Book for sale on the Life of Edward Lloyd Parry

Would you like to purchase a book I wrote about the life of Edward Lloyd Parry?

Click on the pictures to enlarge.

For the past two years, my father and I have spent hundreds of hours researching the life of Edward Lloyd Parry. We have visited museums, libraries, scoured the Internet, taken photos in St. George and Manti, and met up with numerous descendants in our efforts to gather information on this remarkable man. We have written a book that attempts to unite every possible picture, document, and fact we can find on him.

Here are some fascinating questions the book answers:

• Which temples did he help build?
• Which of his daughters was the first white baby girl born in St. George, Utah?
• Which of his wives did he baptize?
• How was it possible that one of his fathers-in-law was also his uncle?
• How many wives did he really have?
• How did he save the Salt Lake Temple from falling apart?
• How many patriarchal blessings did he receive?
• For which of the Three Witnesses did he make a tombstone?
• Who told him to take a second wife?
• How old was he when his last child was born?
• What dream did he have that saved the lives of temple construction workers?
• Who sealed him to his first and second wives?
• Which LDS leaders did he know personally?
• Which church leader helped him buy tobacco?
• Which temple treasure boxes did he help place?
• To which LDS Apostle was he sealed?
• What was his personality like?

Specifications of the book:

Size: 6” x 9”

Number of pages: about 200

Page color: black and white (nothing was in color back then anyway)

Binding: hard cover

We anticipate the price of the book to be $30 per copy.


Click here to see a sample of what the book will look like.

If you are interested in purchasing a copy/ies of the book, please email me how many copies you would like. And if you know of anyone of your relatives or friends who might also be interested in buying the book, please direct them to this blog.

My email address is elephantnavel@gmail.com. Thanks!

"A Temple Dressed in White" - History of St. George and Its Temple

Edward Lloyd Parry was the master stonemason of the St. George Temple in St. George, Utah. Here is a six-part series of links to a documentary about the history of St. George and its temple, entitled, "A Temple Dressed in White":

Video 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0sYQiIeGFEI

Video 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4lSu6FiNzo&feature=related

Video 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VhSs64SiLo&feature=related

Video 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c959gJMCxzM&feature=related
             (Video 4 talks about Edward Lloyd Parry and his adoptive son George Brooks)

Video 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HD1aoBdYsds&feature=related

Video 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3pxy0-UZb8&feature=related

You Tube video of the Manti Temple shows Edward Lloyd Parry

In this video that narrates some of the history surrounding the construction of the Manti Temple, one can see a photograph that shows Edward Lloyd Parry. I have also included the photo in this post. Edward is standing front and center. Here is the picture:

And here is the video in which it appears:

Parry family pedigree charts: Newmarket, St. George (Utah and Denbighshire), and Abergele, Wales

Three useful pedigrees to help you understand where Edward Lloyd Parry fits in with all his relatives:

Samuel Brooks (1791-1856), friend of Edward Lloyd Parry

One of Edward Lloyd Parry's friends in Wales was Samuel Brooks, a lighthouse keeper in Talacre in North Wales, who worked at the lighthouse at the Point of Ayr. Good friends, both men were converted to Mormonism about the same time in 1848, and both men were baptized by missionary Abel Evans.

Edward Lloyd Parry ended up migrating to Utah with his wife in 1853, and Samuel with his wife Emma Blinstone in 1856. Sadly, Emma died in Nebraska, before they made their trek across the Plains. As a result, Samuel ended up making the trip as a widower with his three children Mary, George, and Frank. The journey proved to be too much for him as well. Upon arrival in the Salt Lake Valley in October, 65-year-old Samuel died, leaving behind three orphaned children. Mary and Frank ended up getting placed in homes, and Edward Lloyd Parry and his wife Elizabeth ended up adopting 11-year-old George (1845-1930) (George is my great-grandfather).

About a week ago I discovered a unique You Tube posting, where some ghost hunters in North Wales recently went to Samuel Brooks' lighthouse in an effort to conjure up his ghost. While I think their attempt did NOT establish actual communication with Samuel (the information the medium retrieved was not accurate), their experience is fascinating and also provides a great tour of the lighthouse. Here's the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsXw6xru4Q4

St. George Tabernacle - plaque

Here is a picture of the plaque in front of the St. George Tabernacle, an edifice Edward Lloyd Parry helped build. His name is mentioned on it.

Elizabeth Ann Parry Peacock's Dream

The recounting of this fascinating dream comes from a "Parry Gram," which was a newsletter in the 1960s published by and distributed among descendants of various Welsh Parrys (not just descendants of Edward Lloyd Parry). Minnie, who died prematurely, was a younger sister of Elizabeth Ann's, and both were daughters of Edward Lloyd Parry. Enjoy.

Transcribed text:

"In the evening of 16 January 1887, Emma Parry Peacock died of diphtheria. In the morning, Elizabeth Ann Peacock died of the same dread disease. For a month their mother, Elizabeth Ann Parry Peacock, a daughter of Edward Lloyd Parry and Ann Parry, who was expecting at the time, just wouldn’t be consoled. She continually grieved and kept asking, 'Why? Why does God who is so good and understanding allow innocent little children to suffer and die like this?' Then, one night, her sister Minnie, who had also died as a child, appeared at the foot of her bed with the two little girls, one on each side of her. They were dressed in beautiful white clothes, in which they had been buried, but they were streaked, and stained with mud. When asked by Elizabeth about the mud on their clothes, Minnie replied, 'That is your tears that have soiled their clothes like that. They just can’t rest until you quit grieving for them.'

"This dream, or vision, or whatever it may be, teaches us that we should not grieve for those who have been called home. Rather, we should renew our efforts in faith and works so that when our time comes, as it does to everyone, we will be worthy to be with them throughout eternity."

Scan of the article from the Parry Gram