HISTORY OF THOMAS TIDWELL
Thomas Tidwell's father was Absalom Tidwell, born in Tennessee. Two dates have been given as Absalom Tidwell's birth date––1792 and 1798. It is believed that the year 1798 is the correct date of birth.
The earlier Tidwell families were among the settlers of Virginia in pre–Revolutionary times and were of Irish descent.
Absalom Tidwell married Elizabeth McBride, she being born in Hancock County, Illinois, January 20, 1803. She was a daughter of Thomas and Sarah McBride.
Absalom Tidwell and Elizabeth McBride were parents of the following children:
Thomas Tidwell, the subject of this history, was the second son of Absalom and Elizabeth McBride Tidwell. Thomas Tidwell was born in St. Clair County, Illinois (the county of St. Clair being on the eastern side of the Mississippi River and southeast of the city of St. Louis, Missouri).
Thomas Tidwell's family lived east of the Mississippi River in the counties of St. Clair, Randolph and Washington, Illinois, for a period of about ten years, from 1823 to 1833. The older children of the family were all born in Illinois. Then in the year 1833 Thomas Tidwell's parents joined the Mormon Church in St. Clair County, Illinois, and in the spring of 1834 they moved westward across the state of Missouri, settling at different times in the counties of Jackson, Clay and Caldwell. For a period of about six years they lived in these Missouri counties, trying vainly to make a home, but being driven from one place to another because of their religious convictions.
While the family was living in Caldwell County, Missouri, Thomas Tidwell was baptized into the Mormon Church in June of 1837, at that time being eleven years of age. He was baptized in the waters of Crooked River by Absalom Free. Absalom Free and his family had been friends and neighbors of the Tidwell family in St. Clair County, Illinois, in the early 1820's, had lived near them in Missouri, and were with the same group while living in Kanesville, Iowa. Absalom Free was a Pioneer to the Salt Lake Valley in 1848, was ordained a Patriarch in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter–day Saints in 1873, left a large posterity and lived to be eighty–four years of age when he passed away in Farmer's Ward of Salt Lake City in 1882. This man was a great influence in the life of Thomas Tidwell.
The Tidwell family remained in the Crooked River district for about another year, and they remembered a terrible mob battle that was fought a short distance from where Thomas had been baptized. Thomas remembered the tragedies of that battle the rest of his life when Apostle David Fatten was killed in October of 1838, and the Tidwell family were so close they could hear the guns during the battle. After this terrible experience, the family was ready to flee back to Illinois with other Mormons, but Absalom Tidwell and family evidently remained in Missouri for some time after, as is shown by the following documents:
In January of 1839 Thomas Tidwell's father was at Far West, Missouri when the troubled people drew up a resolution to move the Saints out of Missouri. Under date of January 29, 1839, John Smith as Chairman and Elias Smith as Secretary, drew up the following covenant:
"We, whose names are hereunder written, do for ourselves individually hereby covenant to stand by and assist one another, to the utmost of our abilities, in removing from this state in compliance with the authority of the state; and we do hereby acknowledge ourselves firmly bound to the extent of all our available property, to be disposed of by a committee who shall be appointed for the purpose of providing means for the removing from this state of the poor and destitute who shall be considered worthy, till there shall not be one left who desires to remove from the state; with this proviso, that no individual shall be deprived of the right of the disposal of his own property for the above purpose, or of having the control of it, or so much of it as shall be necessary for the removing of his own family, and to be entitled to the overplus, after the work is affected; and furthermore, said committee shall give receipts for all property, and an account of the expenditure of the same." Far West, Missouri, January 29, 1839
Thomas Tidwell's father, Absalom Tidwell, was one of the men signing the above covenant, and who gave up everything he possessed to get out of Missouri. In the fall of that year (1839), Thomas Tidwell's father was one of the Mormons who presented a claim against the state of Missouri for loss of property in the amount of 5900.00 (See LDS Church Office Library Journal History of November 29, 1839, page 13.)
The Tidwell family was living in Jackson County, Missouri, at the time of the Prophet Joseph Smith and some of the other Church leaders were imprisoned in Liberty Jail, Clay County, Missouri, November 29, 1839, page 13.)
Three children had been born into the Tidwell family during those trying times in Missouri. Some time during the year of 1840, the Tidwell family moved northeastward, across the state of Missouri and settled on the eastern side of the Mississippi River at Quincy, Adams County, Illinois. They had returned to the counties near Nauvoo, Illinois, to try to start life over again and combine to hold the church together. Dark days for the church continued, and after the Tidwell family lived in Quincy for a while, they next moved closer to Nauvoo, and settled on farming land, which was known as Green Plains district, Hancock, County, Illinois, a short distance from Nauvoo. At Green Plains, Absalom Tidwell rented a farm from John Williams and the family worked hard to get barely enough food to live on. John Williams was a son of Levi Williams, who was a Colonel in the Green Plains Boys. This military organization sometimes drilled at Golden's Point, a place a few miles north of Nauvoo where they would meet annually with Joseph Smith and the Nauvoo Legion. Thomas Tidwell belonged to the Nauvoo Legion, being about fifteen years of age when he joined, and drilled under the command of Joseph Smith during the years of 1841, 1842 and 1843.
Levi Williams, on whose farm the Tidwell family lived, became very bitter toward the Mormons, and in the fall of 1844, mobs burned the Tidwell house and property. The family was driven out of Green Plains, and while trying to escape with their lives, the father, Absalom Tidwell, was injured while trying to yoke a team of wild oxen. The family fled to Nauvoo where the Father soon died in October of 1844.
Thomas Tidwell's mother became widow in her forty–first year, with nine children to care for. Four months after the father's death another child was born, on April 9, 1945, making a total of ten children. This saddened family continued to live in Nauvoo for another year, being in such circumstances that at times all they had to eat was parched corn.
On February 6, 1846, Thomas Tidwell and his older brother, Ransom Tidwell, received their Endowments in the Nauvoo Temple. Thomas Tidwell, then a young man of twenty years of age, crossed the Mississippi River on the ice and went with the first company of fleeing Mormons, under the leadership of Brigham Young, as far as Mount Pisgah.
