LOCATES IN BOUNTIFUL—GENEROSITY OF NEIGHBORS—RECOGNIZED HOME SHOWN HIM IN DREAM—BURNED OUT—RUNS A SAW MILL—DEATH OF WIFE—CHILD TERRIBLY SCALDED, RECOVERS—BRIGHAM YOUNG'S PROMISE—MARRIES AGAIN—COMFORTING TESTIMONIES.

THOMAS and his family spent a few days in Salt Lake, studying over the question, of where to locate. While wondering what to do, the thought occurred to him to inquire where an old-country friend of his, named Joseph Reed lived, of whom he had heard nothing for fourteen years. While walking up towards the Temple Block he felt prompted to inquire at the Deseret News Office. He was there informed that a man of that name lived at Bountiful.

The next morning he took the stage for that place. He found the man he was looking for, and they had a long and friendly chat. Brother Reed advised Thomas to come and make his home in Bountiful, where he could find plenty of feed for his cattle, and where he might also obtain work. Or, if he preferred to go to a new region, where he could locate on as much land as he desired, Bear Lake Valley was suggested as a good place, though rather distant.

Thomas felt that he had done all the traveling he cared to for one year, and preferred to establish a temporary home to determine where he could locate permanently to the best advantage. He accordingly returned to Salt Lake City and took his family to Bountiful. They arrived there Saturday evening, and attended meeting the next day—the first time he had been so privileged for over ten years.

The family lived in their wagon for the first two weeks, and during that time Thomas was given the privilege of helping his friend husk corn, getting every sixth bushel husked for his share. Then he rented a one-roomed house at $3.00 per month and set up housekeeping in it. They had no furniture, but converted a large box, (which they had their clothing packed in while making their journey across the plains) into a table, and made seats by buying a few slabs and boring holes in them, in which to insert sticks to serve as legs. For want of bedsteads, they made their beds upon the floor. The room was not plastered, and they felt the cold severely at times, but they were thankful for the comforts they had. Under these conditions his son James was born, on the 6th of December, 1864, and, notwithstanding the winter was long and cold, the mother and babe continued to do well.

His nearest neighbor, John Spencer, proffered to lend Thomas two hundred pounds of flour until he could afford to repay it, and when he learned that it was the proceeds of wheat which Sister Spencer and her daughter had gleaned in the fields of their wealthier neighbors, after their harvest was over, his heart overflowed with gratitude therefor.

When their flour was exhausted, and they didn't know where to obtain any more, Joseph Reed offered to lend him flour or anything else in the edible line he had, and told him not to allow his family to suffer for want of food as long as he had any.

The generosity and unselfishness of these offers will be apparent when it is mentioned that flour at that time would sell at from $20.00 to $24.00 per hundred pounds.

He had not been living in Bountiful long when he recognized one particular locality as the very spot shown him in vision while sick in Wisconsin where he would build a house and make a home, and pointed it out to his wife. Upon inquiry of the man who owned the ground (two acres in extent, and unimproved) he found he could buy it for the sum of $100.00, and upon learning that he had no funds with which to buy it, the man was willing to give him time in which to pay for it. He bargained for it without hesitation, and after his first harvest paid for it in molasses at $4.00 per gallon.

In the early spring of 1865 he rented a few acres of land and planted the same to onions, beets, carrots, sugar cane and corn; he cultivated the land well, and obtained a good crop. In the meantime he built some sheds to shelter his animals, and a stackyard, and mowed quite a lot of hay on vacant land, and stacked this and his other produce in his yard.

In the early part of the following December, while he and his son Ephraim were away in the canyon after a load of wood, his stable and stackyard and their contents were accidentally burned to the ground. His first impulse on learning of it was to inquire if the family was safe. Being assured on that point, he said all that he had he had dedicated to the Lord, and if the Lord chose to make a burnt offering of it he had nothing to say. He would go on and work for more.

The fire not only had the effect of testing Thomas, but of developing the sympathy and generosity of his neighbors. Some of them gave him hay, others flour, etc., so that his loss by the fire was largely offset.

Soon afterwards Newton Tuttle proposed that Thomas go in partnership with him and buy an abandoned saw mill, in Holbrook canyon, and he did so. His activities during the next two or three years were largely in the line of lumbering, at which he worked very hard and effectively, first as a partner of Brother Tuttle, and later as sole owner of the saw mill.

On the 3rd of April, 1867, their daughter Hannah was born.

On the 23rd of March, 1868, he was elected school trustee, which position he filled for many years.

During that year also, the crops in this region suffered severely from the ravages of grasshoppers, and he, being called to act with two others in devising means and directing the work of destroying the pest, spent a good deal of time for the public good in that line.

