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ARC Picture Gallery » Ancestors (Davis/Goodwin)

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Elizabeth Williams Davis, 1832-1903.

Item ID: 4788

Elizabeth Williams was born April 17, 1832, in Ystradgynlais, Brecon/Powys, Wales and died February 2, 1903 in Samaria, Idaho.

She married Thomas John Davis of Neath on August 27, 1853, and later moved to the USA under the auspices of the LDS (Mormon) Church. The Mormons organized large numbers of conversions in Britain in the 1850s, especially in Wales. I suspect the prospect of owning US land roughly the size of the entire valley surrounding Ystrandgynlais was also a factor in emigration for many.

The Davises arrived in the US and settled for a while in Pennsylvania, where several of their children were born. They moved to Idaho in time for the birth of their later children, including my grandfather, Ephraim Rees Davis in 1875. They homesteaded outside Samaria in Oneida County and later moved to a house in Samaria. Some descendants still live in the area.

Elizabeth was my great-grandmother, and her other living descendants number in the hundreds.

I've estimated the date of the picture anywhere from 1860 to 1890. I've always gotten a kick out of the rifle leaning against the tree (see smaller scale view in this album). Itinerant photographers brought elaborate backdrops. One would look a long time for this scene in SE Idaho. :-)

RC