Letter written by Thomas Grover, sent March 7th 1897.

Letter was sent to mr. Ernest G. Gagnon: (sent from Morgan, Utah by Thomas Grover b. 1845)

Your note of the third came to hand, I was born in Nauvoo, Ill, November 17, 1845, our family crossed the Miss. River in Februrary 1846 and traveled with the saints to Winter Quarters, now Florence, Neb. where Father during the winter of 46-47 done the butchering for the saints in the spring of 47 he was chosen one of the Pioneers and went with the company as far as the North Platte where a short stop was made.  Pres. Young called a meeting for the purpose of devising means of crossing the river, in this meeting a plan was put forth which father did not think would work and he left the meeting and went to bed.  At the close of the meeting Stephen Marcus, fathers bunk mate, came to bed, and one of the Brethern came with him to hear what Father said of the plan.  Father told Marcus he had forgotten more about water than Pres. Young new.  This man that came to the wagon with Marcus went to President Young with what Father said and then President called Father to account.

The next morning when Father told him he had forgotten more about water than he ever would know.  Father had been a canal boat Captain all his life and new nothing but water.  President Young rigged their ferry and started it when Pres. Kimball standing with his hand on Fathers shoulders said Brother Thomas it runs nice.  Yes, said father but when it strikes the current it will go under.  He had hardly spoken when it went under.  Now said President Young, Brother Grover my plan has failed what is yours.  Father said I will take two four mule teams and six men and go to that grove of timber yonder and I will get two trees and bring them here and will hew them out canoe fashion and lash them together and tomorrow morning  at day light will have a boat that will carry us safe across the river.  President Young told him to get his men and teams and be off.  He started with the men and when they arrived at the grove they made the selection of the trees and on getting near they found them surrounded with rattle snakes and they killed snakes for three hours before they could get near the trees but they got them and went to camp and next morning the boat in the water as he said he would.

After the camp had all crossed the President left father and 9 others there to run the ferry and father remained until the company came which his family was in.  We were in General C. C. Richs Company, Edward Stevenson Capt of Ten.  We arrived in Salt Lake Valley October 3, 1847.  We remained in the City that winter then in the spring of 1848 we located on the creek now where Centerville now is, then to Farmington in Davis County on Devil Creek  I remember seeing the Indian Ponies feeding by the side of our corn and did not eat the corn.  In the fall of 1848 Father was sent by the President to California to settle some business for the Church.  He went by way of lower California and settled the business then went into the mines until fall of 1849 when he returned in company with Thomas Roads and others.  My father and the others turned over to the Church on their arrival in the City a half bushel measure full of Gold.  We have lived in the Valley since that time.  I am the second son born in the Church of Polygamy parents.

My address:  Thomas Grover
                      Morgan City, Utah

Thomas Grover - Left at Ferry as Overseer

                                                             Written by Margaret Hess

Thomas Grover was born July 22, 1807, in Whitehall, New York.  He was identified with all the early movements of the church and was one of the first to declare himself in readiness to start for the mountains.  His company left Nauvoo February 9, 1847.

Thomas was selected for one of the first companies of Pioneers arriving at Winter Quarters.  After crossing the Platte River, he was the one left there to ferry over the stream the companies that would follow.  Consequently he was behind the others in entering the Salt Lake Valley.  This company had a long, tedious journey.  Like most of the other pioneers, they had songs, dances and held religious services on Sunday.  They also held mock trials.  The camp verses "James Davenport" for blockading the highway and turning ladies out of their coures.  One brethern acted as Judge, one as Attorney for the people and one as Prosecuting Attorney.  Many such trials were held in the camp with amusing results.

