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The Morrell Diary
Alexander H. Morrell's Harpers Ferry
By Jeffrey Brooke-Stewart
During November 2007, I spent some time in Harpers Ferry in order to visit buildings and locations frequented by Alexander Morrell. The old Storer College campus, Curtis Free Will Baptist Church,
Harpers Ferry Cemetery, the railway bridge system and various civil war / John Brown action places were visited.
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Brown's Fort. Courtesy of Jeff Brooke-Stewart.
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John Brown was the zealous anti-slavery leader who stormed the US Federal Armory at Harpers Ferry in 1859 with the intent of seizing arms
and ammunition to be used in a planned slave uprising. Late in the evening of October 16th, Brown and a small band of followers took control
of the armory and munitions works and began to make preparations for action the next day. Word quickly spread regarding the attack, and
local town people and militia counter-attacked Browns group. Taking a number of local people as hostage, Brown took a stand in the fire hall
of the compound. On October 18th, the attack came to an end when a section of US Marines led by Robert E. Lee captured Brown. He was
quickly accused, tried and found guilty of treason, and was hanged on December 2nd 1859 in nearby Charles Town. The Fire Hall, shown here
, has been moved a few times since 1859, and now stands a few hundred yards from its original site
Alternately hailed as either a visionary hero or a villainous traitor, some argue that Brown's action polarized popular opinion for or against
slavery, and was indirectly one of the steps towards the bloody war that followed.
During the Civil War, Harpers Ferry was subject to attack by forces from both sides, and much of the town was in ruins by the end of the
conflict. The armory and munitions works were largely destroyed and various federal buildings were badly damaged.
During the war, and anticipating the outcome, the Home Missions Board of the New England Free Will Baptists began making plans for means to educate the freed slaves.
Immediately following the end of the conflict, mission stations and schools were established in Virginia, West Virginia and North Carolina. Alexander Morrell became active in this work and served along
the Shenandoah Valley.
By 1865, one of the Free Will Baptist Home Mission Society's main activities was at Harpers Ferry. Dr. N. C. Brackett and Silas P. Curtis, with the assistance of Alexander Morrell and others began
providing education opportunities to the freed slaves, and for this purpose, they quickly obtained the use of Lockwood House, one of the many damaged federal buildings in the town. This small
undertaking developed into Storer College. The funding for this expansion came from matching grants of $10,000 each from philanthropist John Storer, and the Free Will Baptist Home Mission Society.
In the ensuing years, other buildings were taken over and eventually deeded to the college.
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Morrell House. Courtesy of Jeff Brooke-Stewart.
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One of the deeded federal buildings was used to house Alexander Morrell and his family, along with some other teachers. This building, which
is shown here, became known as Morrell House, and today it is still known by that name.
Storer College closed in 1955, and today the National Park Service is housed on the old campus.
I was keen to visit the gravesite of Morrell and pay my respects. And that led to a mystery!
The US National Park service has two functions at Harpers Ferry. On the site of Storer College, and occupying many of the old college
buildings, are both the headquarters of the Harpers Ferry National Park, and the Training Center for the entire US Park System. Under the co
-ordination of Richard Raymond, a number of the staff on site provided help in this research, and I acknowledge my thanks to them here.
My first quest was to find the location of Morrell's grave, and I quickly discovered that there are a number of conflicting pieces of information
concerning this. What we know for sure is the following:
- He died at his son's home1 in Irvington New Jersey on December 24th 1885.
- In the obituary written by his close friend and colleague Nathan Brackett, Brackett wrote, "…there was no question where we should bury him, for all knew for whom and what his life was given,
and that he wished his body to lie at Harpers Ferry. The whole community, regardless of color, came to testify their respect at the burial. The tributes from white and colored at the funeral were
hearty and generous…an effort is already being made by students past and present, aided by friends outside, to raise the means to erect a monument to his memory."
- A tribute piece written by an unknown author, but written I suspect in Rhode Island, reads, "Saturday last the people of Chepachet were shocked and surprised, by the sad news of the death of
Rev. A. H. Morrell. He was on his way from Maine to Harpers Ferry…the funeral services were to consist of prayer at the place where he died, with a short service and burial at Harpers Ferry."
