Ancestor of the Week: William Eddington

I "Googled" my 3rd Great Grandfather's name this weekend and found a great picture of him!

This is William Eddington. He was born in 1821 in England.

Thanks to the Perpetual Emigration Fund he was able to come from England to Utah. The very ship he sailed on, the "Ellen Maria", and the departure, (January 1853), was painted by Ken Baxter. I have included the painting here. His future wife Louise Sarah Barton also sailed on this ship thanks to the PEF.

Hannah Cornaby, who also sailed on the Ellen Maria wrote the following poem about the departure day. This poem I am sure describes the feelings of William Eddington & Louise Barton as well:

In January, Fifty-three, we left our English home,
Determined for the Gospel’s sake, to Zion’s land to come.
Our family was very small, its members numbered three,
Yet strong in faith of Israel’s God, and full of hope were we.
’Twas not to us an easy task to bid old friends adieu,
To take a long farewell of those who always had been true,
To leave for aye, the cozy home we made but just before,
And take a last fond look of things we should behold no more;
The wind blew keen, as out we went into the cold gray dawn,
But keener far the chill we felt within our hearts that morn.
The stars were shining over us, but brighter in our breast
Was the star of hope that lured us on to the distant West.

Hannah L. Cornaby, “Crossing the Atlantic Ocean: A Reminiscence,”
Autobiography and Poems (Salt Lake City: J. C. Graham & Co., 1881), 65.

William crossed the plains at age 31 in the company of Joseph W. Young. Lousie Sarah Barton was also in the company. They were married a year later.

He was elected the first mayor of Morgan City in 1868.

That's all I know for now...

How we are related:

William Eddington had a daughter named Lousie Jane Eddington who married Edward Callister. Louise & Edward are the parents of Irene Callister who married Raymond Verne McCullough. They are the parents of Beth McCullough who married Jay Harold Henderson.