Newspapers

Newspaper coverage of the Morrisites, arranged by event. Reprints are listed under the paper they were copied from. Links marked subscription go to Newspapers.com, which requires an account; the others are free. This guide does not reproduce newspaper clippings.

Every page on Newspapers.com that uses “Morrisite” or “Morrisites”, year by year: 4,295 pages in all. Some are about other things; use the button to show only the pages about the Morrisites. Select a bar, a period or a numbered note to go to that part of the list.

Only pages about the Morrisites

Point to or tap a bar to see that year’s count.

12345678

18611880190019201940196019802000

1880–19001901–501951–2026

also names the Mormons, Utah or Brigham Young   uses the word only

1. 1 1862: Morris’s revelations (1861) and the siege (1862)
2. 2 1867: The Cairo Democrat’s story of a convert
3. 3 1877: Burton’s arrest
4. 4 1879: Burton’s trial
5. 5 1891: The Salt Lake Tribune letters
6. 6 1909: Not about the Morrisites: Newfoundland’s premier Edward Morris and his supporters
7. 7 1920: Not about the Morrisites: a New Orleans baseball team
8. 8 1946: Not about the Morrisites: the people of Morris, Illinois

Share of coverage by event

Counts only the 1,882 pages that also name the Mormons, Utah or Brigham Young. Select a row to go to that part of the list.

• Morris’s new church, 18614%75 pages · 2 listed
• The siege, 18624%73 pages · 9 listed
• Trials, pardons and the removal to Soda Springs, 18633%63 pages · 5 listed
• Soda Springs and after, 1864–186912%223 pages · 3 listed
• Who was in command? 1870–187611%198 pages · 5 listed
• Burton’s arrest and trial, 1877–187923%430 pages · 11 listed
• 1880–1900 and the 1891 letters14%266 pages · 11 listed
• Early twentieth century, 1901–195018%340 pages · 13 listed
• Recent retellings, 1951 to the present11%214 pages · 7 listed

The counts are rough. Reprints count once for each paper. The Salt Lake papers of 1862 never used the word, so they are missed, and requiring Mormon, Utah or Brigham leaves out some genuine pages, about half of those from 1862. The 1905–06 pages about a Salt Lake mayor’s supporters are taken out. Counted November 7, 2026; see the searches for all pages and for pages that also name the Mormons, Utah or Brigham (Newspapers.com subscription).

View the counts as a table

By event

Event	Pages about the Morrisites	All pages using the word	Listed below
Morris’s new church, 1861	75	75	2
The siege, 1862	73	135	9
Trials, pardons and the removal to Soda Springs, 1863	63	63	5
Soda Springs and after, 1864–1869	223	229	3
Who was in command? 1870–1876	198	218	5
Burton’s arrest and trial, 1877–1879	430	521	11
1880–1900 and the 1891 letters	266	600	11
Early twentieth century, 1901–1950	340	1,895	13
Recent retellings, 1951 to the present	214	559	7

