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Series 5

Images

Photographs of Morrisite sites, numbered for citation. Select an image to open the full-size file.

Sandstone monument titled The Kington Fort-Morrisite War Site, with an engraved plan of the fort, standing in snow before bare trees.
MO-IMG-001Kington Fort–Morrisite War Site monument, erected by the Daughters and Sons of Utah Pioneers. Its engraved plan shows the fort, the Weber River, the adobe school, and the bowery.South Weber, Utah · December 2008
Flat granite grave marker set in grass, engraved JOSEPH WERNER, MORRISITE in quotation marks, ABOUT 1870.
MO-IMG-021Grave marker of Joseph Werner, inscribed “‘Morrisite’ about 1870,” in the South Weber Pioneer Cemetery.South Weber, Utah · before February 2004 (scanned print)
Glass display case lined with yellow cloth holding a newspaper clipping headlined Morrisite War Touched Off by Arrest Order for Five, a labeled black cannonball, coiled leather straps, an iron ring, and a ledger.
MO-IMG-022Museum display on the Morrisite War: a newspaper clipping headlined “Morrisite War Touched Off by Arrest Order for Five,” a cannonball painted “H.C. Dye, Uintah” and labeled as donated by Henry Carl Dye (see MO-IMG-054), leather straps, an iron ring, and a ledger.Local museum, Uintah, Weber County, Utah, possibly a Daughters of Utah Pioneers museum · date not recorded (scanned print)The museum’s name, whether it still exists, and where these objects are now are not known. If you can identify them, please write.

South Weber, early 2000s

Views of South Weber, where Kington Fort stood, from the editor’s scanned prints. Identifications follow the editor’s original labels.

Roadside sign welcoming visitors to South Weber, with a parked camper and trees beyond.
MO-IMG-028The South Weber welcome sign at the edge of town.South Weber, Utah · before February 2004 (scanned print)
Two-lane road crossing a green valley toward snow-capped mountains.
MO-IMG-029The road through South Weber, with the Wasatch Range behind.South Weber, Utah · before February 2004 (scanned print)
Fenced pasture with a tall wooden frame, cattle, and mountains behind.
MO-IMG-030Pasture with a wooden gate frame at a South Weber crossroads.South Weber, Utah · before February 2004 (scanned print)
Street corner with two large modern houses.
MO-IMG-031Homes at a South Weber crossroads.South Weber, Utah · before February 2004 (scanned print)
Tall grass and wet ground below wooded bluffs.
MO-IMG-032The slough below the bluffs.South Weber, Utah · before February 2004 (scanned print)
Green pasture with a barn under snow-capped mountains.
MO-IMG-033Pasture and barn by the slough, mountains beyond.South Weber, Utah · before February 2004 (scanned print)
Small stone monument among trees and long grass beside a fence.
MO-IMG-034Small stone monument in a grove, labeled by the editor as the site of the South Weber LDS church.South Weber, Utah · before February 2004 (scanned print)
Weathered wooden sheds and a leaning outbuilding beside a dirt track.
MO-IMG-035Old sheds and outbuildings in South Weber.South Weber, Utah · before February 2004 (scanned print)
Open field with trees and a low bluff in the distance.
MO-IMG-036Field labeled by the editor as the site of the South Weber post office.South Weber, Utah · before February 2004 (scanned print)
Stone house set back behind trees and a garden.
MO-IMG-037Stone house behind gardens in South Weber.South Weber, Utah · before February 2004 (scanned print)
Cemetery entrance with a sign, flower beds, and tall trees.
MO-IMG-038Entrance to the South Weber Pioneer Cemetery.South Weber, Utah · before February 2004 (scanned print)
Paved approach and garden beds at the cemetery.
MO-IMG-039Cemetery grounds.South Weber, Utah · before February 2004 (scanned print)
Gravel path lined with trees and a metal arch.
MO-IMG-040Path into the cemetery.South Weber, Utah · before February 2004 (scanned print)
Scattered headstones on a lawn with trees behind.
MO-IMG-041Headstones on the cemetery lawn.South Weber, Utah · before February 2004 (scanned print)
Tall weathered marble headstone with a carved top.
MO-IMG-042Weathered marble headstone.South Weber, Utah · before February 2004 (scanned print)
Granite headstone engraved FIRTH within a railed plot.
MO-IMG-043Firth family headstone and plot.South Weber, Utah · before February 2004 (scanned print)
Rows of small white headstones on grass with hills behind.
MO-IMG-044Rows of small headstones.South Weber, Utah · before February 2004 (scanned print)
Cemetery edge with a dirt lot and a metal tower.
MO-IMG-045Edge of the cemetery.South Weber, Utah · before February 2004 (scanned print)
Small log cabin under a large tree with two people beside it.
MO-IMG-046Log cabin that local resident Ed Johnson showed the editor and believed was the building Morris used in 1862 to hold three departing members. The identification rests on local tradition.South Weber, Utah · before February 2004 (scanned print)
Log cabin in the distance across a fenced pasture.
MO-IMG-047The same cabin seen across a pasture.South Weber, Utah · before February 2004 (scanned print)
A man standing in the doorway of the log cabin.
MO-IMG-048A man at the door of the cabin.South Weber, Utah · before February 2004 (scanned print)
A man standing on the porch of the log cabin.
MO-IMG-049A visitor at the cabin.South Weber, Utah · before February 2004 (scanned print)

