Monday, July 15, 2013

Thomas Birk Foy: His Story


Possible Origins
            
          Over 70 years ago Grandma Foy began her quest to find the genealogy of our Foy family. While other lines fleshed out over time, the search for the Foy line beyond the American shores has evaded us. Thomas Birk Foy's father was said to have immigrated prior to the Revolutionary War. Our mythology states that he was either of German, Irish or French ethnicity. It was also said that Welsh was spoken in the home, perhaps because his mother was said to be of Welsh decent. The Chidester descendents remember that "Thomas Birk Foy always said the name Foy meant faith." Since that meaning comes from the Old French word foi, one wonders if that is the origin of the French ancestry legend. The search continues...


           The following history of Thomas Birk Foy was written my uncle, Leslie Tuttle Foy, and reproduced with his blessing. I had a little formatting problems when I copied from his original document so, please forgive the funky spacing. Some days I just can't force myself to wade into the HTML.

His Story        


            Those who lived in frontier America during the 1800's left very few footprints on the pages of history.  Most had little or no education.  Therefore, most could not leave any record.  Most became forgotten or just a footnote mentioned in passing by someone else.  So most became a fading memory to future generations.  Such is the story of Thomas Birk Foy.

Thomas Birk Foy
             Thomas was born on the 30th of December 1802 in Rapho Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania to Frederick Foy and Elizabeth Phillips Foy.  This was not long after the Revolutionary War and the change from Colonial government to the creation of the United States of America.  Lancaster would have been near the edge of the frontier at the time of his birth.  He was the last of twelve children according to family tradition.  Soon after his birth, his family moved further into the frontier to what would become Halfmoon, Centre County, Pennsylvania.  Information about the Foy family in America in earlier times is very sketchy and full of speculation .  Family traditions indicate that the father, Frederick Foy, came to America as an indentured servant a few years before the start of the Revolutionary War.  He served as a servant for about seven years in Chester County, Pennsylvania as a cooper to pay his passage to Colonial America.  Seven years was the longest period of time that a person could serve as a servant.  This would mean he would have been the poorest of the poor when he came.  This is our best conclusion based on what records can be found.  At the end of bondage, the only choice for most was to become a hired hand.  


            As best as we can tell, his father, Frederick, rented land to provide for his family.  Frederick could be found working around mills and mines as well.  Family traditions indicate that he was a maker of flour casks.  Family traditions also state that he drove a wagon freighting coal or charcoal.  There were several iron foundries in the region.  Two of Frederick’s sons became colliers, and one was a wood chopper.  Frederick’s son William was known as a master collier.  Colliers would burn wood slowly to change it into charcoal to be used in the steel industry and by blacksmiths in their forges.  Frederick’s son, Samuel, also did some work as a collier.  Frederick owned one cow and one horse most of the time he lived in Centre County, which means they did not have much livestock.  It would also show they were not well off.  

            Thomas was only seventeen when his father died.  No death record or burial record of Frederick can be found.  He may have been buried on the family farm because the family stayed close by for years after his death.  No church records show any close link with a particular religion.  Thomas would have had no memory of having lived in Lancaster County.  His earliest memories would have been those of frontier life in Centre County.  As far as can be found, Thomas had no formal education.  What skills he did have, he would have learned from his father and from family and friends.  He grew up with his brother Samuel and his sister Polly.  Some of his other siblings lived near-by in neighboring counties.  The others left no record that can be found so far.  An older sister, Elizabeth, married Thomas Vaughn the younger.  The Vaughns were well to do and owned land in both Halfmoon and Taylor Townships.  Thomas Vaughn also owned a mill.  Thomas Foy’s sister’s children would have been the closest cousins that Thomas Foy would have grown up with.  Theirs would be names that he would remember.  One of her children married  Susannah Sharrer.  Her father owned a powder mill.  Another married John Speer Fink.  Thomas Foy ‘s older Brother William was also married and lived in near-by Huntingdon County.  It appears that William’s first wife was a Fink.  When she died, William married his sister’s sister-in-law, Mary Vaughn.  As far as we know, these were his only siblings to have a posterity.  It also shows a connection between the Foy, Vaughn, and Fink families.  With few families on the frontier, neighbors married neighbors.  Family names of these three families are passed on for generations.  Naming patterns give us clues as to relationship and ancestry.    

            When a boy reached manhood at twenty one, he was listed as a single freeman.  This meant that he was old enough to serve in the military, to pay taxes, and to own land in Pennsylvania.  He was taxed for his occupation if he did not own property.  Thomas was shown being taxed for his occupation beginning in 1824 and every year after that until 1828 in Halfmoom Township, Centre County, Pennsylvania.  On the 1823 tax records, he was not listed.  In 1828 he was still listed as a single freeman but that he was gone.  This means that he left the county.  His older brother Samuel had transferred what land the family still had back to Christian Van Pool, the owner.  Thomas needed to find work.  In 1820 the census record for Halfmoon Township showed Samuel Foy as the head of the house.  His mother is listed as living in the home.  Thomas was also living there.

            Thomas followed the frontier west to Indiana County, Pennsylvania.  Here he became acquainted with the John Fink family.  Thomas met and married Catherine Fink, the daughter of John Fink and Sarah Goshorn Fink.  No marriage records can be found.  The census record for 1830 lists Thomas Foy living in Wheatfield, Indiana County, Pennsylvania between the ages of 20–30 with his wife, Catherine Fink Foy who was between the ages of 20–30.  They had one female child under the age of 5.  That would be their daughter, Elizabeth.  Living next to them was John Fink, Catherine’s father and her mother Sarah.  John and Sarah had 3 male children under 5, 3 female children under 5, 2 male children 5–10, 1 female child 5–10, 1 male 10–15, 1 female child 10–15, and 1 male child 15–20.  It appears that the sister of Thomas Foy, Elizabeth Foy Von (Vaughn) who was a young widow, came with her youngest children and their mother, Elizabeth Phillips Foy to visit as the census was being taken.  Elizabeth Vaughn and her mother returned to Centre County when the next set of records were made.  Elizabeth Foy Vaughn had 3 sons and four daughters at that time.  

