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William Strong

Biography of William Strong

by Harriet Strong Spiers

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William Strong, Son of Jacob And Sarah Hill Strong was born October 30th, 1827, at Strongstown Indiana County Pennsylvania. His Grandfather James Strong was the original Settler of Strongstown.


When a boy, his parents joined the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and moved with their Children to Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, arriving March 18th 1840. William was baptized in the Mississippi River when about 15 years old by the Prophet Joseph Smith. According to the statement found recorded n the Biographical Encyclopedia at the Church Historian's office, (P. 88) He took an active part in the defense of Nauvoo and was a Captain in the Nauvoo legion.


He was ordained in the 26th Quorum of the Seventy and received his endowments in the Nauvoo Temple February 7, 1846.


William, previous to the time of his endowments, was a victim of malaria fever and was left with a white swelling on his knee which necessitated his using crutches. The incident I am about to relate was told me by his daughter Harriet Lucinda, my aunt, and she said it was most sacred to him. He never spoke of it without shedding tears. He received his endowments at night and his father had arranged with their neighbors to convey him home in their buggy with them the next morning, but while at the temple he received a wonderful blessing which made it possible for him to walk home a distance of about four miles.


He came west in the spring of 1846, and having arrived at the Missouri River he enlisted in the Mormon Battalion, Company E under Captain Daniel C. Davis as a private for one year in the war with Mexico. He was eighteen years old at the time, undersized and in delicate health. Jacob Strong, father of William was selected to go but on account of severe illness, William being the eldest son volunteered to take his place. Quoting from his brother James T. Strong's History: On October 13, 1846, they began their arduous journey and heroic march across the burning plains and rugged mountains of New Mexico to southern California, In all the battalion marched from the Missouri to the Pacific, a distance of over two thousand miles, pioneering most of the way through untrodden wilderness, braving danger and enduring hardships, short rations, lack of water, excessive toil in road making, well digging and over marching which caused much suffering; sickness and some deaths arriving near San Diego late in January 1847.


On his return, after his release, he helped build a sawmill in the Santa Cruz mountains. This statement was found in the Church Historian's office and whether he took part at Coloma Valley where gold was discovered, I am not certain but the same reference states that on May 1, 1848, a number of battalion brethren bought two brass cannons of Captain John A. Sutter to be taken to the Great Salt Lake for the benefit of the church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. William Strong is listed among the other donors as having contributed Six Dollars (Note by Joel Hamblin: if I remember right, one of those cannons is now displayed at the visitors center of the Saint George Temple).


The two brass cannons, according to the story told by Russell-Driggs " Hidden heroics of the Rockies" were brought to California by the Russians who settled at Bodego Bay and were among those left by Napoleon when he retreated from Moscow. On page 70. B.H. Roberts history of the Mormon Battalion, it states that these cannons were "to be a defense against possible Indian Attacks en route home and for defensive use against a like foe in Salt Lake Valley." See P. 63 for Brother Robert's account of the discovery of god.


According to William's eldest daughter Lucinda, his brother, James T. Strong and a statement in the Church Historian's Office, he arrived in the Great Salt Lake Valley the fall of 1848, by way of San Francisco...With Addison Pratt and others. Addison Pratt was not with the Mormon Battalion but according to Andrew Jensen's Church Chronology" p. 36 he arrived in Great Salt Lake Valley from a five year mission to the Society island, Thursday September 28, 1848. See more about Addison Pratt on P. 126m "Giant of the Lord"' Story of James Stephens Brown. (Please see p. 7)
William in the summer of 1849, drove east with an ox team and met his family assisting them in their journey to the valley. They arrived in October 28, 1849, with Silas Richards, company. While on this journey William met Miss Martha Bromley Alvord with whom he fell in Love. She was born in Waterford., Oacland County, Michigan, February 28, 1833. Her parents were Thadeus and Celestina (Briggs) Alvord. (See history of daughter, Harriet Louisa Strong Poll) Martha was sixteen when they crossed the plains. She was married to William Strong November 28, 1849, bu Bishop David Pattegrew of the Tenth Ward.


August 5, 1849, William received a Patriarchal Blessing by Patriarch John Smith.


"In the year 1850 he was employed with Captain Stansbury surveying party, which defined the shores of the Great Salt Lake with its islands and sand bars, Strong's Knob near the west shore of the lake was named in honor of him."(B.E.p. 88)
William and Martha lived in the old fort in Salt Lake Valley the first winter after their marriage. About 1850, they moved to Ogden, Weber County, Utah. Their daughter Harriet Louisa was born April 23, 1853, at Harrisville, Weber County, Utah.
When their little daughter was quite young, they moved to Farrs Fort, near Ogden and from there to Springville where they lived when the U.S. Troops under command of Albert Sidney Johnson passed through salt Lake on their way to establish Camp Floyd. Prior to the move south sometime (fall of 1855) William and Martha were divorced.


