(An account from William Odell Tolman’s journal as he crosses the Atlantic Ocean on the passenger ship the Duchess of Atholl to begin his missionary service in England in November of 1928.)
The first day on board the boat Elder Smith from Southern Utah came to me and said: “Elder Tolman, I am scared almost out of this life. I don’t know what I am going to do. I never finished the eighth grade. My father died when I was in the seventh grade and I had to leave school to help my mother support nine children. I am ignorant in the ways of the world and I know less about the gospel.” And I said, “Elder, you have come to the right person. I feel exactly the same way.” Back in those days we didn’t have seminary and then I remembered what Uncle Eph [Ephraim Tolman] told me about the Book of Mormon. I said, “Why don’t we go to our cabin every day and read the Book of Mormon to each other” and I told him the promise I had received. And he was delighted. So he read to me and I would read to him. One time there was a big storm on the ocean and it made our trip fourteen days instead of twelve. And on the fourteenth day as we dropped anchor at the mouth of the Merzie River waiting for the river pilot to come up from Liverpool to pilot the ship past the sandbars up to the dock, Elder Smith and I were in my cabin reading the Book of Mormon to each other and we were now at Moroni chapter 10. We had no idea Moroni said what he said there and I was reading to him and I came to verse 4 where Moroni said, “When ye shall receive these things I would exhort you to ask God the Eternal Father if these things are not true, and if you will ask with a sincere heart, having real intent, he will reveal the truth of it to you by the power of the Holy Ghost.” He looked at me and said, “Why not?” and I looked at him and said, “Why not?” We had read the Book of Mormon scared. We were running scared. I think everyone ought to read the Book of Mormon running scared because we were hungry to find out what it said. We got on our knees and Elder Smith prayed first and then I prayed and as I said amen, the spirit of the Lord came upon us. If you have been taking gospel doctrine classes, it’s like Lorenzo Snow when he went out to pray he knelt on his knees in a grove of trees when he said his evening prayer and the Holy Ghost came upon him—it was like that. And we were filled with the Holy Ghost and when we rose to our feet we knew the gospel was true. There wasn’t any question in our minds. And I have always been grateful to Ray’s grandfather for that counsel he gave me before I left for the mission field because I was green. I was as green as the grass in Ireland. (Excerpt from William Odell Tolman, Patriarch, Genealogist, Teacher, compiled by Loraine Tolman Pace, pages 27-28)
Visit FamilySearch to learn more about William’s spouse is Opal Adams. He is the son of William Alvin Tolman and Hattie Naomi Tolman. Visit FamilySearch to learn more about William Odell Tolman and other ancestors.
Also visit the Thomas Tolman Family Organization to find out how you can get more involved in family history.
