since. When they
arrived in Mormon Grove in the summer of 1855 before crossing the plains, there
was an epidemic of malaria that apparently had come with emigrants coming up
the river from New Orleans and spread throughout the rough camp set up there.
Many deaths resulted, and there is said to be many unmarked graves. The
possibility exists that Mary died at this time or sometime between 1858, as
Margaret did not mention her death, and the 1860 census. It is also possible
that she lived in Malad as late as 1893.
Early in the 1860's Daniel
moved to Logan in Cache Valley, Utah Territory where he died 9August 1864 from
an accident while harvesting hay for some friends he had known in the old
country. His grave marker is there in the Roberts lot. In May of 1868, Daniel's grandchildren, the
Hughes family, heard that there was a place in southern Idaho where wild grass
grew up to your knees. This sounded good to them and they moved there from Logan,
settling in the village of Samaria about nine miles southwest of Malad.
Daniel's sons, Lewis and William and their families were at Henderson Creek by
1866 and another son, Jacob and his family moved to Montpelier, Idaho about the
same time. Since the Malad Valley was used mostly for summer herd grounds in
the late 1850's and 1860's and Welshmen from Utah, especially Willard where
Lewis and William Jones lived, went back home in the winters, it's possible
that all the Jones family didn't move there right at first. William Jones was a
neighbor to the Price family when they were living at Henderson Creek east of Samaria around 1867 and 1868. Henderson Creek was a
settlement or village about seven and a half miles north of the Utah-Idaho
border.
RENDEZVOUS AT HENDERSON CREEK
After his second trip from Wales
in 1855, Thomas, the youngest of the Jones family, had gone on to California to
work. He went seeking his fortune in the gold rush. One day in 1867 Thomas came on horseback to look up his family. It
must have been a very happy reunion to have their youngest brother show up
after all these years of no contact and believing he had died.
When Thomas came to visit his
brother William, he met Martha, now a young lady, whom he hadn't seen since
they came over from Wales in 1855. Since he is listed as being in Henderson
Creek in 1867, we can assume that he dated her for about a year. Then in about
1868 he went to Montana Territory, perhaps at the same time as his brother
William. There he gave his horse and saddle, which he had ridden all the way
from California, for a mine claim. Thomas and Martha wrote to each other often
during this time
class=Section4>
of separation. He took
thousands out of the mine, which he worked with his older brothers, William and
Daniel. Daniel had come a little later with his family from Illinois.
Apparently this was another reunion of the Jones brothers as it is believed
that he never came out west since entering the country until this time. Thomas
is listed in the 1870 census of Deer Lodge county (Blackfoot City) as living
with Daniel and his family. Besides the three Jones brothers, Isaac Price and
his wife were listed as living in that community. Daniel Jones was a disabled
civil War Veteran who died shortly after the census was taken at Gold Canyon in
August of 1870 at the age of 45.
A WELSH WEDDING
Thomas then returned to Malad
and was married to Martha by a Justice of the Peace on 28 October 1870. He was
about 32 and she was 17. They had a large supper with 30 guests. She was
married in a floor length street dress described as being made of a small blue
plaid material. It was trimmed with four dark bows in front, covering buttons,
beads at the neck and waist, long ruffle on the full skirt, long sleeves with
two overlays giving the effect of a two-tiered cape. He had a three-piece suit
with long tails and striped pants, a short, informal bow tie and boots. His
brown hair was curly with receding hairline and eyes that looked to be pale
blue. He wore a sparse mustache and goatee which he seems to have kept all his
life. Martha's long brown hair was parted simply at the middle and pulled back
away from her face to a bun or braided in the back. In later pictures it
appears that her hair was naturally curly. Her eyes appear to be hazel or maybe
brown, her long face was plain but very kind and pleasant. Martha's mother,
Jane and her brother, John were witnesses to the ceremony and the couple had
their wedding picture taken.
FIVE YEARS IN A MINING CAMP
On 2 November Matthew Hughes,
20-year-old nephew of Thomas, went with the couple to Montana in a spring wagon
with cover, new harness and a good team. They bought dishes, bed and bedding,
chairs and other things to take with them. There is a lot to be said for June
weddings. That had to be a long, cold journey of approximately 750 miles.
They lived at the mine for
five years in a little log cabin. The mining camp was called Gold Canyon and
was about 8 miles from Blackfoot, which is 6 miles north of Avon, Montana.
There the first two children were born to them - George 'W' on 18 Dec 1871 and
Mary Jane on 5 Oct 1873. They kept a tradition as Thomas' parents had done
before them of giving each of their sons the middle initial of 'W' in memory of
Thomas' mothers maiden name of Williams.
When Mary Jane was about one
year-old, they were attacked by Indians to whom they gave food and they went
away. William Jones had a ranch about 4 miles from the mine and Isaac Price had
a farm about 4 miles from William. Some time after Mary Jane was born, Thomas
took the children to visit Isaac and the children stayed with them for some
time.
