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Morris's first converts, John Jensen, and Lars C. Geertsen — vowed revenge after what they perceived as an unfair reckoning, they seized a load of wheat en route from
Kingston to Kaysville for milling. The Morrisites sent a group of men after them, and the group soon captured the three and the wheat. The church held the men prisoner in a small cabin, to be "tried by the Lord when he came."
268:. Called "baby resurrection" by the church, Morris and Williams taught that reincarnation was taught by Joseph Smith and that most other Latter Day Saint sects were in apostasy for rejecting those teachings. Each of the successive leaders of the church was believed to be the reincarnation of a significant prophet of old, with Joseph Smith being the reincarnation of
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By spring 1862, food was scarce and some members were becoming discontented. Morris repeatedly designated certain days for the Second Coming, only to have those days pass uneventfully. Each time that happened, a handful of members would recover their possessions from the community pool and leave the
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excommunicated Morris from the LDS Church. On April 6, 1861, Morris and his followers organized the Church of the
Firstborn and called all of his followers to gather at Kingston (Kington) Fort, a 3-acre (12,000 m) fort on the Weber River that had been abandoned in 1858. By midsummer 1861, the
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With the steady outflux of members, the question of property entitlement became contentious. Those who stayed behind felt those who left were taking better stock and other items than they had initially contributed to the community pool. Soon after three departing members — William Jones, one of
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was published in San
Francisco in 1886. An introduction to the roll reads: "Names of persons baptized during the administration of Joseph Morris, at South Weber, Utah Territory, in the years of 1861 and 1862." The Roll of Membership then lists alphabetically the names of 430 individuals. At the
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a collection of Joseph Morris's "Revelations, Articles, and
Letters" was published by George S. Dove & Company in 1886, twenty-four years after Morris's death. The revelations were recorded between 1857 and 1862 and were sacred scripture for Morris's followers.
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includes notations in pencil identifying those in positions of authority next to the following individuals: John Banks, Prescy.; John Cook, Apostle; Richard Cook, Presidency; James Cowan, Apostle; James Dove, apostle; John R. Eardley, Apostle;
131:, Apostle; William Harris, Bishop; Niels Jacobson, Apostle; John E. Jones, Apostle; William Kendell, Apostle; R. J. Livingstone, Apostle; James Mather, Apostle; John Parson, Apostle; Abraham Taylor, Apostle; John Trolsen, Apostle.
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After
Williams died in 1882, the church divided into a number of schisms, each claiming to be led by Williams's rightful successor. The largest group, based in Montana, was led by John R. Eardley, who renamed the church the
193:, under the leadership of George Williams, who declared himself to be the "Prophet Cainan" and Morris's rightful successor. In January 1879, Williams prophesied that Deer Lodge County would be the site of the
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Eventually, the Utah territorial militia was ordered to arrest Morris and the other leaders of the church. On June 15, 1862, Morris was killed in a skirmish, and other
Morrisite leaders were taken prisoner.
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was imminent and not to bother with planting crops. They may have trampled some of their crops into the ground as evidence of their faith. The group pooled available supplies and waited at
Kingston Fort.
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conclusion of the list the publisher notes: "All the names that we found in the record book are in this list. We feel assured that there were many persons baptized whose names were not recorded."
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For more information on Dove see
Richard Neitzel Holzapfel, "The Flight of the Doves from Utah Mormonism to California Morrisitism: The Saga of James and George Dove." in
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to seek recognition of his calling from the church. Young did not respond to Morris' request or any of his subsequent letters through 1860.
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412:. Marie Eccles-Caine Archive of Intermountain Americana. Utah State University Libraries: Special Collections and Archives.