By year

Year	Pages about the Morrisites	All pages using the word
1861	75	75
1862	73	135
1863	63	63
1864	6	6
1865	21	22
1866	16	18
1867	87	89
1868	2	3
1869	91	91
1870	25	26
1871	35	35
1872	38	41
1873	4	6
1874	20	26
1875	63	68
1876	13	16
1877	172	199
1878	11	17
1879	247	305
1880	12	51
1881	4	7
1882	8	11
1883	15	18
1884	3	4
1885	10	16
1886	37	39
1887	9	18
1888	3	22
1889	21	29
1890	42	45
1891	22	61
1892	33	75
1893	7	34
1894	4	10
1895	0	7
1896	5	16
1897	2	12
1898	6	27
1899	11	59
1900	12	39
1901	2	15
1902	8	40
1903	9	41
1904	7	18
1905	2	21
1906	2	57
1907	27	32
1908	8	56
1909	34	302
1910	9	25
1911	9	34
1912	4	13
1913	20	109
1914	4	19
1915	2	23
1916	7	54
1917	2	14
1918	0	5
1919	10	51
1920	23	176
1921	9	60
1922	5	39
1923	2	22
1924	3	27
1925	1	3
1926	10	30
1927	7	14
1928	1	11
1929	6	31
1930	5	27
1931	3	6
1932	0	4
1933	3	10
1934	1	5
1935	11	23
1936	3	12
1937	8	27
1938	8	29
1939	6	9
1940	6	7
1941	1	1
1942	1	4
1943	2	4
1944	0	2
1945	13	79
1946	12	156
1947	14	106
1948	7	23
1949	2	10
1950	1	9
1951	2	11
1952	1	14
1953	1	8
1954	2	4
1955	1	4
1956	4	7
1957	2	8
1958	8	11
1959	2	11
1960	1	8
1961	5	12
1962	2	8
1963	4	9
1964	3	6
1965	5	13
1966	3	19
1967	1	8
1968	5	7
1969	3	9
1970	1	6
1971	3	10
1972	3	13
1973	2	3
1974	4	11
1975	3	20
1976	9	18
1977	0	4
1978	1	1
1979	1	1
1980	10	15
1981	6	11
1982	11	13
1983	5	12
1984	2	15
1985	2	6
1986	0	4
1987	3	4
1988	1	2
1989	4	7
1990	10	12
1991	21	39
1992	3	13
1993	3	13
1994	1	8
1995	3	7
1996	4	9
1997	4	7
1998	0	8
1999	7	11
2000	2	4
2001	1	4
2002	1	3
2003	3	5
2004	4	5
2005	0	7
2006	0	6
2007	2	7
2008	2	2
2009	4	9
2010	0	6
2011	0	2
2012	3	4
2013	6	7
2014	0	3
2016	2	2
2017	1	1
2018	1	1
2019	0	1

Morris’s new church, 1861

Joseph Morris’s revelations reached the national press a year before the siege, through letters from Utah correspondents.

• Chicago Tribune, July 17, 1861, p. 3. In a column of Utah news. A correspondent’s account of Morris, “the new prophet,” and his revelations: war in the States, the fall of Brigham Young’s church, and the gathering of the Morrisites at Weber. The earliest page found on Newspapers.com; about seventy-five pages in the United States and Britain carried the story that summer and autumn. Newspapers.com subscription
• Wiltshire Independent (Devizes, England), September 12, 1861, p. 4. In “General Gleanings.” A paragraph beginning “Brigham Young has found a rival,” on Morris’s settlement near Zion. Newspapers.com subscription

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The siege, 1862

The first reports went out by telegraph from Salt Lake City and were reprinted across the country and abroad within weeks. The Deseret News told the story its own way and never used the word “Morrisite”: in 1862 it wrote of a “band” and “the Davis County bandits.”

• Sacramento Bee, June 16, 1862, p. 3. “[Second Dispatch.] … Rebellion in Utah—The Prophet Moses, or ‘the Prophet Figgs.’” The original telegraphic dispatch from Salt Lake City, dated June 16. It is the source of most of the 1862 coverage elsewhere. As it was copied, the wording drifted: “the prophet Moses” became “Prophet Morris,” and “the 15th” became “the 5th.” Newspapers.com subscription
  • Reprinted in
  • Daily Alta California (San Francisco), June 17, 1862, p. 1, in the telegraphic column “Salt Lake, June 16th.” Newspapers.com subscription
  • Oregonian (Portland), June 24, 1862, p. 2. “Disturbance at Salt Lake.” Credits “a dispatch to the Bee.” Newspapers.com subscription
  • Chicago Tribune, June 25, 1862, p. 1. “Important from Utah. A Schism in Mormondom. Adventure of the Morrisites.” Newspapers.com subscription
  • Salisbury Journal (England), July 26, 1862, p. 2. “Rebellion of Religious Devotees in Utah.” Abridged. Newspapers.com subscription
  • Ovens and Murray Advertiser (Beechworth, Victoria, Australia), September 16, 1862, p. 3, in a column of overseas news. Newspapers.com subscription
• Deseret News (Great Salt Lake City), June 18, 1862, p. 404. “Fatal Resistance to the Laws.” The Salt Lake paper’s first account, from Enoch M. King’s complaint to the surrender. Summarized on the Documents page. Utah Digital Newspapers
  • Reprinted in
  • Daily Alta California (San Francisco), July 2, 1862, p. 1. “Later from Salt Lake. The Outlaws.” Credits “the Deseret News of June 18,” and adds the affidavits of H. O. Hanson and Philo Allen. Newspapers.com subscription
• Deseret News, June 25, 1862, p. 412. “The Davis County Bandits.” The hearing before Judge Kinney, June 18–19, with the names of the men held to bail. Transcription on the Documents page · Utah Digital Newspapers

