ELEANOR JOHN THOMAS
My mother, Eleanor John Thomas,
was born July 19, 1856, in Morriston, near Swansea,
Glamorganshire, Wales.
Her father, Henry John, was a pit miner in the coal fields there. Eleanor's
mother, Ann Lloyd, to the best of my present understanding, was also the
daughter of a coal miner in the same community.
Eleanor's parents were married in Llangyfelach Parish
Church, Swansea,
Wales.
Eleanor was the fifth child of a family of seven, three of whom, Elizabeth,
William, and Eleanor, emigrated to the United
States with their father and mother and
finally settled in the central part of Malad Valley
in Idaho, known at that time as
Caribou and became farmers at the same place.
William Rowlands Thomas, better
known at that time as "Bill Thomas," met and won the hand of Eleanor
John, and they were married 25
December 1874. They also became farmers, eeking
out an existence raising grains, hay, milk cows, pigs, and chickens. Father
later became a successful sheepman.
Ten children came to bless this marriage. They all lived
to have families of their own, except the last one, Walter, who died at birth.
Throughout the years the family tree has spread out its numerous branches, and
one will find offspring throughout the United
States, Canada,
and foreign countries, who must claim their existence from the marriage of Bill
and Eleanor Thomas in the year 1874.
Bill Thomas, after marriage, took his beautiful bride to
live in a one-room log shack, the logs of which were hacked out with an ax, and
the chinks were sealed impervious to the wintry gales with a
clay mixed to a thick consistency with straw. Most of the furniture was
hand-made. The young bride made the inside of the room beautiful by tacking
factory over the logs, and to make it still warmer, she plastered the factory
with whitewash, which was very probably slacked lime. As the years came and
went, and as the family grew larger, two more rooms were added to this mansion,
and a mansion it was because of the love found there.
The culinary water was brought to this humble home from
what is known as the "Samaria Spring," a distance of approximately
three-fourths of a mile, by a horse-drawn sled, upon which a fifty gallon keg
was placed. To stop the water from slopping out, a well cleaned burlap sack
covered by a zinc wash tub was put on top of the keg. (By the way, it was not
the tub which the family used for its weekly baths.)
Mother's duties were numerous. I will mention only a few:
keep the house clean; make the home-made clothes for the family, by needle and
thread at first until they became wealthy enough to purchase a foot tread
Singer sewing machine; help milk the cows; then, from the by-products of the
milk, she made cheese and butter for the family; preserved the blue and red
plums and currants, also put up what other fresh fruit she could lay her hands
on, and fill the tummies of the urchins, which she brought into this life with
all its joys and woes. I have only listed a few of the light chores which
Mother had to attend to. The others were too numerous to list here. Three
daughters came finally to lighten her load just a little, but marriage was early
in pioneer days.
The children in those far off days were subject to all
the children's diseases which also included small pox, Rocky
Mountain tick fever, and typhoid
fever. Mother was doctor and nurse, with sometimes the assistance of a doctor
and midwife who delivered most of the babies.
Oh! how did she do it? With all
the various family duties she showered her love on her family and those about
her. No wonder she is the most outstanding character I have known or read
about.
During the later years of her life, she developed
fainting spells brought on probably by the menopause
which finally became more frequent. Father became very concerned about it and
had Dr. Rich come up from Ogden. He
diagnosed her illness as a brain tumor and advised surgery which had to be
performed in the hospital at Ogden.
Father made immediate arrangements to have her taken to Ogden.
Mother became critically ill on the train and had to be taken off and taken to
the hospital at Brigham City, where
she died January 21, 1909.
She left two unmarried sons, Albert, age 22, and Alvin,
age 12. Alvin had been her constant
companion since his birth up to the end of her life.
- Alvin Thomas, Son
