Elizabeth Orpha Morris

1908-July 28th, Moses Willard and Elizabeth Orpha Morris Andrus welcomed their 8th child into their home. Twins, Charles and Etta, and son, Roy, had died as infants. I was their 4th daughter. Orpha, Willard, Pauline and Richard were my older brothers and sisters. James was born four years later.

The day was, I’ve been told, one of the most extremely hot, sultry, cloudy days that July weather could bring to St. George, Utah. No relief to be found through aid of fans or coolers—electric power came much later. Mother has told me that before I came she laid on the floor in front of the door, fanning herself with a folder paper to get some relief from the heat.

Here is the GEDCOM file I have at this point. I have also created this fan chart that shows some of the contents of the file, but not all.

As I have entered some of the stories I have found other names that are not in the GEDCOM file, so I'm sure someone has a more up-to-date copy.

But here is what I have for what it is worth.

written by her daughter Orpha and son Richard

Orpha Elizabeth Morris, later Andrus, of whom I write was my mother and the few things I jot down came from bits of information she gave to me a few months before she passed away. Perhaps her grandchildren or their posterity may be interested in reading this very brief account of her life.

On January 22, 1872, in the little town of St. George, Utah, a baby girl was born to Richard Morris and his good wife Emma Packer Morris. There was no doctor present at the time but fortunately there was a capable midwife in attendance. She was Mrs. Samuel B. Hardy.

by Richard M. Andrus, son

My father, Moses Willard Andrus, was born at St. George, Utah, April 7, 1869, eight years after the town was settled. Although he was the fifth of eleven children born to James Andrus and Manomas Lavina Gibson, he was the first one to live beyond the age of two years and therefore assumed the responsibilities of the eldest or first-born.

He was taught the gospel of hard work at an early age, and because of the need for his services, his schooling was extremely limited. He did have the opportunity of attending Brigham Young Academy for several months and even with scant formal education he acquired a good working knowledge of mathematics. As soon as he was able to ride a horse, he was given considerable responsibility helping with, and later managing his father's large cattle interests.