Isaac Morley - LDS Church Service

LDS Church Service

In November 1830, Morley was among the first converts to the newly organized LDS church. He was introduced to the teachings of Joseph Smith, Jr. when Oliver Cowdery and several LDS missionary companions passed through Ohio. He was ordained an Elder shortly after his baptism.

When Joseph Smith, Jr. and his family came to Kirtland, Ohio for the first time, they lived with Isaac Morley. He later built a small house for them on his farm, where Joseph's and Emma's twins, Thaddeus and Louisa, were born and died only three hours later on April 30, 1831. Isaac's daughter, Lucy and her elder sister kept house for Emma while she was ill.

Morley was ordained a High Priest on June 3, 1831 by Lyman Wight, and was immediately selected for a leadership position. He was ordained, on 6 June, as First Counselor to Bishop Edward Partridge and served until Partridge's death in 1840.

In June 1831, Morley was asked to sell his farm and act as a missionary while traveling to Independence, Missouri with Ezra Booth (see: Doctrine and Covenants 52:23). While in Missouri, Morley first faced the violence generated by disagreements and misunderstandings between Mormon settlers and Missouri residents. In July 1833, a mob of about 500 men demolished the home and printing office of William Wines Phelps at Independence and tarred and feathered Bishop Partridge. Willing to be injured or killed, Morley and five others stepped forward and offered themselves as a ransom for these men. After negotiation, the Missouri citizens agreed to stop the violence and the Mormons agreed to leave the county by April 1, 1834. Morley left Missouri and returned to Kirtland in early 1835. He was in attendance at the dedication of the Kirtland Temple in March 1836 and was among the first to receive the washing and anointing also known as the “endowment of power”.

In 1835, with Bishop Partridge, Morley served a mission in the Eastern States. They returned to Kirtland on 5 November 1835; on 7 November Pres. Smith wrote:

The word of the Lord came to me, saying: "Behold I am well pleased with my servant Isaac Morley and my servant Edward Partridge, because of the integrity of their hearts in laboring in my vineyard, for the salvation of the souls of men."

Morley returned to Missouri with his family in early 1836, and helped establish the city of Far West. At a general church assembly on November 7, 1837, he was chosen as Patriarch of Far West and ordained under the hands of Joseph Smith, Sidney Rigdon and Hyrum Smith. He lived in Far West until he was arrested with fifty-five other Mormon citizens on the basis of the Extermination Order of Governor Lilburn W. Boggs. The citizens were taken by the Missouri militia to Richmond, Ray county, to await trial. After being held for three weeks, all the prisoners were released by Judge Austin A. King on November 24, 1838.

Upon leaving Missouri with the expelled Saints, Morley settled in Hancock County, Illinois, in a settlement called Yelrome (from the reverse spelling of "Morley"). There he established a prosperous business as a cooper. In October 1840, Hyrum Smith appointed Morley to serve as president of the LDS stake centered in Lima, Illinois, with John Murdock and Walter Cox as counselors. In March 1845, he was selected to be a member of the Council of Fifty. However, in September 1845, his houses, cooper's shop, property and grain were burned by a mob, and his family took refuge in the Mormon center of Nauvoo. From there, they moved to Winter Quarters, where Morley's first wife, Lucy, died.