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Trials, pardons and the removal to Soda Springs, 1863

• Brooklyn Eagle, February 6, 1863.
• Deseret News, April 1, 1863, p. 4. “Third District Territorial Court.” The court’s report of the March 1863 term, with the seven convicted of murder. Transcription on the Documents page
• Chicago Tribune, April 24, 1863, p. 2. “Our Utah Correspondence. History of the Morrisites. How the Mormons Treat Apostates. The Siege of Morristown.” A long letter from the paper’s Salt Lake correspondent, written after the trials and Governor Harding’s pardons. Newspapers.com holds two scans of this page. Newspapers.com subscription
• Boston Herald, July 27, 1863. “From Washington,” summarizing Connor’s report of the Soda Springs expedition.
• New York Herald, August 2, 1863, p. 2. “The Utah and Idaho Expedition. The Trip from Camp Douglas, Utah, to Soda Springs, Idaho—The Morrisites, or Seceding Mormons.” A correspondent’s account of the journey to Soda Springs with Connor’s command. Newspapers.com subscription

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Soda Springs and after, 1864–1869

• Idaho World (Idaho City), November 12, 1864, p. 2. Editorial on county organization and the Soda Springs country. Claims that Connor and a Salt Lake judge took up the Soda Springs land and let it to the Morrisites. A partisan charge, not yet checked against land records. Newspapers.com subscription
• Missouri Republican (St. Louis), November 15, 1867, p. 3. “A Strange Sect. Mormonism Improved Upon.” On Morrisite belief and a married woman of Cairo, Illinois, who joined. Credited to the Cairo Democrat of November 14, 1867, which has not been found. The story ran in about nineteen papers that month. Newspapers.com subscription
• New York Herald, December 12, 1869, p. 8. Article on Utah, with the subheads “Bobby Burton’s Pedigree” and “A Crusade for the Faith.” Robert T. Burton’s part in 1862, retold while he was in New York. Newspapers.com subscription

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Who was in command? 1870–1876

• Corinne Daily Reporter, January 27, 1870, p. 2. J. H. Beadle, “Home Papers. XIX. Gentiles in Utah (continued).” Beadle’s retelling of 1862–63, including the story of Bill Hickman signing the petition to pardon the Morrisites. Newspapers.com subscription
• Deseret Evening News, October 29, 1870, p. 2. “Correspondence between Lieutenant-General D. H. Wells and Governor J. W. Shaffer,” with “Letter from Lieutenant-General D. H. Wells.” A quarrel over the territorial militia. Governor Shaffer had banned musters and refused to recognize Wells as its lieutenant-general. To show that earlier governors had recognized him, Wells printed Acting Governor Frank Fuller’s order of June 11, 1862, requiring him to furnish Marshal Henry W. Lawrence and his deputies Burton and McKean with “a sufficient military force” to arrest Joseph Morris. That is the earliest printing of the order found for this guide. Fuller’s order on the Documents page · Utah Digital Newspapers
• Salt Lake Weekly Tribune, November 5, 1870, p. 5. “The Morrisite Campaign. Letter from Henry W. Lawrence.” Lawrence’s answer to Wells, a week later, on the Fuller order and on who directed the force at Kington Fort. It reprints Fuller’s letter of June 11, 1862. The same issue is also on Utah Digital Newspapers. Newspapers.com subscription
• Corinne Daily Journal, July 26, 1871, p. 2. An anti-Mormon editorial complains that the 1862 grand jury indicted about a hundred Morrisites but refused to indict Burton. Utah Digital Newspapers
• Salt Lake Herald, February 4, 1876, p. 3. “Legislative Assembly.” In the territorial legislature, John Taylor opposed a bill on criminal prosecutions and defended Burton’s part in 1862: Burton, he said, was serving a writ from Judge Kinney and was resisted. Utah Digital Newspapers

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Burton’s arrest and trial, 1877–1879

Burton was arrested in July 1877 and tried in Salt Lake City in February and March 1879 for the killing of Isabella Bowman, one of the women shot at the surrender. The jury acquitted him.

