Who were the Morrisites?

[_Willy Law]

Just finished up Brigham Young, Pioneer Prophet followed by Brigham's Destroying Angel. I did not think it possible to develop a lower opinion of Brigham Young than I already had, but alas.
One interesting story to me personally in both books is the story of the competing prophet Joseph Morris.
In the appendix of Brigham's Destroying Angel is a correspondence describing the massacre of the Morrisites by Governor Harding. In it he says:

"I soon arrived in the Territory, and many of these poor creatures came to me, with tears and half reproaches, as if I had permitted it. Many of them were from Denmark, and the poor souls imagined that a governor was a person with almost the prerogative and resources of a king in their fatherland."

Gov. Harding soon pardoned the Morrisites who had been convicted of murder and most of the Morrisites ended up in Soda Springs, Id and Montana.

The story was interesting to me (besides being yet another example of Brigham's propensity to murder to put people out of his way) because some of my pioneer ancestors were from Denmark. Most left the church very early after coming to Utah and ended up settling in northern Idaho.

Has anyone ever seen (paging Joe Geisner) any paper or book written which includes the names of some or all of the members of the Morrisites? I would assume since most were arrested after the raid that there must be some documentation of who the members were, but I have not been able to find anything. I have a hunch I am going to find some of my ancestors on that list.

[_Fence Sitter]

see Here http://mormondiscussions.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=17714

I believe Will Schryver has a 3 volume work scheduled to come out soon on this very issue.

[_Blixa]

For Christ Will Come Tommorrow: The Saga of the Morrisites, by C. LeRoy Anderson is, as far as I know, the standard text. It appears to be available on Amazon in a cheap knock-off paperback form (I don't recognize that cover!!), the used copies may be better.

Anderson wrote a follow up, Joseph Morris And the Saga of the Morrisites (Revisited), which I have not read.

[_Willy Law]

Thanks Fence.

By the way here is a pic of the monument erected by the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers at the massacre site at the link below. Their rose colored description of the massacre differs quite a bit from most other accounts.


the inscription reads:

The Kington Fort-Morrisite War Site

This monument was placed here to commemorate a three day, little known battle that occurred 13, 14, and 15 June 1862. The Kington (Kingston) Fort a 645 foot by 645 foot enclosure was built on this site in 1853 to protect the early settlers from possible Indian attacks. Since there were no Indian problems in South Weber, the fort was deserted in 1858.

In early 1862 the fort was taken over by Joseph Morris, an excommunicated member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, who had founded a church commonly known as the Morrisites. At one time the Morrisite fort population exceeded 200 men, women and children. In June 1862 three men, who no longer believed in Morris’ teachings, attempted to leave the fort. They were captured by a Morrisite posse and forcefully returned to the fort. Responding to a report by observers of this action, the sheriff and a small posse approached the fort with the intention of taking the men for a formal hearing on the charges of which they were accused. The request was denied and further attempts were blocked. As a result, acting governor Frank Fuller ordered a militia under the command of Robert T. Burton to proceed to the fort. Even this large, Heavily armed group failed to free the imprisoned men. A cannon ball fired into the fort killed two women and seriously wounded a teenage girl. as the army assaulted the fort and breached the gates, two militiamen were killed. in the ensuing confusion, Morris, his second in command, John Banks and two more women were killed. in all, eleven people died. After the death of their leaders, the Morrisites scattered, with most going to Soda Springs, Idaho. Others settled in Carson City, Nevada and Deer Lodge, Montana. A few other members were rebaptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints and remained in South Weber. Erected by:

Daughters of Utah Pioneers-South Weber Chapter
Sons of Utah Pioneers-Ogden Pioneer Chapter
AllBuild Construction and Landscaping Site by Douglas B. Stephens SUP#128

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Morri ... r_Utah.JPG

[_Willy Law]

For Christ Will Come Tommorrow: The Saga of the Morrisites, by C. LeRoy Anderson is, as far as I know, the standard text. It appears to be available on Amazon in a cheap knock-off paperback form (I don't recognize that cover!!), the used copies may be better.

