Thomas Edwin Ricks

Thomas Edwin Ricks (July 21, 1828 – September 28, 1901) was a prominent Mormon pioneer, a community leader, and a settler of the western United States.

Early years Ricks was born on July 21, 1828, in Western Kentucky, the son of Joel Ricks and Eleanor Martin. In 1830, he moved with his family to Silver Creek, Illinois where his family started a branch of the Campbellite Church. In 1840, his family was introduced to missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and in 1841, Ricks' parents and siblings were all baptized into the church. A month later the family moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, where Ricks helped in the construction of the Nauvoo Temple.

In 1844, Ricks had an accident while breaking a horse. The horse landed on his left leg. As a result of this accident Ricks' left leg did not grow as long as his right leg. As a result, wearing a platform shoe, he walked with a limp, and later used a cane.

Pioneer years At age twenty, Ricks crossed the plains to the Salt Lake Valley with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He initially crossed the Mississippi River heading west with the Charles C. Rich family. Ricks left the Rich family at Garden Grove, Iowa to meet up with the rest of his family in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Ricks stayed with his family for two years in Council Bluffs while Brigham Young took the first group of Mormon Pioneers to the Salt Lake Valley. One of the teams used by this first pioneer group was donated by the Ricks family. On May 29, 1848, Ricks left Winter Quarters, Nebraska headed for the Salt Lake Valley in Heber C. Kimball's company.

A colonel in the Utah Militia, Ricks was commissioned to locate a better route from the Cache Valley to the Bear Lake Valley, in Northern Utah. While thus engaged, he discovered a natural spring flowing from the cavity of a large rock. To this day, Ricks' Spring bears his name. It can be found on U.S.-89, between Logan, Utah, and Bear Lake, on the Utah–Idaho border.

Colonizing years Ricks was an influential church and community leader in both Utah and Idaho. He is known as the founder of Rexburg, Idaho, and participated in the founding of the Bannock Stake Academy, which would eventually evolve into Brigham Young University–Idaho. The school was named in his honor for a period of 99 years first as Ricks Academy (1902–1917) and later as Ricks College (1917–2001).

Ricks served in the LDS Church as a bishop and stake president in the Rexburg area.

Death Ricks died September 28, 1901, at age 73. Joseph F. Smith, LDS Church president, said of him at his funeral, "It may be a long time before we find another man his equal in honor, mind, and unswerving loyalty to the cause of God and his people."