George Morris (1816 - 1897) Profile

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George Morris

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CR 100 137: Historical Department journal history of the Church, 1830-2008

Historical Department journal history of the Church, 1830-2008. Supplement after 31 December 1848: Page 7.

CR 100 137: Historical Department journal history of the Church, 1830-2008.

George Morris reminiscences, circa 1867-1886, 66-69

George Morris reminiscences, circa 1867-1886, 66-69.

. . . when I had been about 5 days in Winter quarters I had larned that there was much sickness in the place and A Desease called the Blackleg which took the people very suddenly and sent them into eternity in A very short time[.] I had had so much sickness for the two years past that I had become allmost afraid to ere [hear] it spoken of so I concluded as the Companies had not yet started out from the Elk Horn where thay whare Organizing that if I could by any means pass without exananation [examination] I whould try my fortune by rooling into the Vallays of the Mountains of Israll [Israel,] alltho but illey prepered for such an undertaking as I had but about three hundred lbs of flour and 2 Bushels of Sheled Corn which was all in the shape of Breadstufs that I was able to muster and there whare 5 of us in famaly[.] now the greatest dificulty that Presented itself was my being able to pass with out being examaned[.] but the Lord directed me through for it was his will that I should go so I endevoured to keep myself posted up on the time of starting and on the day the Companies whare to break Camp I rooled up to the place just after thay had <got> through inspecting each famalys fitout[.] just as I arived on the Oposite bank of the River an old friend of mine came up and called over to me and asked me if I was going along and said thay just lacked one waggon in thare ten and asked me if I whould not like to travil with them[.] I said I whould very much so he turned in and helped me ferry over and told the Captain of the ten that I was an old acquintence of his and that we had Crossed the Sea togather and that I wished to join thair Company and he whould like to have me[.] he said thay had just got through examaning thair waggons[.] he guessed it whould not matter about mine for thay <started> out right away so I was Just in Town as the saing is[.] Loranzo [Lorenzo] Snow one of the Twelve Apostals was the Captain of the Company of one hundrad waggons Called the Pissgay [Pisgah] Company[.] thay whare chiefly poor Saints who had not been able to get as far as winter quarters to winter but had traviled as far as thay could and then stoped and formed A Camp which thay Called Mount Pissgay [Pisgah.] thay whare generly very poorly fitted out and whare put first on the road so that thay might have the better Chance to kill all the Game thay could[.] So I was fortunate in happening into this Company on this account and as I had two good milking Cows which furnished us the milk we wanted[.] we where very light on Breadstuf[.] I was perticulerly fond of milk myself and most of the time allmost intirly fixed upon it so much so that for weeks togather I whould not use more then my three fingers of Bread dayly and A small quantaty of Buffalow and other meat dried[.] being loaded light we traviled quick and frequently had to stop 3 or 4 days at A time while the Other Companys came up Chiefly at rivers where we whould hunt out fords and get across and be ready to help the other Companies over which was generly A pritty long whet [wet] job as there where in all about one thousand waggons[.] when we arived at Green River we had to lay up ten days waiting for Presedent Yo[u]ng to Come up as he wished to go first into Salt Lake Vallay[.] here I had becomn intirly [entirely] barefoot having started from Ioway [Iowa] with one old part wore pare of Boots having half souled them sometime before I started and traviled neer 13 hundrad miles in them waeding all the Streams and some of them many times over in them and for the last two hundrad miles had had to wind them round my feet with strips of Buffalow skin[.] will [while] waiting here I went round the Camp and beged some old Boot tops and scraps of harness lether and bits of any kind that I Could get holed [hold] of then took my axe and cut A Cottonwood stick and made A last and went to work and made me A pare of Shoes which I wore for A year[.] we landed in the Vallay on the 20th of September 1848 </started></got>

Transcript for George Morris reminiscences, circa 1867-1886, 66-69

George Morris reminiscences, circa 1880-1890, 12-13

George Morris reminiscences, circa 1880-1890, 12-13.

