Thomas Daniels,
son of Daniel Daniels and Mary Jeremy was born 18 January 1831 at Brecha, Cannarthenshire, South Wales. His wife, Mary
Davis was born 22 December 1835 at Llandgwad, Cannarthenshire, South
Wales. They were married in Salt
Lake City, Utah.
Grandfather was 21 years old and Mary, his wife was seventeen.
They had seven
children born to them. Mary and their last baby died the same day on 14 April
1866. Grandfather really had his hands full with six little children.
Janette Marie Thomas
Dives, who had married Verularn Dives, was living at
Willard, Box Elder County, Utah. Verulam
Dives was born 21 February, 1834 at Rye Hastings, Sussex, England.
Janette was born 26 May 1837 at Wenroe (or Wenvoe), Glamorganshire, Wales. They were married 27 July 1854.
Verulam Dives was 21 years old when they were married
and Janette Marie Thomas was 18 years old. They had six children.
Janette said on
one occasion, she and her husband Verulam and eleven
other couples were invited by President Brigham Young to go to Fort Lemhi,
on the Salmon River, in northern Idaho,
in April 1857. There was a small settlement of Latter-Day Saints living there
and President Brigham Young wanted to go there and see how they were getting
along. He had been informed that some Indians up there were giving them
trouble. Grandmother said when they passed through Malad Valley, it was just a big valley covered
with sagebrush, tall waving grass, wild animals and Indians. Little did she
ever think then, that some day this valley would be her home.
Janette said
President Brigham Young was so kind and thoughtful. He was always checking to see
if everyone was well, if the wagons were in good shape and if the horses were
all right. Every night when they camped, the men would build a bonfire and take
care of the horses and the women fixed the evening meal. After everything was cleared
away, President Young would preach the gospel to them, and then they would
dance around the fire. They had a wonderful time. There was always such a good spirit
with them. She said she knew that President Brigham Young was truly a Prophet
of God.
After Janette's
husband passed away she had a hard life. She was a young mother with five little
children to care for. Her oldest son Verulam, helped her glean in the wheat fields after the farmers had
cut their grain. She raised a little garden, but she had a hard time trying to
support and feed her little family. Her baby was 1 year old, three months old
when Verulam died.
On one occasion,
President Brigham Young called to see her in Willard. He was wearing a new pair
of boots. After a few minutes, her son Verulam walked
in the house wearing an old worn out pair of boots. They visited for a while,
and then President Young said. "Verularn, what
size of boots do you wear?" Verl hesitated for a
few minutes and then told him. President Brigham Young took off his new boots
and said, "Verulam try on these boots. Well how
do they fit?" the Prophet asked. Verl replied, "Ali,
they are a little big." "Could you wear them?" he asked.
"Ah, I guess I could," Verulam replied.
President Brigham Young put on Verl's old boots and
walked out of the house.
As told by... When Grandmother lived with us she would tell
us about Brigham Young, what a great man and prophet he was. She would say, "If
you ever hear anyone say anything against him, don't you believe it. Some day
they will know he was a great prophet." She loved and respected him very
much.
Grandmother said,
sometime after she was a widow, several men called to see her. At that time men
were looking for a second, third, fourth or even fifth wife. One day, she said
she saw this man coming again with a new broom in his hand. She immediately ran
into her bedroom and crawled under her bed. The children invited him in and
they looked and looked but could not find her, so the man left with his broom.
She said. "The children didn't know where I hid myself, and many hours I
spent under that bed waiting for men to leave." Grandmother Dives and
Grandfather Daniels families had been very dear friends. They often visited and
ate with each other although Grandfather's family lived in Brigham and
Grandmother's at Willard.
About a year
later, Thomas Daniels came to see Janette's home and said, "Janette, I
think I can help you with your family and I know you can help me with mine.
What do you think about us getting married?" Janette thought about it for
a while and then decided perhaps it would work out. She knew it meant a lot of
hard work and worry for her, but she wasn't afraid of work.
They were married
in January 1867 in Malad, Oneida County, Idaho.
Eight children were born to them. There were now three families. His family, her family and their family. The three families,
which numbered seventeen living children got along
wonderfully well together.
The little log
home wasn't large enough now for his big family, so Thomas built the frame
house which still stands. They continued to use the log cabin and later built a
small kitchen and porch joining it to the white house. The girls helped with
the household work. One week a girl helped with the cooking, another girl or
two did the washing and ironing, and others cleaned the house, etc. They
rotated their work and each girl had her turn in learning to do all the household
chores. Sometimes the girls changed work with each other, but there was never
any quarreling.
The girls were
taught to sew. They made their own dresses, hat and sometimes coats. Elva was a
beautiful seamstress. She made beautiful hats also. Sometime after she was
married, she owned and operated a "Hat Shop" in Malad.
Theodore ironed the clothes to perfection. Some of her brothers wanted her to
iron their white shirts.
The boys helped
their father on the farm. They plowed and planted the grain, oats, alfalfa, and
other crops and helped with the cattle and horses.
They had a large
orchard back or north of the house. They had all kinds of fruit trees, apple,
cherry, apricot, peaches, pear, crab-apple trees, etc. There were long rows of
raspberry bushes and a large patch of strawberries, also several bushes of dewberries,
blackberries, etc. Their huge garden of all kinds of vegetables, watermelons,
cantaloupes, etc. was located on the east of the house. The strawberry patch
was along the west side of the lot, along a ditch that was on the side of a
long row of poplar trees. Those trees are still there but they have really
grown to be big old trees.
Because of
Thomas' large family, he with some of his oldest boys freighted to Montana. President
Lorenzo Snow, of the L.D.S.
Church came up here and
told him and some of the other men that they shouldn't freight up there. Thomas
said because
of his large family, he had no choice. He was excommunicated from the Church
(At that time people were excommunicated for the least little thing). When Pres.
Snow was here, Thomas and Janette had just had a new baby only a few weeks old.
He asked Janette what she was going to name her baby. She said they hadn't
decided. Pres. Snow said, "I have a beautiful daughter named Ann Eliza
that is a lovely name. So they named their daughter after President Snow's
daughter.
In the winter of
1864, Mr. Daniels first came into Malad valley and at
that time he took the land where the old home still stands and also a tract down
at the Big Bend. He returned to Brigham for the
winter and came back here in April 1865 and began to make preparation to
receive his family later in the summer. He started to plow at the Bend on the 1 It of May. In 1866 he lost his first wife and was left with
six children to care for, all of whom are still living.
In the 1870's,
Mr. Daniels served two or more terms as County Commissioner,
the only official position he held, though he was identified with nearly every
public move in the history of the county from the time of its formation until
death claimed him. He was one leading spirit in the move to have the county seat
changed from Soda Springs to Malad, Idaho.
Later he and his sons took up farms about fifteen or twenty miles west of Malad. The area was named after them and today it is still
called Daniels.
Submitted by: Joe Daniels & Helen Price