It is not known when Thomas Tidwell first became acquainted with Elizabeth Jane Henderson, his future wife, but the families were living across the Mississippi River from each other when Thomas Tidwell and his future wife were born-- Thomas' family living east of the Mississippi in St. Clair County, Illinois, and Elizabeth's family living west of the Mississippi River in the town of Caledonia, Washington County, Missouri. It is known that the families were acquainted with each other during the childhood of Thomas and Elizabeth Jane, and possibly the older members of the families had known each other since earlier days in Virginia and Tennessee, as both families had migrated from those southern states. It is quite possible that they met as children while living in Missouri, as both families were among the Mormon people who tried to settle in Western Missouri, or "Zion," as it was referred to at that time. It is definitely known that Thomas and his wife–to–be were among the young people in the vicinity of Nauvoo where both families lived on farms a short distance south of Nauvoo from 1840 to 1845. There they mingled with the Mormon people and, in later life, told many stories of their experiences during those trying times. Thomas told of his experiences as a farmer boy and of having earned some money and stock by operating rafts on the Mississippi River. At one time the river flooded some farms on the islands, and he built a raft on which he made trips to the flooded islands in the river. After helping the people to shore, he was offered some of their stock if he could save it. Thomas found that by going to the islands, placing the young calves and baby pigs on his raft and bringing the young animals to shore, that the mothers of the young animals would swim along beside his raft and many of them were saved. Thomas made some money in this way a short time before he left Nauvoo for the West.
Elizabeth Jane Henderson told of going to school in Nauvoo, of knowing the Prophet Joseph and many other Mormon leaders. She said the young people were often bewildered as to know what to do regarding Mormonism. She lost both parents by the time she was twelve years of age, they having lost their health trying to raise a large family and endure the illness suffered by so many in the swamplands of the Mississippi. Elizabeth told of how the young folks would gather and talk about leaving Nauvoo, and that one time Jacob Bigler, who later became the Bishop of Nephi, Utah, cried like a baby not knowing what to do. Elizabeth at one time felt she would marry a non–Mormon and get away from the terrible troubles they were forever having.
Thomas Tidwell left Nauvoo with the first group of Mormons, and Elizabeth Jane Henderson, with her older brothers and sisters, left Nauvoo about the time Thomas did, or perhaps during the spring or summer of 1846. Elizabeth Jane's youngest brother, William Jasper Henderson, writes in his autobiography that he and his youngest brother and sisters were still in Nauvoo in September 1846, and states: "My older brothers and sisters had all crossed the River." Elizabeth Jane was included in the ones he writes of as "having crossed the River."
Thomas Tidwell was of Scotch–Irish descent. He was about five feet seven inches tall; his complexion was sandy and he had gray eyes. He was always quick of speech and action, and weighed about 140 to 150 pounds.
Elizabeth Jane Henderson was a small woman, about five feet tall, small boned, never weighing much more than 100 pounds, and she had luxuriant dark brown hair and brown eyes.
While Elizabeth Jane Henderson's people were making their way westward across the plains of Iowa, Thomas Tidwell had gone as far west as Mt. Pisgah with the first group of Mormons. While at Pisgah, President Brigham Young told Thomas to return to Nauvoo and bring his widowed Mother and brothers and sisters out of Nauvoo. Thomas returned to Nauvoo and found his Mother and the rest of the family among those who were widows, orphans and had little means of support. They wished to leave, but could not, as many were–ill and had no provisions or money. Thomas and his family suffered greatly during that summer in Nauvoo, and Thomas spent much time with other men trying to keep the mobs from completely overrunning Nauvoo. During the Tidwell family's last days in Nauvoo, Journal History of September 30, 1846, describes some incidents in the Battle of Nauvoo, which describes some of the battle in detail. William Carmichael, who was too ill to leave Nauvoo, witnessed the Battle, and remembered that when Brigham Young was leaving, he had said, "Brethren, get out of this place as soon as possible, and if you cannot get out, trust in the Lord and all will be well with you."
For three terrible days, September 10, 11, and 12, 1846, the mobs besieged the people who had remained in Nauvoo. Cannons were used at first and then a "last stand" was made by the Mormons by crowding into the city near the Temple and smaller firearms were used. In some notes Thomas Tidwell made of his life's experiences, he mentioned that he fought in the Battle of Nauvoo, and I should like to quote a few lines of Journal History, written by William H. Folsom, telling of some of the incidents in the battle of Nauvoo, and of a part taken by Thomas Tidwell who was in that battle. William H.Folsom wrote:
"Thursday, September 10, I was in the Nauvoo Temple repairing guns at the time the mob were cannonading our brethren. In the evening, Wandell Mace, Elijah Fordham and myself were in the south side room of the Temple making powder plot––worked till late––slept in the Temple.
"About noon, on the 11th, we put one of them in the ground at the northwest corner of Esquire D.H. Wells field in the lane. At this time the mob were advancing across Law's north hemp field and were in sight before we got it planted. The mob formed a line of battle and advanced towards us until they were stopped by William Green's cannery who fired the first shot at them. The next was fired by William Sommerville and the third by William Green. Then we retreated some distance and the mob halted a short time. Levi Nickerson directed us to a hewn oak log house, to which we dragged Green's cannon, while the mob advanced under cover of Mr. Covey's orchard, and began firing. Green fired five shots of old irons and bar lead, cut and put into small sacks. The mob soon left the ground. Several shots were fired at the cannon stationed by Mr. Barlow's log barn, which were returned. Near sunset, the mob retreated a short distance, and camped north of Law's hemp machine for the night. There was a strong guard posted during the night.
