19 Jul - Isaac Morley’s Farm

The Morleys were early converts to the Church and consecrated their farm as a gathering place for the Saints. The Prophet Joseph and Emma lived here for 6 months shortly after arriving in Kirtland. Here the Father and the Son appeared on June 3, 1831, as the Prophet met with the brethren in the log schoolhouse during a conference prior to missionaries leaving. Sections 45-50, 52-56, and 63-64 of the Doctrine and Covenants were revealed during this time. It was here that Emma gave birth to and then lost her twins, after which Bro. Murdock gave the Smiths his new twins because Sis. Murdock died in childbirth.

President Wilford Woodruff recalled, “One Sunday night the Prophet called on all who held the priesthood to gather into the little log schoolhouse they had there. It was a small house, perhaps 14 feet suare. But it held the whole of the priesthood of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who were then in the town of Kirtland… when we got together the Prophet 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 its mother’s lap. You don’t comprehend it.’ I was rather surprised…he said, ‘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 build temples to the most high. They will raise up a posterity there.’” (from a pamphlet on the Morley Farm obtained at the visitor’s center, updated Sept. 2007)

Mary Rollins Lightner, a young convert in Kirtland recalls,
“We learned that Brother Morley had the book (Book of Mormon)…the only one in that part of the country. I went to his house…and asked to see the Book…As I looked at it, I felt such a desire to read it, that I could not refrain from asking him to let me take it home and read it…He finally said, ‘Child, if you will bring this book home before breakfast tomorrow morning, you may take it.’ He admonished me to be very careful, and see that no harm came to it. If any person in this world was ever perfectly happy in the possession of any coveted treasure, I was…When I got home…we all took turns reading it until very late in the night—as soon as it was light enough to see, I was up and learned the first verse in the book. When I reached Brother Morley’s…he remarked, ‘I guess you did not read much in it.’ I showed him how far we had read. He was surprised and said, ‘I don’t believe you can tell me one work of it.’ I then repeated the first verse, also the outline of the history of Nephi. He gazed at me in surprise, and said, ‘child, take this book home and finish it, I can wait.” (from a pamphlet on the Morley Farm obtained at the visitor’s center, updated Sept. 2007)