Catherine Rebecca Fink Foy
               No record can be found to indicate what Thomas did for work while they were living in Indiana County , Pennsylvania.  His father-in-law, John Fink, was a carpenter.  His grandfather-in-law, Leonard Goshorn, was a blacksmith.  Family tradition indicates that Thomas became a wheelwright.  A wheelwright had to combine the skills of a carpenter, a cooper, and a blacksmith to make wheels out of wood.  Producing wheels required strength and ingenuity and precise skills in measuring.  The skills of a wheelwright could transfer over to work needed to produce water wheels.  Each place where Thomas Foy lived, was also near where mills could be found.  Workmen who produced wheels would soon find themselves out of work.  Once the job was done, they had to look for new opportunities for work. 

Conversion


            Family records show that the following children were born to Thomas and Catherine Foy while they were living in Indiana County, Pennsylvania.  The first was Elizabeth Foy.  She was born on the 30th of October 1829 at Wheatfield, Indiana County, Pennsylvania.  She was named after the mother of Thomas, Elizabeth Phillips Foy.  Their second child was Susannah Foy.  She was born on the 4th of April 1831 in Wheatfield as well.  Her name is one of the names common to the Vaughn family in Centre County, from where Thomas came.  Two of the siblings of Thomas married into the Vaughn family.  Their third child was named John Moroni Foy.  He was born on the 6th of November 1835 in Wheatfield.  He was named after his mother’s father, John Fink and after the Prophet Moroni who is mentioned in the Book of Mormon.  This would indicate that Thomas and Catherine had heard of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints before John’s birth, yet they had not yet joined the Church.  Because of the spacing in the birth of child number two and child number three, it appears that Catherine may have lost a child.  The family next moved to Strongstown, Indiana County, Pennsylvania.  That is where child number four was born.  He was named William Bosley Foy.  He was born on the 9th of September 1837.

            After the dedication of the temple in Kirtland, Ohio, missionaries such as Erastus Snow went to Pennsylvania to preach the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  Thomas and Catherine were taught the gospel in the Strongstown area and were baptized by Erastus Snow in 1836.  Concerning this event, Erastus Snow recorded, “I returned to Indiana County and preached in the Court House on Friday Evening.  Saturday I returned to Brush valley and Sunday I preached to an audience of between two and three hundred people, some of whom rejoiced and others were angry because their foundations shook... I returned the next day and preached in Brush valley and on Wednesday baptized three and preached again in the evening.”  One of his companions was William Bosley who traveled with him to Pennsylvania in 1837.  It is from this missionary that William Bosley Foy got his name.  He was also named after the older brother of Thomas, William Foy.  At a Conference held at Strongstown in May of 1838, Thomas was ordained a Teacher in the Aaronic Priesthood by Erastus Snow on the 26th of May 1838.  Strongstown was one of the strongest branches of the Church in western Pennsylvania.  On the 1st of April 1839, Thomas was ordained a Priest in the Aaronic Priesthood by William F. McIntire at Strongstown.  William McIntire was probably the first convert to the Church in Indiana County.  He was well known and was used as a mission companion of Erastus Snow from time to time.  Thomas and Catherine joined the Church before most of the revelations in the Doctrine and Covenants were given and before it was published.  It was also before the history of the “First Vision” was published.    This was also a period of gathering for the members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  There had been two gathering places.   One was Kirtland, Ohio, and the other was Missouri.  It was also a time for persecution for members of the Church wherever they had a congregation.  However, the members of the Church were driven out of Missouri so Illinois became the new gathering place.  Sometime between being ordained a Priest and the 6th of February 1840, Thomas and Catherine left with their small children and settled in Warsaw, Hancock County, Illinois to gather with the body of the Church near Nauvoo.  Elizabeth was their oldest child so she would have only been ten at the time they relocated.  The early childhood memories of the children would be limited.  They would have been able to remember the names of relatives, but of little else. 

Warsaw


            The move to Warsaw would have been at the request of the leaders of the Church.  The Lord had commanded the members of the Church to build a temple.  They needed to gather to a central location in order to do so.  This move meant that Catherine was expecting her fifth child during the winter when they moved.  Sara Jane Foy was born on the 6th of February 1840 at Warsaw, Hancock County, Illinois.  She was named after the mother of Catherine Fink Foy.  There was not enough work for all who gathered  at Nauvoo so many settled near by.  Warsaw was a port city on the Mississippi River.  It had a population of about 500 during the time that the Foy family lived there.  It was a place of portage where goods had to be unloaded and then reloaded above the rapids to be shipped further up stream.  The community was in direct competition for commerce and trade with the city of Nauvoo.  Thomas and Catherine do not show up on the US census of 1840.  They do show up on the tax records in Hancock County, Illinois, of August 1842.  These records are interesting.  Because most of the people listed had no real property, they listed other things that could be taxed such as wagons, livestock, clocks, watches, tools and household items.  From these records we can tell that Thomas was below average in taxable personal property.  There was another Foy listed on these tax records.  He was Jonathan Foy of Le Harpe.  Warsaw is in the far southern part of the county and Le Harpe is far to the north.  Jonathan was not a member of the Church.  He came from New York.  

Warsaw, Hancock County, Illinois -- late 1840s
             Life in Warsaw during the 1840's for a member of the Church would have been difficult.  Thomas Sharp moved to Warsaw after the Foy’s arrived there.  He purchased a news paper company that would become an anti-Mormon publication.  It was also a time that mobs from Missouri would freely cross the Mississippi River and created problems for the Mormons.  Some property belonging to the Mormons was damaged or destroyed.  Some were kidnaped and taken to Missouri.  It was while they were living in Warsaw that Thomas and Catherine signed a petition by the Church listing grievances against the State of Missouri for loss or damage of property that could be presented to the US Congress for reparations.  

