Thomas S. Kimball

Thomas Stephens Kimball
(Grandpa's great-grandfather, my 3rd great)
*taken from familysearch, particularly from his grandson Thomas L. Kimball

Thomas was born August 10, 1862 in Salt Lake City.

Thomas- Left

He was tall and broad, weighing over 200 lbs, with a round face and a friendly, booming voice.  When he spoke, people listened! His father (David P. Kimball) was called to multiple missions and settlements while he was growing up, and the family were Arizona pioneers when Thomas was only 14. The journey from Utah to Arizona was long and hard- full of bad roads, hostile Indians, and other obstacles. Thomas even had to drive the ox team himself when his father sprained his ankle along the way.


As a young man, Thomas heard there was fertile farmland along the Gila River and moved there, creating a fine farm with his wife, Frances. He became one of the best horse breeders in the area, having learned the trade from his father, and could calm the most difficult horses.  He also established a freight hauling business from the Gila valley to the copper mines in Morenci and Globe.
Thomas was one of the first to recognize water as the life blood to the arid, developing Arizona  and was a strong advocate of protecting water resources. He advocated the building of a large dam on the upper Gila River with a large reservoir.  He was elected a state senator to help protect water rights and spent his political tenure in federal court protecting Arizona's right to its share of the Colorado River water from California.  Fifty years later, due to his efforts, the Central AZ Project was completed, providing water to the entire Phoenix/Tuscon area.

Thomas, with his mother Caroline, grandmother Albina, daughter Hazel, and grandson Lorenzo
.Thomas, with wife Frances and daughter Elizabeth.


He was deeply religious and took his entire family often into the desert where his father David P. Kimball had his life-changing spiritual experience.  Every year the family went there, and listened to Thomas repeat the story of David's desert vision of his parents, and their ministration to him.   Thomas dearly loved his ten children and many grandchildren and fostered great family closeness.
He passed away October 29, 1939 at the age of 77 and was buried in Thatcher, AZ.

Thomas with some grandchildren- far right is Stanley (my grandpa's father)