Thomas Kington

Thomas Kington was born to very poor parents in Bodenham, Herefordshire 18 May 1794.  He   became a charismatic Primitive Methodist Preacher. Dissatisfied by their teachings, he left them in 1833, and with a few others, formed a new church which they believed better conformed to Biblical teachings. They called their new church the United Brethren. Thomas organised the United Brethren on the Primitive Methodist pattern, and in 1840, Wilford Woodruff used Thomas’s preaching plan in their area of the Latter-day Saint Church. On 31 January 1839 Thomas Kington married Hannah Pitt and moved to Dymock. It was from Dymock he went to Hill Farm to meet Wilford Woodruff and hear his message. On 21 March 1840, the day after his baptism, Thomas was ordained an Elder by Wilford Woodruff. When the United Brethren circuits were organised into LDS Conferences in June 1840, Thomas was made Presiding Elder over all the Branches in the local Conferences. Then on 6 July 1840 Thomas was at the General Conference in Manchester and was ordained a High Priest. 

In January 1841, he began baptising in Bristol and organised a small Branch there. In May he was leading a group of 50 saints to sail to Quebec on the ship “Harmony”. They eventually arrived in Nauvoo in July 1841. Some of the group became ill with a fever, and Thomas’ wife, Hannah, died. In January 1842, Thomas married Margaret Peizel Myers, a widow from Pennsylvania, but tragedy followed when their one-year-old son died in October 1843. It was in that year that Thomas bought a ten-acre farm six miles outside Nauvoo. The Kington’s were unable to sell their farm before they left Nauvoo. They travelled as far as the first settlement established for the travellers, called Garden Grove, where Thomas was appointed President by Brigham Young, and asked to remain to help prepare those who would follow for their migration west. Two years later, Thomas set off across the plains with his family, arriving in the Salt Lake Valley 12 September 1850. By 1853 he was living in South Weber, 30 miles north of Salt Lake City. He was called to be Bishop there and supervised Kington’s Fort.

Modern Day John the Baptist

Thomas travelled to General Conference and met up with his friend, Wilford Woodruff. In his talk at Conference, Brother Woodruff said, “I had the privilege last night of meeting with Father Kington, whom I met over in Herefordshire, where, like John the Baptist, he was a forerunner of the gospel of Christ. Through his administrations the people in that county had been prepared to receive the Gospel and when we went and preached to them, he and all his flock but one, numbering 600, entered into the kingdom, and that opened the door which enabled us to baptise 1800 in about 7 months labour. I never expected to see him again in this city, but he came to my house last night and he came to the meeting today, and I felt more pride and joy in meeting him than if it had been the Emperor of Russia.”

Thomas died 1 July 1874 in Wellsville, Cache Co, Utah - Age 80.