William and his wife had 13 children. Three of her children did not live to adulthood. They, along with 7 of their children emigrated to the United States in 1862. The family left Liverpool, England on May 14, 1862 on the ship William Tapscott. (See Heart Throbs, Vol. 12, a DUP publication). With the parents came Thomas, Amelia, Ephraim, Joseph, Jane, Alma and Emma.
They crossed the plains with an ox train company, with Captain Horton D. Haight and arrived in the Great Salt Lake Valley October 19, 1862. Elizabeth and William and the children were sent to Brigham City, Box Elder County, to help settle that new area. Their life was a pioneer experience, building homes of logs from the nearby mountains. Quite a different experience than urban living in England.
William Thorpe obtained work taking care of the charcoal pits in the canyons east of Brigham City near Mantua on the road leading to Paradise Valley. He was with two other men burning cedar to make charcoal, which he sold to the local blacksmith. He was doing this work in a thickly wooded canyon east of Mantua, on the road leading to Paradise Valley. When noon came, the other men left to go get some lunch, leaving William alone. They didn't want him to stay by himself, but he assured them that he would be alright as there had been no trouble with the Indians for a long time. They had not gone very far when they heard the Indians coming and hurried back, but it was too late. Two Indians had ridden out of the brush and began shooting arrows at him. Since the arrows missed their mark, the Indians hit him over the head with leather whips, until he fell to the ground, where upon they sprang from their horses, and stabbed him in the throat with a dirk. (dagger). He had been stripped of clothing and was lying on the blood-soaked ground when he was discovered by his companions. David Reese of Brigham City, furnished this information. He helped to remove the body from the wagon, which brought it to Brigham City.
The following is the Deseret News Account of the death of William Thorpe:
"As soon as the news reached this place, a company was dispatched to ascertain the conditions of affairs more fully. On arriving in the valley, they ascertained that a man by the name of William Thorpe, who was engaged in burning coal, was missing. The company searched for the lost man but could not find nothing of him until the next morning after daylight. They found his naked body about a half mile from the coal pit severally perforated with arrows. The skull was split in two places by blows inflicted with a tomahawk, battle ax or spear. Also there was a deep cut with a butcher knife on the throat ranging downwards. On Sunday at 1 pm his remains were conveyed to and deposited in Brigham City Cemetery, followed by a large concourse of people who with due solemnity paid their last respects to a worthy man who had ruthlessly been killed, leaving a widow and ten children to mourn his premature and untimely death."
William Thorpe died 8 May 1863, just seven months after arriving in Zion.
They crossed the plains with an ox train company, with Captain Horton D. Haight and arrived in the Great Salt Lake Valley October 19, 1862. Elizabeth and William and the children were sent to Brigham City, Box Elder County, to help settle that new area. Their life was a pioneer experience, building homes of logs from the nearby mountains. Quite a different experience than urban living in England.
William Thorpe obtained work taking care of the charcoal pits in the canyons east of Brigham City near Mantua on the road leading to Paradise Valley. He was with two other men burning cedar to make charcoal, which he sold to the local blacksmith. He was doing this work in a thickly wooded canyon east of Mantua, on the road leading to Paradise Valley. When noon came, the other men left to go get some lunch, leaving William alone. They didn't want him to stay by himself, but he assured them that he would be alright as there had been no trouble with the Indians for a long time. They had not gone very far when they heard the Indians coming and hurried back, but it was too late. Two Indians had ridden out of the brush and began shooting arrows at him. Since the arrows missed their mark, the Indians hit him over the head with leather whips, until he fell to the ground, where upon they sprang from their horses, and stabbed him in the throat with a dirk. (dagger). He had been stripped of clothing and was lying on the blood-soaked ground when he was discovered by his companions. David Reese of Brigham City, furnished this information. He helped to remove the body from the wagon, which brought it to Brigham City.
The following is the Deseret News Account of the death of William Thorpe:
"As soon as the news reached this place, a company was dispatched to ascertain the conditions of affairs more fully. On arriving in the valley, they ascertained that a man by the name of William Thorpe, who was engaged in burning coal, was missing. The company searched for the lost man but could not find nothing of him until the next morning after daylight. They found his naked body about a half mile from the coal pit severally perforated with arrows. The skull was split in two places by blows inflicted with a tomahawk, battle ax or spear. Also there was a deep cut with a butcher knife on the throat ranging downwards. On Sunday at 1 pm his remains were conveyed to and deposited in Brigham City Cemetery, followed by a large concourse of people who with due solemnity paid their last respects to a worthy man who had ruthlessly been killed, leaving a widow and ten children to mourn his premature and untimely death."
William Thorpe died 8 May 1863, just seven months after arriving in Zion.
