Gad W James (1833 - 1911)

Born 24 Jun 1833 in Carmarthenshire, Wales

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 15 Sep 1911 at age 78 in West Liberty Muscatine County Iowa, USA

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Teresa Coffman [send private message]

Biography

Burial: Oak Ridge Cemetery West Liberty Muscatine County Iowa, USA Plot: Old Oak Block 1/Lot 1/Sp 2

Documentation of the Gad James family emigration from Carmarthenshire to the U.S., with particular emphasis on items showing they did not change their surname upon emigrating.

--By Teresa Coffman, great-great-great-granddaughter of Gad James

BACKGROUND: The need for this research arose when DNA evidence clearly indicated that a John Evans of 1800s Utah and a Gad James of 1800s Iowa were brothers. Because the descendants of John Evans preserved a memory of their forebear saying, "I had a brother named Gad, but he changed his name to James" it first appeared that the family name in Wales must have been Evans. Because further genealogical work on this line requires that the correct original surname be known, I researched every corollary to this family I could find. My conclusion is that John Evans changed his name from James and that the rest of the extended family has used the name James for at least two generations before him.

Gad James, age 19, is on the passenger list of the Martha I. Word in 1852, traveling from Liverpool to New York. With him is William James, age 55, Mary James, age 26, Stephen James age 52, Eliza James, age 52, David James, age 23 , and Esther James, age 57.[1]

According to the Biography of Gad James in the History of Muscatine County, an article written while Gad James was still alive, Gad arrived in the U.S. with his father William. It said Gad had siblings “Stephen, William and David, all of whom are deceased; Mary, who is deceased, as is also her husband, William Roberts of Columbus Junction, Iowa; and John, who has not been heard from since he joined the Mormons in Wales.” So William James on the Martha I. Word is found traveling with his daughter Mary (who will later marry a man named Roberts) and his son, Gad.[2]

Biography: http://iagenweb.org/muscatine/biographies1911/jamesg.htm

Also we learn there was a brother named John who joined the Mormons in Wales and was never heard from again. (This missing brother John became John Evans who married Elizabeth Hardcastle. This connection has been confirmed by DNA matches between three descendants of John Evans who all have a fourth cousin level match with a descendant of Gad James's, the author of this article. [13])

The Stephen on the Martha I. Word is the right age to be a brother to Gad’s father, William. This Stephen James is on the Martha I. Word with his wife Eliza, son David, and a woman named Esther James who could be either an unmarried sister or the widow of a brother. Now to show the connection between Stephen James's family and William James's family, as evidence they were brothers:

Stephen James’s family is clearly in the 1841 and 1851 censuses in Wales. Stephen and Eliza James and their son, David. They lived in Monachlogddu, Pembrokeshire.[3] In the 1851 census, Esther James was living with them, though her age was a few years different than what she gave on shipboard.[4]

Name: Stephen James

Age: 51

Estimated birth year: abt 1800

Relation: Head

Spouse's Name: Elizabeth James

Gender: Male

Where born: Eglwysfairachying, Carmarthenshire, Wales

Civil Parish or Township: Monachlogddu

County/Island: Pembrokeshire

Country: Wales

Registration district: Narberth

Sub-registration district: Llanboidy

ED, institution, or vessel: 6

Piece: 2475

Folio: 118

Page Number: 4

Household schedule number: 12

Household Members: Name Age

Stephen James 51

Elizabeth James 51

David James 22

Esther James 57

Stephen James married Elizabeth Thomas on April 2, 1822 in Trelech A'r Betws, Carmarthenshire, Wales. He married in 1822 giving the name Stephen James.[5]

Stephen James

Wales, Carmarthenshire, Parish Registers

Name: Stephen James

Event Type: Marriage

Event Date: 02 Apr 1822

Event Place: Trelech A'r Betws, Carmarthenshire, Wales

Spouse's Name: Elizabeth Thomas

Digital Folder Number: 004182266

They are the couple on the Martha I. Word because their ages, and the age of their son, David, are right. Even Esther is with them. They were clearly named James since at least 1822 in Wales. Now, how do we know they are related to William, Gad and Mary James who are on the same ship?

Their first destination was Utica, NY. In the 1865 New York census, Elizabeth James, the right age to be the Eliza James on the ship, is living with the family of William and Mary Roberts.[6] We know from Gad’s biography[2] that his sister Mary married William Roberts, so this is Gad’s sister Mary. Elizabeth James is living with the family of William Roberts in 1865 and is specifically described in the census as the “aunt-in-law” to the head of the household. That makes her Mary’s aunt and proves the connection between the two James families on the Martha I. Word.

