Davies, David - Biography

David Davies & Mary Lleashon

Their Other Children & Descendants in Wales

By Kent Davis

28 July 2001

John Davis my great-uncle indicated in his writings that his entire family joined the LDS Church in about 1850 in Wales. Between 1853 & 1859 David Davies and two of his sons, Thomas & John, and a daughter Hannah immigrated to America. David died in Youngstown, Ohio in 1865. Thomas, my great-grandfather, traveled on to Utah arriving in 1861 and dying there in 1892. John enlisted in a New York Union regiment and fought in the Civil War. After the war he lived in Louisiana from 1870 until 1910 and then traveled to Huntingdon, Utah where he died eight years later in 1918.

David Davies’ other children, a son David and daughters Esther, Mary and Jane apparently stayed in Wales. I have therefore continued to search the records of Wales, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Louisiana for the children of David and Mary Davies and their descendants.

David Davies Jr.

I think I found the christening of David Davies in the Tredegar Independent Chapel (see FHL film #596994, item #2) son of David Davies (Collier) and Mary, christened 15 June 1823, birth 4 April 1823. I believe I also found him in the Merthyr Tydfil LDS Branch record being baptized the 24^th of February 1849, this record also listed a birth date of 4 April 1823 and I believe his brother (my great-grandfather) Thomas Davies was in the church record right next to him. (See FHC film #104170, item 2, page 14)

I have located a David Davies and his wife Mary in the 1851 & 1861 census records for Bedwelty but I am not sure if this is David’s son. David’s age and birth place are good in both censuses but there are problems with the children and his wife. There may have been deaths in the family between the censuses.

In the 1851 census his wife’s age is 28 years with a birthplace of Aberdare, Glamorgan, Wales and in the 1861 census his wife’s age is 34 years with a birth place of Machens, Monmouth, Wales. In the 1851 census they have two children Edward 9 and Margaret 6 and in the 1861 census they have three children Lydia 5, Mary Ann 4, and Edwin 8 months.

In the 1881 census of Bedwelty I found an Edward Davies which may be David Davies’ son with a wife Ann, 36 years and six children John 16 years, Jane 14 years, Mary 12 years, Ann 7 years, David 5 years and Margaret 1 year, all listing Tredegar, Monmouth, Wales as a birth place.

Because both David Davies’ christen and surname names are so very common I do not know if any of these Davies I have found in the Welsh census records are for David Davies the son of David Davies b. 1799 or his descendants.

Esther (Davies) Parry

I have not found a christening or birth record for Esther Davies but after an inquiry on the Internet I received some census information on her and her husband Thomas Parry. After a great deal of looking I was able to find Esther and her husband Thomas Parry in the 1851 census for Bilston, Wolverhampton, Stafford, England (pg 289). There the family was listed with two daughters Mary Jane 4 years & Faith 1 year. In 1871 the family appeared to be living in Llanwenarth (just north of Bedwelty) Monmouth, Wales with five children, Hope 16 years, Thomas 14 years, Alfred 10 years, Gomer 8 years, and Margaret A. 5 years. I need to find them in the 1860 census for Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorgan, Wales to learn about them and their children.

In the 1881 census Thomas and Esther appeared to be living with two of their children and their families in the same area. With Hope Parry and her husband John Absalom and four children Rachel b. 1873, Faith b. 1875, Mary b. 1877 & John b. 1880. In the 1891 census there were four more children Margaret b. 1881, William 1885, Sarah J. b. 1887, Gomer b. 1890 and Lewis 1894. Hope Parry Absalom and two of her sons emigrated to the USA in the 1910's (they are listed on the Ellis Island site:http://www.ellisislandrecords.org/

Thomas John Parry and his wife Jane and two children, Tom b. 1877, Joshua b. 1880 were listed with the family. In the 1891 census there were four more children John b. 1882, Lydia b. 1885, Mary A. b. 1887 & Margaret b. 1889. The British Civil Registration, in March 1876, in the district of Pontypool, Monmouth, Wales, listed the marriage registration of a Thomas Parry on the same page with a Jane Price whom I believe to be the same Jane as listed in the census record.

With the Internet response I received information indicating that two of Esther's sons, Alfred & Gomer Parry, immigrated to America in 1880 and settled in the Scranton, Pennsylvania area.

Alfred Parry married a Margaret Phillips in 1883 in Pennsylvania. I located Alfred Parry and family in the 1900 & 1910 censuses with children Burt b. 1884, Amy b. 1887, Mabel b. 1889, Esther b. 1891 & Margaret b. 1900.

I found Gomer Parry and family in the 1900, 1910 & 1920 censuses with wife Mary Ann Price the 1900 census indicated the Gomer & Mary Ann had been married in 1883. (I used the 1880 census CD's to determine Mary Ann's maiden name and parents.) Their children were Gertrude b. 1884, Frank b. 1887 (wife Rachel b. 1887), Laura b. 1888, Nelson b. 1904 & Thomas b. 1907, in the Scranton, PA area.

In the 1880 census of Scranton, PA I found Gomer Parry living with a John Price family which was listed on the census form right next to a Lewis Parry family. Given the proximity of the two families I believe that Lewis was an older brother to Gomer & Alfred Parry.

Lewis Parry b. 1852 was listed with wife Ann Price b. 1854 and three children Esther b. 1871, Gwenlliam b. 1874 and Elizabeth b. 1878. In the 1900 census for Scranton, PA a fourth child was listed Mariam b. 1883 and Lewis and Ann indicated they had been married 30 years. The British Civil Registration, in September 1851, listed the marriage registration of Lewis Parry on the same page with an Ann Price and because of the proximity of the Price family, in Scranton, PA, to the Lewis Parry family I believe that Ann's maiden was Price. Therefore Gomer would have been living with his brother-in-law and family.

Mary Davies

I think I found the christening of Mary Davies in the Tredegar Independent Chapel (see FHL film #596994, item #2) daughter of David Davies (Collier) and Mary, christened 13 July 1830, birth 16 June 1830. Because of the commonness of her christen name and surname I do not believe I will ever find a marriage or death record for her. Her brother John did not indicate she had married when he wrote of her in 1917.

Jane (Davies) Pugh

I believe I have found Jane Davies (c. 1828) who married David Pugh (c. 1838) in the civil and church records of Wales. I found a marriage record for her and she and David Pugh were married the 22nd of February 1851, in Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorgan, Wales. It appears from the LDS Church records that she was in the Merthyr Tydfil Branch of the LDS Church in 1847 (FHL film #104170) and from the census record that she was living with her husband David in Lower Merthyr Tydfil (FHL fiche #6344785) in 1851 census. In the 1881 census of Rhymney, Monmouth, Wales she was listed a widow and was living with five of her children; Howell 22 years, Evan 19 years, Mary J 14 years, David 9 years and Richard 6 years.

In the 1891 census of Rymney I found Jane Pugh again (widow, 59 years) with three of her sons Howell (32 years), David (19 years) and Richard (16 years). It appears from the civil registration that Howell Pugh may have married an Ellen Thomas in February 1894 and David Pugh married a Jane Thomas in March 1893. I have looked but I have been unable to find the family in the 1861 or 1871 censuses for the Bedwelty Parish of Monmouth, Wales. I will continue to look for more on this family. I have not yet found any family members in the 1900 census.