LIFE SKETCH OF MARY WATKINS
and Benjamin Williams
and Benjamin Williams
Mary Watkins was born in 1825 near Aberyaveny, Breconshire, South Wales. She died at her home in Logan, Utah, 5 April 1911. Between these two events were eighty-six years and between the two places there is a stretch of seven thousand miles. Every year was a test of native skill and every mile was a test of faith, courage and endurance. Through the stretch of years the whole world saw enormous changes and civilization experienced marvelous advances. It is doubtful that any stretch of years ever witnessed so much advancement before and may ever witness so much again. In that stretch of miles lay the busiest and most progressive activity of the world. Western Europe lived in those progressive years and was identified with that most active pathway.
Mary was one of the youngest in a family of nine children. When Mary was but seven years old her mother died and when she was nine her father died. These were poor people who made their living by the labor of their hands. They knew by experience the advantages of skill in doing common things and that the menial tasks of life are dignified by the art of doing them well. Mary Watkins was blessed with parental training for only a few years of her early childhood, but all through her long and fruitful life she recalled with satisfaction and gratitude the heritage she received from her parents, that of specialization in not only a matter of method but a knowledge that excellence always commands the highest respect.
When the children became orphans they went to live with relatives. The older ones were put out to work and the younger ones also as they became less tender. Mary went to live with her father's brother. In a few years, however, she was put into a good family of the "Gentle" class to work for her living. The children became scattered. They lost frequent contact with each other and each waged the struggle for existence practically alone. Mary forgot the exact month and day of her birth. Life was so full of stern realities there was no place for the celebration of more birthdays. She knew she was born in the Fall. She could easily have adopted any one of the Fall months and any one of the thirty days but she was honest. Like a scientist in true scientific spirit she concluded that there must not be a conclusion unless the facts justify it. So she went through life never knowing exactly when she was born.
In Breconshire where Mary Watkins lived there was a canal which accommodated small flat boats and these constituted the system of transportation for the community. While in the vicinity of this canal one day she saw a small child fall into the stream. She was some distance away so she ran with all the speed she could muster, spotted the child beneath the water, plunged in and dragged it safely to the bank of the canal. It appeared to be "gone" but a little first aid skillfully applied revived the child and it was soon alright again. This was the first life she saved. In her lifetime she saved many, especially in rescuing them from extreme and dangerous sickness. Indeed, it may very properly be said that one of her most outstanding services in the world was that of relieving the sick and distressed and that many besides the child in the canal were snatched from certain death by her skillful and timely service.
She has often paid respectful tribute to the family of "gentlefolk" in which she found a home. They were good to her, fair with her, concerned about her standards and morals and they saw that she was taught to work. The policy of these "gentle folk" was not to "work her hard" but to teach industry and skill. Mary learned to do everything in a household of plenty, to do everything economically and skillfully and above all to live and behave as gentlefolk should. Although she never went to school she acquired a skillful training which many never get though they go to school for years.
When she was about twenty-one years of age she married Benjamin Williams of Llanidloss, Montgomershire, North Wales. The exact date of the marriage is not known as whatever original papers and certificates there were have been lost in the long and hazardous travels of subsequent years. Benjamin Williams was born about 8 November 1823. This date is certain within a very few days. He was, therefore, about two years older than Mary. From the date of this marriage the life of Mary Watkins is so closely associated with that of her husband that it can scarcely be considered separate stories.
Benjamin Williams was a coal miner. Soon after he married Mary Watkins the two became thoroughly interested in the "land of the free and the home of the brave." Industrial opportunity seemed to be good in America. To remain in Wales with the prospect of forever being a coal miner was too forbidding. The new world held out a more promising future for ambitious people. They decided to immigrate to America in some way and take their changes there. Small savings were put together for many months and by the time they had been married two years there was enough in the home treasury to pay the transportation of one of them across the Atlantic. Work was said to be plentiful and wages good in America. Progress could be made there more rapidly then in Wales. They decided Benjamin would immigrate first and Mary would follow as soon as future savings made it possible. Consequently, Benjamin sailed from the British Isles bidding them goodbye on February 16, 1848. He landed in New York on 28 March, 1848 at the end of a voyage of six weeks.
His training as a coal miner, together with the Pennsylvania coal fields offered him immediate opportunity. He went to Pottsville and secured work. Wages were higher, savings accumulated more rapidly, and within ten months Mary was able to sail for America. She arrived in New York in December 1848 and quickly joined her husband in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, where they made their home for a little more than four years. Their first child, Mary Ann, who was born in Wales and came over with her mother, died in Pottsville.
