Idaho's first LDS bishop, Preston Thomas, was a Southern-born lawyer, tried and tested in the gospel and hardened to the frontier by pioneering in the harsh early West.
Ironically, when he was called as bishop of the Franklin Ward June 9, 1860, the ward was believed to be in Utah. Not until 17 years later did he and others learn that Franklin was actually in Idaho.A big man at 6-foot-4 who had his clothing made specially for him, Thomas was more accustomed to riding large mules than horses as he traveled extensively for the Church. He sailed the Mississippi River 27 times and served six missions to Texas. Thomas, said family members, "slept with one ear to the ground so he could answer the call of the prophet."
He was described as a fluent and forceful speaker, a shrewd and resourceful debater, and a man who readily shared the gospel. Among his converts were African-Americans and Native Americans, with whom he had close friendships.
Preston Thomas answered the call of a prophet many times before he was called as Idaho's first bishop. His is a classic example of how the gospel changes a life.
Before he was converted, he and others in his well-to-do family from North Carolina were looking for better lands to grow cotton. His search for fertile lands in western Tennessee and Mississippi ended when missionaries came with gospel seeds. He and his wife, Jane, gave up their holdings and moved to Nauvoo.
But gathering with the saints began a long series of trials for the Thomas family. Three of their four children - Ann, Daniel, and Susan - died in the winter of 1845 in Nauvoo. In 1847, after obtaining their temple blessings in the Nauvoo Temple, they fled from mobs with the saints to Winter Quarters, Neb.
Shortly after they arrived in Winter Quarters, Thomas was called to leave his expectant wife and child to answer a call to seek funds in the South. Funds were needed to help the impoverished saints travel to the Great Salt Lake Valley. He filled the mission and returned late in the spring, probably in time for the birth of baby Maria.
In the fall, he was called to leave his family again, this time to open missionary work in Texas. President Brigham Young instructed him to preach, and, during the mission, to visit Lyman Wight. Wight had estranged himself from the Church and established a communal colony in central Texas.
The trip to Texas was long and wearying. Thomas and his companion, Elder William Martindale, were cordially received by the former apostle. He entertained the pair with a feast on New Year's Day, 1849. However, they found that he was no longer in harmony with the Church.
During this same mission, Thomas taught the gospel to his brother Daniel, who was converted. Daniel and his family "pulled up stakes" in Texas and joined the westward movement.
Other missions to the South followed. Thomas taught the gospel to both slaves and their masters.
Travel on the frontier was always arduous. Thomas wrote of muddy roads, and passage on foot, mule, or carriage.
He noted in his journal of one experience fording a river in the South. Despite loud "hallooing," he failed to raise the attention of the ferryman on the other side. So he swam the river, got the ferry and crossed back for his mule. Afterward he wryly observed in his journal that the Lord was good to spare his life as he remembered all the alligators that inhabited the waters thereabout.
His missions were also punctuated by mobs, devout converts, raucous travelers and dangerous steamships as he traversed the Mississippi River. On a journey through the Louisiana swamplands, he mentioned the "eerieness of the surroundings," but noted that peace prevailed in his soul because he felt protected.
His homecomings were also often eventful. Returning from his second mission, Thomas journeyed to Winter Quarters with a group of emigrating saints. Thomas was so excited to see his wife and children that he left the emigrants behind and hurried ahead to the makeshift city.
Returning from a fourth mission - this time en route to Salt Lake City - he suffered extreme hardship while crossing the Continental Divide in late November.
"We were two days without water for our animals and our chance for drinking and cooking was to melt snow over a wild sage fire," he noted in his journal. "I continued to hunt but without success. . . . The night we lay at or near the top of the Divide, there fell a deep snow which greatly impeded our progress. After this the weather turned intensely cold and on the second night my splendid mule, `Texas' was frozen to death.
"This was a severe loss to me and I felt somewhat sad . . . his value though great to me I cheerfully parted with as I have for the sake of this Kingdom suffered so many sacrifices in friends and relations, in lands, in homes and farms, in silver and gold, in toils and sufferings, that now there is hardly any sacrifice that I know of which God might call me to make which I would repine. . . ."
Later he and his family settled in Lehi, Utah, where he was the first male school teacher. He was called from there by President Young to join an excursion through the northern counties. On a rainy June 8, 1860, according to the Deseret News, "the party arrived in Franklin. The company remained there that night, and the next morning there was a public meeting held, . . . and Preston Thomas, late of Lehi, was ordained Bishop of that place."
The first winter was a severe one with deep snow and extreme cold. Few had adequate provisions for themselves or their animals. The next spring many settlers, including Bishop Thomas, began building homes. The Thomas home was built on the main street. He also started work on a waterway known as the "Thomas Ditch," an early version of a modern canal still in use. The canal benefits the small communities of Nashville, Whitney, Fairview and Lewiston in southern Idaho and northern Utah.
The digging of the waterway was interrupted when he was called to serve as the first bishop in Wardboro in nearby Bear Lake County. In Bear Lake County, Bishop Thomas assisted Elder Charles C. Rich of the Council of the Twelve in administrative matters and even named the town of Fish Haven, Idaho. The village is located on the shore of Bear Lake, which at that time was abundant with fish.
From Bear Lake he was called in 1872 to return to Franklin to complete the waterway project, which he did.
The house on Main Street deteriorated. Wide cracks whistled with wind; the wood stove in the corner provided little heat. A child born to the Thomases in this cabin strengthened their resolve to build a new, larger home.
On July 14, 1877, he was hauling large red pine logs from nearby Crooked Canyon for the new home when a log broke loose and crushed him. Bishop Thomas died in the accident at age 63.
Throughout his adult life, Preston Thomas bent his will to answer the call of a prophet. He was a child of the South who became a son of the West because of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
