Thomas A. Davis was the sixth child of Titus and Mary Gwenllian Bowen Davis, born on June 10, 1849 in Drefach (small village) near Llanwenog, Cardiganshire, Wales.
It is interesting to note that “Ap” between the given and surname meant “son of”. Later some dropped the “p” and kept only the initial “A” which possibly has been the case with Thomas. Some records show him as Thomas “A”, and some dropped the “p”. Some records just show the letter “P” or the letter “B” or used the middle name of “Bowen” which in reality also meant “son of”. The Welsh took many liberties in the use of names which makes it sometimes confusing for genealogists to trace their ancestors. This is called patronymics.
(Photograph of Thomas A. Davis)
Thomas was raised in a little farming area and helped as a farm boy with the chores on the farm. When he was about ten years old, he contracted rheumatic fever which affected his left hip, making it stiff and ultimately ending up with his left leg being shorter than his right. This condition was the result of a lack of medical attention. However, he never let his physical handicap hinder him in any way. He was very ambitious and always worked very hard doing the same work that other men did who had no handicap. He, more than any of the other children, strived for a better education and studied his whole life, turning to writing in his later life. He wrote articles for newspapers and also wrote an autobiography of his life which is included in this history.
Statements in his autobiography show his true character of a feeling and honest man. Thomas grieved his whole life that his family had been divided. He felt personal pain that his mother had been left behind along with his brother, Jenkin.
At 14 years of age he was apprenticed to a blacksmith at $12 per year. He was obliged to sleep in the haystack in the barn and was not allowed to live in the house of his employer. The work was very hard for such a young boy, but he was expected to do a man’s work. His employer, John J. Williams was a cruel man and often took advantage of Thomas. Later he went to work for his brother-in-law, John L. Edwards, working on his cattle ranch at Promontory for $40 per month. He loved being a cowboy.
He married Margaret Ellen Davis of Willard, the daughter of Richard J. and Rebecca Morgan Davis. He homesteaded a ranch at Promontory and built a house there. Later he moved to a ranch at Henderson Creek, near Malad, Idaho, and was very successful. He was elected to the Idaho Legislature in 1894 and served several terms. In 1897 he received an appointment by President William McKinley as Mineral Commissioner of Idaho.
He and his wife had eleven children: Thomas Lewis, Mary Elizabeth, Richard Bowen, Rebecca Jane, Dina Ann, Ellen Gwennie, Titus David, Barbara, Esther Blodwen, Henry Jefferson, Gwenifred.
When he moved to Henderson Creek, Thomas bought the farm owned by William Brad Berry and the property is still in the family which is now owned by Glenn Price, the son of Tom’s daughter, Esther Blodwen.
As soon as they were settled in Henderson Creek, Thomas secured a school district and built a log school house so his children would not have to travel so far to get an education. The teacher of this school stayed with Thomas and his family. When his daughters got old enough to travel to Malad on the weekend for Church activities, they would wait by the railroad tracks for the train to come. It would pick them up and they would get off at Malad. To this day that road is called “Maiden’s Crossing.”
Thomas was very active in the Mormon Church. He became Bishop of the Cherry
Creek Ward and served in this capacity for many years. He was an excellent public speaker and performed this task in many capacities.
He conducted a brass band in Cherry Creek and Henderson Creek. Great crowds would gather to hear the band perform.
After being appointed Mineral Commissioner by President William McKinley, he served in northern Idaho in this capacity. This appointment was made through George Shoup who was a United States Senator at that time. While in this employment he had a severe accident by falling with some timber and was confined to a hospital for many weeks. His wife went north and nursed him back to health. After recovering he returned to his work.
While performing his duty with his church, he was in charge of the Bishop’s storehouse. A misunderstanding arose as to where the contributions of goods were being recorded and distributed. There was some confusion about why he left the Church and many stories have circulated as to the final reason. Another reason, which one of his granddaughters related, was that a young couple came to him for a Temple recommendation and he felt that they had displayed bad reputations. He questioned their morality about this and told them that they had to prove their worthiness to go through the Temple ceremony. The couple went to another Bishop and the recommend was granted to them. Thomas protested this decision but he was ignored. He resigned all of his offices in the Church and never returned.
His wife and children were very distressed about this decision, but he did not stop them from continuing in their church activities. But, he was adamant about his own decision to never return.
Thomas became a member of the Masonic Lodge in his declining years and was very active in that order until he died at age 78 of a heart attack in Malad, Idaho, on April 21, 1926. He is buried in the Malad City Cemetery alongside his wife.
During a taped interview with one of Thomas’ daughters, Esther Blodwen Price, she related her memories of her father. She told about the farm at Henderson Creek where they had cattle and grew wheat and hay. They had a good dairy farm and lots of pasture land which was alongside the river. When Thomas first thought of buying the place, he looked it over very carefully, noticing that it had a nice stream of water coming out of the hill on the east side of the property. Some people named Bradbury owned the property. He knew the stream of water would enable him to build a reservoir for irrigation purposes. The Bradburys owned one third of the water. It was divided between three families–Bradbury, Williams and Jones. The water came from a spring in the mountains and it was always clear and cool. During dry seasons when other springs would dry up, this spring never did.
