Benjamin Perkins

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WELSH MORMON HISTORY

BENJAMIN PERKINS

Benjamin Perkins was the son of William Perkins and Jane Mathews, of the tribe of Ephraim through his mother. This couple lived near Swansea or as they called it in their native language Abertawe. Swansea is situated in the County of Glamorgan in South Wales at the mouth of the river Tawe.

"I, Benjamin Perkins, was born Jan 14, 1844 in a little town named Schoot, about two miles east of Swansea in Wales. We lived there about four months and moved to Treboeth."(1) Treboeth is a small place, a colliery, 1 ½ miles north of Swansea. Shortly after the birth of their son Ben, William and Jane became interested in the sect known as the Mormons. They listened to the missionaries, attended the small meetings, met with persecution from their friends, but like the Independents that they were, resisted the outward prejudices and accepted the whisperings of the spirit and were baptized when little Ben was just 9 months old.

"The people hated the Mormons and for 2 or 3 years my father could not get a day's work anywhere. At last we had to go to the poor house, and as nearly as I can remember we were there about 6 months."(2) In the poor house, the family was separted, the children being placed in a big flag-floored room. Ben and the others went hungry day after day and the little fellow would cry out "Mama, mama, why don't you come?"(3)

"When the wherefore of the Perkins family in the poor house was investigated, and it was found that they were able and willing to work, they were given work. Little Ben was sent into the coal mines at the tender age of 6 to carry water to the miners."(4) During his work at the mine one day, he broke his arm and had to be laid off for it to recover.

The family continued to progress from that time on. They would work all day in their various jobs and at nights would listen to their father read the Bible and the Book of Mormon. They were privileged during this time to have Elders of the Church stay with them on occasion and they gleaned valuable knowledge from them about the gospel.

The days in the mines were long and hard. In the evenings as the pits "all but bottomless" belched out their myriads of grimy, blackened human forms, each with a Davy lamp in hand, Ben and some of his family and friends returned to their humble homes to wash, feed and rest. Sometimes, Ben would spend a few hours from time to time with the fellows his own age in the village, or occasionally talk to one of the girls of his acquaintance. The first nineteen years of Ben's life were spent in the coal mines. He had no opportunity for schooling during those years. An English girl did start a night school, which he began to attend, but the school dwindled away and Ben learned neither to read nor write.

Books with their stores of truth are a wonderful factor in our development and growth, but are by no means an indispensable part of life. Most of the essential lessons of human existence come through the necessities of daily living, through discipline and by the experiences we have. Thus our understanding of the purpose of life grows and our strength and endurance increases, preparing us to meet those particular challenges given to us as our bid for eternal life. Ben was prepared by the experiences of his youth to meet these challenges and thus lay a foundation for this father's family and his own numberless posterity.(5)

One day as Ben was working in the mines, something happened that shaped the rest of his early and eternal existence for good. "There was an explosion took place in a canyon about 6 miles from where I was working; three or four hundred men were killed. This place was Blongloha. My boss at our mine picked out 60 men and sent them to Blongloha to hunt these dead bodies. I was chosen from the group to go, but when we reached the place they had sufficient help, so the Blongloha boss thanked us and gave us money to take us back to our mine." This tragic experience caused Ben to think long and hard on the uncertainty of life in the mines and the suddenness with which death wipes away plans and dreams and everything connected with life.

"When I got home that night I told Father I wanted to be baptized. Father took me to the river (Tawe) that night and baptized me. After I was baptized I made up my mind to save money and come to Utah."(6) Benjamin Perkin's TIB card says that he was baptized 4 Oct 1859 but more likely it was not until 4 Oct 1866 that this took place as will be seen shortly.

"In 1866 or 1867 the word was spread that the Church was going to take all the Saints and ship them to Utah. But about 6 months before the time set, word came that those who went would have to pay their own way. This cast gloom over all our Mormon people there. About 7 months after I was baptized I had saved enough money to fetch me to Utah. Between my sisters, Naomi and Mary, my brother Joe, and John Evans the blacksmith (as he was called by myself) we had enough money to fetch us out.

"As the time drew near for us to depart, some of my pals were after me all the time to go and have a good time for a day or two with them before I left, drinking, singing, and dancing. I told them I would let them know in a week, and I went to see the president of the Branch. He asked me if I thought I could keep sober, and I told him "yes, sir." The last Saturday and Sunday that I was there I spent with my boy friends. When Monday morning came, the time for our departure, all of the Saints came down to the depot with us. We left about 3 in the afternoon. This was one of the biggest trials of my life, to pick up and leave my father and mother and all my friends that I had been raised with.

"While we were waiting in the inn for the train, the house was packed with friends and relatives. I was sitting on one side of the house and Mary Ann Williams on the other side. She had joined the Church some time fore this. I could see she felt pretty bad. She was one who was disappointed in not getting to come out to Utah, so I went across the room to where she was and asked her, in case I could make enough money when I reached Utah to bring her out, if she would come. She told me "yes", and for me to write her every chance I got along the way, and as soon as she found out where we were she would write to me. We were both true to that understanding."(7)