Cannonballs

Cannonballs associated with the 1862 siege of Kington Fort.

A man in his living room holding a framed portrait and a black cannonball.
MO-IMG-051A cannonball from the 1862 siege, kept by the family of Al Peek in South Weber, photographed with the family’s portrait of Mary Christoffersen Anderson (the same image as MO-IMG-062), whom the first cannon shot of the siege wounded. Mrs. Peek brought both out when the editor called while going door to door in South Weber, asking residents what they knew of the Morrisites.South Weber, Utah · before February 2004 (scanned print)
A black cannonball on a wooden chair seat beneath a portrait of a woman.
MO-IMG-052The same cannonball on a chair below the portrait of Mary Christoffersen Anderson, Peek residence.South Weber, Utah · before February 2004 (scanned print)
A black cannonball on a crocheted blanket beside a portrait of a woman.
MO-IMG-053The cannonball with the portrait of Mary Christoffersen Anderson, Peek residence.South Weber, Utah · before February 2004
Close view of a black cannonball painted with a name and a typed donation card.
MO-IMG-054The Uintah museum cannonball, painted “H.C. Dye, Uintah,” with a card reading “Cannon ball from the Morrisite War 1862. Donated by Henry Carl Dye.” See MO-IMG-022.Local museum, Uintah, Weber County, Utah · date not recorded (scanned print)

Soda Springs, Idaho

The grave of Niels and Mary Christoffersen Anderson, survivors of the 1862 siege and among the first settlers of Morristown.

Bronze plaque set in a granite monument, densely inscribed with the names Niels Anderson and Mary Christoffersen Anderson and a long account of the Morrisite siege.
MO-IMG-061Bronze plaque on the Anderson gravestone, Fairview Cemetery (transcription below). Erected by their children, it gives a Morrisite account of the siege, Morris’s death, the trials, and the pardons, quoting Alexander Dow’s affidavit, Governor Harding, Brigham Young, and Richard W. Young’s 1890 Contributor articles.Soda Springs, Idaho · October 2018
Transcription of the Anderson plaque (MO-IMG-061)

NIELS ANDERSON  ·  OCTOBER 3 [?], 1835 – MARCH 4 [?], 1926
MARY CHRISTOFFERSEN ANDERSON  ·  JULY 26, 1847 – JULY 13 [?], 1928

