Margaret Winifred Thomas

Margaret "Maggie" Winfred Thomson was born March 16, 1860 in Salt Lake City, Utah to George and Alice Tomlinson Thomson. Margaret is a Pioneer of Richmond. Margaret served as the 4th President of the Richmond Ward Relief Society.

History

Soon after Maggie was born, the Thomson family moved to Richmond. She lived in the Richmond Fort until she was about 4 years old.

"My father was given two lots in the north of City Creek that run through the south end of town. He built a nice log house of two rooms with a room in the loft where we children slept.

"We had corral on the south side of the creek and we had fun as we grew older, playing by the creek, getting willows for homemade whistle and running up and down through the willows grew on the banks of the city creek as it wound its way on down through our lot. 

Between the ages of 7-15, Maggie was taught by many different teachers. At 15, she started attending Brigham Young College in Logan, Utah. Once she graduated, she began teaching at schools in Richmond.

Maggie married Thomas Hazen Merrill on April 22, 1885 in Logan, Utah. Their son, Mazel Melburn Merrill, was a veteran of World War I, dying in action. After his death, she began working with the War Mothers of America.

Thomas was called to serve as the 4th Bishop of the Richmond Ward in 1900. In 1906, Maggie was called as the 4th President of the Richmond Ward Relief Society, serving until 1915.

In June 1912, Herbert A. Adamson presented a petition signed by 67 individuals to the Richmond City Council about constructing a library in Richmond. The city appointed a Board of Directors for the library, one of whom was Maggie's older brother, George Moses Thomson, and her husband, Thomas. The Richmond Carnegie Library was constructed in 1914, and Maggie was appointed Librarian from 1919 to 1938.

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