MOVE TO ELKHORN
Thomas worked in a placer
mine in Snowshoe camp for wages for a couple of months and then sold his share
in the mine at Gold Canyon to his brother William. The family then moved to Malad,
Idaho. But we know that Thomas must have taken Martha further south to visit
her sisters, Sarah Godfrey and Jemima Coleman in North Ogden because their next
son (my grandfather), Daniel 'W' was born there on 16 November 1875. Sarah had
about 7 children at the time (eventually 9 or 10) and was nearly 11 years older
than Martha. Her home is still standing, although much remodeled, at 605 E.
2600 N in North Ogden. Looking at a drawing of Ogden and North Ogden at that
period of time you could see that these two towns were very separate communities
then with 6 miles between them. Jemima and her husband eventually had 12
children.
Thomas and Martha then
returned to Idaho and at John's invitation, they moved to the little settlement
of Elkhorn where John and his mother Jane had land and John gave Martha 55
acres of his farm so they could live close by. Thomas improved the land, built
a house and stable and dug a well that fall.
They lived here for 7 years.
During this time they added to their family two more daughters, Margaret
(Maggie) born on her father's birthday, 17 March 1878 and Caroline (Carrie)
born 2 Nov 1880.
MOVE TO OREGON
When Carrie was about 1 ½
years old, a neighbor influenced Thomas to take his family and move to Wallowa
county in Oregon where they farmed for about 12 years. There they added to
their family, William 'W' born 1 January 1883 and Anna Maude born 22 July 1885
both in Alder.
This was a beautiful valley
but it must have been another 'start from scratch' pioneering experience. These
were hardy people who didn't have it in their blood to shrink from good honest
work. Apparently the area was not so remote that there wasn't a church nearby
to worship at on Sundays. I learned from a story that my grandfather told me
that when 9-year-old William was unharnessing the team after the family
returned from attending church, he became entangled and was drug by a horse and
injured so severely that he died two days later. This was on 5 April 1892 at
Alder, Wallowa, Oregon and was a great sadness to the family.
The Welsh bible, passed on to
them from Thomas' brother Daniel, tells of the birth of the eighth and youngest
child, Leonard 'W' on 8 June 1893 in "Malad at Mary." Possibly "Mary" is one of
the many Welsh friends they would have had in the Malad area, perhaps a
midwife, or perhaps her mother in-law Mary Williams Jones as we don't know when
or where she died, and Martha went there to have her last baby. It is also
possible that her daughter, Margaret, came from England at this time.
DECLINE IN HEALTH AND MOVE TO BAKER
Martha was 40 at that time
and had had very bad eyesight from her youth. When she was young the strong
sunlight seemed to bother her very much and she wore thick glasses until they
didn't help her any longer. Thomas suffered a stroke about this time which left
him paralyzed on one side and he used to hook his arm in his belt to keep it
from swinging as he walked. It became necessary for the family to sell their
land in Alder and they moved to Baker City in Baker county. They could have
just moved to Baker City and then Martha went on to Malad to have Leonard but
we do know that their daughter was married in Baker City on 5 December 1893.
The 1900 census of Baker
shows that they lived on the east side of Baker on Oak Street and there were
seven in the household at that time with only George, who married Jennie Cobb
on 4 October 1896 in Colorado and Mary Jane (Janie), who married Frank Davis on
5 December 1893 gone from the home. That summer there were two weddings that
took place to change the picture. Carrie was married to Charlie Baird on 1 July
1900 and Maggie was married to Daniel Renard on 15 August, 1900. The marriage
of their daughter Maggie may have been the occasion that prompted a family
portrait taken in Baker, the first one since their marriage 30 years before. Thomas
and Martha had three granddaughters by Mary Jane and one grandson by George at
this time (his first son having died as an infant.)
On 27 November 1903, Thomas
and Martha's son Dan married Matilda (Tillie) Durrett at the Jones home in
Baker. After living for a time in Anaconda, Colorado near Dan's brother George,
the young couple settled in the upper end of Eagle Valley in about 1905 (east
of Baker) near the town of New Bridge. George and his family also moved to the
same area within a short time. For Martha the care of herself, her husband whose condition was
deteriorating, and young son, Leonard may have been a burden especially as she
was going
blind. Young Leonard began to
live in New Bridge with his brother, Dan and his family from the time that he
was about 12 years old. Anna married
Herbert Eastland on 19 April 1910 and settled in Halfway, in neighboring Pine Valley.
MOVE TO EAGLE VALLEY
In 1910 the brothers, George,
Dan and 17-year-old Leonard built a lovely home for their parents which still
stands in New Bridge. It has a large covered veranda at the front with about 7
steps on the right side leading up to it where they could sit and relax in the
shade. Their family all gathered for a housewarming get-together with plenty of
food and grandchildren playing in the front yard. Dan's 3-year-old son,
Clifford (my father) remembers looking up to see his grandfather in his
wheelchair on the porch watching them at play.
