John
Evan Price
and
the
Church
in Cwmamman
Matthew 5:11-12
Between March and September 1847, John
Evan Price moved to Cwmamman, Llandeilo Fawr Parish, Carmarthenshire, where he
found employment sawing timber for the coal works. With him were his wife, Ruth
Williams Price, and their four-year-old daughter, Esther Price. The family came
from Brecknockshire, where they had become acquainted with the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, through the preaching of William Hughes and Thomas
Pugh.
John Evan Price was probably pleased with
his masters and overseers at the coal works. He was disappointed, however, at
the complete absence of the LDS church where he lived. It may have been his
earnest request that brought the first LDS preachers to Cwmamman. The
preachers, Elder John Griffiths and James Phillips (a priest) arrived in about
August 1847. They were soon joined by Elder R. Davies.
The October 1847 issue of the Welsh LDS
periodical Prophwyd y Jubili (Prophet of the Jubilee) describes the
missionary work in Cwmamman:
CWMAMAN.
Two elders, and one priest, have moved there to live and to work, for the
purpose of being able to preach the gospel of Christ freely to those good
people; and great is the hearing they have, and the cheerfulness that is shown
them by almost everyone; and according to what we hear from nearly everywhere,
the people, after being so long in wrangling with respect to sectarianism, are
disgusted; and when they open their ears to hear this everlasting gospel, at
times they shout, “This is it,” and we answer, “Yes, dear friends, this is it,”
indeed! This is the godly religion you have searched so eagerly for; embrace
it, and you shall find the treasure of treasures in it.
Although the LDS message brought a “great
hearing” in Cwmamman, few were baptized. The first two converts were John Evan
Price and Ruth Williams Price. John Evan Price eagerly absorbed the LDS
preaching. The missionaries sold him a copy of Hanes Saint y Dyddiau
Diweddaf (History of the Latter-day Saints). Hot off the press, this
102-page book was published in July 1847. Hundreds of people were present when
Elder John Griffiths baptized John Evan Price at 10:00 Sunday morning,
September 26, 1847. Three weeks later, on October 17, 1847, the same Elder
Griffiths baptized Ruth Williams Price.
The December 1847 issue of Prophet of
the Jubilee contains a report written in late October or November:
CWMAMAN.
– Elders J. Griffiths and R. Davies earnestly beseech help in preaching in these
environs. The call is so great and earnest that they hardly know where to go
first, and it is increasing more and more. Although only two were baptized
there during the past month, yet according to the present signs, those are but
the firstfruits of an abundant harvest of souls for the church of God. The
masters and overseers here are also greatly praised by the Saints.
Christmas fell on a Saturday that year.
The next two days, December 26-27, 1847, John Evan Price attended an LDS
conference in Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorgan County, some 24 miles away. The hall
was overflowing with listeners. At the conference Captain Dan Jones called John
Griffiths to preside over the new branch at Cwmamman. Elder Griffiths reported
that the Cwmamman Branch had two elders (John Griffiths and R. Davies), one
priest (James Phillips), no teachers or deacons, two baptized since July (John
Evan Price and Ruth Williams Price), and a total of twelve members (the four
men, probably three or four wives, and four or five children over age eight).
Cwmamman was the smallest of the nineteen branches in the conference.
The conference minutes describe the state
of the LDS Church in Wales:
All
the Representatives testified together that all the Saints are without
exception in unity, brotherly love, zealous and faithful: and that not only
have we increased seven hundred and seventy six, in the last five months, but
that they are increasing in gifts, good deeds, and in all godliness
excellently, and they have better hopes for success in the gospel in the future
than ever. There was not from among the lot one accusation against anyone, nor
one unpleasant matter to bring before the conference from anywhere. Thanks be
to God for such unity and faithfulness. Among who else is such to be had in our
country, or in the world, in this tumultuous time?
The minutes also describe the joyful mood
at the conference:
During
the conference more principles were taught, and also more glorious than ever
before; and judging from the attentive listening of all the crowds throughout
the long and overflowing meetings, joy and a desire for divine wisdom
concerning the things of God were perceived, cheerfully smiling on every face
until the end of the conference. It is unquestionable that the Spirit of the
God whose work this is rested on his children there in abundance, and that they
went away saying they were glad to have been there.
