Thomas Steed

Thomas Steed was born on 13 December 1826 in Mathon, Worcestershire. His parents, Thomas and Charlotte Niblett Steed, were gardeners, making a living from cultivating the soil. They were members of the Church of England, but in about 1835, his parents left the Church of England and joined the United Brethren, opening their home to hold meetings.  They continued to send Thomas to the Sunday School of the Church of England. On 1 November 1840 he was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

To earn money to enable him to emigrate, he left home in 1841 to work as a gardener. Three years later, on 21 January 1844, he sailed to America, arriving in Nauvoo on 14 April 1844. Here he worked in his occupation as a farmer, though he also worked at rock quarrying, brick making and masonry. He also stood guard as a member of the Nauvoo Legion. Driven out of Nauvoo by the mob in 1846, he lost all his possessions and went to Keokuk, Iowa, where he met Lara Lucinda Reed. They were married 13 December 1846, on his twentieth birthday. They had ten sons and six daughters.

On 1 May1850, he and Lucinda and their two children left Keokuk for the Rocky Mountains, arriving in the Salt Lake Valley on 28 August. He lived in the valley for nine months and moved to Farmington Utah, where he lived the rest of his life. He settled on the first stream south of Farmington at the mouth of Steed canyon (named after him).  In February 1853, he took his team to Salt Lake City to assist in removing the foundation stones of the Salt Lake Temple, after they were found to not be strong enough. In 1856 he was a member of the Willie Martin handcart rescue company.

Thomas served in many positions in the church, including first counsellor to the Davis Stake President, and in 1899, he was called as Stake Patriarch. He served a mission to Australia and New Zealand from June 1875 to March 1877. He was a Sunday School teacher for 35 years and a member of his ward choir for 40 years.   In a civic capacity, he served as road supervisor, water master and school trustee. He was one of the founders of the Farmington Co-operative Store, the Davis County Bank, the State Bank and the Utah Sugar Company. He was also one of the first to own stock in Z.C.M.I and the Co-operative Wagon and Machine Company.

Thomas died on 26 June 1910 in Salt Lake City - Age 84.