Jane Ann Coles (pt2) Married Life in Wales

Jane Ann Coles Evans

Getting Married

    When we last spoke of Jane Ann Coles, her parents had sent her to be a domestic servant in Clifton, Bristol, England. Jane was there for 1 year when Thomas Evans asked for Jane's father for her address and wrote to her. She made an early trip home in September 1875 and it was then that Jane Ann Coles and Thomas Evans "agreed to be partners for life"[1]. From the marriage certificate of Thomas and Jane we learn that they were married on June 3rd of 1876 at the parish church of Eglwysilan, County of Glamorgan.

A fragment of Thomas Evans and Jane Ann Coles Marriage Certificate

Parish church at Eglwysilan where Jane & Thomas were married

    From the Marriage Certificate we learn that Jane's Father had changed from being a coal miner when she was born to being a manager. On 14 March of 1877 Jane's first child, William, was born. In the biography of Thomas Evans it stated that Jane and Thomas attended one of the large Protestant churches of Wales in Pontypridd. Then one Sunday night in 1878, during a church meeting, the commotion of the meeting scared their baby (William) and he started crying. Jane tried to take the baby out to calm him and she could not get out of the building because the doors were locked. She never went back to that church.

Conversion and Life as a "Latter Day Saint"

    In a testimony that Thomas wrote he described that "The following day I returned to the mine and was introduced to my new work mate, Mr. Robert Bishop, who told me that he was a Latter-day Saint. I told him what had occurred the night before, and he said, Why don't you come to our meeting house? It is down the road below the mine along the right side of the highway."[3] Thomas told Jane about this and they accepted the invitation. They walked the mile to church on Sunday at 2 and Thursday night at 7:30. According to Jane's Baptismal Certificate she was baptized 31 Nov 1880. Thomas did not get baptized until Oct of 1881.

Jane Ann Evans Baptism/Confirmation Certificate

    Jane and her family lived in Wales until 1892 when they emigrated to Utah. So for the next 11 years they worked to build up the church through missionary work. During their time in Wales after converting to the Latter Day Saints church Jane's husband Thomas spent a lot of time with the missionaries visiting and teaching in the area. This would put an extra burden on Jane. Thomas worked in the mines during the day. When he got home the effort of preparing the daily bath and daily clothes washing began followed by supper. Then Thomas would go out with the missionaries. In 1886 Thomas was set apart as the Pontypridd Branch President and this meant he spent even less time at home. By 1886 There were 5 children at home: William(9), John(7), Thomas Henry(4), Sylvia(2) and Mary Ellen(0).

Merthyr Conference House in the 1930s

    In 1888 the family was asked to move to the Merthyr Conference House. This was a large house at 98 Twynyrodyn Street in Merthyr Tydfil where the missionaries of the Merthyr district stayed. The duties which were the responsibility of the Evans family was to keep house for the missionaries. This included cooking meals for the missionaries and doing their laundry. These responsibilities would have fallen directly on Jane Ann. One benefit of living here was that the church meetings were held there so attending church was easier and according to Thomas "The meetings were always a source of inspiration to us."[1]

The Cefn Coed Cemetary

    While Thomas and Jane and family were living in the Merthyr Conference House, Joseph was born (18 Sep 1889). The baby became ill at the age of nine months, and all of the faith, prayers and administrations were of no avail. On the 27th of Jul 1890 Joseph died. He was just 11 months old. During this time Jane was sick with Rheumatic Fever and could not move for 3 or 4 weeks. A private funeral was held and the little coffin was carried by Thomas and 3 elders to the Cefn Coed cemetery in the unconsecrated ground part of the cemetery. The grave is on a beautifully situated hillside overlooking the Taft River. The plot is US 1/4 (Lower Uncon) in case anyone is going to Wales and wants to find it. In 1938 Richard P. Evans found the grave and the small slab of stone that marked the grave.

Burial Board Certificate for the 9 month old son of Thomas and Jane Ann Evans

     A few years after Jane Ann married Thomas Evans, I do not have the exact year[6], Jane Ann's mother Mary Hodges Coles died leaving Jane Ann's father alone. Jane Ann and her children would go to see her father who lived in a stone cottage in an area called the Darren Ddu on Saturdays when the children were out of school. The hike up to the cottage was a steep climb up a road that even cars have a hard time driving up. Jane Ann was already showing symptoms of the heart and circulatory troubles that would bring her life to an untimely end and leave her husband alone and her children motherless for 40 years... "She would walk up that hill and stop every few steps to rest, dragging one child and carrying another." At the gate she would sit and rest on a flat stone for several minutes to get her breath before rising to open the gate and go along the flagstone walk to the front door of the house. Darren Ddu is where Jane Ann's father lived and the children loved to visit their Grandfather Cole.[1]

The Old Farmhouse at Darren Ddu in 1939

The road up the Darren Ddu in 1939

    After Thomas and Jane Ann's conversion there was always persecution from the people they encountered. In a biography of Thomas and Jane's oldest child, William Evans, the following statement is made, Persecution followed, embroiling not only the parents but also Will and his three brothers and two sisters. Townspeople railed against the family and their newfound faith. Thomas wrote, “Wherever we went, the children were egged on by their parents to shout, ‘Old Saints of the Devil go to Salt Lake.’” It even cost Will his front tooth in a scrap with some neighborhood boys.[7]
Experiences like this and encouragement from their leaders convinced the Evans family to begin preparations to emigrate to Zion.

Other Posts on Jane Ann Coles
    Jane Ann Coles (pt1) The Early Years

Sources/Notes:
1. A Biography of Thomas Evans by Richard P. Evans (1973)
2. Certified Copy of Marriage Certificate from UK General Register Office, in possession of David Carl Slade
3. My Testimony of the True Gospel by Elder Thomas Evans, Dated December 1938.
4. Baptismal Certificate of Jane Ann Evans, from Biography of Thomas Evans.
5. List of Passengers is from the Statue of Liberty - Ellis Island foundation website http://www.ellisisland.org/
6. It is documented in new.familysearch.org as 1866 but in Thomas Evans Biography he speaks as though Jane Ann's mother was still alive when Thomas was courting Jane Ann.
7. Will Evans, USU Press, Along Navajo Trails: Recollections of a Trader, 1898-1948, pg 11.
Pictures:
Eglysilan Church picture from eglwysilanparish.btck.co.uk/
Mission Home picture from Welsh Mormon History website athttp://welshmormon.byu.edu/Immigrant_View.aspx?id=3451
Passenger Ship Nevada picture from www.immigrantships.net/v2/1800v2/wyoming18720422_1.html
Pictures of Darren Ddu from Welsh Mormon History website at http://welshmormon.byu.edu/Immigrant_View.aspx?id=3451