Brigham Young, William Clayton and Porter Rockwell were in this caravan.  They had a telescope with them and spent much time on the high bluffs.  They could see the formation called "Chimney Rock."  It resembled the large factory chimneys of England.   They gathered together timber and rails and made rafts to cross the rivers and large streams.  Often they were caught in quick sand and had to unload a wagon and oxen before they could get pulled out again.  They encountered all kinds of weather, some bitter cold, from which they suffered considererably.  The roads were rough and rugged and they had many steep hills and deep rivers to cross.  They had many experiences with Indians.  They would give food to the Indians to keep on the good side of them.  They passed a few places where the caravas had been destroyed by the Indians.

Thomas Grover had a large family, having two wives.  He was industrious and thrifty.  When he arrived in Salt Lake City, they only stayed there a short time.  Then they moved to Centerville, where he raised one crop.  Then they moved to Farmington, being one of its first settlers.  He was a very influential man in helping to settle the little town which he came to love.  He died February 20, 1886.

Isabella Hogg and her daughters

Norma Grover Floyd, Mary Grover Kunz, Isabella (the mother of the other three), Merle Grover Wilding Fullmer. 

The three are the daughters of Thomas Martin & Isabella Hogg Grover.

Thomas Grover and Elizabeth Heiner

Children of Thomas and Elizabeth Grover

back - Hannah Grover Hegsted, Daniel Wells Grover, Adelgunda Grover Hemming. 

front - Evelyn Grover Worlton, Thomas Grover Jr., Thomas Martin Grover; 

(Picture probably after 1882 as Elizabeth is not present)

Leo Thomas Grover Funeral Program

Thomas Grover 1760ish

information taken from "The Ancestry and Genealogy of Thomas Grover - born July 1807 Whitehall, N.Y. - .... Utah Pioneer 1847: Compiled by Joel P. Grover, LA California 1959:

beginning on page 67, part way down:

57 - Thomas Grover Jr, (5), b. about 1760, nr Grafton, Mass.; died Feb 1807, Whitehall, Washingotn Co., N. Y.;

Married (1) abt 1785, near Conway, Mass., Ruth Bacon, (born 9 Feb 1762, Sutton, Mass.; daughter of William and Mary (Dalrymple) Bacon, of Sutton and Conway, Mass.). She died 1795-96, and he then

Married (2), 1799, at Fort Ann, N.Y., Polly Spaulding, (b. 22 Feb. 1779, Andover, Mass.; died 5 April 1859, Weedsport. N. Y.; daughter of Silas and Hannah (Brown) Spaulding). His widow, Polly (Spaulding) Grover, married (2) 1810, David Young, who died abt 1827; she then married (3) 20 May 1830, Elihu Everts, at Granville. N.Y.

This Thomas Grover, born abt 1760 Grafton, may possibly have been the "Thomas Grover", private, in Captain Joseph Slarrow's Co., Col. Leonard's Reg't., who served from Feb 24 to April 10, 1777, on Expedition to Ticonderoga" in the Revolutionary War. His age would have been about right, and this Reg't. was from Worchester and Hampshire Counties, Mass.

Children of first marriage [to Ruth Bacon]

79 - Nathan (6), b 7 Jan 1788, Conway, Mass. (no further rec.)

80 - Joel, (6) b. 8 Jan 1790, Conway; M - about 1813, Lorinda Newhall. (This is the first record of the name Joel in the Grover family; believe he was named after his uncle Joel Bacon, the mother's brother).

81 - Joab (6) b. 12 Dec 1791, Conway; M - 22 March 1812, at Ashfield, Elizabeth Phipps.

82 - Enoch, b. abt 1793, Conway; d - 2 Apr 1828, Conway.

83 - Lydia, (or Lillian), b. 15 Jan 1794, Conway. M - 2 Feb 1812, Conway, Daniel Ward, of Ashfield.