Anderson wrote a follow up, Joseph Morris And the Saga of the Morrisites (Revisited), which I have not read.

Perfect, thank Blixa. I was actually on Amazon looking for something about the Morrisites as we speak.

[_Blixa]

For Christ Will Come Tommorrow: The Saga of the Morrisites, by C. LeRoy Anderson is, as far as I know, the standard text. It appears to be available on Amazon in a cheap knock-off paperback form (I don't recognize that cover!!), the used copies may be better.

Anderson wrote a follow up, Joseph Morris And the Saga of the Morrisites (Revisited), which I have not read.

Perfect, thank Blixa. I was actually on Amazon looking for something about the Morrisites as we speak.

I'll just repeat my initial post on the thread Fencesitter linked (one of the ugliest threads on MDB in my memory, too):

Salt Lake coroner, "Dr." Jeter Clinton comes off the worst in my opinon, as he cut the spinal cord of John Banks the former head of the British Mission's London Conference and second counselor to Joseph Morris. Clinton had his paw in a lot of unsavory pies. He threatened the Valley Tan over publishing on the first Mountain Meadows Massacre reports, and later likely had a hand in suppressing the prosecution of the murderer of Dr. Robinson.

You can see a photo of Mary Christofferson Anderson in David Bigler's Forgotten Kingdom. She was the 14 year old girl whose face was shattered by the cannon ball fired by Burton into the Morrissite's meeting bower.

An interesting feature of the massacre's aftermath was that the only Mormon signatory on the petition to the Governor pardon the Morrissite prisoners was Bill Hickman. I would imagine it would have to be a pretty egregious set of murders to draw his ire.

[_Willy Law]

You can see a photo of Mary Christofferson Anderson in David Bigler's Forgotten Kingdom. She was the 14 year old girl whose face was shattered by the cannon ball fired by Burton into the Morrissite's meeting bower.

Thanks Blixa. Anderson is one of the names I was thinking I would see although I don't think Mary or her husband are related.
Here is her findagrave photo and a small blurb about her and the massacre.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cg ... d=28607665

I tried reading the thread Fence Sitter posted, very informative until Will threadjacked.

[_Joe Geisner]

I apologize for taking so long to respond Willy. But Blixa's recommendation is excellent. Anderson's book is the standard on the Morrisites. I read it twenty years ago so I don't recall details, but it is well worth your time.

I love your assessment of Turner's book. I felt the same way after reading his excellent book. I have found it quite funny when people write that the book has raised their opinion of Young. Either they had to think Young was of the same mold some of the most vile characters from history or they read a different book. I recognize that much of my opinion comes from reading Baskin, Bagley, Bigler, Quinn, Parshall, Marquardt, and B. H. Roberts.

When you get time, I highly recommend reading Robert Baskin's Reminiscences Of Early Utah. It was his book that convinced me Bill Hickman's Destroying Angel had been criticized unjustly by Mormon apologist.

I will go through my files and see if I can find any additional information on the Morrisites. As for Jeter Clinton, he was a first class murderer and one of Young's henchman. Blixa is right on target.

[_Joe Geisner]

With a little google search, I found a beautiful scan in pdf. of Joseph Morris's The Spirit Prevails:

http://archive.org/details/spiritprevails00morrrich

Also, David Bigler writes a few pages about Morris in Forgotten Kingdom. When I get time, I will read through and if I find any details I think might interest you, I will pass them along.

[_Willy Law]

Also, David Bigler writes a few pages about Morris in Forgotten Kingdom. When I get time, I will read through and if I find any details I think might interest you, I will pass them along.

Thanks Joe, I just purchased David paper he wrote for the Western Historical Quarterly on the Aiken party, a topic that deserves it's own thread entirely.