Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah, p.847
DOXEY, THOMAS (son of Thomas Doxey, born October, 1801, and Susannah Brearly, who was born June 5, 1802, at Derby, Eng., married July 6, 1821). He was born March 27, 1829, In Derby. Came to Utah 1853, Appleton Harmon company.
Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah, p.847
Married Ann Elizabeth Hunt July 10, 1853, Council Bluffs, Iowa (daughter of John Hunt and Mary Danby), who was born Dec. 20, 1830, and came to Utah with husband. Their children: Alma T. b. July 14, 1854, m. Leonora L. Eaton June 23, 1880; Mary Ann b. Aug. 28, 1856, m. Joseph H. Watkins April 30, 1879; David Hunt b. June 13, 1858, m. Ann E. Clark Oct. 31, 1889, d. Nov. 2, 1910; Moroni Hunt b. Aug. 13, 1860, m. Olive J. Riley June 11, 1887, d. Dec. 6, 1903; Jane b. Nov. 27, 1863, d. Aug. 10, 1865; Samuel b. Feb. 17, 1866, d. Feb. 8, 1907; m. Margret N. Moyes Aug. 31, 1898; Thomas b. April 11, 1868, m. Bessie A. E. Watkins April 30, 1889. Family resided Salt Lake City and Ogden, Utah.
Married Mary Rhodes Feb. 26, 1872, at Salt Lake City (daughter of George Rhodes and Alice Mellor), who was born Sept. 11, 1850, St. Louis, Mo. Their children: James b. Aug. 15, 1873, d. March 24, 1894; Ellen Mellor b. Sept. 26, 1875, m. Nels Sorensen Oct. 10, 1895; Rosetta b. Jan. 7, 1878, m. Wallace Fife Nov. 22, 1899; John b. Oct. 14, 1879, m. Loretta Bingham May 10, 1899; Mary Alice b. Nov. 16, 1881, m. Henry A. Hill Jan. 7, 1902; George R. b. Dec. 22, 1883, m. Chloe Woods Nov. 23, 1910; Albert b. Dec. 2, 1885, m. Minnie Baird Jan. 1, 1905; William R. b. Aug. 14, 1888, d. Jan. 2, 1890; Clara b. Nov. 7, 1890; Susannah B. b. June 1, 1893, m. Fredrick Paul Nisbitt Jan. 22, 1913. Family home, Ogden.
City watermaster 15 years; road supervisor 1888; member State Irrigation association 1895. Captain in Nauvoo Legion. Second counselor to Bishop Robert McQuarrie 1879; member Weber state high council; superintendent 2d ward Sunday school. Member city council. Farmer.
LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, Andrew Jenson, Vol. 2, p.761 Doxey, Thomas, a High Councilor in the Weber Stake of Zion, was born March 27, 1829, at Derby, Derbyshire, England, the son of Thomas Doxey and Susannah Brearley. He was baptized May 8, 1850, by Joseph Hall, in Derby; was ordained a Deacon March 16, 1851, by Jacob Gates; ordained a Teacher Feb. 17, 1852, in Derby; emigrated to Utah in 1853; was ordained a Seventy Feb. 12, 1854, by John Back; located at Ogden in 1855; served as clerk and recorder in the Ogden Second Ward from 1856 to 1858; labored as a Ward teacher from 1856 to 1879; was set apart as one of the presidents of the 60th quorum of Seventy Feb. 11, 1859, by Lyman A. Shurtliff; ordained a High Priest and set apart as a High Councilor in the Weber Stake March 19, 1870, by Geo. Q. Cannon, and was set apart as second counselor to Bishop Robt. McQuarrie in 1879. Bro. Doxey served as water master for Ogden City from 1870 to 1883; was appointed a councilman for the second municipal ward, Ogden, in 1882; served as superintendent of the Ogden Second Ward Sunday School from 1867 to 1881; was set apart as first counselor to Bishop Robt. McQuarrie July 6, 1884, and served thus till 1889.