Nauvoo


            These hardships did not prevent Thomas and Catherine from traveling to Nauvoo and keeping close contact with the leaders of the Church and participating in meetings.  These hardships did not prevent Thomas and Catherine from doing their duty and helping where they could.  Some time during this period, Thomas was ordained an Elder by Willard Richards.  It was not done on April 6, 1840 as one history shows.  Willard Richards was still in England on his mission on that date.  It could have been done after August 16, 1841 when Willard returned from England or as late as April 6, 1842 by Willard at April General Conference.  Never the less, it was done by Willard Richards.

            Also Catherine received her Patriarchal Blessing from Hyrum Smith on October 5, 1841. This was received in conjunction with their visit to Nauvoo for the October General Conference of the Church.  Hyrum had been made the Patriarch to the Church in April General Conference 1841 replacing his father, Joseph Smith Sr., after his death.  She would have been one of the first to receive a blessing from Hyrum Smith.  This blessing was given before much was known about ordinance work for the dead.  It was given before temple ordinances for the living had been revealed.  It was given at the time when Joseph revealed that baptisms for the dead should stop until the baptism font in the temple had been finished and dedicated.  Joseph did say at that conference that “It is no more incredible that God should save the dead than that he should raise the dead.”  The first baptisms for the dead in the Nauvoo Temple font took place on 21st November 1841. The blessing stated that Catherine had been born in Wheatfield Township, Indiana County, in the State of Pennsylvania.  It listed her birth date as the 18th day of October 1810.  This is a conflict.  The year has also been listed as 1804, and 1809.  The sextant in Minersville, Utah Territory recorded on her death certificate, that the birth date of Catherine was 1809.  That seems to be the most recent and the most accurate.  Her blessing gives her “a multiplicity of blessings because of your patience in tribulation and in sore afflictions and have not forsaken the Lord”.  It also states that “thou art a daughter of Abraham and shall be blessed in his lineage”.  Not only did she already have many tribulations but many more would yet come into her life.  

            Some of the events leading up to the April 1841 General Conference of the Church in Nauvoo included the laying of the cornerstones of the temple.  The conference in April 1842 was wet and cold.  There were no meeting houses.  Meetings were held outside in what was known as the grove.  This may have been the time when Thomas was ordained an Elder.  In March 1842 the Book of Abraham, which is now part of the Pearl of Great Price, was published in the Times and Seasons.  It was also in March 1842 that the Female Relief Society was organized.  Catherine was at some of these early meetings. 

            Thomas received his Patriarchal Blessing on January 30th 1842 in Nauvoo from Hyrum Smith.  It gave his birth place as the State of Pennsylvania.  His blessings were to be many both in time and eternity.  But he was bless to “have an inheritance with the remnants of the seed of Jacob, not in Joseph, but in Issachar, with the remnants of the seed of Jacob, in the covenant unto the House of Israel, together with your Father’s House, in the dispensation of the fullness of times , in the deliverance of the dead and the living”.

            On the 23rd of July 1842, Emma Smith Foy was born in Warsaw, Hancock County, Illinois.  Her name shows there was a close association of Catherine Foy and the Prophet Joseph’s wife Emma.  Thomas and Catherine named their children in honor of those they respected so their children would always have someone to look up to in bringing honor to their name.

            Persecution intensified, but so did revelation and sacrifice by the members of the Church.  Thomas and Catherine spent many hours working on the Nauvoo Temple.  As far as we can tell, Thomas and Catherine did not do any baptisms for the dead in the Nauvoo Temple.  There are records of the proxy baptisms that were done in the Nauvoo Temple by Edward Rigby for his wife’s relatives.  They include the names of Edward Foy, Thomas Foy, and  Sarah Foy, all of Lancashire England.  This looks interesting for future research.  The proxy baptisms were done on 28th of July, 1844 about a month to the day after the death of Joseph and Hyrum Smith.  

            Thomas Sharp wrote in the “Warsaw Signal”, that “war of extermination is inevitable”, on the 12th of June 1844.  He urged all the “old Citizens” of Warsaw to assist the mob in driving out the Mormons.  On the evening of the 27th of June 1844, sixty men arrived for a late supper at Mrs. Fleming’s Tavern bragging about killing the Smith brothers.  Thomas and Catherine Foy and their family were still living in Warsaw at that terrible time.  Most of the saints who lived near-by rushed to Nauvoo to see what need to be done to protect the members of the Church and to pay their respects to their beloved leaders and their loved ones.  It stands to reason that the Foys were present.  

            Catherine gave birth to her seventh child, a son, whom they named Frederick Lehi Foy, on the 3rd of October 1844 in Warsaw.  There is a conflict on his birth year.  However, his baptism record in Farmington, Utah Territory, lists this as his birth date.  This son was named in honor of the father of Thomas Foy and the Prophet Lehi in the Book of Mormon.  Both had left their homeland for a promised land.

            Thomas was ordained a High Priest on the 29th of December 1844 by G. W. Harris and others in Nauvoo.  He was received into the quorum on the same date.  He received his license as it was called then on the 26th of January 1845.  They remained true to their faith. 

            Living in Warsaw became so dangerous for members of the Church that Thomas and Catherine moved with their family to Nauvoo for safety.  We know that it was after the death of Joseph and Hyrum.  We know that it was after the birth of Frederick Lehi Foy.  Just when the move took place is not certain.  Thomas B.Foy was the purchaser of Town Lot #2 Block #125 in the Nauvoo Plat, in the Town of Nauvoo on the 30th of May 1845 from William and Mary Ainscough for $50.  William W. Phelps was the Notary Public.  This move would have been during the winter season.  They would not live in Nauvoo very long.  Work continued on the temple as rapidly as possible.  Some worked while others stood guard.

            It appears from looking at city maps of Nauvoo, that the Foy family in Nauvoo, would have been in the 4th Ward.  Other members of that ward would be Winslow Farr and his family, Heber C. Kimball, Wilford Woodruf, Levi Hancock, Edward Partrige, Vision Kight, Francis Lyman, Philo Dibble, Lucy Smith, the families of Joseph Smith and Don Carlos Smith, Perrigrine Sessions, Shadrack Roundy, William Law, Wilson Law, George W. Harris, N. K. Whitney, Brigham Young, William Marks, and Orson Hyde.  Even though these families lived near each other for just a short time, many lasting friendships grew form their association one with another.  Chidester’s lived in the 1st ward.  The Isaac Freeman family lived in the 3rd ward as did Edward Rigby.