The Williams family lived in one part of a house in Pottsville and another family lived in the other part of the same house. Mary soon became acquainted with their neighbors and she found them to be very good people. The habits of these new neighbors were very much above the ordinary and the family worship, to which they were accustomed, was something unusual and beautiful. Mary spoke of it many times to her husband, Benjamin, who was away at work so much of the time and had not had the opportunity of acquaintance. Several times by listening carefully they heard these neighbors at prayer in an adjoining room. Acquaintance grew more intimate and friendship became stronger. Mary found her neighbors to be such good people and their religious habits so exemplary that she concluded they must belong to some very high class religion. One day she ventured to inquire of the woman herself and was told thy were Latter Day Saints, commonly known as "Mormons". The Williamses decided that such good "fruit" as this neighbors family was to her was a guarantee of the genuineness of Mormonism. Mary had been embittered against Mormons by agitators in Wales. Benjamin was suspicious about this "good" family which he did not know as well as Mary knew them. His policy was to leave them alone. Her policy was further investigation.
Following visits from Mormon Elders and invitations to attend Latter Day Saint services, Mary spent her Sundays in further investigating Mormonism. Benjamin at first was opposed to his wife's interest in Mormonism and usually spent a portion of his Sundays in getting together with gangs of working men in places where they could indulge their merry and sometimes rough behavior. Generally there was boxing and wrestling that often turned into nothing less than fighting. Everyone was supposed to take his turn when it came his way and one day Benjamin was forced into a "turn" from which he got such a severe and abusive whipping that he decided to quit the gang and go with his wife to church.
A few times at the religious services of the Latter Day Saints helped to open his eyes and he, as well as his wife, became enthusiastic converts to the church before they had been in Pennsylvania a year. They joined the church in 1849. Mary was baptized some weeks before her husband by Thomas Davis and Benjamin later by Thomas Richards. This can well illustrate the results of Latter Day Saints living exemplary lives before all men. It was this more than argument that brought the Williams folks into the church.
A few times at the religious services of the Latter Day Saints helped to open his eyes and he, as well as his wife, became enthusiastic converts to the church before they had been in Pennsylvania a year. They joined the church in 1849. Mary was baptized some weeks before her husband by Thomas Davis and Benjamin later by Thomas Richards. This can well illustrate the results of Latter Day Saints living exemplary lives before all men. It was this more than argument that brought the Williams folks into the church.
Important events were transpiring rapidly. Married in Wales about 1846, comfortably settled in Pennsylvania in 1848, converted to the church in 1849, they began planning to gather with the saints in Salt Lake Valley. They knew how to save and accumulate so they went to work for the next great event. In less than four years they were ready for the long journey. They left Pottsville on the 17th of February, 1853. They went by train from Pottsville to Harrisburg and then across Pennsylvania to the Ohio River. They sailed on a river boat down the Ohio and up the Mississippi and Missouri to Winter Quarters. At Harrisburg they met with a very great and unfortunate loss. It seems that when they left the train it was necessary for all travelers to identify and claim their own baggage. Brother Williams saw his baggage after it was unloaded from the train but being engaged in something else he delayed for a time going to the baggage room to claim his property. When he did finally go his baggage was gone. Someone else had claimed and taken it away. Rolls of bedding, bundles including numerous articles of clothing and useful things for a home far away in a wilderness were all gone.
These were the very things they had been accumulating for several years in preparation for the journey and now almost the whole savings were gone. All they had left were the few things carried with them in one or two hand satchels in the coach. They could just as well have taken their journey two years before. Mary came near giving up. The loss was so great to her. She felt so badly that she was actually sick. There were many sympathizing friends to give comfort and offer assistance and the Elders administered to her and gave her such a good blessing that she regained courage and they went on. After they reached Salt Lake City, that is a year or two after they had sustained that very important loss, one of Mary's friends identified some of her lost baggage being worn by someone in Salt Lake City. She felt sure in her own mind but in as much as she could see infinitesimal possibility of being mistaken, she never made a claim. Her behavior in this regard reveals one very fine trait in her character. She would rather suffer great wrong than make a wrongful accusation against another.
They crossed the plains with the Thomas Davis family. Mariner W. Merrill, who afterwards became an apostle in the church, was in the same company.