He was appointed an alternate High Councilor Jan. 19, 1890, and became a regular member of that body July 18, 1892. Bro. Doxey died in Ogden, March 25, 1903.[p.762]
The following account was apparently prepared from a personal interview with Thomas Doxey. The interviews took place after 1894, the year "James died" and before 1902 when the book in which it appears was printed:
THOMAS DOXEY. Like the "Forty-niners," the "Early Settlers" of Utah are rapidly passing away, and it is a most interesting thing to meet and converse with one who has seen this country through all its various stages of progression, from an undeveloped wilderness to a land teeming with agricultural and mineral wealth.
Mr. Doxey came to Utah while it was yet in its wild stage, and he himself a young man. He is a native of England, his birthplace having been in the town of Derby, in Derbyshire, where he first saw the light of day on March 27, 1829. His parents were Thomas and Susannah (Brearley) Doxey, both natives of Derbyshire. After completing his schooling, our subject served an apprenticeship in the silk mills of his town, where he learned the silk twisting business. In 1850, he became a member of the Mormon Church. After his conversion, he spent about three years as a teacher in the Sunday School, part of which time he was superintendent and held various offices.
On March 28, 1853, he severed his connection with his old life and took passage on the ship Falcon, at Liverpool, being one of a company of several hundred converts to the Mormon religion who were bound for Utah. They were on the ocean seven weeks and two days, landing in New Orleans, and after reaching Winter Quarters crossed the plains in the company under Captain Harmon. Everything went well until they reached Green River, Wyoming, when they ran out of provisions, and the Captain called for a company of volunteers who would come on foot to Salt Lake City and report the condition of affairs to President Brigham Young. Mr. Doxey was one of these volunteers, with twelve others, and they arrived in Salt Lake on October 5th, eleven days in advance of the rest of the company who had been coming forward as fast as their limited rations- would allow, and were met by the relief force sent out by President Young.
Upon arriving in Utah, Mr. Doxey went to work in the Red Butte stone quarry, getting out rocks for the temple, making his home in the Twentieth Ward, where he bought a lot from Brigham Young, and built a small adobe house on a part of Brigham Young's new survey. He remained in the quarries until the spring of 1855, at which time public work had to be abandoned on account of the grasshoppers destroying all the crops and causing a great deal of suffering on account of scarcity of food. Our subject came to Ogden in June of that year and made his home in the Second Ward, doing anything he could find in order to make a livelihood. He cleared off a small piece of land on the Ogden river, where he put in some crops in 1858, but had to abandon it during the general move south, caused by the entrance into the territory of Johnston's army. Mr. Doxey went to Spanish Fork, and while there made adobe bricks. When the army went into winter quarters at Camp Floyd, Mr. Doxey went there and continued the adobe making, which he sold to the government for building the soldiers' quarters, and in this way was able to get on his feet again, financially, and after making some necessary purchases went back to Spanish Fork, where he secured an outfit and returned from there to his Ogden home, and once more began the cultivation of his land, trading it a little later for a farm at the forks of the Ogden and Weber rivers. This land also had to be cleared, being covered with a dense growth of willows, and box elder and cottonwood trees, some of them measuring two feet in diameter. However, he persevered, and finally had a good farm. In the course of time, the Weber river changed its course, and this resulted in ruining the farm, and Mr. Doxey was compelled to buy more land, buying his present place, which adjoins the old place. He now owns twenty acres, part of which is in Ogden City. He has followed general farming, fruit and vegetable raising, and has been very successful, marketing his produce at a good price.
For thirteen years he served as water master for the Weber canal, assisted in making many of the canals, and stood shoulder to shoulder with the civil and religious authorities in developing the country. He was also for many years assistant deputy road supervisor and poll tax collector, both before and after the California emigrants were going through, assisting Chas. Welch, who was road supervisor and poll tax collector. In the Nauvoo Legion, he held the rank of captain, being elected November 18, 1865, in Company D, Second Battalion Infantry, First Regiment, First Brigade, and under Major Monroe took part in the Echo canyon campaign, his company being the first to go out of Weber county. He went with his regiment as far as Soda Springs to meet Johnston's army, and on returning was again sent to Echo canyon where they remained until snow fell.
