Thomas Williams family - Carno (and Tredegar)
Carno is a small village in the mountainous region of north central Wales. In about 1850 there were 166 homes in the village itself with 969 residents. In 2021 there were 736 residents recorded. It is noted in history as the place where a battle that proved decisive in the sovereignty of North Wales was fought in the year 946 A.D.
Thomas Williams was born in Carno, Montgomeryshire on 13th November 1821 to Thomas and Susanna (formerly Hughes). His father was a farmer growing wheat and oats with which they were able to make bread and a kind of oatmeal porridge. They also kept dairy cows to provide milk and made their own butter and cheese. With the addition of a few vegetables their little farm was self-sufficient. Thomas senior died of a liver disease on 2nd November 1845.
Susannah was able to supplement their income with her fine oak loom on which she wove beautiful Welsh flannel that was in constant demand locally. Even after her husband’s death, Suzannah regularly walked ten miles over the mountains to the nearest market in Newtown to sell her cloth. She died in 1864
Thomas Williams
It must have been such a dramatic change for young Thomas when he left the farm which had been in his family for generations and moved south to Tredegar in Monmouthshire in search of work in the coal mines There he met and married his first wife Anne Thomas on 13th April 1846, of whom little seems to have been recorded. On 8th August 1847 in Tafarnau Bach, Bedwelty, Monmouth they had a son named William. Some sources indicate that Anne died in childbirth
On 8th May 1853 Thomas married Harriet Davies (Davis) who was born in Tredegar on 6th April 1834. Although not yet 19 years of age Harriet was reported to be an excellent mother to almost 6 year old William. Thomas and Harriet had daughters in Tredegar, Hannah born 3rd Jun 1854, Martha born 17th Aug 1856 and Susannah, born 28th April 1859.
When Thomas and Harriet heard the missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints preaching they immediately embraced the message and were baptised. They planned to go to America to join with the Saints in Zion. The plan was for Thomas to go first and make a home for the family and for his wife and children to follow later
Harriet Davies
SS William Tapscott
Thomas crossed the ocean on the William Tapscott which left Liverpool 11th May 1860 and arrived in New York on 15th June. Asa Calkin was appointed president of the company, with Elders William Budge and Carl Widerborg as counselors. It was reported to be a fine ship and a splendid sailor, but owing to contrary winds, the voyage took 35 days. “Union and good order prevailed during the whole voyage. Prayer was held every morning and evening, and on Sundays religious services were held on the deck.”
Owing to cold and a change of diet, various cases of sickness prevailed among the emigrants, and ten deaths occurred, most of them among the Scandinavian Saints. Four children were born on board and nine couples married. On the 3rd of June, the smallpox broke out among the emigrants, seven cases of this disease were reported, none of which, however, proved fatal. This required the emigrants to remain several days in quarantine after arriving at New York harbour.
On the 21st the emigrants left New York on the steamboat 'Isaac Newton' and sailed up the Hudson River to Albany, where they arrived on the 22nd. From Albany the journey was continued via Rochester to Niagara Falls, where the train stopped about seven hours in order to give the emigrants the pleasure of seeing the great waterfall and the grand suspension bridge. The journey was continued through Canada along the north shore of Lake Erie to Windsor, where the river was crossed to Detroit in Michigan. Thence to Chicago, which city was reached June 25th
The Isaac Newton
From Chicago, the emigrants travelled by railroad to Quincy, Illinois, whence they crossed the Mississippi River to Hannibal in Missouri, and thence travelled by railroad to St. Joseph, Missouri. Here 13 persons were placed in a hospital, but upon close examination they were found to be well enough to join the company the following day on the trip up the Missouri River, to Florence, Nebraska, where the company arrived in the night between 30th June 30th and 1st July.Elder George Q. Cannon, Church emigration agent, made arrangements for the journey across the plains. A handcart company consisting of 126 souls, traveling with 22 handcarts and 6 wagons, left Florence on their westward journey July 6th, under the leadership of Captain Oscar O. Stoddard. The company
was divided into three parts under Elders D. Fischer, Anders Christensen and Carl J. E. Fjeld, respectively.
After a journey of 81 days, the company arrived in Salt Lake City, 24th Sept, having suffered the ordinary hardships and difficulties incident to all handcart travel. Considerable sickness prevailed during the journey, and a number of animals died, which made the latter part of the journey particularly difficult.
Thomas settled in Taylorsville where he began to build a home for his family. Here he could return to farming but the work was hard building the house, making the adobe bricks by hand from the abundant clay, mixing it with straw and water. The mixture would be trodden by foot to mix it thoroughly and then scooped into wooden moulds to shape before being turned out and then stacked to dry in the sun.
Meanwhile Harriet was left to support the four children. After 2 years she received word from her husband to come and join him. However, William was reportedly kidnapped by his grandparents who disapproved of the church and didn’t want him to go to America. Arrangements had already been made for the family to emigrate and they had no alternative but to leave without William who they would never see again.
On 6th May they sailed from Liverpool aboard the Manchester, with the saints under the direction of John D. T. McAllister. It arrived at New York 12th June. The journey was relatively uneventful for the family until they almost reached Winter Quarters where they all fell ill, possibly from cholera. Martha, aged 5, died on 28th June and Susannah, aged 3, on 7th July. They were buried there on the plains. Harriet and Hannah continued their journey to the Salt Lake valley with the ox cart company led by Ansel P. Harmon. They arrived on 5th October.
SS Manchester
Thomas was there to meet them, not realising that two of his children had died on the journey and that William had remained behind in England.
They received a grant of 160 acres of land in Taylorsville which was signed by Ulysses S. Grant. The land included the site of the Old English Fort which had been abandoned in 1858 and contained a lot of rocks and rubble which had to be cleared. Thomas had been injured in an explosion in one of the mines form which he never fully recovered. This together with lung damage caused by breathing in the coal dust made life difficult for him.
Thomas and Harriet went on to have four more children: Ezra, born 24th April 1864, Joseph born 21st June 1866, Parley born 14th September 1868 and Zachariah David born 22nd April 1871.
Thomas died on 10th May1875 at the age of 55 and Harriet was again left alone to bring up her children. On 2nd January 1877 Zachariah died.
Ezra Williams
Joseph Williams
Parley Williams
On 15th May 1878 when Harriet was 44 years old she married John Joseph. Williams (no relationship) who was also 44. Her sons were age 14, 12 and 10.
Harriet and John
In 1887 Harriet donated some land, which she had inherited from her late husband Thomas, to the Church to be used as a cemetery. She herself died on 10th May 1908 at the age of 73
Harriet feeding her chickens