THEY WERE BORN IN DENMARK; JOINED THE MORMONS THERE. IN 1857 MRS. ANDERSON ARRIVED AT BURLINGTON, IOWA; DETAINED THERE UNTIL 1859 ON ACCOUNT OF JOHNSTON’S ARMY HAVING TO BE SENT TO UTAH. THAT YEAR SHE WALKED NEARLY ALL THE WAY TO SALT LAKE CITY. IN 1860 MR. ANDERSON CAME; HE PULLED A HAND-CART FROM FLORENCE, NEBRASKA. THEY SOON SAW THE DECEPTION IN “BRIGHAMISM,” JOINED MORRIS A SECEDER FROM BRIGHAM. MAY 22 [?], 1863, THEY CAME TO SODA SPRINGS WITH THE FIRST SETTLERS; THEY WERE ESCORTED AND PROTECTED BY GEN. CONNOR AND CALIFORNIA VOLUNTEERS. JULY 20, 1863, THEY WERE MARRIED HERE; THEIR MARRIAGE WAS THE FIRST IN IDAHO TERRITORY AS FAR AS THEY KNEW. LATER MR. ANDERSON BECAME “THE FATHER OF THE ANTI-MORMON PARTY” IN IDAHO.

AT SOUTH WEBER, UTAH, JUNE 13–15, 1862, MR. AND MRS. ANDERSON WERE IN “THE MORRISITE MASSACRE.” MRS. ANDERSON’S CHIN WAS SHOT AWAY WITH A CANNON BALL, THAT KILLED MRS. BARBARA DE[…]THELM [?] AND MRS. JOSEPH (?) MARSH, FIRED BY GEN. ROBERT T. BURTON’S MORMON MILITIA INTO A BOWERY OF UNARMED “MORRISITES,” JUNE 13, BECAUSE THEY REFUSED TO OBEY “BRIGHAM’S” DECREES, AFTER JOHNSTON’S ARMY HAD LEFT UTAH ON ACCOUNT OF THE CIVIL WAR. MRS. J. L. BEAR AND HER BABY WERE KILLED WITH ANOTHER CANNON BALL. THEN MANY MORRISITES WITH THEIR OLD GUNS TRIED RESISTANCE. ON THE THIRD DAY ALL SURRENDERED UNDER A WHITE FLAG.

MRS. ANDERSON SAYS: “WHEN MORRIS CAME BEFORE GEN. BURTON, THE LATTER USED ABUSIVE LANGUAGE AND TRIED TO RIDE OVER MORRIS ON HIS HORSE. THIS ABUSE WAS ON ACCOUNT OF HIS RELIGIOUS TEACHING. I SAW HIM … SHOOT MORRIS.”

DOW’S AFFIDAVIT SAYS: BURTON SHOT MORRIS, BANKS, MRS. JAMES BOWMAN AND ANOTHER WOMAN, AFTER THEY SURRENDERED. TEN “MORRISITES” WERE KILLED, AND ONE “MORMON.” THE PRISONERS WERE TO BE TRIED AT THE NEXT TERM OF COURT HELD BY CHIEF JUSTICE KINNEY, A MORMON. IN THE MEANTIME GOV. HARDING, ASSOCIATE JUSTICES WAITE, DRAKE, COL. CONNOR AND VOLUNTEERS ARRIVED.

“SEVEN MORRISITES” WERE SENTENCED TO IMPRISONMENT FROM “TEN TO FIFTEEN YEARS.” “SIXTY-SIX” HEAVILY FINED.

“WE,” WROTE GOV. HARDING IN 1874, “ATTENDED THROUGH THE TRIAL, WHICH WAS NOTHING BUT A MOCKERY. BURTON ADMITTED HIS SHOOTING THE PRISONERS. … HAD I BEEN ON THE BENCH I SHOULD HAVE HAD HIM ARRESTED … ; BUT IT WOULD HAVE BEEN USELESS. THE JURORS WOULD ALL BE MORMONS, AND RECOGNIZE NO LAW BUT ‘THE COMMANDS OF AUTHORITY.’

“PETITIONS WERE GOTTEN UP FOR THE UNCONDITIONAL PARDON OF THE MORRISITES, WHICH WERE SIGNED BY ALL THE GENTILES, … NOT A MORMON SIGNED THEM. …

“I ISSUED THE PARDON; … SOME MOUNTED MORTARS … COMMANDING THE BEE-HIVE HOUSE AND LION HOUSE, MADE THINGS TOLERABLY SMOOTH ON THE SURFACE.”