. . . while there [Council Bluffs] I larned that there was a great deil of Sickness there – and on account of haveing so much Sickness dureing the last two years – I had got a perfect Dread of it – So I began to think that if there was any Posability of my getting away in any of the Large Companys – that whare then being Organized at the Elk Horn river – I whould do it fitout – or no fitout – So I Kept myself well Posted with regard to the Progress thay whare makeing – and the time of thair Starting – So on the eavening Preaveous to the day thay Started – just after Sundown when the Organiseation was all Complated – and the fitouts had all been Examined – I rooled up alone to the Opasite Side of the river – and on ariveing there the first man I Saw was a very Intamate friend and Old acquintance of mine – who Came from the Same Branch of the Church in England – as I Did and had Crossed the Sea in the Same Vesel as I Did – His Name was Henry Poyl [Royal] – he came to the river and Hollowed Out Holo George, – is that thee – Come on – we want thee in our ten – there is just room for one waggon in it – Come on and Ill help Thee ferry Thy waggon Over –Turn Thy Cattle into the river and Swim am Over – thats The way we v [we’ve] all Done – thay v [they’ve] just Don[e] going Throu our waggons – to See wether we have all goten the right fitout – but I recken Thou art all right by the looks of Thy waggon – and Teams – my Outside apperiene [appearance] was prity good – but if the Inside of my waggon had been examined – I whould Certinly have been Sent Back – for all I had in the Shape of Bread stuff to Subsist upon for 18 months at least – acording to all Cal[c]ulations was three hundred pounds of flour – and two Bushels of Parched Corn – and there was five in Number of us – after we had traviled alltogether for some time – the Pizga [Pisgah] company – on account of thair Poor Circumstances – whare put to Travil first on the road – that thay might Kill wild meat to help out thare Provisions – and my real Circumstances haveing becom[e] Known – I was first to travil with Them – and haveing two Cows giving Milk – we nearly lived on milk and wild meat – all the time while Crossing the Plains – I scarcly got as much as my 3 fingers of Bread per Day – all the time we whare on the road – which was from the 22nd of May – to the 20th of Sep 1848 I will mention here an Incedent which ocured – in Conection with what I have Prieveously Said about My Swareing – we had traviled Some Distance on the road – when we Came to a very Mirey Bad Creek -- which we had to Cross – there was one hundrad waggons in the Company – Loranzo [Lorenzo] Snow – was the Captain of the Hundrad – John Stoker – was Captain of fifty – and Thomas McLalin [McLelland]– was the Captain of the [ten] that I belonged too – the Company had all Crossed Over and mine was the last waggon – and the Crossing had become very Bad indeed – my Captain had made a little Mis Calculation – and Stoped his waggon a little too Soon and no room to Drive Out – I rip[p]ed Out a tarable Blue Streak of forked lightning at Him – as he stood on the Bank watching the waggons Cross over – I looked up and there sat Bro Snow in His Buggy Close By – and had Heard me Do that Horrable Swareing – He gave me a stuning Look – But never Spoke a word – and then went onto the Head of the Company and Started it on – the Captain of the 10 allso gav[e] me a terable Look – but He dident say anything Either – Naither was there any need to – for the reproving Looks thay had given me – had more Effect – than any words thay could have Spoken – when I had Out – and had Cooled Down – I felt aufull Mean – But thay Dident Ear [hear] any more Swareing from me – the Pizga [Pisgah] Company – being loaded light traviled faster than the Other Companies – and we frequently had to Stop 3 or 4 Days at a time for them to Come up – mostly – at rivers – and Streams of water – we had to hunt out fording Places – and get our Own Company Over – and then get reddy to Help the Other Companies Over when thay Came up – I think I waded the Platt[e] river 22 Times – when we got to Green river – we had to waite there 10 Days for President Young to Come up – as he wanted to go at the Head of the Compa<nies> into the Vallay – I had Started from Ioway [Iowa] with a half wore pare of Boots on my feet – and had crossed the Plains in them – and waded the Streams so much – that I had compleatl<y> worn them