"His Word Was as Good as His Note": The Impact of Justus Morse's Mormonism(s) on His Families By Michael S. Riggs
AUTHOR'S SYNOPSIS:
Who was Justus Morse, that the impact of his Mormonism(s) on his family, or otherwise, would matter?
That he was not, and still is not, a household name among Latter Day Saints is not disputed. Only very recently Morse has begun to gain the attention of some Mormon historians.[1] Ironically, his obscurity served him well throughout his life. For example, it saved him from being indicted or even arrested for his Danite activities following the 1838 Mormon War in Missouri. Lack of prominence also meant that, even though he was an active polygamist from 1842 to 1857, he was able to join and remain a member of the RLDS Church (now known as the Community of Christ).
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 1997 JWHA Journal The following article, detailing the life of Justus Morse, was written by Michael S. Riggs. Riggs' interest in Morse was directly responsible for the discovery and identification of the Charles C. Rich 1837 Log House in 1995. While doing research on the life of Morse in the 1980s, Riggs took a trip to Missouri and located where Justus' land holdings had been.One of those properties (Morse owned several in the area in the 1830s), where Riggs believes Justus built a house, was very near to where Joseph and Charles C. Rich built their own home in April 1837. Amasa Lyman's family lived with the Morse's late in the Far West period. Riggs knew that Lyman, Morse and Rich had all gone to San Bernardino, California together in 1851. So, Riggs theorized that this "Rich" branch would have been near the spot these old friends lived. That is why in 1995, Riggs shepherded members of the Missouri Mormon Frontier Foundation to the place where Morse and Rich owned properties next to each other-- when the 1837 Log House was discovered on what had been Rich's property. FarWestHistory.com would like to incorporate similar research-- depicting the lives of other members of the Rich Branch and other Far West era residents. If you know of or are working on such a project, please submit your ideas and suggestions for consideration for posting. |
Michael S. Riggs has been researching the early Mormon experience for over twenty years. He has presented papers at MHA, JWHA, and Sunstone West conferences. The oft-cited "The Economic Impact of Fort Leavenworth on Northwest Missouri, 1827-1838: Yet Another Reason for the Mormon War?' was published in Restoration Studies IV. He also has a forthcoming article appearing in Restoration Studies VII which is entitled "From the Daughters of Zion to the Banditti of Prairies: Danite Influence on the Nauvoo Period." A version of the Justus Morse paper, upon which this article is based, was presented at the 24th Annual JWHA Conference in Independence, Missouri, on Saturday, 28 September 1996, and published in the 1997 John Whitmer Historical Association Journal.
MICHAEL S. RIGGS "His Word Was as Good as His Note":
The Impact of Justus Morse's Mormonism(s) on His Families
________ Printed for JWHA by Herald Publishing House in Independence, Missouri. ________ While obscurity was a necessary key to Morse's success, it has made researching his life a challenge. It is interesting, however, that after eleven years of research so much information about him has been uncovered. The picture is still a little fuzzy around the edges, but the overall image has become quite clear. By standing back from the picture and taking a longer look, a different prospective of Mormonism has developed that is not obtainable when [JWHA Journal] 50 ________ This study of Justus Morse sheds light on the dynamics of LDS to RLDS conversions and their impact on nuclear and extended families. Morse's saga was perhaps an extreme case given his involvement in pre-1844 plural marriage, but also typical of RLDS "old timers" like Ebenezer Robinson, Isaac Sheen, and Elizabeth (Davis, Goldsmith, Brackenbury, Durfee, Smith) Lott[2] who knew later denials of Joseph Smith's authorship of polygamy were unfounded and were, therefore, living contradictions within their new faith community. From the LDS perspective, Morse, while much more circumspect than other renegade Danites like John D. Lee and Amasa M. Lyman (who likewise did not stay loyal to Brigham Young), also left a firsthand account of early Mormonism that was every bit as critical. How did the families of such apostates (or non-conformists) cope with the shame and disappointment of their loved ones who do not meet the standards of their faith(s)? Was it possible for family members to maintain relationships with dissidents and still retain institutional loyalty? And finally, beyond Justus Morse, how did families on both sides of the LDS/RLDS fence interact with one another? Stated another way, was blood thicker than church?