At the conference, several were called to
different offices of the priesthood. Among them, John Evan Price was called to
be a priest. On February 3, 1848, John Griffiths ordained him to that office.
John Evan Price was fired up. He preached
scores of times in Cwmamman and baptized five converts. He preached and sold
books beyond Cwmamman, too, and he experienced great persecution. Some
non-believers cursed and swore at the Saints. The people of Llandeilo Fawr
threw rocks, rotten potatoes and turnips at him, and the religious men told all
kinds of lies about him. Mobs chased him. The clergymen of various sects
persecuted him in one village where he had many discussions (Llwyn-y-brain?),
but in spite of all the trouble, he baptized nine people there.
From Cwmamman John Evan Price and David
Williams took a trip to Brecknockshire to preach the LDS gospel to their
relatives. David Williams was president of the branch at Cyfyng, some seven
miles east of Cwmamman.
They walked north across Y Mynydd Du (The
Black Mountain) some twelve miles to Pont-ar-llechau. There, at the home of
Brother Griffith Jones, they hoped to rest and eat the lunch they had packed.
The people, however, wouldn’t tolerate Latter-day Saints among them. They
whipped David Williams, dragged him through the mud, and threw mud on him and
Griffith Jones’ wife. To escape the persecution, they walked about thirteen
more miles north-east to the home of John Evan Price’s father’s sister at
Gellyrhydd. They next day was Sunday, and the missionaries preached to hundreds
of people at 3:00 and to the packed house of Thomas Davies at 6:00.
The next day they crossed over from Carmarthenshire
to Llandeilo’r-fân parish, Brecknockshire. The total distance they had walked
was thirty-five miles. They spent all day at Bryn-melyn farm trying to convince
the family of Daniel Williams (John Evan Price’s father-in-law) that Mormonism
was true. That night they preached at the house of David P. Davies of Tir-bach
farm. There, many Old Methodists listened attentively.
Monday’s efforts produced two converts. On
Tuesday, Ruth Jones Williams, wife of Daniel Williams of Bryn-melyn, and their
son Daniel Williams were baptized. These were possibly the first Latter-day
Saints in Llandeilo’r-fân parish.
From Llandeilo’r-fân, the missionaries
walked south to Trecastle to visit Brother Jonathan Joshua Thomas and his
family. Brother Thomas had been baptized in October 1847. Then they crossed the
mountain back to Cwmamman, trying to visit every house they could see, and
selling many books.
Meanwhile, back in Cwmamman, Ruth Williams
Price was pregnant with her second daughter. Ruth Price was born at 2:00 in the
afternoon on April 16, 1848. The family of three became a family of four.
John Evan Price continued to preach and
baptize in the environs of Cwmamman. Once he preached in Benjamin Evans’ house,
next door to a Reverend Davies. A daughter of Reverend Davies mocked John Evan
Price and other Saints, and threw chamber lye on them. Chamber lye is a
euphemism for urine, as in a chamber pot.
On July 16, 1848, Branch President John
Griffiths reported that Cwmamman had one elder (himself), four priests
(including John Evan Price), no teachers or deacons, two baptisms since the
last conference, and a total of twelve members. It seems that Elder R. Davies
and his family had gone elsewhere.
The conference president visited John Evan
Price in Cwmamman, and counseled him to move his family northward to Llangadog,
Carmarthenshire, in order to preach and establish a new branch. But John Evan
Price didn’t move immediately. Every Sunday for six months he walked 32 miles,
preaching at 10:00 in Llandeilo Fawr, at 1:00 in Dyffryn Tywi, and at 5:00 in
Llangadog. Then he returned home to Cwmamman. He took his food with him and ate
alfresco. People were afraid to let him into their homes because he was a
Latter-day Saint.
On December 31, 1848, President John
Griffiths reported that the Cwmamman branch had grown to include three elders,
four priests, eighteen baptisms since July, and a total of thirty-one members.
