Pioneer Stories - Thomas D. Giles 

Thomas D. Giles - "Elder Pratt gave him a remarkable blessing..."

Emigrants of Welshmen made up the Third handcart company -  Stories from a journal...

The Thomas D. Giles family traveled in the company. He was blind and with a wife and baby girl and two boys, 7 and 9 he pulled his handcart westward. Soon after starting across the plains, the baby became ill and died. She was buried beside the trail and the company moved onward. A few weeks later his wife died. She also was buried beside the trail. The two boys were sent back to join another company near Fort Bridger, Elder Giles became seriously ill and after holding the company for two days, Captain Bunker ordered the camp to move on, leaving two of the men to bury the sick man when he died. It was expected that death would come in a matter of hours. Remarkable faith and the frequent administrations of the Elders who attended him kept the patient alive until evening when Parley P. Pratt the Apostle, who had know Brother Giles in Wales reached the camp. Elder Pratt gave him a remarkable blessing. In it he made these promises: That he should rejoin his company and arrive safely in the Salt Lake Valley; that he should there rear a family; and that because of his faithfulness he would be permitted to live as long as he wanted. These blessings were all fulfilled in their entirety. He rejoined his company, reached the Valley October 2, 1856, remarried, and lived to bless and name seven of his grandchildren. His death occurred November 2, 1895, after he had expressed a desire to go."