Written by himself then hand written by Cerissa Sessions Thompson
Judson Tolman son of Nathan and Sarah Hewitt Tolman was born July 14, 1826. Kennebeck, Maine. He married Sarah L Holbrook January 12, 1846. They came to Utah September 20, 1846 in Brigham Young’s Company. He resided in Tooele and Bountiful. He was the first settler in Tooele. He was a High Priest, Patriarch, President of High Priests Quorum, missionary to Maine in 1877, Indian War Veteran, member of Nauvoo Legion and Minute Man. He came from old Puritan stock. His ancestors arrived in America in 1630 and settled in Massachusetts.
In 1837 I moved with my parents to Iowa, where I was baptized on January 12, 1845. I gathered with the saints at Nauvoo. The following March, I was ordained a Seventy. June 5, 1845, I received my endowments in the Nauvoo Temple. January 27, 1846 I left Nauvoo with the saints under Brigham Young in Hosea Stouts Company as a guard and continued with that company to the Missouri River, I helped to build all bridges, mark roads and raft wagons over all streams that could not be forded.
I remained with the company until the Mormons were organized into a company of 200 wagons and left for Mexico. We were then organized into a company under the leadership of George Miller and eleven other men and started for the mountains, but were stopped by Brigham Young. We wintered on Puneah River near the Missouri River about 150 miles from Omaha. We then went to Winter Quarters in the spring where we continued on our journey to the valley arriving in September 1848 in Brigham Young’s Company and Daniel Garns fifty. In 1850 I was one of a company of 31 called by Brigham Young to serve as a guard on the South Western frontier of Utah under Captain Phineas White. I served three and one half years in that capacity and was in battles with the Indians where 18 Indians and one white man were killed.
I helped to fight the crickets in 1849 and that year together with two other families, settled in Tooele. We were the first settlers in Tooele. Here I established a saw mill where much needed lumber was sawed.
In 1852 the Indians took my last yoke of oxen and cow I had. In the fall of 1854 I moved to Bountiful. I helped to herd Uncle Sam’s Army in the Echo Canyon War. In September 1887 I was sent on a mission to Maine. In 1885 I was ordained a High Priest and in 1897 a Patriarch.
He was married on October 6th 1856 to Sophia Merrell and they had four children:
Sam Tolman born September 17, 1859 died March 31, 1927
Esther Jane Tolman born February 12, 1863 died Dec 27, 1957
Charles Nathan Tolman born June 18, 1865 died March 4, 1919
Sarah Elvira Tolman born March 29, 1868 died 1887