Son of John Tolton and Ann Smith

Married Mary Ann Tomlinson, 24 Dec 1847

Children - Emily Tolton, Louisa Tolton, Clara Ann Tolton, Ellen Marie Tolton, Edward Henry Tolton, Francis Elizabeth Tolton, John Franklin Tolton, Walter Smith Tolton, Margaret Esther Tolton, Mary Adeline Tolton, Selene Alice Tolton (1870-1872), Guy Herbert Tolton, Selena Alice Tolton (1873-1879), Nellie Edith Tolton, James Percy Walker Tolton

Sketch - Edward Tolton was born on March 2, 1822, to John Tolton and Ann Smith in Newbold-on-Avon, Warwickshire, England. He was the oldest of six children: Maria, Hannah, Frances, Mercy, and John. Edward was apprenticed to the firm of Charles Clark and Company of Leicestershire in the furniture and upholstering business for a period of two years. He served as clerk or brief writer in the law offices of Word and West at Rugby, then as footman to the Reverend J. Vernous of Burton, Warwickshire.

When missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints started teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ in England, Edward’s family investigated. They sold all of their possessions in 1842, and sailed for America on the ship Medford September 15, 1842, from Liverpool to New Orleans. They landed November 1, 1842. For whatever reason, the Toltons were not baptized in England but waited until they were with the Saints in America. Edward was baptized in November 1851.

Edward accompanied his father on a river steamer from New Orleans to St. Louis and then on to Alton, Illinois, where they purchased a nearby farm at Monticello. Edward met Mary Ann Tomlinson in Alton where her family lived near the Tolton farm. She was employed in St. Louis as a waiting maid but came home to visit her family and met Edward on one of her visits. They fell in love and married on December 24, 1847.

Mary Ann Tomlinson was the daughter of James Percy Tomlinson and Esther Walker. Mary Ann was born October 9, 1831, in Ayrton, Yorkshire, England, and was about nine years younger than Edward. They had emigrated to America in October, 1842, one month later than the Toltons.

The Tolton family ( Father John, Mother Ann, Edward and his family, Hannah Tolton Clark, Maria Tolton Donald, and Mercy Tolton Gill and their husbands and families) started for the west with the St. Louis Company led by John Tolton, which company consisted of 14 wagons. When they reached Council Bluffs the company was absorbed into the main company led by Moses Clawson and numbered 57 wagons. Their numbers were somewhat reduced by death through exposure before they reached Salt Lake Valley September 18, 1853.

At the October general conference of 1853 John Tolton and family were called to settle Tooele. They stayed there until March 1857 when the “grasshopper war”, well known to the early settlers of Utah, reduced to poverty and want many of the people of the community. No one can fully sense the trials through which these people passed except those who participated in them. Humble crude houses, no electric lights, no water systems, no telephones, only scant clothing, crude home-made furniture, and famine for bread and nourishing foods met them daily.

In the fall of 1857 a call came from President Young for the Tolton family to vacate Grantsville and settle Willard in Box Elder County. John spent the fall and winter building a log house in Willard and clearing ten acres of land for spring planting. He disposed of his small holdings in Grantsville and the family left for Willard, stopping in Salt Lake City for April General Conference.

They found circumstances had changed and they were now to move to San Pete County and colonize that area. John and his oldest son Edward were disappointed but obedient to authority and traveled to Ephraim in San Pete County. Before they left, Edward was endowed on March 19, 1858, in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City and sealed to Mary Ann Tomlinson the same day.

A fort was built at Ephraim as a protection against Indian tribes. They trusted in Divine Providence to protect them as they braved the dangers. One of the most intimate friends of Edward Tolton during the family residence at Ephraim was Bishop C. N. Dorius. These two men belonged to the same Quorum, sang together in the choir, and were members of the same orchestra. Edward was a rather skilled cellist in this organization.

In the winter of 1863-1864 a call came from President Young to settle Circleville in Piute County. Edward’s sister Mercy and her husband Richard Gill refused to move to new locations at the call of the church leaders and located permanently in Salt Lake City. The other families-- Hannah who married Fred Clark and Maria married a Mr. Donald--remained with the older Toltons. (There is some discrepancy of information as to their husbands. See John Tolton’s life sketch.) Some of the best people of San Pete were called to settle Circleville: the Toltons, Fowlers, Christiansens, and others.