"12th: One company of the mob with a cannon advanced towards Mr. Hiram Gates' breast work, halted and commenced firing at Gate's company, who ordered his men to hold still until the mob would come up as near as they could. Gates ordered Green and Bolander to return the mob fire. Several shots were fired on both sides (Bolander was a Methodist preacher). The mob company soon retreated, and joined their main camp, which was advancing down Law's lane and proceeded to Franklin D. Richards' brick house, thence turned south to Mullholland Street, returning east as far as Squire D.H. Well's house, thence turning west on White Street––then flanked out in the corn field. The firing of the mob reached Boscow's brick house, the small arms began firing, and continued one hour and twenty minutes.
"Thomas Tidwell was sent across the river to Montrose, to buy some fine rifly powder. He procured about a dozen cans and got to the river to recross to Nauvoo when he was met by a mob sentinel who accosted him and threatened to shoot him if he would persist in crossing the river with the powder. Tidwell had a brother standing near whom he requested to shoot the sentinel if he offered to fulfill his threat, as he felt bound to cross the river with his powder, which he did."
After the battle, Thomas Tidwell, with his Mother, brothers and sisters, started again for the West and went as far as a place the Pioneers called String Town in Iowa, where they spent the winter of 1846–1847. At the time of their marriage, Thomas was twenty–one years of age and Elizabeth Jane was seventeen years of age. The young couple remained in String Town for the winter, and in the spring of 1848, Thomas and Elizabeth Jane, leaving his Mother and family in String Town, Iowa, started westward and made a home in Kanesville (now Council Bluffs), Pottawattomie County, Iowa.
In this new Mormon settlement on the east side of the Missouri River, Thomas and Elizabeth Jane became the parents of their first child on July 12, 1848, giving him the name of their fathers––James for Elizabeth's father, and Absalom for Thomas' father; thus he was be known as James Absalom Tidwell. This little child was not to remain with them for long as he passed away when about two months old on September 17, 1898.
During the Fall of 1848, Thomas Tidwell returned to String Town, Iowa, and brought his Mother and her family of younger children to Kanesville, Pottawattomie County, Iowa. Thomas Tidwell's eldest brother, Ransom Tidwell, had married Elizabeth Jane's eldest sister, Mary Henderson, and the couple had made a home in Bentonsport, Van Buren County, Iowa, and did not come westward with Thomas, his wife, and Thomas' Mother and her younger children.
Thomas Tidwell, his wife, his Mother and her younger children lived in Kanesville, Iowa, for the next five years, seeing many of their relatives and friends make homes in Kanesville and then travel on to the Salt Lake Valley. Thomas and Elizabeth Jane had suffered many privations since the loss of his Father and her parents in Nauvoo, and so they worked hard to gain a few substantial things before starting across the long stretch of plains to Utah.
While living in Kanesville, three more children were born to Thomas and Elizabeth Jane, as follows: Celestia Annie Tidwell, born November 18, 1849, having been given the Biblical name Celestia and the family name of Annie (which was for Elizabeth Jane's Mother whose maiden name was Annie Harris.) The next child was Elizabeth Alice Tidwell, born December 7, 1851, the name Elizabeth being for her Mother's and her Grandmother's names which were both Elizabeth. Great joy came to Thomas and Elizabeth Jane when they were given another son, and he was named after his Father, Thomas, and his Mother's youngest brother, William Jasper Henderson. The child thus received the name of Thomas Jasper Tidwell, born August 12, 1853, in Kanesville, or Council Bluffs, Iowa. (In the year of 1853, the name of Kanesville was changed to Council Bluff.)
Some time during the year of 1853, Thomas Tidwell's eldest brother, Randsom Tidwell, his wife, Mary Henderson Tidwell (sister of Elizabeth Jane), left Bentonsport, Van Buren County, Iowa, and came west to Council Bluffs, bringing Elizabeth Jane and Mary's youngest sister, Nancy Henderson, nineteen years of age, with them. This family reunion in Council Bluffs was not to last long, as Thomas and Elizabeth Jane were desirous of going further West. Thomas had dreams of going to California, and his younger brother, Peter Tidwell, had already gone to the Salt Lake Valley the year before, in 1852. Elizabeth Jane was happy in the reunion with her sisters, Mary and Nancy, but Elizabeth Jane's grandfather, Samuel Henderson, and nearly all his large family had gone West. Two younger sisters, Martha Ann and Sarah Henderson, two younger brothers, Samuel Newton and William Jasper Henderson, were in the Salt Lake Valley, and her very dear brother, John Harris Henderson, who was about two years younger than Elizabeth Jane, had been the first one of her immediate family to reach the Valley, having ridden a pony across the plains in 1897, arriving in the fall of that year when he was a lad of sixteen years of age.
Thomas and Elizabeth Jane had been preparing for their journey west, and in the spring of 1854, they, and their three small children, left Council Bluffs on the 15th day of May, 1854. They were all well equipped for the journey, with good wagons, supplies and stock. It is said that Elizabeth Jane drove one wagon with four oxen, a hired man drove another wagon, and Thomas rode a horse and brought a number of a horses along. A number of non–Mormon people made this trip across the plains with Thomas and his family. At one time, they were frightened by a buffalo stampede, but otherwise the trip was very pleasant. Thomas Tidwell loved to play the violin in the evenings, and the other members of the company would dance. One little boy in the Company was especially clever at dancing, and they would take an end–gate out of a wagon, place it on the ground for the child to dance on. While Thomas played the violin, the little boy, still in dresses, would do a little dancing act which delighted the whole company.
Thomas' eldest daughter, Celestia Annie Tidwell, five years of age at that time, often rode a horse along by the side of her Father and felt that she assisted in driving the stock. Riding a horse part of the time was a rest from the long hours each day spent riding in wagons, and Celestia Annie became quite an expert at riding at this tender age.
The family arrived in the Valley of Salt Lake on July 14, 1854. Soon after their arrival in the Valley, they went to Kaysville to make their home, where quite a number of Elizabeth Jane's relatives and many of their friends were living.
Thomas and Elizabeth Jane were ambitious and they made a good living in Kaysville, but they were to be greatly saddened on November 22, 1854, by the loss of their little fifteen–month–old boy, Thomas Jasper Tidwell, and were now left with two little girls out of a family of four children.
