The following recollections come from a 1937 letter of President Heber J. Grant to the family of John Morgan (1842-1894), a Civil War veteran and one of the Presidents of the Seventy. Paragraphs have been added for readability.
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In early days the Bishops with their counselors were permitted to have trials and excommunicate men from the Church. One of my nearest and dearest and best beloved friends was excommunicated by the Bishopric of his Ward, and I considered it nothing short of an outrage. I desired to be present to testify in his behalf, but was not permitted to be at the meeting. I sat on the outside of the meeting house on the top of a high post. A fence was being built around the meeting house and the boards of the fence had not been put on, but the posts were set up and I climbed on top of one of these posts and could see and hear the people in the second story of the meeting house, and I heard the whole proceedings.
To many of the questions that were asked of my friend, I answered: “No, I would not do any such thing,” and I felt so mad at the Bishop’s counselor who was asking the questions of my friend and it was many years before I could have any respect for him. He was a very devoted Latter-day Saint, but he was not charitable. The thing that outraged me was that my friend was put in with a crowd of boys who were really no good, and they were all excommunicated at the same time.
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It happened in early days that charges were made against John Morgan in the Thirteenth Ward, and the late Bishop Edwin D. Woolley and his counselors had a trial and excommunicated him. A ruling has since been made that the Bishoprics cannot excommunicate men holding the Melchizedek Priesthood, they can only disfellowship them and pass up their cases to the High Council for a final decision. The day following the excommunication of Brother Morgan he met President George A. Smith, and said:
“Well, President Smith, they cut me off the Church last night.”
“Did you deserve it?” said President Smith.
“No.”
“Have you appealed your case to the High Council?”
“Oh, if they don’t want me in the Church they don’t need to have me.”
President Smith said: “Brother Morgan, do you know the Gospel is true?”
“Yes,” said John Morgan.
“Well, if you want to go to hell, go to hell.” And he walked off without any further comment.
John Morgan was a natural born fighter. Anyone who really knew him knew he was as full of fight for the Church of anything he believed in, as the saying is, as an egg is full of meat. He and Brother [B. H.] Roberts were both first class fighters in the mission field for the cause of truth.
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Brother Morgan, after the remark of Brother George A. Smith, decided to appeal his case to the High Council of Salt Lake Stake. The Salt Lake Stake at that time included all of Salt Lake County. Brother Morgan being very popular, the Council House, which was located where the Union Pacific Building is now, where the trial was held, was filled by his pupils during the trial. The old Deseret University was formerly held in the Council House, which was located where the Union Pacific Building is now.
When the decision was rendered by President Angus M. Cannon, he announced that no matter what the audience voted it would not change the decision in the least, and said, so I was informed, “We should like very much to have an expression, however, from those who have attended the hearings in this case, as we have never had such a large audience before in any case that was ever held before the High Council. A vote was called, and it was practically unanimous.
Bishop Woolley was one who voted in favor of sustaining the decision of the High Council and expressed his great pleasure that the decision of the Bishop’s court had been set aside because of additional evidence that had been produced and it showed that the Bishop had made a mistake. Brother Cannon asked for those who were opposed to the decision to manifest it, I have forgotten whether it was by holding up their hands or by standing. I believe it was a standing vote, but I would not be sure.
Of course this entire statement that I am making comes from hearsay. My recollection is that [it was] Brother Hamilton G. Park who told me the story originally. I used to go around as a youngster in my teens with Brother Hamilton G. Park as a Teacher. He did all the teaching, by the way, and I simply made a report at the monthly meeting of the Bishopric and the Teachers. To my mind one of the most inspirational men I ever knew was Hamilton G. Park.
As I recall it there were six men who felt and voted that John Morgan should be excommunicated. They were Willie B. Godbe who I think was first counselor to Bishop Edwin D. Woolley at the time, Godbe’s brother, Anthony, James Cobb, E.L.T. Harrison, William Sherman, and Eli B. Kelsey. They have all since apostatized. Inasmuch as Bishop Woolley was the one who cut Brother Morgan off the Church he no doubt wanted to make amends as far as possible after Brother Morgan was reinstated and after he became the President of the Southern States Mission, and I recall that Brother Morgan many times was asked if he would come to the Thirteenth Ward and speak when he came to General Conference.
The pictures are Heber J. Grant; John Morgan, courtesy of Karen M.; and the Council House in 1869.
Thanks, Amy. This helps put the history of excommunication in perspective. I had no idea that casual audiences were ever in attendance, or that votes, even non-binding ones like this one, were ever taken! Despite the folksy and even humorous aspects, I think this does a good job of showing how seriously Heber J. Grant viewed the severing — rightly and maybe especially wrongly — of members from the Church.
Thanks to Karen M. for the photo, and to whatever member of the Morgan family discovered and provided the letter.
Utterly fascinating.
I’m trying to find the account, but one of my ancestors was apparently excommunicated from the pulpit after refusing to sell his business to the church. I can’t remember if that was actually written down or if my father told me. Will dig into the books over the next couple of weeks…
Morgan cousins Karen and Bessie have done some great work on the family history, sharing photos online and updating the family history. Bessie recently blogged about a trip to the South to visit John Morgan’s field of labors during the war and later during his years in the Southern States Mission. (Link.)
And the letter? Short story: after a posthumous birthday party for B.H. Roberts in early 1937, President Grant dictated the letter and sent it to family members. I don’t know who received a copy; the one I’ve seen went to John Morgan’s last surviving widow Mary Linton Morgan, and is now in Special Collections at BYU.
We should be so lucky as to see a future president of the church sitting on a nearby fencepost, looking into the second story window of the bishop’s office so he can follow the proceedings of a disciplinary council! (I’ve built a bunch of fences, but wouldn’t have wanted to sit atop one of the 4×4 posts for even a few minutes! Maybe it was a more substantial masonry post. I hope so!)
The letter I received from my Great-grandmother, Mary Ann Linton Morgan, was typewritten and signed by President Grant. Amy is right, I donated all of Mary Morgan’s papers to the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Library at BYU. However, digitized copies of all of her documents are available at the Family History Library. See https://familysearch.org/search/catalog/1222773?availability=Family%20History%20Library
What a find — thanks for sharing this letter. Like Mark, I find comical that image of Heber J. Grant eavesdropping into the proceedings from atop a fencepost!
Thank you for this Amy and Ardis. Very timely, and I learned much. I tried to wrap my head around why the John Morgan account was so familiar. I then realized I had read it before, because my mother, Helen Rex Frazier, also received a copy of President Grant’s letter to the Morgan family. It took me longer than remembering where I’d seen it, to find her copy. I’m sure it came from her Uncle Nicholas Groesbeck Morgan. Perhaps I need to consider depositing some of her papers in a place safer than my house.
Thanks, all, for your comments. It’s nice to have my dad and Bessie comment. There is a lot of back story associated with the John Morgan family history. My dad inherited Mary Morgan’s collections — the result of decades of her devoted genealogy work — in a roundabout or providential way, and then spent years digitizing the collection before donating it to BYU.
Other parts of the family collection are at the University of Utah and were recently provided online. A few items are still held by individuals, but many of those have been shared among the family or digitized and put online on Ancestry or Family Tree.
It’s a fascinating case study of family preservation, research, and now collaboration thanks to the digital age.