EARLY HISTORY OF
THE JOHN LEWIS AND MARTHA EVANS FAMILY
G. Reed Marchant
Not a great deal is known about our Lewis Clan prior to their emigration to the Salt Lake
Valley in 1856. However, with the various comments that have been passed down, and with the
research which has been done over the years, we are reasonably assured of the information
that follows.
John Lewis and Martha Evans were married in the Parish of St. John on May 1, 1813.
The record reads as follows:
John Lewis of the Parish of St. Mary (yeoman) and Martha
Evans of the Parish of St. John (spinster) were married
In this church by banns, with consent of parents, this
first day of May in the year One Thousand Eight Hundred
Thirteen, by me
A. B. Bavies, curate
The marriage was solemnized between us;
signed John Lewis
X (mark of Martha Evans)
In presents of: Enoch Evan
Lewis Evans
(GS 104,495-item 5)
From this entry we learn that John Lewis (yeoman) had reached some level of financial
and social independency by the time of his marriage. We also have reason to believe that John
and Martha, although devout Christians, were not devout members of the established church. As
near as we can determine, Martha's parents, Enoch Evans and Susan Williams, were of the
Independent persuasion. We also know that the eldest son of John and Martha was a Deacon in
the Calvinist Methodist church near Pentre Estil. His name was also John, after his father.
We know that the family came from the city and suburbs of Swansea, which in the early
part of the 1800s was called Abertawe. The city was an industrial seaport city at the time. It was
primarily known for its mining and iron works. It is highly possible that our people moved to
the industrial city with the industrial revolution that took place about that time. However, except
for the indication that Enoch Evans was born in Cardiganshire, we at present have no concrete
proof of from where.
In searching the established church records for the birth of the children of John and
Martha, we have been able to find only this entry:
G.S. 104,478 pt 21--Llangyaflech Parish B.T.--5 April 1817
birth of Margaret, daughter of John and Mary Lewis.
No entries have been found for any other children. However, from family and temple
records we have indications that at least eight other children were born to this fine couple
between their marriage in 1813 and 1840.
The year 1840 must have been a particular difficult one for our John Lewis. It was on
July 15 of that year that his beloved wife of twenty-seven years died suddenly of convulsions at
the age of fifty. On September 19 his mother passed away at age eighty-four. By this time the
eldest son (named John after his father) had married and was beginning to raise his own family.
Enoch, who was 21, and David, who was 15, were probably able to care for themselves. By this
time Daniel,
the twin brother of Elias, had died on October 12, 1839, and apparently daughter Margaret and at
least one other daughter had passed on. This left John with the two youngest boys at home:
William John, who would have been seven, and Elias, who would have been five at the time of
their mother's passing.
For the first year after the death of his wife, John tried to be both father and mother, as he
lived alone with his two boys. During that year both boys had smallpox and scarlet fever. It was
a difficult time because both boys were very ill and, since their father had to work each day to
earn a living, there was often no one to care for the sick boys.
After the boys recovered, they all went to live with the eldest son John and his wife, who
had been married about four years and had children of their own. This arrangement also had its
difficulties because the two families did not get along well together. One is left to his own
imagination as to what the difficulties were and why. Nevertheless, they were difficult enough
that William John left the home at the tender age of ten to shift for himself and began work in an
iron foundry.
Apparently at some time after his marriage John Lewis had given up farming and had
taken up labor as a coal miner because at the time of his wife's death he is listed as a collier (coal
miner). Each of his sons seemed to follow their father into the mines, or went into the
iron foundries.
Apparently the boys all grew up with strong feelings about religion and a feeling that
there was truth beyond that available in the established church because indications are that they
were raised as non-conformists. Also, shortly after the first LDS missionaries came to the area,
they all (with the exception of the eldest brother John) joined the new church founded in
America. In fact, family records indicate that during 1849, first Enoch (April 28), then William
John (July 4), David (July 29), and finally Elias (September 18) came into the church. By this
time Enoch had married Jane Ann Morgan and had begun raising his family.
Our records indicate that the oldest brother John, who was a Deacon in the Calvinist
Methodist church, remained there to his death in Wales on January 14, 1886. Another brother,
Thomas, was killed in a coal mine accident. The following story has been told about his death:
One evening as William John had returned from work and was
sitting alone in his room, the door opened and Thomas with
several other men walked in. Thomas told William John,
"William, I was killed today, all the men in the cage were
killed in the coal mine." Pointing to the others with him,
"We were going down the shaft in the cage when the rope
broke which held the cage, letting the cage fall 300 feet.
I was standing on my feet, and the weight drove the bones
of my legs up through my body and I was killed instantly.
Now there is some work I want you to do for me when the
time comes." (That work, meaning temple work, has been
done.) Thomas was living about thirty miles from his
brother and it was several days before he got word of
his death by mail. Thomas met his death just as his spirit
told William John.
We know very little about the parents of John Lewis. We know only that their names
were John Lewis and Margaret John, that Margaret died on September 19, 1840, at the ripe old
age of eighty-four, and we have reason to believe that John died on May 10, 1818. Both appear
to have lived and died in the area of Swansea, South Wales. Our records indicate that Margaret
was born on September 7, 1858. We have no knowledge of the parents of either.
On the Evans side of the family we have about the same amount of information. Family
records indicate that the parents of Martha Evans were Enoch Evans and Susan Williams. All we
seem to know about them is that they were of the Independent persuasion and that Enoch was
born in Cardiganshire. Our research is continuing.
We do know that William John was called to serve a church mission to North Wales in
1851. We know that he was released to emigrate to Zion in the spring of 1856. We must assume
that the four brothers were close in spirit because on April 19, 1856, Enoch, his wife and two
children; David, his wife Ann Lewis and three children; William John and his wife of ten days;
and Elias departed together from Liverpool on the same sailing ship Samuel Curling with a group
of 707 Welsh Saints.
They arrived in Boston on May 23, 1856. They then traveled by train to Iowa City, Iowa.
This was the terminus of the railroad. Here they stopped to make preparations for crossing the
plains by handcarts. It was at this outfitting camp that Elias and a Welsh girl named Eleanor
Roberts were married under a shade tree on June 4, 1856. It was also here, on June 6, 1856, that
David and Ann's fourteen-month-old baby was laid to rest.
The Lewis' joined the third handcart company. The story of their difficulties on reaching
the valley is left to other publications. Needless to say, only the heartiest of souls could have
survived. We have a great heritage. We should honor it.
