His residence is commonly given as Tyllwyd Farm in the parish of Cadoxton-juxta-Neath


A marriage entry in the records at Salt Lake City shows David marrying Jane Williams on 15 June 1793 at Merthyr Tydvil, Glamorgan, Wales. "A Copy of the Register Books at Merthyr Tydvil from April 12, 1793: Marriages in the Year 1793" found in the National Library of Wales at Aberystweth has the entry, "June 15, David Thomas of this parish and Mary Williams of Cellygaer." It is likely that her name was Mary Jane.

The couple produced 3 daughters, Joan, Jane and Ann (Meriam Schmeig's 3-greats grandmother). She was christened on 1 Mar 1800, married a farmer, Hopkin Hopkins and died 13 Feb 1881. Her sisters also married farmers. This being a transitional time in the Bryncoch district, moving from an agrarian to an industrial system, her brother David opted for a career in industry rather than in farming, and became famous in America for his formula of producing steel from anthracite coal.

Two large estates dominated the Bryncoch district - Dyffryn, owned by the Williams family, and Cilybebyll, owned by the Lloyds. Farms to the south were tenanted by David Thomas and to the north by John Hopkins. By force of their geographical isolation, they were a closely knit, interbred, Welsh speaking group, then experiencing some agricultural distress through a long period of wet, unproductive harvest s caused by meteorological disturbance.

In letters to America to their son David, Jane mentions her son-in-law, Hopkin Hopkins, owing money loaned to save his farmland.

Squire John Williams died in 1794, the last in the male line of his family, which had held this estate from c.a. 1600. David Thomas, Sr. served the squire as an Agent or Bailiff in his time, and probably continued when William's three daughters inherited the land.

In May 1995, Meriam's correspondent from Bryncoch, Alan Hayward, happened to meet a 91-year-old man who actually lived in the Thomas farmhouse between 1905 and 1916. His family, Ball by name, had come from Birmingham to manage the New Wernddu Mine Brickworks established just a half mile west of the farm at the foot of Drummau Mountain.

Also included in my very fruitful correspondence with Mr. Hayward was a copy of a letter dated 23 Mar 1867 from David Thomas in Catasauqua, to his niece, Jane Bowen, nee Harris, in Wales. Referring to her new married name of Bowen, he writes: "My ancestors were proud of this as a great many relations of my mother's mother were of that name, that being her maiden name." And so we learn that the mother of Mary Thomas, nee Williams, bore the maiden name of Bowen.

David Thomas, Sr. and his wife were highly respected in their parish, with David serving as a churchwarden, despite the fact that he was a Dissenter. He was a member of the Independent Religious Community at Maes Yr Haf Chapel, Neath for 40 years Mary Jane was a member for 60 years, surviving her husband by 20 years. They were buried in a cemetery next to the chapel, but their graves were disturbed when rebuilding took place in 1864.