William and his wife had 13 children. Three of her children did not live to adulthood. They, along with 7 of their children emigrated to the United States in 1862. The family left Liverpool, England on May 14, 1862 on the ship William Tapscott. (See Heart Throbs, Vol. 12, a DUP publication). With the parents came Thomas, Amelia, Ephraim, Joseph, Jane, Alma and Emma.
They crossed the plains with an ox train company, with Captain Horton D. Haight and arrived in the Great Salt Lake Valley October 19, 1862. Elizabeth and William and the children were sent to Brigham City, Box Elder County, to help settle that new area. Their life was a pioneer experience, building homes of logs from the nearby mountains. Quite a different experience than urban living in England.
William Thorpe obtained work taking care of the charcoal pits in the canyons east of Brigham City near Mantua on the road leading to Paradise Valley. He was with two other men burning cedar to make charcoal, which he sold to the local blacksmith. He was doing this work in a thickly wooded canyon east of Mantua, on the road leading to Paradise Valley. When noon came, the other men left to go get some lunch, leaving William alone. They didn't want him to stay by himself, but he assured them that he would be alright as there had been no trouble with the Indians for a long time. They had not gone very far when they heard the Indians coming and hurried back, but it was too late. Two Indians had ridden out of the brush and began shooting arrows at him. Since the arrows missed their mark, the Indians hit him over the head with leather whips, until he fell to the ground, where upon they sprang from their horses, and stabbed him in the throat with a dirk. (dagger). He had been stripped of clothing and was lying on the blood-soaked ground when he was discovered by his companions. David Reese of Brigham City, furnished this information. He helped to remove the body from the wagon, which brought it to Brigham City.
The following is the Deseret News Account of the death of William Thorpe:
"As soon as the news reached this place, a company was dispatched to ascertain the conditions of affairs more fully. On arriving in the valley, they ascertained that a man by the name of William Thorpe, who was engaged in burning coal, was missing. The company searched for the lost man but could not find nothing of him until the next morning after daylight. They found his naked body about a half mile from the coal pit severally perforated with arrows. The skull was split in two places by blows inflicted with a tomahawk, battle ax or spear. Also there was a deep cut with a butcher knife on the throat ranging downwards. On Sunday at 1 pm his remains were conveyed to and deposited in Brigham City Cemetery, followed by a large concourse of people who with due solemnity paid their last respects to a worthy man who had ruthlessly been killed, leaving a widow and ten children to mourn his premature and untimely death."
William Thorpe died 8 May 1863, just seven months after arriving in Zion.
They crossed the plains with an ox train company, with Captain Horton D. Haight and arrived in the Great Salt Lake Valley October 19, 1862. Elizabeth and William and the children were sent to Brigham City, Box Elder County, to help settle that new area. Their life was a pioneer experience, building homes of logs from the nearby mountains. Quite a different experience than urban living in England.
William Thorpe obtained work taking care of the charcoal pits in the canyons east of Brigham City near Mantua on the road leading to Paradise Valley. He was with two other men burning cedar to make charcoal, which he sold to the local blacksmith. He was doing this work in a thickly wooded canyon east of Mantua, on the road leading to Paradise Valley. When noon came, the other men left to go get some lunch, leaving William alone. They didn't want him to stay by himself, but he assured them that he would be alright as there had been no trouble with the Indians for a long time. They had not gone very far when they heard the Indians coming and hurried back, but it was too late. Two Indians had ridden out of the brush and began shooting arrows at him. Since the arrows missed their mark, the Indians hit him over the head with leather whips, until he fell to the ground, where upon they sprang from their horses, and stabbed him in the throat with a dirk. (dagger). He had been stripped of clothing and was lying on the blood-soaked ground when he was discovered by his companions. David Reese of Brigham City, furnished this information. He helped to remove the body from the wagon, which brought it to Brigham City.
The following is the Deseret News Account of the death of William Thorpe:
"As soon as the news reached this place, a company was dispatched to ascertain the conditions of affairs more fully. On arriving in the valley, they ascertained that a man by the name of William Thorpe, who was engaged in burning coal, was missing. The company searched for the lost man but could not find nothing of him until the next morning after daylight. They found his naked body about a half mile from the coal pit severally perforated with arrows. The skull was split in two places by blows inflicted with a tomahawk, battle ax or spear. Also there was a deep cut with a butcher knife on the throat ranging downwards. On Sunday at 1 pm his remains were conveyed to and deposited in Brigham City Cemetery, followed by a large concourse of people who with due solemnity paid their last respects to a worthy man who had ruthlessly been killed, leaving a widow and ten children to mourn his premature and untimely death."
William Thorpe died 8 May 1863, just seven months after arriving in Zion.
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