BRIGHAM YOUNG JUNE 15, AS BY H. P. McLANE, SAID, “THAT MORRIS AND BANKS WILL BE TAKEN I HAVE NO DOUBT. … BUT IF I HAD MY OWN WAY ABOUT IT, I WOULD NOT SPARE NEITHER MAN, WOMAN NOR CHILD; BUT AS IT IS A UNITED STATES AFFAIR, THEY CAN HAVE IT AS THEY PLEASE. BUT AS REGARDS THIS YOUNG MAN, HE HAS DIED A MARTYR TO THE CAUSE AND KINGDOM OF OUR GOD. … THIS WAS A MATTER OF NECESSITY. … THE WORST … I [?] DISLIKE … , IS THAT AFTER THEY ARE ROUTED, THE … ACCURSED DEVILS … WILL BE TRYING TO SNEAK BACK INTO THE CHURCH AGAIN. …”

R. W. YOUNG WRITING FOR THE “CONTRIBUTOR,” OF 1890, FOR THE MORMON MUTUAL IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION SAYS: “THE … ACTION OF THE GOVERNOR WAS FOLLOWED … IN COURSE OF TIME, BY PERSECUTION OF GEN. BURTON. … A GRAND JURY WAS LED IN … 1870, TO BRING IN AN INDICTMENT FOR MURDER … , AND … (HE) THOUGHT HIMSELF COMPELLED BY CIRCUMSTANCES TO EVADE ARREST … LATER, ANOTHER INDICTMENT WAS FOUND AGAINST GEN. BURTON … , HE MADE NO ATTEMPT TO ESCAPE. …”

BETWEEN THESE TWO INDICTMENTS A RULING HAD “PROVIDED IN SUBSTANCE FOR JURIES HALF MORMON, AND HALF GENTILE.”

THIS YOUNG SAYS, “THE PROSECUTION LABORED LONG, AND,” “CLOUDS OF WITNESSES WERE BROUGHT FORTH,” “TO PERSUADE THE JURY,” “ONE-HALF BEING NON-MORMONS,” THAT BURTON KILLED MRS. BOWMAN.

THIS CASE WAS NO. 3109, U.S. VS. BURTON FOR “MURDER 1ST DEGREE,” SET FOR TRIAL 1ST DAY OF FEB. TERM 1879, MARCH 8 — INDICTMENT DISMISSED. THIS WAS ONE OF THE THREE INDICTMENTS AGAINST HIM.

IT WAS ASKED: WHAT ABOUT THE CASE FOR KILLING MORRIS? U.S. DISTRICT ATTORNEY VANZILE ANSWERED “WHAT IS THE USE, IF THEY WILL NOT CONVICT FOR KILLING AN INNOCENT WOMAN?”

TO FATHER AND MOTHER, AND HISTORIC TO MAN, WE DEDICATE THIS MEMORIAL.

ABRAHAM CHRISTOPHER ANDERSON, I[D]A COLLETT, ANNA CHRISTINA ROGERS,
DAVID ANDREW ANDERSON, ABELONE LARSEN, PETER WILLIAM ANDERSON,
NIELS CHRISTIAN ANDERSON, MARY AMELIA VERHAM.

Transcribed by the editor from MO-IMG-061 (October 2018), keeping the plaque’s capitals and punctuation; paragraphs follow its indentations. Ellipses and the “(?)” after “Joseph” are on the plaque. Bracketed readings are the editor’s and are uncertain where the bronze is worn: the dates marked [?], the first victim’s surname (perhaps the Swiss name Diethelm), and Ida Collett’s first name. The plaque is the Anderson children’s account and quotes its sources selectively; compare the trial record and the histories in the Bibliography. Corrections from a clearer reading are welcome.

Racetrack church: condition record, September 5, 1989

The earliest views in this record, and the fullest record of the furnished interior: the pulpit and railing, benches, chandelier, a Jewel Cottage stove, and pictures on the walls. The date, 9/5/89, is written on each sheet of the copies. The photographer is not recorded. The prints were photocopied, the photocopies were scanned, and these images are cut from that scan, so tones are harsh and fine detail is lost. Courtesy of Barbara B. Walden, Executive Director, Community of Christ Historic Sites Foundation, who shared the scan with the editor on May 25, 2023. If you know who took these photographs, or have the original prints, please write.

