USA > Iowa > Howard County > Lime Springs > History of the Welsh in Minnesota, Foreston and Lime Springs, Ia. gathered by the old settlers > Part 19
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W. W. Davis, SOUTH BEND, MINN.
R. J. Thomas, LATE OF MANKATO, MINN.
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Isaac Cheshire, LATE OF MANKATO, MINN.
H. H. Jones, JUDSON, MINN.
PROMINENT MUSICIANS OF BLUE EARTH COUNTY, MINN.
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ber of years. He was one of the charter members and first deacons of South Bend Congregational church and for many years superintendent of its Sabbath school. Has been a prom- inent singer and was a member of the famous Cambrian quar- tette.
DAVIS, JR., WILLIAM W.Born at South Bend, Minn .. May 13th, 1862. Son of W. W. Davis of that place. Edu- cated at the Mankato public schools. For the past ten years has been bookkeeper for the R. D. Hubbard Milling Company. Hle is also director and treasurer of the Mankato Savings Bank. For the past eight years has been an elder in the First Presbyterian church of Mankato. June 28th, 1893, he mar- ried Emma II., daughter of Hon. E. G. M. Fletcher, of Man- kato. Faithful and honest, Mr. Davis has won high regard in business and religious circles.
EDWARDS, REV. DAVID-Rev. David Edwards, present pastor of Lake Crystal, Jerusalem and Salem C. M. ( Welsh Presbyterian ) churches. He was born in 1861 at Bangor, a city of Caernarvonshire, Wales, at head of Beaumaris' Bay, and in the midst of a romantic valley. The first years of his life were spent at home and in attendance at the British and Grammar schools. In the year 1877 he left home and was em- ployed as a clerk in a woolen warehouse at Liverpool, Eng- land, where he stayed for three years. In 1880 he left Liver- pool and entered a private grammar school at Oswestry, in Shropshire, and during his stay there was admitted as a reg- ular member of the Presbytery in 1882. After attending col- lege for five years more, he sailed from his native shores, an- ticipating a stay of four months in the United States. The climate, however, proving greatly beneficial to his health, was a great inducement for him to remain here. He took charge of the Welsh Presbyterian churches in Nebraska and Denver, Col., but in February, 1893, moved to Lake Crystal, Minn., and became the pastor of the three Welsh churches first men- tioned. Mr. Edwards married December, 1888, Lizzie, daugh- ter of the late John S. Jones, Blue Springs, Neb.
EDWARDS, HUGH-Born at Dolgelly, Merionethshire, Wales, in 1810. Married Miss Elizabeth Evans, at Dolgelly, in 1840 and the two came to the United States soon after their marriage and located in Remsen, N. Y. In the spring of 1847 they moved to Racine, Wis., and thence in the following year to Emnet, Wis. In June, 1855, they came to Judson, Blue Earth County, Minn., where Mr. Edwards died, August 27,
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1872. He was honest, industrious and religious. He was a deacon of the Congregational Church at Emmet, Wis., and with the Welsh Wesleyan Church at South Bend. His chil- dren are: Hugh II. Edwards, John Edwards and Daniel Ed- wards, of Judson, Min., and Mrs. Margaret Roberts, de- ceased. .
EDWARDS, HUGH HI. Born at Remsen, N. Y., February 25th, 1842. Son of Hugh Edwards above mentioned. He re- ceived a good common school education. Came with his par- ents to Judson, Minn., in June, 1855. February 25th, 1863, married Miss Ann Roberts, daughter of John R. and Amy Roberts (St. Charles). In December, 1863, he enlisted in Company E, Second Minnesota Cavalry, and served during the war in the Indian campaign on the frontier. July, 1873, he was appointed mail agent on C., St. P., M. & O. railway, which position he held until August, 1886. In 1888 he was elected county commissioner of Blue Earth County, which of- fice he held for four years. Possessed of great energy, deter- mination and industry he has always been one of the principal leaders in every public and private enterprise in the commun- ity. His children are John, Daniel, Lizzie and Ama.
