David Miles
Roderick was born on June 26, 1817 in Pendovlan, Glamorgan, Wales. He was oldest of
five sons (David, John, Richard, William, and Daniell
born to David Roderick from Llanharan, Glamorgan, Wales and Margaret Miles from
Pendovlan. Glamorgan, Wales.
Hannah
Spencer was born on December 4, 1820 also in Pendoylan,
Glamorgan, Wales. She
was the daughter of George Spencer, from Lynie Township,
England and Mary Watkins
from Neath,
Glamorgan, Wales. David and Hannah were
married September 7, 1844 in the Baptist Chapel in the
neighboring town of Peterston Super Ely, Glamorgan,
Wales.
Nine
children were born to David and Hannah: Margaret, Mary, Hannah, William, John,
David, Davinah Elizabeth, Catherine and George. Hannah, David, Catherine and George died as
children. David and his two young sons, William and John, worked in the coal
mines. David was
injured while working there. Dropsy made his condition worse.
When the
Mormon missionaries came to their home, David and Hannah were impressed with
what they had to say and then they administered to David. He was very ill for two months. The Elders
wanted him to be baptized into the Church, but he was afraid to get into the
water because of his condition. He was so swollen he could not button his coat.
The Elders promised him if he would be baptized and had enough faith, that he would recover. He consented, and on the way
home from the baptism, he could button his coat. His health improved and he
became well again. He was baptized September 16, 1851, and Hannah was baptized
in November 1851.
The oldest
daughter, Margaret, left for America
in 1866, sailing on the ship John Bright.
Shortly after her arrival in Utah,
she married William Jones, one of the missionaries who had taught her family.
David and Hannah's second daughter Mary was married to James Price a minister
in the Church of Wales. When David and Hannah decided to
go to Utah, James and Mary chose to stay in Wales.
The David Roderick family embarked on the steam ship Minnesota from Liverpool, England,
June 2, 1869. They were listed as
David Roderick, 51, laborer; Hannah, 47; William, 15; John, 12; and (Davinah) Elizabeth, 9. Elder Elias Morris, President of the
Welsh District was the leader for the Morris people. Most of the people in the company
were Welsh. Hannah had prepared a large box of food to eat on the trip. When
their food was gone they had to eat sea biscuits. They sailed into New York and arrived in Omaha Nebraska,
June 23, 1869. They came on the first train bringing Mormon converts to Utah. It had taken a
little more than three weeks to come the distance that had before taken the
better part of a year to travel. This was the first company which had come all
the way across the continent from the Atlantic to Utah on the train.
The family
stayed in Brigham City
with their daughter Margaret for about a year. Then they moved to Perry and
then to Pole Patch (Pleasant View, Utah).
In 1873 they moved to Samaria,
Idaho. David was a carpenter by
trade in Wales and when he
settled in Samaria
he built a four room log house, then painted it and made a picket fence all
around their two acre lot. He built all of their furniture, including a settee
which was placed on one side of the room, over which hung a picture of Jesus
talking to Nicodemus with the scripture printed beneath it.
David planted
fruit trees and small bushes of gooseberries and currants and always had a good
garden. He had a farm and was a very hard worker. He dug a deep well and rocked
it up. He took a great pride in his horses and brushed them until they were
shining and he always kept everything neat around his yard.
William Roderick married Ann Maria Price December
2, 1873. Davinah Elizabeth Roderick married Levi Savage
Waldron January 11, 1875. In 1881 John
Roderick who was 25 years old arose early, emptied his pockets and left his gun
on the kitchen table. He had been unhappy over a land dispute involving his
father. He was also recovering from diphtheria. He left never to return. Family
members searched, but found no trace of him. Hannah was especially distraught
over the disappearance of her son.
David lived in America twenty
years before he died. David died September 7, 1889, in Samaria.
Hannah was heartbroken when David died. So, William let his oldest
son David go to stay with her. She was a very neat and
clean woman. She always had a spotless home. Everyone had to clean his shoes before entering her house. Her sight began to
fail. When she was just about blind, she would still go to the corral and milk
the two old cows which were so mean they would kick anyone else who tried to
milk them. She would talk Welsh to them, and she could milk them without any
trouble. She would strain the milk and put it into the tin pans which she would
put in the cellar to cream.
She had a horse
and buggy to go places. She would go to see her children when she could hardly see
the road. She could catch her horse when no one else could. His name was old
Dick. She would talk to him and he would calmly obey her.
When her
eyesight became so bad that she had to have help with
her work, her two granddaughters, Emeline and Mary
Ann Waldron, came to stay with her. She would always tell them to wash the
table with soap and water after every meal. After they would get through, she
would always check the oilcloth by feeling it with her hands to be sure they
always used soap.
When she
wasn't able to be alone at all, she went to live with her daughter, Davinah Elizabeth for a while. Then her son, William, took
her to live with him and his family. He gave her a room by herself, and she was
confined to it most of the time because of her poor health and blindness.
She was a very
happy, jolly woman because she was greatly loved by her family. She lived fourteen
years after David died. She was blind for six years before she passed away
February 28, 1904, at the age of eighty four years. She lived with William about
the last five years of her life. She was buried in Samaria.
Submitted by:
Marianne Crump
