David Williams (1817-1888) Written by Esther Jenkins Carpenter 12 December 1953

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Many years ago when I heard my father, Evan Jenkins, mention the fine sterling qualities of Grandfather Williams I little thought that I would one day be asked to write his biography because he died five years before I was born. The source of my information has been varied. It has been obtained by studying the few papers left in his own handwriting, entries on the fly leaves of books he once owned, talking with the older relatives, looking over the old records of the 16th Ward in Salt Lake City and through letters from Wales and a visit to that country in 1951.

David Williams was born at Llanelly, Carmarthenshire, South Wales, on the 18th of December 1817. His parents were William Williams and Catherine Williams. His mother’s parents were Samuel Williams and Ann Anthony. His mother’s grandfather was also a Samuel Williams and his wife was named Margaret. We know nothing about his father’s people but he carried the name of the farm that belonged to his ancestors. Therefore, he as well as hid brothers and cousins, were known as the Caerbigyn Williamses. To say David Williams, Caerbigyn, was to follow an old Welsh custom that of adding the name of the farm, the house, or the trade following one’s given name. In Wales, as of this date, you frequently hear of people thus: Mrs. Thomas, Post Office, David Davies, Typhen, David Edwards, agent, etc.

I have tried, so far in vain, to establish the name of the Williams family that first occupied the Caerbigyn farm. In the census of 1841 and again in the 1851 census it was a man by the name of Richard Edmond that lived there with his family. Deeds cannot be searched in the record office of a county over there. At the time of the above census readings the farm was a holding 38 acres. In 1951, I was taken there by a cousin, Racheal Bowen. We went by bus from Llanelly to a village called Five Roads about 6 miles distant and from there walked about 1 1/2 miles to the farm. The sky was overcast and there was a light sprinkle of rain as we slowly walked along the rather narrow, hard surfaced road bordered with hedges in which flowering plants and ripening blackberries grew. The present owner has added the acreage of the place and it is used as a dairy farm and for the production of grain and hay. The house is the usual type found in Wales, two-story rock structure with a grey slate roof. I wondered what Grandfather would have said had he seen us there. The farm is in the parish of Llannon but is close to the boarder of Pambrey parish. In 1282 and as late as Early 8th’s time Llannon and Llangensch were chapelries of Llanelly. The Williams family occupied the farm as freehold. That means it was theirs outright. Some property is sold on lease. That means that after the allotted number of years in the lease the property returns to the Manor estate. (In this case the Stepney Estate.) These things go back to Feudal times. The laws have not been altered because the people in power over most of the time have been landed gentry and they would pass no laws which were against themselves. Since my grandfather’s mother was a Williams before marriage it will be interesting to fond out to which Williams line the farm belonged.

According to Grandfather’s records his father was born in 1783 and died in Llanelly on January 10th, 1832. He was then a boy of 15 years. His mother, Catherine, was born January 18th, 1784 and died on May 7th, 1874 at the age of ninety. She had been a very active little women but was blind at death. There were six sons in the family named as follows according to age: William, Samuel, John, David, Daniel, and Joseph. One of the relatives told me there were also two girls that died in infancy but the names and dates are not known.

The boys in this family were sent to the mines early. Joseph, the youngest, was only seven when his brothers carried him on their backs to the mines so as to get more trams that way. The laws to protect women and children from labor in mines and factories were not passed for many years after this period. For years the brothers worked in and close to Llanelly but by the time of the 1851 census William, Daniel and Joseph were living in Cwmavon in Glamorganshire and in a district called Michaelstons Super Avon. At this time Joseph had buried his first wife, Elisabeth Thomas, so his mother, Catherine Williams, was the housekeeper and cared for the little one year old girl named after her. Eventually the families moved again, Daniel and Joseph ended their days at Ferndale and Mardy in the Rhondda Valley. As of this writing William, the oldest brother, is unaccounted for. It is the belief of Mrs. Phillips, the youngest daughter of Joseph Williams, that her uncle William was killed at Abercarn, Monmouthshire around 1878. The brother Samuel died June 11th, 1838 shortly before he was to have been married.

David Williams was a pit-sinker and worked on the sinking of the coal pit in the Gwendraeth Valley of Carmarthenshire especially in Pontyberem. They used to come down to the house in Sandy (a section of Llanelly) on Thursday, market day, do the baking, etc. and then walk back to Pontyberem at end of the week, carrying the meat, etc. on their heads.

Our ancestors were Baptists. The Welsh people were very religious and in early times suffered persecution whenever they broke away from the established Church. Most of their names were biblical names. The non-conformists had to worship in secret and had pickets stationed to watch for the King’s men. Perhaps their strong religious tendencies were strengthened by persecution. People from Llanelly and miles around used to start out for a closed valley on the Gower Coast on a Saturday night, travel thirty or more miles on pony or on foot to attend communion on Sunday morning and perhaps find themselves in prison for doing so. A reflection of this attitude is shown in the fact that even marriages were not legalized in non-conformists chapels until June 1837 when the new Registration Act was passed. Gradually thousands of the Welsh joined the Baptists, Methodists, and the Congregationalists sometimes called the Independents.