• Carson Valley News (Genoa, NV), May 29, 1877, p. 3; June 15, 1877, p. 3; June 22, 1877, p. 3. A preacher calling himself the Prophet Daniel tells “the Morrisites” of Carson Valley of a Savior born at Walla Walla, and R. J. Livingstone sells out and leaves to join William W. Davies. Reprinted in the Salt Lake Herald, June 16, 1877, and other papers. Douglas County digital archive
• New North-West (Deer Lodge, MT), June 15, 1877, p. 2. “The Morrisites. A Good Immigration Story.” The Carson Valley News item on the “Prophet Daniel,” reprinted in Montana; it says the Morrisites “flourish largely in Carson Valley, Nevada.” Chronicling America
• New North-West, July 13, 1877, p. 4. “The Second Christ.” A description of Davies’s colony “between Mill creek and Russell creek,” about seventy people, “an off-shoot from the Mormon church” whose leader’s young son was claimed to be the second Christ. Chronicling America
• Salt Lake Herald, July 27, 1877, p. 3. “Arrest of Gen. Burton.” Burton’s arrest on July 26, on a warrant sworn by the foreman of the grand jury. Utah Digital Newspapers
• New York Herald, August 9, 1877, p. 2. “Murder Territory. Awful Revelations Made to the Utah Grand Jury.” A Salt Lake City letter of July 31 on the indictment of Burton and Dr. Jeter Clinton, naming the witness S. D. Sirrine. Newspapers.com subscription
  • Reprinted in
  • The Sun (New York), August 10, 1877, p. 4. “Killing the Morrisites.” Credited “From the Herald.” Newspapers.com files this page under the New York Herald. From the Sun the story passed to about twenty papers, most of them Kansas weeklies. Newspapers.com subscription
• Salt Lake Herald, February 21 – March 6, 1879. “The Burton Trial,” daily reports of Burton’s trial for the murder of Isabella Bowman. The fullest account in the free archives. Former Morrisites testified for the prosecution and gave their homes in 1879. Among them were James Bowman (of Soda Springs since 1863), Mrs. Mary Anderson (of Soda Springs), Caroline Eliason, Mrs. Emma Just (of the Snake River valley, Oneida County, Idaho), Jacob Johnson, Thomas Williams (of Ogden since 1865), Philip Hewitt (Salt Lake City) and a man from Hyrum whose name the scan garbles. Men of the posse also took the stand, among them Christopher Sproat, William H. Hunt and Dan Camomile. The defense called Thomas Abbott of Farmington, Robert W. Burton of Kaysville, John C. Thompson of Riverdale and Burton himself. Abraham Taylor, one of the seven convicted in 1863, testified near the close (reported March 4). The text of these scans is poor, and the names are as read from it. Feb. 21 · Feb. 22 · Feb. 25 · Feb. 26 · Feb. 27 · Feb. 28 · Mar. 1 · Mar. 2 · Mar. 4 · Mar. 6
  • Also reported in
  • The Deseret Evening News and the Ogden Junction (daily reports); the Salt Lake Weekly Tribune, March 1, 1879, pp. 1–5. Search Utah Digital Newspapers
• New North-West, April 16, 1875, p. 2. “Railroad Meeting at Gwendale.” Also June 18, 1875, p. 3; September 8, 1876, p. 3; July 6, 1877, p. 3; August 31, 1877, p. 3; April 30, 1880, p. 4; January 20, 1882, p. 3; March 10, 1882, p. 3; May 4, 1883, p. 3. Notices that place Gwendale, later Morristown, in the upper Deer Lodge valley. The April 1875 mass meeting of “the citizens of Upper Deer Lodge Valley” at the Gwendale school house was chaired by Morgan Evans, with W. Watkin Thomas on the resolutions committee. Primaries were held at Wier’s store (1875); the 1876 election judges for Gwendale were Morgan Evans, Peter Jessen and Wm Wier; a W W Thomas of Gwendale paid a subscription (1877); and a fifty-ton smelter at Gwendale began work in August 1877. A land-office notice of March 1880 lists Warm Springs settlers whose homestead claims awaited a hearing on whether the land was mineral, among them Daniel James, William P. Thomas, Morgan Evans and Peter Jessen. In January 1882 John R. Eardley built a store at “Daniel James’ corner, Warm Springs settlement,” and in March he was appointed postmaster “at Willow Glen on Warm Spring creek, where the Gwendale postoffice formerly was.” By 1883 school district No. 6 was called Willow Glen. None of these items calls anyone a Morrisite. Apr. 16, 1875 · June 18, 1875 · Sept. 8, 1876 · July 6, 1877 · Aug. 31, 1877 · Apr. 30, 1880 · Jan. 20, 1882 · Mar. 10, 1882 · May 4, 1883
• New North-West, June 7, 1878, p. 3. The post office at Gwendale, Deer Lodge County, renamed Morristown; “as many of the people are Morrisites, we do not doubt that they will eventually take kindly to Morristown.” Chronicling America
• San Francisco Chronicle, February 27, 1879, p. 2. “The Morrisite Massacre. Burton, the Mormon Assassin, on the Witness Stand.” Burton’s own testimony at his trial. Newspapers.com subscription

