Samuel Brooks (1789-1856), friend of Edward Lloyd Parry

This video shows the lighthouse at the Point of Ayr in Talacre, North Wales, where Samuel Brooks (1789-1856) worked as its lighthouse keeper from 1825 to 1856, prior to migrating to Utah as a Mormon pioneer. 

When Samuel Brooks and his wife, Emma Blinstone Brooks (1807-1856) joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1848, their life would never be the same. Determined to be with their fellow saints in Zion, including their friends Edward Lloyd and Elizabeth Evans Parry, Samuel and Emma and their three children (Mary Elizabeth (1839-1919), George (1845-1930), and Francis “Frank” (1849-1913)) left their life in Wales behind and migrated to Utah in 1856. When the family arrived in Winter Quarters, Nebraska, Emma died of illness. Now a widower, Samuel continued on with his children, who joined the Edward Bunker Handcart Company. On the day he and his children entered the Salt Lake Valley on October 5, 1856, Samuel also died, orphaning his three children in a strange new land. 

Samuel’s three children were farmed out to other families in Utah, with then 11-year-old George being adopted by fellow Welshmen Edward Lloyd and Elizabeth Parry.

ELP sites in UK and Wales

Just last month my family and I toured a few sites in England and Wales that pertain to the history of Edward Lloyd Parry. Most notably, we were able to find the little village of St. George, Denbighshire, Wales, where ELP was born 25 August 1818. There is a parish church there, which is the highly probably spot of his christening. 

In addition, we visited the city of Chester in England, where ELP married Elizabeth Evans in 1846. 

Finally, while touring the town of Abergele, we came across the meeting house (now the Bull Hotel) on Chapel Street where ELP served as a branch president in 1851. All of the aforementioned is presented in this video that I filmed and narrated: