D&C 124:132
Birth: 22 July 1807, Whitehall , Washington , New York
Son of Thomas
Grover, Sr., and Polly Spaulding
Death: 20 February 1887, Farmington , Davis ,
Utah
Thomas’ father
died six months before his birth. He was
reared by his mother and step-father, David Young, in a canal town near Lake Champaigne Lake Erie by age 12.
In later years he was captain of the freighter vessel “The Shamrock,”
traversing the waterways from southern Quebec
to New York City and westward to Buffalo .
He
married Caroline Whiting in 1828 in Whitehall
and they became the parents of seven children.
In 1830 Thomas moved to western New York ,
where he purchased a farm in Freedom, Catteraugus County
On
15 March 1835 he sold his farm for $500 and moved to Kirtland. There he visited the home of the
Prophet. As the prophet greeted him, he
declared, “If ever God sent a man he sent you.
I want every dollar….that you have got in the world.”2 The money freely proffered was used to obtain
building materials needed for the construction of the Kirtland Temple
The faithfulness of Thomas to the
gospel truths led to his call to the Kirtland High Council. As religious persecution raged he fled with
his family from Ohio to Missouri , where in August 1837 he was called
to serve on the Far West High Council (D&C 124:131-32). Again hatred and bigotry forced him to flee,
leaving property and goods valued at $2,600.
Thomas
settled with exiled Saints in Nauvoo, where he purchased farmland and built a
large frame home valued at $800. In
Nauvoo his wife of 12 years died in October 1840, leaving him six young
daughters to raise. On 20 February 1841
Thomas was married to Caroline Eliza Nickerson by William Smith and they became
the parents of four children.
In
Nauvoo his service to the church and community was noteworthy—Nauvoo High
Council, captain and an aid-de-camp on the general staff of the Nauvoo Legion,
and personal bodyguard to the Prophet.
Intermingled with this service were three short missions from 1840-44 to
Mississippi , Michigan ,
and Canada . Although extremely ill when called to Canada the
Prophet promised: “Brother Grover you are very feeble but God will bless you
and you shall be blessed and strengthened from this very hour.” 3 The promise was fulfilled. Another promise given by Hyrum Smith in a
patriarchal blessing was also fulfilled, “Your name will be written in the
chronicles of your brethren and perpetuated by your posterity unto the latest
generation.”4
After
the martyrdom Thomas escorted the bodies of Joseph and Hyrum from Carthage to Nauvoo. His daughter Mary Elizabeth Grover wrote, “My
father Thomas Grover helped wash and prepare them for burial.”5 A lock of the Prophet’s hair cut by Thomas
was placed in a locket by widow Emma smith.
Thomas
Grover and his family were among the first to leave Nauvoo in February 1846. While crossing the Mississippi
River on a flatboat they lost most of their possessions. Brigham Young described the scene:
. . . a filth wicked man squirted
some tobacco juice into the eyes of one of the oxen attached to Thomas Grover’s
wagon which immediately plunged into the river, dragging another ox with him,
and as he was going overboard he tore off one of the side boards, which caused
the water to flow into the flatboat.6
Generosity of other pioneers
enabled the family to proceed across Iowa . At Cutler’s Park, Thomas again served on a
high council before joining the vanguard company of pioneers in 1847. He is remembered for operating a ferry across
the Platte River
Thomas
arrived in the Salt
Lake Valley Centerville , where he built a small cabin and
farmed the land. To prevent crickets
from devouring his crops he dug a ditch around the filed an filled it with
water. He then walked along the bank,
and killed the crickets with switches as they attempted to jump the water. Contention over water rights arose and Thomas
sold his land and moved north to Farmington
where he built a cabin that was “as bad as out of doors.”9
He
left Farmington at the request of Brigham Young
to help settle disturbances among the Saints in California .
According to his son his adventures in California included Indians and gold:
While camping in lower California
the Indians stole their horses and they had to walk to Sacramento , depending on what game they could
find for food. Gold having been
discovered in California , he joined in mining
until 1849: when he returned to his family in Salt Lake Valley
On September 1849 the Deseret
News reported, “. . . $1,280 in coin and $3,000 in dust in tithing which
had been brought in from Amasa M. Lyman by Thomas Grover.” According to family tradition he also gave
$500 to the building of the Salt
Lake Temple
Gold
for personal use helped buy 150 cattle in the east that were brought to the
Valley. Through this means and his own
ingenuity Thomas became prosperous and built a home in Farmington
that for years was known as the “Grover
Mansion
During
the 1850s Thomas was prominent in civic affairs. In 1854 he represented Davis
County in the Utah legislature and was a member of the
Counties and Public Works Committee. In
1855 he served a home mission strengthening the Saints in the Salt Lake and
Tooele Counties Davis county in the Deseret Agricultural and
Manufacturing Society. In 1859 he was
again elected to the territorial legislature and in 1862 attended the
Constitutional Convention. From 1862-64
he was the probate judge for Davis
County
An
unusual situation reared in December 1863 that led to Thomas being
disfellowshipped from the Church “until he makes satisfaction [for] . . .
refusing to pay . . . a small debt due for school teaching, in wheat, flour or
corn.”13 It is assumed that
“satisfactions” was made fro within the month the First Presidency stayed in
his home and dedicated the new Farmington
chapel built on a portion of the land he had donated.
At
age 67 Thomas served a mission to the eastern states, preaching from Illinois to New York
before returning to Utah
in 1875. In 1887 he became the senior
member of the Davis High Council. This
assignment ended when he was pursued by deputy marshalls for practicing the doctrine of
plural marriage. When a marshall
sought his arrest in the “Grover
Mansion
. . . get me a Brother Joseph’s
sword . . . and watch while I cut this man’s head off! The prospect of the sword in the hand of
Thomas . . . a large, powerful, and firm-speaking man . . . was admittedly
frightening. At any rate, the stranger
quickly departed . . . without making his arrest.14
On 16 February
1887 he attended sacrament meeting in the Farmington Ward. As the closing prayer ended, “Thomas suddenly
raised his hand and said: ‘Wait a minute bishop.’ Then he added that he could not go home until
he had born his testimony that the gospel is true and the Joseph Smith was a
prophet of God.”15 On Monday, 17
February he presided over the Davis High Council meeting and returned home feeling
ill. On Thursday, 20 he died from
pneumonia at Farmington . His daughter eulogized:
My father was loved by all who knew
him. He never spoke evil of anyone; he
did not boast, and he did not take honor unto himself. Many time he has divided his last meal with a
sufferer. His word was as good as his
bond. He could neither be bought nor
sold.16
1.
Autobiography of Joseph Holbrook, typescript, BYU-S,
69.
2.
Mark Grover, “The Life of Thomas Grove, Utah Pioneer,” n.p.,
n.d., 10.
3.
Grover 19-20
4.
Patriarchal Blessing in author’s possession. As I wrote to the posterity of those
mentioned by name in the D&C, the greatest response came formt eh Thomas
Grover family.
5.
Grover 20.
6.
Ibid. 22.
7.
This sign is located in the Fort Casper , Wyoming
8.
Ibid. 28.
9.
Ibid. 31.
10.
Ibid. 32
11.
In later years the building was used to house men who
raced their horses at the Lagoon. It was
torn down in 1934.
12.
Grover 34.
13.
Ibid. 40
14.
Ibid. 43. The
Prophet Joseph Smith gave him a sword that is now I the hall of relics at the
State Capital of Utah.
15.
Ibid. 44.
16.
Andrew Jenson.
Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia: A Compilation of
Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Women in the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter-day Saints. Salt Lake City : Andrew Jenson History Company, 1901-35, 4:137
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