William Valentine Black (21 February 1832 – 1 April 1927) was a nineteenth-century

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

pioneer, and one of the early settlers of Manti, Spring City, Rockville, and Deseret, Utah. He was also a close friend of Chief Kanosh the leader of the

Pahvant Pahvant (''Pavant, Parant, Pahva-nits'') was a band of Ute people that lived in present-day Utah. Called the "Water People", they fished and hunted waterfowl. They were also farmers and hunter-gatherers. In the 18th century they were known to be f ...

band of the

Ute people Ute () are the Indigenous people of the Ute tribe and culture among the Indigenous peoples of the Great Basin. They had lived in sovereignty in the regions of present-day Utah and Colorado in the Southwestern United States for many centuries unt ...

. He was also the first branch president of the LDS Church in Deseret, Utah. Black "was one of several Irishmen instrumental in the formation of the dam and irrigation systems in Utah. He assisted in locating dams and canals at Abraham, Oasis, Hinckley, and Deseret and was also president of the Deseret Irrigation Company in southern Utah." William's brother, Joseph Smith Black, was only the second white man to explore Zion National Park, and the first white person to settle in the Park in 1861.Work Projects Administration. ''Utah: A Guide to the State'' (New York: Hastings House, 1941), 522

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1832 births Irish emigrants to the United States Converts to Mormonism American leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 1927 deaths People of the Utah War People from Utah Territory Latter Day Saints from Utah {{Utah-bio-stub