Further Finds on the Watkins Line

The family history work is picking up on the William Watkins line, and I have begun to find out more about our family and get another generation back.  William's parents, Thomas Watkins and Christiana Walters, joined the LDS Church in Wales and were baptized there in 1848.  It wasn't until 1866 that they were able to come to America aboard the John Bright.  They arrived in Utah in 1868.  I looked up records from the Endowment House, where they received their endowments on 24 Nov 1868, 20 years after their baptisms.  They were then sealed to each other on 5 Jan 1869.  The most important information included in these records is their dates and places of birth, and the names of their parents.  Thomas Watkins was born 25 Aug 1808 in Talgarth, Breconshire, Wales to Walter & Margaret Watkins (unfortunately, his mother's maiden name is not given).  Christiana Walters was born 1802 in Llanbedr, Breconshire, Wales to William Walters & Mary Powell.  I was then able to look up parish records on microfilm for Llanbedr.  Christiana was christened 19 Mar 1803.  Her father, William, was a farmer.  He and his wife, Mary, had 7 children, Christiana being the third oldest. 

Christiana married Thomas in the same parish where she was christened on 14 May 1828.  They also had 7 children, William Watkins being the third oldest.  I found Thomas and Christiana in the 1861 Wales census for Llanelly, Breconshire, Wales.  Thomas' occupation is "Huckster & Seeds Man."  So he was probably a peddler who sold seeds.  The 1841 census listed him as a miner, and the 1851 census listed him as a laborer.  It would be interesting to know if he chose to give up mining, or if his joining the Church had anything to do with it.  There was a lot of prejudice towards members of the Church everywhere in those days.  The 1861 census lists Thomas Jr., 21, as a seed huckster too.  Also living in the home are two of their daughters, Ann (their youngest child), and Margaret (their second oldest).  Margaret is married with the last name of Pierce, and has 3 children as well. 

I was intrigued as to what happened to Margaret, since I know she didn't come to Utah.  She was about 17 when her parents were baptized into the LDS Church, and her name never appeared on any of the LDS branch records in Wales.  I began to research her life, now that I knew her married surname, and discovered that she and her 3 children sailed to New York in May 1861, just a few months after they were recorded in the Welsh census.  If they hadn't been recorded in her parents' household, I'm sure I would never have known what happened to them, or at least it would have taken much longer to figure out.  Margaret and her 3 children, Christiana ("Ann"), Elizabeth, and David, joined her husband, Richard Pierce, in Pennsylvania, where he had taken up work as a miner.  They went on to have 3 other children, Mary, Richard, and Maggy, according to Pennsylvania censuses.  Margaret's oldest daughter, Christiana, had 19 children with her husband, Thomas Farr.  Technically, the last one was adopted, but still, that's pretty amazing.  

Pretty much all of the men in these families were coal miners there in Lackawanna and Susquehanna counties in the northeastern part of Pennsylvania.  It was certainly not an easy life.  A recent episode of "Who Do You Think You Are?" with Jason Sudeikis illustrates this.  His ancestor worked in a Pennsylvania mine, and was killed in an explosion there.  The first 2 minutes kind of give you a good idea of the hazards of the job.  Warning: He gets bleeped out at the end (around the third minute, so you can stop watching at minute 2:00 if you like).  I tried to find an edited version, but could not.  Anyway the last minute of the clip is just about his own family, but the first 2 minutes are very informative in a general sense.  If you like, you can watch the clip here.  When you have Welsh ancestors, it's pretty likely that some of them will be involved in coal mining.  William Watkins was listed as a miner on the passenger list of the ship he immigrated on.  And of course his father was a miner too, as were his nephews and their children.  I will continue to research this family, and hope to find out what happened to William's other siblings.  Hopefully more information to come at a later date.