“William McKee Fausett was born 6 January 1807, at West Gallatin, Sumner County, Tennessee, to Richard and Mary McKee Fausett, the seventh of fourteen children. His parents had migrated from Orange County, North Carolina, between 1802 and 1804. He had two brothers and two sisters born in North Carolina: Alexander, born about 1793, David, born about 1795 (23 March 1800), Eleanor, born about 1795 (1797) and Sarah Maria (Mariah), born about 1800 (1795).”
The Fausett family moved from North Carolina and settled in Sumner County, Tennessee and their fifth child, Nancy Brown, was born in 1802 in Gallatin, “followed two years later by John McKee, 22 December 1804, and William McKee, 6 January 1807.” The Fausetts “became part of the great westward movement of colonizers and settlers along the frontier trails. It was in Maury County that Eliza McKee was born 5 July 1808, Amanda Armstrong, 6 May 1810, Mary in 1812, Rebecca Stone, 11 June 1813, Martha Spencer in 1816 (17 January 1815), Harriet Berryhill about 1817, and Catherine about 1819. Mother Mary died here in 1830 after a life of service to her husband and family.”
William McKee Fausett married a young lovely nineteen year old woman named Matilda Caroline Butcher, the daughter of Isaac and Narcissus Rebecca Rentfro Butcher. Matilda’s father was a minister and performed this marriage ceremony. After their marriage they moved to Macoupin County, Illinois, where some Mormon missionaries came to visit them. The Fausetts believed what they were taught and were baptized in September of 1834.
With their little family of five children, William and Matilda decided to move to Caldwell County, Missouri and join the “Saints” living there. They purchased some farm land and set up making their home there, but by March 1838 events with the mobs had gotten so bad that the Prophet Joseph Smith and others were taken and confined for long periods in Liberty Jail. The governor gave an extermination order making for the speedy removal of all the L.D.S. people back across the Mississippi into Illinois.
The Fausetts sold their farm and gave the funds to the Prophet with the hopes that somehow this would help him and others get their freedom from their enemies. They were befriended by the friendly people of Quincy until they were able to move to Nauvoo and establish their home there. They purchased property in Nauvoo which consisted of one acre and lived there for about four years. They helped to build the beautiful Nauvoo Temple and in 1845 William and Matilda were able to go through the temple and were sealed together.
They were driven out of Nauvoo with the Saints because of the actions and oppositions of the general population and the mobs around them. At Winter Quarters, William was called to serve as a Bishop. He served in this capacity for 4 years, from 1847 through 1851. He was able to assist many incoming Saints to get ready to make their journey across the plains to the Salt Lake Valley. In 1851 “the William McKee Fausett family was assigned to the company of Alexander R. Stephens. They left Kanesville, Iowa, 29 June 1851, and arrived in the Salt Lake Valley 23 September, after three months of hard travel.”
After arriving in Salt Lake City, they were sent to settle Provo, Utah, where William was again called as Bishop of the Provo Fourth Ward. He served in this position for 15 years.
“On 27 July 1856 William McKee Fausett entered into polygamy with his marriage to his second wife, Ruth Bailey Logan Cloward, the widow of Daniel Cloward…. “In the year 1865 he married his third wife, Elizabeth Trachsler Boshard, the widow of Caspar Boshard.”…. “At the age of 86, he married 13 September 1893, another widow, Matilda Hardy, from England.”
He died at the age of 89 years on 6 Sept 1896 and is buried in Provo, Utah in the Provo City Cemetery.

Quoted parts are from William McKee Fausett’s history by Mildred Fausett Ellis (Mrs. Elvin D. Ellis) and also notes by Arlene Bean Meservy. Short sketch of William McKee Fausett compiled by Saundra Cox, January, 2015.