Morrisite.org › Roll of membership › David Park
David Park (1809–1884)
A Scottish farmer who came to Utah by way of Canada and Missouri, joined Joseph Morris with his wife and five of their children, took up one of the first Morrisite land claims in the Carson Valley, was living in William W. Davies’s Kingdom of Heaven at Walla Walla in 1880, and died back in the Carson Valley.
- On the roll
- Park, David Sr., in the 1861–62 roll of membership printed in 1886, with Ann, David Jr., Hugh, Martha, Ellen and Joseph Hyrum Park
- Identification
- Probable: Family Tree’s David Park, husband of Ann Brooks, whose record carries the 1880 Walla Walla census and the family’s Carson Valley deaths
- Born
- June 12, 1809, Cambuslang, Lanarkshire, Scotland, son of James Park and Marion Allen (Family Tree)
- Died
- July 22, 1884, Mottsville, Douglas County, Nevada; buried in Mottsville Cemetery (Family Tree)
- Wife
- Ann Brooks (1811–1889), married March 1829; the roll’s Park, Ann (Family Tree)
- Children
- Thirteen in Family Tree, born in Scotland, Canada, Missouri and Utah between 1830 and 1854; five are on the roll: David Jr. (1839–1908), Hugh (1843–1924), Martha (1845–1920), Joseph Hyrum (1849–1929) and Ellen (Margaret Ellen, 1852–1925)
- Family Tree
- FamilySearch LLQF-CF6, David Park (1809–1884)
- Connected names on the roll
- Park, Ann; Park, David Jr.; Park, Hugh; Park, Martha; Park, Ellen; Park, Joseph Hyrum; McCue, Unity (David Jr.’s wife)
Life
- 12 Jun 1809Born at Cambuslang, Lanarkshire, Scotland. (Family Tree)
- Mar 1829Marries Ann Brooks. Their first children are born in Scotland; Mary Ann (1837), David Jr. (1839), Hugh (1843) and Martha (1845) are born in Canada, and Joseph Hyrum in Missouri in 1849. (Family Tree)
- 1850Crosses to Utah in the Smith Humphrey Company with Ann and their children. (Church History Biographical Database)
- 1860Farming at Kaysville, Davis County, Utah, with real estate worth $200 and personal property worth $690, with Ann and their children. (1860 U.S. census)
- 1861–62He, Ann and five of their children are on the roll of membership of Joseph Morris’s Church of the Firstborn. Their son Hugh’s name was later found inscribed on one of the Morrisite scepters.
- June 1862A “David Park” is among the men held to $1,500 bail after the siege of Kington Fort; whether it was David or his son David Jr. is not known. (Deseret News, June 25, 1862)
- 10 Dec 1864Receives the patent for 160 acres in the Carson Valley, Nevada (Mount Diablo Meridian, T12N R19E, secs. 1–2), a cash entry at the Carson City land office: the earliest federal land patent yet found for any Morrisite. (BLM General Land Office records)
- 1870Living in Nevada. (Family Tree)
- June 1880At Walla Walla, Washington, among the members of William W. Davies’s Kingdom of Heaven: “David Park,” 71, born in Scotland, a laborer, sharing a house with Ole Hagg, 72, two doors from Davies, in the months after the community’s collapse began. Ann, listed as “Annie Park,” born in Scotland, was counted the same year in the Carson Valley, living as the mother in one of her sons’ households; David Jr., Hugh, Joseph H. and William Park were all farming there. (1880 U.S. census)
- 22 Jul 1884Dies at Mottsville in the Carson Valley and is buried there. Ann dies in 1889. (Family Tree)
Carson Valley and Walla Walla
Most of the Park family stayed in the Carson Valley: David Jr. married Unity McCue, also on the roll, and he and his brother Joseph Hyrum died in Douglas County, Nevada. David himself appears in 1880 hundreds of miles to the north, at Walla Walla, as one of a cluster of former Morrisites living around William W. Davies on Mill Creek: Sven Hagg in Davies’s own house, two young McCue boys, Rachel Jones and her children, and Scandinavian families with children born in Utah. Ann was not with him: the same census finds her in the Carson Valley with their sons. Whether he went north to join Davies’s community, or for some other reason, and how long he stayed, are not yet known.
Open questions
- Which David Park, father or son, was held to bail in June 1862?
- When did David go to Walla Walla, and why did he go without Ann?
- His 1864 cash entry was made within about eighteen months of the Morrisites’ arrival in Nevada. His land entry file at the National Archives (Carson City land office) should show when he settled on the land.
If you can answer one, write to contact@morrisite.org.
Sources
- Roll of membership, 1861–62. Printed by George S. Dove & Co., 1886. See Roll of membership.
- “The Davis County Bandits.” Deseret News, June 25, 1862, p. 412. See Documents.
- Church History Biographical Database: David Park, Smith Humphrey Company (1850). Church History Department
- 1860 U.S. census, Kaysville, Davis County, Utah Territory: David Park household. FamilySearch image
- Bureau of Land Management. General Land Office Records: land patent to David Park, December 10, 1864, Carson City land office (accession STA-NV0010__.049). glorecords.blm.gov
- 1880 U.S. census, Walla Walla County, Washington Territory, enumeration district 50, p. 263c, dwelling 7: David Park and Ole Hagg. Ancestry, 1880 United States Federal Census (NARA T9, roll 1398).
- 1880 U.S. census, Carson Valley, Douglas County, Nevada: households of D. B. (David Jr.), H. (Hugh), Joseph H. and Wm. Park, with “Annie Park,” mother. Ancestry, 1880 United States Federal Census.
- FamilySearch Family Tree: David Park, LLQF-CF6; Ann Brooks, KWJ5-6FF. Consulted November 4, 2026.
Cite this page
Rogers, Eric Paul, ed. “David Park (1809–1884).” Morrisite.org. https://morrisite.org/person/david-park.html. Updated November 4, 2026.