Winnifred
(Gwen) Lloyd Roberts Evans was born 13 November, 1822 to John and Katherine Griffiths
Lloyd in Llantrothan, Merioneth., North Wales (Gwyn is Welsh for fair complexion).
Winnifred detested her status and was willing to do
anything to alter her lifestyle. The British class system prevented most people
from owning property. She married Daniel L Roberts in 1843. Four children were born to this union. They were: Catherine,
Elisabeth, William and John. Dan worked in a stone quarry. Every Saturday he brought
his wages home to his wife, except for a shilling or two, which he kept to have
a pint at the pub. She was going to the United States with or without Dan. He
was apprehensive.
The proselytizing of the Mormon missionaries offered a
solution. Free land and passage were a great enticement. The transportation had
to be repaid later, either with cash or tithing work.
On Thursday, 1 7 October, 1850, the Roberts family Dan L- 30, Gwyn- 27, Catherine-8,
Elisabeth- 5, William- 3, John Lloyd- 11 months embarked on a sailing ship, the Joseph Badger. The cheapest passage was on the empty
cotton ships returning to New Orleans. In four weeks, they arrived in New
Orleans on 22 November
They took
passage on the steamship El Paso on the
Mississippi River to St. Louis.
Asiatic cholera was epidemic from drinking contaminated water. Daniel Roberts
and son, William fell victim to the disease. That
night, Gwyn reached for William, but he was dead. Daniel died before morning.
They were buried on the banks of the Mississippi
at Worthings
Landing, Kentucky.
Their names were carved on a tree trunk. Gwyn must have had great agonies for
forcing Daniel to leave Wales.
The family arrived in Council
Bluffs in June 181. They lived in "dug-outs"
which were caves dug in the banks of the river. Gwyn could not speak understand
English. She must have suffered untold hardships waiting over two years to come
to Utah. Her
parents tried to get her to go back to Wales, but she refused. She was a
proud, stately and determined woman.
About July 1852, Gwyn sold her husband's
clothes and purchased a cow. One Mr. Wheeler had a wagon and an ox. So, they
made a team with them and they walked 1100 miles to Utah. The children made the most of the journey, playing, gathering berries
and buffalo chips for the fire. Emily died from a rattlesnake bite. Willie
Thomas fell under a wagon wheel and was killed. They were buried along the
trail. Dust, dirt and endless stench of dead wagon train animals were a trial, Cate and Eliza endured beyond their years.
The 1852 migration was the largest single year for immigration to
Utah. Over fifty thousand immigrated to Utah. The driving force was the search
for gold. They reached the Utah Valley on 29 September, 1 852. A Welsh acquaintance, Tom
Jones gave Gwyn
some food and money and asked her to marry him. She refused. He then asked her to
pay him for the provisions he had given her
The United Order. under which the early Mormons lived,
provided food and shelter. Those members that did not work did not eat. They
made meager wages by working in the homes of the wealthy. In that first icy
winter, the widow Roberts and her family lived in a one room shack with an earthen
floor and was made of adobe. It was warmed by a fire
pit that provided more smoke than heat. When spring came, the floor became
damp, and then became a swamp.
The bright promises of the elders faded, and every day miseries
became unbearable. That spring the entire
community was called out to fight Mon-non crickets which blanketed the
fields. The seagulls came to the rescue. The converts did not find streets
paved with gold.
The Brigham City-Willard area was designated for the Welsh
emigrants. The area was called the "Welsh Fields." The policy was
that various ethnic emigrants would settle together in one area. This was
probably wise because of language and custom restraints. Never the less, Gwyn
was delighted to move to the "Welsh Fields". She renewed her
acquaintance with Captain David Evans. They were married in July 1853, at Brigham City. They
birthed five boys: David Lloyd, Charles Rees, Lorenzo Lloyd, James and Samuel
Rees. They also raised Catherine, Elisabeth and John Lloyd Roberts. The Captain
was devoted to his children and was very kind to the Roberts children.
Captain
Evans died quietly in bed on 3 January, 1861. He was forty two years old. Three
months later baby Sammy was born. The two youngest children, James and Samuel
died three years later on the same day from an unknown ailment. They are buried
in one casket in Brigham City, Utah.
Gwyn was
asked which husband she loved the most. She answered that her first love was
the greatest, but she loved the Captain the most because he was so good to her
and her children. David was well educated and had been a sailor for 17 years. He
could speak seven languages.
Gwyn and
her six children continued to live on the Captain's farm in Brigham until she
moved to the Malad
Valley in 1870. She had
sold the farm to get enough wealth to move. She wanted to keep the family
together, and so they looked at Cache Valley and Marsh Valley before deciding.
Malad City was a wild gentile town with many saloons,
gambling and prostitution houses. Regardless, in 1 870, Gwyn moved to Malad to homestead
one hundred sixty acres. She bought seed and livestock and eventually helped
her boys to further their education. Initially, the family dug a hole in the
side of a hill and covered the front with willows. Later, Gwyn bought a large
lot from Henry Peck, and her sons built her a log house. She lived in the home
all her life. The house is still on North
Main Street.
Gwyn was always knitting, making pies, home grown wheat mush,
lumpy dick pudding, all kinds of jams, bread, and
Mormon gravy. Her specialties were chicken soup with noodles over mashed potatoes,
ham and beans, griddle cakes, and scones. She made candles and homemade soap.
These meals she topped off with a cup of black tea.
Illness
and death was a daily occurrence for the pioneers. The women suffered through several
pregnancies in hopes of rearing three or more children. Flu was a scourge that
described many ailments. They were always afraid of pneumonia and diptheria and broken bones
In 1882, a
homestead deed was issued for the one hundred sixty acres, by the United States Territorial
Land in Oxford. Idaho. It is in Winnifred's
name and signed by President Rutherford B. Hays.
Winnifred died in Malad
in 1909. She was eighty seven years old. She had a separate burial plot from
Elizabeth Matthews, the Captain's first wife in Brigham City, Utah.
Gwyn was very practical and had monuments erected and paid for. Her burial
clothes were in a drawer in her home. You could always expect "aye and
dew", which were her favorite Welsh expressions. The heirs and progeny
should not have any difficulty in understanding the occasional "rockhead" personality of them and their heirs after
enjoying the history of Winnifred (Gwyn) Lloyd
Roberts Evans.
Gwyn was a big, strong, brave woman; the kind that are true
pioneers, that overcome obstacles, and that in life's struggles succeed, even
under the most adverse circumstances.
Submitted by Don Evans
