The Minor Family of Somerset

A BRIEF SKETCH OF EVENTS IN THE LIFE OF THOMAS TOD D SR
(WRITTEN BY HIMSELF)
I, Thomas Todd Sr. will note down a few items of my past l ife
. I was born inthe year of 1821, January 28. My paren ts were J
ohn
Todd and Marion Lorrimer. My father was a ver y pious man and we
ll living man according to the lighthe h ad. He belonged to the
Relief Presbyterian Church, bein g an Elder thereof for over thi
rty years. I was also a mem ber of the same Church for some tim
e in my
youth. I was ve ry much exercised about by hereafter, and believ
ed in a Go d and a future state of existence. I called ferventl
y on t hat
Godthat I had full confidence in, for I was a great Bi ble read
er and had committed a great deal of it to memory.
I became dissatisfied with my former beliefs and also thos e o
f my fathers. I had become a member of their Church an d partake
n of the
Lord's supper with them. I had asked som e questions that were n
ot answered to my satisfaction by ou r minister. I said to my fa
ther
and his minister, "You ma y take your road but I must take mine
" and in this unsettle d state I remained until the Latter-Day S
aints found
me. M y father had been dead for eight months. I was the engag
e d as a farm servant by the year.
A former companion of mine by the name of James Steel ha d gon
e to England and there he had become a Latter-Day Sain t. He cam
e to
our house and I had a long argument with him . But he left wit
h me no room to stand on. So heleft an d went back to England
, and I
was left alone for there wer e no Mormons in the country I live
d in. But I was not lef t alone for the Spirit of the Lord strov
e with me
and I wa s led by an unseen power. Until one morning as I got ou
t o f bed a voice in by hearing said, "The Holy Ghost is giv
e n by the
laying on of hands." And the following mornin g a voice also sai
d, "The gift of healing is given by the l aying on of hands." Th
is was in
Dumfrieshire County, Scotl and.
I learned there was a small branch of the Church in Ayrshi re, s
ixteen miles from where I lived. I resolved to pay th em a visit
.So on the
morning of the 15th of September, 18 50, I along with John M. Mu
rdock, brother-in-law to James S teel, went to Lugar Iron Work
s by
Cumnock, Ayrshire. Our m eeting was a very agreeable affair. A
t the end of the meet ingI asked for baptism, and I was the bur
ied in the
dear s tream of Lugar andconfirmed by the water's edge. But Jo
h n Murdock could not see me baptized but went to one side . I w
as
baptized by Peter Robinson and confirmed by James Adamson. Joh
n Murdock went to his mother's that evenin g as she was livingi
n
the part of the country and I went a long.
This was in the middle of ourharvest. I with two of my f ello
w servants, was cradling oats, along with some other me n and wo
men.
While we were whetting of scythes, my maste r saysto me, "Thoma
s, do you believe in inspiration in th e present Day?" My maste
r tried
to understand me, but th e Holy Ghost rested upon me at that tim
e to that degree tha t they were amazed at me, and I did then kn
ow that
the Holy Ghost was given by the laying on of hands. When I wa
s ba ptized I was promised that two of the elders would visi
t m e in
two weeks from that Day whichwas SunDay.
The president of the branch, Thomas Heatly, and Isaac Wils on ca
me as promised and baptized my wife, and John H. Murdo ck and hi
s
wife whowas a sister of James Steel. I was the n living at th
e Barr farm near Sanghar, and they lived in K irkconnell. We ar
e all four
now living in Heber City.
My parents had six sons and five daughters, all grown to m an an
d womanHoodbefore there was a death in the family . I was the f
ifth
son. There were five older children an d five children younger t
han myself. Now, there is just on e younger sister left. There w
ere none
of my relations o r of my wife's relatives that ever embraced th
e gospel up t o th