George Moroni Tonks (1856 - 1932)

Born 18 Oct 1856 in New York, United States

Ancestors

Died 5 Oct 1932 at age 75 in Victor, Teton County, Idaho, United States

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Biography

George Moroni TONKS, son of William TONKS (1832-1912) and Martha Jane DERRICOTT (1828-1911), was born on 18 October 1856 in New York, United States. He was a Rancher. He married Emily Ann LITTLEFIELD on 29 November 1878 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Utah, United States. He appeared in the census in 1880 in Morgan City, Morgan County, Utah, United States. He married Johanna Adriana GOBEL on 11 April 1923 in Salt Lake City. He appeared in the census in 1930 in Salt Lake City. He died on 5 October 1932 in Victor, Teton County, Idaho, United States. He was buried on 8 October 1932 in Victor. George was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

George was born in New York. I am not sure exactly where. There was a Latter Day Saint community in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where many European Saints lived until they had saved up to cross he plains.

The origin of the name "Moroni" is as follows. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints along with the Bible, uses a second set of scriptures called the "Book of Mormon," which is considered an scriptural account originally written on gold plates of Israelite descendants who travelled from Jerusalem and lived on the American continent from 600 BC to 400 AD. Members of the Mormon church believe that the last prophet who wrote in the Book of Mormon, was a prophet named Moroni. It is also believed that this same prophet returned as an angel sent from God in 1823, and led the founder of the church, Joseph Smith, to where these scriptures were buried. Most of the Mormon temples have a gold statue of Moroni on top of them, depicting him holding the golden plates and blowing a trumpet. Both William Tonks and Martha Derricott had previously converted to the LDS church in England, and probably were receiving some assistance from the church in their journey to Utah, where the majority of the members of the church were located. Naming children after prophets in the Book of Mormon was fairly common among church members at that time. So George Moroni was probably named after William's father George, and a name taken from William and Martha's new faith.

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