Contributed By: JoAnneBarlow1 · 4 October 2016 ·
Biography of Jaren Thomas Tolman by his wife, Lora E. Hatch Tolman
Jaren Thomas Tolman was born 20 March 1875 in Bountiful, Davis County, Utah. He was the eldest child and the only son of Jaren Tolman and Emma Briggs. He had six sisters: Emma Elizabeth, Ann Lucretia, Hattie Naomi, Martha LaVerna, Nancy Alice and Bartha May. His youngest sister, Bertha May, died before she was eight years old.
During his boyhood he lived on a farm in what was known at that time as East Bountiful. When very young (nine years) he helped his father haul logs from the mountains above their home. They, also, had an ice pond where they packed ice in the winter and delivered it to Salt Lake City in the summer. They raised all kinds of vegetables, fruits and melons and sold them in Salt Lake and other towns. There was much to be done to make a living for the family, so he didn’t get very far in school even though his father was a school teacher part of the time.
He was baptized when he was eight years old and ordained a deacon at the age of twelve years. He was eventually ordained to all the Priesthood Quorums as he became old enough. He was active in all his quorums and was president at one time.
His mother died when he was 20 years old. His father’s third wife, Sarah Jane Burningham, helped to keep the home together. She was very good to the motherless children.
November 9, 1898, he married Lora Elizabeth Hatch in the Salt Lake Temple. She was born 17 July, 1879, the daughter of Orin Perry Hatch and Marinda Woodward.
He was ordained a Seventy by the time he was 24 years old and received a call to go on a mission to California. He left for his mission September 2, 1899, when our first son was less than a month old.
He received an honorable release, September 19, 1901, after serving for two years. While on his mission he spent much of his time in San Diego and along the coast to San Jose. At that time Los Angeles wasn’t very large. On completing his mission he was offered a job taking care of an orange grove, but he decided to come back to Bountiful and never went back to California.
When he returned to Bountiful he helped organize the first Religion Class in Bountiful. David O. Whilley was President and he was Counselor. He was a home missionary in Davis County.
In 1904 we moved to Big Horn Basin in Wyoming, We first lived in Burlington. While in Burlington he was Mutual President and also Sunday School teacher.
He farmed and hauled freight in the winter by team and wagon from Cody to Thermopolis. Helped build canals and railroads which went through that part of the country. Then moved to Byron where he also farmed and worked on canals and railroads. Later he moved to Lovell where he bought a farm.
While in Lovell he raised sheep and cattle for marketing. He also raised sugar beets, hay, grain, and all kinds of vegetables and some fruit.
He filled a short-term mission and was superintendent of the Sunday School in Lovell. He was home missionary and ward teacher in every place he lived—starting at the age of 15.
He moved back to Utah in the fall of 1922. He worked on Brother Gardner’s farm in Lehi for one year. Then he bought a home in Sandy and lived there for nine years, farming, which consisted of raising sugar beets, vegetables, grain and hay. He also raised chickens.
He moved to Salt Lake where he did different types of work—night watchman when the field house was built at the University of Utah. Workedat Deseret Live Stock Ranch in Skull Valley during some of the summers and the last place he worked was the L.D.S. Hospital. Due to his health he was unable to continue working. He was an active Temple worker. He completed thousands of endowments and numerous sealings, right up to a few years before his death which was November 11, 1959.
Jaren Thomas Tolman and Lora Elizabeth Hatch had twelve children as follows:
Perry Jaren Tolman, born August 19, 1899, died November 2, 1946.
Lora Tolman, born May 8, 1902, died October 11, 1903.
Leo Tolman, born June 28, 1903, died May 1, 1904.
Emma Tolman, born Oct. 24, 1904, died June 21, 1905.
Wilford Hatch Tolman, born March 25, 1906
Garnet Hatch Tolman, born June 25, 1908
Nancy May Tolman (Nielsen), born July 15, 1910
Glen Hatch Tolman, born February 1, 1912
Grace Tolman (Stephens), born June 9, 1914
Newell Tolman, born June 11, 1916, died March 26, 1917
Flora Tolman (Fisher), born December 7, 1917
Ivan Hatch Tolman, born September 9, 1920
Visit FamilySearch to learn more about Jaren Thomas Tolman. Visit the Thomas Tolman Family Organization to find out how you can get more involved in family history.