William was the youngest boy, and fourth child of at least five children fathered by James and Fanny Gollaher.

James and Fanny Gollaher moved to Kentucky sometime about 1810, and various records show them living in a variety of counties.  This is entirely possible, since Kentucky was on the very edge of the frontier during these times.  The 1810 Kentucky Census lists a James GOLLEHER living in Livingston County, along with a Joseph, Richard, Thomas Jr. and Thomas Sr. Golleher.  Thomas Sr. would have been James' older brother, and the others were likely his children.  In 1814, Joseph and Thomas GOLLAHER show up in Hardin County records.  Thomas built a cabin near Knob Creek in Hardin County (now LaRue) near the Thomas Lincoln cabin.  Thomas was also the father of Benjamin Austin Gollaher, boyhood friend of Abraham Lincoln, and the Gollaher cabin was used to reconstruct the Lincoln cabin as an historical monument years later. By this time, his brother James had passed away.

James died in 1812 from unknown causes when William was just about six years old. Livingston County marriage records record that Fanny GOLEHER soon after married a James DYKES.  It appears that the family moved to the new Illinois Territory shortly thereafter, as Fanny gave birth to George Parker DYKES in West Belleville, St. Clair County, IL on Dec. 24, 1814. (records in possession of Carla B. Call and Susan Easton Black, Early LDS Membership Record, p 893 ff.)

By about the age of 22 William had moved to the vicinity of Dewitt, Clinton County, Illinois, where he married Elizabeth ORTON on Oct. 5 1828.  The Illinois marriage archives record his name as GALLIHER.  Their first child, Mary Ann, was born there the following year. 

The 1830 Illinois Census shows William and his brother James GOLLIHER as living in Clinton County.  William's household consisted of one 20-30 year old male and one 20-30 year old female, which must have been William and Elizabeth.  Also listed were a child (his daughter Mary Ann), and another 15-20 year old male.  Since William was the youngest boy in his family, this could not be a younger brother.  This may have been his half brother, George Parker Dykes, who would have been 16 years old at the time, but this leaves his mother and father unaccounted for.
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It is not clear where William's oldest sister is at this time, but a William LEVINS is recorded as owning property in Knox County, Illinois is 1818.  Other records indicate that a William Jarvis LEVENS who married Margaret Ann GOLLIGHER of Livingston, Kentucky had three children born between 1830 and 1835 in West Sugar Creek, Clinton County, three others born between 1838 and 1843 in far West, Caldwell County, Missouri, and yet another born in 1848 in Pottawattamie, Linn County, Missouri.  Considering that one child, Mary Ann Levins, is buried in Grantsville, Tooele County, Utah, it seems a safe bet that Margaret Ann Golligher is actually William's oldest sister, Mary Ann Gollaher, and that her family also lived in Clinton County during this period.

William's remaining brother, David, is not listed in the 1830 Illinois Census, but a David GALLAHER is listed 1840 census of Clinton County, along with the James Orton, Turner Outhouse and Skelton families.  He and his wife are listed as being between 30 and 40 years old, with a male child under the age of five.  Since David would have been 35 years old in 1840, and since Gallaher, Galliher, Galloher, Gollaher, Golleher and Gollaher are all known spellings of the surname, I assume this is indeed William's older brother. 

In 1832 William purchased 40 acres of land there in a federal land sale for $1.25 an acre.   Another land record shows him purchasing 40 acres in 1834.  According to the history of Clinton County, virtually all settlers during this time were listed as "farmers," but it is still probable that William could have begun practicing the blacksmithing trade his step father, James Dykes, had taught him.  At any rate, 40 acres (possibly even 80) was a lot of land to farm with a wife and baby daughter, so it is very likely that one or both of his older brothers assisted in the effort, along with his step father and half brother, George Parker Dykes.  in later years William would also become skilled as a wheelwright, carpenter and gunsmith, as well as an accomplished musician.

Most members of the Gollaher and  Orton family appear to have joined the upstart Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints shortly after it was founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. in 1830.  Smith claimed to have received  additional ancient scriptures in addition to the Bible through divine revelation which he called the Book of Mormon.  Hence, members of the new church soon became known as "Mormons," and were not generally well received by most communities in the region.

In the 1831, Smith claimed a vision which revealed Independence, Jackson County, Missouri to be the "center place of Zion," the area where the pure in heart were to be gathered in the last days prior to the second coming of Christ.  Church officials encouraged the "saints" to settle there, and by 1833 about twelve hundred Latter-day Saints had heeded the call.  Alarmed by such a sudden influx of Mormons, local vigilantes soon formed, moved by fears of the economic and political consequences of the growing Mormon presence.  By November of that year, violent mobs had driven the Mormons north into neighboring counties.

Fearing more civil disturbances, the Missouri legislature moved in 1836 to organize Caldwell County as a place for Mormon settlement, where it was understood that Mormons would concentrate themselves.  In the summer of 1836, church leaders chose the site of Far West, which quickly became the most important Mormon settlement in the area. Within two years, about five thousand Mormons were living in the vicinity of Far West, which promised to soon establish itself as a major center for business and commerce.
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In March of 1838 Joseph Smith arrived in the city, officially moving the church's headquarters there.  Additional Mormon settlements sprang up in nearby Davies County as well, further straining relationships with many non-Mormons in the area.  Some felt overwhelmed by the growing political influence of the Church, others spiteful of the economic success of the industrious Mormons.  By August 1838, the first serious clash came at Gallatin, Daviess County, when non-Mormons violently suppressed Mormons from voting in a local election.  The impact was far-reaching for both sides.  On 7 August the local Mormon militia from Far West rode north to protect fellow Church members. Reports of this Mormon "invasion" quickly moved through the adjacent counties, providing further justification for anti-Mormon feelings and actions.

On October 27, 1838,  Missouri's governor Lilburn W. Boggs issued his infamous Order of Extermination.  "The Mormons," he wrote, "must be treated as enemies and must be exterminated or driven from the state, if necessary for the public good."

Three days later, Missouri militia and vigilante mobs descended on Haun's Mill, a Mormon outpost east of Far West.  There, despite a white flag of truce, they savagely gunned down eighteen men, women and children and wounded another fifteen.  The following day, Missouri troops under the leadership of General Samuel D. Lucas marched on Far West itself, plundering the town, raping women and whipping men, some who later died of their injuries.  Joseph Smith asked his followers at Far West and nearby Adam-ondi-Ahman to surrender, which they did. That same day, without Smith even being present, Lucas promptly court-martialed him and six other Church leaders and sentenced them to death.   Only by  surrendering Smith and other key were church leaders able to prevent more blood shed.  General Alexander Doniphan was ordered to carry out the execution, but defied the orders on the basis that it was "cold-blooded murder."

There is no record of the role William had in any of these trials, as he left no personal records.  We only know he lived in Far West during this time, and had to have been a witness to most of the deprivations suffered at the hands of the Missouri mob. 

Mormons soon began leaving the state altogether, headed for the vicinity of Adams County, Illinois.  Many, however, were too destitute to travel without assistance.  In January of 1839, Brigham Young chaired a committee which resolved "that we this day enter into a covenant to stand by and assist each other to the utmost of our abilities in removing from this State, and that we will never desert the poor who are worthy, till they shall be out of the reach of the exterminating order of General Clark, acting for and in the name of the State."  William's father, James, was one of the signers of the covenant. [ James is recorded as Golliher or Gallaher in separate accounts of the meeting ]
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