Allen Family History

Life Sketch of John Lewis and Martha Evans

Not much is known about the early lives of John Lewis and Martha Evans Lewis. John was the son of John Lewis and Margaret John Lewis and was born about 1781. He married Martha Evans, daughter of Enoch Evans and Susan Williams Evans, on 1 May 1813 in the parish church of St. John in Pentre Estil, Swansea, Glamorgan, Wales. The witnesses to the wedding were Enoch Evan and Lewis Evans.

According to Lewis family researchers, we have reason to believe that John and Martha, although devout Christians, were not members of the established church. Martha’s parents were involved in the Independent persuasion. We also know that the John, eldest son of John and Martha, was a Deacon in the Calvinist Methodist church near Pentre Estil.

The family came from the city and suburbs of Swansea, which in the early part of the 1800s was called Abertawe. The city, at that time, was an industrial seaport city, known primarily for its mining and iron works. The family may have moved to the industrial city during the industrial revolution that took place about that time.

According to family records at least nine children were born to John and Mary Lewis between 1813 and 1840. Tragedy struck the family in 1840. On 15 July John Lewis lost his beloved wife of twenty-seven years who died suddenly of convulsions at the age of fifty. On 19 September John also lost his mother who passed away at the age of eighty-four. John was left with the two youngest boys at home, William John, age seven, and Elias, age five.

It must have been difficult for John to raise two small boys without his wife. He had to be mother and father while trying to work to support his family. Family stories say the two young boys became very ill with small pox and scarlet fever the first year after their mother passed away. When they had recovered, John and his two young sons went to live with the eldest son John, who was married with a young family of his own. William John would leave the family a few years later at the tender age of ten to begin working in an iron foundry.

Apparently the sons of John Lewis and Martha Evans Lewis all grew up with strong feelings about religion and with a desire for greater truths because indications are that they were raised as non-conformists. Shortly after the first LDS missionaries came to the area, they all joined the new church, with the exception of the oldest son, John. Family records indicate that Enoch was baptized on 28 April, William John was baptized on 4 July, and David was baptized on 29 July 1849.

John Lewis worked as a coal miner and indications are that some of his sons shared that profession. Not much else is known about the life of John Lewis. He died 9 May 1854 in Pentre Estil, Swansea, Glamorgan, Wales.

Information for this life sketch was gleaned from: John Lewis and Martha Evans Family Histories and Descendants Published by the John Lewis and Martha Evans Family Organization and Early History of the John Lewis and Martha Evans Family by G. Reed Marchant found online at www.welshmormonhistory.org.