William and Ester Gheen House

The William and Ester Green House is one of the homes on the Historic Nauvoo Temple Tour. There are three homes on the tour starting at the William and Caroline Weeks Home, then the Edward and Ann Hunter Home and ending with the William and Ester Gheen Home.

The William and Ester Gheen home is located on the corner of Mulholland street(named after the prophets scribe James Mulholland)and Patridge Streets. There are no other homes near, which makes it easy to find. It was rebuilt in 2019-2020, and is a charming reminder of the special and soul stretching times of Nauvoo.

William and Ester Gheen were married in 1823, and were baptized in 1840. William passed away in 1845, a year after the prophet Joseph Smith died. He passed away before he was able to be sealed to his family, and his death left Ester to raise their eight children on her own. The death of William occurred at the same time the Saints were making preparations to leave Nauvoo.

When it came time to leave Nauvoo, Ester was unable to sell the charming home, and the family simply had to walk away from the home they loved. Esther then lead the children west as the great exodus from Nauvoo began. They left just a few days after Prophet Brigham Young, in February 1846.

Esther was able to be endowed and sealed to William before leaving Nauvoo.

One of the Gheen’s eight children was Ann Alice who married Heber C. Kimball. Ann and Heber had a son, Andrew, who was the father of President Spencer W. Kimball, making William and Ester the great-grandparents of Spencer W. Kimball.

Esther made it to Utah. She passed away in 1858 and was buried in the Ogden City Cemetery.