The next summer, on July 26, 1855, Elizabeth Jane bore another child, which was their fifth. They gave her the name of Mary Adelia Tidwell. When Mary Adelia was about one month old, Thomas and Elizabeth Jane went to Salt Lake City to the Endowment House where Elizabeth Jane received her Endowments and she and Thomas were sealed to each other on August 24, 1855. Later in the season, on September 3, 1855, Thomas, Elizabeth Jane and Louisa Tyler called upon Isaac Morley, Church Patriarch, and were all given patriarchial blessings on the same day. The next month, in October, 1855, Thomas Tidwell took as his second wife, Louisa Marie Tyler who was the daughter of Columbus and Lucinda Owens Tyler. Louisa Marie's mother, a widow, came to Utah with three daughters, one of which was Louisa Marie. Louisa's mother later married a widower by the name of John Bear, and he had three children by a former marriage. Louisa Marie Tyler and her family had travelled a long distance to reach the West, as Louisa Marie was born in Oswego County, State of New York. A description of Louisa Marie as to personal appearance by one of her daughters, was that she had blue eyes, brown hair, medium fair skin, medium sized stature, and was a fine looking woman.
When Thomas Tidwell took Louisa Marie as his second wife, he was twenty–nine years of age and Louisa Marie a young woman of seventeen years, she having been born March 11, 1839.
Thomas and his two wives lived in Kaysville for about two more years, and Louisa gave birth to her first child, a girl baby, born August 13, 1856, which they named Loandia Janette Tidwell. Possibly Thomas and his family was upset by the news of Johnston's Army coming to Salt Lake. At any rate, their life in Kaysville seems to have been disrupted somewhat during the years of 1857–1858, at which time Thomas Tidwell was interested in developing a ranch at Chicken Creek, about fifteen miles south of Nephi, Juab County, Utah. Thomas also decided to take a third wife, and on February 9, 1857 he was sealed to Kitty Ann Tassell in the Salt Lake Endowment House. Kitty Ann was an English woman who had come to Utah as a member of Jas. G. Willie's Handcart Company, arriving in the Salt Lake Valley November 9, 1856. This marriage did not last long. Kitty Ann separated from Thomas and later married a Salt Lake man by the name of Acomb.
The first wife, Elizabeth Jane, was living in Kaysville in 1857, when her sixth child was born on August 22, 1857, the child being a girl and was given the name of Lenora Jane Tidwell.
On March 31, 1858, the LDS Church Office Journal History records that Thomas Tidwell came from Kaysville, Utah to Salt Lake City as a member of the Ninth Quorum of Seventies to be present at a meeting held in the Tithing Office. The following is quoted from the record books:
"Journal History of March 31, 1858, Wednesday. It was a beautiful sunny morning in Great Salt Lake City. The Quorum meets at the Tithing building, Great Salt Lake City, at noon on the first and third Sundays in the month. Members who reside in the city and vicinity are reminded that it is their privilege to attend punctually, especially those who do not meet with the Quorum once in four or six months." Thomas Tidwell's name was among the many others who attended the meeting on the above date, March 31, 1858, so it is known that he was in Salt Lake at that time.
Thomas and Louisa Marie were living, at least temporarily, in Salt Lake County, when their second child, Thomas Phileamon Tidwell, was born on April 10, 1858, while the parents were enroute to Nephi, Juab County, Utah.
In June of 1858, Thomas' wife, Elizabeth Jane, and family came to Salt Lake City to live, where they made a home in a house belonging to a Mr. Jennings. While living in Salt Lake, another child was born to Thomas and Elizabeth Jane on April 1, 1859. This baby was given the name of Nancy Elvira Tidwell, the name Nancy being given for Elizabeth Jane's youngest sister, Nancy Henderson. The family lived in Salt Lake for about two years, during which time Thomas was evidently wavering as to where to make a permanent home, as we find he went to Cache Valley with the first settlers of Richmond, according to family tradition; and it is substantiated by Church History, which gives the following:
"Richmond was first settled in 1859, the first settlers being Agrippa Cooper and family. Other families joined them the same year, and on November 15, 1859, a branch of the Church was organized at Richmond, with Thomas Tidwell as presiding Elder. A fort was built as a means of protection against the Indians, and the first meeting house was erected in 1860. The place was organized as a regular bishop's ward in 1861, with Marriner W. Merrill as Bishop."
Thomas Tidwell made a home in Richmond, Cache County, Utah, as early as the Spring of 1860, as the second wife, Louisa Marie, was living there when her third child was born on February 11, 1860. This child was name Francis Marion Tidwell.
When Nancy Elvira Tidwell was a baby, sometime during 1860, Elizabeth Jane and her children left Salt Lake City and went to live at Richmond, Cache County, Utah. The family enjoyed living in Cache Valley and Thomas and Elizabeth Jane's two eldest daughters, Celestia and Elizabeth, obtained part of their schooling in Cache Valley where they lived from 1860 to 1865. These young girls walked through deep snow on their way to school and church, and Celestia had a small stand table, with a drawer in it for books, which she carried to school each Monday morning and brought it home each Friday night. This stand table was used as a desk in a log schoolhouse where in those times the children did not have much furniture in the way of school desks. (This stand table is still a relic in the family.)
Thomas Tidwell often played the violin for the people to dance while they were living in Cache Valley, and Celestia Annie often went with her Father to those dances where children and older people often joined together to make a crowd for an evening's entertainment. Celestia Annie was very fond of dancing and she learned all the Pioneer dances to perfection while living in Cache Valley. She danced to the old style tunes played by her Father, such as the "Fisher's Hornpipe," and others. Thomas children enjoyed swimming and fishing in the Bear River during the summer and always had horses to ride around the Valley, often being given the job of tending the cattle.
