Saga of the Sanpitch Volume 13, 1981 - Sanpete County

he fed them all, even those helping build this home. The Prophet's family lived in it for six or seven years in
comparative peace and safety. He did all this and more for those coming behind the first company.
"Push On, Pull On, Push Westward" was his motto. He was a Stake President in Salt Lake Valley, which
he reached in early 1848. He was a Patriarch almost all his adult life. He did endowment work on Ensign Peak
before the Endowment House in Salt Lake City was finished. 6
In the fall of 1849 he was again called to leave all he had built 7 about him. At the Prophet Brigham's
request he lead families to the first settlement to be established south of Fort Provo. 8 This territory, now
known as Sanpete County, then included Sevier, Millard, Juab and some other areas. Isaac was called to be the
Stake President over all this area.
Isaac named this first settlement 'Manti,' after the city 'Manti' in the Book of Mormon. Isaac accepted
this call as he had all others, gladly and without complaints. He was so kind, unassuming and gentle in his
manner that all who loved him, red-man and white-man alike, called him 'Father Morley.'
His task was not an easy one; some of his own people tried to rebel and settle elsewhere. Isaac replied
each time they made trouble, "Here is where our Prophet told us to stay and stay I will if I be the only family
that does!" 9
With the help of two able counselors, Seth Taft and Charles Shumway, and guidance from the Lord and
the Prophet, he led and advised well. During this terrible, cruel winter (the worst ever recorded in Manti), they
built dug-out shelters from the grey hill, started a saw-mill, built schools, churches and a Bowery. 10 They also
built log homes and managed to clear the ten-foot high drifts of snow to save some livestock they had brought
with them. Much of their herd perished, and the Indians would steal these frozen carcasses for food while the
Saints needed them for themselves. Chief Walker (Wawkara) tried to control his war-loving brothers,
Arrowpeen and Sandpitch, but they stirred up local tribes, and transient ones, so many times that a strong fort
was built.
In the spring as the ground began to warm, they found they had dug their dug-outs on a veritable
snake pit. They had thought of that grey hill as a protection on its south side. As many as three to five hundred
spotted rattlers were killed each day and night. They used pine torches to hunt for them in beds and
cupboards, even at night! Everyone was terrified, but not one man, woman or child was bitten by the reptiles,
which were just emerging from hibernation, and were at their most dangerous. 11
At one time the Indians demanded Father Morley's beautiful, brown-eyed baby boy, promising never
to bother them again if he gave him to them. Can we imagine the terror of his wife, Leanora Snow Morley?
(She was a sister of Eliza R. Snow and President Lorenzo Snow.) She and the whole settlement were horrified
and begged Father Morley not to give in. But being at the head carried much responsibility for the safety of his
people. Father Morley tried to reason with his wife that it was better to lose one life than many. He gave his
darling to the Indians and the whole village prayed and fasted for three days. The Indians brought him back,
very dirty, but unharmed and dressed in buckskin and moccasins; His skin was tinted with tea and herbs,
making it a deep brown. Because Father Morley had trusted Walker and the braves enough to give them his
son, Walker promised that they would never steal or kill again. Father Morley baptized the big, handsome
chief not long after this and took him into his home to live and renamed him Joseph Walker.
Isaac was a staunch Presbyterian until Pastor Sidney Rigdon baptized his whole family in 1828, into the
Campbellite church. But until Isaac heard the message of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he did
not find satisfaction, freedom to worship as his conscience told him to, nor the desired education about God
and his relation to Him. But after becoming a Mormon he felt fulfillment. He remained a loyal, industrious
member and colonizer until his death in June, 1865, at North Bend, Utah.
He traveled with Brigham Young all over Southern Utah from April to June, 1852. He was postmaster
of Manti at that time. Isaac Morley was a contemporary of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and also of Brigham
15