In May 1844, during his campaign for the Presidency of the United States, Joseph Smith sent Justus Morse (along with many other stalwarts of the faith) on "lec-tioneer" missions.[3] Many years later, Morse remembered being "blessed by the Prophet ... and especially instructed to maintain his [Joseph Smith's] character against all calumnies, which thing I was bound to do ... because of my oath as a Danite."[4] This episode later troubled Morse,
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During the winter of 1844-45, Morse used his mission to visit his parents' home in Mantua, Ohio, after a more than ten-year absence. After repeated (and heated) arguments, he finally convinced his younger half sister Salley (Bissell Church and her husband Horace of the divinity of the Book of Mormon. With conversion coming at the same time as the deaths of Joseph ant Hyrum Smith, however, Horace and [JWHA Journal] 52 Salley delayed baptism.[5] It would be more than twenty years before Justus Morse and the Churches would be reunited. During that time, independent of each others' knowledge, they all joined the RLDS movement. Without Justus's earlier mission, Salley and Horace Church would not have ever considered a Mormon-based faith option.[6] Justus and his half sister, Salley (Bissell) Church, were later able to convert their older sister. Marietta, and their brother, Jonathan Bissell Jr., as well. While their youngest sister Lois (Bissell) Sloat stayed behind in their native Ohio and never joined, a daughter of hers named Almira Marietta (known as Mida) did. On a trip to Lamoni, to visit Morse/Bissell relations, she met and fell in love with Edwin H. (Eddie) Gurley. Mida and Eddie were married in 1879, at the home of her aunt, Salley (Bissell) Church.[7] Eddie was a brother of an RLDS Apostle and later dissident Zenas H. Gurley Jr. This meant that all of Justus Morse's siblings were influenced by his Mormonism(s), or at least his last one. The impact on the RLDS Church as the result of these conversions was significant. For example, Horace Church became the president of the Hopkins, Michigan, Branch. Salley and Horace Church's daughter, Caroline (Carrie) Thomas, was a noted hymn writer, and through her missionary efforts the Providence, Rhode Island, Branch was formed.[8] Another daughter, Mabel, was married to Asa Cochran. The two of them came into the movement in 1867 at the same time as her parents. Asa went on to become one of the founders of Lamoni, Iowa, and a close associate of Joseph III. Asa and Mabel's daughter, Clara, was married to Elbert A. Smith, who was the son of David Hyrum Smith and grandson of Joseph Smith Jr. Elbert served in the RLDS First Presidency under both Joseph Smith III
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8. 53 [JWHA Journal] and Frederick M. Smith, and in 1938 became Church Patriarch.[9] Of great significance to the early RLDS Church was the ready-made branch created in 1867 at Hopkins, Michigan, as the result of extended Morse family members accepting the leadership of Joseph Smith III. In fact, of the twenty-one members listed on the 1871 membership listing, Morse was related to all but two, and in 1873 he married one of them (the other was her son).[10] Strong footholds of small, yet determined believers in areas like Hop-kins were crucial to the new and fragile movement. As most of the faithful family members later relocated to the Lamoni, Iowa, area (including Justus Morse), their earlier travails in the small Michigan Branch made them valued assets in the new "Order of Enoch" model colony. Clearly, a debt was owed for Morse's contribution to both his siblings and the RLDS Church. The obvious question, however, might have been less about the goodness of the message than the worthiness of the messenger. Was there a way for both to be accepted? Even though, as a former polygamist, Uncle Justus Morse brought a massive amount of baggage with him into the Reorganized Church, his family did accept him. To help understand how, we must first explore the impact of Morse's Mormonism(s) first on his nine probable wives, and then his nineteen sons and daughters (including nine stepchildren).
