DAVID RODERICK AND HANNAH SPENCER
David Roderick was the son of David Roderick and Margaret
Miles of Pendoylan Parish, Glamorganshire, Wales. He was born September 24, 1817, and was married
to Hannah Spencer, also of Pendoylan Parish. She was
the daughter of George Spencer and Mary Watkins and was born December 4, 1820. They were married September 7, 1844.
David Roderick worked in the coal mines as did his two
sons when they were young boys. Grandfather met with an accident while working
in the mines and became ill. Then dropsy set in which made his condition much
worse. The Mormon missionaries came to their home. Quite often Grandfather and
Grandmother were impressed with what they had to say and they would administer
to Grandfather and he would always receive a blessing. He was very ill for two
months and the Elders wanted him to be baptized into the Church, but he was
afraid to get into the water because of his condition for he was so swollen he
could not button his coat. The Elders promised him if he would be baptized and
had faith enough that he would recover; therefore, he consented and on the way
home from the baptismal he could button his coat. His health improved and he
became well again. He was baptized September
26, 1851. She was baptized in November 1851.
The Roderick family left Wales
for America for
the Gospel's sake in June 1869, leaving one daughter, Mary, who was married to
James Price. A year before they were devoted to the Church
of Wales, her husband being a
minister. Margaret, their daughter, had gone to America
previously, arriving in Utah September 4, 1866.
David Roderick and family embarked on the steam hip Minnesota
from Liverpool, England, June 2, 1869, and were listed as David Roderick, 51,
laborer; Hannah, 47; William, 15; John, 12; Elizabeth, 9. They sailed to New
York and arrived in Omaha,
Nebraska, June 23, 1869. They came on the first train bringing
Mormon converts to Utah. A little
more than three weeks had brought them the whole distance of the weary way that
once took the best part of a year to travel. This was the first company which
had come all the way across the continent from the Atlantic
to Utah on the "Great
Highway" which will long be remembered. They
were under the charge of Elder Elias Morris, President of the Welsh District.
The company comprised of 338 people, most of them being Welsh, was called
"The Morris Company."
Grandfather was a carpenter by trade in Wales
and when he settled in Samaria he
built a four-room log house, then painted it and made a picket fence all around
their two-acre lot. He built all of their furniture, including a settee which
was placed on one side of the room, over which hung a picture of Jesus talking
to Nicodemus, with the scripture printed beneath it.
He planted fruit trees and small bushes of gooseberries
and currants. He raised all kinds of fruit that could be raised at that time
and always raised a good garden. He also had a farm and was a very hard worker.
He dug a deep well and rocked it up. He took a great pride in his horses and
brushed them until they were shining and always kept everything neat around his
yards. He would keep a rake by his haystack and cleaned up the leaves after
each feeding. His pig pen had two parts; the part where they slept had a
shelter over it, and he kept a broom by the trough sweeping it clean before
each feeding. His pigs were often so fat they couldn't get their hind quarters
off the ground.
Grandfather lived in America
twenty years before he died. Just before passing away, he called his son
William to his bed and said, "You are the only son left and I want you to
take good care of your mother." William followed the admonition given him
by his father. He would leave his own farm work to do anything his mother asked
of him. Grandfather died September 7,
1889, at Samaria.
Grandmother was heartbroken. William allowed his oldest son, David, to stay
with his grandmother because he had been staying with his grandparents during
his grandfather's illness.
Grandmother was a very neat and clean woman. She always
had a spotless home. Everyone had to clean his shoes very clean before entering
her house. Her grand children would always call to see her on the way home from
school. She would always give them a sandwich or cookie. Those good times were
called "Currant Biscuits Days."
Grandmother's sight began to fail her, and when she was
just about blind, she would still go to the corral and milk the two old cows
which were so mean they would kick anyone else who tried to milk them, but she
would talk Welsh to them, and could milk them without any trouble. She would
strain the milk and put it into the tin pans which she would put in the cellar
to cream at the back of the house where they went down a few steps into the
ground and into a little room lined with shelves. On one side were the shelves
for the milk and behind this was another little room which was used for their
root cellar.
She had a horse and buggy to go places. She would go to
see her children when she could hardly see the road. She could catch her horse
when no one else could. His name was old "Dick." She would talk to
him and he would calmly obey her.
When her eyesight became so bad that she had to have help with her work, her two granddaughters, Emeline and Mary Ann Waldron, came to stay with her. She
would always tell them to wash the table with soap and water after every meal.
After they would get through, she would always check the oilcloth by feeling it
with her hands to be sure they always used soap.
When she developed dropsy and wasn't able to be alone at
all, she went to live with her daughter, Elizabeth (Mrs. Levi Waldron) for a
while. Then her son, William, keeping his promise to his father, took her to
live with him and his family. He gave her a room by herself, and she was
confined to it most of the time because of her poor health and blindness.
William's wife, Annie, would get her up every morning and bathe her and comb
her hair; then let her sit in the rocking chair for a while until she felt like
going back to her bed.
She was a very happy, jolly woman because she was greatly
loved by her family. She lived fourteen years after Grandfather died. She was
blind for six years before she passed away February 28, 1904, at the age of eighty-four years. She
lived with William about the last five years of her life. She was buried at Samaria.
The little Roderick home was given to the daughter Margaret
Roderick Jones after the death of her parents. At the present time, the home of
William Waldron is located on that plot of ground.
- The Roderick Family