A few lines of Church history, telling of the condition in Cache Valley at the time the Tidwell family were living there in 1860, is as follows:
"Salt Lake City, Utah, October 10, 1860. Among the many friends, who called to transact business with or visit us at our office during the Conference from Cache Valley, were Judge Maughn, Bishop Tidwell, Major Blair and others, all of whom gave a very flattering account of the progress of events in that valley: the amount and quality of grain produced, the advancement of the people in the several settlements, in house and mill building, manufacturing, and other matters connected with their permanent establishment in the county and the development of its resources.
"There are four saw mills in operation in the county and others being built. Several grist mills are in progress of erection and the enterprizing spirit of the inhabitants is exemplified in the various permanent improvements that are being made in each settlement necessary to their prosperity, comfort and subsistence."
While living in Richmond, Cache Valley, Utah, a girl child was born to Thomas and Elizabeth Jane on August 9, 1861, and she was given the name of Sarah Esther Tidwell.
As mentioned before, Thomas Tidwell had started developing a ranch at Chicken Creek, Juab County, about the year 1858, and he would spend some time each year at this place. He lived in a dugout on the Sevier River and built a dam to control Chicken Creek, so that the water controlled by the dam formed a reservoir, which was later called Tidwell's Lake. During the early sixties, President Brigham Young advised Thomas Tidwell to develop a stock ranch at Chicken Creek, and Thomas received blooded stock from Brigham Young, which Thomas was to raise and share the profits with President Young. President Young was enthusiastic about the project and told Thomas he knew he could make a success of the cattle ranch if anyone could. Thomas developed a fine ranch at Chicken Creek and is reported to have raised some of the finest garden vegetables and hay in that district. He was almost on constant guard at first by having to watch the choice stock from straying and becoming lost or taken over by the Indians.
Sometime during the early sixties, Thomas Tidwell took his family from Cache County to Juab County. It is of record that Louisa and Thomas Tidwell's fifth child was born in Juab County, a baby girl which they named Lola Lucinda Tidwell (Grandmother of Ila Cowling Trease), she being born on September 29, 1864, in a dugout home of the family at Chicken Creek. The family first lived in dugouts, and Louisa had a large one–room dugout, with curtains hung to separate it into compartments. Thomas surrounded the grounds around the dugouts with cedar posts, set in palisade fashion, and he also surrounded his stock pens with the same kind of enclosure. This afforded protection from the weather and the Indians, though Thomas never had much trouble with the Indians. He was friendly with the Indians, and all who knew him spoke of his fearlessness in living most of his life on the outskirts of civilization and getting along where many others were afraid to venture. Many old acquaintances said that Thomas was a good bodyguard under any circumstance. He studied the Indians and was considered a fine game hunter. One old acquaintance loved to tell the story of Thomas going into the foothills near Nephi, Utah, sitting on a rock, and by shooting on the hillside area near a number of deer, he was able to direct the deer past him in such a way that he killed seventeen deer without moving from the rock.
About the middle 1860's, Thomas obtained a home in Nephi, Utah, and built a house at the Chicken Creek Ranch. The house Thomas built for his family at Chicken Creek consisted of three large rooms in a row, the lengthwise of the house running north and south. The house was built on the west side of the highway, and the Lake was on the east side of the highway. The large room at the south end of the house was built of adobe, with a large fireplace in the south wall of the room. This adobe part of the house had a loft–like room above it. Adjoining the adobe room, and extending northward, were two large rooms built of logs. The center room was used as a storage and utility room, where the wives took care of the milk, made cheese, candles, and did many other duties performed by the pioneer housewife. Under the utility room was a cellar which was entered from outside doors. The large room at the north end of the house had a fireplace in the north wall, and it was in this room that Elizabeth Jane and her children lived. Louisa and her children lived in the south, adobe part of the house.
While Thomas Tidwell lived at Chicken Creek, Juab County, Utah, from about 1858 to 1870, he had many experiences developing a farm and cattle ranch and raising a large family. As this family had grown, Thomas had added rooms to the original home and built log cabins for the men who assisted him with the farm work. The older children were reaching maturity and the younger ones were coming to increase the family about every two years. Here the Thomas Tidwell family worked hard at farm and ranch duties, and many young men from the neighboring communities of Nephi and San Pete counties came to the ranch to assist Thomas with his work. Some young men came from afar and married his daughters.
An old gentleman by the name of Job Burlew was a familiar character in the family. This old man was without relatives in Utah and so he made his home with Thomas Tidwell's family. The old gentleman had been a soldier in the War of 1812, and drew a pension of 38.00 per month for his keep. He loved to fish in Tidwell's Lake at Chicken Creek and Thomas' small children would lead the old man, whose eyesight was failing, to the Lake. They would carry a chair for the old man to sit on, and place worms on a fish hook so he could fish. The last days of this old pioneer were spent with the Tidwell family, and the family all loved him.
Another old gentleman by the name of Cross lived with the Tidwell family during his last years in Nephi, having been a pioneer to Utah.
Thomas Tidwell was a Black Hawk War Veteran, and was living at Chicken Creek at the time of the Utah war in 1866, but the family was not molested by the Indians.
Many people passing through Chicken Creek stopped at the Tidwell home. President Brigham Young and his company sometimes stopped to see how the settlement was progressing. One day, when a meal was prepared for them in the Tidwell home, one of Thomas' wives served buttermilk to President Brigham Young. He apparently did not like to drink the buttermilk as it was, and he said, "Sister Tidwell, this is not buttermilk––it is butterless milk." The wife then brought him some cream to mix in the drink and he was pleased. The family was always interested when President Brigham Young and Church leaders came through the town, and the children were thrilled at the fine carriages and horses of the Church leaders.
