William Farrer

Born in Westmoreland County, England; baptized in 1841; arrived in Nauvoo, Illinois, in 1843; worked on Nauvoo Temple; helped drive John Taylor’s teams during the Latter-day Saint exodus to Salt Lake Valley in 1847, traveling in same company with GQC; went to California in 1849 to mine gold, again traveling in same company with GQC; outfitted by Joseph Horne in exchange for half the profits; one of the miners at Slap Jack Bar who was called on mission to Hawai‘i in September 1850; assigned to island of Kaua‘i with John Dixon; joined GQC, Henry Bigler, and James Keeler on Maui when Dixon left the mission; subsequently labored on O‘ahu and Kaua‘i, where he was conference president; assisted GQC with final reading of Hawaiian Book of Mormon manuscript; released from the Sandwich Islands mission at the same time as GQC; remained in California until 1855; settled in Provo, Utah, where his family had moved while he was in the islands; married Elizabeth Ann Kerry in January 1856; called on second mission to Hawai‘i in 1856; reached San Francisco before returning home because of the Utah War; farmer by profession; died in Provo, Utah. (See Landon, To California in ’49, 183; Spurrier, Sandwich Islands Saints, 74–76; “Another Pioneer Summoned,” Deseret Evening News, Feb. 19, 1906; Davies, Mormon Gold, 164, 324, 344; Farrer diaries, WFC; GQC journal, frequent references, Sept. 1850–Sept. 1854.)