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John and Margaret Edwards Davis
By the Davis Clan
John Davis was born February 25, 1815, at Llangattock, Monmouthshire, [Wales],
son of Evan and Martha Williams Davis, he being the oldest of ten children.
John married Margaret Edwards, February 16, 1839, at the Nebo Chapel, Ebbw
Vale, Monmouthshire, [Wales]. She was born June 30, 1820 at Merthyr Tydfil,
Glamorganshire, Wales, daughter of Thomas and Phoebe Price Edwards. Four
daughters were born to this union, two of them died young. The mother died in
1829, leaving daughter Margaret, age nine, and Amelia, age two. Just twelve years
later their father died.
Margaret and John were parents of eleven children, born at Tredegar, Monmouth,
[Wales]. Three boys died as infants, Thomas, Isaac, and Evan John; a son Jonah died
in a mine accident at age fourteen.
Practically all men and boys worked in the coal mines and iron works. The
population was dense in the industrial centers. The houses were built so close
together. A gazetteer gave a description of around the vicinity they lived: "It
comprises a very dirty straggling street, about a mile long, has extensive ironworks,
with seven furnaces." So you can see they were living in undesirable conditions.
Mormon missionaries were proselyting in Great Britain. John had heard enough
about the Mormon beliefs, that he wanted to learn more, so invited the Elders to
come to his home. His wife objected, and went into another room when the Elders
came. However, she listened at the keyhole to all the discussion. The LDS Branch
Record of Tredegar tells of the baptisms: John Davis February 16, 1851; the oldest
daughter, Phoebe, June 5, 1851; the wife, Margaret and John's mother, Martha
Davis, August 1851. The rest of the family were baptized as they became of
baptismal age. Also, the Tredegar Branch Record tells of John Davis being Branch
President, and that they emigrated August 27, 1871. By July, 1873, all of the family
was in Willard, Utah, where they lived for a time.
John and Margaret, also their son, Samuel, with his bride Mary Blanch (Polly) Jones
were endowed and sealed at the Endowment House, March 16, 1874.
The next move was up to Malad Valley, settling in lower St. John, along Devil
Creek. On September 16, 1878, John Davis became a Citizen of the United States, at
Oneida County, Idaho. By the Homestead Act, he obtained 160 acres of land, June
30, 1880. Log houses were built and land cleared, life in a new country became real.
Successfully John and his family worked as a family unit for a number of years.
They operated a sawmill and ran a dairy in Weston Canyon. The business gradually
dissolved. Parley went up to Idaho Falls area; Margaret married and moved to
Nampa, Idaho; also Hyrum made his home in Nampa. Joseph developed arthritis,
which slowed him down.
Samuel's wife, Mary, died March 28, 1884, leaving six children, the oldest not yet
ten years old. The youngest were twins, just ten days old. The grandparents, John
and Margaret, and their daughter Margaret, who postponed her marriage for several
years, helped Sam with his little family. At an early age the children were taught to
work, how to keep house, cook, sew, etc. At age eight, Sam's oldest daughter was
given the task of making bread for the family; the dough pan was placed on a chair,
where she kneaded the bread. The grandmother was a splendid seamstress and taught
the girls the art.
During the declining years of the loving grandparents, these grandchildren helped
care for them. The grandpa had severe asthma attacks. His death came November 7,
1888. The grandma died October 17, 1895. The last years she lost her eyesight,
perhaps from cataracts. The children were now old enough to give them tender care,
repaying them for some of the care that had been given them.
John's family who grew to adulthood were: Phoebe, married twice, Richard Jenkins
Davis; second, Zephaniah Jones; Rachel married Albert Walter Merrick; Samuel
married Mary Jones; Joseph never married; Parley married Hannah Davis; Margaret
Ann married John Morgan Nicholas; Hyrum married Bertha Mary Buder Hoffman. |
