MARY MORGAN THOMAS
By
great-granddaughter Ruth Thomas Hansen
The
history of the THOMAS family, as far as we have been able to trace it, had its
beginning in South Wales, Great Britain.
Our
ancestors were coal miners by trade.
Even the women and children helped earn the living for the family by
working in the coal mines and brick yards.
The coal was sorted by hand and just as soon as a child was smart enough
to tell a large lump from a small one, he worked in the coal yards: rain, snow,
sleet or sunshine; it made little difference.
The
owner of the mines had little sympathy for the feelings of his employees, and
they really had to work hard. The homes
of the employees were often on company ground and rent was high. If you weren't wealthy enough to own your own
home, you really "earned the bread and butter by the sweat of your brow."
The
main recreation of the miners and their families was music. Most of the Welsh people had wonderful
voices. After work at night, someone
would start a song, all the others would join in and they would sing all the
way home. The harmony was wonderful to
hear. As many as ten to a hundred
people, black and grimy and tired from their day's labor, walking home from
work lifting their voices in song was a continual inspiration.
My
grandmother's mother's mother, Alice Richards Morgan, died leaving quite a
young family. Her husband, John Morgan,
was a Baptist or Methodist preacher.
When his wife died he used a great deal of partiality in the way he
treated his daughters. The younger
daughter Mary was made to do all the work, besides take care of the baby. This younger daughter Mary Morgan became our
ancestress.
Edward
and Cecilia Evans Thomas and family lived neighbors to John Morgan and
family. They sympathized with Mary
Morgan. She would often visit in their
home when things got too bad at her home.
One day Edward told Mary not to go home at all but to live with his
family. When Mary's father came for her,
Edward told him that Mary wasn't going home because he was too cruel to
her. Edward consented to the marriage of
his son Richard and Mary, even though Mary was quite young at the time.
There
was a custom of posting BANNS by the couple that intended to be married. This was to have their engagement announced
in church every Sunday for three consecutive weeks. If no one, especially the parents of the
couple, objected, they could then be married.
This made it almost impossible for Mary and Richard to get married. Mary's
father was the preacher and he objected every time their intentions were
announced. The Edward had an idea. He and Cecilia his wife suggested that the
couple go to the little church that none of the immediate families attended,
this was a non-conformist church, to have the banns posted. All waited anxiously, but Mary's father
didn't find out, sot hey were able to get married. Mary's father was very mad. He was really angry when Mary and Richard
were baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This was in 1847.
Richard's
parents had 21 children. Richard's
mother Cecilia was a midwife and delivered hundred of babies. She was a large, plump woman with a wonderful
sense of humor. She and Mary attended
the Mormon church regularly, and she was baptized into
the Mormon church in 1852 by Richard.
His father had joined in 1846.
They walked five miles and attended three sessions of Church each Sunday. When Cecilia died, her funeral procession
reached from the residence to the cemetery, which was five miles distance,
walking two abreast. She requested that
she be buried in the same grave as her son Richard. This was and still is the custom in England and Wales to bury sometimes as many
as seven in the same grave, one on top of another. There is a scarcity of ground there.
Mary
and Richard named their fist child Edward, after Richard's father. This little child only lived about a year and
then died. She then named her second
child Edward also, and he lived about four years and then died also. This accounts for the two Edwards in this
family.
Mary
felt very badly over the loss of these two children and also because her father
refused to enter her house or speak to her.
Edward visited John, however, and was able to bring about a reconciliation. Her
father never could forgive Mary for joining the Mormon Church. On the afternoon of the morning Mary was
baptized, her father stopped by and said, "I saw those old Mormons drown a
woman this morning at such and such a place."
"They
didn't drown her, Father,
That woman was me, and I was only being baptized," Mary replied.
Mary
and Richard rented a little house on the mountains on the mine company's
ground. The floor was of rock or
stone. The large oven was outdoors. It was made of brick. In this oven the bread was baked. A fire was built in it at night to heat the
bricks. The wood or coal was then
brushed out. The heat from the hot
bricks baked the bread. In stormy weather
it was often difficult to get the oven hot.
The
floor was polished by scouring the stone or rock underfoot with a small, soft,
round rock or stone. These floors would
shine until you could see your face in them. As my grandmother was the
youngest, this task was hers when she was big enough. Water was also heated outside on the top of
the oven. This was for the men to bathe
in when they came home from work in the mines.
It was heated in tubs. The water
was carried from the river by the womenfolk.