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Although seven
Morrisites were convicted of murder and 66 others were convicted of resisting arrest, Territorial Governor
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Brief
History of THE CHURCH OF THE FIRSTBORN (The Morrisites): Founded by the Prophets Joseph Morris and George Williams
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In 1860, Morris began to collect followers to a group that became known as the Morrisites. In February 1861,
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What set the Church of the Firstborn apart from the majority of Latter Day Saint sects was its belief in
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pardoned them all three days after being convicted, and the Morrisites scattered across the Western
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and was considered a confirmation of Jensen's prophetic calling. Jensen taught that the
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Like most Latter Day Saint denominations, the Church of the Firstborn taught that
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559:"Men, Motives, and Misunderstandings: A New Look at the Morrisite War of 1862"
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Roll of Membership, Names of Persons Baptized into the Fulness of the Gospel
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and Linda Thatcher. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1994. 196-219.
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A monument commemorating the Morrisite War stands in South Weber, Utah.
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185:. Ultimately, many of the members of the church began to regather in
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in Deer Lodge, where he had been incarcerated, was actually
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Williams was frequently away from Montana, living mostly in
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of God. The church taught that Smith's rightful successor
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Joseph Morris and the Saga of the Morrisites (revisited)
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The Church of the Firstborn rejected other teachings of
337:. This prophecy was discovered by leaders of the small
577:. G.S. Dove; J.A. Dover & Co., printers. pp.
432:. Salt Lake City, UT: Utah State Historical Society.
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that he said he received from God and also authored
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Joseph Morris, leader of the Church of the Firstborn
514:Ruth Malan, "Three-day war focus of new monument",
216:, which he claimed was a record of ancient origin.
227:Church of Jesus Christ of Saints of the Most High
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261:and that Strang was succeeded by Joseph Morris.
529:Differing Visions: Dissenters in Mormon History
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55:the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
26:the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
53:In 1857, Joseph Morris, an English convert to
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663:Religious organizations established in 1861
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518:(Ogden, UT), 2006-11-02. Pluses section.
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173:with the inscription "The Lord's House."
169:A Morrisite meetinghouse in Race Track,
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402:C. LeRoy Anderson Morrisite Collection
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668:Organizations disestablished in 1969
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548:RootsWeb, MORRISITES-L Archives
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546:Geo. Dove's Roll of Membership
544:For a list of individuals see
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310:and the LDS Church, including
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161:Scattering and regathering
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470:Utah History Encyclopedia
464:Godfrey, Kenneth (1994),
430:A History of Davis County
208:. Williams recorded many
22:Latter Day Saint movement
474:University of Utah Press
472:, Salt Lake City, Utah:
571:Morris, Joseph (1886).
335:Second Coming of Christ
287:Morris prophesied that
195:Second Coming of Christ
18:Church of the Firstborn
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171:Powell County, Montana
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640:at Wikimedia Commons
574:The "spirit prevails"
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214:St. Ann's Hill Record
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347:Montana State Prison
239:The Spirit Prevails,
202:Salt Lake City, Utah
615:Anderson, C. LeRoy,
331:Deer Lodge, Montana
120:Community of Christ
658:Apocalyptic groups
602:2007-10-09 at the
407:2006-09-02 at the
373:Gudmund Gudmundson
179:Stephen S. Harding
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129:Gudmund Gudmundson
125:Mark Hill Forscutt
116:Roll of Membership
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59:Book of Revelation
20:was a sect of the
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516:Standard-Examiner
439:978-0-913738-43-6
368:William W. Davies
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210:revelations
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70:John Taylor
61:. He wrote
647:Categories
531:edited by
502:2013-02-18
483:0874804256
379:References
319:ordinances
301:Dr. Dahesh
110:Leadership
97:Membership
34:Morrisites
297:Jerusalem
233:Teachings
600:Archived
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428:(1999).
405:Archived
357:See also
314:and the
272:and the
251:prophet
206:England
191:Montana
49:Origins
44:History
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316:temple
282:Cainan
270:Mormon
249:was a
595:(sic)
289:Jesus
278:Moses
593:"An
488:OCLC
478:ISBN
444:OCLC
434:ISBN
293:Arab
257:was
204:and
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16:The
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295:in
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Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
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