William Adams

William Adams
Great-Grandfather of Effie Marie Sherman Walker
Condensed from the William Adams narrative
by Sadie Ollorton Clark

William Adams was born in Hillsborough, County Down, Ireland, on January 8, 1822, the second son in a family of eight children. His father, Charles, was born in Baileyborough, County Cavan, and his mother, Catherine Mills was born in Belfast, County Antrim. William’s grandfather, Thomas Adams, practiced law in Baileyborough. His other grandfather, William Mills, was an excise Officer under the British Government. His wife was Judith Campbell. They were all Protestant and of Scotch Irish descent.
William attended school, as a boy, in Hillsborough, for eight years, and then he was sent to the Belfast Academical Institution.
The Adams family was prosperous. They owned farms and several businesses. After William finished school he worked for his father and for a year he worked for his uncle, James Adams, who lived in Carrickmacross, who was a dealer in flax and yarn, and who also kept a Spirit’s store.
William says he was religiously inclined and attended church regularly. He often reflected on the life and crucifixion of our Savior. He, therefore, was receptive when two Elders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints presented the Gospel to him. Their names were Theodore Curtis and William Black. He was eighteen years old when he first investigated the Church. He loved to attend the meetings and to bear his testimony. He was baptized by Robert Hutchinson, March 26, 1842, and confirmed by William Johnston.
It was while attending a branch meeting that William met Mary Ann Leech, daughter of Ann Jamison and Hugh Leech. Mary Ann’s mother and several members of her family belonged to the Church. They were married October 8, 1842. Mary Ann was born October 22, 1820 in Bambridge, County Down. Their son, Charles was born in Bambridge, September 16, 1843.
William had been working for his father, but after he joined the Church many of his friends turned against him. He and Mary Ann decided to leave Ireland and gather with the Saints in Nauvoo, Illinois. On December 31, 1843, they left Hillsborough with their baby son and sailed for Liverpool. They took passage on the boat, “Fanny” which would take them to New Orleans. Most of the passengers were Mormon Emigrants.
William and Mary Ann accepted the hospitality of Walter McAllister for ten days in Liverpool, and on January 20, 1844, they left Europe. The Saints on board were organized with twelve men appointed to supervise the activities, the food, etc. for the company. William was one of the twelve. They had prayer meetings daily and preaching meetings on Sundays. They landed in New Orleans the first of March, making very good time for that day.
They were to go up the Mississippi River on Joseph Smith’s boat, “The Maid of Iowa”. It took three days to prepare and load the boat, so the young couple saw something of New Orleans while they waited, but they were glad to leave the city. They had a very rough, uncomfortable trip on the River Boat. It moved slowly and the pilot had little concern for the passengers or their time. They were thankful when he was dismissed in St. Louis.
When the people of the River towns heard the boat was carrying a full load of Mormons they did all they could to make the trip unpleasant. They set fire to the boat in Natches. They would come on board and revile them, and they stole everything they could get. All of William’s money was taken from him. He became ill from contaminated food and water, and was weak and sick for weeks after they had arrived in Nauvoo, in April.
As they left the boat in Nauvoo, Joseph and Hyrum, with at least two hundred people were at the dock to meet them. William was thrilled to shake their hands.
Mary Ann’s sister Margaret had married John Harper, and they had been in Nauvoo for a year when the Adams arrived. The Harpers took them to their home and cared for them until they could take care of themselves. When William was able to work, Harper got him a job as a stone cutter for the Temple. But the people in Nauvoo were poor and paid very little tithing, so William was not paid for his work for weeks. They sold some of their clothes to buy food. Mary Ann’s silk dresses supported them for some time.
William soon became aware of the trouble which was brewing in Nauvoo, and he knew who the trouble-makers were. He was an eyewitness to the destruction of the “Expositor” and he took an active part in protecting the city from any attacks of the mobs. He was a member of the Nauvoo Legion and he remembered hearing Joseph Smith’s last sermon. On the 27th of June, 1844, he listened to Governor Ford make a speech accusing the Mormons of being disloyal to the government, and afterwards realized it was given at the same time Joseph and Hyrum were being assassinated.
William was at the meeting when Sidney Rigdon laid claim to be the guardian of young Joseph. He says he was sitting down and could not see when Brigham Young took the stand, but was listening attentively. As Brigham started to talk, William says he jumped to his feet, thinking Joseph Smith was speaking. He says he knew Joseph’s voice well and he recognized it. This was always a strong testimony to him.
William continued to work on the Temple until the fall of 1845. He was ordained an Elder in August and a Seventy in October. In the fall and winter of 1846, he worked for a man who owned a wagon shop. Mary Ann had a baby boy born in July 1845, but he lived only until December and they buried him in the Nauvoo cemetery. William and Mary Ann received their endowments in the Nauvoo Temple in January 1846.