Upon the death of his first wife, Ruth, abt 1795-96, Thomas evidently left the children for a short time with her parents, then living in Conway, and he headed northwest, possibly to again see his parents, who were evidently then living in or near Whitehall, N. Y. He then met, and married (2) Polly Spalding, as noted above. It is apparent he then returned to Conway for his children, and took them to Whitehall; the Second U.S. Census, 1800, for Whitehall, shows two Thomas Grover families then living in Whitehall, evidently Thomas Grover Sr, and Thomas Jr, the later with his second wife, Polly, and the five children of his first marriage. After his death in 1807, and Polly's remarriage to David Young, in 1810, most of the above children returned to Conway to be with their grandmother, who lived in Conway until her death in Dec. 1817, at age of 88 years.

Children of second marriage [Polly Spalding]

84 - Hannah, (6) b. abt 1800-1801, Fort Ann, N. Y.

85 - Percia, (6) b. Oct 1802, Fort Ann, N.Y.; d - 22 Mar 1895; M - John A Kein.

86 - Elsina, (6) b. 14 Jan 1804, Fort Ann; d. - 1840; M - abt 1826, Thomas Jefferson.

87 - Leonard, (6) b. abt 1805-06, Whitehall, N. Y.; "killed by a log, at abt 8 yrs of age".

88 - Thomas (6), b. (posthumously) 22 July 1807, Whitehall, N.Y.; died 19 Feb 1886, Farmington, Davis County, Utah; M - (1) 1828, at Whitehall, Caroline Whiting, (d 17 Oct 1840, Nauvoo, Ill.) M - (2) 20 Feb 1841, at Nauvoo, Caroline Eliza (Nickerson) (Hubbard), widow of Marshall Hubbard; M (3) 17 Dec 1844, Nauvoo, Hannah Tupper: (4) 1846, Nauvoo, Loduska (or Laduska) Tupper; (5) 1856, at Salt Lake City, Utah, Elizabeth Walker; and, (6) 1857, Salt Lake City, Emma Walker

As stated earlier, two probate records on file for Hampshire Co., Mass., show where Thomas Grover Sr. sold or transferred land and property in Montague to his son Thomas Grover Jr., the first in July 1783, and secondly in January 1786, about the time Thomas Jr. married (1) Ruth Bacon. No record is found of the later sale of these properties by Thomas Jr, after moving to Conway. Evidently not recorded.

Whitehall records, recently found in large scrapbooks in the New York State Library at Albany, show 'Thomas Grover' as a 'Pathmaster" in list of Town Officers at Whitehall, in April 1796. A list of 'Pathmasters', dated April 1799 includes 'Thomas Grover Jr.', and he is also listed as "Overseer of Highways", in April 1806, a year before he died. Local investigation in Whitehall revealed that the land and property of Thomas and Polly Grover was at the north end of town, immediately adjoining the south end of Lake Champlain' their property was on the west bank of Wood's Creek, which was later dredged, and became the Barge Canal, connecting Lake Champlain with the Hudson River, at Hudson Falls, the county seat. It was here that young Thomas, born July 1807, began his work as a cabin boy at about 12 years of age, later becoming Captain of a combined freight and passenger boat on the Canal System, connecting Whitehall and Lake Champlain with the Hudson, Albany, and the Erie Canal which went west to Buffalo.

Also found in these large scrap books at Albany, or news-clippings concerning Whitehall, from papers published in nearby towns so long ago, was a receipt, written in longhand, and signed by "Poly Grover", dated at Whitehall, June 1, 1819: - "Received of Justin Smith, one of the Overseers of the Poor, Eight Dollars and Fifty Cents, towards the support of Mrs. Brainard's children", and signed: "Poly Grover". Mrs. Brainard's children are named elsewhere as being Isaac, and Rosana. Evidently Polly found it necessary or convenient to care for children of the poor or motherless, in addition to her own family.

Polly Spalding's father, Silas, was a distinguished veteran of the Revolution, as shown hereafter in the Spalding family data, being the subject of a very special letter of commendation, together with four other enlisted men, from his superior office to the Hon. Council of Massachusetts Bay, at Boston and Cambridge, 1776-77, from Bennington, Vt., after the two battles there.