A Pioneer Scout of Hole in the Rock

George Drury Morrill

Hole-in-the-Rock, advance scout, Dec 1879-Jan 1880. George Washington Sevy, Lemuel Hardison Redd and George Hobbs were his companions to blaze a trail to Montezuma, Utah. This journey took 24 days instead of the planned eight. They became lost, suffered from starvation and witnessed a miracle of the mountain sheep at the Grey Mesa. Upon completion of this exploration, he returned home to his family.

The central panel of the new monument to the Mormon pioneers in the "Hole in the Rock" expedition that settled southeastern Utah in 1880. The monument says:

THE HOLE-IN-THE-ROCK PIONEERS

This memorial is in honor of the men, women and children of the San Juan Mission who came to the area in 1880 in answer to a call from their church (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). These Mormon pioneers overcame challenges of unparalleled difficulty as they blazed a road through some of the most broken and rugged terrain in North America, including a path throught the Colorado River gorge via a crevice they named The Hole-in-the-Rock. The challenges of reaching the area were only surpassed by the formidable task of settling the San Juan frontier.

"No pioneer company ever built a wagon road through wilder, rougher, more inhospitable country . . . None ever demonstrated more courage, faith, and devotion to cause . . ." Dr. David E. Miller, Historian

http://www.nps.gov/glca/historyculture/holeintherock.htm

Public Safety Addresses

The Emergency Services and utility companies have requested an updated more accurate addressing system to find the addresses in the County in a timely manner. Because of the growth in the County, the current addressing system is not adequate and the addressing needs to fit the GIS system.

The following is the site addresses for the Morrill Meadowbrook Ranch:

Will and May Morrill home - 3374 East Meadowbrook Road, Teasdale UT 84773

Merlin Morrill home - 3351 East Meadowbrook Road, Teasdale UT 84773

Wenzle Morrill home - 1702 South 3300 East, Teasdale UT 84773

Dellos Morrill homes - 1644 South Meadowbrook Road and 1654 South Meadowbrook Road, Teasdale UT 84773

The County is in the process of changing all the road signs. The signs will be updated with the addressing systerm. These signs are county property, vandalism or stealing of signs will be prosecuted. This change has been designed to promote public safety.

Notice by the Wayne County Commission

Grandma's Apron

The principal use of Grandma's apron was to protect the dress underneath, because she only had a few, it was easier to wash aprons than dresses and they used less material, but along with that, it served as a potholder for removing hot pans from the oven.

It was wonderful for drying children's tears, and on occasion was even used for cleaning out dirty ears.

From the chicken coop, the apron was used for carrying eggs, fussy chicks, and sometimes half-hatched eggs to be finished in the warming oven.

When company came, those aprons were ideal hiding places for shy kids.

And when the weather was cold, grandma wrapped it around her arms.

Those big old aprons wiped many a perspiring brow, bent over the hot wood stove.

Chips and kindling wood were brought into the kitchen in that apron.

From the garden, it carried all sorts of vegetables. After the peas had been shelled, it carried out the hulls.

In the fall, the apron was used to bring in apples that had fallen from the trees.

When unexpected company drove up the road, it was surprising how much furniture that old apron could dust in a matter of seconds.

When dinner was ready, Grandma walked out onto the porch, waved her apron, and the men knew it was time to come in from the fields to dinner.

It will be a long time before someone invents something that will replace that 'old-time apron' that served so many purposes.

REMEMBER:

Grandma used to set her hot baked apple pies on the window sill to cool.

Her granddaughters set theirs on the window sill to thaw.

They would go crazy now trying to figure out how many germs was on that apron!!!!

I don't think I ever caught anything from an apron.

Plowing Lessons

From the LDS International Art Competition
http://www.lds.org/ch/heritage/exhibit_test.html (C-D)
Linda Curley Christensen Oil Painting

“Our family has a heritage of forgiveness and charity, taught and demonstrated by my second-great-grandfather Peter Shirts, who, after having his life threatened by Indians, came to feed and teach them. This occurred in 1865 on the Paria River in southern Utah. Brigham Young sent Peter, known as ‘Daniel Boone of the Desert,’ to raise a crop. He succeeded, and, wanting to reap the harvest, he stayed too late in the season to return home. He built a cabin front against the mountain by a spring of water and stored his crop in a granary dug into the mountain. During the winter, Indians laid siege, but Peter was secure. When they asked for food, he bargained that if he fed them, they must pull his plow in the spring. When a search party finally arrived, hoping to find Peter’s bones, they found him plowing instead, with Indians pulling his plow.”
-Linda Curley Christensen

See entire exhibit. This work is a testimony of our Lord.

To the Morrill Family, Peter Shirts is my 4th great grandfather. He helped establish the iron industry in Cedar City, Utah. Peter also helped our grandfather, George Drury Morrill, from near starvation during the Hole in the Rock expedition and traveled extensively for Brigham Young. - Sherry Smith

Peter Shirts Family Collection - Photo by Uncle Robert Darius Adams

Printed copy in possession of Sherry Smith

Peter Shirts