William Moroni West, Sr.

William Moroni West was born the 9th of February 1842. He was a child in arms, five months old, when the family left Kentucky for Nauvoo, Illinois. He was too young to have many vivid recollections of the days spent there. Still, he remembered well their exodus from Nauvoo, leaving their home, their land and their dreams of the future. It was always said of William that he had a very quiet, lovable disposition. When they left for the Rocky Mountains, he was ten years of age. What a memory he retained of the crossing of the Missouri River, and of the fearful stampedes when the wagon trains ran away and they lost sixty head of their cattle. William never forgot that. He was frightened a good part of the time, but was always glad for the pleasant evenings when everybody seemed happy and they danced, sang and prayed.

William learned to pray as a very little boy and to have a faith so strong that it lasted throughout his life. But he often told his mother he was afraid they would never reach the Rocky Mountains. So when they at last reached Parowan where he knew they were really going to live, he was happy. He was just twelve years old when his older brother John was called upon his mission and from that hour William felt he had to be a man and help his father take care of the family. He carried responsibility well. He took his turn at herding the community cattle and his father said, "that at a very early year William seemed to have the ability of the Native Indian in locating horses and cattle that had strayed."

When William was sixteen, his father states in his diary, "we feel a lot of our horses have been stolen. We had hopes of finding them, but since Brother Hamblin left we can't find the trail." But William would not give up the hunt for the horses. Two days later he found the trail in an entirely different direction from which the men had been looking. The horses had not been stolen but had only strayed.

William was a happy boy in May of 1858, for the mail from California brought the word that John would be in tomorrow. He hurriedly went for the team and the carriage and he, his father and mother, and sisters Susan, and Nancy went to meet John. From that moment, William felt he had a partner. Although John was much older, he, too, was glad to have a brother. The father's diary carried such bits of information, to quote:

"John has started right in and has been a great help to us. William and I are now helping him plant his oats. John and William cutting hay. John and William have gone to the lake for salt. William went to Hamilton's for a party. They will stay all night. John will meet him there and they will come home together. The boys and I went to the canyon for posts. We had a good time camping out."

And so it was: the three of them were almost always found together. How proud Samuel was of his two sons! He was fifty-four, John was twenty-eight, and William was just sixteen. Despite the difference in years, in love and respect they were as one.

As William grew older, he often wrote to his sister Susan in Salt Lake City. Once he said: "I am writing for mother. She is called away to the sick. I fear it is too much for her. She has so many cares at home." And then in 1860 he wrote, I just got home from Minersville. I took Mother and Aunt Mary over for a short visit with Nancy. I went over there last spring and took up some land and farmed. I moved a log house from here and set it up."

They were preparing for winter again. Christmas was always a wonderful time in these pioneer villages. William always seemed to have a good time. Everyone liked him for his wit and humor. His brother John was teaching a dancing class and all the girls seemed happy when William invited them onto the floor, but his family was beginning to worry a bit. William should be singling out one girl, but instead he liked them all. William again writes a letter to Susan: (In 1861) I guess you knew that father moved Christianna and Mary (NOTE: Samuel Walker West, William Moroni West's father's two plural wives) down to Washington where he expects to raise cotton. Father likes the place, for it is much warmer there. He says he has been able to do more work than he has since he has been in the mountains, but I think he is working too hard trying to get this new home going. Christianna and Mary get along real good."

January 27, 1868: John's wife, Mary Jane, is writing to Susan: "Mrs. Susan E. Smith; Dear Sister, I gladly embrace the opportunity of writing you a few lines. John, Father and Mother reached home after being on the road twenty days from your home. They had a very hard trip. The roads were bad, but they returned without any serious trouble. I am always glad to have John return from a long trip. Emma and children are tolerably well. The girls are going to school. Emma and Janet get along the best kind. Janet is a good girl and Emma is an extra good noble woman. But you know without me telling you that I am proud of all of my sisters-in-law. William is the same old William. He is not married yet. He is so afraid some of the girls will think he wants them that he can't take much comfort. I don't know which he would rather do, pay the wager $200 (John's wager) or get married. William gave a lecture on the 19th at a Seventy's Meeting on education. John said it was good. Jesse to give a public lecture next Thursday evening on the history of the Prophet Joseph Smith, which I expect, will be splendid. We all calculate to go."

