HISTORY OF THOMAS
GROVER
BORN—JULY 22, 1807
DIED—FEBRUARY 20,
1886
WRITTEN BY—MARGARET
HESS
CAMP—HELEN MAR MILLER
Thomas Grover ---
Pioneer of 1847
Born --- July 22,
1807, Whitehall Washington ,
New York
Died --- February 20,
1886, Farmington , Utah
History written by
Hannah Grover Hegsted
Helen Mar Miller
Camp, Farmington , Utah
Some Incidents in the
Life of Thomas Grover
Thomas
Grover Sr. was born July 22, 1807, in Whitehall ,
Washington New York . Capt. Thomas Grover, the father died in
February in 1807 I Whitehall New York, five months before the birth of his
son. Therefore the rearing and teaching
of the son was left to his widowed mother.
When
the boy was twelve years old he entered a boat on the Erie
Canal as a cabin boy and eight years later became the captain of
the boat the “Shamrock.”
He
married Caroline Whiting, the daughter of Nathaniel Whiting and Mercy Young and
while still living at Whitehall
their oldest daughter Jane, was born. A
little later they moved to Freedom N.Y. where their other children were
born. It was at this point that he first
heard the gospel and became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
Day Saints. He set out immediately for Kirtland , Ohio
As
he knocked at the door, the Prophet opened it and putting out his hand said,
“How do you do, Bro. Grover? If ever God
sent a man he sent you. I want every
dollar of money that you have got.”
Grandfather went into the house and they talked over the situation and
grandfather told him that he could let him have what money he needed. Brother Joseph then told him to look around
and find a place that suited and that his money would be ready for him. In a short time the place was selected, but
when the Prophet offered the money back grand father said he did not need it,
that he had sufficient without it to make the purchase.
From
that day the devotion of Thomas Grover to Joseph Smith never wavered. From that day he was a most trustworthy
friend and brother.
Feb. 4, 1841 when
the Nauvoo Legion was organized with Joseph Smith as Liet. General, Thomas
Grover was chosen as an aid-de-camp on the General’s staff and on January 28,
1842 he was named as one of his body guard.
When Joseph was
kidnapped by Wilson and Reynolds, Bro. Thomas was one of the number who rescued
him, also when he was imprisoned at Rock
Island , Bro. Grover and Bro. Markham effected his
release.
He was sent on
three missions by the Prophet from 1840 to 1844. While doing missionary work in Michigan , near Kalamazoo ,
he was warned in a dream to return at once to Nauvoo. He hesitated about the matter until the
warning was repeated three times, when he awakened his companion, Bro. Wilson,
and they got up and made it a matter of prayer and were told to go at once to
Nauvoo. They did so, taking the shortest
route possible. They arrived at Carthage just after the
martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum and hurrying forward overtook the company and accompanied them to Nauvoo where
grandfather was requested to assist in the preparation of the bodies of the
martyred Prophet and Patriarch for burial.
During that service at the request of Emma Smith he cut a lock from the
Prophet’s hair which she divided with him.
During his lifetime, the Prophet
gave a sword to Thomas which has been a precious heirloom in the family and is
now in the hall of relics in the State Capitol of Utah.
In October 1840, Bro. Grover’s wife
Caroline died leaving six little girls.
Feb. 20, 1841 he married Caroline Elize Nickerson Hubbard, the widow of
Marshall Hubbard. She became the mother
of Percia born Dec. 27, 1841, and marshall born the 27th of Sept.
1846. This wife Caroline E. Nickerson
wrote in her journal that the principle of plural marriage was taught by the
Prophet Joseph Smith and that her husband Thomas Grover believed and accepted
that law and on Dec. 17, 1844, he married Hannah Tupper, as a plural wife. The first child of that union Thomas Jr. was
born November 17, 1845 in Nauvoo. In
Dec. 1845 they had their endowments in the Nauvoo Temple
Feb. 8 1846. This family along with many others left their
comfortable homes and started the long trek across Iowa .
When they were crossing the Mississippi
rover on a flatboat, the boat was sunk by a plank being stamped off by the oxen
that they were leading behind the wagons.
In trying to loosen the oxen grandfather had got off the boat and was
down the stream some little distance when he saw only the covers of the wagon
above the water. Being an expert
swimmer, he soon reached the boat and tore the covers loose and told the folks
not to move an inch and not a hair of their heads would be harmed. There were twenty-two souls on the boat and
they clung to the bows and not one soul was lost. His wife Hannah held her ten weeks old baby
on her shoulder to keep him above the water; and little three year old Percia
cried, “Lord, save my little heart”. For
four months they travelled I the snow and cold until they reached Mt. Pisgah
Grandfather at
once began to prepare for winter. He
went down into Missouri
and bought a load of fresh pork which he sold for enough cornmeal to last the
family all winter. He was appointed
butcher for the entire camp and killed and cut up, without any help except that
of his own family, on or two beaves every day besides many hogs.
When the plan came
up to organize the first company of Pioneers, grandfather was one of the first
ones to join with President Young and help effect that organization. Leaving his family at Winter Quarters to
follow with the seasons’ emigration, he himself set out with the pioneer company. Bro. Thomas with the pioneer company took his
full share of the work and also faced the dangers. One day two large male buffalo came up to the
camp as if to look it over. Grandfather
and Thomas Bullock walked out to within a few rods of them and studied them in
their wild life. May 8, Bro. W. C. A.
