History of William Henry Bone

William Henry Bone

William Henry Bone, son of Richard Bone and Elizabeth Anstey Bone, was born September 1828  at Exeter, Devonshire, England, and was christened at Kenn, Devon, England, on September 21, 1828. 

When he was a very small boy his parents died, during a plague in England, after which an aunt took care of him. (His parents did die when he was young, but I need proof of a plague).

William Bone Christening Record--cropped

William Bone Christening record--full record.  See source citation on crop image. 

Little is known of his early life except that when he was about eight years old he was playing on a teeter-tooter with a friend who jumped off while William was “up”, he and the board fell, slitting a knee cap and lost the joint water on his knee. It was set, but healed out of place. It was re-broken and re-set, but this was unsuccessful, leaving him a life long cripple. It is not known how much schooling he had but he did have some and later became an apprentice in a shoe shop and became an expert in making fine boots and shoes.

1851 England Census-- William Bone

William met Ellen Carter and on the 13^th of August, 1854, they were married. 

Marriage record-- William Bone and Helon [Ellen] Carter. 13th August 1855.

Marriage Index- William Bone (look for star on left side)

In October 1854 they accepted the teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and were baptized.  They saved enough to take them to America and with their baby daughter Mary Ellen; they sailed from Liverpool, England March 28, 1857. They arrived in Castle Gardens in New York State where they remained for about four years, where a daughter, Rhoda Jane and a son William James, were born.

Ellen’s mother, Mary Ann Stockdale Carter Martin and her son, James Martin and Ellen’s two sisters, Mary Ann and Jane had preceded them to New York. Ellen’s two sisters had gone on to Utah. In 1861, William and Ellen with her mother and brother, James, left New York to continue their journey to Utah. By this time the railroad had been extended to Florence, Nebraska. They traveled by rail that far, then purchased oxen, a wagon and a hand cart and left for Utah in a company of Saints let by Milo Andrus. William, being crippled, was not able to wade the streams and rivers on the way so he was allowed to hold onto the back of the wagon, letting the oxen pull him through the streams. Mary and Rhoda alternated between walking and riding, William or Bill as he was known, had a bed in the back of the wagon as he was only eighteen months old. Ellen, Mary Ann and James pulled the hand cart loaded with eighty pounds of provisions into Salt Lake City, reaching there September 12, 1861. They immediately went to Kaysville, Utah where Ellen’s two sisters were living.

William and Ellen’s first home was a log cabin with a roof made of boughs with sod over them and a dirt floor, but they stayed there just a short time until they found a better place.

In 1865 William purchased some property on what is now Main Street and First North from Jesse Dredge and built a four room brick home with one large attic room. The wall built as a protection from the Indians ran along the front of their home.

A fireplace was built in one end of the large living room, providing both heat and light, and Ellen did her baking there, a Dutch oven being placed on the coals and embers heaped over the top and around the sides. In the evening a saucer with grease and a small piece of cloth to form a wick was lighted. This William placed between him and a book or paper and read to the family when candles were not available.

He was very meticulous in his work and around their home. Board walks ran between all buildings. Flower beds and door yards were edged with two by fours or bricks with their points up above the ground.

He also built a small shop on the south east corner of the property where he went into business as a shoemaker with a Mr. Brewer, who was a harness maker. He cured the hides and tanned the leather, gathering sumac from the foothills and oak brush from which he made wooden pegs to fasten the soles to the shoes as there were no shoe nails at that time. Rhoda loved to go with him and after he had split the oak into thin strips, she cut the small pegs. William cut out the shoes and boots while his wife Ellen sewed them. Men came from most of Davis County to have him make their boots. He would measure their feet and when they came back to get their boots or shoes, they would put the new ones on and leave the old, the fit was perfect.

Over the years they also acquired a farm in East Kaysville, although he was unable to run the farm himself he was the overseer, and they also bought some land west and north of Farmington.

They homesteaded one hundred sixty acres of land on Gentile Street in Layton, Utah. He left this homestead to Francis and William Bone.   

William became postmaster in 1869, but Ellen did the work. John R. Barnes’ father would go to Grandison Raymond on the Mountain Road to get the mail from the stage coaches. (This was before the railroads came through the area). He would bring the mail to William’s home where Ellen would sort and distribute it to the people. Later, when the railroad came through William went after the mail himself. He was the Postmaster from 1869 until 1875 and was on duty when the news of the assassination of President Lincoln was brought in.

William was of medium height had blue eyes and brown hair and fair completion and a very happy and cheerful disposition. He whistled and sang while he worked and always had time to talk and laugh with his grandchildren and all who came his way.

He and Ellen were re-baptized in October of 1861, and endowed on the 24^th of March, 1865 in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, being sealed at the same time.

William Bone died of a heart attack on the 11^th of March, 1900 at Kaysville, Utah. The night he died, he and Ellen had walked to the corner store and upon returning had spent an enjoyable evening talking and singing. He told his wife he was extra tired and went to bed first. Ellen heard a queer breathing, went into his room, lighting a lamp, saw him breathe his last breath.

A clipping taken from the Deseret Evening News at the time of his death dated March 12, 1900 reads as follows: “Utah Pioneer Dead, William H. Bone, one of Kaysville’s first Settlers, Special Correspondence. Kaysville, March 12 --- William H. Bone, one of Kaysville’s early settlers died suddenly last night at 9:40 of heart failure. He was in his usual good health and spirits yesterday, and in accordance with his usual custom, he took an evening walk of half an hour or more after dark, returning to the house less than an hour before his death. After reading for some time he bade his wife an affectionate good night and retired. In less than a minute he was dead. There was no struggle. He apparently passed into peaceful repose, the only sign of the end being his labored breathing.

Mr. Bone was a man of sterling qualities, honest and upright in every walk of life. He was a native of Exeter, England, where he was born September 1828-1829. He was married in 1854 and with his wife came to America two years later, stopping in New York four years, and then coming to Utah. Since 1861 they have resided in Kaysville. Mrs. Bone and ten children survive him, six daughters, Mary Ellen Barnett, Rhoda Jane Bone Blamires of Kaysville, Emma Egbert of Franklin, Idaho, Clara, Florence, and Anna of Salt Lake City and four sons, William James and Francis of Layton, Utah, Thomas Henry and Richard Edwin of Kaysville. The deceased had a wide acquaintance in Utah and was universally respected. Funeral services will be held in the Kaysville Meeting House on Wednesday. Burial will be in the Kaysville City Cemetery.”