WILLIAM OWENS

William Owens was born August 15, 1798 at Merionethshire, North Wales.  He was the son of Cadwalader and Margaret Evans Owens.

Merionethshire was a farming and slate quarrying district.

William was a farmer.  He rented a large tract of land for which he paid ninety pounds per year.  He was allowed to keep his own livestock on the farm.  He usually had from one thousand to two thousand sheep and twenty milk cows, necessitating a small dairy.

He married Eleanor Evans.  They were the parents of eleven children.  Four children died and were buried in Wales.

The family belonged to the Baptist Church although he was not too active.  When they heard the gospel of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints, they left the Baptist Church and joined the L.D.S. Church.

William was baptized September 17, 1848 at Festnog, Wales, by David Roberts.

Preparations were soon made to come to America.  They left Liverpool, England in the spring of 1849.  It took them seven weeks and one day to reach New Orleans.

They sailed up the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers enroute to St. Joseph, Missouri.  While on their boat, there was an epidemic of cholera and many people died and were buried on the banks of the Mississippi River.  Jan, a daughter, died on Monday, William and Alice on Tuesday, their mother Eleanor on Wednesday, their father, William, on Friday, May 12, 1849, all in the same week.  Richard died on Friday the following week.

This left three children to complete the journey to Utah.  My grandfather Owen Owens, who was thirteen years old, and an older brother and sister.

There were only a few people in this Welsh Company who could understand or speak English.

They crossed the plains in the George A. Smith Company and reached Salt Lake City, Utah in the fall of 1849.

Written by Lucy W. Wright

Great Granddaughter of William Owens

(Information for this sketch was taken from a sketch of Owen Owens (my grandfather) and from a letter written by John D. Peters whose Welsh parents were in the same company with William Owens, and from my pedigree charts.)