Elizabeth James is again found living in Utica, NY, this time alone as a widow, in the 1880 census.[7] So wherever Stephen James her husband was in 1865, by 1880 he had died.

Gad’s brother David is buried in New Forest Cemetery in Utica. It is not clear when he emigrated, because he is not the younger David James on the Martha I. Word. That David was the son of Stephen and Elizabeth James, and so a cousin of Gad’s. This older David James was probably Gad’s older brother (named in the biography)[2], and his residence in Utica may be the reason the family went there. His cemetery record says:

“James, David, parents Wm. & Elizabeth James, Married, born 12091819, died 01311894, buried 02001894, book 1, page # 394.” [8]

This cemetery record, by the way, is confirmation that William James was married to an Elizabeth whom family lore says was named Elizabeth Phillips. Family lore also says she died in Wales before the family emigrated, which explains why she was not on the Martha I. Word with her husband and two youngest children.

Gad James’s obituary mentions that his brother Stephen broke prairie with him in what is now West Liberty, Iowa.[9]

This younger Stephen James was not on the Martha I. Word. His marriage record is in Wales, too, and he was called Stephen James then.[5] He married Sarah H. Thomas and they had four children: two born in Wales and two born in Iowa. He and his family emigrated two years after the group on the Martha I. Word. They came on the Shakamaxon in 1854, using the surname James, just as his father and uncle Stephen did, two years earlier.[10]

Name: Stephen James

Arrival Date: 12 Oct 1854

Birth Date: abt 1818

Age: 36

Gender: Male

Ethnicity/ Nationality: British (English)

Place of Origin: Great Britain

Port of Departure: Liverpool, England

Destination: United States of America

Port of Arrival: New York, New York

Ship Name: Shakamaxon

Here is Gad’s brother Stephen and his family in the 1860 census, in the West Liberty, IA area:[11]

Name: Stephen James

Event Type: Census

Event Year: 1860

Event Place: Goshen Township, Muscatine, Iowa, United States

Gender: Male

Age: 40

Race: White

Birth Year (Estimated): 1820

Birthplace: Wales

Page: 133

Affiliate Name: The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA)

Affiliate Publication Number: M653

Household Role Gender Age Birthplace

Stephen James M 40 Wales

Sarah James F 42 Wales

David James M 12 Wales

Elizabeth James F 9 Wales

William James M 4 Iowa

Sarah James F 2 Iowa

William James, Gad’s father, had other siblings, as well. It looks like the first to emigrate was a sister Elizabeth, who was married to Jonah Morris. They married in Trelech A’r Betws, on 6 Nov 1821 (one year before brother Stephen James married his bride, Elizabeth Thomas, in the same place).[12] They had four children whose baptisms were registered in Wales, but they were all living in Washington, Iowa by 1843, according to information in Jonah Morris's translated biography. [16]

Here is the marriage record for William James’s sister Elizabeth:[12]

Jonah Morris

Wales, Carmarthenshire, Parish Registers

Name: Jonah Morris

Event Type: Marriage

Event Date: 06 Nov 1821

Event Place: Trelech A'r Betws, Carmarthenshire, Wales

Spouse's Name: Elizabeth James

Digital Folder Number: 004182266

Here are the baptisms of four of their children in Wales:[14]

Name: Thomas Morris

Gender: Male

Christening Date: 08 Dec 1824

Christening Place: ROCK DISSENTING CONGREGATIONAL OR INDEPENDENT,TRELECH-A'R-BETTWS,CARMARTHEN,WALES

Birth Date: 19 Oct 1824

Father's Name: Jonah Morris

Mother's Name: Elizabeth James

Indexing Project (Batch) Number: C10099-1 , System Origin: Wales-ODM , GS Film number: 0815972 (RG4 4024)

Name: Dan Morris

Gender: Male

Christening Date: 12 Jul 1830

Christening Place: ROCK DISSENTING CONGREGATIONAL OR INDEPENDENT,TRELECH-A'R-BETTWS,CARMARTHEN,WALES

Birth Date: 16 May 1830

Father's Name: Jonah Morris

Mother's Name: Elizabeth James

Indexing Project (Batch) Number: C10099-1 , System Origin: Wales-ODM , GS Film number: 0815972 (RG4 4024)

Name: Mary Morris

Gender: Female

Christening Date: 20 May 1835

Christening Place: ROCK DISSENTING CONGREGATIONAL OR INDEPENDENT,TRELECH-A'R-BETTWS,CARMARTHEN,WALES

Birth Date: 17 Apr 1835

Father's Name: Jonah Morris

Mother's Name: Elizabeth James

Indexing Project (Batch) Number: C10099-1 , System Origin: Wales-ODM , GS Film number: 0815972 (RG4 4024)

