Thomas William Lloyd

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THOMAS WILLIAM LLOYD
(Written for the Family Reunion — 1960)
By Hortense Parke Lloyd, Daughter-in-law

Thomas William Lloyd was born September 27, 1857, at Farmington, Davis County, Utah. He was the son of Thomas Lloyd and Susanah Stone Lloyd, and was the eldest of fourteen children.

He was raised as any child in those early pioneer days. His father was a harness maker by trade, and the son, Thomas, worked as soon as he was old enough to do anything.
Young Thomas met his wife at his father’s home. She was Elizabeth Lea, a friend of Thomas’ sister, Sarah. It was love at first sight, and their courtship was short. They were married about six weeks later, February 25, 1877.

An ox team, wagon, pair of strong hands, and a sparsely furnished house were their possessions at the beginning of their married life. Their humble home contained a wood stove, table, three chairs, bed, and a few dishes. The dishes were washed and placed on the floor with a cloth over them because they had no cupboard.
Thomas worked for a day’s wage, hauling bailed hay and grain, and going to the canyons for wood to sell. He also worked in the hay fields.

As each of his nine sons grew large enough, they would go with him to drive the team and help in any way they could. He taught his sons early to work, inside the home as well as outside. There were no girls in the family to help their mother, and the boys had to take turns doing the housework.
He had injured his back and could not stand the jarring motion of the wagon. As soon as possible he replaced the oxen and wagon with horses and a buggy, which provided comparative comfort. Mt. Sterling was the site of the first land he purchased. He started to farm there, buying more land as he was financially able. The land kept the boys busy while Thomas bought and sold cattle, which was profitable to him. The large family grew out of the old home and a larger house was built.
Father Lloyd had a strong testimony of the Gospel, and taught his family the principles of the Gospel. In the spring of 1899 he was called to fill a mission to England. He accepted the call and labored with Joseph Fielding Smith for six months. Hs was called home because of his wife’s ill health. She was under the care of a doctor for sometime, suffering from diabetes.

In the early spring, he visited his brothers who lived in Rexburg, Idaho.
While there he bought a place at St. Anthony, Idaho. He sold this land to his sons,
Will and John. In the fall of 1903 he visited his brother Dan, who lived at Central,
Idaho. Dan wanted to sell his home there and move back to Utah. Thomas then
visited his sons at St. Anthony, and while there he sold John the “Dan Place” at
Central for John’s interest at St. Anthony.
The next spring, after school was out, the family moved to St. Anthony, where he went into the cattle business and farming for five years. While there they met with many drawbacks. The crickets came, and they had to fight them the hard way, as there were no sprays in those days to kill them. They had to dig trenches, drive them into the trenches, and then bury them.

The work on the farm was hard, and Mother Lloyd could not stand the hard work because of her ill health. Thomas sold the farm and cattle to his brother, Charles, and moved back to Logan so that Mother Lloyd could be under the doctor’s care. He tried in every way he could to make her happy and to obtain medical care for her. He took her to California for the winter, thinking the sunshine would help her, but there was not much that could be done to ease her suffering. She passed away on April 25, 1912, at Logan,

After the sting of death had passed, Father Lloyd decided to rent the home in Logan and visit with his children. By this time all his family but one had homes in Central. That summer he bought some 500 acres of land at Central and stayed to farm it until fall. When the work was done he returned to Logan for the winter.
During that winter he met Elizabeth Shooter, who was living with his sister, Mary Hendrickson. Miss Shooter came from England and had not been in America long. She was not acquainted with American ways, but was quick to learn and was not afraid of work.

In April of 1913, Father Lloyd and Miss Shooter were married and came to Central to make their home and to farm. On one of the pieces of land he built a very nice home just across the street from his son, Charles’, home. They lived there about five years, going to Logan for the winters.

The fall of 1917, he sold his farm and home in Central and moved back to Logan. He retired from farm work at this time and turned his attention to doing temple work. He had many business interests and invested large sums of money, some of which he did not get back. He held positions in different companies. He was a director of the Cache Valley Banking Company until his health failed.
He lived to see some great changes. From an ox team to an automobile, was one. He bought his first car in 1917 and received a lot of enjoyment from it.
His wife, Elizabeth, was interested in everything he did, and worked steadily by his side in everything he undertook.

Father Lloyd took his mother into his home and helped care for her in her declining years. She passed away January 25, 1920, in Logan, Utah. In the fall of 1927, a granddaughter, Lois, daughter of his son, Parley, came to live in his home to go to school. She became ill with spinal meningitis. This illness spread to Lizzie, who was helping care for her. Lizzie died from it April 26, 1928. Lois’ mother, Nettle, who had come to Logan to care for Lois, took the meningitis, and she passed away a week after

Previous to that time, Father Lloyd and Lizzie also took care of his son John’s and Hortense’s son Alton, who was ill with a nervous disorder later diagnosed as Parkinson’s disease. His son, Archie, and boys lived with him one winter too.
He was always ready to help those in need, and was a wonderful father to his family.
He had three wonderful wives who stood by his side and helped him.
Father Lloyd lived with Lizzie for fifteen years and was very happy. They had no children.

In August of the same year that Lizzie passed away, he married her cousin, Harriet Cooper. She had three Sons, whom Father raised as his own until they were old enough to go for themselves. When the boys were out of school he always found work for

Aunt Harriet still survives. She was a blessing and a comfort to him in his declining years, the last five of which he was stricken with a stroke and was confined to his chair. She was always at his side to aid him. He passed away December 6, 1946, at Logan, Utah. Burial was in Wellsville, Utah.

Four of his nine sons have passed away. March 1895. Will passed away September 1956, Lyman and Linnie both died in March 1895 and Archie died March 18, 1960.

Living sons are: John, Bancroft, Idaho; Charles, Kaysville, Utah; Norman, El Cerrito, California; Parley, Salt Lake City, Utah; and Ellis, Logan, Utah. Grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great great grandchildren amount to a posterity of 229.