Edward was appointed Probate Judge under the seal of Governor Stephen D. Harding and officially became head of the colony. A fort was built, crops were planted, and a thriving community was founded. Log houses formed the outside walls and all faced the interior and had inside doors. A blockhouse was erected in the center of the fort for purposes of worship and protection for women and children in the event of Indian invasion.

This valley was beautiful but isolated from all other communities. These 20 or more families had meager protection against the Indians. The town of Circleville grew and prospered for two years when Indian hostilities began. A small band of what they had thought to be friendly Indians went between Circleville and Panguitch, securing their livelihood by begging for food, clothing, and ammunition.

Later they used the ammunition they had been given to make trouble for the settlers. Every man provided himself with a rifle, gun, or shotgun and carried this protection with him at all times. One day Edward was plowing near his home, but on the opposite side of the river, which was about 100 feet wide. Blackhawk, with some of his followers, rushed down from the foothills on horseback about a half mile distant.

The oxen smelled the Indians and became restless and unmanageable. Edward unhitched them, took a tail in each of his hands, and headed for home. The oxen plunged into the river and swam to the opposite bank. They reached the other side and hid in a thicket of bullberry bushes just as the Indians reached the bank. Upset that they had missed Edward, they went up the river where they saw a man and his son hauling wood. They killed them and stole the wagon and oxen.

It was during this time that Father John Tolton passed away at the age of seventy-five. Later, troubles with the Indians caused the settlers to vacate the valley. They left personal belongings, household goods, a few head of sheep, growing crops, etc. and took only their wagons, oxen, and cows. The Toltons, numbering eleven souls, left Circleville the same as the others–with very little.

When they reached Beaver they had to turn their oxen out onto public domain where they were stolen by the Indians. The family lived for a short time in their wagon box. The only clothing they had was what they wore when they left. During the next two years they moved from one home to another where they could get shelter until Edward was able to secure a lot and dig a cellar for their protection. Here the family of ten or twelve people ate, slept, and lived in a cellar room.

In August 1868 a great cloudburst submerged the streets and their cellar with water. In their cellar home were all of their earthly possessions–beds, books, boxes containing valuable papers, and newly threshed grain for food for the following year. It drove the family to the home of Joseph Field, a neighbor. They remained there a week until the water was absorbed. Their grain and foodstuff were water-logged and ruined and all other contents badly damaged. In addition was the loss of valuable documents with which Edward hoped some day to prove his heirship to an immense fortune of money which was then in Court of Chancery in England.

Ten years passed before the Toltons owned their first mower and reaper to cut grain. Tallow candles were the only means of illumination for many years. Then came kerosene lamps. The family had one large lamp in the center of the table. Edward would sit and become fully absorbed in fiction stories published in the Philadelphia Ledger. Mary Ann would sit and knit and often relate stories to the children from her own life and experiences. The children would read their lessons, study spelling, memorize a piece to recite in school.

At nine o’clock all would prepare to retire to bed for the night unless Edward was too engrossed in his story. But when the hour came for evening prayer, they would all be called and would kneel together for family prayer. Edward was a strict disciplinarian and took life seriously, teaching his children to do the same. Edward died in October, 1896, when a lamp he was carrying exploded, causing severe burns. He died from the effects a short time later.

Edward and Mary Ann had 14 children: Emily, born November 9, 1848 in St. Louis, Missouri; Louisa, born August 10, 1850, in Alton, Illinois (died September 4, 1851); Clara Ann, born April 13, 1852, in Alton, Illinois; Ellen Maria, born October 23, 1854, in Grantsville, Utah; Edward Henry, born March 12, 1857, in Grantsville, Utah; Frances Elizabeth, born September 14, 1859, in Ephraim, Utah; John Franklin, born November 14, 1861, in Ephraim, Utah; Walter Smith, born February 7, 1864, in Ephraim, Utah; Margaret Esther, born September 23, 1866, in Beaver, Utah; Mary Adeline, born May 11, 1868, in Beaver, Utah; Guy Herbert, born February 28, 1871, in Beaver, Utah (died August 24, 1872); Selena Alice, born April 28, 1873, in Beaver, Utah (died May 14, 1879); Nellie Edith, born January 9, 1876, in Beaver, Utah (died October 10, 1876); and James Percy, born June 9, 1877, in Beaver, Utah (died October 10, 1877).

Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel, Moses Clawson Company (1853); Age at Departure: 31