William Thomas and Margaret Jane
Glover Jenkins
By Pearl Atkinson
(granddaughter)
William Thomas Jenkins and a twin sister, Sarah Ellen, were born May 15,
1861, at Council Bluffs, Iowa, to Evan and Ann Davis Jenkins. Sarah Ellen died
at 15 days old.
Evan was born at Cowbridge, Glamorganshire, Wales and Ann at Llangyfelack,
Glamorganshire, Wales. They were married in 1846, and the Mormon Elders taught
them and they were baptized on July 29, 1847. In the year of 1850 they sailed
to America on the ship Hartley [Josiah Bradlee]. They arrived in Council Bluffs and Ezra T.
Benson advised them to stay there until they could get equipped. All they had
was three children, two feather beds and a few dishes. Evan homesteaded a
quarter section of land. They lived there for eleven years, and then prepared
to come to Utah.
They joined the Homer Duncan Company and arrived in Salt Lake September 13.
Evan took his family and settled in the southern part of Farmington. He bought
forty acres of rough land for nine hundred dollars. He raised straw for ZCMI to
make brooms.
Margaret Jane, the third child of William Grover and Margaret Lockhead, was
born May 10, 1861, at Farmington, Utah. Her father was born at Kilmarnock,
Scotland, and her mother at Brighton, Lanark, Scotland. Margaret was William's
third plural wife. They were married in the Endowment House November 30, 1856.
William joined the Mormon religion and had come to Pennsylvania. He and his
first wife, Jane Cowen, and family sailed on the ship Brooklyn around Cape Horn
and up the coast to California. They lived there a few years and helped build
homes and schools. They also panned for gold and came to Utah to be with the
Saints. They settled in Farmington.
The two families were neighbors and friends. Their children went to church,
played and worked together. William was around 5 feet tall and had dark wavy
hair that never went gray, and blue gray eyes. He could play the violin and
played for dances. Margaret Jane was 5' 5" tall and had brown hair and
hazel eyes. She was pretty, neat and clean.
They were married in the Endowment House on September 11, 1878, and lived in
Farmington the first year of their married life. William hauled freight to Salt
Lake. Some of the freight was the straw for his father. It was here William
Evan was born December 3, 1880. He married Lillian Sheriff July 21, 1910, and
he died January 29, 1963 in Pocatello.
In the summer of 1882 they moved to Lewiston, Utah, and worked for Joe
Glover. Margaret Fairlie was born here on October 2, 1882. She married Albert
Davis Jones February 10, 1904, and died March 9, 1971. This was a real cold,
stormy winter.
The next winter they moved to Newton, Utah, to help his brother John's
family while he served a mission. It was a cold winter; some of the cattle
froze to death. He found some work for fifty cents a day and sometimes
twenty-five dollars a month. William homesteaded a farm of 160 acres by the
Newton Reservoir. Louella was born here February 2, 1885. She married Isaac Van
Pelt Warner January 21, 1907 and died November 8, 1972.
Times were hard and William moved his family to Farmington to get work to
pay for the fencing and materials on his homestead. Here on August 28, 1890
Jennie Estelle was born. She married Verlin Daniels December 15, 1912 and died
November 11, 1982. Brother John sent word that someone was going to jump his
claim, so they moved back to Newton. They all worked to help clear the land and
fence.
In Newton two more children were born. Marion Amelia, born March 22, 1892,
died at the age of 15 on February 20, 1908. John Merlin Jenkins was born
November 28, 1894, married Mildred Howell on October 8, 1919, and died March
20, 1967. This made eight to feed and the crops were poor. William sold his
farm here and moved to Portage, Utah.
They lived in East Portage and went to church at West Portage and the
children went to school at Goshen Hollow. William was sick with arthritis while
here. They stayed here two years and Crawford was born March 1, 1897. He never
married and died April 4, 1930. They then moved to St. John on February 27,
1898.
They bought a farm from Fredrick Baker on the St. John Bench. It was about
three miles to the church and school. The children rode in a cart or on
horseback. Gladys was born May 22, 1900 and married Perry Hendricks December 4,
1919; later married Clair Ruddell. Evelyn was born December 9, 1902, and
married Stephen Spaulding June 22, 1925.
In 1902 they bought a lot down in the town and moved a house on it. They had
garden, fruit trees and made rugs. William passed away December 27, 1932 and
Margaret Jane on April 17, 1938, and both are buried in the St. John Cemetery.
(From St. John, Oneida County, Idaho: A collection of personal histories
from the time of the first settlers to the present day, pp. 156-158.)