Front of the weathered frame church, an arched panel lettered THE LORD'S HOUSE above the doors, with metal pipes and poles leaning against the siding.
MO-IMG-063The front of the church, with the arched panel lettered THE LORD’S HOUSE above the doors, weathered siding, and metal pipes and poles standing against the front. Compare MO-IMG-027, 003, and 011.Deer Lodge County, Montana · September 5, 1989 · courtesy of Barbara B. Walden
Church interior with an arched beadboard ceiling, a hanging chandelier before a window flanked by two framed pictures, benches, a table, and a railed pulpit at the right.
MO-IMG-064Interior toward the pulpit end: the arched ceiling, a chandelier, a window between two framed pictures, benches, a table, and the pulpit behind its railing.Deer Lodge County, Montana · September 5, 1989 · courtesy of Barbara B. Walden
Church interior from one side: arched ceiling, a chandelier, windows, a framed picture, benches, a table, the pulpit, and a chair.
MO-IMG-065The pulpit end from one side, with the chandelier, the table, the pulpit, and a chair.Deer Lodge County, Montana · September 5, 1989 · courtesy of Barbara B. Walden
Church interior looking toward a white board partition with an open doorway, rows of benches, a chair, and a stovepipe, a chandelier at upper right.
MO-IMG-066Interior toward the other end: a board partition with a doorway, benches, a chair, and the stovepipe; the chandelier at the right.Deer Lodge County, Montana · September 5, 1989 · courtesy of Barbara B. Walden
Church interior toward the partition and doorway, with benches, a chair, a stovepipe, a yellow object on a bench, and the chandelier at upper left; a pale streak crosses the image.
MO-IMG-067A second view toward the partition. The pale streak is on the copy, not in the room.Deer Lodge County, Montana · September 5, 1989 · courtesy of Barbara B. Walden
Rows of dark wooden slatted benches on a dark floor below two windows in a white beadboard wall.
MO-IMG-068Benches in rows below two windows.Deer Lodge County, Montana · September 5, 1989 · courtesy of Barbara B. Walden
Close view of a dark wooden pulpit with carved ornaments along the top edge, on a white raised platform behind a railing with pointed balusters, a chair behind.
MO-IMG-069The pulpit: dark wood with carved ornaments along its top, on a raised platform behind a white railing with pointed balusters. A chair stands behind it.Deer Lodge County, Montana · September 5, 1989 · courtesy of Barbara B. Walden
A dark wooden pulpit on a white platform with a railing, two wooden chairs behind it, a bench at right and a table corner at left, windows and a framed picture on the walls.
MO-IMG-070The pulpit with two chairs behind it, the railing, a bench at the right, and the corner of a table at the left. Compare MO-IMG-020 (July 2012).Deer Lodge County, Montana · September 5, 1989 · courtesy of Barbara B. Walden
A plain wooden table with curved legs standing on a dark floor runner, a white board wall behind.
MO-IMG-071A table with curved legs, set on a dark runner.Deer Lodge County, Montana · September 5, 1989 · courtesy of Barbara B. Walden