Nauvoo, Illinois. Color print by A. Henry Lewis.

            The Nauvoo Temple Endowment Register records that Thomas B. Foy and Catherine Fink were part of the first endowment session on the 22nd of January in 1846.  There were 44 persons on that session.  25 were female and 19 were males.  Of the males, 7 were High Priests, and 12 were Seventies.  Six were from Pennsylvania.  It listed Thomas as having been born on December 30, 1802 in Lancaster, Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  Present day historians in making a modern record of the endowment record have put in the name of Harriett Foy as the wife of Thomas B. Foy.  That is in error.  Harriet Foy was the daughter of a William Foy who was from New Hamshire.  She would have been 14 years old at the time of the endowment.  Harriet was born in New York.  Harriett did join the Church and did come west to Utah but she has been linked incorrectly to our line and has created a major error for researchers who follow that path of research.  She is the one who goes into the Foscue line which is not our Foy line. People being endowed are done so with their birth name and not their married name.  

            On February 4, 1846, the first wagons left Nauvoo to start their flight into the wilderness on their trek west.  It was during that same time frame when the temple work for the living was being done and the start of the trek west that the Grand Jury was trying the leaders of the mob for the murders of Joseph and Hyrum Smith.  None of the jurors were members of the Church.  None of the witnesses for the prosecution dared to show up.  The witnesses for the defense lied on the stand.  The jury had no other option than to declare the defendants, to be not guilty.  Jonathan Foy of Le Harpe was member of that jury.  
            It is not known for sure when Thomas and Catherine left Nauvoo to head west.  It would have taken some time to get supplies ready.  Men with skills in working wood to make wagons were pressed into service helping to get wagons ready.  Not much time was given to the members of the Church by the mobs.  Thomas and Catherine had experienced the mobs once before in Warsaw so they would not want to take chances with them again.  Most had left by May of 1846.    We know that they were in the Council Bluffs area of Iowa by the 28th of March 1847 because that is when and where their eighth child, a daughter, Catherine Rebecca Foy was born.  It is probable that Catherine was expecting this child as they were driven out of Nauvoo.  It is also probable that Catherine’s flight west was during the winter.  The daughter was named in honor of her mother, Catherine Foy.

Over the Missouri

            There were two main temporary gathering places after the saints were driven out of Nauvoo.  One was at and around Winter Quarters, Nebraska on the west side of the Missouri River.  It is part of Omaha, Nebraska today.  This was where the ones chosen to be part of the vanguard pioneer company camped to get a jump start to the west.  The other was on the east side of the Missouri River at and around what was then known as Kanesville, Iowa and is known today as Council Bluffs, Iowa.  This is where the majority of the saints gathered to prepare to go west.  The Foys were located south and east of Kanesville at Pleasant Valley in Pottawattamie County, Iowa.  This was still Indian Territory.  It was named for the Pottawattamie Indians who lived there.  The right to live in Indian Territory had to be obtained from US Government leaders.  This right was granted for two years in exchange for the volunteers who served in the Mormon Battalion.  It was a matter of survival for the saints to live near the Missouri River.  There were few ferryboats.  Most boats could take only one or two wagons across the Missouri River at a time.  Crossing the river in the springtime was very dangerous because of the high water in the spring.  

            More people died in these two locations after being driven from Nauvoo than from those who were driven from Missouri and those who crossed the wilderness to Utah by wagon or handcart combined.  About 1,000 out of 12,000 died in those humble makeshift surroundings.  Dwellings were what ever could be built in the short time they had after being driven from Nauvoo.  Some were caves dug into the bank of a hill.  Others were huts, sod houses, even wagons.  Some few where able to build a cabin.  Very few crops could be grown the first two years after leaving Nauvoo.  Livestock was taken by the Indians for food.  


            After the death of Joseph Smith, some would-be leaders tried to convince others to follow them.  The first of these was Sidney Rigdon.  Fortunately the vast majority of the saints followed the leadership of the Quorum of the Twelve.  They had the keys of authority.  Perhaps one of the greatest legacies left to us by Thomas and Catherine was that they remained true to the faith.  They did not falter.  They followed the leaders of the Church.

            During the time that Thomas and Catherine were members of the Church up until the time they moved to Iowa, they had never met any of the three witnesses to the Book of Mormon.  Oliver Cowdery and David Whitmer had been excommunicated.  Martin Harris had stayed in Kirtland.  In October 1848, Oliver and his wife and their daughter, came to Council Bluffs, Iowa to reconnect with the Church and to make the trek west.  Orson Hyde was presiding over the branch of the Church in that area at the time.  Oliver asked Orson Hyde if he could be rebaptized into the Church.  At a Conference of the Church held on October 21st, the request was granted.  Oliver asked, “Brethren, for a number of years I have been separated from you.  I now desire to come back.  I wish to come humbly and to be one in your midst.  I seek no station; I only wish to be identified with you.  I am out of the Church.  I am not a member of the Church, but I wish to become a member of it.  I wish to come in at the door.  I know the door.  I have not come here to seek precedence.  I come humbly and throw myself upon the decisions of this body, knowing as I do that its decisions are right and should be obeyed.”  George W. Harris of the high council moved that Brother Oliver Cowdery be received back into the Church.  Shortly after, Oliver was baptized by Orson Hyde.  Thomas and Catherine and their children would have likely been to this conference.  They would have listened to the testimony of that great witness of the restoration.  The Cowdery family stayed in the Council Bluffs area making preparations to go west.  The following spring in 1849, they requested to take a short visit back to Richmond, Missouri so that Sister Cowdery could say goodbye to her parents before they departed for the west.  It was here that Oliver died of an illness that he got during the winter.  David Whitmer wrote of Oliver’s death as follows, “Oliver died the happiest man I ever saw.  After kissing his wife and daughter, he said, “Now I lay down for the last time: I am going to my Savior’; and he died immediately with a smile on his face.”

