Morgan Pioneer History Binds Us Together Isaac Conway Morris and Sarah Elizabeth Henderson Morris Heiner ■^ wm Isaac Conway Morris was born April 25, 1828, at Llanfair Tahlaiarn Denbighshire, North, Wales. He was the son of William Morris and Sarah Davies Morris and had nine brothers and sisters. Isaac was converted to the Church ofjesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and was baptized July 16, 1849, in Wales. He lived with his parents kmc Omms Morris untj, Ws marriage t0 Elizabeth Williams. She was bom to John Rowland Williams and Mary Roberts Williams on May 15,1828, in St. Asaph, Flints, Wales. Elizabeth was converted to the Church ofjesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and was baptized December 1849 in Wales. Isaac and Elizabeth were both married when they were twenty-four years old. Their marriage took place October 16,1852, in Wales. A few months after their marriage, Isaac and Elizabeth left all their family to start to Utah with other converts to the Church. They sailed from Liverpool, England, and crossed the Atlantic Ocean on the ship Jersey. There were 314 Saints on the ship under the direction of George Halliday. They arrived at New Orleans March 21,1853. The ocean voyage had taken forty-five days. Isaac and Elizabeth continued their journey by river steamer to Keokuk, Iowa, which was the outfitting post for the emigrants in 1853. They left Iowa for the West in June of 1853. They crossed the Missouri River at Council Bluffs in July and continued on their journey across the plains by ox team. When the Saints stopped for the evening, the wagons were placed in a circle and guards were stationed throughout the night to help protect them from the Indians. The Saints endured hot days and cold nights, and rationing of food. They suffered many hardships, but the people helped one another physically and provided moral support to each other. When Isaac and Elizabeth arrived in Sweetwater, Wyoming, their first child, Sarah, was born. They arrived in Salt Lake City, Utah, on October 10,1853. It had taken eight and one-half months to make the journey from Wales to Salt Lake where they made their home. Two of Isaac's cousins, Nephi and Elias Morris, had emigrated to Utah in 1852, a year before Isaac arrived. All of them quarried rock and hauled it by ox team to help build the Salt Lake Temple. In 1862 Isaac and Elizabeth built a bake oven at Camp Douglas for John Sharp who had contracted with the military authorities for its construction. He also worked with his cousin Elias on many other jobs. When Isaac was working on a building in Salt Lake City, he accidentally fell. It was a miracle that he survived. After Isaac and Elizabeth arrived in Salt Lake, seven more children were bom to them, making eight in all: Sarah (bom at Sweetwater, Wyoming), Mary, William, Isaac, Elizabeth, Priscilla, John (stillborn), and Thomas (who died a few hours after birth). Elizabeth, Isaac's first wife, died October 25,1865, just four days after giving birth to Thomas. She was thirty- seven years of age. This was a real trial for the family. There were six young children to be cared for, the oldest being twelve. Records indicate that the children came to Richville with their father and stepmother who Isaac married in polygamy just nine and one- half months before his first wife died. The marriage of Isaac and Sarah Elizabeth Henderson took place in January 1865 in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, This was the second marriage for Isaac. Sarah Elizabeth Henderson was bom April, 1844, in Andrew, Missouri, the daughter of David Eaton Henderson and Mary ("Polly") McFadden Henderson. The family had moved from Morgan County, Illinois, to Missouri. Sarah Elizabeth emigrated to Utah with her parents and family. She was twelve years old when she crossed the plains. They settled in Centerville, Utah, where her father settled on forty acres of farming land. President Brigham Young called some of the Saints to go south and settle new towns. Sarah's father accepted the call. When her father was released from his mission call, he returned to Centerville and found that his farmland had been divided into city lots. Sarah's father had heard of the beautiful valley of Morgan, at that time called Weber Valley, and he decided to take his family there. Their journey up