William Pickett

Born in England; became foreman of printing office of Missouri Republican (later St. Louis Republican); outraged at mob behavior toward Latter-day Saints during 1846 visit to Nauvoo, Illinois; sided with the Saints during “Battle of Nauvoo”; married Agnes Coolbrith Smith, widow of Joseph Smith’s brother Don Carlos Smith, in 1847; left St. Louis for California gold fields without his family in 1849; moved his family to California in 1852; opened law practice in San Francisco and became foreman of Bulletin printing office; moved with his family to San Bernardino in 1855, where he practiced law; subsequently returned to San Franciso and practiced law; left his family and went to Oregon where he was a newspaper editor in 1872. (See Rhodehamel and Wood, Ina Coolbrith, 523; Compton, In Sacred Loneliness, 781; GQC journal, Mar. 20, 1854.)