In the year 1850 the Briggs family were greatly prospered, and were strongly advised by one of the Elders who enjoyed the gift of prophecy, to migrate to Utah. He said: "Brother Briggs, when you get sufficient means to take you to new Orleans, you go; then go from there to St. Louis, or you may never get to the valleys of the mountains."
The father, however, delayed starting until misfortune began to overtake him, when he was reminded of the counsel he had received, and hastened to obey it. They took passage on the ship Ellen, which sailed from Liverpool, January 8, 1851. The vessel had not proceeded far when, during a heavy gale, she collided with another ship, and was so badly damaged that she had to run into Cardigan bay, North Wales, and remain there three weeks while undergoing repairs. While there one of the sailors was badly hurt, and was sent to Liverpool; and Thomas Briggs, the subject of this sketch, volunteered to take his place, and work his passage across the ocean, and was allowed to do so.
After a fairly prosperous voyage the ship anchored at New Orleans on the 14th of March, and the Briggs family proceeded by steamboat up the Mississippi to St. Louis, where they landed March 26, 1851. There they met a man who had borrowed some money from the Briggs family in England, and who was now prepared to repay the loan, which helped them to make a new start, for the means with which they started had become exhausted.
Father and son sought employment and worked at whatever job was offered them—as boat hands, farmers' hired help, bottle washers in soda water factories, teamsters, putting up ice, chopping cordwood, etc. Sometimes they were home at night, at other times absent for a considerable period. The cholera was very bad in St. Louis at that time, and one night while Thomas and his mother were the only members of the family at home, she was stricken with the cholera, and appeared to be dying. He was prompted to get some oil and administer to her. Though inexperienced, he anointed and prayed over her, and she immediately revived, and in a short time took some nourishment. Before many days had passed she was as well as ever.
Soon afterwards, while Thomas was lying awake in bed one night, there suddenly appeared before his vision a personage dressed in black, who looking straight at him, said in a sneering tone: "You have saved her life this time, but I will have it next time. And when I get her life I will have yours." Thomas boldly answered: "You shall not!" He understood the personage to represent the power of darkness, and the person referred to as having her life saved to be his mother. He had reason to feel very soon that it was no idle threat that the evil one indulged in.
Thomas obtained work at a dairy, and by his diligence soon worked his way up to the position of foreman. In consequence of the prevalence of cholera and the frequent changes in the force of employees as a result, he was under the necessity of making occasional trips around with the milk wagons to keep familiar with the routes and see that the drivers were doing their duty. One morning while thus engaged he was met on the street by his father, who was greatly agitated, and who asked him to hurry home with him, as his mother was dying. Thomas hastened to her bedside, ready and anxious to do anything in his power to save her life. As he entered the room she turned her eyes upon him and said faintly: "Tom, be a good lad to your father!" These were her last words. Her life was ebbing fast away. She soon lapsed into unconsciousness, and in a very short time her heart ceased to beat.
The mother had not been long dead when Thomas was reminded of the threat made by the evil one, that he would get her next time, and also of that against his own life. About one year had elapsed since the threat was uttered, and he had now (on the 18th of August 1851) partially executed it.
After the burial of his mother Thomas resumed his work at the dairy, and his sister Elizabeth, who had been out at service, returned home and kept house for her father.
About the first of the year 1852 Thomas was taken suddenly ill with bilious fever, and brought home for treatment. The father, very much against the wish of Thomas, sent for a doctor, who attended him for five or six weeks without any sign of improvement; in fact, he continued to grow worse. The father became greatly alarmed and discouraged, lest he also should die.
Finally Thomas determined to have his own way in the matter of remedies, and the next time the doctor called he told him he had decided to take no more of his medicine, and to dispense with his services. He asked his father to throw away all of the doctor's medicine that he had, and to get him a bottle of olive oil, and he would take that and trust in the Lord for the result.