Smoot’s horse ran away, it being the second time in a week. President Young and Heber C. Kimball rode out
to stop them, but Thomas Grover and John Brown set their horses out at full
speed and after riding more than a mile right through an immense herd of
buffalo, they finally overtook the runaways and brought them back.
When the company
came to the Platte river it was necessary to
build a ferry to carry the wagons across.
Bro. Grover was appointed to supervise the construction of this ferry
and to take charge of operating the same.
He selected his men to go to the timber with him and they got out two
large trees, hewed them out canoe fashion and then lashed them together to make
the raft. After ferrying the Pioneer
company across, they also took over a large company of Oregon emigrants for which they were paid in
provisions that was a great blessing to them.
Sufficient food was received to last the entire pioneer company
twenty-three days. After this crossing
had been successfully made, President Young and his counselors decided to
appoint Thomas Grover and eight other ferrymen and one blacksmith to remain at
the ferry and attend to the crossing for the oncoming emigrants as well as the
later companies of Latter Day Saints.
They remained at the Platte until the
water went down and then started back along the trail. They ran out of provision and had only one
skunk in three days, until they met the company with whom their families were
travelling and joining with them they arrived in the Valley Oct. 2, 1847 with
Charles C. Rich’s Company.
The first winter
was spent in Salt Lake , but the following spring, they moved up to Duel
creek in what is now known as Centerville . That season, grandfather raised three hundred
bushels of wheat in spite of the ravaging of the crickets, which the family
fought desperately to keep them from eating all the crops.
In the fall of
1848, as he and about thirty others were starting fro California, he was asked
to use his influence with this company (himself included) to pay for 500 head
of Texas cattle which had been bargained for and brought to Utah to keep the
Mormons from starvation. This they did
by paying four dollars a head for them after the men had earned it in California . At this same time President Young also
appointed Bro. Grover to settle up the accounts and business connected with the
saints who came around Cape Horn with ship Brooklyn . This responsibility he also accomplished.
He worked in the
gold mine for a year; and during that time he collected $22,000 in gold dust
from the California
members of the church, and turned it into the tithing fund of the Church. In addition of this, on the return home he
was chosen captain for a rich company of Mormons returning to Utah , when by his influence and example the
company put into the hands of the Church leaders in tithing and loans such a
generous contribution of gold dust that President Young putting his hands on
Bro. Grover’s shoulders said, “Bro. Thomas if every Latter Day Saint would do
as you have done there would be no need of a tithing among this people.”
In the spring of
1850, grandfather took his family and went back across the plains to Iowa to buy cattle. He returned in 1853 bringing one hundred and
fifty cows with him. He was an excellent
marksman and thus was able to supply his family with buffalo meat and other
wild game during the trip.
After his return
he again settled in Farmington ;
the year of the grasshopper’s distruction he had plowed his land in the fall
and during a warm spell in February he planted his wheat. It came on early and was nearly all ready for
harvesting before the grasshoppers got so bad while the late grain was nearly
all eaten. That season he harvested
seven hundred bushels of wheat which would have brought five dollars a bushel
on the public market, but grandfather loaned and sold every bushel, except
enough for his own family, at the tithing office price of two dollars a bushel.
At this time,
Sister Brown, a widow sent her boy to ask Bro. Grover to sell her a little
flour. Grandfather told his son to fill
the boy’s sack. The boy asked how much a
whole sack of flour would cost for he had only a little money, to which
grandfather replied, “I do not sell flour to widows and fatherless
children.” The flour was put upon the
wagon and the happy boy drove away in tears.
When the Hand Cart
Companies came into the valley in 1856, two girls, Emma and Elizabeth Walker
were with them. Although both were named
Walker they
were not relatives. Both were married to
Thomas Grover within a few months after their arrival, and both reared large
families.
Bro. Grover served
three terms in the Utah Legislature. He
was Probate Judge of Davis Co.
He contributed 25
young cows toward the construction of the canal in Cottonwood canyon for the
purpose of transporting the granite for the Salt Lake Temple
In 1861 when the
Perpetual Emigration Fund was established, he sent a driver and wagon and a
yoke of oxen back to the Missouri river to
help bring in the immigrating saints. He
continued this practice each year as long as wagons were being sent. His son Thomas was the driver of the team one
year. He went on a mission to the
eastern states in 1874, and visited his old home and kindred on that occasion.
When the Indians
fell upon the Mormon colony at Salmon
River , Idaho
He was punctual to
the dot in all his appointments. A
common saying with him was, “If I were going to be hung, I would go on
time.” In his creed a debt could never
be outlawed.
Returning again to
his church activity: He was ordained a
High Councilman in Kirtland Jan. 13, 1836 under the hands of Joseph Smith and
Hyrum and Sidney Rigdon, Rigdon being spokesman. He served also in this capacity in Farr West
Missouri and also on the banks of the Missouri river . He was called by revelation to be a member of
the High Council in Nauvoo and continued on into Utah at the request of President Young
during the travel across the plains. On
Monday evening Feb 17, 1886 he presided at the High Council meeting and on
Thursday February 20 he passed to the great beyond, leaving four wives and
twenty-six children to carry on his work.
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