EDWARDS, JAMES -Born April 2d. 1840, at Pittsburg, Pa. Son of James and Margaret Edwards, late of Cambria, Minn. Came with his parents to La Crosse, Wis., in 1855, and thence to Cambria, Minn., in July. 1857. November 5th, 1861, he en- listed in Company B, Brackett's Battalion, Minnesota Cavalry. Took part in the following battles: Fort Donaldson, Pitts- burg Landing, Corinth, and many campaigns and raids in Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri and Mississippi, About Jan- uary 1st, 1864, re-enlisted in the same company and his com- mand was assigned to duty against the hostile Sioux on the northwestern frontier. While "Jim," as he was familiarly known, was fighting rebels on southern fields, his father was killed by the Indians in their attack on Butternut Valley Sep- tember 10th, 1862, and when he received the letter from home telling of the murder he swore that some day he would avenge his blood. On July 28th, 1864, was fought the battle of Ta- ha-konty on the edge of the Bad Lands of Dakota, 2,200 whites against 6,000 Indians. Jim's day of vengeance bad come and he went into the thickest of the fight. Seeing a dismounted Indian a little way off, separated from the main body, he broke from the ranks and made for the Indian, shout- ing "Now is the time for vengeance!" Half a dozen mounted
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Indians seeing their comrade's peril rushed to his aid and as many soldiers sped to Jim's help. Jim fired his revolver at the Indian and missed. The dusky warrior had reserved his fire and now thought he had the pale face, and turning suddenly and taking good aim with his gun at short range fired. Quick as a flash Jim jerked the bridle so as to elevate his horse's head just in time to receive the fatal bullet intended for his brain. The horse spun round-the Indian clubbed his gun and struck at Jim who parried the blow with one arm, while he quickly drew his saber with the other hand and with one stroke severed the Indian's head. Both armies had paused a moment to witness this single combat and Jim was the hero of the hour. The Indians seeing their champion fall beat a hasty retreat, while the white soldiers urged the pursuit with new vigor. Jim removed the saddle and bridal from his dead horse and took the Indian's gun, ammunition bag and mocca- sins as trophies, and being unable without a horse to join his comrades in the pursuit, he took up a position among the wounded to protect them from straggling savages, a number of whom he chased from the field with his revolver. Jim was at once promoted. After the war he resided in Cambria until 1870, when he went to Jackson, O., where he remained until 1891, when he again returned to his old home and there died September 30, 1892. Ile was as brave and efficient a soldier as any in the war.
EDWARD, JOHN-Farmer, born at Steuben, N. Y., Novem- ber 24, 1845. Removed to Racine, Wis., when two years old and thence to Emmet, Wis., and in June, 1855, he came to Blue Earth County, Minn. Enlisted August 18th, 1861, in Company E, Ninth Minnesota Volunteers, and served with his regiment in every march, skirmish and battle until the close of war. At the battle of Spanish Fort, near Mobile, he was wounded in the left knee. December, 1865, married Jane, daughter of John P. Jones, of Judson. Since the war he has lived on his farm in the town of Judson. His children are : Hugh, Thomas, Henry, David, William, George and Charles. EDWARDS, WILLIAM-Born November 17th, 1838, in Cardiganshire, Wales. Son of James and Margaret Edwards, late of Cambria, Minn. Came with his parents to Pittsburg. Pa., about 1840, thence in spring of 1855 to LaCrosse, Wis .. and thence in June, 1857, to Cambria, Minn., where he still resides. May 16th, 1861, he married Miss Margaret Davis. daughter of David P. Davis, then of Butternut Valley. In
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December, 1863, he enlisted in Company E, Second Minnesota Cavalry, and served until close of war. April 7, 1873, his wife died and in 1875 he married again. His second wife being Mrs. Elizabeth Daniels.
