Thomas P. Cloward, 9th Ten

THOMAS P. CLOWARD (9th Ten) was born Dec. 10, 1823, at Pottstown, Chester County, Pennsylvania, a son of Jacob and Ann Pluck Cloward. When he was 15 years of age he was bound out as an apprentice to a shoemaker and took his master's name, "Poulson", as his middle name.
He became a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1842 and moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, in the spring of 1844. He and his parents and other members of the family were well acquainted with the Prophet Joseph Smith. Mr Cloward served in the Nauvoo Legion under the prophet and was in Nauvoo at the time of his assassination.
On March 25, 1847, he was married to Mary Page and soon after departed with Brigham Young to explore the Rocky Mountains and find a place for the settlement of the Mormon people. He arrived in Salt Lake Valley July 24, 1847, and assisted in raising the nation's emblem of liberty, the stars and stripes, the same day.
He has the honor of having made the first pair of shoes that were made in Salt Lake City. After a few short weeks he accepted a call to return to Winter Quarters to assist the Saints in their exodus west. He left Salt Lake in September and went back to his family, who had homesteaded land near the Missouri River.
In 1852 he returned to Utah, bringing with him his wife, his parents and others of the family. They made their home in Provo, where he assisted in building a fort to protect the people from the Indians. On September 1, 1853, he took Mary Amelia Gardner as a second wife. The family moved to Payson in 1859.
Mr. Cloward served in the Walker War (1853-54), under Gen. Conover, and was called to go to Echo Canyon to take part in the Buchanan War the winter of 1859. Later he served in the Blackhawk War under Gen. Wm. McClellan.
He was a pioneer shoemaker in Payson and made many of the shoes worn by local people. He homesteaded a quarter section of land (120 acres) about a mile east of Payson and there built a log house (and later a two-story brick house where his family lived. A strip of his land and a strip of that of his father-in-law, Elias Gardner, was taken to build the road to Salem. Their dividing fenceline had run down the center of where the road was built.
Cloward was one of the prime movers in construction of the Salem Canal. He was identified in many ways in building up the area. He died January 16, 1909, when in his 86th year.

(From his autobiography)

INTERNET Adaptation
by Sandra S. Bray