Shadrach Jones: A Welsh Stonemason of Willard and the Journey from Breconshire to the American West
Shadrach Jones: A Welsh Stonemason of Willard and the Journey from Breconshire to the American West A Life Shaped by Coal, Faith, Migration, and Stone Origins in the Welsh Coalfield Shadrach Jones Shadrach Jones was born on 17 November 1832 in Llanelly, Breconshire , the son of David Jones , a coal miner, and Ann Lawrence Jones . He was one of six children— John (1828), John G. (1830), Shadrach (1832), Adelaide (1834), and Eleazer (1837)—whose early years unfolded across the industrial counties of Glamorganshire, Breconshire, and Monmouthshire. 1851 Census By 1851 , the family’s circumstances had tightened. The 1851 Census records Shadrack Jones, aged 18, a Coal Miner , living with his widowed mother Ann Jones, 60, a Pauper and Coal Miner’s Widow , at Llanwenarth Ultra, Monmouthshire . David Jones had already emigrated to America several years earlier, intending to work in the mines and save enough money to bring his family across. His final letter home reported that he had nea...