- Richard Raymond has provided that, "HFD-1095 Biographical sketch of Morrell from some unknown late nineteenth century source on p. 229 provides that he is buried at Harpers Ferry. Burial
was on Sunday December 27 1885."
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Bracket Grave. Courtesy of Jeff Brooke-Stewart.
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- Richard Raymond also has provided, "SOJ/PA3C5 02/14/1952 Notice: Storer College Founders Day Program to be given in Anthony
Hall Auditorium. Annual services at graves of: Dr. Nathan Cook Bracket, Rev. Alexander Morrell and Henry T. McDonald."
Dr. Brackett and Henry McDonald are both buried in Harpers Ferry town cemetery, and I visited their graves.
So, it would appear that Morrell was buried in Harpers Ferry. But where?
Richard Raymond has also provided the following information which conflicts with the above:
- Burial books of Jefferson County provide no reference to any Morrell burial.
- NHF-03482 and HFS-03768 portray the Morrell monument on the grounds of the Curtis Freewill Baptist Church. Bracket descendant
and long time resident of Harpers Ferry, Anne Dungen, has no oral history of this being the burial place, only a memorial marker. Anne
is also on the Harpers Ferry Cemetery Trustees and checked their file with no Morrell listed.
- Discussion with Guinevere Roper (Storer College specialist on staff) provides she does not know the location of his (Morrell) burial.
So where is the good man buried? We can look at some of the information and try to piece it together.
(1) The timing
Morrell passed away at 10 PM on December 24th. Family and friends could certainly have met on Christmas Day for a brief prayer and memorial service at the home. Morrell had preached at the local
church just two weeks earlier before becoming fatally sick. Here is how Brackett describes that occasion; "…he attended church through wind and rain and, of course preached (how could he refuse
when the young man urged him as a favor to himself?), and promised to preach again at night if he was able. It was his last sermon." So, it would seem to me that the young preacher at the local
church would have been very willing to help the family with a December 25th morning prayer service.
Harpers Ferry was located on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and the family and the body could have traveled during the afternoon of December 25th from New Jersey to Harpers Ferry to arrive on
December 27th. Residing in Harpers Ferry, Bracket and others after receiving word of Morrell's death, could certainly have made the necessary arrangements for a burial and service on the 27th. But
that scenario leads to the questions of why the hurry, and why no record of the burial?
(2) Curtis Free Will Baptist Church
Various entries in articles and reports from Morrell's time mention the Free Will Baptist's church at Harpers Ferry. It is important to note that when the Free Will Baptists used such an expression as
'the church', they would have had the gathering of people in mind more than a structure. In the early days, such a church would likely have met in one of the member's homes. By January 26th 1868,
the Harpers Ferry church was of sufficient strength to be included in the first Quarterly Meeting of the local Free Will Baptist Association. As the college developed, we know that they met in a chapel in
the left wing of the Anthony Hall building.2 This entire Storer College endeavor was a New England Free Will Baptist mission, and many of the men and women involved on staff would have had 'home
churches' somewhere else.
As the years passed however, and as more families like the Morrell and Bracket families took up permanent residence in Harpers Ferry, there would have been a desire to have a local church building.
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Curtis Free Will Baptist Church. Courtesy of Jeff Brooke-Stewart.
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Furthermore, these Baptist leaders would have felt the need for a local building apart from the chapel, where Storer students and faculty as
well as local people, could attend and worship - and hopefully associate with the church. In short, they felt the need for a place to call home - home for worship and Christian education.
So it is not unreasonable to assume that by 1885, Morrell and Bracket and others were developing plans for such a structure, including its
location, size and style etc. It clearly took some time to complete these plans and to find the necessary funding for the undertaking, and it was 1892 before work began.3
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Curtis Church Stone. Courtesy of Jeff Brooke-Stewart.