In his 1869 RLDS Edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, marked in the margin next to verse three of section 49 where it says, "marriage is ordained of God unto man; wherefore it is lawful that he should have one wife," Morse emphatically scribed, "One Wife One Wife."[11] This verse did not have the same effect on him during the Nauvoo period of his church involvement as it would as a relatively new convert to the Reorganization. In fact, during his younger years in Illinois, "One Wife One Wife" meant one plus one equaled at least two. According to an 1887 affidavit written about his early experiences in Mormonism, Justus Morse stated: ."..in the year 1842, at Nauvoo, Illinois, Elder Amasa Lyman, taught me the doctrine of sealing, or marrying for eternity, called spiritual wifery, and that within one year from that date my own wife [Elizabeth (Towne, Clark) Morse] and another woman were sealed to me
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11. 54 [JWHA Journal] for eternity in Macedonia, by father John Smith, uncle to the Prophet. This woman was the wife of another man, but was to be mine in eternity and the said father John Smith, also taught me that if an unmarried woman was sealed to me that she was mine for time as well as eternity and that I was not limited as to number. In the years 1843 and 4, Elder Amasa Lyman and father John Smith again taught me the doctrine of spiritual wifery or polygamy, and in the years 1845 & 6, Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimbal taught me the doctrine also."[12] Saying he was "taught" the doctrine was a code phrase meaning he practiced what was preached. A compilation of all known Morse material yields the nine "probable" wife count indicated above.[13] Because of encrypted (often deliberately vague) entries, however, the names can be ascribed to only six of the nine women. Since the purpose of this study is to determine impacts, only the wives that have been positively identified will be discussed in detail. In August 1828 Justus married for the first time, to Sally Goodwin, in the Congregationalist Church of Aurora, Ohio, by Rev. John Seward. On the same day. Morse's sister, Marietta, married a Daniel Good-win in the same church.[14] Most likely, Daniel and Sally Goodwin were a brother and sister who married a brother and sister. Both marriages did not last, however, as Marietta, who had a son named Nelson A. Goodwin in 1830, had a second son named Justus Benson in 1833 with another husband. Justus Morse also remarried by about 1832 to a widow named Elizabeth (Towne) Clark, who had three living children with her first husband. There is very little information about why the Morses and the Goodwins had such short marriages. Possibly, either or both Daniel and Sally died young, but neither name appears in the cemetery records for all townships in Portage County, Ohio. There was an intriguing piece of family folklore about Marietta which might shed light on the breakup of at least her marriage, if not her brother's as well. "She was riding in a wagon with her husband along the road, when they met another man with his team, and he accosted the man wanting to know what he had to trade. When the other man said he hardly knew, her husband said he wanted to trade off his wife and after a little dickering she, his wife was traded to the other man for a pair of boots, where upon she was changed to the other man's wagon and he drove to
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14. [JWHA Journal] 55 her mother's home, and he told her mother of the transaction, and that he had brought her home to her."[15] While Marietta Morse was married a total of five times during her life, this story tends to point toward Daniel Goodwin as the culprit because she was taken back to her mother's home after the incident and other factors.[16] If indeed, Daniel Goodwin abandoned Morse's sister, it could well have driven a wedge between himself and his wife, Sally, and been the means of a divorce. The more probable theory for the termination of Morse's first marriage is also more to the point of this paper. Could Morse's interest in Mormonism been a hurdle Sally could not get over? While living in Portage County, Ohio, Justus Morse along with the Oliver Snow, Simmonds Ryder, John Johnson, Ezra Booth, Seymour Brunson, and many other families were exposed to Mormonism especially in 1831, while Joseph Smith resided in the nearby town of Hiram.[17] Family legend records the following about Morse's first encounter with Mormonism: "Uncle Justus in his early manhood with a number of his young men comrades had an opportunity to go to a Latter Day Saint meeting, and he did so. But they went with the idea of having some fun. They took with them a small music box, and wound it up, intending that when the right time arrived, they would set it off and make some merriment. However, when the meeting got under way, they became interested in the sermon and forgot their intended fun, and after that he
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17. 56 [JWHA Journal] atteded the meetings and became convinced that the Gospel as taught by that people was realy the Gospel of Jesus Christ and soon became one of their number, joining the church in 1833.[18] The above meeting would have probably taken place while Morse was still living in Mantua, and if so, he still would have been married to Sally Goodwin. Just as local Disciples of Christ clergy were distraught over Mormon incursions into Portage County, so, too, were other denominations. For example, John Seward, the minister who performed Justus and Sally's wedding, went so far as to invite Robert Powell, a Baptist preacher from Palmyra, New York, in June of 1832, "to occupy his Congregational pulpit."[19] It would seem reasonable to assume if members of his flock (like Justus) were being drawn away by the Mormons, he might have felt compelled to take such a step.[20] The friction caused at that time may well have been the means of terminating Morse's marriage to Sally and left a very bitter feeling. Except for their wedding certificate, no other mention was made of Sally Goodwin as Morse's wife, even by Justus himself. In 1870, Morse wrote to his sister, Salley (Bissell) Church, who would have personally known Sally Goodwin, 'you wanted me to tell you what had become of the oldest children that I had by the woman that I married first." He then proceeds to tell her about his three oldest stepchildren brought into his second marriage by Elizabeth (Towne, dark) Morse.[21] Significantly, Justus did not even acknowledge Sally Goodwin as ever having been his wife to someone who would have known better. In the case of a premature death, it seems unlikely Morse would have so callously dismissed her. The strong implication here was that Morse and Sally did not part on good terms.