Out – and had Only been able to keep them on my feet a good part of the way – by winding Strips of Bufalo skin around them to keep the tops – and Bottoms together on my feet – and when that failed – I whould make mockisans [moccasins] of Green Buffalo Skin – puting the Heavy Side inward – and while thay whare Soft – I could scarsley keep them on my feet – thay whare so floppe – and when thay got Dry while traviling in the Hot Sand – thay whould S[hr]ink up and get So hard – that thay whould Cut my feet Terably – when we arived at Green river I had got So that I had nothing to put on to to Protect my feet at all – So while we whare waiteing for Presedent Young – I went around the Camp – and Beged Some pieces of Old Boot tops – and Scraps of Harness lether and made an awl with a piece of wire – and I Happened to have a Ball of Shoe thred in the waggon – and I got some haard Bletch of the waggon wheel – for wax to wax my thred with – I got a limb of a Cottonwood tree to make a last of – and I made my Peg wood of the same – and when I thought that I had got material anough together – I sat down and went to work – to manufactuering myself, a Pare of Shoes – but to look at the pile of material that I had to Do it with whould have Puzeled any Salt Lake Lawyer – or even Judge Lain Himself – worse then the Mormon queston Does – to have Known how I was going to Do it but Ill discribe the Process as well as I can – the first thing I done was to discet my Old Boots – to See if I could find anything in them that whould be of any use – the Old Insole was a valuable aide to me in forming the Shape of my Last – and alls to make the foundation of a New Pare of Shoes – then I tinkered away at the Old Cottanwood limb untill I had made a very good Last out of it – then I sawed two or three rounds of it and Split them into Pegs – and roasted them – I then went to work in good earnest – and Closed the Pieces of Old Boot Tops to gather – untill I had got them large enough to make the uppers for a new pare of Shoes – the Pieces whare Small and the Seams run in all Directions – I thin Lasted the uppers in a very Siantific manner – the next thing to be Done – was to Peg the Bottoms on – but I had no Sole Lether to make them of – So the Next best thing to Do was to use Some pieces of Old Straps – and narrow Strips – and Corners – of Harness Lether – and Once in a wile Cover them Over with a layer of old Boot top to hold them in place – and fill them full of Pegs – after a while I got them Done – it took me a good while tho – but then there was Plenty of time out there – it wasen’t like it is hear – the mean Point was to do them well – but thats not the Case here – when I had finished them – I pull<ed> the Lasts out of them – and put my feet into them Instead and my word for it thay whare A splendid Pare of Shoes I had had made them – not acording to any rule that I had ever larned about Shoemakeing – but Strictly acording to the rule of my Rockey Mountain Circumsta<nces> I made them rights – and lefts – consequently thay whould not fit any Other feet but the Ones that thay whare made for – and that was the way the first Pare of Shoes that I ever wore in the Vallay of the Great Salt Lake whare made – and I wore them Nerely a year before I got any Others – I arived in the Vallay on the 20 of Sep 1848. </nces></ed></y></nies>

Transcript for George Morris reminiscences, circa 1880-1890, 12-13

MS 14290: Camp of Israel schedules and reports, 1845-1849

First 100, report, June 1848.

MS 14290: Camp of Israel schedules and reports, 1845-1849.

"Registry of Names of Persons Residing in the Various Wards as to Bishops' Reports, Great Salt Lake City, Dec. 28th, A.D. 1852" in Key to Migration Sources, Great Britain and North America: A Manual for Students Attending the Second Annual Priesthood Genealogical Research Seminar, June 19-23, 1967 (Provo: Brigham Young University Division of Continuing Education, 1967), edited by Norman Edgar Wright

"Registry of Names of Persons Residing in the Various Wards as to Bishops' Reports, Great Salt Lake City, Dec. 28th, A.D. 1852" in Key to Migration Sources, Great Britain and North America: A Manual for Students Attending the Second Annual Priesthood Genealogical Research Seminar, June 19-23, 1967 (Provo: Brigham Young University Division of Continuing Education, 1967), edited by Norman Edgar Wright.

George Morris

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