The Tew Family

"When I was about 16 my father joined a kind of a Saving Club, paying some two or three shillings a week and by giving notice he could draw it out again. About this time I embraced the Gospel. which was on the 21st of October, 1849 and was baptized by Elder John Roberts. My parents joined the Church and then the spirit of gathering came upon me and I wanted to emigrate to Utah. My father offered to draw some of the money out of his Club and send me if I would go to Zion. I told him I would go, so he drew some four pounds of English money from the Club and I left my home, and parents, and friends and relatives with Walter Bird bound for the land of Zion."

At the age of 17 and by himself, Thomas sailed on the Ellen Jan 8, 1851 and arrived in New Orleans, Louisiana, on March 14.1 The exact company Thomas took to cross the plains is unknown, but it's likely he joined the James W. Cummings Company on July 1 and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on Sep 30.

"Crossing the plains was not all a drudge, and trouble on the way, but the sunshine of hope and gladness would peep through the clouds and shine upon us on our journey. We had many good times on the way. I remember one grand sight, that we saw that was worth seeing and that was a herd of Buffalos some 10 or 12 thousand of them were at mid day playing on the bottoms and in the Platte River. So many that the herd was divided hither and thither to give us room to pass between them."

Soon after his arrival, Thomas began working as a mason and moved to Springville, Utah. Thomas married Rebecca Bird on Jan 22, 1856 in Springville, Utah. In 1865, the Tew family moved to Paris, Idaho, then to Richmond in 1868. They moved back to Springville in 1872.