Price Family Tree Intro

The name Price is of Welsh extraction, and was apparently a shortened version of "Ab" Rhys or "Ap" Rhys. The "ab" or "ap" meant "son of." The English apparently forced the Welsh to drop the "ab/ap" prefix, and replace it with a "P" or "B." Therefore, Ap Rhys became "Price," "Pryce," "Bryce," "Brice," and even "Rees," "Rhys," and so on.

Our Price name was once spelled Pryce, since the Price Family Bible (now in the Pardeeville, Wisconsin, Museum), has it so listed. Furthermore, Sarah Humphrey's Hymn Book has written in it several times "Sarah Pryce"; in similar ink and adjacent to the name is the date "1856." However, the 1824 marriage record of John and Sarah Price, found at the Beguildy Parish, Powys, Wales, shows the spelling as "Price."

Sarah's maiden name has three alternative spellings. On their 1824 marriage certificate it shows "Humphries," though the "e" looks like an "o" to a modern reader. On a copy supplied in 1957 of their marriage certificate, before the days of photocopy machines, it is given as "Humphreys" though this may have been a recording error. However, in the 1942 Price Family Tree O. Allen spelled her last name as "Humphrey." In this present Family Tree I have continued with the convention "Humphrey" though "Humphries" could be the earliest and clearest spelling.

John Price is as far back as we can trace; we know nothing of his parents or siblings. He was born in 1799, and died November 26, 1880. On John and Sarah Price's Marriage Certificate an "Edward Price" is listed as being present, but we do not know the relationship between John and Edward. We know from Sarah Humphrey's Hymnbook that her mother's maiden name was Elizabeth Williams, but that is all. Sarah was born in 1809, and died November 26, 1888.

John and Sarah Price were married June 7, 1824, at the Beguildy Parish, Powys, Wales. The town Beguildy is on the same latitude as Aberystwyth, near the English border. Old family records indicate that they were married in a county called "Radnorshire" (Shire means County); Radnorshire was consolidated into the modern county "Powys." The Beguildy Parish is near a little town called Felindre, one to two miles from Beguildy. The huge stone church was built in 1665, and is located across the road from the Radnorshire Arms Pub. The old church is now an Episcopalian church called St. Michael, though John and Sarah were devout Baptists.

Their first home was a farm called the "Waen" or "Wayne" farm, located near the town of Llanbister, Beguildy Parish, about five miles away from Beguildy. The original farm has fallen down, but is still known today as the Waen Farm, where, as of 1991 a Dave Thomas lived. Several of John and Sarah's children were apparently born there.

The Prices then moved to the Bryndu Farm (“bryndu” meaning “black hill” in Welsh), near the town of Felindre. The mountains in the area are called the Black Mountains. The original farmhouse still stands, and as of 1991 was owned by Bill and Joan Watson. There is on old castle nearby called the Dinboud Castle.

In 1846, two years before Wisconsin became a state, and two years before gold was discovered in California, the first two of John and Sarah's children, John II and Edward, came to the United States. John II was married to Jane George, and they came with other George sisters and their husbands. They left Liverpool, England, on the ship Niagara, in June and arrived in the United States in August. Their trip took 5 weeks. After landing at New York, they traveled up the Erie Canal, through the Great Lakes, to Kenosha, Wisconsin, and settled in Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin. In 1855, driving their cattle before them, they moved to Columbia County, Wisconsin. They settled in an area to be known as Welsh Prairie.

John II and Edward built a house for their parents in the Springvale Township between Rio and Pardeeville, in Columbia County, Wisconsin. John and Sarah Price traveled to the United States in 1856 on the ship Antarctica, taking 5 weeks. Sarah was sick during the entire voyage, and gave birth to Moses, who died en route and was buried at sea. The record is ambiguous as to where they landed--some family history says Baltimore, Maryland, yet a document showing residency in Wisconsin says the port of New York (Ellis Island was put into service in 1892). In any event, they traveled by rail to the end of the line at Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. They bought oxen and a wagon into which they loaded their belongings, including the family bible and a brass and copper bed warmer with a long wooden handle, brought from Wales. All of the family walked, except Sarah, who had been sick. They came to Fort Winnnebago, near the confluence of the Fox and the Wisconsin Rivers, in Columbia County, Wisconsin. There they stayed until they moved on to the house John II and Edward had built at the edge of Welsh Prairie.

John and Sarah were very religious and in Wales were active in church affairs; when they came to America the nearest Baptist Church was in Portage, a distance of 12 miles from their home. On many Sunday mornings they arose early and went by ox team or walked to Portage to attend services. John and Sarah are buried in the Cemetery at Wyocena, Wisconsin.

John II, born 1825	Jeremiah, born 1844
Elizabeth, born 1829	Mary, born 1846
Edward, born 1832	Emma, born 1849
Thomas, born 1836	Jane, born 1852
Sarah, born 1838	Moses, born 1854; died age two on ship
Richard, born 1842	Samuel, died in infancy; not in Price Bible

Generations of Prices have tried to keep in contact with their widespread relatives. In 1929 the first Price Family reunion was held in Pardeeville, Wisconsin, and were held annually there for 27 years until the 100th anniversary in 1956, the last reunion.

••The above was paraphrased and gleaned from documents prepared by Myrtle Peterson, Doris Collingee, Persis Ackerman, Blanch Price, Warren Allen, and Osmyn Allen. There were some inconsistencies amongst the materials, and I have done my best to reconcile them--Steven Price, Madison, Wisconsin, 1999••

The first Price Family Tree was published in 1942 by Osmyn Allen; it had approximately 800 names. The present work has more than 2,500. We thank the dozens of people that have contributed their interest and time to this continuing project.