In political life, he was for part of one term city councilman, and in the early days served fourteen years as special policeman, and took an active part in developing the country in general.
He has also been very active in church matters, being presiding teacher and recorder of the ward for twenty-five years. In 1853, he was ordained a member of the Thirty-ninth Quorum, being ordained one of the presidents of the sixtieth quorum of seventies of Ogden in 1859. He was ordained a high priest on March 19, 1879, and set apart as a member of the high council, Weber Stake of Zion. January 19, 1879, was appointed second counselor to Bishop Robert McQuarrie, of the Second Ward, Ogden, holding that position, until 1884, when he became first counselor and remained in the bishopric until he moved onto his farm in 1889. He was a teacher in the Ogden Sunday School from the time of its organization, and was for thirteen years superintendent of the Second Ward Sunday School. In the spring of 1890, after having moved to his farm, he was appointed alternate in the high council, and on July 2, 1892, became a regular member, still holding that position. He has been connected with all the interests of the county, both religiously and politically, and still retains much of his interest, acting whenever his health will permit, as a missionary throughout the county.
Mr. Doxey has been married a number of times. He lost two wives in England, through sickness, neither of whom had any children. In 1853, he married at Council Bluffs, Ann Elizabeth Hunt, a daughter of John and Mary (Danby) Hunt. Her mother died on the plains enroute to Utah. She was a native of Hull, England, and died in 1873, leaving a family of six children, all of whom are now married and living. They are: Alma Thomas; Mary Ann, wife of Joseph H. Watkins; David Hunt; Maroni H.; Samuel, for several years principal of the Washington school in Salt Lake City, but now superintendent of manual training in the Salt Lake City schools; Thomas, Jr. his present wife is Mary Rhoades, the daughter of George and Alice (Woolstenhume) Rhoads. Her father died in St. Louis in 1852, from sun stroke, and her mother remarried to Thomas Hill, who raised Mrs. Doxey from infancy. She has borne him ten children, eight of whom are living: James died in 1894, at the age of twenty-one years; Ellen Mellor, now the wife of Nels Sorensen; Rosetta, wife of Wallace Fife; John married Loretta Bingham; Mary Alice, wife of Henry A. Hill, Jr.; George Rhoades; Albert; William, died in 1890, at the age of two years; Clara; Susannah Brearley.
Portrait, Genealogical and Biographical Record of the State of Utah, (Printed by National Historical Record Co., Chicago, 1902) pp. 196-197.
The Ogden Standard, Thirty Third Year, No. 72
THOMAS_DOXEY DEAD
HE SUCCUMBS AFTER AN ILLNESS OF OVER TWO YEARS STARTING FROM AN ATTACK OF APPENDICITIS.
He Was Born in Derbyshire, England,
and Came to Weber County In 1852
-He Was the Father of Prof. Samuel Doxey of the Salt take City Schools.
'Thomas Doxey, a pioneer and old resident of Weber county, died at 12 o'clock today of a complication of diseases at, his residence on West 21st street. He has been ill for over two years. His sickness first starting from an attack of appendicitis. No arrangements have as yet been made as to the funeral but it is probable that it will be held Sunday.
Mr. Doxey was a pioneer in Weber county and came to this section In 1852. He was born in Derbyshire, England and would have been 74 years f age if he had lived until Friday. He was the father of eighteen children, fifteen of whom are still living and are residents of Ogden and Weber county, with the exception of Prof. Samuel Doxey formerly one of the principals of the Ogden schools, but now a principal in the city schools at Salt Lake city.
DEATH: Illness of over two years brought on by an attack of appendicitis.
