UNSTINTED SERVICE--INSPIRATION--GOES TO THE NORTHWESTERN STATES
AS A MISSIONARY--HEALTH FAILS AND HE RETURNS--SHOCKING DEATH OF
SON DAVID--LIMB AMPUTATED--PATRIARCHAL BLESSING--INCIDENT IN LOGAN
TEMPLE--TRIP TO ENGLAND TO OBTAIN GENEALOGY.
DURING the succeeding few years Thomas spent more time even than usual
in the performance of his public duties in the ward, and the marvel is
that he was able to make a living and do so much gratuitous work. He
pays a high tribute in his memoir to the devoted service and efficient
help he received from his wife, who was as kind to his children as if
they had been her own, and of great assistance and comfort to him.
He and his sons generally worked in partnership in the raising and
marketing of garden produce. In this they were prosperous, and
their relations harmonious. The following is casually mentioned in
his narrative, and will serve to illustrate the inspiration Thomas
frequently enjoyed.
One day his son David had started to town with an extra big load of
garden truck, and some time later, while Thomas and his wife were
eating breakfast, he said to her: "Ann, David has broken his wagon, and
is in a bad fix, as he is some distance from where he expected to sell
his load."
It was learned when David returned in the evening that he had broken
his wagon, and had great difficulty in securing another wagon and
transferring his load to it, all of which delayed him about three
hours, and when he arrived in town all the stores were supplied.
Feeling very much discouraged, he was about to start for another part
of the city, when a man from Park City happened along and looked at
David's load, and, as he found it included just the things he wanted,
he bought the entire load. The father told him it was through the power
of the Lord that the man was sent to him, so that he might sell his
produce.
One day when he and his wife were eating breakfast an impression came
over Thomas that they were going to have trouble of some kind before
night, and he mentioned it to his wife. Just then his son Ephraim came
in and remarked that he was going to the canyon. His father asked him
not to go, but to remain at home and work, as he thought that some
trouble was going to occur. However, after the father had started
to the city, Ephraim went to the canyon, and, in felling a tree,
accidently killed one of his horses, by the tree hitting it.
About this time the Bishop of Bountiful was absent from home a great
deal, and Thomas, acting as head teacher, was required to assume the
Bishop's duties to a large extent; indeed from his memoir it appears
that his public service consumed nearly all of his time. It is little
to be wondered at that his sons and son-in-law, who had been associated
with him in the raising and marketing of garden produce, decided to
dissolve partnership and operate separately. Thomas, in his memoir,
expresses gratitude to them for their forbearance in having been
willing for him to devote such a large share of his time to caring for
the poor, and other public duties.
One member of a company or association may feel willing (as Thomas did)
to devote the whole of his time, if necessary, to gratuitous service,
but if his interest in the partnership or association is based upon
the assumption that his time belongs to the company, his associates
in business necessarily become servitors when he serves, whether
willingly so or not. Thomas' sons and son-in-law were good men, and not
ungenerous, but were not prepared in their feelings to make unlimited
sacrifice for the public good, and their revolt was quite natural.
Later, however, his son Ephraim decided to still work with his father,
and they built a greenhouse to be the better able to carry on their
business.
The year 1882 marked the half century of Thomas' life, and he was
deeply grateful to the Lord for having spared his life so long--much
longer than he had hoped to live, and the joy he experienced in
contemplating the future of his posterity. His love for the poor found
expression on the first day of the year in his entertaining the poor
residents of Bountiful, about fifty in number, at his home, and on the
following day all of his children and all of his wife's children by a
former husband came to his home loaded down with good things, and gave
him a genuine surprise party, and had a time of rejoicing.
Having received a call from the First Presidency to fill a mission to
the Northwestern States, a number of his relatives and friends gave him
another surprise party on the 22nd of April, 1883, and presented him
with a purse of $30.00 to help defray his expenses, for which he felt
very grateful. He mentions in particular one poor widow who had to work
for her living, who sent him $1.00 and a silk hankerchief.
On the 1st of May he left his home to labor as a missionary under the
direction of Elder W. M. Palmer, and in his diary expresses a doubt
whether a missionary ever set out under such circumstances as he did.