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1880–1900 and the 1891 letters

Thirty years on, a series of letters in the Salt Lake Tribune retold the siege from the Morrisite side. They are partisan, and their numbers and quoted speech should be checked against the court records.

• Salt Lake Democrat, November 24, 1885, p. 2. “Their Destiny.” An anecdote about an elderly man, once a Morrisite in Utah, meeting an old friend. Utah Digital Newspapers
• Salt Lake Herald, January 27, 1889, p. 7. “In Undimmed Glory,” with a letter from Boise headed “Morrisite Bugaboo.” The Herald’s Boise correspondent on the Morrisite affair being raised in Idaho’s territorial legislature. Utah Digital Newspapers
• Salt Lake Herald, July 1, 1894, p. 14. “How to Spend Summer.” A resort piece on Soda Springs that recalls the Morrisites settled there by Connor. Utah Digital Newspapers
• New North-West, April 13, 1883, p. 2. On the RLDS conference at Kirtland, taking that church to be of the same faith as the Morrisites; the settlements on Warm Springs Creek and the upper Deer Lodge River are “largely composed of them,” and the editor praises them as industrious, hospitable and law-abiding. Chronicling America
• New North-West, July 11, 1884, p. 3. “Reorganized Latter-day Saints.” Notice of W. W. Blair’s RLDS preaching at the Deer Lodge courthouse; the church, “like that of the Josephites and Morrisites,” is distinct from Brigham Young’s and opposed to polygamy. It names the church’s Montana congregations: at Rees Creek near Bozeman, at Willow Creek near Gallatin City, and “near Stuart, in upper Deer Lodge valley.” The Reese Creek branch in Gallatin County was the first in Montana, founded in 1868 by the missionary Joseph W. Morgan, who baptized John E. Reese there (Don Cornelius, “Mormonism in Montana, 1847–1898,” M.A. thesis, 1962, p. 56). Chronicling America
• New North-West, October 30, 1885, p. 3. “The preachers from California, to speak at the court house next Sunday afternoon, are Morrisites”: almost certainly James and George Dove, who visited the Morrisites at Deer Lodge, Race Track, Willow Glen and Anaconda that October and November (Anderson, Revisited, pp. 182, 207). “There are a large number of Morrisites in this valley.” Chronicling America
• New North-West, September 3, 1886, p. 3. Also February 19 and March 26, 1886, p. 3. “A Mormon Church, of the Morrisite branch, we are informed, is being constructed under the superintendence of Elder Clapp on the Cottonwood road about a half mile east of town.” An Elder J. C. Clapp had preached at the Deer Lodge court house in February and March 1886, once on the “Origin of the American Indians,” a Book of Mormon theme. He may be the RLDS missionary Joseph C. Clapp, but that is not confirmed, and whether the church was Morrisite or RLDS is not yet known. Chronicling America · Chronicling America · Chronicling America
• Salt Lake Tribune, July 12, 1891, p. 3. “The Morrisite Movement. Motives That Led the Brighamites to Crush It in Blood.” Signed “The Elder.” The companies that marched on the camp and Howard Egan’s attack and withdrawal. Also the writer’s own sight of Morrisite families being carried west to Nevada in 1863, and where the Morrisites settled: Soda Springs, the Deer Lodge Valley, Walla Walla and Salt Lake County. Newspapers.com subscription
• Salt Lake Tribune, July 26, 1891, p. 3. “Massacre of Morrisites. The Inside History of That Dreadful Deed.” The ninth letter. The surrender and the deaths of Morris and Banks, and the seven sentenced and pardoned. Also where some survivors went: Soda Springs, Reese River and Carson Valley. Newspapers.com subscription
• Anaconda Standard, July 26, 1891, p. 11. “The Morrisite Tragedy: A Thrilling Incident in the History of Mormonism.” An unsigned account sympathetic to the Morrisites, from Morris’s arrival at South Weber through the surrender. It appeared the same day as the Tribune’s ninth letter, but the text differs. Newspapers.com subscription
• San Francisco Chronicle, June 19, 1892.