On the 17th of April 1856, William was married to Sarah (Garlick) Richmond, the widow of a very dear friend. Two children were born of this union, John Albert the 8th of march 1857 and James Jacob, the 13th of January1859, Springville, Utah. According to the best information available from the two eldest daughters of William, this friend exacted a promise from William on his death bed that he would marry his widow for this life only. These two sons together with the little nine-month old son, Alonzo she had when William married her were sealed under the covenant to their mother and Benjamin Richmond for whom William stood proxy. The widow later procured a divorce and married William Korswell. Benjamin Richmond was with Company C in the Mormon Battalion and died in that Service. It is presumed.


William's first wife Martha in the meantime had chosen for his second wife, according to the custom of the time, Harriet Neeley, daughter of Lewis and Elizabeth (miller) Neeley. Being a man of his word he married both women the same day. President Brigham Young performed the ceremonies in the Salt Lake Endowment house.


Harriet Neeley was born the 10th of September 1839, at Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois. She was a girl of eighteen years a the time of her marriage to William. She was in Sore need of a home. Her mother had died at Winter Quarters in 1847. She was the mother of eleven children and eight survived her. Harriet's father married shortly after a widow by the name of Sophia (Parsons) Ketchum with four children. Five children were born to this union making a total of seventeen children. The times were very hard, so lets not judge these good people too harshly, for marrying seamed in a great many cases the only way out of solving their problems. Love did not always enter into it on either side but on the man's part a willingness to provide and give shelter and on the woman's an absolute need of a home.


Four Children were born to William and Harriet in Springville; Sarah Elizabeth, Harriet Lucinda, Mary Lodeme and William Hill.
While in Springville, William Strong was one of the few saints who consecrated all he had to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day saints, I quote the following from a paper at the time of this writing in the possession of Mrs. Hattie Hoggan Gardner; "Territory of Utah, Utah County. The property of William Strong, Springville, Utah, which he dedicated to the Lord, dated February 6, 1857 - 1 Log Cabin valued at twenty dollars ($20), 1 plow @ $20, farm tools etc. Etc. Ten dollars, 1 clock, five dollars, household furniture and bedding etc. one hundred dollars, 400 pounds of flour at six cents per pound ($24) and five bushels of corn twelve fifty ($12.50). Total amount of property 386.50- I certify that the foregoing schedule of property was consecrated to the Lord this day and year above written Signed Recorder of Utah, Utah County, Utah Territory." (Signature of the recorder is illegible).
In the Biographical Encyclopedia, P. 88, it further states that William Strong participated in the Echo Canyon Expedition in 1857-58, on which occasion he spent about three months in the mountains. He also took part in a dangerous Indian Expedition and made two trips east after emigrants once going to South Platte and once to the Sweet Water. From the effects of the exposure and hardships he endured on his march to California as a member of the Battalion, he has for many years been a constant sufferer of rheumatic fever, in consequence of which he has drawn a pension from the government for a number of years. William W. Willis and Thomas L. Williams were signers of "Proofs of Evidence" Document. He applied for "the Land Warrant" due him for his army service September 7, 188. (See Photostatic copy of Pension record.)


William and his family resided in Springville until the year 1865, when they moved to the Tenth Ward at Salt Lake City. Although in poor health during the year 1868-69, when the grasshoppers did so much damage to the crops that flower cost from twenty to twenty four dollars a barrel and walked to Echo Canyon, a distance of about eighty miles, where he worked helping to grade the road, for the completion of the transcontinental railway which was to connect the west with the east and do away with emigration by hand cart and ox team.


He filed one hundred and sixty acres of ground in the mouth of City Creek canyon for the city about 1873. It was necessary for him to live there most of the time for about one year. He was given five hundred dollars for pre-emtion of this land, according to the memory of his daughter Harriet Louisa. He was appointed watchman of the water works.


About 1878, "the Strongs William, Hyrum, and Jim Owned Strongs Wide Hollow in Emigration Canyon. William and his family lived on it. The strongs homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres and obtained another forty further up the canyon under the Desert Act." (See "The Old Days in Emigration Canyon" by G. Ephraim Cederolof and written by his son A.P. Cederlof.


The following children were born to William and Harriet in Salt Lake City; Emmaline Jane, Lewis Napoleon, Heber parley, Alice Louisa, Helen Maud. LeRoy Neeley, Ida Violet, Ira Armenous, and Marvin Albert. IN all there were thirteen born to his union.


William passed away very suddenly with a heart attach December 24, 1888. His widow later moved to Idaho. She was a member of the willow Creek ward for eleven years where she took an active part in the Primary, Relief Society, and other associations. She died at Willow Creek, Bingham County, Idaho, January 13, 1904 and was brought to Salt Lake City for Burial.