The two running sores on his leg were very painful, and he walked with
difficulty. While on the way Elder Palmer evidently realized for the
first time how serious Thomas' ailment was, and expressed a doubt about
his being able to endure the hardships incident to missionary life, and
especially the damp climate prevailing in the northwest.
On reaching Minnesota, he was assigned to labor with Wm. H. Wright, of
Ogden, but was taken so desperately sick soon after reaching his field
of labor in Wisconsin that Elder Palmer hastened to release him, lest
he might die there.
He arrived home a little less than four months after he left, having
slightly improved in health during the journey home.
As soon as he was able to walk about, he resumed his former labors of
caring for the poor and comforting and encouraging those who were weak
in the faith. He records in his diary the fact that he was prompted
by the Spirit to visit a poor woman who had been abandoned by her
husband. As she had not previously been dependent upon the ward for
help, he disregarded the prompting until the Lord warned him a second
time to call upon her. He found then that she had been subsisting upon
a few potatoes, and was really in need of food. He soon provided her
with what was required to make her comfortable, and asked the Lord to
forgive him for failing to act promptly upon the warnings of His Spirit.
About the middle of June, 1884, Thomas had a visit from his son David,
who informed him that he had been so greatly blessed, and done so well
materially, since he was married, that he had decided to go to school
during the following winter, and prepare himself for a mission. Nothing
that he could have proposed would have pleased his father more than
this for he desired above all things that his posterity should devote
themselves to the service of the Lord.
Only a few days later, June 19th, 1884, David stepped in front of the
sickle bar of his mowing machine to unhitch his horses, after having
been engaged in cutting grass about two miles from home, when the
horses suddenly started, catching his feet in the sickle bar and nearly
severing them. He had to go ten miles for medical aid, and the doctor
amputated his feet. The weather was very warm, and blood poisoning set
in, and on the 27th of June, eight days after the accident, he died.
Thomas was quite sick at the time, and was grief-stricken over his
son's death. He had counted so confidently on his son's death. He
had counted so confidently on his son's future development as a good
and useful man, and the head of a large family, that he felt the
disappointment very keenly, and could hardly be reconciled to his death.
During the summer of 1885, his sons were necessarily absent from home
much of the time, and Thomas was under the necessity of working alone.
While doing so he accidentally fell from his wagon one day, and hurt his
lame leg very severely. The neighbors carried him into the house, and
persuaded him to send for a doctor. The doctor came, and said the leg
was very badly hurt, and that his patient would have to lie in bed for
fully a month.
One night soon afterwards Thomas had a vision. He saw a bright light
come through the east window of the room in which he lay, which seemed
to move along the wall until it was opposite to where he was lying,
when it stopped. A voice came from the light, which said: "Go to the
hospital, and have that limb taken off; for you have a work to perform
which you cannot do with the limb on."
Thomas was amazed, and kept looking at the light, when the voice was
again heard, saying: "You doubt it, as you think if you go you will
leave your family in debt, as you have not much money; but you need
not fear, for means will be provided for you. And when you get the
limb off, send for another limb, and you will astonish both saint and
sinner, as you will be able to put it on as soon as you get it; and the
train which shall bring your limb shall be delayed for a short time."
This was the vision, as far as he could relate it, and the light
vanished the same as it had come. He told his family of it, and
requested his son Ephraim to see Dr. Anderson, and tell him he was
ready to have his limb amputated.
He went to the hospital on the 15th of December, 1885, and two days
later the leg was amputated six inches from his body. Many of his
friends, knowing his condition, expressed the belief that he would
never come out of the hospital alive, but all went well, and on the
31st of January, 1886, he rode home from the hospital in a surrey.
While lying in the hospital, Brother Briggs asked a patriarch who
called to see him, if he had a blessing for him. After looking at him
for some time, the patriarch said he had, and placing his hands upon
the patient's head, told him not to fear, for he should get well. He
also said that angels were watching over him, and that he would live to
accomplish a great work in the Temple--such as he had never conceived
of.