Pioneer Trail

            The vanguard pioneer company led by Brigham Young made the trek west to the Salt Lake Valley starting in the spring of 1847.  They laid out the trail.  They planted crops.  They built some dwellings and then most of them returned to Winter Quarters.  Included in that group were Heber C. Kimball and Willard Richards.  Upon their return, several important events took place with the Foy Family.  On 24th of April 1848, Thomas and Catherine crossed the Missouri River and went to the dwelling of Willard Richards in Winter Quarters and were sealed by Heber C. Kimball.  Willard Richards and Thomas Bullock acted as witnesses.  The Richards home served as a home, postoffice, and Church headquarters.  

            Also the week before the sealing on 30th of March 1848, Thomas received a second Patriarchal Blessing.  This was given by Isaac Morley in the home of Jesse P. Harmon on the east bank of the Missouri River.  Thomas Bullock, the official Church clerk, made the record.  In the blessing it states, “thou hast had much trial and tribulation in the cause of God, yet thou shalt be blessed and numbered with the seed of Abraham, and rejoice with the sons of Isaac and Jacob...thy faith shall reach the heavens; and thine influence realized among all good men through out the world...and be an instrument in aiding and assisting in rearing temples to the most high...”.


            Tithing records for the Pleasant Valley Branch for 1848 reveal how poor the members of the Church were after their exodus from Nauvoo.  Thomas paid the following as a tithe for the year:

            10 bushels of potatoes                    1.50

            1 load of pumpkins                          1.00

            15 bushels of turnips                       1.50


            cucumbers & radishes                        .15

            one days hauling                              1.00
            2 chickens                                            .10

            1 peck of corn meal                            .061/4

            1 day hauling corn in shock           1.00

            1 day work                                           .75

            1 cord of wood                                   1.00

            8 bushels of corn in ear                       .80


                                    Total-------------------$8.861/4 

            Thomas was not the poorest nor was he the wealthiest.  This shows that he was a humble farmer.  It shows that the food he produced was the kind that could last through much of the winter.  It shows the value placed on food in relationship to a days work.  John Dingman was a single man living in the same branch.  He paid .50 cents tithing with 1 cord of wood cutting.  Thirty-one individuals showed up on the tithing list in Pleasant Valley Branch in 1848.  The next records for the branch show that four branches had been consolidated into one branch.  During 1850 most of the families emigrated to Utah.   

            On the 23rd of November 1848, the oldest daughter of Thomas and Catherine,  Elizabeth Foy, was married to John BoydDingman.  They were married in the Council Bluffs area of Iowa.  John was a convert to the Church from Dundas, Ontario, Canada.  They had three Children.  The first was named Orson Hyde Dingman. , after the presiding officer of the Church in the Kanesville area of Iowa.  Orson Hyde was also a member of the ward that Elizabeth lived in while the family was still in Nauvoo.  This was the first grandchild for Thomas and Catherine.  Both mother and daughter were having children about the same time.  The other two children of Elizabeth Foy Dingman were born after her parents moved with the rest of the family to Utah.  That would have been a hard parting for all.  William Dingman was born the 18th of December 1850 in the Council Bluffs area of Pottawattamie County, Iowa.  Her Uncle William Foy must have somehow made a lasting impression on her or her younger brother.  Her third child was named Susan Dingman, after her sister.  Family ties were strong.  Susan Dingman was born on 18th of February 1852, at the same place in Iowa.  Unfortunately, Elizabeth died on the 13th of November 1853 before their little family could go west to Utah.

Crossing at Council Bluffs on the overland trail to the Far West. Frederick J. Piercy sketch.

            Family tradition states that Thomas Foy had been asked to stay in Iowa for a period of time helping to build wagons for those who would make the trek to Utah.  Their ninth child, a son, was born during that time.  He was named Thomas Didymus Foy after his father Thomas and the Apostle of Christ in the New Testament.  This part of Iowa was still listed as Indian Territory.  No birth date has been found but he is listed on the 1850 Census in Salt Lake City as being one year old.  That means he was a baby when the Foy family made their trek west.  

            The leaders of the Church did not want to have the members of the Church become so attached to Iowa that they would not move to the Salt Lake Valley.  So in 1850, many wagon trains started west.  This was also the time of the gold rush to California and the rush for free land in Oregon.  According to Church records, 27 wagon companies of the Church went west in 1850.  Some of those were just freight companies and some were small fast moving private groups.  Thomas and Catherine Foy were in the 14th company in 1850.  This was under the leadership of William Snow/ Joseph Young.  It departed from Kanesville, Iowa on the 21st of June 1850.  They were in the second group of fifty under the leadership of Gardner Snow.  They were also in the 6th group of ten in that fifty under the leadership of Thomas Rich.  Winslow Farr and his family that they lived in the same ward with them in Nauvoo were part of their group of ten.  So was Amos P. Stone and his family part of this group of ten.  There were 87 families, 509 people, 133 wagons, 758 cattle, 42 horses, 4 mules, and 58 sheep that started the journey in that last group of fifty.    Of that number, Thomas had 1 wagon and 8 cattle and l gun.  Eight are listed in the official record as being part of his family when it arrived in the Salt Lake Valley.  That would be the children.  Thomas and Catherine could not keep up and came into the valley in an unidentified group a short time later.   

            Because of the large numbers of travelers on the way west, water became polluted and many died from infectious diseases such as cholera.  Catherine Foy contracted this disease early, along the Platte River bottoms.  Amos P. Stone had taken a course in medicine.  He was able to help Catherine recover.  Amos P. Stone would become a future relative.  Minerva Stone wrote a letter to her family on the 4th of July 1850 which states, “Sister Foy and two sisters with Bro. Farr have had the cholera but have recovered; there have been one or two children die with it.  I have heard some say that if Mr. Stone had not been there in this company, there would have been a great many more deaths.  Bro. Farr says he is confident that the syringe with proper medicine has saved his life and two others in his family and he is grateful as anybody can be.”  Catherine was about four months pregnant when she got cholera.  All those who did keep records of this journey recorded the large number of graves that line the trail west.  

