Exodus to Utah

The photo above is of George and Hannah probably shortly after
their marriage or before they set off across Iowa. 

Hannah and George Migrate . . .

In August of 1843  James’ daughter Hannah Maria Newberry married Mormon
convert George Morris, who was barely off the boat from Hanley, Cheshire, England
before he started looking for a wife. In his journal he tells about meeting a young woman
on the boat going up the Mississippi from New Orleans.  Just a few days into the
journey he asked her to marry him.  She agreed, but before the trip is over, she
changed her mind and declined. He writes that about a year later she was back in
Nauvoo to ask him if the offer was still open.  He declined. Weather this was because
he already married to Hannah we don't know. George was not good at keeping to
a dated chronology in his journal.

According to some records Hannah and George were married in Nauvoo, Illinois,
but there are also references to their being married in Clay County, Iowa which was
still Indian Country at the time. Clay County is in the Northwestern quadrant of Iowa.
The Newberry's actually live in Clay Co. Missouri, but the information given says,
Iowa. The discrepancy in information is not solvable with the the records at this
point.

George Morris was assigned at one point to preach to the Indians, but we have
not as yet been able to determine where he went, and if he met Hannah while preaching.
She was already a Mormon at the time that they met. There is one reference in his
journal to a dream that he had which might indicate that he had contact with Indians.
He talks about how they attacked him in the dream, according to the Historian at the
LDS Historical Department in Salt Lake City.   But he never mentions where he was
assigned, and the LDS Church has no record in  their Historical Department. There is
one book that was seen by a family member in 1970 in Nauvoo that tells that he served
a mission with the Indians. We have been unable to find this particular volume in recent
years.

In his diary George does not tell where or how he met Hannah Maria. There is nothing
about their courtship or meeting. He just says that she is an American girl and then goes
on and tells about her parents and their names. He also does not even mention her name
- he just refers to her as "my wife". They were married when she was 20 years old and
he was 26. Later in his journal he mentions her as Hannah.

The Mormons were driven out of Nauvoo by the mobs and all their land was sold for
what they could get. In 1847 George Morris and Hannah Maria were heading across
Iowa to Council Bluffs to ready themselves to go west to Salt Lake City.  In George’s
diary he tells of all the sickness and troubles they had on their way across Iowa. He does
however make a point of telling about how someone was trying to harm Hannah.

         “There is a foul plot brewing aginst [sic] Hannah, and I must yet again move
           her for fear of her safety.” 

At the time Hannah was a young mother with two little babies and a third on the way.
George is not forthcoming about who would be so crass as to make evil attempts on
Hannah. It is suspected that her ethnicity was part of the reason, but this is not ever
confirmed.

When they left Nauvoo, they crossed the Mississippi River with the rest of the contingent.
Historian and amateur archaeologist Mike Foley has done work in the past several
years mapping the route of the Mormons crossing the Mississippi River and found that
the trail leads to Newberry land.  Keokuk   Mike has doused these areas and found
remnants of old buildings and structures used to house the fleeing Mormons.  Also in
a letter to the family in Utah, an Iowa family member  said that Brigham Young camped
on a corner of the Newberry property.

The Mormons headed west to Grand Encampment on their way out of mid-America.
George and Hannah stayed with her brothers in Argyle for a short time and then they moved
on to Council Bluffs and stayed a while with Hannah's father James.  George was anxious
to get going, and set out on the journey with insufficient provisions.  When it was found that
he had done this he was re-assigned to the Pisgah Company. This group shared the supplies
communally.

On to Utah

Connecticut / New York / More Newberry's in New York /  Samuel Smith / Smith Farm / Ohio /
 Revolution / Iowa / Exodus to Utah / Utah /  Hannah's Children / Hannah's Necklace /
Bibliography / Family Album / Jonathan Newberry Bible /
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