William Heap Oldham

Son of a cotton weaver, oldest of 10 children, he came to America with his family on the William Tapscott in 1858 or 1859 and was a laborer in Temperanceville, Allegheny County, PA. On 24 June 1861 he mustered into service as Private, Company E, 8th Pennsylvania Reserves.

He was killed in action at Turner's Gap on South Mountain, MD, on 14 September 1862.

His service from Bates,1 as W.H. Oldham, and Sypher.2 Details from family genealogists, source also of his picture, from a photograph contributed by Connie Larson Anderson. His memorial is on Findagrave.

He married Annis Lees (later Hope, 1831-1915) in 1858 in Lancashire, and they had two or three daughters together. He and his parents, John (1813-1874) and Maria Heap Oldham (1816-1886), had been members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since at least 1847. John and Maria emigrated to Utah in 1864 and they both died there.

See more about the ship William Tapscott and emigrating Mormons in a piece from the Laron and Ruth Blacker Waite Family genealogy. An 1853 painting of the ship is online from the Mariners' Museum and Park in Newport News, VA.

06/05/1836; Haslingden, Lancashire, ENGLAND

09/14/1862; Turner's Gap, MD