THOMAS TWIGGS - Biography
Thomas
Twiggs, was born on February 14, 1843 in Syke Mill, Pembroke, Wales, the son of William and Mary
(Reed) Twigg, who were converted to the church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1849. Two years later, upon reaching the
age of eight, Thomas was also baptized into the Church. His father died in
January of 1854, and in November of that year, in company with his mother,
uncle and aunt, two brothers, and three sisters, he made the ocean voyage
aboard the Clara Wheeler to New
Orleans, Louisiana.
They then sailed up the Mississippi River to St. Louis,
Missouri, and thence up the Missouri River to Mormon Grove, Kansas.
[For details of this journey see the biography of his mother, Mary Reed Twigg.] With the death of his mother and siblings (except
for one young sister) from cholera at Mormon Grove, twelve-year-old Thomas was
taken in and raised by his uncle and aunt, John and Martha (Reed) Twiggs, and
accompanied them over the plains to Utah, arriving there in the late summer or
early fall of 1855. Thomas told his grandson, Eugene Goldrup,
about the time when there was a sound like rolling thunder out on the plains
during this journey, but it was the vast herds of buffalo that shook the ground
as they ran by.
As
a young man, Thomas worked as a cook's helper with Wells Fargo and traveled
with this company to Southern California.
While there he was offered a large section of land for free or at a very low
cost and he replied, “Who wants a bunch of sagebrush?” This land is now a part
of downtown Los Angeles.
He told of an Indian once coming up to him when he was on the trail with Wells
Fargo and giving him a scare. Thomas was alone by the cook’s wagon when the
Indian approached him, and looking at him he laughingly pointed to his hair and
made Thomas think he was about to be scalped, but the Indian was just having
fun with the boy. Upon his return to Salt Lake City,
Thomas worked in the granite quarry obtaining the great rock slabs for building
the Salt Lake City
temple.
Thomas
married July 12, 1869 in the Logan Temple in Logan,
Utah to Jemima Stevenson,
daughter of James Stuart Stevenson and Marian Douglas. Jemima was born April 1,
1849 in Sheffield, England. Her family, after
converting to the Church in England,
had come to America in 1852
and resided a number of years in St.
Louis, Missouri.
Jemima came west to Utah
with her sister Margaret Field's family in 1859. Thomas and Jemima lived in an
adobe home on West Temple Street
in Farmers Ward in Salt Lake City,
and he later built a larger wooden home. He had a farm and it is written that
“John Gabbott, Thomas Twiggs, and William Gibby were farmers who had light spring wagons to haul
their produce, and heavier wagons with a team for heavier loads. Each farmer
specialized in certain crops suitable to his soil. John Van Cott
was called the Onion King, John Gabbott raised fine
asparagus, Thomas Twiggs raised splendid cauliflower,
cabbages and peas.” Thomas supplied one of the major hotels in Salt Lake City with these vegetables.
Jemima died from liver complaint in Salt
Lake City, Utah on
November 20, 1887. Thomas married (2) to Louisa Brundsen, born March 12, 1843 in England. She died in Salt Lake City on
November 24, 1917.
Thomas worked hard for his income and although he lived comfortably, he never
acquired a large fortune. He was conservative in the spending of his
hard-earned money. One story is told that Thomas once gave a spare coin to a
man asking passerby’s for money to purchase food to eat. Thomas watched the man
as he walked into a bar to buy a drink of liquor instead of food, so he
followed the man in the bar and picked the coin up off the counter and walked
back out. Thomas, who was a high priest in the church, was also a close friend
with Church presidents Wilford Woodruff and Heber J.
Grant. Thomas died Nov 13, 1928 in Salt
Lake City.
