William Bateman (1824 - 1867)

Born 23 Apr 1824 in Bolton le Moors St Peter, Lancashire, England, United Kingdom

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 18 Mar 1867 at age 42 in Richmond, Cache, Utah, United States

William Bateman was a Latter Day Saint pioneer.

Biography

• Fact: Christening (3 March 1825) Saint Peter, Liverpool, Lancashire, England
• Fact: Burial (23 March 1869) Richmond, Cache, Utah, United States
• Fact: Residence (1891) Leicester, Leicestershire, England
• Fact: http://familysearch.org/v1/LifeSketch by Floyd & Irene Hurst

William Bateman Born: 23 April 1824 Bolton, Lancs, England Married: 1) 24 July 1843 Sarah Lavender 2) 22 June 1861 Elizabeth Lavender Died: 19 March 1869 Richmond, Cache, UT Father: Joseph Bateman Mother: Margaret Turner Children: 1) Emma, William Henry, Samuel, Nancy Ann, Elizabeth, Joseph Hyrum, James, John, Thomas Lehi, Betsy Ann 2) *Elizabeth, Charlotte Margaret, Charles Henry Baptized: 24 May 1840 Endowed: 29 January 1846 (Nauvoo)

Brief Life History:

William was born and raised in Lancashire County in England. This is where he obtained his schooling and the experiences of youth. In the year of 1840 his family met the missionaries from the United States of America for the church called The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly referred to as the Mormon Church because of the belief in the Book of Mormon, which had been translated from gold plates by Joseph Smith in the state of New York. After joining the church the family had a desire to cross the ocean and join the main body of the church that was at this time in Nauvoo, Illinois. It was in 1840 that the missionaries commenced making plans to commence an immigration program that would go forward for many years and would result in thousands of new converts going to America. The extended family sailed arriving in New Orleans in early 1841 and sailing up the Mississippi River through St. Louis and on up to Nauvoo, Illinois. The Bateman family that were in the area included his father and mother and Uncle Thomas and his wife Mary as well as his grandfather Thomas, his grandmother Bateman had died while in England. He met James Lavender and his family who were from Bedfordshire County, England. He fell in love with one of the daughters named Sarah and they were married across the river from Nauvoo in Augusta, Iowa. They lived in this area through the many troubled times of the church and during the martyrdom of the prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum. Two of their children were born in Augusta, Iowa. Early in the year of 1846 his family went with the body of the church across the Mississippi River and after may trials and a period of time they ended up at Winter Quarters on the border of Iowa and Nebraska. They went up north into St. Joseph, Missouri where a child was born, but immediately died. William crossed the plains in the first division of the Lorenzo Snow Company leaving May 26, 1848 and arriving in the Great Salt Lake basin on September 21, 1848. His wife and children did not come until 1850, at which time he went back and assisted them in making the long hard journey. Another daughter was born in a place near St. Louis, Missouri and was very small when they traveled across the plains. After arriving in the Salt Lake Valley they did quite a bit of moving around and never did settle down in one place for very long. For the first couple of years they were in the Salt Lake City vicinity and then followed his father down into the Iron County area and lived in the new community of Cedar City for five or six years. He was involved in the mining business with several other brethren for a while and then sold out before coming back to the Salt Lake area. The involvement of William Bateman in “The Mountain Meadow Massacre” is not well known except that it is a known fact that he was there. Quotation from a book called “The Mountain Meadows Massacre” written by Juanita Brooks, page 73 is as follows: “After the details were worked out, William Bateman, carrying a white flag, accompanied John D. Lee across the open country toward the camp, where a whit flag had already been hoisted. Two men from the enclosure came out, and after a short conversation, the four went back to camp.” This tragic event took place in the early part of September 1857. They lived in the community of West Jordan during 1859 and 1860. In the latter part of 1860 three of his wife, Sarah’s cousins arrived with the Ninth Handcart Company. They were Susan, Elizabeth, and Mary Lavender. They had been accompanied to this country by the father of Sarah who was James Lavender and had been serving as a mission president over in the British Isles. William was married to Elizabeth on June 22, 1861. She was 15 years younger than his first wife Sarah. They lived in various communities in the valley including West Jordan, Draper, South Jordan, and in Salt Lake City. It was in 1866 that they moved way up into Cache County in a new community called Richmond, Utah. They were just starting to get settled in this new area, some of the older children were getting married and yet they still had very small children at home and tragedy struck when William was quite suddenly taken sick with rheumatic fever and died. The newspaper article states the following, “In Richmond, Cache Valley, March 18, 1867, of inflammatory rheumatism, after a lingering illness of seven months, William, son of Joseph and Margaret Bateman, aged 43 years. The deceased was a native of Bolton, Manchester, England; embraced the gospel, since which time he manifested unflinching integrity in the work of God. His funeral was largely attended. He leaves a large family to mourn his loss.” His first wife Sarah joined the church with her parents in England in December 1837 and was outstanding in furthering the work of the church. She came to be with the saints and later her father was sent back over to England where he served as a missionary and for a time as a mission president. She lived in Richmond and apparently moved around with different children until her death, which was on July 11, 1898. Her death was in Fairview, Idaho and she was buried in the Richmond, Utah cemetery.

Sources

• "Family Tree," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org : modified 04 November 2017, 02:28), entry for William Bateman(PID https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/4:1:KWJB-JMD); contributed by various users.
• Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel
• findagrave.com