Allen Family History

Life sketch of William John Lewis and Jane Davis:

William John Lewis, son of John and Martha Lewis, was born in Pentre Estil, Glamorgan, Wales on September 10, 1832. He was the fifth son born to the family. William's mother died when he was only seven years old. He lived with his father, a coal miner and iron worker, for about a year. During this time, William and his brother, Elias, became very sick with smallpox and scarlet fever. Their father, who had to work all day, was unable to care for them and the boys moved to the home of their eldest brother, John, for care. Unfortunately, John's wife, who had several children of her own, was very unkind to William and Elias and did not feed them well. When just ten years old, William left his brother's home to work in an iron foundry. He learned to be a molder of cast iron utensils and machinery. Life must have been difficult for such a young boy.

When he was seventeen, William had a remarkable dream. He saw two men who explained the teachings of Christ to him. The next morning he related the dream to his friend and coworker, Thomas R. Jones, and explained the principles of the gospel he had learned in the dream. As the two were walking home from work, they cut across an empty field. As they walked through the field they saw two men approaching and William exclaimed those were the people he saw in his dream. When the men drew near they told William and his friend they were missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and invited them to a meeting that would be held the next night. William and Thomas attended the meeting and felt the teachings were different from anything they had heard before. William continued investigating the Church and was baptized in July of 1849 by Elder Evan Roberts while in Cwmbach, Aberdare, Wales.

On February 3, 1851, William's brother, Thomas, who was just a few years older than William, was killed in a mining accident. The news didn't reach William by mail for several days, but on the day of the accident he had an interesting experience. He returned from work and was sitting alone in his room when the door opened and Thomas and several other men walked into the room. Thomas said, William, I was killed today, all the men in the cage were killed in the coal mine. He pointed to the other with him, and said, We were going down the shaft in the cage when the rope which held the cage broke, letting the cage fall 300 feet. . . . Now there is some work I want you to do for me when the time comes. William later learned that Thomas met his death exactly as had been earlier explained to him.

In February of 1851, less than two years after his baptism, William was called on a mission to Cardiganshire in North Wales. He labored there for 2 years and then was transferred to Caernarvon to preside over that district. He served there for six months and then presided over Anglesey. After five years of missionary services, William was released in February 1856.

While on his mission, William had met a dark-eyed Welsh girl, who was also a member of the Church, named Jane Davis. Jane was born October 25, 1835 in Llansanan, Denbyshire, Wales, the daughter of William Davis, a carpenter, and Elizabeth Williams. Her family joined the LDS Church and Jane was baptized when she was 15 years old. She was a good milliner (hatmaker).

William and Jane fell in love and were married April 9, 1856 in Llanrwst, Denbighshire. They left for Zion soon after their marriage and set sail on the Samuel Curling April 19 of that year. Almost all of William's brothers and their families joined the Church and crossed the ocean with them, as well as Jane's parents and her two sisters. The group arrived in Boston on May 23 and traveled by train from Boston to Iowa City, Iowa, where the railroad line ended.

Jane's father, William Davis, was a carpenter and wheelwright and was put to work making handcarts for the Saints. He made one for William and Jane, who left Iowa City June 23, 1856 in the Edward Bunker handcart company. Jane's father remained to continue making handcarts and died July 25 of that year.

William and his wife and sisters-in-law traveled 1,300 miles across the plains. They had to cross many rivers and streams and William often carried these women across. At the crossing of the Platt River, William made 21 trips carrying women and supplies through the cold water. They made a fire and each time he came across Jane would heat and rub his limbs so he would be able to cross again.

This handcart company has been called the Starvation company because their food supply became very low due to mismanagement of the company's funds and supplies. After a while the company was put on half rations. William was put in charge of fifty saints and after being on half rations for some time, one of the men in his fifty disappeared one night. William spent all night wandering over the area calling his name. After some time the man answered. He said he had heard William from the first, but was too depressed to answer him and felt he would rather lie there and die than get up. Eventually he realized William would continue searching for him if he didn't answer, so he spared him the continued search by calling back. William loaded him onto a cart and took him back to camp.

