George Samuel Reid Family Roots

JOHN HAMILTON MORGAN (1824 – 1894), Missionary and General Authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

John Hamilton Morgan

Biographical Sketch – New Georgia Encyclopedia

Mormon missionary John Morgan traveled to Georgia from Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1876 in an effort to win converts for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). His most important accomplishment was the establishment of a Colorado colony for emigrating southern Latter-day Saints, an achievement rewarded when he was named president of the Southern States Mission.

John Hamilton Morgan was born on August 8, 1842, in Greensburg, Indiana, to Eliza Ann Hamilton and Garrard Morgan. He relocated to Illinois in the years leading up to the Civil War (1861-65), and in 1862 he joined the Union Army, mustering into service as a private with the 123rd Illinois Infantry. That regiment was assigned to Colonel John T. Wilder’s “Lightning Brigade” of mounted infantry, an innovative military creation used effectively during combat in north Georgia. As a member of Wilder’s brigade, Morgan participated in the battles of Chickamauga and Resaca, the assault on Kennesaw Mountain, and the siege of Atlanta.

He mustered out of service in 1865 and made his way to New York, where he completed a business curriculum at Eastman’s Commercial College. Opportunity led him to Salt Lake City, and there he became acquainted with and devoted to the LDS Church. In January 1867, with the support of church authorities, he established the Morgan Commercial College for young men and women seeking careers in business, thereby marking the beginning of a lifelong commitment to education. He was baptized in November 1867 and subsequently ordained an elder.

Morgan’s reputation grew quickly within the Mormon community, and in 1875 he was called as a missionary to the newly organized Southern States Mission. He did not immediately go south; instead, he labored for many months in Indiana and Illinois alongside missionary companion Joseph Standing, before making his way to Georgia in 1876. His mission field, established in the rugged and mountainous counties of northwest Georgia (with a base in Rome), produced so many converts that locals soon dubbed the region “Utah.” Morgan initially established small branches of the LDS Church in Georgia, then made plans to “gather” the new adherents to the West. In 1877 he led the first party of Georgians to Colorado, where southern Latter-day Saints established the cooperative settlement of Manassa in 1879.

In 1878, his first mission completed, the LDS Church called Morgan to resume his southern duties and gave him authority over the entire Southern States Mission. He was serving in that capacity in 1879 when Standing, his friend and fellow missionary, was murdered in Whitfield County by a mob of twelve north Georgians. Morgan pressed Georgia authorities to bring the murderers to justice, but he was intensely disappointed when Whitfield County juries acquitted the mob members of Standing’s murder.

During the 1880s, Morgan effectively divided his time between the South and the West. From his headquarters at Rome, he supervised the work of hundreds of missionaries assigned to southern mission fields. But frequent visits to Salt Lake City allowed Morgan to pursue other church and political activities. He served in the territorial legislature in Utah and worked in the campaign for statehood and the establishment of Utah’s Republican Party. His continuing efforts on behalf of the church—and his willingness to labor in the volatile southern states—were recognized in 1884 when he was chosen and ordained one of the First Seven Presidents of Seventies, an important position in the hierarchy of the LDS Church.

Morgan dedicated twelve years to the Southern States Mission. In 1888 he left his office as president and returned to Utah. He died on August 14, 1894, at the age of fifty-two.

Excerpt from “Encyclopedia of Later-day Saint History”, Arnold K. Garr, Donald Q. Cannon, Richard O. Cowan

John Morgan, a general authority and president of the Southern States Mission, was born in Greensburg, Indiana, 8 August 1842.  After formal schooling he enlisted with the Union Army during the Civil War, where he was wounded and decorated twice for bravery.  Following his military career and additional schooling, he went on a cattle drive to the west and decided to remain in Salt Lake City because he was intrigued with the Mormons. 

In Salt Lake he established the Morgan Commercial College, which taught business skills and attracted the children of many prominent Church leaders.  Strongly convinced of the value of public education, he closed his own school in deference to the University of Deseret.  While in Salt Lake, Morgan had a dream that foreshadowed his future, including his conversion to Mormonism and missionary service in the South.

Within ten years, Morgan was proselyting in the Southern States Mission, over which he was eventually called to preside (1878 – 84).  Legendary for his zeal, he traveled widely and wrote “The Plan of Salvation”, a pamphlet that has been used by missionaries since.

Morgan was called to the First Council of the Seventy in 1884, and as a general authority he returned to preside over the Southern States Mission a second time (1886-88).  During his presidency he frequently led groups of southern emigrants to Latter-day Saint settlements in Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and especially in the San Luis Valley, Colorado, where he lived for a time.

His contributions included pioneering bureaus of information (or visitor’s centers), the use of “Articles of Faith” missionary cards, and the practice of sustaining Church authorities in local conferences.  For years he was involved in politics and was active in petitioning for Utah’s statehood.  He died in Preston, Idaho in 1894.

George Samuel Reid Family Connection

Elder John Morgan was traveling though the small town of Armuchee, Georgia in early 1877 en route to a mission conference in nearby Rome when he and his missionary companion were accosted by local townsmen who intended to tar and feather them and run them out of town.  It wasn’t the first time Mormon missionaries had been harrassed in that area, and tragically, it wouldn’t be the last.  Fortunately, Marcus D Lafayette Reid happened to be in town that same day.  Initially drawn to the commotion by a sense of curiosity, MDL quickly realized that the missionaries were in serious trouble and he resolved to do something about it.  Somehow MDL was able to create a distraction sufficient to sneak the missionaries away and take them to the safety of his home. 

Later that evening while Elder Morgan and his companion were still at MDL’s home, the townsmen returned, demanding that MDL turn the missionaries over to them.  MDL refused, held his ground with the aid of a rifle, and was able to convince the townsmen to disperse and leave the missionaries in peace. 

Elder Morgan and his companion stayed in MDL’s home for several days thereafter and taught MDL and his wife, Nancy, the Mormon faith.  MDL and Nancy were baptized by Elder Morgan on 10 Feb 1877, the anniversary of the birth date of George Samuel Reid 29 years later. 

Such were the circumstances of the introduction of the LDS faith to the Reid family.  We are forever grateful for the Divine providence that brought Elder John Morgan and Marcus D Lafayette Reid together that day, and we marvel at the courage they displayed in the face of such great peril.  MDL for his willingness to intervene and protect the lives of men he did not know, and to later join and lead others in a faith that was reviled by so many in his community.  Elder John Morgan for his commitment to his faith such that he was willing to imperil his life in the service of God and his fellow men on that occasion, and on many more to come.

While it is not possible, nor would it be appropriate, to chronicle every temporal and eternal consequence that has evolved from that blessed event, there are two that are important to mentioned here.  So profound was the overall effect of the experience on MDL that he named his next son Charles Morgan Reid, after Elder John Morgan.  Two generations later, Stan and Carolyn Reid, unaware of the MDL conversion story and the significance of Elder John Morgan to the Reid heritage at the time, named their first son, John Morgan Reid.   Their beloved John Morgan Reid died on 6 Jan 1996 in Preston, Idaho, the same town in which Elder John Morgan had died some 102 years earlier.