But William didn't lose the wager. Here is a little humor written by Emma to Susan, on June 21, 1868:

"Your husband, George A. Smith, Joseph Young and others who had all been to Dixie came on in to Parowan and we all met at meeting and had a first rate time. The brethren preached to the young men so urgently for them to get married that our brother William Moroni could not resist any longer, so on the 27th of May he and Miss Tryphena Hobbs were married at our house by Bishop Dame. Of course, we would rather that he would have gone on to the city if his girl could have gone. But she could not go at this time, and William said he would not risk it again. She might grow cold. He left today for the immigration."

William didn't like to leave town now for he had found the girl of his dreams. He had been slow, indeed for that day he had been very slow. He was twenty-six years of age when he took the competent, cheery English convert girl to a home of her own. A few people living today who knew this quick, slender girl say there was just enough of the opposite of William in her to make for happiness complete.

By some it was said she was much the disposition of William's brother John, who liked to be up in the early morning and to bed at dusk, while William liked those early morning hours to sleep and dream. He loved to sit about the fire or out in the moonlight just to talk things over. But they managed, William and Try, and they lived most happily. William's first child, little Annie, as she was lovingly called, but correctly known as Tryphena Annie, was born the 2nd of September 1869, Margaret Alice the 30th of March 1871, William Moroni West, Jr., the 17th of April 1873.

In the early part of January, 1874 the sheriff of Iron County, D. P. Clark, came to consult with William who was the constable known for his bravery, and for his skill in tracking animals. The people were losing their horses and cattle. These depredations were of such a state that the men decided something must be done at once. The people had been troubled for many years from this band of thieves. The officers had tried but never yet had been able to apprehend them. It was a cold time to go; still it might be the best time. These fellows surely could not be far away because cattle had been taken only the night before. Snow would be helpful in tracking, so it was arranged they would go at once.

Again we are indebted to our Aunt Susan West Smith for this letter written by Josephine, Margaret Cooper West's granddaughter and Emma's daughter:

Parowan, Utah, February 5, 1874

Dear Aunt Susan,

I am writing these lines by Grandm'as request. She could not bear to write the terrible news of our dear Uncle William's death. Uncle William went out from home three weeks ago Saturday by request of our sheriff, D. P. Clark, and President Dame, to capture the cattle thieves that have stolen the cattle from the range for years. As you know, he has always been very anxious to do his part and has never been afraid of danger. He was taken with inflammation as near as we can learn. The men wanted to bring him back but he would not come. He lay suffering out on the desert 160 miles from home with no shelter and no where near a settlement. He suffered that way, his only shelter being a cedar tree, for eight or ten days. He was then moved from there one mile and a quarter to an old rock building, but the cover had been burned off. He there breathed his last. Edward Dalton, one of the men that was with him, came in five days ago and brought all the word from him that we have had except the telegram which we got tonight. He told Edward to tell Aunt Tryphena that he would never see her again. He told them to wash him good and shake his garments and then put them on him again and to wrap him in snow. He had them raise him up in bed a little so he could write to Aunt Try. He kept writing to her as long as they would hold him up. From the way it reaches us, he must have suffered a dreadful death, but he was perfectly patient as always. He never murmured a word, but kept the whole company cheerful by his pleasantness.

Ma is a little better but we are afraid this news will cause her another back set, but we will try to give her the very best care we can. I know it will be a dreadful shock to you as it has been to everyone of us. The people here all consider that he died in the defense of his country. He left a dear wife and three little children.