While on their journey they were overjoyed to be able to shoot a buffalo, which provided meat for everyone in the camp. They camped for two days in order to dry the meat. Later rations were cut again and each person was allowed only three tablespoons of flour per day. William Lewis was of large stature and couldn't exist on that amount. Jane and her sisters, seeing his strength failing, started sharing their small rations with him without his knowledge. This sacrifice probably saved his life.

The group, tired and hungry, arrived in Salt Lake City on Thursday, October 2, 1856, the third handcart company to arrive in the valley. Brigham Young met them and was very affected by their plight. He asked the people to share their food with these hungry emigrants. They brought the best food they had and the group ate as much as they wanted. William said that after eating all he could he felt groggy, almost as a drunkard would feel.

After arriving in the valley William and Jane camped on Emigration Square for about two weeks and then moved to Ogden where William worked shucking corn and hauling wood for a man named Kentucky Jones. The couple lived in one room of his house. In the spring of 1857, the Lewises built a one-room adobe house in Ogden City. That summer, they moved south to Provo. They had no relatives who were already in the valley and had no one to stay with, so they built a house of willows on the banks of the Provo River and stayed there until the weather got cold. Then a widower named Elijah Allen took them in and let them stay with him in his two-room adobe house. They lived with Brother Allen for about eight months before moving to a little one-room adobe home on the corner of 400 West and 200 North in Provo. This home was so small that it was later used as a chicken coop. Between 1860 and 1863, William and Jane and their two young sons moved to a two-room adobe home on Main and Fourth Street. It had a dirt roof and mud would streak down their white-washed walls in every rainstorm.

The rest of the Lewis children were born in this house. In 1874, they built a new, larger brick home on the northeast corner of their lot. This home had four rooms upstairs, two down later an addition was built with two rooms and a pantry on the west side. It was a very comfortable home. Their home was always open to converts from Wales and many stayed with them until they were able to find homes of their home.

At the April Conference in 1875 William received a call to serve another mission in Wales. He left Jane with their two boys and four young girls; she was expecting another child that June. He served until July 1876 but was released because of poor health. After returning to Provo, he was called as second counselor to Bishop Myron Tanner of the Provo Third Ward and served in that position for fourteen years, then served as first counselor to Bishop Richard R. Gibby. After Bishop Gibby's death in 1894, William was ordained bishop of the ward.

William homesteaded several lots in the Provo area. He studied catalogues on fruit trees and planted a fine orchard on his farm near the mountains. He also ran a molasses mill and made molasses candy for the children in the area. William and Alexander Gilespie dug the first canal in what is now Orem City. William also assisted in building a road through Provo Canyon. In 1877, William was directed to take a second wife. He married Melvina Hanson in the St. George Temple on November 27 of that year. Jane and Melvina lived by each other in Provo. They got along well but did not have much in common. In September 1888, he was sentenced for unlawful cohabitation and served six months in prison. William served as bishop in his ward until his death on July 19, 1900.

Jane died of pneumonia not long before William, on October 13, 1898. Several years before her death, she wrote her history and said the following: I have been a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, forty-one years, and have tried to live faithful and true to all my covenants with God. And if I can prove faithful to the end I will pass away with the Glorious hope of an Eternal Salvation in the Kingdom of God. Yours truly, Jane Lewis. 17 March, 1892.

Research report for William John Lewis:

[lewis102803 / 0346] 30 October 2003

OBJECTIVES

Conduct preliminary research in Salt Lake City in order to locate as much information as possible on the Lewis-John and Evans-Williams lines in preparation for research in England.

RESULTS

Unable to locate information on the Lewis and Davies lines in Minnie Margett's File or the Swansea, Wales LDS Ward/Branch records.

Located Elizabeth Davies in the 1870 Federal Census. She was in Provo with William and Jane Lewis [document #5].

Located John Lewis in the 1841 British Census with his sons [document #3]. Unable to locate them in Glamorganshire in 1851.

Located the marriage of John Lewis and Martha Evan at St. John's, Swansea. They immigrated to Utah in 1856.

RECOMMENDATIONS 1. Initiate correspondence to obtain the death certificate of Martha Lewis, who died in 1840.

Testimony of William John Lewis:

Written by his own hand on 17 March 1892.

"I have a testimony to bare to the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and admonish all my posterity to live faithfully and true to all its commandments."