The Morrisites and founding of Morristown

In 1857, Mormon convert, Joseph Morris began seeing visions and getting messages from God, as this was a tradition of the Church. He began writing letters to the Church leader Brigham Young telling him of the visions and assuring Brigham that God had a plan for him, he was to be second in command to Joseph Morris. Brigham took little notice of these letters.

Morris began to gather disaffected Mormons around him and preach about God’s revelations. Some of these Mormons had been converted in faraway places such as Denmark and were surprised and dismayed to learn about certain church practices such as polygamy when they found their way to Utah. 

In February 1861, Joseph Morris was excommunicated by Church leaders, John Taylor and Wilford Woodruff. On April 6, 1961, he organized the Church of the Firstborn and called all of his followers, known as Morrisites, after their leader, Joseph Morris, to gather at an abandoned Kington Fort on the Weber River. I believe this fort was located just to the north of the present Hill Air Force Base in Ogden, UT. As per his received wisdom of God, that Jesus was on his way in the following days, so they did not plant any crops and even tramped the ones that had been planted showing their faith.

When Morris’ revelations on the Savior’s coming did not occur, some of the members desired to leave the fold and wanted what provisions that they had donated. Two men had escaped with two yokes of oxen and a wagon. They were later caught and brought back to the fort to be “tried by the Lord when he came.” The two men’s wives plead with the territorial government to intervene. Chief Justice John Kinney sent the U.S. Marshall with an order demanding their release. The Morrisites refuses, so Justice Kinney activated the territorial militia, who was led by Deputy U.S. Marshall Robert T. Burton to the fort to demand their release. Morris refused to release the men even though somewhere between 500 and 1000 men gathered on the hills above the fort. When a 30 minute ultimatum came from Burton, Morris seclude himself to receive instructions from God. 

The faithful gathered beneath a brush arbor to hear Morris tell them what God had told him. At that point, Burton’s militia decided to send a couple of cannonballs overhead as a warning. One misfired and came bouncing into the fort and through the crowd, killing two women outright and shattering the jaw of a young girl of 15. The Morrisites held out for 3 days before finally surrendering. The surrender did not go well and Morris was shot by U.S. Marshall Burton. 11 in all were killed in the Morrisite War including 2 from the militia. 

A young girl recalled saying that she saw the wading fly back from his clothes and thought it was the bullets rebounding from him. We considered him invulnerable or that if he should be killed, he would immediately be restored to life. But he did not survive.   

A cannonball similar to the one used in the Morrisite War

After the war, 66 of the Morrisites were convicted of resistance and fined $100 each. Seven were convicted of second-degree murder. Fortunately for them, a new governor had been appointed to oversee Utah Territory and within three days of their conviction, he pardoned all of the Morrisites.

Leaving Utah was high on the to do list of most Morrisites. A hundred or so went to Carson City, Nevada and Deer Lodge, Montana. Colonel Patrick E Connor had been assigned to build a fort on the Oregon Trail in what is now Soda Springs to help protect the emigrants traveling on the Oregon Trail from the Indians. He brought many of the Morrisites to Idaho. They built their homes just to the southwest of Fort Connor which was the beginning of Morristown, named after their leader Joseph Morris.  Fort Connor was located near the site of the Caribou Medical Center in Soda Spring. When the dam was built on the Bear River in Alexander, the reservoir covered much of Morristown. 

Niels and Mary Christofferson Anderson

Neils Anderson, was 25, he emigrated from Denmark as a new convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Mary Christoffersen at age 14 also emigrated from Denmark. Mary was the young girl that had her jaw damaged from the cannonball that misfired. Mary with her family and Neils with his family were the first to come to Fort Connor and settle. Neils was 28 and Mary was 16 and were wed in an open-air ceremony at Camp Connor on July 30, 1863, by Lieutenant Shoemaker who held the title of Justice of the Peace at the Fort. A large canvas was stretched tight on the ground to serve as a ballroom floor. The wedding took place near a huge boulder that still stands on the land that was owned by the descendants of the Anderson family.

 The first private business in Morristown was the blacksmith shop at the Post. Neils went to work selling axle grease and blacksmith services to travelers passing through on the Oregon trail while young Mary began organizing and running her household which soon would include eight children. She had given birth to Abe, who was the first white male born in the region. The Niels Anderson family remained in Morristown until they passed away. There is a large monument in the Fairview Cemetery near the Anderson family plots telling their story. As you leave Soda Springs traveling west and you look down towards the reservoir, you can see a barn that is still standing which belonged to Neils Anderson. It is the last building remaining in Morristown.  

One time, according to Mr. Anderson’s own story, he was collecting tar from a pile of burning pine trees when he was attacked by several Indians. A shower of arrow fell around him and pierced his hat. He hid behind a lava rock and watched the Indians put out the fire. They looked into the cans and poked around the ashes until they were satisfied that there was no evil omen in the fire. They then left so when it was clear and no longer a danger, Abe rekindled the fire and resumed his extracting process.

Anna Eliasson was the first white child born in the area. She was the daughter of Eric and Karin Eliasson. She later married Henry Schmidt whom the community of Henry, ID was named after.

On January 29, 1963, volunteer soldiers under Colonel Connor attacked a Shoshoni camp on the Bear river killing nearly 300 men and women. Because of this the Indians were not as much of the threat to the emigrants, so the troops began leaving Fort Connor.

After a few years of having bad winter weather, losing much of their crops and the fact that the troops had left Fort Connor, decided to leave for better weather. Many had moved to the north to help in the founding of the Blackfoot area. The Just family, members of the Morrisites that left Morristown and settled in the Blackfoot area have several books that give more of the history of their families, the first is called “Joseph Morris and the Saga of the Morrisites.” The next two were written by Agnes Just Reid, “Letters of Long Ago” and “The Lost Letters.”  We have these last two books available for sale at the Caribou Historical Society Museum.

Around 1870 Brigham Young had a cabin built just to the northeast of Morristown and Fort Connor which was one of the first buildings or homes built in Soda Springs. After that many members from the Church moved to the area or what was called Upper Town later to become Soda Springs.