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.

Late in 1848, James and Elizabeth ( Betsy ) Parkinson and their four children, William, Thomas, Sarah, and Eliza set sail for Australia aboard the St. Vincent, a barque bound for Sydney. Their hope to obtain land in England seemed doomed. Perhaps they felt there would be more opportunity to obtain their own land in that newly colonized continent which lay down under. The St. Vincent arrived in Sydney on March 13, 1849, after spending some 3 months at sea. The family settled in the area of Brookfield in the William's River district of New South Wales and again turned their efforts to the land. Within a year James and Elizabeth's older daughter, Sarah, was married to Edward Rodwell, a seaman, and soon had a son and daughter of her own.

Early in 1853 Mormon missionaries visited the William's River area and made a full harvest in the Parkinson family. Thomas Parkinson was soon made a Teacher in the Mormon Church and named to act with Charles Stapley, Sr. in the presidency of the William's River Branch of that church. In February of 1854, a group of new converts from the William's River area were assembled under the leadership of missionary William Hyde who helped to procure passage for them aboard the maiden voyage of the Julia Ann . This group of sixty-three members included Thomas Parkinson and his sister Sarah Parkinson Rodwell and her two children, John Edward and Sarah Ann Rodwell. The entire Stapley family was also included in the group, along with Mary Ann Bryant Porter, a young woman convert with four children, William Frederick, John, Elizabeth Ann, and Samuel. The Julia Ann docked in San Pedro, California, on June 12, 1854, the same day that Thomas Parkinson and Mary Ann Bryant Porter recorded their marriage date.

Thomas and Mary Ann made their first home in San Bernardino where they added two daughters, Mary Jane and Eliza Ellen, to their family. In the meantime Thomas's sister, Sarah Parkinson Rodwell, had married Charles Stapley, Jr., and they also added a daughter, Harriet Elizabeth, to their family. The Stapleys and the Parkinsons had a close alliance, not only through their kinship, but with shared memories of the little branch in Australia that had brought them all together.

Thomas's parents and his older brother, William, and youngest sister, Eliza, had chosen to remain in Australia. Later Eliza married and returned to England where she had three children.

William's life and that of his family was an intriguing story which finally surfaced 130 years after Thomas and Sarah left Australia aboard the Julia Ann . The discovery of letters from William's daughter, Sarah Parkinson Gilson, were found among the effects of George A. Parkinson, the youngest son of Thomas and Mary Ann, who lived and died in Beaver, Utah, led to research which resulted in locating family members of William who still reside in the William's River area of New South Wales. (1986)

In 1858, President Brigham Young ordered the mission at San Bernardino closed and called all the saints to Utah Territory. The Charles Stapley Sr. and Charles Stapley Jr. families left via the old Spanish Trail which headed north across what is now known as Cahoon Pass to Baker, Las Vegas, then north to Cedar City. Thomas Parkinson and his family traveled the same route a few days later in the Gale company.

Upon arriving in Cedar City, the Stapley's rested and waited for the birth of Sarah's new baby and for directions from President Young as to where their company would be sent to colonize. When the order came, they were among the first four families to settle in Toquerville, Utah, which became known as part of the Dixie Mission. It was here that Charles and Sarah Parkinson Rodwell Stapley raised their eleven children and several of their grandchildren.

When Thomas and Mary Ann Bryant Parkinson arrived at Cedar City, they were directed to proceed to Beaver, Utah, some 50 miles to the north-east where they established a fine homestead. Five more Parkinson children were born in Beaver, and together the family of eleven children, working alongside their parents, built a comfortable life.

Thomas Parkinson's name is found frequently among the pages of Beaver City's history. He served faithfully in civic and church callings for the remainder of his life and was a stalwart citizen of Beaver.

The Parkinson and Stapley families kept in touch with one another despite the 100 miles that separated them. Thomas visited his sister Sarah as often as he could. Together they traveled to the St. George Temple where they completed ordinance work for their family members who had passed on. Some of these people were family members in Australia and England. Thomas and Mary Ann spent the last few years of their lives in the more temperate climate of Toquerville and then passed from this life within six months of each other in 1905 and 1906.

A complete biography of the Stapley and Parkinson families may be read in the book, James Parkinson of Ramsey - His Roots and His Branches, at the Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.

From the guide to the Thomas Parkinson family collection, 1855-1981, (L. Tom Perry Special Collections)