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Early twentieth century, 1901–1950

• Truth (Brisbane, Australia), May 5, 1907, p. 2. “Morrisite Murders. The Case for the Mormons.” Letter of J. F. Nash. A Latter-day Saint’s reply to the paper’s article “Murdered Morrisites,” which drew on Fanny Stenhouse. Nash dates that article April 14, 1907 (the NZ reprint of his letter says April 11); it has not been found on Trove. The exchange between Nash and J. W. Barkus of Coorparoo ran in Brisbane Truth through the summer, and John Norton’s Truth in Wellington reprinted it. Trove (free) · Newspapers.com subscription
  • Reprinted in NZ Truth (Wellington; free on Papers Past)
  • April 27, 1907. The article drawn from Mrs. Stenhouse. Papers Past
  • May 25, 1907, p. 7. “Morrisite Murders. The Case for the Mormons.” Nash’s letter. Papers Past
  • July 20, 1907, p. 8. “More Mormon. Brigham Young’s Words Explained.” Nash’s answer to Barkus. Papers Past
  • September 28, 1907, p. 6. “More Mormon. The Morrisite Murders. Cowardly Conduct of Major-General Burton.” Barkus, quoting an eyewitness account of the siege. Papers Past
• Truth (Brisbane), May 26, 1907, p. 2. “‘Morrisite’ Murders. Another Side to the Story.” J. W. Barkus’s reply to Nash. Trove (free)
• Truth (Brisbane), June 2, 1907, p. 9. “Mountain Meadows Massacre.” The paper’s editorial answer to Nash, with a section on “the slaughtered Morrisites.” Trove (free)
• Truth (Brisbane), September 15, 1907, p. 6. “Morrisite Murders. More Mormon Material. Barkus Supplies Details Given by an Eye-witness.” Barkus quotes an eyewitness account of the siege and the surrender; reprinted in NZ Truth, September 28. Trove (free)
• Salt Lake Tribune, February 18, 1907, p. 2. “Helped Establish Fort Douglas.” Interview with Presto Burrell, a sergeant in Connor’s command. He recalls the Morrisite men in the penitentiary in the winter of 1862–63 and their pardon, and says his company escorted the Morrisite colony to Soda Springs in the spring of 1863. He later took up a ranch on the Blackfoot River. Utah Digital Newspapers
• Salt Lake Tribune, November 13, 1907, p. 4. “Gen. Burton’s Death.” An editorial on Burton’s death that names the suppression of the Morrisites as one of the two chief acts of his career. Utah Digital Newspapers
• Washington County News (St. George, UT), June 26, 1924, p. 1. “Veteran Pioneer is Called Home.” Obituary of Schuyler Everett, who was called out with the force sent to the Morrisite fort in 1862. Utah Digital Newspapers
• Soda Springs Sun, May 30, 1931 (memorial dedication); June 11, 1931.
• Anaconda Standard, August 8, 1935. Cited twice in the notes to chapter 1 of Patrick F. Morris, Anaconda, Montana (1997): note 3, with In the Shadow of Mount Haggin (1975), p. 134, and note 32. Not yet read for this guide; title and page not known.

