Thomas Richins, was the fifth child of parents Richard Richins and Charlotte Priscilla Wager. He was born June 6, 1826 and christened five months later on November 26, 1826 in Sheepscomb, Gloucestershire, England. He was given the name Thomas after his fathers grandfather, Thomas Richins. There is a family tradition that he had a twin sister named Charlotte Priscilla. There is no record in the Parish Register of her birth or death and it is thought she died at birth. (Richins, p 5)

Thomas had ten brothers and sisters, including his twin. Only five of the eleven children grew to adulthood and married. His oldest sister Hannah and his brother William both died from consumption. Hannah was 18 and William only 9 years when their lives were taken by this dreaded disease. His brothers John Edward and Edwin and, his sisters Mary Ann and Charlotte Priscilla, all passed away in infancy. His brother George emigrated to Canada while, Thomas and the rest of his brothers, John, Charles, and Edward joined the Church and emigrated to Utah.( Richins, pp 3-7)

Both of their parents died young. Priscilla was only 42 when she died of complications of childbirth on September 21, 1842...Richard died of intemperance at his mother’s home on December 8, 1848. (Richins, p 8)

In the 1841 census, Thomas was listed as 15 years old and living at home. He was still living at Sheepscombe when he was taught the gospel by Mormon Elders and baptized, at age 24, on January 1, 1850 by Elder William Davis. In the 1851 census he was listed as unmarried, age 24, an agricultural laborer, and visiting at his Uncle Williams home. Three years later, Thomas was in the city of Gloucester awaiting the reading of the banns so he could marry Harriet Deveraux, a daughter of John Deveraux and Ester Ann Cockshut. (Richins, p 5)

Harriet Deveraux was born December 29, 1833 in Dymock, Herefordshire, England to parents John Deveraux and Ester Ann Cockshut or Cockshed. She had five brothers and sisters. Only three grew to adulthood and married. Harriet and her brother Joseph both married, joined the Church and emigrated to Utah. Her sister Ester married and stayed in England. Ann grew to adulthood but passed away as a young woman, John died shortly after his first year, and Emanuel passed away in infancy. Harriet also had an older half brother named Paul. It is unknown when he died. (Ancestral File)

Harriet’s parents, John and Ester Deveraux were tenant farmers who were very religious-minded. They belonged to the Wesleyan Methodist Church until, becoming dissatisfied with it, they joined with a group called the The United Brethren. In 1840 they were among the 600 members of the United Brethren that were converted and baptized by Apostle Wilford Woodruff on the John Benbow farm in Herefordshire. (Kenison, pp 1-2; Richins, p 5; Fischio)

From the journal of Apostle Wilford Woodruff we read,

"The power of God rested upon us and upon the mission ... The Lord had a people there prepared for the gospel. They were praying for light and truth, and the Lord sent me to them, and I declared the gospel of life and salvation unto them." (Kenison, p2)

Harriet was 6 years old at the time. When she was 13, she was baptized on July 30, 1846 by Elder William Webb. (Fischio)

Some of the wealthier members of the United Brethren emigrated to Nauvoo soon after they joined the Church (Kenison, p 2), but the Deveraux family did not have the money and had to wait fifteen years until the Perpetual Immigration Fund was started to aide the poor who wanted to go to Zion. (Richins, p 5; Fischio)

After the reading of the banns, Thomas Richins and Harriet Deveraux were married in the city of Gloucester, at the Saint James Church, by the Reverend James Hollis, on December 15, 1853. Jeremiah Wager and Harriet’s mother, Ester Deveraux, were witnesses to the marriage. 
(Richins, p 5)

When Thomas was married he was listed as a waterman, which referred to one who traveled the waterways on a barge. When they returned to Harriet’s hometown of Eastnor in Herefordshire, he was an agricultural laborer again. They were living in Herefordshire when their first son, Albert Franklin, was born on January 30, 1855. (Richins, p 5)