An ornate metal chandelier hanging from an arched board ceiling, with flower-shaped cups at the ends of its arms.
MO-IMG-072The chandelier, hanging from the arched ceiling, with candle cups on its arms.Deer Lodge County, Montana · September 5, 1989 · courtesy of Barbara B. Walden
Close-up of ornate cast metalwork from the chandelier: square blocks with leaf patterns, ornamented cups above, and pointed drops below.
MO-IMG-073Detail of the chandelier: ornamented square blocks, candle cups above, and pointed drops below.Deer Lodge County, Montana · September 5, 1989 · courtesy of Barbara B. Walden
An ornate cast-iron parlor stove with paneled doors and curved legs; the casting reads Jewel Cottage and Rathbone, Sard and Co., Albany and Chicago.
MO-IMG-074The heating stove, a cast-iron Jewel Cottage made by Rathbone, Sard & Co. of Albany and Chicago, as the casting reads.Deer Lodge County, Montana · September 5, 1989 · courtesy of Barbara B. Walden
A tall stovepipe rising from the floor to a cylindrical drum heater near the ceiling, white beadboard walls and a window at left.
MO-IMG-075The stovepipe rising to a drum heater near the ceiling.Deer Lodge County, Montana · September 5, 1989 · courtesy of Barbara B. Walden
A second, lighter print of the stovepipe and drum heater near the ceiling.
MO-IMG-076The same view on a second print, lighter in tone.Deer Lodge County, Montana · September 5, 1989 · courtesy of Barbara B. Walden
A framed print with a central portrait of Christ surrounded by smaller scenes, hanging on a board wall.
MO-IMG-077A framed picture of Christ surrounded by scenes from his life. The printed title, perhaps “The Life of Christ,” is hard to read on the copy.Deer Lodge County, Montana · September 5, 1989 · courtesy of Barbara B. Walden
A dark framed picture with a pale mat hanging on a board wall; its image is not legible.
MO-IMG-078A framed picture on the wall; the image itself is too dark on the copy to make out.Deer Lodge County, Montana · September 5, 1989 · courtesy of Barbara B. Walden
A room corner with a window, a dark bench along the wall, and a picture in a red frame leaning against the bench.
MO-IMG-079A corner of the room: a bench with a red-framed picture leaning on it, and a window.Deer Lodge County, Montana · September 5, 1989 · courtesy of Barbara B. Walden
A door with small panes set in a white wooden casing in a vertical board wall.
MO-IMG-080A paned door in a board wall.Deer Lodge County, Montana · September 5, 1989 · courtesy of Barbara B. Walden
A room corner with horizontal board walls and the edge of a window casing.
MO-IMG-081A corner of the room beside a window casing, showing the board walls.Deer Lodge County, Montana · September 5, 1989 · courtesy of Barbara B. Walden
A small room with white board walls, a window, a framed object hung on a wire, a red chair, and a dark opening in the board ceiling.
MO-IMG-082A small room or entry: a window, a framed object hung on a wire, a red chair, and an opening in the board ceiling.Deer Lodge County, Montana · September 5, 1989 · courtesy of Barbara B. Walden