Brother Williams drove an ox team for his passage and Sister Williams did camp cooking for her passage and the passage of their little daughter, Mary, two years old. Benjamin and Mary walked nearly the whole distance. It was a long and tiresome journey but their company was well organized and well managed so that there were no serious accidents or incidents during the whole trip. They arrived in Salt Lake City on September 12, 1853, after a constant march of nearly seven months.
A short time after arriving in Salt Lake City they moved to Farmington where they made their home for six years. They acquired property on the south side of Farmington Creek between the present location of the Bamberger and Oregon Short Line Railroad tracks. They built a comfortable one-room log house on the north side of the street which leads west from the city to the Short Line depot. For culinary purposes they carried water from the creek.
While they were living in Farmington there were a number of incidents that occurred which are still interesting. One year food became very scarce. For a while it looked as if many people would starve and many actually did go hungry much of the time. Grasshoppers and crickets had been so numerous that the crop loss was very great. There was not enough grain raised to sustain life on a proper basis. Everyone was under rations and everything possible was being done to make what little grain there was last until another crop. Mary's family was so nearly destitute for food when the first harvest did occur that even one more day would have been serious. As their last sack of flour was being used day by day Sister Williams took out a small pan of flour from the sack and divided it with her neighbors.
The first harvest of the new crop in her vicinity was a field. She went to this field, gained permission to glean after the men were through harvesting, took her gleaning home and threshed out a pan of barley by hand, ground it in a coffee mill and made bread. While this was going on they were all hungry and bread never tasted better. This barley bread made that year by Sister Williams was probably the first bread made that year in Farmington from the new crop.
Another incident or set of incidents of interest and of importance was the Echo Canyon War. This called for a great deal of guard duty to which Benjamin was called repeatedly. In order to sustain and support him in this work Mary made soap and sold it to the neighbors who were not as expert as she. She made a great quantity of the soap that went to the Salmon River Mission. She also made crackers for which she has left a recipe. She would take one pound of butter, ten pounds of flour, sufficient salt and seasoning if desired and mixed these together with water or other moisture. Excellent crackers resulted from expert mixing and this process is one and difficult. It is necessary to use an ax or some other heavy instrument to found the folds of dough together before the process is completed. Finally, the dough is pounded out flat, cut in small squares and baked. The crackers keep well, in fact the longer they are kept the better they get. Her crackers were very excellent. She would make seamless sacks full of them at a time in preparation for the well-known "thirty days". There may be better crackers made today but probably not with the limited facilities and materials and not for the purposes served at that time.
It was while they were living at Farmington that the move South occurred. Mary had a good supply of soap and crackers and other necessary things for this event. They had acquired a farm wagon and this was drawn by an ox and the family cow. They took everything useful out of their one-room house and filled it full of hay. They had been instructed to leave their homes so that they could be quickly "fired" in case the threatened invasion of hostile army should make it necessary. In case they could return to their homes again the hay would serve a useful purpose. Their move was to the Payson bottoms at the south end of Utah Lake. As it was well known, the threatened invasion did not turn out to be the terrible crisis expected and the Williams Folks and their neighbors soon came back to Farmington.
When they were just ready to leave Farmington on the move South an accident happened to their little daughter, Mary that might have been fatal to her had it not been for the healing power of the priesthood through faith. The child attempted to leap from the wagon alone for some little thing that seemed important to her and fell beneath the wheels. One wheel of the wagon passed over her legs and another passed over her head. Sister Williams was ill in a bed in the wagon with a baby and did not see the accident but heard something fall to the ground and felt the wagon pass over something. She called to her husband to investigate. When Brother Williams saw what had happened and saw the child lying as if dead on the ground the shock was so great to him that he fainted. Friends gathered quickly and came to the rescue. Elders immediately laid hands on the child, exercised the power of the priesthood and in a remarkably short time the child regained normal health and not a serious thing had happened to her. This gave them assurance that, although sorrows and hardships came their way at times, the Almighty was kind to them and always sustained them when they were in trouble.
In the early Spring of 1859 they moved to Cache Valley. Wellsville, first known as Maughan's Fort, had been settled the all before and by spring seemed pretty well taken up so they were among the very first company to come to Logan. A town site was quickly laid out and the Williams family settled in and built a house on the block where the Thatcher Bank now stands. After some scouting had been done, it was planned that Logan settlers would raise their crops at Summit, now Smithfield, and build their houses at Logan. Water for irrigation could be more easily diverted from the natural channels at Smithfield and crops would not need to be fenced to protect them from the livestock that would be kept at Logan.
