My Evans family came to the United States sometime between 1857, when the youngest child, Jane, was born in Wales, and 1870, when the US 1870 Census showed them living in Baldwin Township, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. They were: Thomas T. Evans (44), his wife Margaret Morgan (45) and three children, Ann (79), Thomas, Jr. (26) and Jane (80). Thomas, Jr. is my great grandfather.

Both Thomas, Sr. and Thomas Jr. are listed in the 1870 Census as coal miners. However, Thomas, Jr. developed black lung disease, and later became a Baptist minister. He was living in Birmingham, an area that became part of Southside Pittsburgh, Pa, when he married my great grandmother, Angeline Goff. By 1901, they were living in Beltzhoover, in Pittsburgh, where they remained for the rest of their lives.

Thomas, Jr. was born in Tredegar, north of Cardiff. He likely saw and maybe his family attended, St. Georges parish church, pictured at left.

Tredegar takes its name from Sir Charles Morgan, Lord Tredegar. The town came to be with the arrival of the Sirhowy Ironworks, and after its failure in 1797, the Tredegar Ironworks, whose furnace was completed in 1797. These brought an influx of ironworkers, and miners to support the furnaces.

Thomas, Sr. was born in Caerdydd (Cardiff).