In the year of 1869, Thomas Tidwell did some missionary work in the States and visited his relatives in Senaca, Nemaha County, Kansas. He returned to Utah with his mother, Elizabeth McBride Tidwell, a widowed sister, Mary Ann Tidwell Williams and her three children, and another sister, Sarah Jane Tidwell, her husband, George Stephen Williams and their three small children. Thomas Tidwell and this group of relatives rode from Kansas to Ogden, Utah, on the New Union Pacific Railroad which had just been completed that year. It is told that they waited in Ogden for some time until they received all their baggage, and then they journeyed to Nephi and Chicken Creek by team and wagon. There the Kansas relatives met with many of the relatives they had not seen for years, some of them meeting again for the first time since they had bade good–bye in Council Bluffs in 1854. Thomas' mother, a woman of 66 years of age at that time, was to meet many new grandchildren, and the grandchildren were happy to know this lovable grandmother. Grandmother Elizabeth Tidwell had brought maple sugar from the supplies. The grandchildren would gather about her and she would ask them sing, dance, and play games. As each child performed their little act, she would give them a lump of sugar, which was a great treat that the children enjoyed and always remembered.
Three daughters were born to Thomas and Elizabeth Jane while living at Chicken Creek and Nephi, Utah. They were as follows: Clara Ethel Tidwell, born February 12, 1865, Chicken Creek; Martha Irene Tidwell, born November 19, 1866, Chicken Creek; and Anna Roseltha Tidwell, born December 14, 1870, Nephi, Utah. When Clara Ethel Tidwell was just ten months old, she died at Chicken Creek on December 12, 1865 and was buried on the high ground southeast of Tidwell's Lake. Thomas Tidwell made a headboard for this little grave and the children often picked flowers and decorated the grave. Many years after the family moved away from Chicken Creek, a great amount of construction work was done in that vicinity. The headboard was destroyed making it impossible for members of the family to ever locate the grave again.
When Thomas Tidwell established his home in Nephi, about 1870, he had two of the largest homes in town at that time. One very fine home he purchased from Jesse Taylor Jackson. This house was built of adobe. It was a two–story house, containing eight rooms, four rooms on the first floor and four rooms on the second floor. The house was situated one block east of Main Street on the south side of Salt Creek, which ran through the town. (This house is still in good condition [1947] and is owned by the family of William Foote. The other home in Nephi, which Thomas Tidwell purchased, was on Main Street and Third South. It was a two–story seven room, adobe house. (This house is still standing [1947] but it is in a very worn condition.)
Thomas' wives selected the homes they desired in Nephi, and the first wife, Elizabeth Jane, chose to live in the Main Street
As near as can be determined at this time (1947), the names, time of birth, and place of birth, of the children of Thomas Tidwell and his wife, Louisa Marie Tyler, are as follows:
Thomas Tidwell's business was mainly stock raising, and in the early 1870's, he established another ranch in Salt Creek Canyon, east of Nephi. (This ranch later became the property of Tuson Vickers of Nephi.) At this ranch Thomas had good grazing for his stock and he built a log house, spring house, and barns on this place. It was a lovely picturesque farm and was very neatly kept by Thomas and his wife Louisa. There were usually hired men or boys to help with the farm work, and soon Thomas and Louisa's boys were large enough to help with the work on this farm and ranch.
Elizabeth Jane and her family lived in Nephi most of the time, and she had a large lot surrounding her house, where she raised garden vegetables, lovely flowers and some choice fruits in her orchard. Elizabeth Jane's family consisted of eight girls. The families visited back and forth. Louisa's children often stayed with "Aunt Jane" in Nephi while going to school, and Elizabeth Jane's older girls went to the ranch to help with the farm work.
During the late 1870's, Thomas Tidwell owned some property in Fountain Green, San Pete County, Utah, which consisted of some houses and lots on both sides of the Main Street. Louisa and her family lived at this place for about a year, where their son Roland was born on May 1, 1874.
Thomas Tidwell's life had been one of much hard work. He had received very little schooling, but was thoroughly experienced in the life of the Pioneer settlers. He had tried to live according to his early religious training, but his life was miserable much of the time during the 70's and 80's due to his struggling with conditions brought about by the U.S. Government demanding that the Mormon people cease living polygamy. The family had friends and foes on both sides of the question.
Elizabeth Jane, reaching middle life, her older children married, decided to live apart from Thomas. She spent her remaining years in her home on Main Street in Nephi, Juab County, Utah, with many of her children and grandchildren living near her.
Thomas and Louisa Marie continued living in Nephi and at their ranch in Salt Creek Canyon until about 1879. Then Thomas and Louisa Marie disposed of their property in that district and some houses and land he had acquired in Springville, Utah. Thomas took his stock to the Blue Mountains near Denver and sold them. He and Louisa moved to Emery County, Utah, and started developing a ranch on the San Rafael River, about fifteen miles from the town of Green River, Utah. Thomas worked hard and developed a dam and irrigation project to water the land of his farm. In this unsettled country, Thomas raised fine crops in the sandy soil and the family lived at this place for about four years. When the newly settled place was well on its way to successful production of vegetables, grains, hay and stock, a terrible flood came down the San Rafael River and washed out the dam Thomas had built, and the water flooded and ruined most of his farm. This was a sad experience for Thomas, his wife, Louisa Marie, and their children, so they decided to leave this home where flood waters had made such a failure of their efforts.
Thomas and Louisa Marie next moved to the State of Colorado sometime during the year of 1883. They first lived at the town of Montrose, and then settled on a farm in the Dallas River district, in a place called Happy Hollow. While living for a short time at Montrose, a large dog came to live with the family. The children loved the dog and often rode on his back. When the family packed their possessions and started to move by team and wagon from Montrose to Happy Hollow, the large dog, that had been given the name of "Watch," started out with the family. After having travelled along for a few miles, the dog decided to return to Montrose, and no amount of coaxing could get him to continue with the family. The children felt terrible to lose the dog and always remembered this huge dog that had given them so much happiness during their short stay at Montrose.
