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| Page from records of Bedford Conference of LDS Church |
On 17 June 1851, William Altrop was ordained an elder. The ordination was done by J Spiers. John Spiers was the Bedford Conference President and he kept a journal. In that journal, he writes about going to Great Staughton and doing the ordination. He made William the presiding elder over the Great Staughton Branch.
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| Page from J. Spiers journal |
At least as late as the end of 1869, it appears that William still was in charge of the Saints in the area, as recorded in this letter reproduced in the Millennial Star:
"A Stroll Through The Bedfordshire Conference
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"From Northamptonshire, we will call on a number of Saints till we arrive at Great Staughton where Brother Wm. Altrop has a general superintendence over the Saints at Great Staughton, Eaton, Socon [sic], Gravely, &c. Here the Saints are very much scattered, but doing very well."
Now we have closed a gap in time to less than three years from when William appears to be active in the LDS Church and his baptism in the RLDS church in June of 1872 (according to RLDS church records). Perhaps he was a wanderer, a questioner. He first left the social safety of the Anglican church to become LDS, then seems to have drifted the RLDS, about two years after his son, thousands of miles away in Iowa, did.
Meanwhile, contrary to the popular opinion stated in several family group sheets, William's wife, Ann Barrs Altrop, did not die in Provo Utah. A cousin spotted an entry for the death of "Annie" Altrop in England, and I have obtained the death register certificate showing "Annie", widow of William Altrop, died in the Nazareth House, Southend-On-Sea, Essex, England.
Isn't this fun?