Whether Thomas had another
stroke or his health worsened, it seems that he and Martha were not in their
new home long. They spent the winter of 1910-11 living with George and his
family in New Bridge. George's daughter, Bessie (Moore) remembers her
grandmother, Martha as a very sweet and patient woman who didn't want to put
anyone to any trouble. When Jennie would ask what they'd like for supper,
Martha would say "Now don't go fixing nothing special for us. Some bread and
milk will be just fine." It was common in those days to have a larger meal
(called dinner) at noon and bread pieces in milk for supper. Martha had
developed the habit of running her finger around the rim of her cup before
drinking.
Thomas had by this time
become quite senile due to his stroke. Jennie was very patient with him
although he was always running away or perhaps just wandering off and was lost.
If he was tired, he'd get crabby with the children and even sometimes would
throw a chair at one of them. Bessie remembers him sitting in his chair and
calling out to her mother that the stovepipe was going to fall on his head.
Thomas died that winter at George and Jennie's on 18 February 1911, fourteen
years after his stroke. He was buried in the Eagle Valley Cemetery at Richland.
Both the doctor that signed his death certificate, Herbert Eastland of Halfway,
and the undertaker, Charlie Baird were sons-in-law of the deceased.
MEMORIES OF A WELL-LOVED GRANDMOTHER
As a widow, Martha divided
her time between her children but as her grandson Clifford remembers, she spent
about 6 months of the year with her son Dan and family in Eagle Valley. He
remembers her as being very kind but also very strict. She saw to it that the
children did their chores
well in the house while Matilda worked in the garden and did outside work. This
arrangement worked out very well for both women and Martha must have felt very
needed and useful. Her sense of touch was very sensitive and she would make
sure every thing was dusted and clean. The dishes would have to be dried again
if they weren't completely dry. She didn't have to say it more than once, the
children minded her immediately as they were taught by their
parents. She was very
deserving of this respect. Her disposition must have been much like that of her
mother Jane, who was also said to be very kind but strict in trying to maintain
some semblance of cleanliness under the circumstances they found themselves in.
Granddaughters Ruth (Young)
and Evelyn (Barreca) remembers helping their grandmother dress. Sometimes she
would get things wrong side out. She must have been cold blooded because she
would wear 2 or 3 black undershirts. They would brush and comb out her long
gray hair and their mother would put it into a bun. She was tender headed. Her
usual attire was a long sleeved full-length dress and a long apron, always with
pockets, was worn over it to
keep the dress clean. She remained fairly slender and had good posture all of
her life.
Martha's mind remained sharp
throughout her life. She would hold the Welsh bible up close to her face to
read or use a magnifying glass as long as she was able. She also loved to
recite Welsh poetry. This she did at the encouragement of her daughters, Anna
and Maggie who were very proud of her memory to recite these poems from her
homeland. They also worried about her health during her last years, as Anna's daughter
(Claire) Anne Eastland recalls. Bessie didn't think she knew much Welsh, other
than to be able to say "bread and butter" but apparently she knew more than
that. Clifford said that her sister, Ann came from Montana to visit her in Eagle
Valley and of course she was fluent in Welsh.
She taught Ruth and Evelyn to
count to ten in Welsh and sing a little Welsh song that Martha had learned
herself as a child. "Won't you buy a broom? It's handy for the lady and pretty
for the baby. Oh won?t you buy a broom from
me?" Ruth says she sat and rocked
a lot and hummed hymns. Evelyn remembers that even though she was small at the
time, she could lead her nearly blind grandmother to visit with their
neighbor, Mrs. Moody.
Because my father, Clifford
had a poster that said "That man is richest whose pleasures are cheapest," it
is interesting to me to realize how, just as he passed this idea onto us, it
certainly didn't begin with him. According to his sisters (my Aunt Ruth and
Aunt Evelyn), Martha loved the simple thing in life and they (as children)
delighted in getting things for her pleasure, such as chokecherries from the
tree down by the creek in back of the barn. She also liked the smell of
milkweed blossoms or they would hunt for a sprig of sage for her to smell and
tuck into her apron pocket. As she lost most of her sight I'm sure the sense of
smell would bring to her mind a myriad of memories and experiences from her
past that she may otherwise not have thought of.
As she grew older, she must
have had much in the way of memories and loneliness, missing family members who
were long gone. Our memories can be a wonderful thing and can ease the
loneliness we feel. Martha had to be experiencing some of this loneliness as
the last surviving member of the Jeremiah Price family, John died in 1900,
Margaret in 1905, Ann in 1924 and Sarah Ann in 1928. That only left herself and
Jemima who lived far away in Canada. It's not certain if they corresponded but
from what evidence we have, it seems that they may have lost contact. Jemima
passed away in 1938 and travel in those days was so poor that Martha was not
able to visit any of her family even when they passed away (that we know of).
My grandfather, Dan, told of a visit to North Ogden when he was about 14 years
old (around 1889-1893) and hopping a freight train for a ride from the depot at
Ogden. I wonder if the reason for any of these visits might have been because
of the visit from England of Martha's oldest sister, Margaret Williams or the
birth of Leonard. The family was certainly scattered by this time and it makes
sense to have as many as possible gather to a central location for the happy
reunion.
