Excerpts from Life History of William Thomas Owens, Sr., an autobiography published in 1962. 

Prepared by

Wayne Owens, July 25, 1998

    William Thomas Owens, Sr. was born on October 16, 1854 in Cafn, South Wales to Thomas Robert and Margaret Evans Owens, who were devout Mormons.  Very shortly after WT's birth, his father emigrated to Marion, Ohio, worked for two years, then sent for his wife and two sons: WT-then less than 4 years old-and Edward.  After the reunited family lived in Ohio for 4 years, they started the trip by wagon train across the plains to Salt Lake City.  WT records that: "...I, at seven years of age, and my brother Edward, nine or ten, had to walk barefoot most of the way.

    After a few weeks in Ogden, they journeyed by horse and wagon 250 miles south to Paragonah, where they initially lived in a fort with 25 to 30 other families, under periodic siege by Indians.  It was a hard life.  From WT's record:  "My brother Edward and myself herded cows and sheep, and gathered plants, such as thistles, sego lilies and a plant that was called 'peake'.  We lived almost entirely on these plants, and sometimes we had to travel for miles to find enough."  He wrote of many "close calls" with unfriendly Indians.  He described his parents:  "Father was a very hard working man, and my Mother worked from early morn until late at night.  I have seen her carry a large wash tub of pig swill on her head, for two blocks."  WT's father farmed, ran sheep, mined salt, and also ran a business carrying freight, principally to mining camps, all with the help of his two boys, WT and Edward.  As a young man, developing in Paragonah, WT tells us, he "was considered a very good athlete, one of the best shots with a rifle, and an excellent fisherman."  He also had an outstanding singing voice.

    On June 1, 1874 WT married Margaret Jones, who had been a close friend for many years.  Her family had moved from Ogden to Paragonah at the same time the TR Owens family did in 1862, and WT records that Margaret's father "W. E. Jones...shaped, to a large extent, my whole life."  Mary Emily Jones was also from the same father, but not the same mother, and would become WT's second wife nearly three years after his marriage to her half-sister Margaret, on February 22, 1877.  From WT's journal:  "...in the fifteen years my wives lived together, not one angry word ever passed between them.  And never have I felt that we did wrong in believing and entering into Celestial Marriage."

    WT reported that they participated in an attempt to establish an "united Order" in Paragonah, but that it lasted only a year.  He didn't say why.

    In November, 1877, WT and his brother Edward moved their families to Panquitch, buying adjoining homes.  WT tried to farm, and also worked at a shingle mill, recording that "we had rather rocky going the first few years after we moved to Panguitch...I well remember those times; they were called 'Cleveland Times' and tho I was then a staunch Democrat, I'll admit they were really hard times...Edward and I were both forced to sell our ten acres of meadowland for a pair of boots."

    Grandfather Owens reported that: "I spent most of the (first) winter months fishing in Panguitch Lake (once almost drowning while saving another man who'd fallen through the ice), taking the fish to market in Salt Lake City, and on the return trip freighting supplies to the stores in Panguitch."  Our Stake President has gone Republican.  I think I rather lean on the Democratic side, but haven't made up my mind yet.

    On August 18, 1895, my beloved wife Margaret died...What a calamity!  Just when we needed her most she had to go---leaving me with eight children...My second wife, Mary Emily Jones, was an invalid, and she had seven children...Soon after this, I moved my wife Emily to the home of my first wife Margaret.  Although Emily was not well enough to be left alone, she was a wonderful help in holding the families together.

    In the spring of 1897, after receiving full consent from my wife Emily, I asked Elizabeth Richards to marry me.  I had written to Wilford Woodruff, then the President of the Church, telling him of my condition, of my sick wife, and of my large family, and asking him if he would advise me to marry again.  He replied that I would be perfectly justified, inasmuch as my other wife was willing.  He said for us to be kind to my afflicted wife.  Emily signed her name to signify that she was willing that I marry Elizabeth, making her my legal wife.  I had little trouble getting Elizabeth to consent to marry me, but her Father and Mother readily agreed.  We were married on the 24th of March 1897, in the Manti Temple.  She was young, just a little past nineteen, but time has proven that I made a good choice.

    In the year 1909, my wife and myself decided that we would like to own a farm, so after looking around, we found what we thought we wanted:  160 acres, located in Lime Kiln Wash...about six miles direct east of Panguitch.  We called our new summer home "Pumpkin Center"...For two summers we did fairly well, raising a stack of hay, some potatoes, and quite a nice crop of wheat...I was County Treasurer at the time...our horses started eating a loco weed, and they would go completely crazy at times.  The rattlesnakes were very numerous.  We killed them under the house, in the chicken-coops and the fields...Mr. Wolf came again this morning and carried off one of our old hens while we were standing looking at him...In 1912 we began to get a little discouraged...when one of the heaviest floods came down in the spring, it tore every vestige of the dam away, and most of our hopes vanished with it...I owned a lot in northeast Panguitch, and we built a large brick home...

    In 1915 we decided it was impossible to make Pumpkin Center pay, so we mortgaged our home in Panguitch and bought a farm in Joseph, Utah.  We bought a nine room brick house and sixty acres of land from a man by the name of Dunn, for $6,000...We lived on the farm in the summer and in town in the winter.

    In 1928, my son WT Jr., was elected State Senator...through him I got a job in the State Capitol, working in the Senate.  I received $4 per day...and thoroughly enjoyed the work.  In 1931 (1932?)...in the latter part of June we went back to Washington, DC and stayed out there a year.  I saw the inauguration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and heard his inaugural address.

His daughter Melda Owens Beck wrote about WT's History:

   "The (history) was first written by my Father in his own hand, and I then typed and corrected them to his satisfaction.  He personally read the history and approved it.  The years after he ended this history were busy, happy and very useful years for him.  He kept a day-to-day diary of these years and if any member of the family wishes to know any important (and sometimes not so important) information or events they can be found in Dad's diaries.  Therefore, I do not think it too necessary to add much to his own words."

    "He spent the remaining years of his life in Joseph, Utah, with the exception of one winter which he spent in Ogden.  I was working there and we took an apartment for a few months during the winter.  He had good health right up to the time of his death, only being bedfast about ten days prior to his death.  He fished and hunted in the summer of 1940 and also got his deer.  He died on September 20, 1941."

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