I love how the daffodils grow like weeds here in this little village in Wales where my great great grandparents Thomas Edwards and Elizabeth Lewis were married. He moved his family to Merhyr Tydfil and worked in the mines there. There he met preachers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and decided to leave Wales and come to America which saved his life. So many of the mine workers died in accidents or their lives were shortened by developing Black Lung. He settled in Ogden, Utah and after his wife died, he moved to Liberty, Idaho where his daughter took care of him until he died at the ripe old age of 100 years and 4 months.
A newspaper article ran in the Salt Lake City Desert News in 1868 stated:
"Thomas Edwards of Ogden City was born in Wales in the month
of January 1793, and is therefore in his 76th year. He has lately had a new set of double
teeth growing in his head, not having lost the front ones. He cut the new teeth about the same as
children generally cut theirs, his gums swelling and being very painful during
the period of dentation. His hair
still retains its natural color of jet black. Brother Edwards came to America about 14 years ago and has
been in Utah nearly seven years.
He is a man of regular habits of life. He works regularly in his farm, has general good health and
is the father of 10 children. He
walked from Ogden to this city last fall, a distance of 40 miles to attend
General Conference. He is a
praying man, and tries to live the life of a saint."
Linking to InSPIRed Sunday and Shadow Shot Sunday 2
11 comments:
How interesting that he had a second set of adult teeth!
What a lovely setting. Tom The Backroads Traveller
Looks like a nice church and one I'd like to visit but I can't find a church called tha in Aberdare, there is a school with that name
Surprised to hear about the second set of adult teeth.
The church look beautiful surrounded by those yellow daffofils.
So charming! Love the Spring setting...
what an interesting story about the teeth - think I've heard other incidents of this nature elsewhere.
i am in love with all those daffodils. so pretty. i love spring. miss it lately. so cold & windy. wishing for some snow but i guess we will not be so lucky this year. thanks, for joining us at InSPIREd Sunday. you take care. ( :
Hi,nice capture. This post is very interesting. Your ancestors moved to USA was very meaningful. Thanks for sharing.
What a wonderful find, that article about your ancestor. Must be quite a man...walked 40 miles? Really? That's impressive.
He sounds like a wonderful person and with a second set of teeth! How interesting!
When I first saw the photo, I was thinking, 'Wow, that looks just like a little church in Herefordshire.' And then saw that it wasn't here in the States, but in Wales. Beautiful buildings, aren't they. I enjoyed this post, Ruth.
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