Morgan Pioneer History Binds Us Together Richard Fry and Ann Rawle Fry In the early days of the Latter-Day Saint church, many missionaries were sent to foreign lands to spread the gospel. A great many souls heard the message and accepted the Mormon faith, this being especially true of England. Among the English converts was one Richard Rawle, who in turn was instrumental in converting his sister, Ann, then a young girl. Ann was at that time keeping company with a fine young man by the name of Richard Fry and through her influence he also joined the church. The parents of these young people were very adverse to their joining this new faith, and threatened to turn them out of their homes. Life, under these circumstances, became unbearable, but their faith triumphed, and they decided to cast their lots with the Saints and sail for the New World. They said goodbye to their people and to their friends, and boarding the sailing boat Underwriter, left the Liverpool docks on March 26,1860. After some five weeks on the water, they pulled into the New York harbor on the first day of May. While on their ocean voyage, they became acquainted with another fine couple from England - a Mr. and Mrs. John Croft - who afterwards became their lifelong friends. Richard Fry was a splendid athlete and of good parentage. Ann Rawle also came from a very fine and prominent family. After their arrival in America, they traveled by train to Council Bluffs, Iowa, where they prepared and outfitted themselves for the remainder of their journey. A pair of oxen and a Richard Fry wagon were part of the necessary equipment which was to carry them over a thousand miles of barren, unknown country. On September 2,1860, they at last reached their goal - Salt Lake City, the gathering place of the Saints. This memorable date also being my grandmother's birthday, made the day of double importance. The following few days were spent in locating a place to settle and to build their home. They had been in Salt Lake just two weeks to the day when they received notice from President Brigham Young to ( >i Rawle Fry again pack their wagon and move up into the Morgan valley. This locality was then just beginning to be settled, having at that time not more than three or four families in the entire valley. Once when Grandmother was telling me the story of her life, she said that this was the hardest trial of the whole journey, knowing they would be snowed in, practically alone, for the long winter, but (quoting Grandmother), "Richard never questions the orders of the officers of the church." They packed their wagon and obeying orders, made their way up through Weber Canyon. As they approached "Devil's Gate," they had to take the wagons apart to bring them over part of the mountain. They strapped parts of their wagons and belongings on the oxen and made many trips over the mountain, depositing their belongings and returning for more of the same. The women walked and carried what they could. They spent one week camped in the canyon in the process of getting through "Devil's Gate." They were instructed to take up only forty acres of land, in order to leave room for other settlers. It was necessary for Grandfather to cut enough wild hay to last his oxen throughout the winter. They lived in a small log home that Richard built. They lived in this home until 1862. The winter finally passed and the following February 2,1861, a daughter, Mary, was bom to them, the first white child born in what is now known as Morgan City. Settlers continued to come to Morgan, among them being William Eddington, who started the first store in Morgan at Monday Town. Because of the high water flooding the lower lands, it was necessary that the settlers, during the spring of 1862, move for a time to a higher level - a place called Monday Town. It was here that the children of the Frys and Eddingtons met and became playmates. Later another daughter by the name of Susan was born to the Frys. As the two girls grew old enough, they worked in the fields with their father, assisting him diligently in their small way. In those days it was