(Written October, 1953, by her granddaughter, Ella Colton Palmer) 

My maternal grandmother, Eliza Jane Thomas Clark, was born June 6, 1828 at Michelstone, Glamorganshire, South Wales, the sixth child in a family of 14, 13 of whom grew to manhood and womanhood, and 12 of whom married and in turn had large families.  Robert, an infant and the eldest, died in Wales as did Harriet, who was 24, and unmarried. 

All of the rest except, Liewellyn and William, came to the United States.  My grandmother , Eliza, was the first of the family to emigrate.  She came as a servant girl and John Morris Jones ( father of Esther Mifflin) as a servant boy to the family of Thomas Jeremy, who was the father of Ella Jeremy (Richards), thereby earning their passage over and being in their care for the trip. 

They left Waterloo Dock, England, Monday, Feb. 26, 1849 about 2 p.m.  As the ship pulled out those on deck sang, “The Saints Farewell”, wondering when they should meet and see their families and loved ones again.  

On board the “Buena Vista” on which they sailed, there were 249 Welsh Saints under the direction of Dan O. Jones.  Many of the Saints were very seasick and Captain Dan O. Jones, David Daniels of Brechfa and William Jenkins of Cardiff administered to their wants by making gruel, etc. for them.  The sickness lasted only a few days.  

They had fine weather and fair wind nearly every day.  They reported that the middle of March was like June.  After being on board seven weeks and a day, they landed in New Orleans April 18, 1849. They traveled up the Mississippi River to St. Louis where in 48 hours, 62 of their company died of cholera.  They went from there to Council Bluffs, Iowa where they stayed six weeks to prepare for the trip across the plains to Utah by ox teams.  

They had considerable trouble with the Indians on the Platte River.  They arrived in Utah in October, 1849.  Eliza Thomas met William Clark, who was also from Wales, on the plains while crossing and they were married.  Her parents, William Howell Thomas and Ann Williams Thomas, along with seven more of their children.  Thomas, Charlotte, Maria, Catherine, Janet, Henry and Fred came to Utah in the fall of 1853.  They (the Clarks) had two children, Mary Ann (Adams), Francis (Peabody)  and three days after their arrival she gave birth to a baby boy, William, or Bill as he was known ( father of William Clark, Mable Nieffenegger and Annie Madsen.)  There followed in due time Thomas, Rosie Lee (Gleed) , Daniel Robert, who died an infant, John. Louise ( my mother) who was born in Atchinson , Kansas where they lived for a time. 

Before the Thomas and Clark families came to Idaho, they lived in Brigham City, Utah, being among the very early settlers in Box Elder County.  They lived for a time in the Old Fort. From there they moved into a rather artistic “Willow Palace”.  Which had a dirt roof and dirt floor just south of the opening at the southwest corner of the Old Fort.  This unique home brought them the name of “ the Willow Thomas family”, even in this community of Malad, they were called the “tee Willow” people. 

While in Brigham City my Grandfather Clark, who was a tinsmith by trade, established a tin shop on North Main St. and mended his neighbors’ meager supply of tin ware.  The pewter which was used in mending was purchased in the form of spoons, plates, cups, etc.  They moved to Malad about 1863, where grandmother acted as more than an ordinary midwife for many years until her health failed.  She ushered into the world hundreds of babies including five of my mother’s nine children.  She also vaccinated her own family and perhaps others for smallpox.  My mother later attended people with that disease and never contracted it, having had only the one vaccination if it was crudely done compared with now. 

Her eldest daughter, my Aunt Mary Ann Adams, took over where she left off, until her death in 1906.  Grandma Clark was a widow for nine or ten years and died in Malad March 4, 1899.  At that time seven of her nine children survived her.  One son, Daniel, still survives at this writing, in Idaho Falls.  Hers was a very useful and full life.  God bless her memory.