William and Mary Childs

William David Childs was born in Salt Lake City on April 22, 1853. His parents were William and Mary Howard Childs. Both of his parents crossed the plains with the pioneers. William Childs lived in Nauvoo and knew the prophet Joseph Smith. William's first wife and two children died in Nauvoo. Mary Howard's husband died while crossing the plains in 1852. She came on to Utah with her two little girls Mary and Lavine. Later she met and married William Childs in Salt Lake City. Mary and William had five sons, of which William David was the oldest. Moroni, Parley, Lorenzo, and Edward were his brothers.

The family was called to settle the Gunnison valley in 1861, and they had to build roads as they went. It took two weeks to make the trip from Springville to Gunnison. The children were scantily clad. The only clothes they owned were the ones they wore, so their mother would spread a quilt on the floor by the fire place and cover the children with another quilt while she washed and mended their clothes. Mary made all the cloth for their clothes and they were patched until they were threadbare. Once Mary made the boys some trousers out of seamless sacks with the stripes on the outside of the leg, and Ed said they were as proud of them as boys are of their finest broadcloth suits. In the early 1860s the Childs family was called to help settle Salina. In 1865 the Indians went on the warpath, and hostilities with the Indians continued until 1870. It was known as the Black Hawk war. The whole family had many experiences with trying to stay safe from the Indians. After living in Salina for some time the Indians became so hostile that they had to move back to Gunnison and build a fort for protection. The fort inclosed four city blocks. The houses were the walls of the fort. There was always a lot of work to be done because everything was made themselves, and by hand. However, they were happy and had fun together.

When the Childs family moved out of the fort they built a cellar and two room house. William died here on August 19, 1879. Mary died at the home of Lovina on February 5, 1897.

In November 1876, Will married Mary Ann Knighton. He took up a homestead two miles south of Gunnison, which is now called Centerfield. They had 11 children.