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Recent retellings, 1951 to the present

• Ogden Standard-Examiner, June 29, 1975, p. 22B. “Morrisite War Touche[d] …” (headline only partly read). An anniversary retelling. Newspapers.com subscription
• Salt Lake Tribune, February 26, 1981, pp. D-1–D-2. “‘Morrisite War’ Disappears in H[istory] …” (headline only partly read). Local memory of the siege at South Weber. Newspapers.com subscription
• Missoulian, May 8, 1982, p. A-8. Bryan Di Salvatore, “Morrisite Saga Transcends Its Subject.” Review of C. LeRoy Anderson’s For Christ Will Come Tomorrow. Newspapers.com subscription
• Montana Standard (Butte), June 19, 1982, p. 5. “Deer Lodge Once Thought to Be Site of Second Coming.” With photographs, including the church. Brought to this guide’s attention by Kris Pozega, a great-great-niece of George Johnson. Not yet read for this guide.
• Montana Standard (Butte), July 2, 1989, pp. 69–71. Roger Kelley, “From Morrisites to Marcus Daly.” An interview with the Anaconda historian Alice Finnegan. She calls the Morrisites the area’s first settlers, says they wintered at Gregson (now Fairmont Hot Springs) before homesteading, and names Morgan Evans, who bought the land for Daly’s town and smelter, as a Morrisite. Morris’s Anaconda, Montana (1997) describes Evans’s arrival in 1866 without calling him one, and he is not on the 1861–62 roll; the claim is unconfirmed.
• Bonner County Daily Bee, July 9, 2013. “Descendants of Morrisites Sought.” On a descendants’ reunion at Soda Springs, August 3, 2013. Website
• Caribou County News (Soda Springs, ID), December 18, 2025. “The Morrisites and Founding of Morristown.” Website

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Searching the newspapers

• The word “Morrisite” finds only part of the story. The Salt Lake papers of 1862 never use it. To find their reports, search a narrow range of dates for names and places: Morris, Kinney, Burton, Weber, Kington.
• Newspapers.com treats “Morrisite” and “Morrisites” as the same word, even in quotation marks. A search for either finds about 4,300 pages. Nearly a third of them come from 1871–1900, and more than half from after 1900.
• Many of the hits are about something else. In the 1850s, Illinois papers called the followers of a politician named Morris “Morrisites”; in 1920 a New Orleans baseball team had the same name. Common surnames (Morris, Fuller) bring in letter lists and war news. In Salt Lake papers of 1905–06, “Morrisites” are the supporters of Mayor Richard P. Morris. In 1908–19 they are the followers of Newfoundland’s premier, Edward Morris; from the 1880s on, papers in Morris, Illinois, Oklahoma and Minnesota use the word for their own townspeople. Adding Mormon, Utah or Brigham to a search screens out most of these.
• Utah Digital Newspapers has about fifty more pages from 1927 to 2024 that mention the Morrisites, mostly anniversary pieces and local history; they are not yet listed here. See them on Utah Digital Newspapers.
• Most reports from 1862, 1867 and 1877 are reprints. Find the earliest printing and note where later texts differ.
• The Deer Lodge New North-West (1869–97) is free on Chronicling America; a search for “morrisite” in it finds the seven pages listed here.
• Free sources for the West: Utah Digital Newspapers (the Deseret News, Salt Lake Herald, Tribune and others), Chronicling America, the California Digital Newspaper Collection, and, for Australia and New Zealand, Trove and Papers Past.