Soon things looked fearful. It looked like war more than Peace. The Indians seemed excited and ready for trouble. Presently the Indian Chief from the north side of the river came wading across to the south side and aired his grievances at the white man's trespasses and wanted to know what the white man's plans were. Israel Clark had been in the Salmon River Mission event and understood the Indian language. He acted as spokesman. The Indians had learned what the white man's bread was and they were very fond of it. This fact was made the basis of the negotiations. They were shown that the coming of the white man would be a good thing for them. They could swap buckskin for bread. As soon as the proposition was thoroughly understood, the chief waded back across the river to the north side and conveyed the proposition to his comrades. There was opposition and careful consideration. Sometimes the cause seemed lost and again it seemed more promising. Finally the chief came wading back to the south side of the river with information to the effect that the proposition was agreeable.
Even though the first settlers of Logan had a good understanding with the Indians, the natives were not to be trusted too far. Many of them found it very difficult to keep their distance from the settlers and annoyed them a great deal. Often times while the white men were at work in the fields or away in the canyons for building timber the Indians would sneak up to the camps where woman and children were alone and annoy them for food. No violence ever happened as far as the Williams folks and the Indians were concerned, which is probably evidence that the natives never intended their annoyance and their begging to cause the fear that it really did. To protect themselves from possible violence and in the interest of safety, the settlers kept pretty close together, kept their guns and ammunition ready for any emergency. They did their work very much together, lived in their wagons until their houses were built, all went to the farms and fields at Smithfield together and returned to Logan together so that they nearly always were completely mobilized. Threats actually did occur at times and on occasion it was necessary for the settlers to make all haste in moving into Maughan's Fort at Wellsville for protection. Sister Williams recalled with interest during her later life a few times when in the dead of night they were all called hastily for immediate flight to Maughan's Fort from their fields in Summit.
By Fall of 1859 there were several houses in Logan, the Williams house being one of the first if not actually the first one to be lived in. Their mansion was a one-room log structure with dirt, roof, braided willow door, factory windows, a fireplace and a straw floor. Sister Williams says the willow door did not fit very well and that Indians used to come up to her house and look in at the family through the gap over the door. Before the first winter actually set in the willow door was replaced by a lumber door and the factory windows were replaced by glass, but people actually occupied their houses before they even had factory windows or willow doors. There were only open spaces where windows and doors were to be. When this was the case, Indians availed themselves of the opportunity very often of using these open spaces for peering into the houses for long periods of time, sometimes for hours. It may have been human curiosity or primitive astonishment at the marvelous works of man before their eyes or even sometimes savage greed that compelled them. Indeed, if they saw a loaf of bread or some enticing morsel of food laying on the table, they would simply walk right in and take it. All this occasioned great fear on the part of women and children and kept all the men ever on alert. It was a great relief to have glass windows to shut out the cold and lumber doors that could lock and keep unwelcome callers on the outside. Sister Williams found a great natural resource in Logan all along the river and all over that section known as Logan Island and through the willows everywhere. There was prolific growth of hops. Hops found a ready market in those days as they do now. Sister Williams gathered and sold many a bale in the early days and received in exchange all kinds of merchandise necessary in the household.
Within a very few years after the first settlement of Logan there were several thousand people in Cache Valley and Logan was a thriving little city. Brother Williams was allotted some acreage if choice land northwest of Logan, according to the old plan of allotment used so successfully by the church in colonizing the country. The original allotment of land made to the Williams folks was kept by them in clear title as long as they lived. Great credit for this excellent record is due to Brother and Sister Williams for their great industry and their very commendable thrift.
In the early sixties (1860's) they disposed of their property on the Thatcher Bank block and in the trade acquired an excellent one acre lot in the third ward, the northeast corner at third north and fourth west. This lot was also kept all their days in clear title as well as in production and attractive condition. It should be said here too that every foot of their fields was a model of good husbandry as long as they lived. Brother and Sister Williams were so contended and happy and so satisfied with their home and farm in the mountains of Zion among the saints that as long as the years rolled on they were often heard to say in their beautiful Welsh dialect,
"I 'ouldn't give our little home and our little farm for the whole wor-r-ld."
