John J. Jones - Biography
John J. Jones, son of John Jones and
Margaret Thomas, was born the 12th of February 1836 at Cardagan,
Glamorganshire South Wales. He was the
second child of a family of five, there being four boys and one girl. The custom at that time was for children to
work at a very young age; so he began working around the iron mines. His father was an iron miner; therefore it
was not long until John too became an iron miner.
At the age of twenty he married
Sarah Griffiths, a daughter of Evan Griffiths and Eleanor Powell. Sarah was also twenty years of age. The marriage was solemnized at the Register's
Office in the District of Merthyr Tydil
in the counties of Glamorgan and Brecon.
It was while living at Merthyr Tydil they heard the
gospel as taught by the Elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
The knowledge came to them that it was true. They soon joined the church. Then came the desire
to go to Utah
to the headquarters of the church. This
required considerable money, but the family put forth every effort to this
end. Their oldest son, John G., a mere
land of seven went to the mines to work to help with the finances so they might
make the trip as soon as possible. The
work was hard and hours long, and may times they would
never see the sun rise, and it would be dark when they came out of the mines.
By the time they were able to come
to this country, their family had increased, having had six children, and
buried two of the six. It was in May of
1866 that the family consisting of parents, three sons, and one daughter sailed
for America. The youngest child was just two weeks old and
his wife was not well. In fact she was
quite ill all during the voyage. They
sailed on the vessel, John Bright, and were six weeks and three days on the
water. They experienced some heavy
storms, rough seas and other hardships.
They went by train to the Missouri River, and then with a few supplies they started
the long, hard trek across the plains.
They traveled with Captain Chipman's
Company. It was September 1866 when they
landed in Lehi, Utah
County, Utah. They made their home there for three
years. While there they had a daughter.
He worked on some of the farms,
saving and preparing to go to southern Utah to
join other Saints who had left Wales
at an earlier date. This move was made
in the summer of 1869, and they settled in Adamsville, Beaver County, Utah. Here he found employment at the Old Lincoln
Mine near Minersville, where he worked until he was able to start mining for
himself. Later he went into sheep raising. He and his
family shared all of the pioneer experiences, and hardships of that section.
They had three sons and one daughter
born to them at Adamsville. In the fall
of 1891, during a typhoid epidemic, they lost three grown sons, and a married
daughter. These were very trying times,
but through it all his faith never wavered.
He knew it was just a short separation.
They would in the future be reunited as a family unit once again. The gospel had assured him of this. It was only a short time until he buried his
wife. She died, very suddenly, with a
heart attack.
He married Jane Williams Kelley of Greenville, Utah. She died soon after the marriage. Following her death, he married Hannah
Peterson of Lehi, Utah.
In 1898 he moved to Lehi, where he lived until his death May 9,
1907. Burial was in the Beaver City
Cemetery.
He was considered an upright and
honest man in all of his dealings by those he came in contact with. This won for him love and respect by all
those who knew him. He retained his
testimony until his death. He loved the
gospel, and was ever ready to do what he could for his church, and all those
less fortunate than he was. He was
interested in genealogy. He did a great
deal of work in the Temple
for his loved ones who had passed on before him.
(Sent to County
Historian, March 5, 1958,
by Mrs. Cora Jones. Written by Sadie Heslington Griffith.)(Obtained from the files of the
DUP Museum,
Salt Lake City, Utah)