In Grandfather’s Welsh record book he states that he joined the Latter-Day Saints Church the 11th of February 1848 being baptized by Walter Roche – also spelled Roach and Rhodge. He was confirmed the same day by Elders William Hughes and David Charles. His wife was not baptized until the 30th of April, 1849. Grandfather’s brother, John, baptized her. The story is told by some relatives that John Williams joined the Church first- one record states 1847- and that he converted our grandfather. At any rate Captain Dan Jones, the famous Welshman who was with the Prophet Joseph Smith the last night at Carthage, went to Wales on two missions and some say that he and his companions converted 4,000 Welsh people. He was responsible for the conversion of the two Williams brothers. Captain Jones, a native of Flintshire and a college graduate, brought the first foreign speaking converts to the Salt Lake Valley in 1849. A large number of them settled in the 15th and 16th Wards of the city. Because of their love for singing they formed the basis of the first Tabernacle Choir and sang in the old bowery before the Tabernacle was built.

Grandfather married Sarah Lodwick on the 24th of May, 1839 in Sion Baptist Chapel in Llanelly. It was the oldest Baptist Chapel in the town. She was the daughter of David Lodwick and Mary Roberts. Her father was a former police man and woodsman. He lived to the age of ninety like the mother of David Williams. At the time of this marriage Grandfather gave his residence as Caerelms which was a lovely open area on the edge of the town. Sarah Lodwick lived in the Wern district, a thickly populated area and not too far from the business district of Llanelly. There were eight children born of this union. The oldest, a son named Samuel, died 19 October 1845 and is buried at Adulam Baptist Chapel cemetery in Felinfoel, a suburb of Llanelly. On 17 July 1951 I visited his grave with two of the Bowen cousins. On the market are these words:

Er coffadwriaeth am Samuel, bab David a Sarah Williams, o’r Flawyfhwn, yr bwn a fu farw Hydref 19, 19,1845 yu 5 mlydd ac 8 mis oed.

Many of the Williams and Lodwick relatives rest on this ancient and beautiful hillside. In order of age the other members of the family were: Mary (who lived to be within 3 months of being 98 years old), Sarah, Catherine, Margaret, Ann, Martha, and Racheal. Sarah married Griffith Francis and remained in Wales. The others came to Utah and are all buried in the Salt Lake City cemetery except Ann, my mother, who is buried in Samaria, Idaho and Aunt Martha who is buried in Ogden.

Because Grandfather studied the gospel so much and pondered about it, Granny frequently chided him saying “You will go crazy about the Old Saints yet.” He kept out the tithing and other dues before giving her his wages. In anger she sometimes threw if on the floor. Calmly he would pick it up saying “All right, Sarah, here it is.” Before joining the church Grandfather often knelt by the hedge some distance from the house and prayed for a testimony. Granny knew he was baptized when he came home one day with wet clothes. She told him she wouldn’t take care of the children while he went to church so they took turnabout.

When David and John Williams joined the Church their brother Joseph was greatly disturbed and whenever he found them preaching on the streets of Llanelly he would kick the boxes out from under them. Grandfather was the Presiding Elder of the Llanelly Branch at the time of immigration. He helped build the chapel in Island Place and his name is on the old deed. I visited the church in 1951 and found that the Four Square Gospel people were holding services there. Other buildings or houses join right into it. It seemed strange not to see it surrounded by lawns and shrubs.

In chapter 23 of the book, “old Llanelly” by John Innes we find the following: “About 1845 Mormonism spread like a wave over Wales and Llanelly felt the movement. The colliers of ‘Caemaen’ and ‘Caebed’ were converted in large numbers as were those of the ‘Box’. Many copperman also became nominally ‘Saints’. Walter Hodge- (should have been Roche or Roach) - and one Bassett were the high priests of the new faith in Llanelly and it is even alleged that they worked miracles. Longhurst of the ‘Furnace’ was an early convert and so was David Williams of ‘Sandy Gate’.

They baptized at night under the Thistleboon or Wistleboon Bridge near the Old Castle. There was a ‘Latter-day Chapel’ in Island Place – afterwards a woolen factory, the wool gathering having assumed a commercial phase.

About that time not a few families immigrated to Salt Lake City to join Bingham Young. The terrors of several simultaneous mothers-in-law were insufficient to deter these ardent converts.”

