William Sidney Smith Willes

1819– 1871

Born in Jefferson County, New York. Baptized in 1846 by Parley P. Pratt. Member of the Mormon Battalion. With Wilford Hudson discovered gold at Mormon Island on the American River. Returned to Utah and settled in Lehi. Served a mission to England from 1863 to 1865. Died 3 February 1871 from injuries suffered while working at a sawmill in American Fork Canyon. (Andrew Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, vol. 3 [Salt Lake City: Andrew Jenson History Co., 1920], 566–68; Carl V. Larson, ed., A Data Base of the Mormon Battalion: An Identification of the Original Members of the Mormon Battalion [Providence, Utah: Keith W. Watkins and Sons, 1987], 186; GQC journal, 17 Oct. 1849; and J. Kenneth Davies, Mormon Gold: The Story of California's Mormon Argonauts [Salt Lake City: Olympus Publishing Co., 1984], 23–24.)