They carried it in buckets or pails or earthen crocks. They carried one on their heads and a
bucketful in each hand. That is why the
women had such good posture.
Mary
and Richard had nine children.
After
Richard was baptized into the Mormon church, he took
an active lead in the activities. He
often spoke in meetings and Mormon gatherings, his one
big ambition was to keep his tithing paid up.
The Sunday before he died he spoke in the meeting and said that he hoped
that the Lord would let him live long enough to pay up the three months back
tithing he owed.
He
loved Mary dearly, and when one of his friends said jokingly to him, "Cumree," as he was often called, "when you die, can I have
Mary?" He replied that if he thought
that could happen he would put his pick through him there and then.
Richard
was crushed by a large rock falling from the roof when my grandma Cecilia was
only 15 months of age. When Richard was
killed, they were saving every penny to pay for the passage of the while family
to come to the United States of America. Mary was heating the water for the boy John's
and her husband's bath. She had been
uneasy all day, constantly looking toward the mine, the day of Richard's
death. She felt that an accident had
happened to her brother Howell. When a
man came to inform her of the accident, she was heartbroken to learn it was her
husband Richard.
With
the paycheck Mary paid up the tithing, their debts, etc. The oldest daughter Alice (ten years old) was
left in charge of the younger children and the cooking and baking, and Mary
went to work in the coal and brick yards.
Most
of the Welsh men like to visit the tavern and drink beer on Saturday night as
was the custom. There was a ruling that
if a military or army officer could toss a coin into the mug of beer from a
certain distance, that person was drafted into the army or legion. When John, son of Richard, was eighteen years
of age, he was inducted this way. John
disliked the service so much that when his term was up, he tried to keep from
having to serve any more. He was always
a neat boy with a great pride in his appearance. The officer were determined
to force him to reenlist. He left Merthyr Tydfil and found work in another
part
of the county. He had told a friend to
tell his mother the general direction he would travel.
One
day Mary had a premonition that he needed her.
She packed up his clothes in a bundle.
Without knowing exactly where he was, she set out to find him. She had great faith in prayer. The robbers were bad in the district where she
had to travel. The trains had to be
locked. She caught the train just as it
was pulling out of the station. She rode
as far as it went. Then she had to
finish her journey on foot. She got
terribly tired. She came to a hill. She was so tired she could hardly get to the
top. When she did, however, she knelt
down and asked the Lord for strength to continue. Next she came to a fork in the road. She did not know which road to take. Once more she sought the Lord for assistance. Finally she reached the village where John's
friend had told her John was.
The
only words she had learned in English were "Do you know a little Welshman?" The first person she met replied, "Yes, I do,
and a good little Welshman he is too."
He directed her to where her son was boarding. When he came to the door in answer to her knock,
he was astonished. "Only you, Mother,
could have found me here." He was so surprised
he could only stare. Finally, Mary said,
"It's me Johnny, it isn't my ghost."
He
had destroyed his uniform and he hadn't shaved.
He was dressed in rags and looked awful.
He had been unable to get much work and hadn't eaten for three
days. After they had visited a short
time, Mary had to leave for home. Johnnie wanted her to wait over and he would
return with her. Mary, however, had only
a couple of days off and was unable to stay.
As she started for home, her son had promised a man he would work for
him the next day. Mary walked "Forty
miles but one in nine hours, but ten minutes."
The next day she spent in bed because she was so stiff and sore she
couldn't move.
Her
son John finally saved up enough money for a passage to America. He saved up more money and sent back to South Wales for his sweetheart Ann James. He first settled in Canton, Illinois. But later he came to Denver, Colorado where he worked and saved
up enough to own a large ranch there.
When the ranch was sold after his death, he left grandmother
Cecilia, his sister, $8,000.
Mary's
other son Hiram (or Hyram) found favor with some
Mormon missionaries, and they arranged passage for him to come to Utah. He came to Salt Lake City, where he worked for the
saints to pay for his food and clothes.
He worked all winter for a man from Ogden, without even a winter
coat. The man cheated him out of all his
earnings. He was later able to work and
save up enough for one passage for his mother.
This he sent her within a year after he arrived in America.
It took Mary twelve years to save up enough shillings fro the rest of the fare
for the three children Cecilia, Morgan and David.
She
was scrupulously honest. Always paying her bills on time, even if she had to borrow from someone
else to do so. Through all these
trying times, Mary's family always found time to sing. Her family was in the choir of five hundred
voices who were invited to London to sing for the Queen. When the choir sang inside the depot, the
windows cracked from the vibrations.
