William Whitehead 1839-1881

William Whitehead was born 23 November 1839 in Calf Hey, Lancashire, England. He was the son of Martha Whitehead and Robert Wright, a machine printer. Martha Whitehead reared her son William while living in the homes of her sister Mary Chadwick and her husband Joseph and her widowed mother Hannah Hepworth Whitehead in Oldham, Lancashire, England.

 Oldham, Lancashire, England

Martha worked, as a did many in her area of Oldham, as a weaver in a woolen factory. William also was noted to be a factory worker in his teenage years.

Martha Whitehead Ramsbottom

William was well educated as a young man. His learning could have come from formal or home schooling. It was noted that in his adult life after his day's work, William would read and study by candlelight until very late.

Several of his family became affiliated with the Church of  Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints including his mother and her sister Mary Chadwick and her husband and children. William was baptized on 1 November 1848 just before his 9th birthday.

His Aunt Mary Chadwick and her husband and children were able to immigrate to Zion in America in 1855. 

Mary Whitehead Chadwick

William immigrated from Liverpool on the ship the William Tapscott on 11 April 1859 and docked in New York City on 13 May 1859. 

William and his fellow travelers continued their journey by steamship, railroad and riverboat until they were able to group together in Florence, Nebraska where they traveled taking 60 handcarts and 6 wagons in a company led by George Rowley. They began their journey on 9 June 1859 encountering many of the trials of those who had gone before them.

It is said they encountered a group of Sioux Indians who demanded food of them. As their trek continued, their food became scarce. Many suffered starvation until a wagon train from Salt Lake City came to their aid bringing much-needed supplies. 

William's party reached Salt Lake City on 4 September 1859.  After a brief stay in Lehi, Utah, with William Taylor, a returning missionary from England and a fellow passenger on the ship William Tapscott. His Aunt Mary was later able to take him with her to Ogden, Utah. She had promised to look after her nephew until William's mother and new husband Henry Ramsbottom and their family could emigrate.

In the early spring of 1861, William along with his two cousins, Benjamin and James Chadwick moved to Franklin, Franklin county, Idaho. He helped Ben and James bring logs out of the canyon which they used to build a house for their mother Mary.

Benjamin and James Chadwick

William's cousins 

Family lore has told that in the spring of 1863 William traveled to Salt Lake City, Utah to meet a girl who had promised him while they were both in England that in Utah they would reunite and marry. He found that she had already married.

After this disappointment, William decided to visit the home of John Green of Farmington, Utah. He had known the Green's daughter Margaret while in England, and they thought a lot of one another.

He found Margaret bringing in cows from pasture to be milked. Reportedly they were very happy to see one another again and a marriage proposal ensued with Margaret consenting. The next morning on 28 March 1863, they were married. 

 Margaret Green Whitehead

William and Margaret returned to Franklin, Idaho where they began their new life together.

The couple had the following children together:

1. William James 1864
2. Hannah Jane 1865
3. John Charles 1865
4. Willard Richard 1868
5. Abram Lorenzo 1869
6. Margaret Elizabeth 1871
7. Mary Green 1872
8. Peter Green 1874
9. Martha 1876
10. Alice Ethel 1878
11. Jeannette 1880

 William's mother and her husband Henry Ramsbottom and their children came into Ogden, Utah by rail in the fall of 1869. It can be assumed that Martha did not want to leave England until her mother's death which occurred on 23 June 1869. The family left the port in Liverpool on 22 September 1869 and arrived in New York harbor on 7 October 1869.


William married in polygamy Alice Butterworth on 22 August 1870 with the consent of his wife Margaret.


Alice gave birth to her first and only child, a daughter named Alice Lavina Whitehead on  8 December 1871. Alice Butterworth Whitehead died at the age of 22 on 12 April 1873 in Franklin, Idaho. Margaret then reared Alice Lavina to adulthood along with her own children.

Deseret News,  23 April 1873

William accomplished many and varied things in his short life including:

• Bookkeeper for Merrick and Duffin
• Bookkeeper for the first Co-op store in Franklin, Idaho
• Ward Clerk for Franklin Idaho Ward
• Choir leader
• Dramatically active
• Played several musical instruments including the cello
• Minuteman in the militia
• Stonemason
• Farmer

William was the second director of the ward choir in Franklin, Idaho, a choir continued on.

William was noted to be a person of high cleanliness in appearance and moral lifestyle. He had a strong testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and was honest, honorable and a kind and loving father. William was said to be intelligent, industrious and a good provider.

He died on 2 April 1881 in Franklin, Idaho of causes relating to a ruptured appendix.

Deseret News Weekly, 13 April 1881

 Remnant of William Whitehead's home near Franklin, Idaho