Utah Arrival


            The first ice on the water was recorded on the 12th of September 1850.  The main part of the William Snow/ Joseph Young Company arrived in the Salt Lake valley between October 1st and the 4th.  Because of the weakened health of Catherine because of the cholera and the advanced stages of her pregnancy, all the children went on into the valley ahead of Thomas and Catherine.  They were picked up as part of an unidentified company.  Elias Adams was part of that company and he made mention of Thomas and Catherine traveling with them.  It would have been later in the fall that they arrive.  Mary Ann Foy was born in Salt Lake City on the 13th of December 1850.  It was almost the same day that Catherine’s daughter, Elizabeth Dingman gave birth to her child.  This child does not show up on the 1850 census in Salt Lake City, so the family was all together in the valley at the time of the census but before the birth of Mary Ann Foy.  


            One can not help but see the parallel between this trek through the American wilderness and the trek taken by Lehi and his family in the Book of Mormon.  Their women were made strong to compensate for the hardships that they had while traveling through wilderness as well.  It was almost prophetic that Thomas and Catherine had named one of their sons, Frederick Lehi Foy.  One might wonder why this daughter was given the name of Mary.  We can only speculate.  Mary, the mother of Jesus, also had to make a long journey during the last stages of her pregnancy.  Mary is the name of the second wife of William Foy.  Mary is the name of the mother-in-law of Elizabeth Foy Vaughn.  “Polly” is a nickname for Mary.  “Polly” was the sister just older than Thomas Foy whom he grew up with.  A few sisters in the same wagon company that the Foy family traveled with were named Mary Ann.  This little girl had a lot of fine people to model her life after.  

            Not much is known about where the Foy family lived in Salt Lake or how long they lived there or what Thomas did for a living.  Erastus Snow was a member of the Stake Presidency.  They could have lived near him.  The 1850 census lists him as a farmer.  Thomas was enrolled in the High Priest Quorum in Salt Lake City on the 2nd of April 1851.  Catherine Foy and her older children were rebapized on 12 April 1851 in Salt Lake City.  The children were Susannah, John Moroni, William Bosley and Emma Smith Foy.  Rebaptism was a common practice in the early days of the Church.  On October 23, 1851, Susannah Foy married John Peck Chidester.  They had known each other in Nauvoo and in the Kanesville area before coming west.  John Peck Chidester was  in the Warren Foot wagon company in 1850.  It left a few days before the one the Foy family traveled in. 

             An article appeared in the Deseret New on Thursday October 7th 1852 which states: “General Conference was continued in Salt Lake City.... McGee Harris was sustained as President of the Teachers Quorum, also Thomas B. Foy and Reuben Perkins his counselors.”  Then on April 7th 1853 the Deseret News General Conference report stated: “McGee Harris was sustained as President of the Teachers Quorum; also John Grove was voted to be his counselor in the room of Thomas B. Foy, who had moved to another valley; and Reuben Perkins second counselor.”  These quorums were presided over and made up of members of the higher priesthood then.

            This is the time that Thomas received his third Patriarchal Blessing.  This was given on the 25th of January 1853 by the Patriarch of the Church, John Smith.  He was the Uncle of the Prophet Joseph Smith.  Two items are noteworthy. First the blessing states; “you are of the blood of Joseph that was sold into Egypt and lawfully entitled to the priesthood and in as much as you have come up through great tribulations your robes shall be made white in the blood of the Lamb...The Lord hath designed you for a great work to save your father’s house back to the days of Noah or to where they died in the Gospel, that there shall not be a broken link in the chain from the days of righteous Able to the dispensation of the fullness of times, when all shall be gathered in one.”  This second part of the blessing becomes a family responsibility to fulfill.  

            Some time after that blessing but before April Conference, Thomas moved his family to help Willard Richards build his mill in Farmington, Davis County, Utah Territory.  On the 13th of November 1853, Thomas and Catherine had their eleventh child.  She would be the last for Catherine.  They named her Rhoda Marie Foy in honor of the sister of Willard Richards.  It appears that Thomas had worked on mills off and on through out his life.  Once a mill was finished, so was the construction job.


            While they were living in Farmington, Frederick Lehi Foy was baptized in the Farmington Ward by William Flint and confirmed by his father Thomas B. Foy.  This record gives the birth date of Frederick as the 3rd of October 1844.  These ordinances were done on the 11th of December 1853.

            It would have been while the Foy family was living in Farmington or just after their move to Ogden, that they would have received word that their oldest daughter, Elizabeth Foy Dingman had died.  This was one more hardship to bear.  Yet true to their blessings, they did not murmur against the Lord or the Church. 


            Thomas B. Foy moved his family to Bingham’s Fort, just north of the Ogden River.  In 1854, there were 732 people living in the fort.  Thomas Foy’s cabin was in the north west corner of the fort.  Inside the fort, there was a molasses mill and a one-room school house.  The Binghams would become future relatives.  Also the Goodale and the Jones families would also become future relatives who lived in the fort.   There was a Church census taken in 1856 in Weber County, Utah Territory.  This listed the members of the Foy family that were still living at home.

            Sarah Jane Foy married Thomas Wilkins Jones on th 3rd of April 1856.  Sarah was 16 years old.  They moved into the fort that fall.  John Moroni Foy married Alice Jost on the 28th of August 1856 and also live in Ogden.  Emma Smith Foy married Isaac Goodale as his second wife when she was 15 years old in 1857.  He was the next door neighbor to the Foy family in the fort.  

Sarah Jane Foy Jones

            The United States Government sent an Army to Utah which became know as Johnston’s Army.  The event was known as the “Utah War”, although there was very little that took place other than saber ratling.  The Mormons vacated their settlements and moved south to get out of the path of the Army.  In the move south, young Thomas Dydymus Foy must have died.  He was on the 1856 census.  Yet he does not show up on any records after the brief flight from the army.