EDWARDS, WILLIAM R .- Born in Palmyra, Portage County, O., in 1840. At the age of nine years removed with his parents to Wisconsin, where they settled on a farm near Oshkosh. Here his boyhood days were spent until 1858, when he went to St. Louis, Mo., and attended the St. Louis Normal school, which was at that time in charge of his brother Rich- ard. There he remained until the war of the rebellion broke out, when he returned home. From that time on he attended Lawrence University at Appleton, Wis .. and taught school at Milwaukee, Wis., and Elpaso, Ill., until 1867, when he en- tered the State Normal University of Illinois, from which in- stitution he graduated in June, 1869. From that timeon until 1878 he followed the profession of teaching, for which he had specially qualified himself. The greater portion of the time he was principal of the Faribault ( Minn. ) public schools and of the Osage (Iowa) schools. In 1878 he began his career as a journalist and has ever since been engaged in editing and publishing a Republican paper. Though quite active in poli- tics, he was never an aspirant for office. He has always pre- ferred to work for his friends, rather than himself. The of- fice of county superintendent of schools of Lyon county be- coming vacant in 1888, the county commissioners unanimously elected him to fill the unexpired term. In the fall of that year at the general election he was elected to the office by a major- ity of 1,002 votes over all opposition. IIe was for two years a member of the Republican State Central Committee, and is at present editing and publishing the " Tracy Republican." In his religious belief Mr. Edwards is a Presbyterian, and has been an elder in that denomination for the past twelve years. His family consists of wife and five daughters. He has filled various honorary positions in his town, and is at present clerk of the Board of Education, secretary of the Tracy District Fair Association, president of the Board of Trade and Justice of the Peace.
ELLAS, ELLES E .- (Glan Dyff), born in 1844 at Aber Dyfi, Merionethshire, Wales. When six years old his mother died and he was brought up by his grandmother at Garnedd Llan- ddeiniolen. She was the mother of Rev. Robert Ellis of Ys- goldy, a well known Calvinistic Methodist minister. While
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Daniel M. Evans, LATE OF FARIBAULT, MINN.
Col. D. M. Evans, Ex-President Redfield College.
J. Fletcher Williams, Late Librarian of State Historical Society.
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Miss Margaret J. Evans, A. M. Lady Principal of Carlton College.
NOTED WELSH PEOPLE OF MINNESOTA,
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young, Ellis was learning the carpenter and joiner's trade at Aber Dyfi, he came in contact with Llewelyn Terog, Gwilym O Fon, Joan ap Hu Feddyg and others of the literati of Wales, who inspired him with a strong taste for Welsh litera- ture, especially poetry, and when quite young he won a num- ber of prizes at the Eisteddfodau of Aber Dyfi, Towyn, and Machynlleth. Emigrated to America in 1860 and lived for about two years with his father at Hydeville and Fairhaven, Vt. He then removed to Utica, N. Y., where he married. In the fall of 1864 moved to Blue Earth County, Minn., where he lived about ten years, mostly at Mankato. There he was very active in organizing the Welsh Church, whose services were held at his house for a long time, and also in starting literary societies. In 1874 moved to Lime Springs, Ia., where he lived - two years. There he lost his house and contents by fire. He then moved to Bloomington, Neb. for a year, thence to Red Cloud for two years, thence to Wymore for six years and thence to Beatrice, Neb., where he has resided the past four years engaged in publishing the Beatrice Tribune. Since leaving Lime Springs he has been an active member and cider of the Presbyterian church. He is a ready writer and has been a frequent contributor to Welsh and English periodicals, and is a good Welsh poet.