Name: Henry Morris

Gender: Male

Christening Date: 05 May 1822

Christening Place: ROCK DISSENTING CONGREGATIONAL OR INDEPENDENT,TRELECH-A'R-BETTWS,CARMARTHEN,WALES

Birth Date: 15 Mar 1822

Father's Name: Jonah Morris

Mother's Name: Elizabeth James

Indexing Project (Batch) Number: C10099-1 , System Origin: Wales-ODM , GS Film number: 0815972 (RG4 4024)

Elizabeth clearly used the name James when she was marrying and christening children back in Wales. This was thirty years before the family of William James, Gad James and Mary James emigrated. What evidence is there that she was a relation of William James’s? William James is found living with her and her husband, Jonah Morris, in the 1860 census, in Washington, Iowa. [15]

So, after emigrating, we find William James living with his daughter Mary Roberts in 1870 and 1880, and living with his sister Elizabeth Morris in 1860.

Elizabeth’s father was also named William James. We learn this from the memorial biography written for her husband, Jonah Morris. From the English translation (it was written in Welsh) done by T Parry William:[16] “Soon after this he married Elizabeth James, the daughter of William James from - or near to - Dre wen, Cardiganshire, who was an exceptionally faithful, kind, hardworking wife to him until he died.” This gives us the surname of a generation further back – another William James.

So, in summary, although there is no record found so far in Wales of Gad James, sister Mary James, father William James and mother Elizabeth (Phillips) James, neither is that nuclear family found under the name of Evans or any other surname.

However, the Gad James on the Martha I. Word with William James and Mary James is related to the Stephen James, Eliza James and David James on the same ship, because Eliza James lived with Mary (James) Roberts in 1860 and was clearly listed as “aunt-in-law” to the head of the household. Eliza James is aunt or aunt-in-law to Mary, which makes her also the aunt of Gad. Eliza gets her married name from her husband, Stephen James, who was named Stephen James in the 1841 census, the 1851 census and on his marriage record in 1822.

A second proof of the family name being James in Wales is in the Morris family. William James lived with them in 1860 probably because Elizabeth Morris was his sister. Her maiden name of James is found in Wales on her marriage record in 1821, and in the baptisms of four of her children in 1822, 1824, 1830 and 1835. Then, in her husband’s biography she is named as the daughter of a William James of Cardiganshire.

sources

[1] Martha I. Word 1852 passenger list

[2] History of Muscatine County (Gad James entry) http://iagenweb.org/muscatine/biographies1911/jamesg.htm

[3] 1841 Wales census (Stephen and Eliza James family)

[4] 1851 Wales census (Stephen and Eliza James family)

[5] Marriage record of Stephen James and Elizabeth Thomas in 1822

[6] 1865 Utica NY census (Mary and William Roberts family)

[7] 1880 Utica, NY federal census (Elizabeth James, widow)

[8] David James cemetery record in Utica, NY

[9] Gad James obituary

[10] Shakamaxon passenger list 1854

[11] 1860 West Liberty, IA federal census (Stephen and Sarah James family) The U.S. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) Publication Number: M653, Page:133

[12] Marriage record of Elizabeth James and Jonah Morris in 1821

[13] I don't know how to document DNA evidence in a paper like this, but my ancestry.com DNA kit shows I am a fourth cousin match to users AshleyKnight44, HagerJB, and Fallingdoa, and none of us have any common ancestors but John Evans for all of them and Gad James for me.

[14] Baptism records of four children of Elizabeth James and Jonah Morris

[15]1860 Washington, IA federal census (Jonah and Elizabeth Morris family)

[16] Welsh language biography of Jonah Morris Y Cenhadwr americanaidd pp. 349-350

• Marriage of Son Curtis; "Iowa, County Marriages, 1838-1934," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XJZY-WT2 : 25 September 2017), Harriett Kile in entry for Curtis James and Nettie M. Ripley, 01 Mar 1905, West Liberty, Muscatine, Iowa, United States; citing reference 1003492 pg 6, county courthouses, Iowa; FHL microfilm 1,003,492.

• Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 18 January 2019), memorial page for Garrett “Gab” James (24 Jun 1833–15 Sep 1911), Find A Grave: Memorial #90610498, citing Oak Ridge Cemetery, West Liberty, Muscatine County, Iowa, USA ; Maintained by Cathy Clark (contributor 47113458) .

Acknowledgements

THANKS: To TParryWilliam on Reddit.com for the Welsh translation and to Chris from Dreamwidth for genealogical help.

Coffman-373 20:32, 5 August 2015 (EDT)

• Created by: Cathy Clark. Record added: May 23, 2012