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1. Sally Goodwin, non-Mormon, married from 1828-1832 or 1832, no known children.
2. Elizabeth (Betsy) Towne, Clark, LDS, 1832-1845, Children: Caroline Eliza Clark, Durfee, LDS, dissafected; Daniel Porter Clark, LDS; Helen Mar Clark, Calister, LDS; Harvey C. Morse, disaffected LDS and RLDS; Joseph Riley Morse, LDS, disaffected
Mabel Ann Morse, Hakes, LDS; Charles E. Morse, (possible), dissaffected
3. Unnamed (John C. Bennett "Spiritual Wifery"), LDS, 1842-1842
4. Unnamed (Polyandrous Marriage), LDS, 1843-1844/45
5. Unnamed (Additional Plural Marriages), LDS, 1843/44-1845, Charles E. Morse, (possible), dissaffected
6. Widow Canfield, LDS, disaffected, 1845-1845, three unnamed step-children
7. Nancy Pratt, LDS, disaffected, RLDS, disaffected
8. Eleanor Earl, LDS, RLDS, 1845/46-1873, Justus (Jesse) Morse, Jr., LDS, disaffected; Henry Morse, LDS, disaffected, RLDS, disaffected
9. Almira Bebecca Barnes Cochran, RLDS, 1873-1887, Assa Cochran, RLDS; Melissa Cochran, Paul, Disciples of Christ; Amy Cochran, Bullis, Tanner, RLDS. 58 [JWHA Journal] Morse's next wife, Elizabeth (Towne, Clark) Morse (known as Betsy), joined the Mormon Church along with him in February of 1833, at Elk Creek, Erie County, Pennsylvania.[22] Two weeks afterwards, Betsy gave birth to her fifth child (Harvey C. Morse), the first for Justus. Justus and Betsy lived through the Missouri persecutions during the mid and late 1830s, eventually selling their farm located in the "C.C. Rich branch" four miles south of Far West, for only "an eight day clock."[23] Amasa M. Lyman and his family lived with the Morse family during their stay in Caldwell County, Missouri, and again in McDonough County, Illinois, after the Mormon expulsion from Missouri. It was at the Morse's log home in Walnut Grove Township that future LDS apostle and husband of one of Betsy's granddaughters, Francis M. Lyman, was born in 1840.[24] Betsy and Justus did not stay long in McDonough County, preferring to move to Ramus where a larger number of Saints were organizing a new community.[25] As pointed out above, this was where Justus first became an active polygamist under the tutelage of John C. Ben-nett, Amasa Lyman, and John Smith. How Betsy felt about this is unknown, although a deduction can be made based on Morse's marital experiences in total, and his determination to "obey council" from those above him, that it really would not have made much difference.[26] The most affectionate statement he made about any of his wives he saved for Betsy. When referring to her death in March 1845, he candidly recalled how, "This left me in a rotten row of stumps, but I got along the best I could till August after when I married a woman by the name of Can-field."[27] Justus was away in Ohio on the mission which converted his half sister, Salley (Bissell) Church, and her husband, Horace, when Betsy died.[28] Before the exodus, all three
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28. [JWHA Journal] 59 of Betsy's children by her first marriage got married and were, therefore, no longer the responsibility of their stepfather, Justus. Probable wives three through five are unnamed potyandrous and polygamous relationships that took place between 1842 and 1844.[29] Identified wife number (at least) six was a widow with three children named Canfield. There are some clues about her identity that Morse left, but as of now, no additional information has been obtained. Justus wrote of her, "She was from the town of Warren, Ohio. She came around to Nauvoo with me. She was a very good woman but when the word came to go to the mountains, she backt [sic] down[.] She was a widow with three children. She could not bear the thought of going into the wilderness. I think she had more sense than I had, but I thought I must obey council, so I went, to the mountains in the year fifty. I was told to hunt two more women who would go. I obeyed counsel and got two more, but previous to this my Canfield widow married again. That let me out."[30] Other than possibly consoling him through his extremely short period of grief over the loss of Betsy, the brief duration of Morse's marriage to the widow, Canfield, would indicate no measurable impact was made in this relationship, including any on the children. The phrase "That let me out," in reference to the termination of the marriage, would tend to infer he wanted to be let out. It was not felt she was not a "good woman"; Justus readily credited her as such. No, the problem was she impeded what he perceived to be a necessary step at that particular juncture of his life. A pattern emerged in Justus Morse's marital relationships that showed that no wife (or children) was ever going to hold him back from accomplishing whatever he felt strongly about doing. Of the "two more women" he was told to "hunt up," Nancy L. Pratt was first and, therefore, probable wife number seven. She stayed married to Justus twenty-eight years and had five of his children. This meant she stayed longer and had more children with Justus than any other of his wives.