President Griffiths ordained John Evan
Price an elder on May 19, 1849. On August 25, 1849 John Evan Price moved with
his family to Dyffryn Tywi.
During his two years in Cwmamman, John
Evan Price sawed lumber for the coal works. He joined the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, became a priest and then an elder, preached
everywhere he could walk, distributed LDS literature, and endured humiliating
persecution. He and his wife, Ruth Williams Price, augmented their family with
the birth of their second daughter. They came to Cwmamman with one child and
left with two.
John Evan Price and Ruth Williams Price
were the first Mormon converts in Cwmamman. They burned with the fire of inner
vision, and despite cruel resistance, their sacrificial efforts were at least
partially responsible for twenty baptisms in Cwmamman, and other conversions
within a thirty-five mile radius. John Evan Price was an energetic and intrepid
foot soldier for his cause. His name continues to bring cursing to the lips of
some, and blessing to the hearts of countless others.
NOTES
Sources
for this report include: (1) “A Brief Sketch of the Life of John Evan
Price: Written by Himself, Translated from the Welsh Language by Mary Deer
Davis.” (http://www.welshmormonhistory.org/index.php?/resources/view/974). (2)
“Diary of John Evan Price.” Edited by Esther J. Carpenter and Ruth Price
Sorenson. The “diary” is an edited version of the “Sketch.” (http://www.welshmormonhistory.org/index.php?/resources/view/209). (3)
Prophet of the Jubilee, translated and edited by Ronald D. Dennis,
published 1997 by Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University. (4)
Zion’s Trumpet: 1849 Welsh Mormon Periodical, translated and edited by
Ronald D. Dennis, published 2001 by Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young
University. (5) Welsh Mormon Writings From 1844 to 1862: A Historical
Bibliography by Ronald D. Dennis, published 1988 by.
This report overlaps some of my prior
reports. See them for additional notes.
Take care not to confuse Llandeilo Fawr
with Llandeilo’r-fân. The former is in Carmarthenshire, and the latter
in Brecknockshire. Both are named after St. Teilo.
It’s possible that Esther Price never
moved to Cwmamman with her parents. In the 1851 census she is enumerated as an
errand girl with her maternal grandparents, Daniel Williams and Ruth Jones
Williams, at Bryn-melyn farm, Llandeilo’r-fân parish, Brecknockshire. The
records don’t tell how long she had been living there. However, in 1850,
shortly after her eighth birthday, John Evan Price baptized Esther Price in the
town where he lived. Therefore, it’s likely that Esther Price stayed with her
parents until that time, and went to her grandparents’ home in late 1850 or
early 1851.
The August 1847 issue of Prophet of
the Jubilee reports that John Griffiths and James Phillips had been called
to preach in Cwmamman, Carmarthenshire. John Evan Price may have been one of
those who called earnestly for preachers (bolding is mine):
ARRANGEMENTS
OF THE PREACHERS
In
addition to those who were there already, the following persons have gone or
will go shortly to the following places:
Monmouthshire. – Robert
Evans, William Davies, and Chason Thomas.
Caernarfonshire. –
Eliezer Edwards, and Lewis Jones.
Denbighshire, and
Marionethshire. – Abel Evans.
Flintshire. – John Jones.
Cardiganshire. – Several
are on the verge of going soon.
Carmarthenshire. –
Benjamin Jones, Howel Williams, John Roberts, Morgan Richards, and John Floyd.
Pembrokeshire. – E. C.
Mitchell, J. Morris, John Davies, and John Price.
Cwmaman. – John
Griffiths and James Phillips.
Cyfyng. – David Isaac
Jones, and Daniel Williams.
We
are pleased to understand that several other brethren are arranging their
circumstances preparatory to going out to warn their fellow-nation, and to
invite them into the kingdom of God. Dear brethren, be diligent, purchasing the
time, for the days are evil. Now is the harvest, and we hope that no one will
be caught sharpening his sickle, especially those of our brethren who have no
worldly or family cares in their way. We receive frequent and earnest calls
from many places where no one has ever preached, in the different counties, for
preachers to preach to them the word of life: and, O brethren, those of you
who can go, do not let them call in vain; rather send your names to us, and we
shall inform you of such places. May the Lord give success and blessing to
whoever obeys this call.
