Isaac Morley Farm and School House

As senior missionaries, we usually are assigned one shift each week at the Morley Farm (See Pix #1). We have a pavilion there (Pix #2) where guests come and we talk to them about who the Morleys’ were, what happened on their farm, and their introduction to the Church. We share a delightful story about Mary Elizabeth Rollins and her encounter with Isaac Morley (Pix #3, #4). Guests are then taken up the trail (Pix #5, #6) where we share with them the history of the sacred events that happened in the school house (Pix #7, #8).

What Happened at the Isaac Morley Farm?

The farm is located one mile northeast of Kirtland, on Chillicothe Road.

Isaac Morley was born in Franklin, Massachusetts. When he turned 25, in the summer of 1812, he moved to Kirtland and bought 130 acres of land, where he built a log cabin. Isaac then returned to Massachusetts, some 600 miles away, to court and marry his childhood sweetheart, Lucy Gunn. They were married on June 20, 1812, two days prior to the U.S. Congress declaring war on Great Britain.

The newlyweds packed all they owned and returned to their new home in Ohio. In August 1812, Isaac enlisted in the Ohio Militia and left for the war leaving Lucy alone on the farm. She did not know when or if he would return.

Lucy did not see another human face during the time Isaac was gone. She was afraid at night, barring her door from wild animals she could hear howling, and also from indians in the area. She wouldn’t light a fire in the fireplace for fear the smoke would give away her location.

As fate would have it, Isaac became ill and was discharged after serving only 41 days in the militia. When he returned and his health improved, he and Lucy went to work on their farm. Isaac and Lucy had nine children. Seven of them lived – six girls and one boy.

Isaac and Lucy grew up Presbyterian but joined Sidney Rigdon’s Disciples of Christ Church in 1828. They were interested in living New Testament Christianity having “all things in common” as mentioned in Acts 4:32, so they formed a religious commune on their property which they called the “Family” or “Big Family”. 

The four missionaries, preaching in the area, arrived at the Morley farm having been told that they could count on being given a meal. They met Lyman Wight and others when they arrived at the farm. As Oliver Cowdery preached to the group, John Riggs remembers Oliver telling about the Prophet Joseph Smith, his receiving an ancient record on plates of gold, and translating them. He said this record of the ancient inhabitants of the Americas was the Book of Mormon. Oliver bore witness that he had seen the plates by an angel and that he and the other missionaries not only had the truth but had been given the authority to administer in the ordinances of the gospel and to baptize in the name of Jesus Christ. They preached about repentance, baptism and the bestowal of the Holy Ghost. Isaac was one of those convinced early in the discussion that what he heard was true. On November 30, 1830, Isaac and his family were the first in Kirtland to embrace Mormonism and were baptized by Parley P. Pratt. The entire “Family” soon followed and joined the Church. Within three weeks almost everyone in the area had heard the missionaries message and 127 souls were baptized.

At age 44 Isaac Morley briefly became the temporary leader of the newly baptized saints in Ohio but no one had been instructed what their duties were or who could or should receive revelation for the group. Meetings were held in various homes and in the Kirtland Flats school house. Within a few weeks after Joseph’s arrival in Kirtland, Joseph and Emma moved from Newel K. and Ann Whitney’s home to the Isaac and Lucy Morley’s home. Within a short time a home was built on the farm for Joseph and Emma. People met with the Prophet there and meetings were held. Joseph received thirteen revelations and translated much of the bible while living at the farm.

Emma gave birth to a set of twins at the farm, a boy and girl, who lived just three hours. John and Julia Murdock had a set of twins the same day. Julia died shortly after childbirth and John, having five children already to care for, asked Joseph and Emma if they would adopt his twins.

Isaac Morley had built a log school house on a hill near his home where children could be schooled. The fourth general conference of the Church and first in Kirtland was held in that school house on the Morley farm, June 3-6, 1831. A priesthood meeting was held where the first 23 high priests in this dispensation were called and ordained. During this meeting a vision of God the Father and Jesus standing on the right hand of the Father was seen and witnesses by Lyman Wight, Joseph Smith and Harvey Whitlock.

In June, 1831, Isaac Morley was called to be a counselor to Bishop Edward Partridge in Missouri. While they were in Missouri Joseph Smith was given the location of Zion and dedicated the Independence temple lot. Isaac Morley and Titus Billings were commanded to sell their farms in Ohio (D&C 64:20; 63:39) and consecrate the monies to purchase the temple lot and other properties in Jackson County, Missouri.

It was also on the Morley farm, in this log school house on a Sunday evening in 1834, where Wilford Woodruff wrote of a memorable meeting where the Prophet Joseph Smith said, “Brethren, I have been very much edified and instructed in your testimonies here tonight. But I want to say to you before the Lord, that you know no more concerning the destinies of this Church and kingdom than a babe upon it mother’s lap. You don’t comprehend it. It is only a little handful of Priesthood you see here tonight, but this Church will fill North and South America…. it will fill the world…. This people will go into the Rocky Mountains; they will there build temples to the Most High, they will raise up a posterity there.”