William tells very little about the exodus from Nauvoo. But on March 1, 1846, they, probably from fear of the mobs, left Nauvoo. Turning the key on their little home and leaving nearly everything they had in the house. For the next three years, William worked at various trades. He was anxious to earn enough to follow his friends west. For a time they lived in Springfield, Illinois, and William worked on the State Capitol building. Mary Ann had a sister, Isabel McKelvy living there and William worked with her husband in the contracting business. Their third son, James Jemison was born in Springfield. They “were careful with their means” and saved $500.00 by the spring of 1849, when they decided to go to Utah. Williams’ brother, Thomas, had immigrated to Springfield and urged him to stay in Illinois and go into business with him, but William and Mary Ann had made up their minds to follow the Saints, and they mad a safe and pleasant trek across the plains in the summer of 1849.
When they arrived in Salt Lake City they bought a small house and prepared it for winter. The next spring William planted four acres of wheat. He had brought the seed with him, but a few weeks later found that he had planted winter wheat in the spring and he lost his crop. Their daughter Anna Catherine was born in Salt Lake in May 1850.
In the 1850 October Conference William was called out of the audience to go on a mission to Iron County, to locate there and help develop the country. He left Salt Lake December 1, with the George A. Smith Company. Mary Ann and the three children stayed in Salt Lake alone that winter. The company arrived at Center Creek January 13, 1851. The next July, Mary Ann and her children came to the new town called Parowan.
In 1852 Hugh Leech was born in Parowan. William had built his family a home in the old fort. He acquired land and raised crops of wheat, oats, potatoes and in a few years they found they could raise fruit trees- apples and plums. Their daughter Margaret was born in 1853.
William was resourceful and always had several projects going—new businesses and farms. He volunteered to work on the Salt Lake Temple in 1857, to haul granite. He was in Salt Lake on July 24th when the news came about Johnston’s Army.
William Junior was born in 1855, Mary Emma in 1857, and Thomas in 1860. William was prosperous and busy, active in public affairs and in the Church. At this time, plural marriage was being preached vigorously, and William decided to take another wife. He married Mary Barbara Bolanz January 9, 1864 in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City and brought her back to Parowan. She was from Germany, a widow with a young daughter.
Mary Ann opposed the marriage and was never reconciled to it. William acquired a home in Paragonah and he and his second wife lived there for many years and their six children were born there, or in Parowan. Their only daughter and one son died as infants. William worked in Parowan. He was the director in the Parowan Co-op store, the Superintendent of the Parowan United Mercantile Institution. He was Justice of the Peace, Coroner, and County Treasurer. He was interested in a cabinet shop, a tanning and harness shop and probably many others.
He was called on a mission about 1876 (he didn’t give the date, but said it was 30 years after he had left Nauvoo). He first went to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. He seemed to have had some trouble with the Re-Organized Church there. His companion was William C. MacGreggor. After several months, Brother MacGreggor returned home. William requested to be sent to Illinois. He went to Quincy, hoping to see his brother Thomas, but Thomas had died a few months before he came. William visited members of the church he had known in Nauvoo and he did some effective missionary work with the inactive members of Keokuk, Iowa for the next few months.
He visited Nauvoo in the middle of the winter, walking from Keokuk to Montrose and crossing the Mississippi River on the ice, which was 16 inches thick. In Nauvoo he went to the Nauvoo House. Mr. Bidemon, Emma Smith’s husband, came out of the Mansion House as William stood looking at it. He told Bidemon he had helped to build the house 30 years before, and Mr. Bidemon invited him in. He says, “Emma was pleased to see me and I had a very interesting conversation with her for three or four hours. She asked me many questions, on in particular, “How would they receive Joseph’s family if they should go to Utah?” I answered that nothing would please the Saints better than to see the family of the Prophet return to the body of the Church….She had unpleasant feelings against Brigham Young…I was invited, very kindly, to stop and have dinner, which I accepted and had a very pleasant time.
William went to the cemetery and found the grave of the baby boy he had buried there so many years ago. Then after walking around the town, he returned to Keokuk and shortly afterwards was released from his mission.
A few years after his second marriage, William divided his property and Mary Ann and her sons managed her half. The boys were industrious and they all prospered. In 1882 he was called to settle in San Juan County, so he took Barbara Bolanz and pioneered Bluff. He lived in San Juan the rest of his life and the children of his second marriage grew up there.
William’s journal ends with a brief description of their life in San Juan. The biographies of his sons go into more detail and they describe the country, the work they did and the problems they overcame. I think William intended to add more to his story, but we have no evidence that he ever did. He always took a great interest in all of his children. He went to Salt Lake at least once a year and would always visit Parowan and bring his children presents and many of the things they could not get in Parowan. He died September 30, 1901 and was buried in Bluff.