In the latter part of that year he was called upon to help supervise the amusements of the young people, and prevent them from drifting into evil.

On the 13th of September, 1869, his wife gave birth to twins—Thomas E. and Elizabeth.

In that and succeeding years Thomas was used very extensively under the direction of the Bishop, as a kind of special teacher and peace-maker in the ward, in settling differences between neighbors, and laboring with backsliders to get them to do their duty.

On the 1st of June, 1872, his daughter, Martha, his ninth and last child, was born.

In the latter part of November, 1874, he fitted up a room in his house for a night school, for the benefit of any who could not attend school during the day time, and he himself, as well as many others, attended it.

About this time strong efforts were made to effect a species of co-operation among the residents of Bountiful, in the raising and marketing of garden products, and Thomas was appointed to take charge of the company that was organized; but, although he devoted much time and attention to it, the business did not prove successful, because of lack of union and experience on the part of the members.

His wife's health being very poor, he found it necessary to remain at home, and devoted himself to market gardening. He made a specialty of starting tomato, egg plant, and a few other vegetables (that up to that time had only been raised in very limited quantities in Utah) in a room of his house, in which he kept a fire constantly burning, and then setting them out much earlier than usual, on an extensive scale, and made it profitable.

He purchased some land on the bench above Bountiful, and also located quite an extensive tract, and extended the scope of his operations, his sons Ephraim, David and James working in company with him.

During the early part of 1876 his wife's health, which had been bad and growing worse for a long time, became such that he hardly dared to leave her. She was affected with dropsy, and much of the time almost helpless.

About this time he had a dream, which indicated to him that he would have to part with her, and when, on the 15th of July following, she suddenly died, the circumstances were in fulfillment of the dream, thus confirming what was predicted in tongues in 1849: that his trials should be shown him beforehand.

She had been a good and true wife, and mother, and he felt her death all the more keenly because of being in very poor health himself at the time. His leg, which was never free from pain, and always discharging, had been so much worse for some time that he could scarcely stand, and yet he felt compelled to assist in the work of the household, as well as to attend to his duties in the ward. Soon after the death of his wife, his youngest child, Martha, who was then four years old, in accidentally falling, plunged her arm into a pot of boiling brine which had just been lifted from the stove, and as she had a woolen dress on, which held the heat, her arm was practically cooked to the bone. From the top of her shoulder to her finger tips was like a piece of raw beef, and her father was the only one she would allow to wait upon her. As she could not lie in bed, she was kept seated in a rocking chair, and Thomas watched and waited upon her devotedly both night and day for three months. When he would dress her arm her agony would be so intense that she would tear the hair out of her head by the handful. It was only by the power of God that her life was saved and the use of her arm spared. When she did finally recover, her injured arm was just as good as the other.

The Temple in St. George had been completed by that time, and Thomas was strongly reminded of his father's dying injunction to "never forget the dead." He was so strongly impressed with the fact that it was his duty to go to St. George and have the work done for all of his ancestors whose names he had, that he talked the matter over with his neighbor, Newton Tuttle, who became so enthusiastic on the subject that he proffered to go to St. George with him, and to furnish the team to convey them on the trip.

Though impelled by the Spirit to go to the Temple, he still had doubts as to whether he would be allowed to engage in ordinance work therein, because of having the running sores on his leg. He accordingly conferred with Bishop Anson Call on the subject, but the Bishop was unable to answer his query.

Thomas then appealed to the Lord in prayer to know whether it was His will that he should go, and whether the dead knew what was being done on earth in their behalf. He had perfect confidence that the Lord would hear and grant his wish, as He had heard and answered his prayers many times in the past.

Directly afterward he had a dream in which he thought he was traveling from the north to the south, and that his wife's sister, Sarah, was with him. They were walking along the road, and he was talking to her of the things of the Gospel. They came to a very large field of wheat—the finest he had ever seen. He saw a number of men at work harvesting, as the wheat was ripe. Other men were seen lounging in the shade, and neglecting the crop, which seemed to be in danger of being wasted.

He asked his companion to observe the scene before them, as it was typical of worldly conditions—some doing their utmost to save the master's crop, while others are careless and indifferent.

All at once it seemed to grow dark—so dark that he could not see where to go, and he lost his companion. While standing still, wondering where to go, he saw a small light a long distance away, and as he approached it, it grew larger and brighter. Then a large white building appeared in view, such as he had never seen before. A number of steps led up from the east side, and the door stood open; but he could see no one around, and everything looked white as snow. He entered the door and looked around, and saw another flight of steps. At the top of the steps stood a woman whom he recognized as one of his neighbors, and who came towards him and embraced him.

