JOHN & HARRIET (PARRY) WILLIAMS
(rin 20 & 21 - ID 26 & 27)
Compiled by LaVere Peters
John was born about 1829 in England (per 1880 census).
Harriet was born on April 7, 1845 at Aberystruth, Blaina, Monmouth, Wales.
She was the seventh of twelve children of Thomas and Rhoda (WYNN) PARRY.
I don't know when John came to America; Harriet came to Utah in 1866 (per 1900 census), probably with her mother and youngest brother, Daniel, after the 1865 death of her father.
Harriet's first marriage was to John TATE in Utah on November 22, 1866.
John TATE had a prior marriage to Ann SATTREE; the IGI shows that they had married twice (in 1857 and 1861). John and Ann appear on the 1860 Tooele County, Utah, census with four sons.
[An 1968 letter to Ellen Williams from a great grandson of that marriage confirms the statement above. Ellen's attempt to respond contains the following statement: "Tate had another wife and children. My half- sister Mary Ann died. Tate would not report them, so my mother got a divorce and went back to live with her mother.]
The 1870 census for Tooele City, Tooele Co., Utah, enumerated on June 6, lists the following:
PARRY Rhoda age 54 born England
Head of household
Can't read or write
$1,050 property value
Harriet 25 Wales Can read and write
Daniel 13 Wales Attended school
Rhoda 2 Utah
Mary A. 7 mos Utah Born October
[Harriet is living with her mother, using her maiden name for herself and her two daughters; and it appears that Mary Ann is alive at that time. Perhaps there was another child whose death provoked the divorce. On the 1900 census Harriet reported that she had borne 5 children, and that 4 of them were living at that time.]
I don't know when John WILLIAMS and Harriet were married. The IGI shows the marriage of John WILLIAMS and Mary PARRY on July 26, 1870, in Salt Lake City.
[Ellen's 1968 writing says that John was a widower with three girls and a boy named Johnny.]
The 1880 census for the same location on Main Street in Tooele City, enumerated on June 4, lists the following:
PARRY Rhoda age 68 born England
WILLIAMS John 51 England No occupation
Harriet 33 Wales
Rhoda 12 Utah
Thomas 5 Utah
Ellen 3 Utah
There are no 1890 censuses; they were burned without having been filmed.
Before 1900, John Williams had died; Rhoda and Ellen had married.
The 1900 census for Tooele City, enumerated on June 15, lists the following:
WILLIAMS Harriet age 54 Widow (Other info mentioned above)
Thomas 24 Day Laborer (unemployed 4 mos.)
I have remembrance cards for:
Thomas WILLIAMS, died March 12, 1920, age 46 years
Harriet WILLIAMS, died March 1, 1926, age 81 years.
I believe that Thomas died in an automobile accident. They are both buried at American Forks, Utah.
Prepared 6 March 1996