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Smart, Thomas Sharratt, one of the founders and the first president of the Franklin (Idaho) ecclesiastical branch, was born Sept. 14, 1823, at Stonewall, Shenstone parish, Staffordshire, England, the son of William Smart and Maria Sharratt. He was the second son of his father's family, which consisted of four boys and five girls. His father was a tallow chandler and truck gardener and from early boyhood Thomas assumed responsibilities with his father in business. When only seventeen years of age he was offered a position in Normandy, France, where he [p.515] engaged in brick making. Here he remained five years, and during this time married Ann Hayter, daughter of Henry Hayter and Kezia Dennison of Portsmouth, England. Ann had previously been married, but her husband had proved unworthy of her. Bro. Smart took care of her three children (Mary Ann, Alice and Louisa) and subsequently they became his by celestial adoption. The New World having become attractive to Thomas, he came to America and settled in St. Louis, Missouri, where he engaged in business and farming. Having leased a farm near the city, he hired, among other men, Henry Gale, a Latter-day Saint, and from him heard the gospel of salvation which he eagerly embraced, and after only six weeks' investigation he and his wife were declared ready for baptism. Bro. Smart was baptized by John A. Richards and his wife by Samuel Obray. President Brigham Young having issued a manifesto for all Saints who could do so to emigrate from the Pottawattamie country, Iowa, to the body of the Church, about 10,000 responded, among them Brother Smart and his family, leaving for the West April 8, 1852. A Brother Rigby, who was then president of the St. Louis branch, organized a company of seventeen wagons and about twenty families over which he was made captain. They arrived in Salt Lake City Sept. 4, 1852, and Bro. Smart soon afterwards located in American Fork, Utah county, and while here was ordained an Elder by Claud Rogers. In 1856 he moved to Provo, where he had been requested to take charge of a tannery and shoe shop. Here he was ordained a Seventy by an Elder Thomas. Brother Smart also took an active part in military affairs and at the time of the Black Hawk war (1865-1867) he served as a captain of guards. In 1860 he moved to the district which is now known as Franklin, Idaho, being one of the pioneers of that locality and the first president of the branch of the Church organized there. Subsequently, this branch was organized as a Ward, when Bro. Smart was installed as a counselor in the bishopric, a position which he filled with great fidelity. Being very frugal in his habits he accumulated a considerable amount of property and he was always on hand to assist others who were in need. Thus he sent his teams several times across the plains after poor emigrants, going once himself as teamster. When the Oneida Stake was organized he was ordained a High Priest by Apostle Franklin D. Richards and set apart as a member of the High Council. Besides the three children, whom he adopted, his first wife, Ann Hayter, bore him eight children, namely, Charlotte Elizabeth, Maria, Thomas H., Sarah Ann, Eliza, Frances Ann, William Henry and Mary Jane. He also married Minnie Shrives (daughter of Edwin Shrives and Elizabeth Holton), who was born Dec. 12, 1860, and who bore him four children, namely, Leslie Edwin, Vernon, Iva Lilla and Melvin Shrives. He also married Margaret Justice, who bore him one daughter (Jane). Brother Smart was very active in organizing utility business companies for the advancement of the several localities in which he lived. He died in Franklin, Oneida county, Idaho, April 18, 1901. A few years ago a monument was erected in Franklin in honor of Bro. Smart and his associate pioneers by the citizens of the town and the posterity of the pioneers of the settlement in recognition of their labors for the public good. Elder Smart was of fair complexion, having blue eyes and auburn hair and was of a pure Anglo-Saxon type. He was about six feet in height, robust and well built, weighing about two hundred pounds. He was strong and athletic and enjoyed hunting, fishing and all natural innocent sports. He was of a sympathetic and [p.516] kindly nature, ever upholding the rights of the weak and downtrodden, and was honest to the core. He held various positions of public trust, serving many times as a juror, his judicial temperament being of a high order. He was often chosen as an arbitrator and was known generally as a "Good Samaritan" and a man of peace. He was spiritually as well as temporally minded, fervent in prayer, faithful in observing, for the most part, the cardinal principles of the gospel, ever upheld authority and was especially gifted in administering to the sick. He was retiring and modest in his nature, never intruding himself and was among that great body of true sons of Israel who must be known to be appreciated, and of whom it is written "There are they who are last that shall be first," and who, having taken their pioneer burdens for pillows, await the reward of the faithful. LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, Andrew Jenson, Vol. 3, p.514-516 |
Biographies 
