James Welsh

   Cause of his death was Pneumonia.

   Another name for James was Jimmy Welsh.

  General Notes:

As advised by his Grandson, Stan Welsh in 2015:
James had immigrated from Scotland in 1862. He boarded the sailing ship General McClellan at Liverpool along with 800 plus Mormon converts. Five weeks aboard the ship finally brought them to New York when the American Civil War was in progress. Train ride through southeastern Canada and back into the US resulted in reaching end of railroad in the state of Nebraska in late June. He was hired to drive a freight wagon from neighboring Kansas to the valley of the Great Salt Lake, a trip of 1000 miles by ox-team (100 days).

James entered into a lumber operation, had a total of 12 children (5 by wife one, 7 by wife two). He spent considerable money in bringing his parents and some of his siblings to the US. He died of pneumonia on 30 November 1900 when my dad was still 12 years of age (at age 13, he left home and did not return).

Recorded by his Grandson, James Welsh Brinton in 1997:
My mother's father, my Grandfather James Welsh, was an early day Mormon and pologmist. He had married the wife which my mother had always refered to as Aunt Jane, and had pretty well raised a good sized family of her children before he, over the strong objections of Aunt Jane, chose a young, pretty Vaughn girl (I just realized right now I don't know what her name was) [her name was Ellen...KBG] as his second wife.

At the time he was a prosperous owner of a sawmill and home located on the south fork of Weber Canyon several miles NE of the community of Oakley where timber was cut and milled and a home and lumberyard in the community of Coalville where the lumber was sold (or in the case of the Church was given away which substansially contributed to his later status of not being so prosperous.)

The distance between the two homes is thirty to forty miles which considering the mode of transportation of those days, was a fairly long trek. But following his second marriage this seemed to be about the proper distance of separation for his two households.

Before his second marriage the home in the timberlands of the south fork was the summer house of the family, to which they journeyed in the spring of the year. And the home in Coalville the winter home to which they returned in the fall.

Aunt Jane as the senior wife insisted this routine be continued after the second marriage.
Which resulted in both households making opposite journeys twice a year. The aproximate meeting place of the two families making their opposite journeys would have been Peoa. And I've been told by some of the oldtimers that the semi annual chill generated by this meeting posed a threat to some of the more tender crops and could persist for days.

During the early struggle between the federal government and the Mormon Church, mom's father, my grandfather was arrested by federal marshals for polygamy and served time in the Utah State Prison. I don't know how much time he had to serve, but he was released on a bereavement release when his young son who I believe was fifteen wnd was trying to carry on the business in the absence of his father, fell into the saw at the sawmill and was killed.

Alonso Marchant told me that Grandfather was arrested at Hanging Rock in Peoa. He said the marshals had hidden their horse and buggy behind Hanging Rock . As grandfather came by with a load of lumber which he was taking to Coalville, they stopped and arrested him, put him in irons, loaded him onto the buggy and took off leaving his team still hitched to a load of lumber to be discovered by someone later. He said he didn't know if they were looking specifically for grandfather but suspect they were just there looking for any lone polygamist they could capture without any trouble.

James married Joanna Wessel on 11 Apr 1870 in Salt Lake City,Salt Lake,Utah,United States. (Joanna Wessel was born about 1842 in Greenock, Renfrew, Scotland.)

James next married Jane Brice, daughter of Richard Brice and Hannah Edwards, on 11 Apr 1870 in Salt Lake City,Salt Lake,Utah,United States. (Jane Brice was born on 7 Jun 1846 in Wellington, Shropshire, England, died on 3 Jan 1924 in Carey, Blaine, Idaho, USA and was buried on 6 Jan 1924 in Coalville Cemetery, Coalville, Summit, Utah, USA.)

James next married Elleanor Vaughan on 11 Apr 1870 in Salt Lake City,Salt Lake,Utah,United States. (Elleanor Vaughan was born on 8 Oct 1858 in Llangedwyn, Denbigh, Wales and died on 22 Apr 1891 in Coalville, Summit, Utah, USA.)