Happy Hollow was a beautiful place. Here the Tidwell family lived in a frame house, which was built on a sidehill. The house was a story–and–a–half style. There was a large living room, with fireplace, a kitchen and two bedrooms on the main floor. The upper half of the house contained a large bedroom for the boys and a storage room. A stairway leading up from the outside furnished the entrance to the upper rooms. The foundation of the house was of rock, which contained a full–sized cellar under the main part of the house. This cellar was used as a storage place for vegetables and dairy products. Stone steps formed a walk from the house to the roadway. A short distance from the house was a large spring which furnished water for the home. Looking down from this pioneer home, the Tidwell family could see a fine orchard, stock pens, and many acres of cultivated fields. A daughter Sarah, who remembers this home, tells of the family using coal–oil lamps and candles for lighting, of the family gathering around the large fireplace during the winter season, and of Louisa reading many hours each evening to her children. Some very interesting books Louisa read to the children were of "Big Birds," which the scientists of that day were describing and which later became airplanes. Sarah remembers of her Mother reading these books and then remarking to Thomas that she could not believe the stories--they must be false. Thomas read and thought about the wonders of science, but spent considerable time reading many other popular books of those days.
Thomas Tidwell and his wife Louisa Marie were parents of thirteen children. They had reared eleven of these children to maturity, and when Sarah Jane, their youngest child, married in 1894, their children were all gone from the old home in Happy Hollow and living in various places.
During the years of 1895 and 1896, Thomas and Louisa Marie had some sad burdens to bear. One of their youngest daughters, Lulu Pearl, passed away on October 7, 1896, leaving a small child which Louisa continued raising. When Louisa Marie was about fifty–eight years of age, her health was broken, and she could no longer continue the rugged life she had known in the past, when from the time she was a young woman of seventeen years of age, she accepted the life of the pioneer woman bravely. She had helped to make several pioneer homes with Thomas and reared a large family.
Thomas and Louisa Marie disposed of their property in Colorado and came to American Fork, Utah, to live about 1896, and Louisa was no longer able to keep up the duties of a home. She lived for the next ten years in the homes of her children where her daughters were able to care for her.
Thomas purchased a small lot in American Fork and had a neat four room house built upon it. The home was located in the north central part of the town. The house faced the south, and the old San Pedro, Los Angeles, and Salt Lake Railroad ran past the Tidwell place a short distance south of the home. This house was built well and was of light colored brick. A combination of dark and light colored brick, laid diagonally, formed an ornamental border around the foundation of the house, over the tops of the windows, and on the chimney tops. In a large gable facing the south, an ornamental circle, enclosing a letter "T", was formed in the brickwork. This letter was for the family name of Tidwell, and could easily have stood for both initials of Thomas Tidwell. The family usually referred to this house as the "T" house. Around this home Thomas planted fruit and ornamental trees, also a number of walnut trees. He had a fine garden, some horses, and a cow or two.
Thomas Tidwell lived alone in this house for a while, and then on November 23, 1897, he married Mary Abi Eakle, daughter of Henry Kennedy Eakle and Mary Jane Johnson of Virginia. Mary Abi Eakle was born in New Hope, Augusta County, Virginia, on August 24, 1858. She and her parents had been converts to the Latter–day Saints Church a number of years previous, and the young woman Mary Abi, had taught school for some time in different towns in Utah. Thomas was seventy one years of age when he married Mary Abi, she being thirty––nine years of age at the time. Mary Abi was a talented woman, having obtained a better education than the average person of that day. She played the piano well and kept a lovely home for Thomas.
After a little over two years of marriage, Mary Abi and Thomas became parents of a girl baby, born January 27, 1900, which they named Mildred Marie Tidwell.
Thomas and Mary Abi lived in the "T" house for a few years, during the early 1900's, and then Thomas obtained a larger plot of ground, a house, an old mill building and other buildings, a short distance north of American Fork on the east side of the highway between American Fork and Alpine. This place had formerly belonged to a man by the name of Robinson, so the Tidwell family usually referred to the home as, "the Robinson Mill place." At this place there was a well built house which at present 1947) is covered with stucco, but was formerly of adobe or brick. It contains a large living room, large combination kitchen and dining room, two medium sized bedrooms and a large pantry. The house faces the south and has three large porches––one along the south side which was the front porch, one along part of the west side of the house, and one on the east side of the house which was the back porch. There was considerable acreage around this house which was well taken care of by Thomas. There were grain fields, an orchard, large garden plot, and some large buildings for stock. Thomas also raised bees at this place. Lovely trees grew near the house. The rugged mountains of American Fork Canyon and the Timpanogas peak could be seen plainly to the east from this house.
Thomas, his fourth wife Mary Abi, and their little girl, Mildred Marie, lived in this home until about 1907. Mildred Marie remembers that, when she was six years of age, the home was so far from school that she did not get to go to school for about two years. Mildred's patient and talented mother taught her at home, and when Mildred did enter school, she was far in advance of the children who had been attending school, due to her mother's careful training at home.
About 1907, family discord developed between Mary Abi and Thomas Tidwell. She obtained a divorce, and a property settlement was made between them. Mary Abi and little daughter went to live with Mary Abi's relatives and Thomas continued living in the home.
Thomas Tidwell advertised for a housekeeper, and an Irish woman, who had been living in Utah for a few years, answered the ad. The woman's name was Mary O'Brien, and she had lost her husband and was left with three small children to support. She was doing housework for different people in American Fork and had placed her children in an orphanage in Salt Lake City. Mary was a pleasant, hardworking woman, and though there was a great difference in their ages, she and Thomas became interested in each other and were married on January 4, 1909 in American Fork, Utah. Mary Murphy O'Brien was born May 17, 1879, daughter of William and Katherine Murphy of Cumberland, England. Mary and Thomas worked hard at keeping the home in shape, and though Thomas was in his early 80's, he was able to do a good day's work each day and kept the acreage in such fine shape that the family made a good living.
Soon after Thomas and Mary were married, they went to Salt Lake for her children. The children were happy to come from the orphanage to their new home. Thomas' children by his older wives and many of his grandchildren visited him during the years in this home where he lived with Mary and her three children. The second year of Thomas and Mary's life together, they became parents of a baby girl on September 22, 1910, and she was given the name of Martha Elmira Tidwell.