EVANS, DANIEL MORRIS-Born at Llandyfriog parish, Cardiganshire, Wales. Ile spent several years in Utica and New York Mills, N. Y. He took a prominent part in organ- izing the Congregational Church at the latter place, and was very efficient as a Sunday School worker and deacon. In 1855 he removed to Winona, Minn., and at once engaged in Chris- tian work in an Union Sunday School and soon after helped organize the Congregational Church there. He did excellent work during the revival there in 1856, as he had a very effec- tive may of approaching unconverted young men. The same year he was made deacon of the Winona Church and worked faithfully and contributed freely to its support. In 1858 he removed to a farm near St. Charles, Minn., where there had been no regular religious service as yet. He at once gathered all inclined to the Congregational polity and formed them into a church and got all to pledge to abstain from intoxicating liquors. This pledge at first worked against the church, but finally proved a means of success. During the nine years he lived near St. Charles no Sunday, summer or winter, was too stormy for Mr. Evans and his family to attend church, though
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he lived some distance from town. He also gathered a Sun- day School at a school house nearer home, where a church was afterwards organized. About 1867 he removed to a small village in the southern part of the state, where there was no Christian Church within six miles. He took measures to se- cure regular preaching, worked faithfully in prayer meeting and Sunday school and labored among the young people until within a year a church was organized and he and his family were seven of the charter members. That church grew and became a power for good in the country around. He next moved to Faribault, where he united with Plymouth Congre- gational Church and was soon chosen one of its deacons. His christian activity was highly beneficial to this church as he helped to start and maintain seven Sunday Schools in the out- lying districts. Every Sunday attended to one of these and was its superintendent, while his daughter, Sarah, had charge of another. For many years he taught the tailoring trade at the Deaf and Dumb Institute, at Faribault. He died at Fari- bault in December, 1878. He was a thoroughly good man, whose life was imminently useful in the master's service. His children have risen to places of great usefulness and honor. Two of them, Col. D. M. Evans and Miss M. J. Evans, A. M., are mentioned elsewhere in this volume.
REV. R. GWESEN JONES. D. D.
EVANS, HON. DAVID ( .- Born at Rhos-y-Glas-Coed in Meifod, Montgomeryshire, Wales in 1820. His father emi- grated to Palmyra, O., in 1835, and his mother with their two sons, D. C. and Rev. Meredith Evans, followed him in June, 1836. At the age of sixteen years left home to seek his for- tune. After a short stay at Palmyra, went to Cars' Run near Pomeroy, O., thence to Middlebury, O., thence in May, 1843, to Dodgeville, Wis., where he worked for a time in the coal mines. At Dodgeville in 1847 he married Mary, daughter of Thomas and Mary Herbert, of Palmyra, O., and in 1851 they moved to LaCrosse, Wis. (Then a small place called Prairie LaCrosse. ) There his wife died in July, 1852, and his two children also died, leaving him alone in the world. July 28th, 1853, he left LaCrosse for the Great Bend of the Minnesota, which he reached August 1st, 1853, and became one of the pro- prietors of South Bend, being the first Welshman to locate west of the Blue Earth. On May 5th, 1855, he married Jane, daughter of Thomas and Mary Morgan, of Palmyra, O. He was elected county commissioner in 1854, state senator in 1859,
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county treasurer in 1873, which last office he held for eight years. Mr. Evans is a man of much energy and ability, and is especially noted for his honesty and integrity of character.
EVANS, DAVID II. - Born at Glan Conway, Denbyshire, Wales, December, 1845. Emigrated to Cambria, Wis., in April, 1867, where he resided five years. Then spent a year in Colorado and returned to Wisconsin. July 4th, 1873, at Milwaukee, Wis., married Miss Hannah, daughter of John R. Jones, Oakland farm, near Cambria, Wis. Moved to Min- neapolis in February, 1879, and entered the employ of the Minneapolis Harvester Works Company, by whom he was pro- moted in 1884 to be superintendent of the Wood department. which position he still holds. When the company was changed to the Walter A. Wood Harvester Company and moved to St. Paul, Mr. Evans removed there also in Septem- ber, 1893. Mr. and Mrs. Evans were charter members of the Minneapolis Welsh church, but on removing to St. Paul, they and their two sons, Richard and David, united with the East Presbyterian church of that city.