Racetrack church: condition record, before 2004

Summer views from the editor’s scanned prints. The shingle roof and the front siding are largely intact.

The weathered frame church in a green field under a blue sky with clouds.
MO-IMG-025The church in summer, front and gable end.Deer Lodge County, Montana · before February 2004 (scanned print)
The church seen at an angle under dark clouds, a fence in front.
MO-IMG-026The church under a stormy sky.Deer Lodge County, Montana · before February 2004 (scanned print)
Front view of the church, the lettered arch above the doors, fence and field around it.
MO-IMG-027Front of the church with the lettered panel above the doors. Compare MO-IMG-003, 019, and 011.Deer Lodge County, Montana · before February 2004 (scanned print)

Racetrack church: condition record, February 19, 2009

Taken on one afternoon visit, these views record the building’s condition on that date: weathered and largely unpainted siding, boarded windows and doors, sections of lower siding missing with the framing exposed, and a shingle roof still in place. Compare the July 2012 and November 2018 records below.

Weathered white frame church with arched windows and a shingle roof, inside a rail fence in a pasture, snow-covered mountains behind.
MO-IMG-002The Morrisite church near Racetrack, with the mountains of the Deer Lodge Valley behind.Deer Lodge County, Montana · February 19, 2009
Front of the weathered frame church: double doors under an arched panel lettered The Lord's House, flanked by two tall arched windows.
MO-IMG-003Front of the church: double doors under an arched panel reading “The Lord’s House,” flanked by two arched windows.Deer Lodge County, Montana · February 19, 2009
Close view of the arched panel above the church doors, with raised block letters reading THE LORD'S HOUSE.
MO-IMG-004Detail of the lettered panel above the doors.Deer Lodge County, Montana · February 19, 2009
The frame church standing alone in a winter pasture under a wide sky, with rolling hills on the right.
MO-IMG-005The church in its pasture, enclosed by a rail fence.Deer Lodge County, Montana · February 19, 2009
Gable end of the church in bare grey weathered siding beside the whitewashed front wall, with hills and mountains behind.
MO-IMG-006Gable end and front, showing the weathered siding and the remains of white paint.Deer Lodge County, Montana · February 19, 2009
Close view of the church wall where lower siding is missing, exposing wooden framing and boards behind a rail fence.
MO-IMG-007Detail of the wall where missing siding exposes the framing, a record of condition on this date.Deer Lodge County, Montana · February 19, 2009
The white church seen across a railroad track, with snowy mountains rising behind it.
MO-IMG-008The church seen across the railroad tracks.Deer Lodge County, Montana · February 19, 2009
Wide view from a two-lane highway: the railroad embankment in the middle distance and the small white church beyond it, mountains on the horizon.
MO-IMG-009View from the highway, with the railroad between the road and the church.Deer Lodge County, Montana · February 19, 2009
The church at a distance across a fenced pasture, with tawny rolling hills and mountains under clouds.
MO-IMG-010The church with the hills east of the valley floor behind it.Deer Lodge County, Montana · February 19, 2009

Racetrack church: condition record and reunion visit, July 2012

Taken when the property owners allowed a reunion of Morrisite descendants, held in Deer Lodge, to visit the church. Outside, the shingle roof is complete and the siding below and beside the windows has begun to open up, between the 2009 and 2018 conditions. Inside, the room was still finished in painted beadboard, with the pulpit, railing, and a chair in place. Date provisional: these copies show only that the photographs were taken in or before July 2012.

The weathered church in summer, green pasture around it and a turned-earth ring inside its rail fence, under an overcast sky.
MO-IMG-019Front of the church in summer. Compare MO-IMG-003 and MO-IMG-011.Deer Lodge County, Montana · July 2012
Interior of the church: white painted beadboard walls, a framed picture, a dark wooden pulpit with an open book on a raised platform behind a white railing, and a wooden chair. A visitor stands behind the pulpit, face obscured.
MO-IMG-020Interior: the pulpit on its raised platform, the railing, a chair, and painted beadboard walls. The visitor’s face has been obscured.Deer Lodge County, Montana · July 2012
A group of reunion visitors gathered in the green pasture beside the church's rail fence, mountains in the distance.
MO-IMG-023Members of the descendants’ reunion gathered at the church site.Deer Lodge County, Montana · July 2012
Reunion visitors talking in front of the church beneath the panel lettered THE LORD'S HOUSE.
MO-IMG-024Reunion visitors in front of the church.Deer Lodge County, Montana · July 2012

Comparison: the front of the church, 2009 and 2018

Front of the church in February 2009, siding largely intact.
MO-IMG-003 · February 19, 2009
Front of the church in November 2018, with much of the siding gone and the framing exposed on both sides of the doors.
MO-IMG-011 · November 2018

Racetrack church: condition record, November 2018

Compared with 2009: much more siding has fallen from the front, leaving large areas of framing exposed, especially to the right of the doors and below both windows. On the unpainted gable end the siding has partly collapsed, with a long board hanging loose. Dark gaps in the snow on the roof suggest missing shingles. The painted rear gable end remains largely intact, the lettered panel is still in place, and the front doors are padlocked. Date provisional: these copies show only that the photographs were taken in or before November 2018.

