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Parley John Davis
By June Davis Larson, a daughter
(re-written by D. Harold Jones)
Parley John Davis was born in Tredegar, Monmouthshire, [Wales], May 27, 1857,
the ninth child of eleven, of John and Margaret Edwards Davis.
Parley attended school until he was eight, then after that he went to the mines with
his father and brothers where he was used as an errand boy.
The Davis family were poor people, so it took some time to save enough to emigrate
to America. Two sisters had gone earlier, and now it was Parley's turn. At twelve
years of age, he sailed on the Minnesota from Liverpool. Parley was one of those in
the first company of Saints to travel over the newly completed railroad to Utah.
Reaching Ogden, he went to Willard, where his sister Phoebe lived.
In four years the rest of the family came to Utah. After residing a few years in
Willard, he came up to Malad Valley, and settled in lower St. John. He and a friend
lived on the land his father homesteaded until his folks came from Willard.
When his family came, they all worked together to break up the sage and do all the
things necessary to make a pioneer home. Parley seemed to be both handy and
ambitious, and during this period spent a great deal of his time at the saw mill the
family had.
He married Hannah Davis of Samaria, Idaho, daughter of David William Davis and
Charlotte Nott Jeremy. For a time they lived in St. John, then moved up to the Snake
River country, near Idaho Falls. Parley was in great demand at socials, gifted with
the Welsh ability to sing and had a natural talent for step dancing.
In the Idaho Falls vicinity, Parley was a very successful farmer. He had a family of
eleven children. He was the first Bishop of the Milo, Idaho Ward. He died at Idaho
Falls October 16, 1932. | 
