User:TrustTruth/Isaac Robert Evans

Isaac Robert Evans (February 1, 1829 - February 11, 1901) was a Welsh Mormon convert and an early settler of Castle Dale, Utah.

Early life and marriage
Evans was born on Cwmyglo Farm in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, to Isaac and Catharine Roberts Evans. When Evans was two years old, his father died at the age of 31 in Glebeland, Merther Tydfil. When Evans was 23, his mother died in Troed-y-rhiw. She was 55.

At age 24, he married 21-year-old Catherine Thomas in a springtime ceremony at Merthyr Tydfil's Zion Chapel.

Affiliation with Mormonism
In February 1877, at age 48, Thomas joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His wife joined ten months later. At the time the couple joined, all ten of their children (all boys) had been born, six of whom were still living. They ranged in age from three to twenty-three. The entire family were apparently good singers.

Unlike many families joining the church at the time, the Evanses did not immediately prepare to emigrate from their native country. Instead, they remained in Wales, where Isaac continued his profession. The family worked to establish a stronger church presence in and around their village, and Isaac often spoke at church services.

By November 1886, at least two of the Evans' sons had immigrated to Utah. That month, an Elder John Thomas, Mormon missionary from Utah, began staying with the family at their home in Penrhiwceiber. Thomas kept a detailed journal as a missionary and recorded more than one instance when he and the family talked until late at night about Mormon doctrines and the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Thomas called Isaac Evans "quite a poet" and reported that the family had "two Sons at Pleasant Vally[sic] Coal Mines." One night, after staying up until midnight talking, Thomas recorded that the Evanses "think their Sons that is in Utah will Send for them this Spring; their whole talk is about (Zion); when they go it will be a great loss to this Mission." The next morning, Catherine made Welsh rarebit. Another morning, on Good Friday, April 8, she made hot cross buns. At the end of his stay, Thomas recorded "I have Enjoyed my Self with Bro & Sister Evans" and "they are So kind".

Immigration to Utah
Isaac and Catherine finally sailed from Liverpool on August 11, 1888, aboard the ship Wisconsin. They arrived in New York City twelve days later, then traveled on to Utah where they settled in Castle Dale, a coal mining town near the center of the state.

All six of Evans' surviving sons worked at the Pleasant Valley Coal Mine near Scofield, Utah. Two, David and Richard, were killed in the 1900 Scofield mine disaster, as was his granddaughter Catherine Evans' husband Samuel Padfield. She was 22 and had been married five years. At the time, it was the worst mine disaster in terms of casualties in U.S. history. Due to the shear number of casualties, the town held a mass funeral. Catherine collapsed at the service.

Isaac died in Castle Dale on February 11, 1901. Catherine died 12 years later on August 24, 1913.

Taliesin, the Evans' second-youngest son, was later bishop of the Sunnyside ward.