Morgan 14 & 15: David Nathan Thomas and Adeline Springthorpe Thomas

David Narhan [Nathan] Thomas was born on the twenty-third of August, 1820, in Comorganshire [Carmarthenshire], Southwales [Wales]. He was the son of David Thomas and Sarah Nathan.

David Thomas was a weaver by trade. He had a wife and four children. One son, John, died of small-pox at the age of twenty. With the exception of David Nathan, none of the family joined the Mornom [sic] Church. The wife and mother of David Nathan was very bitter toward the church, and had nothing to do with her son after he joined it.

David Nathan Thomas had a wife and four children at the time he joined the church. His wife, Mary Howell, was a sufferer of T.B. Since the doctors advised them not to make the long trip to America, they waited for fifteen years, hoping that the wife would get strong enough to make the trip to Zion, in order to be with the Saints. During this time, their home was always open to the elders. Many found rest and comfort there. The family's great wish for their mother was never realized. When David Nathan was ready to come, he made the trip with his four motherless children.

The Saints on board the ship were very kind to David and his family. One young woman especially helped care for the children, and at the same time she brought joy to David. After the long voyage on the water and the long tiresome trek across the States, the woman, Frances Springthrop [Adeline Springthorpe], and David Nathan were married. The marriage took place on Frances' [Adeline's] twenty-seventh birthday, the same day they reached Nephi, Utah, on September 5th, 1862. [As I mentioned before, this date is before their wagon train reached Utah. And, to make things more complicated, David Thomas was probably also married to Frances Springthorpe Hewitt (1832-1879), relation to Adeline unknown.]

To this union two children, Frances Ann and David John, were born. Frances Ann was born in Nephi, Utah, on the fourth of May, 1864, and David John was born in Knosh [Kanosh], Utah, on the fourth of November 1866 [1865?]. The family lived in Knosh [Kanosh] for about ten years, and then they moved to Circleville, where they lived until Frances Ann was seventeen years old, when Brigham Young called David Nathan to help settle Arizona. [Brigham Young must have called from beyond the grave, since he died in 1877.] They reached St. Johns in November, 1882.

David Nathan Thomas was ordained a High Priest on the thirty-first of December, 1887, by E.N. Freeman. He was a black-smith by trade, a good provider, and a true Latter Day Saint. He died in August, 1888.

Frances Springthrop [Adeline Springthorpe] was the daughter of James and Frances Springthrop. She was born in Lestershire [Leicestershire], England, on September 5th, 1837. [The date seems to be right even though the name is wrong!] Her mother was blind for years before her death. Frances sacrificed her chances of marriage and devoted her time to taking care of her mother. Before her mother died, she counseled her daughter many times to draw her money from the emigrant saving fund as soon as she had passed on, and to go and live among the saints in Zion. She carried out her mother's wish and left for America soon after her mother died.

Frances [Adeline] was an excellent cook and house-keeper and a good Latter-Day Saint. She died in Manti, Utah, on March, 1891.

Anonymous. "Biography of David Nathan Thomas." Take the information in this record with a grain of salt.

Pictures of David Nathan Thomas and Adeline Springthorpe Thomas from family collections.