Seven year old William Burton with his parents and 3 siblings boarded a ship in Liverpool, England embarking on a voyage to Quebec, British America on the morning of May 4, 1817. Later, all William could remember about the voyage was that it took 60 days before they arrived in Quebec. The Burtons moved on to Ontario County, New York where they were welcomed by William's Uncle William Shipley and Aunt Elizabeth Waters Shipley and made theiir first home near Pultneyville. Later they would move on to the unbroken wilderness of Mersea township, Canada and then on to Port Lawrence (Toledo) across Lake Ontario. They made a few other moves before moving back to Mersea.

William married a woman five years younger than himself, Elizabeth Oats Lawrence, widow of Prosper Lawrence and daughter of William and Elizabeth Jefferson Oats on July 28, 1834.

William wrote: "In the fall of 1837 I heard the first Latter Day Saint Elder preach the 'Everlasting Gospel' which was strangely new and different from my mind altogether. I was lead to embrace the Gospel of Jesus Christ with all my heart".

William's papers show that his in-laws, William and Elizabeth Oats, were the first LDS converts in Mersea on November 29, 1837. Samuel and Hannah Burton were baptized on December 4 and William and Elizabeth on December 23. Other family members were later baptized.

In October of 1838 William led a party of horse drawn Wagons to to Far West, Missouri, "The general gathering place of the Saints. They Ended up in Walnut Grove, fifteen miles from Nauvoo where William was engaged in preaching and missionary work for the church.

When the Saints left Nauvoo for Missouri in 1846 William was on a mission in Michigan and when he returned to Walnut Grove his wife's poor health and other problems preventing him from following. He was part of a guard that protected the remaining Mormons from the angry mob that harassed them.

On September 18 the Mormons were given 1-2 hours to leave, or at most a day. William and "Betsy" went down the river and found shelter with Hiram Kimball in Montrose, Iowa. Betsy, who was already frail, nearly died and took more than 9 months to recover.

William and Betsy were not reunited with the Burton family until the winter of 1847-48 in Council Bluffs and in the summer of 1848 made the pioneer trek to Salt Lake City.

William left for a mission to Scotland in 1850. William died in Edinburgh, Scotland when he became seriously ill. He was buried there but a year later his Brother, Robert Taylor Burton had his body buried in the Salt Lake Cemetery. Remarkably, Betsy, who had nearly died of illness many times before lived to be ninety one years old before her death in Salt Lake City May 2, 1895.