William Parsons

William Parsons was born in Bosbury, Herefordshire, on 7 March 1808, the second son of Richard Parsons and Mary Couldrick. At the age of 11, William was apprenticed to a wagoner to care for horses. Later he picked fruit to carry to Worcester and Hereford. He later worked in several trades and was considered handy and resourceful. William never attended school, but after his marriage to Mary Jenkins in July 1836, he learned to read well enough to enjoy the scriptures. They were members of the United Brethren church and in 1840, joined the Church of Jesus

Christ of Latter-day Saints, being baptized by Wilford Woodruff on 24 April 1840 at Moorend Cross.

In September 1840, they set sail for the USA aboard the “North America”, along with Mary's father, Thomas Jenkins, her brothers, Edward and William Jenkins and her sister, Charlotte Jenkins. After a harrowing six-week journey, they arrived at New Orleans. The family then travelled up the Mississippi River to Nauvoo and were welcomed by the prophet Joseph Smith. They soon took active roles in the Church. William helped build the Nauvoo Temple and defend the saints from the mobs. He also built one of the few original stone homes still standing in Nauvoo. Mary was a member of the first Relief Society organized by Joseph Smith.

William and Mary had six children. Two of them were born in England but died before they went to Nauvoo, and two other children died not long after they left Nauvoo. After being driven from their Nauvoo home, William and Mary lived and worked around Winter Quarters as they saved money to buy oxen and a cart for the trip to the Salt Lake Valley, which they finally made with their two surviving children in 1852. They settled in American Fork where they lived for seven years. In 1859, William sold his home and relocated to Willard with his wife Mary, his 9-year-old son, William Jr., his daughter, Jane, and her husband of two years, Owen Owens. William and Mary lived the rest of their lives in a large stone house that William built and is still standing today.

On 1 June 1867, William married a second wife, Sarah Radwell Knight Parish, an English widow with three young sons. Sarah became known to everyone in Willard as “Auntie Parish”. After William died in 1882, his wives Sarah and Mary lived together for several years until their deaths.

William died on 20 September 1882 in Willard, Utah - Age 75.