Archives West Finding Aid

THE MORRISITES - The C. LeRoy Anderson Morrisite Collection

This Collection is compiled around the Church of the Firstborn, popularly known as the Morrisites. ( For a historical treatment of The Morrisites see C. LeRoy Anderson's Joseph Morris and the History of the Morrisites, 2nd ed, (Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 1988). The church was began in Utah By an English convert to the LDS Church named Joseph Morris. In 1857 Morris began to receive revelations which named him as the "seventh angel," a term taken from the Book of Revelations. Morris wrote several letters to LDS Church President Brigham Young explaining his calling and seeking recognition. These letters are in the collection, photocopied from the copybooks contained in the archives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . Morris was excommunicated from the Church in 1858. Working for local members of the LDS Church he took the opportunity to teacher others of his calling and doctrines. Beginning in 1860 Morris began to collect followers together at a settlement on the Weber River in Davis County, Utah. By the fall of 1861 there were over five hundred baptized members and another five hundred sympathizers.(Ibid., 70.) Trouble erupted in 1862 after a load of grain was seized by several discontented Morrisites who had withdrawn from the camp. Morris instructed his followers that the Second Coming of the Savior was soon to occur, and since it would be so soon that there was no need to plant crops. The seized grain had represented a large part of the remaining supplies of the Kingston group. Those who had taken the grain were held by the Morrisites awaiting trial by the Lord Himself. This act, coupled with the petitions of family members and friends of those in the Fort caused Justice John F. Kinney to issue a writ for the release of the prisoners and the arrest of Morris and some of his close associates. The writ was delivered by deputy Marshall Robert Burton, who collected a posse and marched the thirty miles north to the settlement. After the writ was refused and a three day siege the Morrisites surrendered on Sunday, June 15th, 1862.

Burton rode into the fort with a small contingent to accept the surrender of arms. Morris made a statement to his followers and moved towards Burton in a way that was interpreted as a threat. Burton shot Morris, and two others were also killed. The survivors were marched to Salt Lake City and ordered to appear at the next sitting of the Territorial Court. Before then the acting governor pardoned those at the fort who were accused of wrong doing.

The next few years saw the Morrisite faithful leave the Territory of Utah. Some went to Nevada and California, some settled in Omaha, Nebraska, many settled temporarily at Soda Springs, Idaho. Most of this last group eventually moved to the Deer Lodge Valley in central Montana. Here they collected under the leadership of George Williams, who called himself the "Prophet Cainan."

His was really a long distance leadership. Williams rarely spent time in Montana, living mostly in Salt Lake City and overseas in England. Regular correspondence kept him apprised of events in Montana and on the "Left wing of the Great Eagle," the congregation in California/Nevada. A large body of these letters are in the collection. Williams hoped to collect his letters and publish them (as would be done later for Morris's revelations), but this was never accomplished.

During his stay in England Williams worked as a laborer to support his family. It was also during these years that he wrote what came to be known as the St. Ann's Hill Record. The Morrisites' biographer Dr. LeRoy Anderson believes that these may have been created to bolster Williams' lagging following and failing popularity in the group he tried to lead. These records he claimed to have recovered from a hill in England (hence the name) and said that they contained "the vast creations, down to our own earth." (Ibid., 209.) They were dispensed serially in Williams' letters. Only a small fraction of the 53 chapters have remained to this day.

Once Williams died in 1882 the divided groups each presented their candidate for the leadership position over the whole Church. Though visits were exchanged by missionaries and other individuals the Church was never truly united again. John R. Eardley, who had been at Kingston Fort in the 60s eventually directed the church in Montana, which was reorganized as the Church of Jesus Christ of Saints of the Most High. George Dove controlled the California congregation. As the original membership began to die away there was not an influx of converts to replace them. The original membership was mostly gone by the turn of the century, and their children who adhered to a belief in Morris by the 1950s. The final fate of the California branch of the Morrisites is not known. The Church of Jesus Christ of the Saints of the Most High officially disbanded in 1969. Their archives, grandchildren, and church building in Deer Lodge, Montana are all that remain.