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Smith, Thomas X., Bishop of Fourth Ward, Logan, Cache Stake, was the son of George Smith and Patience Timpson, and was born Dec. 25, 1828, at Eaton Bray, Bedfordshire, England. He was baptised March 28, 1849, by John Mead, and was ordained a Deacon by Benjamin Johnson; later he became president of the Eaton branch. In 1853 he sailed for America, on board the ship "Falcon," and crossed the plains in an ox-train, arriving in Salt Lake valley after a very hard and trying journey. Bro. Smith writes: "My wife was very sick for several weeks after our arrival in the Valley, having been confined with a child en route over the plains. We felt that we were strangers in a strange land, but we knew that the Lord was with us. I soon found employment with Dr. Willard Richards, for whom I worked till his death, when I went to Farmington, Davis county, and took charge of his grist and saw-mill. While at Farmington I was ordained a Seventy. After living in Farmington for about two years, I moved to Logan, Cache county, where I was in 1855-56, during the "grasshopper war," and did all in my power to check the damage being done. Before we were entirely through fighting grasshoppers we had to meet the United States army, in what is known as the "Utah war." At an early day I was chosen as a president of the 64th quorum of Seventy. When Logan city was divided into four Wards, I was called to preside as Bishop of the Fourth Ward, and was later ordained a High Priest and Bishop by Prest. Geo. Q. Cannon. In 1880 I went on a mission to England, where I labored principally in the Nottingham and Manchester conferences, serving as president of the latter. My wife died Sept. 23, 1880, leaving a large family to be cared for, and so I was honorably released and returned to Logan in 1881. When Presidents Chas. O. Card and Thos. E. Ricks first went to Canada, I accompanied them and assisted in doing the first plowing ever done in Alberta, where so many of the Saints have since located. For three terms I served as a city councilman in Logan, and have also held many other civil positions. I have had three wives, two of whom are living, and I am the father of twenty-two children, six of whom are dead." Bishop Smith was one of those unassuming men who believed rather in deeds than words, and was respected by all classes as a man of sterling worth. His death occurred in Logan early in 1907.
Andrew Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia: A Compilation of Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 4 vols. Salt Lake City 2:77 |
Biographies 
