Kingdom of Heaven

Places on the ground

Sites of Davies’s community, 1867–1881, and of what remains of it. Solid markers and tracts are located; outlined markers are approximate; sites not yet located are listed without a marker. The colony land is private today. If you know where one of these places stood, please write.

Tracts are drawn from their legal descriptions on the BLM section grid. The corner of Scenic Loop and Mormon Grade roads is from OpenStreetMap.

• The colony’s eighty acres Located 1867–1881 map
  After the 1881 judgment against Davies, the sheriff levied on his land, “the W½ NW¼ sec. 34, T7N R37E,” less one acre, and sold it at the courthouse door on July 16, 1881, for $1,975. A witness in the case spoke of the eighty acres “where he resides,” so this was almost certainly the camp. The tract lies on the west side of Mormon Grade Road just south of its corner with Scenic Loop Road, which matches Dan Clark’s placing of the site near Russell Creek. Private land; the site is not marked.
  Sources: Washington State Archives, Eastern Region Branch, Walla Walla Frontier Justice, case 2373 (WAL-3153); Dan Clark, Walla Walla 2020, correspondence with the editor, November 2026; section lines from the BLM National PLSS dataset.
• Scenic Loop and Mormon Grade roads Located today map
  The road named for the colony. Walla Walla 2020 put an interpretive sign about Davies’s community at this corner; it was shot up, replaced, shot up again and finally stolen.
  Sources: Walla Walla 2020; OpenStreetMap.
• Swen O. Hagg’s homestead Located patented 1890 map
  Swen O. Hagg (the roll’s Svend Hegg), who came to Walla Walla with the first five families in 1867 and was living in Davies’s house in 1880, patented a 170-acre homestead about three miles east-southeast of the camp in 1890 (S½ SE¼ sec. 1, T6N R37E, and lots in sec. 6, T6N R38E). The square shows the part in section 1.
  Sources: Bureau of Land Management, General Land Office Records (glorecords.blm.gov); section lines from the BLM National PLSS dataset.
• The Davies cabin, Fort Walla Walla Museum Located today map
  A cabin in which Davies and his family lived has been moved to the grounds of the Fort Walla Walla Museum. Public, during museum hours.
  Sources: Wikipedia, “William W. Davies”; OpenStreetMap.
• Davies’s other land Not yet located 1870s
  A witness in 1881 listed 160 acres on Mill Creek, 160 acres “on the mountains” in Oregon or near the line, and 40 to 80 acres more. These tracts have not yet been found in the land records.
  Sources: Deposition of V. D. Lambert, case 2373.
• Davies’s grave, Lyons Cemetery Not yet located 1906
  Davies died in 1906 and is buried in Lyons Cemetery, north of Mill Creek Road. Public. Its position is not yet on this map.
  Sources: Wikipedia, “William W. Davies.”

In the chronology

1. 1867–1881William W. Davies leads a Morrisite offshoot, the Kingdom of Heaven, near Walla Walla, Washington. He declares his infant son Arthur to be Christ returned, the “Walla Walla Jesus.” Lawsuits by former members end the community: in 1881 a court awards three of them $3,225, and the sheriff sells the community’s livestock and its eighty acres to satisfy the judgment.

Records, documents and questions

• Repositories William W. Davies collection, 1929–1976
• Repositories Cilley, Evans and Courtney v. Davies, 1880
• Repositories Diaries, letters, and federal records
• Questions Where did the Morrisite teaching of reincarnation come from?
• Questions Where did the rituals come from?

In the bibliography (3)

• Gilbert, Frank T. Historic Sketches of Walla Walla, Whitman, Columbia and Garfield Counties, Washington Territory, and Umatilla County, Oregon. Portland, 1882. Includes an interview with William W. Davies.
• Zbaraschuk, Tony. “The Fall of the Standard: William W. Davies and the ‘Walla Walla Jesus.’” BA paper, Whitman College, May 23, 1989. 39 pp. Draws on the county’s microfilm of the 1880 case (no. 2373), Walla Walla newspapers of 1878–82 and Irma Miller’s typescript history of Davies (1982); its appendixes include Miller’s list of the people associated with the camp. Its annotated bibliography also describes two more suits against the Davieses, cases 3093 (1882) and 3260 (1883). PDF (Walla Walla 2020) New
• “William W. Davies and the Walla Walla Jesus.” Walla Walla 2020. Website

People

People on the 1861–62 roll whose notes or pages mention this place (12). Each name links to the name index.

Beck, Niels R. page; Davies, William page; Hegg, Svend page; Klemgard, Peter C. page; Lee, George; Livingstone, Isabella; Livingstone, R. J.; Park, David Sr. page; Rasmussen, Caroline H.; Rasmussen, George T.; Rasmussen, Hans C.; Sorenson, Brooer

Others named in the sources (24).

Andrews; Bowman, Joseph; Cilley, Asa B.; Clore, Jesse Y.; Corbett, Mrs. M. B.; Courtney, A. J.; Degroot, Mrs.; Evans, Thomas W.; Hagg, Ola; Hollenbeck, Mrs.; Jones, Rachel D.; Kelley, Michael H.; Lambert, V. D.; Miller, Søren; Mortensen, James; Parker, Mrs. E. S. J.; Parker, Mary B.; Perkins, Cornelia S.; Perkins, M. A. C.; Roberts, Jane S.; Roberts, Robert; Smith, Mrs.; Turnbull; Wood, S. W.

This page gathers entries from across the guide by the place’s names, so a few may mention it only in passing. Corrections and additions: contact@morrisite.org.

Rogers, Eric Paul, ed. “Kingdom of Heaven.” Morrisite.org. https://morrisite.org/place/kingdom-of-heaven.html. Add the date you consulted it.

Other places: Kington Fort; Morristown; Carson City & California; Omaha & Council Bluffs; Deer Lodge Valley. Map of all places.