            After the Foy family returned from their move south during the “Utah War”, Thomas took a second wife.  Her name was Louisa Potterill.  She was a convert to the Church from Sacom, Herford, England.  She was Christened on the 9th of February 1840.  They were married on the 13th of January 1860 in Salt Lake City, Utah territory in the Office of the President.  Brighan young sealed them as husband and wife.  John Peck Chidester was one of the witnesses.  They were sealed again on November 7, 1870 in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City Utah, Territory.  

            The 1860 census lists Thomas as 53, Catherine as 50, Louisa as 20, and the children as Fred R. age 14, Catherine L. age 13, Mary A. age 10, and Rhoda M. age 7.  Notice the middle initial for Fred and Catherine were switched by the census taker.    The older children were married or living away from home.  Thomas Didymus Foy was not listed.  


            The first child of Thomas and Louisa was named Mary Elizabeth Foy.  She was born in Ogden on the 4th of January 1861.  She died on the 11th of July that same year in Slaterville, Weber County, Utah Territory.  She was named after the mothers of Louisa and Thomas.  The family had moved from Ogden to Slaterville after the 1860 census.  Farming was better in Slaterville than Ogden.

            The second child of Thomas and Louisa, Sarah Ann Foy, was born in Slatersville on the 9th of October, 1862.

Cotton Mission


            Almost two weeks after the birth of this child, Thomas and his family received a mission call to the Cotton Mission in Southern Utah.  The Deseret News reported that on  Sunday October 19, 1862 the following event took place as it was recorded in the Journal History of the Church.  “ The day was pleasant in Great Salt Lake City.  Two meetings were held in the bowery.  Elder Daniel Spencer and Heber C. Kimball preached in the forenoon and in the afternoon.  Thomas Bullock read the names of 200 missionaries called to the Cotton Country, after which Elders Wilford Woodruff and Enoch Reese spoke.  Following are the names of persons called to go to the Cotton Mission:...William B. Foy, Parley’s Park,... Thomas B. Foy, Ogden....(William was 199 on the list and Thomas was number 200).  No trade was listed for either one.  John M. Chidester and his sons David and John Peck Chidester were also listed.  John had a trade as a turner.  The others did not.  John Peck Chidester was also listed as residing in Parley’s Park.  That would be where the Syderville and Park City areas would be today.  It was noted for lumbering and milling of lumber products and cattle ranching at the time.  

            President Heber C. Kimball met with the Cotton Missionaries at 6:30 p.m. at the Tabernacle.  He told them that there was not one required to go...they could go as well as not, that they were hand selected good men– not one was being sent to get rid of him, that they want a settlement down there of men who can be relied on.  God is inspiring this mission, we do not know the results of it.  They would not wonder if we (President Young and Kimball) would go down.” 

            On the 24th of December 1862, William Bosley Foy, the son of Thomas and Catherine Foy married Lucinda Bingham.  The Binghams and the Foys had been neighbors in Bingham’s Fort in Ogden.  They had made the move south together during the Utah War.  They were also neighbors in Slaterville.  It may be that it was from his father-in-law that William developed an interest in the livestock industry.  Both the Bingham and the Foy men helped build the canal to Plain City.  Sufficient water was not obtained so the canal was later extended to the Ogden River.  Erastus Bingham Jr., father of Lucinda, also was engaged in the lumber and shingle milling industries.   

            Thomas and Catherine’s son Frederick Lehi did not make the move to the Dixie Mission in Washington County with the rest of the family in 1863.  He stayed in Slaterville and married Rachel Slater.  She was the daughter of Richard Slater for whom the community was named.  Slaterville was only six miles north of Ogden.  There was a sharp contrast between the farm the Foys left in Slaterville, and what they had to look forward to in Washington County.

            The 1860's was also the time that the Civil war was being fought.  The supply of cotton was cut off both to the Northern States and the Western States.  It seemed logical that cotton could help the economy of Utah.  That is part of the reason why the Cotton Mission was established.  The mail had to be protected from Indians.  Frederick Lehi Foy became a part of the U. S. Army stationed in the west.  Many more troops came to Utah to prevent Utah from leaving the Union.  They were stationed at what is now Fort Douglas.  The soldiers had nothing to do, so many became prospectors in their spare time.  That started the mining industry that could be found near where the Foy families were living in Washington and Beaver Counties.  They did not mine because of the directions of the Church leaders.  They did profit by selling products that the miners needed. 

            Washington is located about five miles northeast of St. George in Washington County, Utah and about 314 mile southwest of Salt Lake City, Utah.  Although Brigham Young strongly believed cotton could be grown there to supply the Saints with enough cotton and be an exporter of cotton to markets in the east, the plan did not work out.  Poor alkali  soil, cricket and grasshopper plagues, spring floods caused small dams to burst and flood the fields, malaria, and summer droughts caused some of the settlers to leave.  William Bosley Foy would moved his family to Minersville in Beaver County later on.  Thomas and his family would stay.  

            Louisa Foy gave birth to her third Child, Rachel Foy on the 25th of November 1864 in Washington, Washington County.  Two months later, Rachel died on the 17th of January 1865.  Conditions did not get much better.  Louisa gave birth to a son, Willard Richards Foy, on the 17th of January 1867 in Washington, Washington County.  Baby Willard died the same day.  Then on the 31st of March 1868, a son, Joseph Foy, was born to Louisa.  He died the next day.  He was named after the father of Louisa.  Their sixth child, a son, was named James Collin Foy.  He was born on the 3rd of February 1869 and died on the 6th of February 1869.  These were times of famine.  All the families were starving.  The families were reduced to eating alfalfa greens and pigweed for food.  This may be the reason why four of the babies died.  Louisa did not have enough nourishment for them.

            It was not only a difficult time for Thomas and his wives and children living at home, but it was just as hard for their married children living near by.  William and his young wife had their first child in Washington, Washington County on January 8, 1865. They had watched as two of their father’s children died for lack of food.  They moved to Minersville, Beaver County, Utah the next year where their next six children were born.  Catherine and her three youngest girls move to Minersville to be near William so she could help with the grandchildren.  It was too difficult to support two families in a small home in Washington anyway.  U. S. Marshals were starting to look for families living together in plural marriage as well.  William had learned the trade of cattle ranching for which Beaver County was much more suited.  
      
