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William Mendenhall Steed is a fictional character from The Work and the Glory series. He is the oldest son of Caroline, the step son of Joshua, and the older brother of Olivia, Savannah, Charles, and Livvy.

Biography[]

Truth Will Prevail[]

Will meets Joshua in Savannah Georgia and helps him become a successful businessman. Will helps Joshua save his mother from bankruptcy and moves back with the family to Missouri.

Will is present when the mob attacks the saints driving them out of Jackson County and was there when Joshua returns home to the Steed Household.

Thy Gold Refined[]

Will and Joshua save up their money and get Ben a McCormick reaper for his farm. Later when the Mob attacks Haun's Mill this reaper is destroyed with the rest of the settlement when the saints are driven out.

Will helps his stepfather evacuate the family to Nauvoo but when he thinks Joshua is dead he goes into St. Louis to find the men who did it only to end up getting crimped and having to spend 18 month on a ship in the Atlantic Ocean.

Season of Joy[]

Season of Joy chronicles Will's voyage around the world as a crewmember of the Bostonia. Towards the middle of the story Will meets Matthew, Derek, Peter, and Jenny Pottsworth in Liverpool England and he learns the truth about Joshua and is reunited with his family. Will returns home and helps his father with his timber operation is Wisconsin.

Towards the end of the book Will becomes an investigator and starts having feelings towards Jenny Pottsworth but those dreams are ruined by the next story in the series Praise to the Man.

Praise to the Man[]

The story begins where Season of Joy left off Will and Joshua are on a freight run from Nauvoo to St. Louis and stop in Warsaw. Joshua tries to pull Will away from Jenny Pottsworth because he knows Jenny is not for Will.

During their stay in Warsaw they meet Thomas Sharp and step inside his slanderous newspaper office. Will has to defend the Church when Sharp launches attacks against the Prophet and publicly criticizes Joseph. Will arrives in St. Louis where he meets his future wife Alice Samuelson and they start dating. Alice and Joshua arrange to have a photographer sent to Nauvoo to take pictures of the family which would prove helpful later.

Will overhears Joshua meeting with John C. Bennett and Sidney Rigdon as they plot to overthrow the Church and get rid of Joseph. Will later reports these findings to Nathan and to Carl and Melissa with Joshua and Will and Nathan warn the 12 and Joseph saving Joseph from assassination and leading to Bennett and Rigdon getting excommunicated.

Will was one of the last people to see Joseph and his brother Hyrum before they are taken to Carthage Jail and murdered.

No Unhallowed Hand[]

No Unhallowed Hand begins where Praise to the Man left off. Will and Joshua intercept a scandalous letter sent to them by Bennett naming Sidney Rigdon as the Prophet which Will knows is not true since Nathan taught him and Joshua about the line of succession. Will delivers this letter to John Taylor who is still recovering from his gunshot wounds and Taylor delivers the letter to Brigham who arrives just in time to end the conspiracy.

Will drives the wagon as the Steeds leave Nauvoo with his mother in the back. He gets intercepted by a mob outside of Warsaw who tip the wagon over and kill Olivia. Will and Joshua right the wagon and get Caroline back to Nauvoo where she gives birth to his sister Livvy.

Will stands as a witness as Brigham receives the mantel and becomes the next Prophet and is chosen by him to once again go to sea with his new wife Alice as a crewmember of the Brooklyn as they sail around Cape Horn to Oakland bringing the rest of the saints with them.

So Great the Cause[]

So Great the Cause begins where No Unhallowed Hand ended. Will and Alice begin their honeymoon in New York as they get ready to set sail. The Brooklyn departs New York but storms blow the ship off course and they end up in the Cape Verde Islands. As they leave Will pulls a sailors prank on Alice as they cross the equator. During the voyage Alice gets pregnant as they sail around Cape Horn. Another storm blows them off course and they miss their rest port in Santiago. With supplies running low the Brooklyn sails to Robinson Crusoe Island where the ship is resupplied before heading to her next port in All is Well Pearl Harbor Hawaii.

All is Well[]

The story begins with the Brooklyn arriving at Pearl to resupply. While pulling into the bay that surrounds Pearl the Brooklyn is intercepted by the USS Congress and they are told to stay in port for a month while the US Pacific Fleet heads to Oakland to fight the Mexicans in the Mexican American War. The Brooklyn departed Pearl on the 29th of June and arrived in Oakland a month later on July 31st ending their five month voyage.

After the Brooklyn docked in Oakland Will left the ship and his wife in San Francisco while he went to Sacramento looking for work. Arriving in Sacramento Will runs into Peter and James Reed who launch an unsuccessful mission to rescue The Donner Party and are forced to turn back when they reach Emergent Gap.

That winter Jared is born and Will and Alice move to Sacramento to help John Sutter run his sawmill. During this time the Gold Rush begins and Brannon gets greedy and leads the saints east to start a colony of his own New Hope (present day Modesto California).

With the war over Brannon, Peter, and Will leave with the Mormon Battalion for Fort Bridger. They find their nephew Joshua Benjamin along the way who just recently got discharged. When they reach Donner Pass they cremate the remains of the Donner Party and give them a proper burial. Passing through Nevada they stop in Wells but refuse to take the Hastings Trail back to Salt Lake and take the California Trail to Oakley and onto Fort Hall and Pocatello.

After stabling at Fort Hall the Steeds and Brannon fallow the Oregon Trail to Fort Bridger where they finally meet up with Brigham Young. With contact with Brigham established Will heads back to Sacramento to get Alice and the entire Steed Clan is reunited when the pioneers arrive in Salt Lake on July 24, 1847.

Appearances[]

Novels[]

Films[]

VECharacters
Garrett family
Miriam Garrett - Solomon Garrett - Solomon Clinton Garrett - John Benjamin Griffith - Luke Griffith - Mark Griffith - Jessica Roundy - Rachel Steed Griffith Garrett
Griffith family
John Griffith - John Benjamin Griffith - Luke Griffith - Mark Griffith - Jessica Roundy - Rachel Steed Griffith Garrett
Ingalls family
Benjamin Ingalls - Christopher Ingalls - Derek Ingalls - Leah Ingalls - Nicole Ingalls - Peter Ingalls | Kathryn Marie McIntire - Rebecca Steed
Rogers family
Caleb Rogers - Carlton Rogers - Carlton Hezekiah Rogers - David Benjamin Rogers - Mary Melissa Rogers - Sarah Rogers - Melissa Steed
Steed family
Derek Ingalls - Lydia McBride - Jennifer Jo McIntire - Olivia Mendenhall Steed - William Mendenhall Steed - Caroline Mendenhall - Mary Ann Morgan - Jessica Roundy - Alice Samuelson - Rachel Steed Griffith Garrett - Benjamin Steed - Betsy Jo Steed - Charles Steed - Elizabeth Mary Steed - Emily Steed - Emmeline Steed - Jacob Steed - Jared Steed - Joseph Steed - Joshua Steed - Joshua Benjamin Steed - Josiah Steed - Laura Steed - Leah Steed - Livvy Steed - Mary Steed - Matthew Steed - Melissa Steed - Nathan Steed - Nathan Joseph Steed - Patricia Steed - Rachel Steed - Rebecca Steed - Savannah Steed
Others
Mark Cooper - Obadiah Cornwell - Jean Claude Dubuque - Caleb Jackson - Bea Johnson - Robert Johnson - Hannah McBride - Josiah McBride - David Murdock - Will Murdock - Asa Phelps - Abigail Pottsworth - Jenny Pottsworth - Clinton Roundy - Judith Samuelson - Walter Samuelson - Andrew Stokes - Arthur Wilkinson
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