Your affectionate niece,

Josephine

Yes, this was a hard time for the West family as it had been for the last several years. William had only enjoyed six years as husband and father, leaving a grief-stricken wife with three children; Annie, five years old, Margaret, three years old, and little William Moroni, only nine months and nineteen days. Poor Aunt Try, how our hearts have gone out to her. She never remarried, but was faithful to her trust, trying to raise her children the best she could. How great would be her happiness when she was allowed to meet her husband and family in that life eternal and everlasting. Death came to the West family. William died on the 3rd of February, 1874. His father Samuel Walker West died the 22nd of February, 1873.

The father had always taken "sorrow hard." We are glad he was spared the sorrow of William's going. He was only present at William's coming, and what a glad reunion it must have been, except for the knowledge of those who were left behind. And John? He had been filling his second mission to Hawaii. He left Parowan in 1872, and reached home April, 1875. His sorrow was indescribable when he received the word while in the mission field. If we had followed him in his diary day by day, we would find him saying, "Not feeling so well today. I had to walk out alone. My head has been paining me today. I spent an hour alone on the beach."

Of course, the mother's sorrow was intense, but strong woman as she was, she bore up for fourteen long years to nurse her children through sickness, cheering and guiding them to the end.

Taken from page 52, Our Heritage As It Glows From The West, by Mary West Riggs and Roy A. West.

Church records have his birthday as 9 Feb 1842, while his headstone has his birthday as 8 Feb 1844. Believe his birthday is 9 Feb 1842.

Information was also found at http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=hrndr&id=... based on:

1. Journal of Jesse N. Smith 1834-1906 pub. 1953, pp. 1, 18, 22, 26, 36, 181, 197, 213, 219, 237, and 256.

2. Our Heritage As It Glows From the West, by Mary Riggs & Roy A. West, pub. 1956, p. 40.

3. Family Records: of John A. West; Joseph W. Smith; Silas D. Smith; & Margaret Cooper's Journal.

Email from Duane Johnson:

William Moroni West performed some baptism's in the Endowment House 7 July 1870 for Robert Fletcher and his brothers William and Thomas. However he also was baptized for Thomas Fletcher Sr. and said he, William Moroni West, was a second great-grand son of Thomas Sr. and a great grandson of Robert [Jr]. That would make Thomas Sr. the father of the three brothers, Robert [Jr], William and Thomas. Peggy Fletcher's assertion that she is the widow of Robert[Sr] and the grandmother of Esther, Sally, Betsey and Robert [not Sr or Jr] indicates that Robert Fletcher [Sr] and Peggy are the parents of the three boys Robert [Jr], William and Thomas---unless Thomas Sr. died and Peggy married another Fletcher named Robert. If Aunt Mary West Riggs assertion that Robert [Sr] and Peggy Fletcher came from England is correct our answers probably lie in England.

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Obituary Notice from the Deseret News, February 18, 1874, found on Ancestry.com:

Died, at Lake Creek, Nye County, Nevada, February 3rd, William Moroni West, son of Samuel and Margaret West, aged 31 years, 11 months and 22 days.

Deceased was born at Wadsborough, Callaway County, Kentucky. With his parents he moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, from thence to Parowan, Iron County, Utah, where he joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1859. He was ordained to the office of an Elder and in 1870 was ordained one of the seven presidents of the Sixty-ninth Quorum of Seventies, which office he held in honor during his life.

On January 17, 1874, in company with the sheriff of Iron County and others, he started westward in search of some cattle and horses, said to have been stolen from Parowan people, and on the fourth day out was taken ill with pain in the bowels, but still he desired to go on with the company, which he did till the seventh day, when inflammation set in and the company halted at a deserted claim house, in Patterson District, Nevada, and proceeded to nurse him with all possible care.

On February 2nd, he seemed better, and they started for his home in Parowan, but on the 3rd he turned worse and died at 8PM. On the 6th they reached home and funeral services were held on the 7th, a large concourse of people being in attendance.

He lived a moral, somber life, faithful and true to his trust, never feeling duty laborious, but with pleasure labored for the right, and through his last days of sickness was patient and calm, and reconciled to the will of heaven. He left a wife, three children and many relatives and friends.