Front of the church in snow, with much of the siding gone and framing exposed on both sides of the doors.
MO-IMG-011Front of the church. Compare MO-IMG-003.Deer Lodge County, Montana · November 2018
Close view of the padlocked double doors under the panel lettered THE LORD'S HOUSE, with loose and missing siding on either side.
MO-IMG-012Doors and lettered panel, with loose and missing siding on either side. Compare MO-IMG-004.Deer Lodge County, Montana · November 2018
Front and unpainted gable end of the church; on the gable end siding has fallen away in rows and a long board hangs diagonally.
MO-IMG-013Front and unpainted gable end, where siding has partly collapsed. Compare MO-IMG-006.Deer Lodge County, Montana · November 2018
The church from an angle, front siding largely gone to expose the framing, the painted gable end intact, a snowy peak behind.
MO-IMG-014Front and painted gable end. Compare MO-IMG-002.Deer Lodge County, Montana · November 2018
The painted gable end with its boarded arched window, the damaged front wall to the left, and a snow-covered mountain beyond.
MO-IMG-015Painted gable end, still largely intact, beside the damaged front.Deer Lodge County, Montana · November 2018
Rear and side of the church in snow, the siding weathered grey with three boarded arched windows.
MO-IMG-016Rear of the church. Compare MO-IMG-008.Deer Lodge County, Montana · November 2018
The church seen across a snow-covered railroad track, with snowy hills and mountains behind.
MO-IMG-017The church seen across the railroad tracks.Deer Lodge County, Montana · November 2018
Wide view from a road: snow, the railroad, and the small church in its pasture, with mountains on the horizon.
MO-IMG-018View from the road, with the railroad between the road and the church. Compare MO-IMG-009.Deer Lodge County, Montana · November 2018

Racetrack church: later views by others

Not reproduced here; listed so the condition record can be followed past 2018. Dates are YouTube posting dates: “Last Existing Morrisite Church in the World” (February 17, 2026) and Marques Vickers, “Montana Morrisite Church: The Dilapidated Remnant” (July 29, 2026).

People and portraits

Historical portraits from the editor’s files; their original sources were not recorded.

Portraits published in Anderson, Joseph Morris and the Saga of the Morrisites (Revisited) (2010), not reproduced here:

  • Joseph Morris, with a man captioned as his older brother William, dated about 1841, England (p. 118). The only photograph identified as Morris; on its date and identification, see Open questions.
  • A later portrait captioned as Mary Christoffersen Anderson, different from MO-IMG-062 (p. 119). The caption makes her seventeen when she was wounded; the birth date on her gravestone, July 26, 1847, makes her fourteen.
  • George Thompson, with two unidentified women, in a pony cart (p. 120). The caption calls him one of the first to join the Morrisite army and a later successor to George Williams, the Prophet Cainan; Anderson’s text dates his election as president of the church to May 1886.
  • John R. Eardley, George Williams (the Prophet Cainan), and George Thompson, England, about 1873, during a Morrisite mission there under Williams (p. 121).
  • George Johnson and Andrew Hendrikson (spelled Henrikson in the caption), Danish immigrants who led the Montana church (p. 124). The caption’s “from 1866” for Hendrikson’s presidency is a misprint; Anderson’s text gives 1886 to 1921. See Chronology.
Oval studio portrait of an older woman in a dark high-collared dress; the lower part of her face shows the healed wound to her jaw.
MO-IMG-062Mary Christoffersen Anderson (1847–1928), whose jaw was shot away by a cannonball at Kington Fort in June 1862, when she was fourteen.Family collection · date not recorded
Engraved portrait of a man with dark hair in a high collar.
MO-IMG-056Stephen S. Harding, governor of Utah Territory, who pardoned the convicted Morrisites in March 1863.Source not recorded
Portrait of a bearded man in a wide-brimmed black hat.
MO-IMG-059Robert T. Burton, who led the posse at Kington Fort in 1862.Source not recorded
Portrait of an elderly man with white hair in a dark coat.
MO-IMG-057John Taylor, LDS apostle at the time of the Morrisite War.Source not recorded
Portrait of an older man with a white beard and a bow tie.
MO-IMG-058Wilford Woodruff, LDS apostle, whose journal records the Morrisite War.Source not recorded
Three bearded men in nineteenth-century suits, one seated, two standing.
MO-IMG-060Morrisite missionaries; names not recorded.Source not recorded

Photographs by Eric Paul Rogers unless a source is noted. The 1989 photographs are courtesy of Barbara B. Walden. Dates for 2008–2009 are taken from the original camera files, which are retained; the 2012 and 2018 dates are provisional pending the original files. The Racetrack church stands on private land. Exterior views were taken from outside the property, except those from the July 2012 reunion visit, which the owners permitted. Please do not enter.