The first members of Grandfather’s family to come to Utah were his daughters, Mary and Catherine. He was the next to leave Wales. His obituary states that he left for Utah in May 1868 but I am sure that is in error. The ship’s records at the historian’s office have him as a passenger on the ship Manhattan, David Williams, 50 years of age, and collier by occupation. It left Liverpool 21 June 1867 and arrived in New York City on 4 July 1867. His last entry in the record of Llanelly LDS Branch was made on 2 June 1867. I am of the opinion that his immigration was in 1867. He stopped to work in Pennsylvania or Iowa, perhaps both, before coming to Salt Lake City. We do not know for sure that he was here by Christmas of 1869. While working in the East Grandfather lost the sight in one eye through infection as a result of a cold. The mines in Wales are located right in the towns and villages. Homes for the workers are therefore close to their work. In this raw new country living conditions were far different. Make shift accommodations for the men were the usual thing. Grandfather said if he had it to do over he would rather put his head in the block than to endure what he went through before his wife and their other girls came.

Grandmother had one shilling (25 cents) in money when she sailed. They lived in an eight room house so by taking lodgers and by the girls working in the pottery and gathering and selling cockles they managed to support themselves until the opportunity came for them to emigrate also. Their arrival in Salt Lake City was in July 1869. They came on the first Train to bring Saints to the Valley.

David Williams was studious. He learned to read and write in both Welsh and in English. His record of the Llanelly Branch of the Church is neatly written and the accounts of tithing, etc. are well tabulated. He was just as careful in his own personal records. He could have gone far had he been given a chance at school. I have had his church record of Llanelly filmed at the Utah Genealogical Library where it will be of use to the public who ancestors came from that place. It covers a period of about 15 years. The film was made March 9, 1948. In his church work he was sincere and courageous, at first he had to stand alone against his wife, his brothers, and his friends. He remained undaunted and firm in his convictions. He had the gift of tongues and at his funeral one speaker said that no one had lived up more treasures in Heaven. My father said he was one of the calmest and one of the kindest men he ever knew. When he was prodded by Grandmother he remained unperturbed when most men would flare back in temper.

When I was a child and used to visit Grandmother Williams on our trips from Samaria, Idaho, she never failed to tell me how much Grandfather thought of my mother. She said tears generally came to his eyes when he thought of her pioneering on the farm so far away from the family. Before going to Idaho Mother always gave her parents half of the wages and continued later to send them produce from the farm. In the spring of 1937 Aunt Martha Goddard had this to say, “Your father worked in the mines so didn’t get to Salt Lake often, therefore, it was possible for your mother to share her earnings with our parents. I usually kept all of mine because I bought a lot of clothes to go to parties.”

The home of my grandparents was on Ninth West between 1st North and 2nd North. It was located between the homes of Aunt Catherine Harman and Aunt Margaret Evens. In those days each home was located on a large piece of land. The adobes for his home and for Aunt Margaret’s were made by Grandfather in a large field at 2nd North between 7th and 8th West. Rachel, his youngest daughter, went everywhere with him, even assisting with his work. They operated a small dairy on their property. The husbands of the other daughters were kind and helpful in the work, especially when Grandfather’s health began to fail. Money was sent to Sarah, the daughter in Wales, thinking that she might join them in Utah but she failed to respond. Her daughter, Mary Bowen, now in her eighties lives at 78 Ann Street, Llanelly, just a stone’s throw from the old David Lodwick home.

Grandfather was not a large man, neither was he of the robust type. Toward the end he suffered from asthma. He died 19 January, 1888. He is buried in the Salt Lake City cemetery on plat K at the corner of Ninth Avenue and Cypress. His plot joins those of his daughters Catherine, Mary and Rachel. His daughter Margaret is buried just across on Ninth Avenue and s short distance west.

John Williams, the other brother who became a Mormon in Wales, arrived in Salt Lake City around 1878-9. He is also buried in the same cemetery. His death came on 14 December 1880. He barely accomplished his wish to be buried among the Saints. His son, Samuel, came with him. The home his son established was on 1st North just across the street from Aunt Catherine’s home. One of John’s sons came later to Scranton, Pennsylvania but did not join the Church. While in Wales in 1951 I visited the granddaughter of John Williams, the last one of that branch in Llanelly. I was told by cousin Mary Bowen that John’s wife regretted many times that she did not come to Utah. I was made very welcome while on my trip by the grandchildren of Daniel and Joseph Williams. I stayed in the home of Joseph’s youngest daughter for two nights. She is the same age as my oldest sister. I found the Williams people to be good homemakers and devoutly religious. I think they were pleased to see for themselves a descendant of David, my grandfather, who set his face to the West in spite of all the criticism and came to this new land to be with others of his chosen faith.

Sources:

Letters from Rachel Bowen, Llanelly, Carmarthenshire, Wales

Letters from Mrs. L.A. Phillips, Tylorstown, Rhondda, South Wales.

Conversations with Mary H. Dunlop and Mary Evans Thomas

Volume 37 page 48 Deseret News weekly – 1 February 1888

Ship Manhattan’s passenger list for 21 June 1867

Salt Lake City 16th Ward Church Records

David Williams’ personal papers and Temple work at Logan September 21, 1886.