He awoke and pondered over his dream, and came to the conclusion that the Lord had another wife for him, as the woman he saw seemed to be waiting for some one.

Some time after that he asked Bishop Call some questions concerning the dead, which the Bishop did not venture to answer, but suggested that he go and talk with President Brigham Young, and offered to go with him.

They accordingly visited President Young, who answered the questions that Thomas wanted to be enlightened upon in a way that was satisfying and very comforting to him, and explained Temple work to him in a way that he had never fully understood before.

After conversing about an hour, he said: "Brother Briggs, how many of the names of your dead kindred have you?" On learning that he had only seven names, he asked:

"And have you faith to travel to St. George, over three hundred miles distant, to do the work for seven dead persons?"

Thomas told him he had, and seemed surprised at his asking, for it had not occurred to him that it required a great amount of faith to do so.

"Well, the Lord bless you for your faith!" said President Young. "Go to St. George, and have the work done for those whose names you have. Travel comfortably and independently, making your own camp and sleeping in or under your wagon. Put the people along the way and in St. George to as little trouble as possible. If you require hay, bread or other supplies, pay for them. Then all the honor will be yours. You shall be blessed on the trip, and you shall never want for names of the dead to work for as long as you live."

He and Brother Tuttle secured their recommends to admit them to the Temple and commenced preparations for the journey. He also called upon Mrs. Ann Ashdown, the sister whom he had seen in his dream, and told her he was going to St. George, and asked if she would like to go along and become his wife and a mother to his children. He advised her to think about it, and give him a reply the next day.

The following day she gave her consent, and he told her to prepare for the journey. He then went to his son Ephraim and announced that he intended to marry, but didn't suppose that anyone could guess who his prospective bride was.

The son replied that he knew who his mother had said he would sometime marry, and named Sister Ashdown.

He then called upon his eldest daughter, Emma, and broke the news to her, as he had to his son. She too was prepared for it, and informed him that her mother, some time before her death, had predicted to her that Mrs. Ashdown would yet become her father's wife, either in time or eternity, as it had been made known to her in a vision. This was an additional evidence to Thomas that it was the Lord's will, for his wife had never even hinted to him that she ever had such an impression. She had, however, a short time before her death told him of two old maids with whom she had lived during her childhood, and who had sent her to school. She asked him to have the work done for them in the Temple, and to have them sealed to him.

Brother Tuttle and his daughter Emily, and Thomas and his daughter Emma, and prospective wife soon set out for St. George, where they arrived on the 24th of May, 1877.

They called upon Apostle Wilford Woodruff, who was then in charge of the Temple, the same day, and after he had endorsed their recommends, Thomas explained to him his condition, and asked whether he should keep the bandage on his leg or remove it. Brother Woodruff remained silent a few moments, as if communing with the Lord, and then told him to come to the Temple early the following morning and to remove the bandage.

Thomas recognized the Temple as soon as he saw it, as the building he had seen in his dream, and when he entered the Temple the scene was enacted that he had witnessed in the interior, although he had said nothing to anyone about the dream.

When his daughter Emma was baptized for his grandmother he received a powerful testimony that his ancestor had accepted of the work done in her behalf.

They all greatly rejoiced in the work they were privileged to do in the Temple, and felt amply repaid for the trouble and sacrifice which the trip involved.

They worked in the Temple during the whole of the week, and Thomas each day removed the bandage from his leg when he entered the Temple, as he had been advised to do, and noticed with interest and gratitude to the Lord, that there was no discharge whatever from the ulcers, but when he left the Temple in the afternoon each day, the suppuration recurred and continued until he entered the Temple the following day. Nor did he suffer any pain while in the Temple.

After finishing the work for all the dead whose names and genealogies they had, they drove out on their return journey a few miles and camped. That night, soon after Thomas had retired to rest in his bed under the wagon, his mother appeared to him. "You have made a mistake in giving in my genealogy," she said. "You have given the date upon which I was married instead of the date of my birth; but you need not go back now, as some of the family will soon come here, and then you can have the error corrected." She disappeared when Thomas was about to embrace her. This visit and the purpose of it, were testimonies to Thomas that the dead have a knowledge of the work being done in their behalf. It was also an answer to the prayer offered by Thomas when he sought for information upon that point. It was an evidence too, that the dead have some foreknowledge of things that are going to transpire; for, although Thomas was not aware that any of his family would visit the St. George Temple soon, he was informed by his son, David, almost as soon as he reached home, that he had decided to marry, and he accepted the father's advice to go to St. George and be married in the Temple.