MARY WILLIAMS DAVIS –
HISTORY
By her Granddaughter
Sarah Mildred Evans Ream
Mary Williams Davis was born 13 July 1844 in Llanelli, South Wales. Her
father was killed in a mine accident 2 June 1851 in Llanelli,
Carmarthenshire, South Wales.
Her mother, Ann Williams, was born in Llanelli,
Carmarthenshire, South Wales
in 1814.
Ann Williams and her four daughters and one son – age six –
left Wales for Zion with a company of
Saints. They embarked at Liverpool,
England, 25 May
1856 on the packet ship Horizon with
Captain Reed. The passengers on board numbered 856, most of them Mormons. On 30
June 1856 they landed at Boston,
Massachusetts. They traveled by
cars (rail) to Iowa City, Iowa,
crossing the Hudson River at Buffalo
on July 4th. The journey from Iowa
City took a little over three months. On 2 October
1856 Captain Bunker’s Handcart Company arrived in the Salt Lake Valley.
Each company had nearly 500 souls with 100 handcarts, 5
wagons, 24 oxen, 4 mules and 25 tents. They heroically walked the entire
distance, wading rivers, crossing deserts, climbin
mountains – a distance of 1,300 miles. No army every marched that far. Some
deaths occurred among the sickly and aged, but the great body of Saints arrived
safely and in excellent condition. Narrative written by sister,
Sarah Williams Jones.
Mary Williams was twelve-and-a-half years old when the
family reached Salt
Lake Valley.
The mother Ann Williams, four girls and one boy left Llanelli,
South Wales, in May of 1856. They came across
the plains in Captain Bunker’s Handcart Company. The little boy was six years
old, and he became ill. The mother had to carry the sick child as well as push
the handcart with her daughters, which made her task doubly hard. The little
boy died on the plains and was buried in an unmarked grave by the side of the
trail. Such a heart-breaking experience.
After reaching Salt
Lake Valley
the family went to Logan
to live. The girls were Margaret, Sarah, Mary, and Ann. When Mary was about 14
years old she came to Spanish Fork to visit an aunt. Here she met David Thomas
Davis again – whom she had met on the ship coming over. [Actually they came
over on different ships. Mary was on the Horizon
that left Liverpool on 25 May 1856, and David was on the S. Curling that left Liverpool
five weeks earlier on 19 April 1856. However, they may have become acquainted
while crossing the plains.] After a courtship of about one year they were
married. They became the parents of 10 children. They reared seven – three boys
and four girls – and three died in infancy. The eldest Margaret married Joseph
James Merriman Evans; Sarah married Andrew Dahle;
Annie married Neil Dahle; and Daisy married George
Fail. David married Millie Thomas; William married Lila Hales, and John married
Marguerite Andreason.
Hard times didn’t end when they came to Spanish Fork. Their
crops were destroyed when a plague of grasshoppers came. David and Mary, as did
others, fought them by digging trenches, driving them in, and burning them.
They salvaged enough grain and other crops to keep them from starving through
the winter. A severe drought followed which in many places made the devastation
so complete that the valley had the appearance of being scorched by fire. Then followed winter – the most severe in history of Utah. Heavy snows
covered the ranges, and thousands of cattle and sheep died of cold and
starvation. Many families were forced to subsist on thistle and other roots and
fish – mostly sucker from Utah
Lake. Food was so scarce
that even those who had salvaged a goodly portion of their crops and cattle
rationed themselves rigidly – to help those that had nothing.
The Davis
family was a hardworking family – always willing to do their part – boys and
girls alike. They all grew into good citizens with clean minds and bodies, with
a desire to learn and improve themselves. They raised
their own produce and cattle and lived well from their own efforts.
Mary Davis took great pride in herself. She loved to have a
red rose on her dress.
This family witnessed the great miracle of the seagulls and
the crickets. They watched the seagulls come of the sky like a big cloud and
swoop down upon the crickets and devour them – fly away and heave them up, and
hurry back for more.
No doubt they fell to their knees and thanked the good Lord
for watching over them – the same as he directed them to the tops of the hills
where no one could stop them from carrying on the truth of the gospel – His
Truth Goes Marching On!
