James, Thomas (Aug 10, 1818 – Nov 6, 1877)

A HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF, THOMAS JAMES.

Thomas James was born on the 10 Aug. 1818 in Pembroke, Wales.  He
was the son of John James and Mrs. Ann James of Pembroke, Wales. 
At the age of twenty-four he married Miss Sarah Vaughn,on [sic] the 15
March 1842 in South Wales, She [sic] was born in 1820 in Wallis, Wales.
She was the Mother of six children, one Daughter [sic] Mary and five
sons,- [sic] John, William, James, Thomas, and Henry.

On the 3 March 1855, a great sadness came to the family as the dear
wife and mother was called to leave this life and go to the great
beyond.  The work of careing [sic] for the home and the children
fell upon Mary who was only 12 at the time.
Then about 1859 he married Jane Phillips who became the mother of four
children , [sic] Polly, George James, Ann, and William Phillips. on
[sic] the 15 or 17 Feb. 1865 she died leaving the family again in the
care of the father. Thomas James,and [sic] the daughter Mary.  It
was in the fifties that he heard the gospel preached and was baptized
into the church.

After his baptism he did much missionary work with the Elders and the
local brot�hern, One [sic] of which was Thomas John.  He also
presided when the Elders were not there.  His home was
headquarters for the Elders who came to that village, His [sic]
vocation was that of a Brush Maker, he was a very kind and helpful man
and had a very pleasing personality, therefore he had many friends,
many were the meetings that were held in this home.

He had to put up with much opposition because of his friendly attitude
toward the Elders, He [sic] was holding a meeting in his home once when
a mob came and threw rocks through the windows doing much damage and
making a great mess, the rocks were thrown at the Elders who were there
preaching.

He was very industrous [sic] and took much pride in his home and garden
and orchard,  It [sic] was in June 1876, that he with his daughter
Mary and her two daughters, Emma and Annie left Wales and sailed for
the United States in the ship called [No name given] they then took the
train for Salt Lake City, and arrived there on the 23 July 1876.

From Salt Lake City, they came to Portage, B-Eldr, Utah,as Malad Valley
was the place where most of the Welch people had gathered so that they
might be together, As [sic] he and Thomas John were good old friends
they met again and enjoyed each others comp�any for about a year when
he, Thomas James took sick and on 6 November 1877 he passed on to meet
and be with his beloved wives and children many of whom had died years
before, What [sic] a happy meeting it would be when he could explain
the beauties of the Celestical [sic] covenants of the gospel and how it
would be done for them by his decend�ants. [sic]  He was buried in
the Portage Cemetery, BoxElder [sic] County, Utah.