James Grey Willie is one of the most well-remembered leaders of the Latter-day Saint handcart pioneers

Mormon handcart pioneers

The Mormon handcart pioneers were participants in the migration of members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Salt Lake City, Utah, who used handcarts to transport their belongings...

.

Willie was born in Murrell Green, Hampshire

Hampshire

Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. He emigrated to the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 in 1836 and joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in 1842.

Willie first came to Utah Territory

Utah Territory

The Territory of Utah was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from September 9, 1850, until January 4, 1896, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Utah....

 in 1847 in Jedediah M. Grant

Jedediah M. Grant

Jedediah Morgan Grant was a leader and an apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was member of the First Council of the Seventy from 1845 to 1854. He also served in the First Presidency under Church President Brigham Young from 1854 to 1856...

's Mormon pioneer

Mormon Pioneer

The Mormon pioneers were members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also known as Latter-day Saints, who migrated across the United States from the Midwest to the Salt Lake Valley in what is today the U.S. state of Utah...

 company. In 1852, Willie returned to England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 as a missionary

Mormon missionary

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the most active modern practitioners of missionary work, with over 52,000 full-time missionaries worldwide, as of the end of 2010...

 for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It was at the end of his time as a missionary that he became a leader in the movement of Latter-day Saints to Utah Territory.

Willie led the fourth handcart company which was one of the two that was stuck in present-day Wyoming

Wyoming

Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...

 in the late autumn of 1856 and had many members die. He had previously been the presiding elder over the Latter-day Saints on the Thornton on its journey from Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

 to Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

. Many of the people on this journey became part of his handcart company.

Later, Willie was one of the early settlers of Mendon

Mendon, Utah

Mendon is a city in Cache County, Utah, United States. The population was 1,282 at the 2010 census. It is included in the Logan, Utah-Idaho Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Mendon is located at ....

, Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

. He served at times as mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

 and postmaster of the town. In 1863, Willie founded the first Sunday School

Sunday School (LDS Church)

Sunday School is an official auxiliary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . All members of the church and any interested nonmembers, age 12 and older, are encouraged to participate in Sunday School.-Purpose:...

 in Mendon. He also served as a counselor in the bishopric and ran a co-operative store.