Annie Matthews Morris 1840-1913
2010
Annie Matthews was born in England to William Matthews and Hepzibah Jarvis. She was the seventh of eleven children born to her parents. She heard the Restored Gospel from the missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints along with her siblings and parents. They were baptized in 1850. Annie emigrated to America with her parents and settled in Utah. At the age of twenty-three, in 1862, Annie became the fourth plural wife of direct ancestor George Morris. Our direct ancestor Hannah Maria Newberry was his first wife. George was twenty-three years Annie’s senior. Annie and George became the parents of ten children. Only three lived to adulthood. There was great conflict between Annie and Hannah Maria Newberry Morris who was George’s first wife. When George was called to go to St. George to work on the construction of the Temple, he took Annie with him. They were there for eight years. The question is whether George saw his children with Hannah during that time.
When they returned to Salt Lake City, George was forced to live alone for many years as a result of the passing of the Edmunds-Tucker Act which made polygamy illegal. Later in his life he resumed living with Annie and did not ever return to living with his first wife Hannah or his two other wives. Annie and George lived adjacent to present-day Temple Square in the Seventeenth Ward. They are buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery along with their seven children who died young and Annie’s parents.
The migration of Annie Matthews Morris
England to Utah