When
Mary's family were ready to sail to America, she was free from debt and
owed no man. The ship, however, was
delayed for two or three weeks. Mary was
not prepared for this. She had only
sufficient money for the trip. Two
different merchants heard of her plight and brought food to her. She accepted this from them only when they
agreed to accept the money when she was able to pay it back.
On
the trip across the Atlantic, my grandmother Cecilia was curious about the portholes in the ship,
so much so that she opened one. This let
in so much water that she nearly sank the ship because she was unable to close
it and afraid to tell anyone what she had done.
By the time help was summoned, the ship had taken on quite a bit of
water.
Mary
and her family settled in Spanish Fork, Utah.
As I
said before, Mary believed strongly in prayer.
Very many times, in the months following her husband's death, she became
so discouraged she didn't know what to do.
She would go into the bedroom and put her husband's clothes on the bed
and pray for him to come and advise her, and he did. She would actually talk to him, then she would come out from the bedroom singing. The third time she did this, however, he told
her that if she know how much trouble she caused him, she would leave him
alone. She never did this again.
Thomas,
son of Mary and Richard, grew up and married Ruth Williams in South Wales. This couple had four children possibly five
born in the vicinity of Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorganshire, South Wales. According to the marriage certificate, Thomas
and Ruth were married 25 December 1866. Ruth's child Mary Ann was born 12 October 1866. On the
birth certificate Mary Ann is listed with her mother Ruth Williams only. The second child James,
was born 4 November 1868. The third child Alice was born 13 June 1870. The fourth
child Cecilia was born 20 Feb 1873. There is tradition that this couple had a
child that they named Richard "don't know if he was born in South Wales or after
the couple immigrated to the United States.
We have been unable to find a record of his birth from search at Someroot" House. Birth certificates have been obtained for
all the above-named children of this couple that were born in South Wales. These certificates are in the possession of
Ruth T. Hansen, 72 East, 1st North, Ephraim, Utah. The marriage certificate of this couple is
also in her possession.
The
couple immigrated to the United States sometime between 20 February 1873 and 18
July 1878 as there is a child Albert born to this couple 18 July 1878 in Marysvale or Minersville, Beaver, Utah. The child Richard could have been born within
this interval, and if so could have been born either in South Wales or in Minersville, Beaver, Utah, depending upon the date
the couple immigrated to the United States. This couple had a child named Ruth that was
born 23 April 1882 at Minersville, Beaver, Utah, also. The two last children, Thomas W. who was born
3 April 1883, and William M, who was born 21 September 1886 were born in Circleville,
Piute, Utah.
As
was mentioned before, the oldest living son of Mary Morgans
and Richard Thomas was the first to immigrate to the United States, and when he was able, he
saved enough money to send to Mountain Ash for his sweetheart Ann James. As he first settled in Illinois and worked in the coal
mines there, this may be where the couple were
married. He later moved to Denver, Colorado where he had a large
farm. This couple did not have any
issue. They were later divorced but
remarried shortly before John died.
Alice,
the daughter of Mary Morgans and Richard Thomas, was married
to John David Jones on 1 June 1868 in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales. This couple immigrated to the Untied States
and settled in Spanish Fork, but we don't know when. This certificate of marriage is also in
possession of Ruth T. Hansen. This
couple had no children.
As
also was mentioned before, Hiram (Hyram), the son of
Mary Morgans and Richard Thomas immigrated to the United States and settled for a while in Ogden first, then Spanish For. He came here before his mother (1869). He married Mary Jane Rees and settled in Greenville, Beaver, Utah. This couple had four children before Hiram (Hyram) died 6 November 1896. His wife then married (2) John Ashworth, and
(3) Joseph W. Tanner. They had two sons
and two daughters.
David,
son of Mary and Richard, never married, and consequently had no issue.
Morgan,
son of Mary and Richard Thomas, married Gisella Theda Clarke, known as Aunt Ella. This couple obtained the property that the
family of Mary Morgan Thomas, originally owned in Spanish Fork. Here they raised a family of seven
children. One child, William, died when
only a year old. They had four other
boys and two girls.
Mary
and Richard's last child, Cecilia, married Ephraim D. Thomas of Wales, Sanpete, Utah. They raised a family of eight children: four boys and four girls.
Mary
Morgan Thomas died 5 October 1882 at Spanish Fork, Utah, and is buried there as is
also her daughter Alice and husband John Jones, her son David, her son Morgan
and his wife and their child.
