Parkinson, Thomas, 1830-1906

English-Australian converts to the LDS Church who helped colonize the areas of Beaver and Toquerville in Utah.

Thomas Parkinson was born on December 11, 1830, in Cambridgeshire, England, the second son of James Parkinson and Elizabeth Chattle. His father, James, was born in the not-too-distant hamlet of Farcet, Huntingdonshire, England, and was also a farmer, as was his father before him. Students of English history know only too well the economic struggle in the 1830s and 40s, especially for the tenant farmer. Until that time agriculture had been the nation's mainstay, but with industrialization the best a man could hope for was steady work.

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