            While Catherine and her girls were still living in Washington County, they worked in the cotton industry.  They help pick the cotton, spin it, and weave it.  Until 1869, the carding, spinning and weaving were home industries.  The girls would swim the Virgin River to pick the cotton.  For lunch they would eat bread made from cane seed and sorghum, syrup.


            Catherine Foy, the daughter of Thomas and Catherine, met and married Jehu Blackburn in 1866.  Jehu had been one the first pioneers to go to Pine Valley.  Pine Valley would become part of what is known as the Cotton Mission.  Pine Valley is at the head waters of the Santa Clara River.  Isaac Riddle, Robert Richey, Lorenzo Roundy, and Jehu Blackburn built a sawmill in Pine Valley in 1855.  They supplied lumber and shingles to the residents of the Cotton Mission.

            Catherine Fink Foy lived out the rest of her life in Minersville with her children and grandchildren.  Most of her other children lived too far away to be much of a help to them.  Catherine lived long enough to see all but her last daughter get married. Catherine lived true to her blessings.  She died true to the faith on May 21, 1870 and was buried in Minersville.  No tribute is great enough that can be put into words for this beloved mother and grandmother.  The only tribute worthy enough for her is that her posterity live the kind of lives that would bring honor to her.

Minersville, Utah

            The seventh child of Thomas and Louisa, Lucinda Marie Foy was born on the 14th of February 1870.  She was named in honor of the wife of William Bosley Foy.  She survived the harshness of the desert life.  When this baby was about nine months old and after the death of Catherine Fink Foy, Thomas and Louisa traveled the long distance from Washington County to Salt Lake City to the Endowment house where Louisa received her own endowment and the two were sealed on November 7, 1870.

            Louisa would give birth to one more daughter.  Louisa Rebecca Foy was born on the 23rd of July 1873.  Her father Thomas Birk Foy died on the 28th of July 1873 in Washington, Washington County, Utah just a few days after his last child was born.  On March 2, 1873, Thomas received the last of his patriarchal blessings from Wm. G. Perkins.  It was given as a fathers blessing.  The majority of this blessing referred to a future time after this life was over.  It said, “You will go to the center stake.  There you will assist in building a holy temple.  You will see that house finished off, and be at the dedication there of.  There you will witness a great display of the power of God.  There you will see brother Joseph and Hyrum with many of the Saints that have received their resurrected bodies.  There your joy  will be full, you will do a great work in that house for yourself and your dead.  It will be common with you to see the graves open and the dead come forth.  There you will see Jesus your Redeemer.”  

            This is not the end of the story.  One may wonder what was the pull that kept Thomas in Washington after the purpose of the Cotton Mission failed?  Was it that he still had family and friends there?  Was it that he had made commitments to the leaders of the Church that he would stay?  Was it out of love and respect to Erastus Snow who had brought him into the Church and who was the presiding officer as an apostle of the Lord called to preside over this mission?  Was it because he was engaged in the construction of the St. George Temple?  Was it out of weariness to pick up his family and try to start over again?  More than likely it was yes to all of the above.  

            Land claims filed in the Washington County probate court show that Thomas B. Foy owned land next to Erastus Snow, John M. Chidester, and near Levi Hancock, and Brigham Young. 

            On November 9, 1871, the site for the St. George temple was dedicated.  President George A. Smith gave the dedicatory prayer.  He knew of the suffering of the local saints.  He knew of their faith and their dedication.  He had shared many of the hardships with them.  He prayed:


            “May thy peace be upon the pioneers of this desert and upon all those who have labored to reclaim the same; may eternal blessings rest upon them and their posterity forever.  Yes, bless all thy servants who have done this great work, bless their wives, their children, their substance and do thou bless them in all their labors.”     

            On the very same day that the dedicatory prayer was given on the construction site, work started on grading the site.  This was difficult because it had to be dug out by picks and shovels.  Surplus dirt was shoveled into wagons and hauled away.  The foundation was dug down to twelve feet below the grade level. Digging was relatively easy.  Soft sandstone was on the north side.  The other three sides had mud and water.  A drain was installed to dry it out.  Black volcanic rock was hauled in to fill the foundation site.  Other material like sandstone or limestone reacted adversely to the moisture and minerals that were present.  A pile-driver was made from an old canon to drive the rock down to form a firm foundation.  About the only work that Thomas could have done was to haul dirt from or rock to the foundation the foundation site.  Tithing funds from all the Saints in the Cotton Mission and as far north as Beaver County were used in the construction of the temple.    

            On March 10, 1873 the corner stones were laid.  This was about a year after the High Priest Quorum compiled the history of Thomas and the year he got his last blessing.  It would also be the year that Thomas died.  Thomas did not live to see the temple finished but he lived long enough to know his blessings had been fulfilled as a temple builder.  

Thomas's Headstone
            Susannah Foy Chidester was also a part of the Cotton Mission.  Her husband John Peck Chidester played a major part in the construction of the cotton mill.  He was the foreman in charge of the timber works for the construction of the cotton mill.  Later he played a major role in the engineering and construction of the Pile Dam on the Virgin River.  After the temple was completed, in August of 1877 Susannah and her son John had much of the temple work done for her father’s and mother’s families.  Not enough can be said for her seeing that this great work was done.  The temple records give us valuable information as well.

            Not enough good can be said for the many who have written the biography of Thomas Birk Foy previously.  This will not be the last history of him I am sure.  This is a work in progress.  Every effort has been made to document this history.  Just because you may see the names spelled differently does not mean they are different people or that the ordinance work was done incorrectly.  What is done is done.  Please use this as a means to add to or update your records.


Sources:
Prints of Nauvoo and Council Bluffs found on Utah To Go site.             

Minersville photograph taken from Coldwell Bankers site.                

Print of Warsaw  found on Uncle Dale's Old Mormon Articles site. 
Photograph of gravestone found on Find a Grave site.     
Photograph of Sarah Jane Foy provided by Jones Family.                   



              











                                                                      



                                                                                 



           



                                

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