Son of Thomas and Phoebe (Hawley) Brothers. William learned from his father how to make bricks. He married first at West Bromwich, Staffordshire, England, on 8 Jun 1840 Caroline King, whose father also was a brickmaker. She died in Stourbridge, Worcestershire, the following year, giving birth to a son, William. He lived only a few months, dying on 30 Oct 1841 in West Bromwich.

William was baptized in the Church of England, but was converted to the LDS Church shortly after losing his wife and son. In 1842 he sailed on a ship of LDS immigrants to New Orleans.

The name of the ship that brought William to this country is not known, but circumstances point to it having been the "Henry", Capt. Pierce the master. It sailed from Liverpool, England, on 29 Sep 1842 and arrived at New Orleans at midnight on November 19th.

William worked at New Orleans for a couple of years and then went up the Mississippi to the Church headquarters at Nauvoo, Illinois. There, on April 10, 1844, he was appointed an elder.

Two months later the Church's founder, Joseph Smith, was killed, and after a struggle among the leadership, a group of members, including William Brothers, decided to follow former church official Sidney Rigdon and set up a new organization at West Elizabeth, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

William found work in the coal mines at nearby Coal Bluff in Washington County. Here he met Mary Walker, from Scotland, the sister-in-law of a fellow miner. According to William's record, they were married 4 May 1846 at "Plesentvill", Washington County, by William Bickerton. A recent convert of Rigdon's, Bickerton later formed Rigdon's group into another branch of Mormons called The Church of Jesus Christ, or "Bickertonites".

Rigdon's organization disbanded around 1848 as his health failed and he moved to New York. At this time William decided to take his wife and their son Will to England. They stayed for a year or two, returning via New Orleans by April of 1851.

After some years at Boonville MO and Davenport IA, the family settled at Newton, Iowa, around 1857. There they had a brickyard and coal bank until 1876, when William moved his family of 13 to New Zealand. The only one of his children who chose to stay behind in Iowa was Charles. After six months there they were back in the States, at Santa Rosa, California. In the Spring of 1882 they came to La Center, in what was then Washington Territory. They settled east of town, on the place that had formerly belonged to John Bartlett, across from Magilbra Anderson. Close neighbors at La Center were Elmore and Fanny Briggs, from Newton, Iowa. Elmore had served in the Civil War in Co K, 28th Iowa Infantry, the same outfit as William and Mary's son, William Walker Brothers.

William and Mary Brothers were the parents of 14 children, eight of whom lived to adulthood.

William had an uncle Uriah Brothers who settled in Canada. One of Uriah's descendants was Stanley Leland Weed. In the late 1930's and early '40's Stanley starred in a few films as a singing cowboy under the name Bob Baker (Findagrave memorial #6296548).
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