Thomas Battersby Child papers, 1909-2002

Thomas Battersby Child was born in Salt Lake City, Utah on May 6, 1888. He was an expert mason and masonry contractor; husband; and bishop of the LDS Tenth Ward. Married to Bertha Derrick Runel (1891-1965) in 1911, they had three children. He was president of Thomas B. Child and Co., a masonry contracting firm founded by his father. He built the stone and brick work for many prominent buildings in Utah including: the Ogden High School; the chapel for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Washington, D. C.; LDS temples in Idaho Falls, Idaho and Los Angeles, California; and more. He served as senior member of the Sons of Utah Pioneers Luncheon Club.

One of his crowning achievements of his life was the park he created in his backyard, which amounts to his testament to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The park contains Thomas Child's interpretation, in stone, of the basic tenets of the church, Christianity and work. Called the Gilgal Sculpture Garden, the grounds were purchased from its current owners, the Henry Fetzer family by The Friends of Gilgal in 1999 for $670.000. It was then turned over to Salt Lake City, which maintains and protects it as a public park.