EVANS, DAVID II. Born at Utica, N. Y., November Ist. 1852. In 1857 his parents moved to South Bend, Mint ... where his father, David D. Evans, now of Mankato, Minn., engaged in farming and blacksmithing. During the trying days of the great Sioux massacre, of 1862, his father was a member of the South Bend militia. He also served on the Board of County Commissioners of Blue Earth County from 1866 to 1868. Young Evans had to contend with the usual hardships and disadvantages of pioneer life, but his force of character triumphed over all difficulties. At the age of sixteen he went to Utica, N. Y., to complete his education and fit himself for business. On his return he first took a position in the hard- ware stores of L. L. Davies and G. Lullsdorff, of Mankato. In 1878 he moved to Tracy, Minn., where he engaged in the hardware and farm machinery business. By persevering, in- dustry and good management Mr. Evans made a success of this business and soon became the leading merchant there in this line. Close attention to private business, however, did not smother his public spirit, and questions of reform and public enterprise have always had in him a warm champion. In 1892 he was the nominee of the Prohibition party for State Treasurer. At the last ( 1894) State Convention of his party he was unanimously chosen chairman, and were it not for his positive refusal he would have been its nominee for Governor.
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Press of business also compelled him to decline a nomination for Congress, unanimously tendered him by the same party. In the spring of 1894 he was elected Mayor of of Tracy by a good majority on the Prohibition ticket, though the balance of the ticket was defeated by a vote of about two to one, thus showing the very high esteem in which Mr. Evans is held by his fellow townsmen. Mr. Evans was married February 25, 1880, to Miss Mary A. Evans, Denver, Col.
EVANS, COL. DAVID M .- Son of Daniel M. Evans. His infancy and early manhood were spent at his home at Evans' Mills, Jefferson County, N. Y. He was educated in Massa- chusetts and graduated at Williams college in the same class with President Garfield, and being also a collegemate of Sen- ators Ingalls, Plumb and Hitchcock. At the outbreak of the civil war he enlisted on the first call for troops at Watertown. . N. Y., as a private in the Thirty-fifth Regiment, New York Volunteers. He participated in every march, skirmish and battle in which the regiment was engaged with the army of the Potomac, and for gallant service was rapidly promoted. When mustered out after two years' active service Col. Evans had the regiment reorganized as cavalry and it served with the army of the James as the Twentieth N. Y. Cavalry. He had the honor of riding in at the head of our forces at Rich- mond and planted the old flag on the capitol. He was mus- tered out as colonel on July 31st, 1865. After the war he went to Philadelphia as the business manager of a new Meth- odist paper called then the " Methodist Home Journal," but now known as the "Standard." He was afterwards appointed to a position in the United States Mint, where for fifteen years he was one of, what might be called, two receiving tel- lers. All the bullion being receipted by him and paid for on his figures. On the election of Mr. Cleveland to the presi- dency Col. Evans resigned his position, not wishing to serve under a democratic administration, and went to Millbank, S. D., where he bought out the "News-Letter." a democratic paper and changed it to a republican journal under the name of "Index." In 1890 he sold the " Index " to a stock company and assumed editorial control of the " Aberdeen Daily News." He was a potent factor in moulding the institutions of the new state of South Dakota. He was largely instrumental .in organizing the Congregational church at Aberdeen, and the Congregational college at Redfield, S. D., of which he was af- terward made president, and of which he is now financial
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agent, with headquarters at Minneapolis, Minn. Col. Evans is a fine scholar, a good speaker, and a man of strong relig- ious and moral convictions, which he courageously and ag- gressively asserts.
EVANS, DAVID S .- Born at Rhayder, Breconshire, Wales, January 17, 1856. Parents were Evan and Elizabeth Evans, who emigrated to Beaver Dam, Wis., in August, 1856. Re- moved to Lowell, Wis., in the spring of 1858, where in July the father died. The family moved in the spring of 1859 to Columbus, Wis., and thence in October, 1866, to Butternut Valley, Minu., where they located on a farm. David attended school at Mankato for a time, and in 1878 became a clerk in the grocery store of R. J. Thomas, where he remained until, May, 1883, when he accepted the position of Deputy Postinas- ter at Mankato, under L. P. Hunt, Postmaster. In the fall of 1885 he resigned to accept a position in the Crockery store of M. K. Jones, at Mankato, where he continued two years. In September, 1887, he became traveling salesman for the Stand- ard Fiber Ware Company, which position he still holds. Sep- tember 10, 1890, married Miss Jonna A. Dunn.
