Born in Williamsburg, Dundas, Ontario, Canada

Son of Francis Beckstead and Catharine Lang

Served as a Private in the Mormon Battalion, Company C. Two nephews served in Company A, Gordon Silas Beckstead and Orin Mortimer Beckstead.

Married Mary Winn, 7 January 1849, Davis District, Pottawattamie, Iowa

Children - Mary Melissa Beckstead, William Beckstead, Mitchell Beckstead, Serria Beckstead, Nancy Agnacia Beckstead, Margarita Beckstead, Matilda A. Beckstead, Martha Jane Beckstead

Mary should not be confused with her sister, Jane Winn. Jane married Arthur McArthur Foster and moved to Oklahoma where she died 12 December 1911 in El Reno, Oklahoma. Jane Winn was NEVER been married to William Ezra Beckstead.

Married Dolores Garcia formerly Nunes, 1 Apr 1873, San Bernardino, San Bernardino, California

Children - Joseph Amelio Beckstead, Samuel Beckstead, Sarah Beckstead, Lucinda Beckstead, Victoria Beckstead, Louisa Thoma Beckstead

History - William Ezra Beckstead enlisted in the Mormon Battalion, as a private, in the "General Rendezvous", 16 July 1846, in Council Bluffs, Iowa. He was in Company C, under Capt. James Brown. He was mustered out with the Company on 16 July 1847, in Los Angeles, California." (Source: Iowa Adj. General's Office, Roster of Iowa Soldiers, Vol. 6:854.1911)

The "Historical Record," Vol. 9, by Andrew Jensen, includes information that on 29 July 1847, President Brigham Young, and others of the Church officials, went out of the City to meet the Battalion detachment under Captain James Brown, which included 140 members of the Battalion - 17 August 1847 - "Most of the wagons going to Winter Quarters with ox teams started during the day and traveled to the mouth of Emigration Canyon - waited for the remainder of the company" - 17 September 1847 - "This morning, Thomas Brown, Ezra Beckstead, Maddison Welsh, Benjamin Roberts, David M. Perkins and William Bird, started to go through to Winter Quarters consequence of having no bread." It is obvious from the foregoing that William Ezra was returning to Council Bluffs, Iowa, to meet his loved ones.

William Ezra was one of the early settlers in the Colton-San Bernardino, California area, where he died on 17 May 1909.

Battalion History. William E Beckstead was born on 13 March 1827 (alternate birth year on various documents) in Williamsburg Canada. In the spring of 1837, his family joined the Church and about 30 family members made their way to Missouri where they experienced the persecutions, eventually moving to Nauvoo where William's father died in 1841.

Fleeing Nauvoo and gathering at Council Bluffs, William joined the Mormon Battalion with two nephews, Orin and Gordon, sons of his half brothers Francis Jr and Alexander. At age 19, he left his mother with a number of his siblings. At Fort Leavenworth, he sent $20 from his clothing allowance to his mother at the Macedonia Branch in Council Bluffs. Assigned to Company C, he was sent to Pueblo from Santa Fe with the Brown detachment. His nephews continued to California with Company A.

He arrived in the Great Basin with the detachments on July 29, 1847 and traveled a few weeks later with a small group of men returning to Iowa. A historical record compiled by church historian Andrew Jensen states on September 17, 1847 "This morning, Thomas Brown, Ezra Beckstead, Maddison Welsh, Benjamin Roberts, David M Perkins and William Bird, started to go through to Winter Quarters consequence of having no bread."

He married in Council Bluffs in 1849, fathering three children before the family traveled to Utah in 1850 in the Henry Bryant Manning Jolley Company. Four additional children were added to the family who settled in Springville where three of them were born. His pension states he "traveled to San Bernardino in 1859" where the last child was born in 1860. When his wife died in 1864, he remarried and fathered four more children and was a step father to his wife's children from a previous marriage.

In 1897, he wrote a letter requesting a form for the Pioneer Jubilee celebration for those who entered the valley in 1847. He submitted the form which had the following at the bottom. "I cannot write and have to get someone else." It is uncertain why he couldn't write because it appears he does write other letters and military communication such as his pension.

He and his family remained in San Bernardino, occupation noted as a farmer, until his death on 17 May 1909.

Mormon Battalion, Company C