TALIESIN HUGHES
If you will turn to the files of The Enterprise, November 29, 1930, you will find the following headline, "Taliesin Hughes, Sr.,
87, passes on following a remarkable career as pioneer of Malad Valley."
Taliesin Hughes, Sr., son of James Hughes and Margaret
Jones, was born on July 13, 1843
in Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorganshire, South Wales.
When a small boy, his parents heard the Mormon
missionaries preach in their town and became converts to the Mormon Church, and
by reason of their conversion they, in common with others, were imbued with a
desire to gather at the headquarters of the Church in America.
So Taliesin, in company with his father and mother, four
brothers and sister, Gomer, Matthew, Lewis, Daniel and Maria, set sail the 17th of April, 1855 for America.
The name of the ship was the Chimborazo and the captain
of the ship was Peter Vesper. There were 432 Saints on board. Father was
thirteen years old at the time.
When they arrived in America
they lived for a while in Pennsylvania
where James, being an engineer by trade, secured work in the coal mines. They
then moved to Caseyville, Illinois
where another daughter, Sarah Ann was born.
In 1858 the mother died and was buried at Caseyville,
Illinois, overlooking the Mississippi
River. The father became disheartened and never felt a desire to
continue the journey. William Jones,
an uncle of the children, who lived in Willard,
Utah, went back to Illinois
to bring the seven children to live in Willard. My father, now being sixteen years
old, along with his sister Maria, eighteen years old, had the responsibility of
taking care of the family. They lived in Willard a few years, then moved to Logan
where they made their home for several years. Father went on freighting trips
to bring supplies to earn a living.
Later, Father was called to help bring the Saints to Utah.
He made four trips with ox team to Florence, Nebraska.
On one of these trips he told us of a buffalo stampede in which he hearly lost
his life. He married Elizabeth Roberts of Logan,
January 13, 1867 in the
Endowment House at Salt Lake City.
To this union seven children were born. The mother died May 16, 1877.
Before his wife died, they moved to Samaria,
Idaho, where he engaged in farming and
freighting.
My father then married my mother, Jane Mason, in the
Endowment House. To them twelve children were born. They resided in Samaria
until 1890, when they moved to Pleasant View.
Father was one of the first pioneers to help settle
Pleasant View, coming here when there was sagebrush everywhere and the Indians
had a hunting ground here. Other families here were those of Lewis Dan Jones,
Stephen Wight, Thomas Davis, Isaac Isaacson, Joseph Thorpe, Jerry Jones, Peter
Camp, David Joseph Davis, Will Wight, Jonah Evans, Charles
Rowlands Thomas.
Father was a very influential citizen both in religious
and civil affairs. He was superintendent of the Sunday School
for many years. He donated the land where the first school house was built in
Pleasant View. It was also used as a church house until the present one was
built. James Evans was the contractor for this school house which still stands.
Father and Peter Fredrickson of Malad owned and operated the first thresher in
the Valley which he and Mr. Peter Fredrickson operated for seventeen seasons
and became recognized experts with it. They threshed all over the valley. He
also owned an old Osmond binder which was operated for many seasons.
Father was an expert swimmer, having swam Bear River many
times before the bridge was built, and he said many was the time he walked to
Logan, and swam the river when he came to it to get to the little boat on the
other side, and then rowed back and got his clothes.
He helped to build the bridges, burn the sagebrush, build
the fences, and produce the crops. He helped to open up the country and he laid
the foundation upon which we are building today.
On January 11,
1907, Father decided to sell his homestead to the two eldest sons,
Taliesin, Jr., and Thomas M., and move to Logan
where the younger children could go to school. They lived in Logan
for fifteen years, but they always had a longing to come back to the farm where
they had spent so many years. In 1922 they returned and built a new home just
north of the old one.
Father was a tireless worker, was always active and was a
great reader until his eyesight failed him. He was blind the last two years of
his life, which was a great handicap to him. He lost his hearing early in life.
He was not a man who cared to appear in public nor to
give alms to be seen of men. His gifts in time and means have been generous but
always on the quiet. He died November
28, 1930 and was buried in the Pleasant
View Cemetery.
- Ada Hughes
Ipsen, Daughter
