William Moroni Gibson

William Moroni Gibson (April 13, 1847 – July 18, 1917) was an early Mormon pioneer. Like many early Latter Day Saints, Gibson practiced plural marriage.

Early life

Gibson was born to Richard Roberts and Elizabeth Gibson in Ruskington, Lincolnshire, England. Gibson's parents were wealthy and funded the intercontinental voyage of William, his sister Sarah Elizabeth and his maternal aunt Mary Ann Perkes to America. Along with 707 other Mormon converts, Gibson and his relatives left on April 18, 1856, on the ship Samuel Curling.

Church involvement

Just before traveling to America, Gibson was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) on April 15, 1856, by Joseph Burrows, and was confirmed on April 18, 1856, by Burrows.

In America, at age 15, Gibson and his aunt traveled with the Mormon pioneers' Henry W. Miller company from Florence (now Omaha), Nebraska to Salt Lake City, Utah Territory. The company included 665 individuals and 60 wagons and ranged from August 5–8, 1862, to October 17–18, 1862.

After settling in Hyde Park, Gibson met and married Phebe Elizabeth Woolf in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City. Gibson and Woolf were married on March 8, 1869. Adhering to the tenets of early Mormonism, Gibson took a second wife to fulfill the belief of plural marriage. Gibson married Harriet Woolf, sister of his first wife, on November 23, 1874.

Gibson is listed as an early pioneer a website for the LDS Church and is referred to in Brigham Young University archive documents.

Family

Both of Gibson's wives were great-aunts to Canadian politicians John William Woolf and Martin Woolf.

Between the two sisters, Gibson had 14 children. Phoebe bore five children and her sister Harriet had nine.

Life in America

After marring the Woolf sisters, Gibson moved his family to Maple Creek by the Franklin Basin in Idaho. The Gibson family maintained two residences in Maple Creek and also kept their home in Hyde Park. Using a mill borrowed from church president Brigham Young, Gibson built a sawmill and started a successful sawmill business.