Thomas and Mary continued living in the American Fork home for three and a half years after their marriage. Mary always worked hard to keep a nice home for Thomas and the children. Mary often said that Thomas never seemed old. He was busy with his fields, garden and bees. He had loved to ride horses and kept some for his use on the farm during the last days of his life. While in his eighties, he climbed into the trees of his orchard and kept the limbs trimmed and picked the fruit. Thomas had perfect teeth throughout his life, having only lost one by accident. During his youth he had gone where only the most rugged men had dared to go. He often jumped into swift streams of water to test the danger of taking others across in safety. Not a large man in stature, but wirey and daring. Thomas had lived the full life of a thrifty pioneer. His children all said that he provided well for them and was never too cross or tired to have a family gathering and enjoy music and games with all his children. Thomas' children and grandchildren told of his good health during his eighties when he could still enjoy a long ride on a spirited horse and of seeing Thomas stand at a distance from his riding horse, make a short run, and by placing his hands on the back of the horse, vault over the horse's back.
In the spring of 1912, Thomas Tidwell had planted the crops, and the gardens were lovely around his home. Many stands of bees were humming with the bees gathering the honey from the June flowers and swarming to make new homes. Thomas was every busy around the home and about the first part of June he became ill. Family tradition says that he had been working with the stands of bees and that he broke out with a rash, which some thought was caused by the pollen from the flowers and bees. Others believed Thomas had pneumonia, but when the doctor called at the home, he advised Thomas to remain in bed. After about two or three weeks illness, Thomas passed away at his home on June 17, 1912. The doctor last saw Thomas alive on June 14, and when called to make out the death certificate, the doctor pronounced Thomas' illness as "heart trouble."
Thomas Tidwell was eighty–five years, eleven months, and nine days old at the time of death, being near his eight–sixth birthday which would have fallen on July 8. At the time of death, he was survived by two hundred descendants, including children, grandchildren and great–grandchildren. The descendants have increased since then until there is no known record of them, but a rough estimate would place the number near one thousand.
Thomas Tidwell was buried in the American Fork Cemetery by the side of his second wife, Louisa Marie Tyler, who had passed away a few years before, in 1906.
The young wife, Mary O'Brien Tidwell, her three children by her first husband, and the youngest child by Thomas, continued living in the Tidwell home. Thomas Tidwell had lived to a good age and evidently inherited his longevity from his sturdy mother who had lived to the advanced age of ninety–one, regardless of the many hardships she had endured.
When Thomas was an elderly man, he was asked to dictate some of the history of his early life to his relatives. Had he been a man who kept a diary or stopped to write of his experiences, volumes could have been written, but he recited a few incidents which were as follows:
"Thomas Tidwell, son of Absalom and Elizabeth McBride Tidwell, was born July 8, 1826 in St. Clair County, in the state of Illinois.
"In the year of 1833, my father and mother both joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter–day Saints.
"In the spring of 1834, they moved to Jackson County, Missouri. They were driven from there to Clay County, Missouri.
"In the year of 1835, they were driven from Clay County to Caldwell County, Missouri, where I was baptized in June 1837 into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter–day Saints by Absalom Free, in the waters of Crooked River, a short distance above where David Patten was killed. I heard the guns during the battle. We were going down from Caldwell County in February 1838 to Quincy, Adams County, Illinois.
"From Quincy we moved to Green Plains, Hancock County, Illinois, a short distance south of Nauvoo, Illinois, where my father rented a farm from John Williams, a son of Levi Williams, who led the mob to Carthage Jail to murder the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum Smith.
"I worked many days for Levi Williams to get meat and bread to live on. At that time, he pretended to be a friend of the Mormon people, as well as to the Prophet Joseph Smith. He was a Colonel in the Green Plains Boys and used to meet with Joseph Smith and the Nauvoo Legion with his company where they held their annual muster or drill at Garden (or Golden) Point, a few miles north of Nauvoo. I was about seventeen years old and belonged to the Nauvoo Legion and drilled under the command of Joseph Smith in the years of 1841, 1842, 1843.
"A short time after that, old Colonel Levi Williams became very bitter against the Mormons for what cause I do not know. In the fall of 1844, we had our house and farm and most of our property burned by the mob, led by a man by the name of Hartford (or Hasford). We were driven into Nauvoo, where my father died in October 1844, leaving my mother with nine children. We lived on parched corn for it was very hard to get anything to eat at that time.
"In February 1846, I crossed the Mississippi River on the ice. I went with the First Company to a place called Pisgah, Iowa, where I was sent back by President Brigham Young to bring my Mother and her children out of Nauvoo. I stayed in Nauvoo until the fall and fought in the battle of Nauvoo. After the battle, with my mother, brothers and sisters, I started again for the West, and came as far as String Town, where we wintered. On October 7, 1847 I was married to Elizabeth Jane Henderson, a daughter of James Henderson and Annie Harris. Elizabeth Jane and I were the parents of eleven children.
"In the spring of 1848, I left my mother's family at String Town, Iowa, and came as far west as Council Bluffs with my wife.
"In the fall of 1848, I went back and brought my mother and her family out to Council Bluffs, where we remained until the year of 1854.
"On the 15th day of May in 1854, I started across the plains for Salt Lake City, and reached Salt Lake City on July 14, 1854. I settled in Kaysville, Davis County, Utah, where I was married a second time to Louisa Tyler in October 1855, the daughter of Columbus and Lucinda Tyler. Louisa Tyler and I became the parents of thirteen children.
"In 1860 I was called to act as a Bishop in Richmond, Cache County, where I acted as bishop for a number of years. In 1865 I was called by President Brigham Young to settle in Chicken Creek, where I remained about six years, and was released by President Brigham Young and took my family into Nephi."
"In 1869 I was called to fill a mission in the states to preach the gospel, and I visited my relatives and brought my mother and two sisters and brother–in–law and their families to Utah."
With a copy of the above short autobiography of Thomas Tidwell, a considerable amount of searching over a period of nine years of family and Church records and the cooperation of some of the children and grandchildren of Thomas Tidwell, this history has been compiled for the Records of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers Organization and for interested family members.
[Tidwell history composed by Fay J. McClenahan in 1947. Typed by Ron Zaret, c1995]