Blodwen described her mother as a small woman with light brown hair. She had blue eyes. Thomas’ hair was dark red or auburn. His eyes were grey. She told of her mother having a child about every two and a half years except for the period between her older sister, Barbara and herself which was about 4 years. During this time, she had several miscarriages. These happened during the first two or three months of pregnancy. She told her daughter that she had miscarried enough times that there would probably have been 7 boys, had she been able to carry them all.
Blodwen told how her father, Thomas, was always reading. He was a self-educated man. He never wasted time when he was not working on his farm. If he was not working, he was always reading. He read all kinds of history books and had all the library books from the U.S. Congress. He would get many books from the Congress each year. He was reported to have had stacks and stacks of these books. Blodwen could remember the names on the books, “Congressional Record.” No one seemed to know how he got them, but they were delivered regularly. Other books were gifts to him from George L. Shupe, Lorenzo Evans, D.L. Evans and other people who were buying him books at his request. He loved history books and had many about the beginning of this country, the colonies and the early history of the colonization of the United States before the Revolutionary War.
Thomas had a reputation for having a quick temper, but Blodwen disputes this. She, instead described him as a very patient man and a kind and loving husband and father. He used a cane because of the shortness of his left leg and occasionally tapped the children with it when he thought they needed discipline. His bad temper reputation might have been misinterpreted as he “wouldn’t let anyone put anything over on him.” If Thomas felt he was right he would stick to his decision. Blodwen commented on Thomas’ reason for leaving the Church and to quote her here: “When he was a Bishop, President Hoskins from Portage (President of the Malad Stake)–you know, in those days, people paid their tithing with eggs, butter, wheat, anything that they had. He (Thomas) took care of it and then he would turn it over to President Hoskins at the end of the month. And he was so honest–now that’s one thing that you can know, that Grandpa Davis was as honest and straight as a tight wire, you couldn’t find a crooked thing about him, in any dealings or anything I’ve ever known of. President Hoskins somehow accused him of not turning in all the tithing and that got him so mad, it just hurt him so bad, that he said, ‘Well, if that’s the kind of people that’s working in the Church, I’m through.’ He quit right there. He resigned and he never did anymore.” He refused to work anymore with Church people and he was never active again.
When the President of a Stake at that time stated that all the tithing had not been turned in, no investigation was ever made. This sort of thing would not be allowed today. Blodwen was quoted as saying, “I don’t remember how long he was Bishop, it must’ve been for quite awhile, a few years, because I must have been a pretty good sized girl when this happened. I remember it. I must have been 10 or 12 years old, old enough to remember him quitting and how bad we felt that Papa wouldn’t go to church anymore. Up to then he had always been active.”
Thomas’ wife, Margaret, was described as not a “public woman.” She was a home-woman. She never got up before the public, was a quiet and very mild-tempered woman. The children never remember seeing her angry. The only time she was remembered to have an occasion to discipline was quoted by Blodwen, “Only once did she ever get after me and she switched me a little bit because I didn’t come when I told her I would. We were playing, another girl and I, up in our playhouse. She called me twice and instead of my coming the first time, I waited till the second time. When I got down to the house, she had a little willow and switched me on the legs a little bit, but I still remember it.”
Margaret had a lovely voice. She could sing in a sweet, true voice. She always sang to her babies when they were little and rocked them to sleep, singing them a little song.
Thomas was also very musical, played many instruments and he read music very well. He was the leader of the Malad Brass Band for many years. When he retired from this, his son, Richard, took his place as the band leader.
When Thomas was introduced to a group of people to make one of his speeches, he was always introduced as “The Honorable T.A. Davis.” This respect was given to him because of his participation in politics. Thomas was a good friend to Senator William H. Borah. He was also a friend to Governor Steunenberg who was assassinated. Thomas felt very badly about the death of his friend.
He was so anxious that his children get a good education. He read to them from history books and told them stories about his native land of Wales.
The original house at Henderson Creek has been torn down by Glenn Price, the present owner. When Blodwen and her husband, Tom Price, took over the farm, they tore down the long back kitchen and built onto the front rooms with the upstairs. The upstairs leaked very badly and was a mess. It could not be repaired because of weather damage. There were bees and rats up there. Later when Glenn took over the place, he added a bathroom and a utility room on the back and got water into the house.
When Thomas and his family lived in the house, they got their water from the stream. Thomas lined the stream with rocks and it was easy to keep clean. It came up to the house and had a flume in it. After the Price family moved in, they put a pipe in and cemented a place to hold water. The stream was very small when Thomas and his family lived there, but the Price family took out the rocks and made a larger ditch to carry the whole stream to the house and then extended it across the road to the field. This way they were able to determine if water was being stolen by other neighbors.
Thomas and his wife moved into Malad after his retirement. They rented a house for a year while their big house was being built in Malad. The place they rented was near the Josephite Church in Malad. Blodwen’s daughter, Hulda, was born in this rented house. This was a little three room house on the east side of the church.
They moved into their new home in 1913. They had moved into Malad in 1912. The house they built in Malad still stands and this is where both Margaret and Thomas passed away.