Ellen Morris Marriott
a Biography

Ellen Morris was one of six children born to William Morris and Elizabeth Russell Hamblin. She saw her first day on December 14, 1868, in Marriott, Weber County, Utah in a one room log cabin. She had a half sister, Duane Hamblin, the only child resulting from Elizabeth’s previous marriage to Duane Hamblin, an Indian missionary who had been killed in the South shortly after their wedding. William Morris had also been married previously to Harriett Evans, who had died with several of her children during an outbreak of diphtheria. Two of the children survived and were raised by Elizabeth Russell Morris.

Ellen’s full brothers and sisters were: William, Jr., who graduated from the University of Utah, died with typhoid fever at the age of twenty three; John; James: Catherine; and Elizabeth, whom everyone called Liz, died at the age of fifteen with smallpox.

As a young girl, Ellen attended the Marriott School, which was a mile and a half from home. In order to stay at the head of her class, she would often stay up late at night to study, especially her spelling. She excelled at reading and penmanship, but spelling was her forte. She won a contest in reading and was promoted to the next grade where all the children were older than she. As a result, she encountered a great deal of resentment from them, but the teacher kept her in the advanced grade despite this.

In addition to her work at school, she helped around the house quite a bit. She chopped wood, fed the sheep and cattle, worked in the orchard and helped her mother haul the apples for sale to Brigham City and Ogden. This ‘housework’ prepared her well for the responsibility which would come to her at the age of thirteen. It was then that her grandmother had an attack of arthritis and Ellen went to Riverdale to look after her. There she acted as family nurse, milked the cows and did all the chores around the house. When her grandmother recovered, Ellen returned to her own home, brining with her a gift from her grandmother – a beautiful leghorn hat.

As a young girl, she received the proper religious training from her parents. She participated in Church activities and attended services regularly. She was careful of the company she kept, preferring to associate with Mormon boys and girls. Until her mother became ill, her house was the gathering spot for the young folks. One night, while still young, she had a dream. A bright light came into her room and a voice said, “This is the light that will guide you through your life”. She was so frightened that she ran into her mother’s room and climbed into bed with her.

She was devoted to her mother and extremely fond of her father, who called her his “Pet”. When her mother was 51 years old, her health failed. Catherine, Ellen’s elder sister, washed the dishes and helped around the house, but at age seventeen got married and left home. Ellen then found herself alone in caring for her parents, while her brothers tended to the farming. Occasionally, the Relief Society would send someone around to help. Ellen cared for her mother for seven years, until her death at age 59. Also during this time, her father broke his hip and required attention and Ellen’s half sister, Duane Hamblin, became ill and needed nursing. Upon her deathbed, Duane asked Ellen to care for her youngsters – Dan, who was four years old, and Thad, one year old – after she passed away. Shortly after Duane’s death, Ellen’s mother died and Ellen found herself faced with the two young children and no source of income. For a while she lived with her brother Jim, but when he married, she had to find another place to live.

During this period, Ellen was Secretary of the Sunday School, as well as counselor of the Mutual Association and a Relief Society teacher. She would walk to Church three times each Sunday, bringing Dan and Thad along with her. On her way to Church, she would stop at each home and invite the residents to attend Sunday School with her. After the evening service, the young folks from the Church would meet at her home. Among those present was Will Marriott. They had known each other for a number of years, having participated in various Church activities together such as trips to the mountains in covered wagons, dances in Huntsville and Plain City, evening at the Marriott house enjoying strawberries and cream. Will would stop by her house and bolster her sagging spirits. On December 1, 1897, Ellen Morris and Will Marriott were married. At that time, Ellen’s brother, Jim, offered to take responsibility for Dan and Ellen kept Thad.

For a year after their marriage, Ellen and Will lived with the Marriotts. After the birth of their first child, Doris, they moved to Ogden and lived there for one month. They bought a home with four rooms for $400 in Five Points and moved the house to Marriott. It was close to the Church in Marriott and as a result, they did not feel isolated. It was here that Willard was born. Afterwards, they moved to the James’ house, where they lived for several years. While there, Will Marriott caught smallpox. This frightened the rest of the family and they received vaccinations immediately. Two daughters, Helen and Eva, were born to Ellen while she lived in this home.

Shortly after the birth of Eva, Will and Ellen received an offer to buy a large farm with a large house. The owner, Mr. Faye, gave them first choice. Since it was such a good buy, they could not refuse. The rest of the family – Paul, Kaye, Russell and Woodrow – were born here.

The farm was large, having twenty stalls in the barn and a large pasture. People from Ogden would come out weekends to check on their horses. In addition to boarding horses, they also raised chickens, tended sheep and cattle, grew sugar beets, potatoes and sold their products at the local market.

After living at the Faye home for about six years, the Marriotts were struck with a tragedy. One evening, Ellen took the children with her to milk the cows. She hesitated about leaving Kathryn in the house since she was still a baby and decided against it. Irrigation of the pasture then was accomplished by flooding it and the children got into the water and became quite wet. Eva and Helen decided to go back to the house for some dry clothes. They struck a match to find clothes in the stairway and dropped the match near a can of kerosene oil. In a short time, the entire house had burned to the ground. Everything had been lost. Their only possessions were the clothes on their backs. The Japanese couple who were helping with the farm lived in a house on the land. They offered the use of their house to us and they moved into the blacksmith shop. It took about a year to re-build the house and the new home had electric lights throughout.

Will was a good businessman, but did not care for farming. He raised and sold sheep and cattle, being quite successful. Ellen worked around the farm, putting up hundreds of quarts of fresh fruit, tending to the chickens, thinning the sugar beets, hoeing and sacking potatoes and caring for the house.

Will and Ellen saw to it that their children received good training in the gospel and a good education. They sent their children to Slaterville School until the Board of Education permitted them to send the children to Weber Academy, which they preferred to attend. Later, Willard and Paul served for two years in the Eastern States Mission and Russell and Woodrow went to England and served for two years as missionaries.

Ellen lived with her daughter, Doris, in Ogden until her death there on December 29, 1967.