John Evan Price probably saw this notice
in the November and December Prophet of the Jubilee:
NEXT
GLAMORGAN CONFERENCE.
It
is intended to hold the above Conference in the Cymreigyddion Hall in Merthyr,
Sunday and Monday, December the 26th and 27th, that is
the first days after Christmas.
The Conference minutes were edited and
published in the January 1848 issue of Prophet of the Jubilee. See that
publication for a fuller account of the conference.
It appears that John Evan Price’s
autobiography was written in later years, and not as a diary. He wrote that the
conference was in January 1848, but the periodicals prove that it was in December
1847. Also, it appears that he couldn’t remember the name of a “Little Town.”
Following is a chart of places John Evan
Price preached while living in Cwmamman. The place names are arranged in the
order they occur in the texts. There are three columns:
(1) Evans. The first column is from “A Brief Sketch of the Life
of John Evan Price: Written by Himself, Translated from the Welsh Language by
Mary Deer Davis.” It was copied by Ann Maria Roderick, and copied again by
Edith Evans, who acknowledged that many of the place names were misspelled, but
she preserved the misspellings as she found them.
(2) Carpenter. The second column is from the so-called
“Diary of John Evan Price.” It was copied with place names corrected by Esther
J. Carpenter and Ruth Price Sorenson.
(3) Williams. The third column is my own attempt to correct the
place names, along with their co-ordinants. I’m particularly proud of locating
Pontbren Araeth, Pont-ar-llechau and Gellyrhydd. I’m still baffled by Mynydd
Pistill, Llevinherdican (Llwynbrain?), Byrnyaceluce (Bryn-y-caerau?), and other
places.
(1) Evans (2) Carpenter (3)
Williams
Cumamon Cwmamman 267500,213500 Cwmamman
Gaoterfaur Gwider-Fawr 271500,214300 Gwter
Vawr (a.k.a. Brynamman)
Waincregurwain Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen 270500,211800 Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen
Cwrntorch Cwm Twrch 276500,210500 Cwm-Twrch
Rystradgyralais Ystradgynlais 278700,210400 Ystradgynlais
Cwmgorse Cwmgors 270400,210600 Cwmgors
rosin
(and) Cross Hands 262900,212400 Cross Inn (?) (a.k.a. Ammanford /
Rhydaman)
Llanbey Llandibie 262000,215500 Llandybie
Gorselas Gorslas 257000,213800 Gorslas
Little
Town Litlr Town (?) (some
“little town”?)
Myrther Mynydd Pistill (?)
Pistell
Mynydd Pistill 262800,217000 Pistyll-canol or Pistyll-bach (?)
Groselas other places 257000,213800 Gorslas
Bnprenareth Ponprenarth 266200,223800 Pontbren
Araeth
Llandilorfan Llandilorfawr 262900,222300 Llandeilo
Fawr
Llevinherdican Llwynbrain 273700,232800 Llwyn-y-brain
(?) (too far?)
Byrnyaceluce
Bryn-y-caerau (?)
Abugorleob
Abergorlech 258400,233600 Abergorlech (?) (too far?)
Pantarlbacha
Pentre Bach 272900,224400 Pont-ar-llechau
Gllynth Gellyrith 282500,236200 Gellyrhydd
Gillingwearth Gilligwecrith 282500,236200 Gellyrhydd
Llandilorfan Llandeilorfan 289600,234700 Llandeilo’r-fân
Tracastall Trecastle 288000,229200 Trecastle
Masgnara Maesquarre 264115,211790 Maesquarre
Road, Ammanford (?)
[not
mentioned] Forge (?)
[not
mentioned] Rhosmaen 263900,223900 Rhosmaen
Llanfatog Llangadock 270600,228300 Llangadog
Llangstog Llangadock 270600,228300 Llangadog
[not
mentioned] Dyfryntawi 274200,229000 Dyffryn (?) (a village in the Dyffryn
Tywi region)
The story of John Evan Price and Ruth
Williams Price will be continued….
Kyle
Williams
Woodbury,
Tennessee
June
21, 2008