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The red brick building was completed in 1894 and was named the Curtis Freewill
Baptist Church in recognition of the important role that Silas P. Curtis of New Hampshire played in the forming of the college. The church was dedicated for worship on May 27th 1896.4
The structure was used for worship up until 1955. The Park Service has just recently completed a wonderful restoration of the interior. It is
currently used for Park meetings and special presentations.
(3) Alexander Morrell and the Curtis Church
The Curtis church has a number of fine stained-glass windows. The dominant window (to the right in the above church photograph) is a striking
multi-colored memorial to Alexander Morrell. The dedication of such a very special memorial is another testimonial to the special place that Alexander Morrell held in the hearts of the Storer College team.
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Morrell Window. Courtesy of Jeff Brooke-Stewart.
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Elmwood Church Window. Courtesy of Jeff Brooke-Stewart.
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Small side windows recognize churches that supported either the funding of Storer College or more specifically the Curtis church.
Of special interest to Rhode Island readers is that one of these windows recognizes the Elmwood Avenue, Providence, church. The C.E. at the top of the window probably refers to the Christian
Endeavor group of the Elmwood church.
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Morrell Marker. Courtesy of Jeff Brooke-Stewart.
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The church stands on a small parcel of land adjacent to a Park Service administration building. To the left of the church there is a single memorial marker
stone set under a large old tree. This marker was erected in 1887, and was funded by private donations.5 It carries the engraving:
Rev.
A. H. Morrell
1818 – 1885
________
AND HATH MADE OF ONE BLOOD
ALL NATIONS OF MEN
MORRELL
This marker is the only stone in the churchyard, and there is no indication in the records that Morrell is buried here.
(4) The mystery
The exact location of the burial place for Alexander Morrell remains a mystery.
I find it inconceivable that such a dear and close colleague as Nathan Brackett made a mistake in recording (just weeks after Morrell's death) that Morrell was
buried in Harpers Ferry. He must be buried there.
The following is speculation, but a possible scene emerges of the family arriving from Irvington and gathering at Harpers Ferry station sometime on December 27th, being met by Bracket and other Free
Will Baptist colleagues and friends. The casket could have been unloaded from the train and placed on a small horse drawn wagon and taken the few hundred yards from the station up the hill and into
Harpers Ferry cemetery, which overlooks the town, valley and railway system. There, at a previously prepared site, the group might have held a short prayer and committal service at what was planned
to be a temporary grave.
A temporary site because we know from Brackett, that Morrell had made it known that upon his death he wanted to be buried at Harpers Ferry. The future Free Will Baptist churchyard was quite likely
the place Morrell had in mind, had his death not occurred before the structure was built. Perhaps Brackett, knowing that the church was being planned, had arranged for a temporary burial in the town
cemetery and planned for the body to be re-interred at the new churchyard later.
Alternatively, the site of the future church building and church yard may have been known in 1885, and the body may have been taken there and buried in an unmarked grave, awaiting a future stone as
Brackett noted.
Since death occurred in Irvington, New Jersey, the death certificate was issued there and not in Harpers Ferry, Jefferson County, West Virginia. This fact, plus the possible temporary nature of the burial
, and the Christmas holiday period, might have caused a slip in recording the burial in the town cemetery.
So Morrell probably either remains in an unmarked grave in the Harpers Ferry town cemetery or below the Curtis Free Will Baptist Church marker. Perhaps we will never know where he lies, but
research continues.
1. Obituary by N.C. Brackett and other records.
2. Free Baptist Cyclopaedia, page 625.
3. National Register of Historic Places Inventory Survey of June 1980.
4. Communication from Guinevere Roper of the Park Service.
5. Communication from Nancy Hatcher of the Park Service reads: "According to The Pioneer Press, donations were provided by: Mr. R. W. Callaway, Chas. Cavalier, Mr/Mrs. W. W. Grimes, Mr/Mrs
Chas. Trail, Mr/Mrs M. E. Franklin, Ms P.V. Burrell, Ms. Cora S. Brown, Prof/Mrs. Brackett, Mr/Mrs.S.W. Lightner, Ms. Albert Bailey, Henry J. Jenkins, Ms. Mary A. Givens, and Ms. Mary Toler."
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