Brother Williams used his homestead right when the proper time came by taking up a grazing homestead in the foothills at Black Rock, northwest of Petersboro about two miles south of Cache Junction. This homestead was in the main a resource of Sister Williams. There were no sons that grew up in the family to assist Brother Williams in the operations of the farm but there were six fine healthy daughters. Dairying was woman's industry in the earlier days of Utah and with these find daughters for expert help and this homestead in the hills, Sister Williams saw a promising dairy industry. For many years they carried on a small but most successful dairy. Not having but a few dozen mild cows of their own, they would lease milk cows of other people for the summer months and pay for their use in butter and cheese. She was most expert in the manufacture of these two articles and never found it necessary to leave her own home to find a ready market. Life-long customers have said many times that nowhere else could butter and cheese be obtained that could compare in excellence with hers. In order to prevent any waste in the industry all unused materials from the dairy were fed to hogs and in the late fall or very early winter they always had a good number of these to supplement the regular income. A skillful butcher was always employed to dress the hogs and Sister Williams took care of the curing herself. The skill with which she could cure hams and bacon, make sausage and head cheese, rendered lard and put to use every morsel of the carcass was something phenomenal and something which the most modern packing plant could envy. There was not a thing wasted. In the final operations of curing meat unusable portions were very expertly made into soap. For all these articles she found a ready market without any effort. She never had enough to supply the demand of the many people who would come to her home to buy. Her dairy industry demonstrates one of her useful places in pioneering activities.
She was very skillful in making up wool, another of her gifts as a pioneer woman. In the cleansing and carding operation she could not be excelled in managing the spinning of yarn and making up cloth. She taught these crafts to her daughters who also became expert and the family did much custom work in textiles to help the pioneer community as well as themselves.
Notwithstanding her great usefulness as an industrial expert in a pioneer community, her most useful serves were to the mothers. She learned faithfully the art of midwife when she was a mature young woman in Wales. She went out with doctors many times while she was learning. She observed the proper methods of assistance, helped the doctors under whose instruction she was learning and in numerous instances took full charge of cases herself under the observance of doctors. She became very skillful and very thorough. The exalted importance of the expert midwife in the pioneer community has probably not yet been fully stated and no one could overestimate the enormous good Sister Williams did in this most important service. She took numerous mothers through the "dark valley" as the terrifying experience has been so often called and brought hundreds of little ones safely into the world and nursed them to recovery with the skill of the best of trained nurses. Many of her friends have seen her hurrying along to this service and generally have observed tha she carried some articles of food or clothing to help her cases along. The meager charges she made were scarcely noticeable.
Bishop Anthon Anderson, a man of wide experience in the church, speaking at her funeral service, said she had done more for her sex than anyone else he knew. Her home discipline was most successful. She insisted on uncovering honesty and obedience, making sure always that her demands were fair and reasonable. As a member of the church she was loyal and faithful. As one in the community she was unusually loved for her charity in spiritual as well as in material things. Her code of ethics and her working regulations were the gospel of Jesus Christ. On this "rock" she planted her feet firmly and never once surrendered her position. Probably the first word to properly describe her would be "justice" and following these in quick succession would be "kindness, industry and skill" and then "great and useful in the world" come to mind.
Following are the children born to Brother and Sister Williams:
Mary Ann 17 July 1848 Wales July, 1950, Pottsville
Ann 21 July 1850 Pottsville 20 Sept 1850
Mary 16 May 1852 Pottsville
Rebecca 16 May 1854 Pottsville
Joseph and Hyrum 4 April 1857 Farmington Died the same day
Jarriett 7 May 1858 Salt Lake
Sarah Jane 2 June 1860 Logan
David Benjamin April 1962 Logan Died when 9 months old
Martha 8 May 1864 Logan
Emma Rachel 14 Sep 1867 Logan
The above names without death dates were all still alive in 1933 when this history was written. They have all passed away now this history is recopied in 2007.
The children who died passed away in infancy. The others all lived long and constitute worthy fruit of a worthy tree. These living children now aged or closely approaching old age, look back in love and reverence upon their honorable parentage, live sweet and beautiful lives and bless all whose lives they touch. They are all mothers of many find children and grand-mothers and great grandmothers of many many more. If Brother and Sister Williams could see them and it may be they can, their hearts would be full of gladness to know that the hearts of all this posterity are lovingly turned to them and every one blesses them for their courageous acceptance of the call of the Master and their violent struggle to so noble an end. All their posterity are honorable, free and prosperous people. Had it not been for the courageous move made by young Benjamin Williams and his young wife, Mary Watkins, all those people might now be coal miners in Wales or servants in the house of "gentlefolks".
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