[31] In comparison to the widow, Canfield, who decided to not go West, using Morse's retrospective logic the question is begged: did Nancy lack good "sense" by deciding to go with him? Yes or no, she nevertheless did make the trek with Morse to Utah and, after staying for one winter, then followed him down to southern California as one of the founding colonizers of the Mormon community of San Bernardino.[32] Their life in California was a hard one, especially for Nancy as the wife of an often-absent lumber
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32. 60 [JWHA Journal] man and shingle maker.[33] Also difficult were the deaths of their two daughters, Mary Jane (in 1853, at the age of five) and Frances E. Morse (in 1869, at the age of 12).[34] A severe strain in Justus and Nancy's marriage came in 1857, with the recall of the colony back to Utah following the Mountain Meadows Massacre and the rumored invasion of Johnston's Army. According to local historian Pauliena B. LaFuze, "Justus Morse returned to Salt Lake, although several sons and their mother [Nancy (Pratt) Morse] remained in San Bernardino."[35] Justus became disillusioned with Utah Mormonism and returned to southern California and Nancy in 1858. The exact nature of their separation was unclear. Did he go to Utah with the intention of sending for her later? Was it her choice to stay behind or his? Justus later wrote his sister that he had been "flat broke four times since I saw you [in 1845]." And at least one of the times was when "the Mountain Meadows Massacre occurred," which led to his return to Utah in 1857. Morse may not have had enough money to afford to take his dependant family members with him but felt compelled by duty to return himself.[36] Nancy was the first of the Morses' to unite with the RLDS Church in San Bernardino, in fact almost four whole years before Justus.[37] Since he had not been an active polygamist for twelve years, the way was clear for entrance into the Reorganized Church. The weight he carried with him as a result of his prior activities in the principle, however, by necessity inhibited his later involvement in the Reorganization.[38] While limiting to Morse, he was, nevertheless, able to remain faithful to the end. Nancy, on the other hand, was not. Sometime before 1882 it was noted in the local branch records that she was expelled from the RLDS Church. No explanation was given as to why.[39] In 1873, Justus Morse left Nancy and San Bernardino for the last time and moved to Hopkins, Michigan, to reunite with his siblings and their families.[40] No legal divorce was
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40. [JWHA Journal] 61 executed[41] as no legal marriage was ever performed. Before Justus left California in 1873, some of their property was liquidated, but not all.[42] In 1882, for example, five years before Morse's death. Nancy designated herself a "widow" in order to convey a tract of land to her son's wife, Emma (Taft) Morse, for "the sum of one dollar."[43] A fairly creative way to handle a precarious situation, indeed, knowing that she had no legal status as wife and yet, being a co-owner of the property, she simply made herself a widow. After 1883, Nancy apparently moved from San Bernardino as that was the last land transaction date, and no death or burial records exist for her in the county archives.[44] Twenty-seven years after Justus left southern California, one former neighbor who remembered him said when "he [Justus] & his wife [Nancy] parted ... he went back east & married an old acquaintance [sic]."[45] Such a story must have been hurtful to Nancy who had given so many hard years to Morse. In the end, she lost both her husband and her Mormonism(s). The second woman Morse brought with him through Utah and also down to San Bernardino was Eleanor (Earl) Morse. Of the two wives, Eleanor was perhaps favored by Justus.[46] In 1847 or 48, Eleanor gave birth to the couple's only child, a girl named Charlotte Elizabeth in Missouri.[47] In an inflammatory account for which there is no other collaborating evidence (except that she did leave him), Louisa Barnes Pratt's journal entry for February 1857 states, "E. [Eleanor] Morse's husband was a drunkard, and when in liquor, he would abuse his best friend. She had no hope of his reform, and she wished to leave him with his first family and go to the valley of the mountains. I sympathized with her, and fully approved of her plan."[48] Edward Leo Lyman adds,
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