Thomas B. Marsh — Starting for Utah with $5.10, the Lord Multiplies It to $55.05 Before He Leaves Missouri (1857)
Published September 28, 2026 at 8:28 AM
After nineteen years away from the Church, Thomas B. Marsh determined to return to the Saints in Utah. In January 1857, living in Harrison County, Missouri, he gathered what he could — five dollars and ten cents — and prayed, 'Lord, if you will help me, I will go.' He set out for the Salt Lake Valley knowing the small sum could not possibly carry him there, and having no idea how he would get more. But before he had even left the state of Missouri, his circumstances had changed so completely that he found himself with $55.05 — more than ten times what he started with. Brigham Young shared Marsh's account with the Saints in a discourse later that year.
In Their Own Words
“I have frequently wanted to know how my apostasy began, and I have come to the conclusion that I must have lost the Spirit of the Lord out of my heart. I concluded it would be my own fault if I stayed. I therefore said, "I will go now." That was last January. I looked round a few days to see what I could raise, and I raised five dollars and ten cents, and I said, "Lord, if you will help me, I will go." I felt that he would: therefore I started with but five dollars and ten cents, from Harrison County, Missouri, to come all the way to this Valley. I knew that I could not come here with that small sum, and I did not see how I was to get any more; but before I got out of the State, the Lord had changed my fortune, and I had $55.05. I then felt that the Lord was with me, and I have felt so ever since. I have had a great many trials, and I have felt that I have been a poor, miserable creature, and I have been humbled in the dust. I have been brought to see my situation, and I have felt that I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.”
— Thomas B. Marsh, Journal of Discourses 5:206-207
Sources & References
Journal of Discourses, Volume 5 (pages 206-213), discourse 34. https://journalofdiscourses.com/5/34 (extracted verbatim from source text; research confidence: high) Full first-person account: Journal of Discourses, Volume 5, pages 206-207 https://jod.mrm.org/5/206
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