28 Aug 1842 – 15 Feb 1898
Son of Philip Cardon and Martha Marie Tourn
History of Utah: Comprising Preliminary Chapters on the Previous History by Orson Ferguson Whitney (1904)
THOMAS BARTHELEMY CARDON.
A soldier of the Union in the Civil War, and for many years a prominent citizen of Logan, T. B. Cardon was by birth an Italian, the exact place and date of his nativity being Brae, Prarustin, Piedmont, August 28, 1842. His parents were Phillippe and Martha Maria Toum Cardon. Their ancestors were of the Vadois or Waldenses, and among the remnant of that people who were driven from Switzerland by the Church of Rome about the beginning of the eighteenth century. They were in comfortable circumstances, owning the home they occupied and the small farm and vineyard they cultivated. When not thus employed they were engaged in silk culture. The father was also a builder. As a boy Thomas assisted him in the vineyard and also as a mason and carpenter. A few short winter terms in a common school, where French and Italian were taught,
comprised his earliest education. He was an artist by instinct, possessing a refined soul, and the world was to him an open book, in which he read deeper and loftier lessons
then those taught in the schools.
Up to the age of twelve he remained in his native land, where, in 1852, his father and mother,
himself, four of his brothers and two sisters joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. Two years later the family emigrated to Utah, sailing from Italy in January and coming by
way of New Orleans to Kansas City, whence they traveled overland to Salt Lake City, arriving here
late in October. .Tabez Woodard had charge of their company on the sea, and R. L. Campbell on the
plains. Many were afflicted with the cholera, among them Thomas and one of his sisters. They settled first at Mariottsville, near Ogden, whence they went south in the move of 1858 and afterwards returned to Weber county.
Thomas, then a boy of sixteen, after assisting his father’s family to return, visited Camp Floyd
for the purpose of obtaining employment. Ambitious for an education, and being told by some of his
countrymen at the post that if he enlisted he would have the privilege of attending the camp school
free, he joined the army and became bugler in Company “G,” United States Tenth Infantry. He learned
the English language from a comrade, who, like himself, spoke French, and having an inherent love
for culture, pursued his studies alone, acquiring by diligence a fund of useful knowledge.
Weary of camp life, he applied in I860 for his discharge, but before it reached him the Civil War
broke out. Here was activity, the thing he desired, and he now withdrew his application and started
with his company for the East. The founder of Camp Floyd, General A. S. Johnston, and some of his
troops, espoused the Confederate cause, but the company with which T. B. Cardon was connected
proceeded to Washington, D. C., and joined the Union forces. On March 10, 1862, his regiment was
called into active service, and he was at the headquarters of General McLellan, commander of the
Army of the Potomac, from the opening of the campaign that year until after the battle of Malvern
Hill. He was in the battles of Big Bethel, Yorktown, Williamsbury, Gaines Hill, Fair Oaks, and the famous Seven Days Fight before Richmond.
On the second day of the last named engagement, June 27, 1862, he was seriously wounded in the left arm and side. While he was being borne from the field in the arms of two comrades, one of them had a leg torn away by the explosion of a bombshell and the other was killed by a rifle ball from one of the enemy’s sharpshooters. It was not designed, however, that Thomas B. Cardon should perish on the field of battle. Though carried to the hospital and placed in the charnel house with those who had died of their wounds—for he was apparently lifeless and was reported dead —he revived next morning about day-break and succeeded in rejoining his brigade, after being hotly pursued by the enemy’s pickets. His wounds healed in time, but he was rendered incapable of further service, and on February 2, 1863, was honorably discharged. For his services in defense of the Union he was afterwards granted a pension of ten dollars a month, which he drew as long as he lived.
From the convalescent camp near Alexandria, he proceeded to Washington, where he remained a month, and then visited York, Pennsylvania, where he learned the art of photography. He next moved to Harrisburg, where he obtained a situation and worked at his profession, subsequently opening an art
gallery. In 1865 he went to Nebraska, settling in Nebraska City, and in 1867 rejoined his relatives in Utah. They were then living at Logan.
There he established an art gallery, carried on the photographer’s business, and also opened a
watch making and jewelry establishment, the first one in that city. He was successful in business
for many years, when reverses came and his fortune was swept away. On November 13, 1871, he married Lucy Smith, daughter of Bishop Thomas X. Smith of Logan, and sister to Orson Smith, ex-president of the Cache Stake of Zion. She bore to him eleven children. Mr. Cardon had two other wives, one of whom has five children.
He held various public positions in Logan. He served nine years as city recorder, and in 1882 and in 1884 was elected an alderman and sat in the city council. In 1886 he was again nominated for that office, but declined the honor. At the time of his death he was city auditor. In all positions of trust, he exhibited not only skill and ability but steadfast honesty of purpose.
To his religion he was true as steel. As a home missionary of Cache stake, and an assistant superintendent of the Sabbath schools of Logan he labored with honor to himself and with
helpfulness to those with whom he came in contact. Throughout his life his convictions and sentiments were pure and exalted. He held successively the offices of Elder and Seventy, being ordained to the former in 1870, and to the latter in 1884. He was president of the Second quorum of Elders, and one of the presidency of the Sixty-fourth quorum of Seventies. He died at his home in Logan, February 15, 1898. Beloved in life, in death he was widely and sincerely mourned.