For many months after Thomas returned from the hospital he experienced
the sensation of pain in the missing foot. He could get no relief from
it day or night, and found that it was wearing his wife out, waiting
upon him. After much persuasion he induced his sons to exhume his leg,
which was buried in the cemetery, straighten out the toes, which he
felt must be in a cramped position, and put it in a larger box. About
the time when the leg was dug up and the box opened, Thomas, though
fully two miles distant, felt two sympathetic throbs in the stump of
the limb, and then it turned ice cold. He remarked to his wife that
they had taken the lid off the box. After the limb had been carefully
wrapped in absorbent cotton and placed in a larger box, he felt very
comfortable.
Early in March, 1886, he received a bill from the hospital for $85.00
and one from the doctor for $100.00, but had no money with which to pay
either. Besides, the Spirit told him to get an artificial leg as soon
as he could, and that would cost $100.00, if paid in advance. Money was
very scarce at the time, and loans hard to obtain; but after praying to
the Lord to direct him where to go to get some money, he had his son
take him out with a horse and buggy for the purpose of borrowing some,
without having any definite idea where to go to.
They had only driven a short distance when they saw some one coming
towards them with a horse and buggy, and Thomas asked his son to stop
his horse when they met. It proved to be Ether Coltrin, and Thomas told
him he would like to borrow a little money. Brother Coltrin immediately
asked if he could get along with $100.00, and was told that he could.
The loan was immediately arranged for, and part of it paid to the
hospital and the balance to the doctor.
Thomas then appealed to the Lord to know where he could go to obtain
the price of the artificial leg, and a few days later Daniel Davis came
to him and said: "Thomas, if you want to get a little money, I can let
you have some." When told that he needed $100.00, he said he could have
it.
He had the stump of the limb measured and the limb ordered in April,
and in due time received, and the delay predicted occurred while the
train bearing it was on the way. He was able to wear it immediately,
and during the latter part of the year he and his family were laboring
in the Logan Temple (which had just been dedicated) for the living and
the dead.
Brother Briggs has recorded in his diary this circumstance, which
occurred in the Temple while he was present: As a great many persons
were on the stairs of the assembly room, President Taylor discerned
in the multitude a woman unworthy of admission. He did not know her,
but he said to President Card, "Turn that woman back." He afterwards
explained that the Spirit had told him that she had no business there.
It was subsequently discovered that she had a forged recommend.
Being unable to cultivate his land that year, Thomas let it out on
shares to his sons, who planted it to tomatoes and cucumbers. Just as
they had made sufficient growth to be looking fine, a terrific hail
and wind storm occurred, one of the worst ever known in that region,
but, although nearly all the surrounding crops were destroyed, those
in Thomas' field were not injured--which he naturally considered very
providential, and thanked the Lord for favoring him.
With the advent of 1888, Thomas was strongly impressed with the
fact that it was his duty to go to England and seek genealogical
information; in fact, this feeling had been with him ever since he
was in the hospital, at the time his leg was amputated, and when many
regarded his recovery as very doubtful. The Spirit of the Lord had
said to him then, "Prepare to go to England in 1888, and hunt up your
genealogy."
He was in poor health and without funds, but didn't feel that those
facts would excuse him from complying with the requirement of the
Lord, if he could borrow the funds, for whenever he had borrowed
anything in the past because duty required it, the Lord had afterwards
provided a way for repaying the loan. With a desire in his heart that
the Lord would enable him to obtain the necessary funds, he attended
the April Conference, and as he entered the Temple Block gate he saw
a man standing there whom he was prompted to apply to for a loan. He
explained the purpose for which he wanted it, and obtained the desired
amount without hesitation.
He went to England, traveled 1800 miles after he arrived there, met
many relatives, was kindly received, collected two hundred names of his
kindred dead, and arrived home seventeen weeks after he started.
In the spring of 1889 prospects indicated a great scarcity of water to
irrigate with, and Thomas was worried as a consequence. Besides, he
found himself burdened with a heavy indebtedness as a result of his
trip to England, but, by cultivating four acres of land in addition to
his own, he paid off all his indebtedness and had enough left to keep
his family well provided, so that he felt that the Lord had blessed him
for following the promptings of His Spirit.