EVANS, EDWARD-Born in 1801, near Llanrhaider-yn- Mochnant, Montgomeryshire, Wales. Oldest son of John and Dorothea Evans. When twelve years old he lost his father and the care of the farm devolved on him and his mother. Married Ann Charles, of Cynog, in 1828, and they resided for twenty years on a farm called "Wern." Thence they removed to a farm named "Beythdir," whence after two and one-half years, in 1850, they emigrated to the United States. After a short stay at Palmyra, O., they located at Weathersfield, Trumbell County, O. April, 1853, they removed New Canada, Minn., about four miles northeast of St. Paul, whence in the following October they came to Le Sueur County where Mr. Evans died in 1872 and Mrs. Evans in 1878. They were honest, religious people, whose memory will be cherished long and pleasantly by the pioneers.
EVANS, EDWARD S .- Born August 20, 1835, near Llan- rhaider yn Mochnunt, Montgomeryshire, Wales. Son of Ed- ward and Ann Evans, late of Ottawa, Minn, Emigrated to Ohio with his parents in 1850, thence to New Canada, near St. Paul, in April 1853, and thence a few months later to Sharon Township, Le Sueur County. Enlisted in Company E, Ninth Minnesota Volunteers August 18, 1862. Was taken prisoner at battle of Guntown, Miss., in June, 1864, and spent
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five months in Andersonville when he managed to escape and reached Sherman's army November 21st, 1864. The following March he rejoined his regiment at Mobile Bay and served until close of war. November 14, 1865, he married Miss Mary A. Jones, of Cleveland, and two daughters have been born to them, both now dead. Mr. and Mrs. Evans have retired from their farm to the city of Le Sueur, where they have a com- fortable home and are much respected.
EVANS, EPHRIAM D .- Born at Pittsburgh, Pa., October 26th, 1838, son of David J. and Mary Evans, of Caermarthen- shire, Wales, his father having been born on a farm called "Coed Lanan" and his mother at "Bwlch-y-Coed." He moved to near Dodgeville, Wis., at the age of seventeen years. November 26, 1861, at Dodgeville, Wis., he married Miss Mar- garet Wickham, who had been born at Great Western, Pa., and whose parents were natives of Cardiganshire, Wales. August 13th, 1862, enlisted in the Thirty-first Wisconsin and served until close of war, serving with the Army of the Mis- sissippi until fall of Vicksburg, then with Army of the Cum- berland under Gen. Sherman. Soon after the war he removed to St. Paul, Minn., where he still resides. He has been pas- senger conductor on the Great Northern Railway for a num- ber of years. Mr. and Mrs. Evans have two sons, E. Clark and Daniel W., hardware merchants at Portland, Ore., and three daughters, Sadie, wife of David E. Roberts of Sioux Falls, S. D., and Mary and Margaret, who reside at home.
EVANS, EVAN -( Pant), born at Nantewnlle, Cardiganshire, Wales, May 24th, 1819, son of David and Jane Evans. The father was a prominent chler of the C. M. church of Llan- geitho. July 16th, 1845, the subject of our sketch was chosen elder of the same church to succeed his father, who had died April 19th, 1845. In 1846 he went to Kingston, Herfordshire, to school. He was urged to prepare for the ministry, but con- cluded to continue as an ekler. In August, 1854, emigrated to the United States and spent a few months at Park, near Waukesha, Wis. In April, 1855, he visited South Bend, Min., in company with Thomas Jones : Macsmater), and lo- cated on the farm still occupied by the family near South Bend Village. July 6th, 1855, he married at Wisconsin Miss Catherine Jones, who was also a native of Cardiganshire. Mr. Evans took a very active part in the organization of Scion church and was a prominent elder in it until his death. He helped to organize many of the C. M. churches in Blue Earth
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