Morris, Gracie Sanford Sargent

Biography

Gracie Sanford Sargent was eleven years old in 1906 when her entire family, except her father, was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in a creek in rural Caroline County, Virginia. Of the eight family members who joined, five maintained at least a nominal connection to the Church while three of the Sargent siblings later transitioned out of the faith. Gracie and her sisters Clara and Anne Marie converted to the Baptist Church as adults and found religious community there.

Gracie was the sixth of seven children born to John and Nellie Gray Patron Sargent. Latter-day Saint missionaries recorded Gracie’s birthdate as 15 July 1895 but her death certificate suggests she was born on 20 July 1900. Her death record is clearly in error given that she was listed on the 1900 U.S. Census as a four-year-old girl, just one month shy of her fifth birthday, when the census taker visited the family in June 1900.[1]

Latter-day Saint missionaries baptized eleven-year-old Gracie on 19 August 1906. Thomas E. Ricks III, from Rexburg, Idaho, performed Gracie’s baptism and John Clement Farr from Ogden, Utah, confirmed her a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.[2]

Sometime before 1920, Gracie met and married a man named Richard Morris. The couple made their home in Caroline County and eventually settled in Balty, a rural farming community about an hour north of Richmond. Richard worked at a steel plant and the couple raised their two children, Celester and Reynard, in Balty.[3]

A 1930 LDS Church Census indicates that Gracie remained a member of the LDS faith, at least nominally, up to that time. However, there was no organized LDS congregation in Balty and at some point Gracie transitioned to the Baptist faith. Her niece explained that Gracie “quit going” to the LDS Church but also indicated that she sometimes called on LDS missionaries for blessings of health.[4]

When Gracie developed breast cancer she was admitted to Richmond Memorial Hospital where, according to her niece Virginia Wright, “she wanted the elders.” “I called them,” Virginia explained, “and they went over” and gave Gracie a blessing. Later, when Gracie’s doctor released her from the hospital, he made the return appointment for the following year because he did not expect her to live long enough to come back. When she showed up for her yearly visit, the doctor was surprised that she was still alive. As her niece recalled, “her cancer more or less went into remission for a while,” an occurrence which Virginia attributed to the blessing the Latter-day Saint elders gave Gracie. “She lived a long while after that. But she never got back in with the Church,” Virginia explained.[5] By that time she had joined St. John Baptist Church in Woodford, Virginia, a small town about thirteen miles south of Balty and she remained a member there for the rest of her life.[6]

Gracie died on 29 October 1962 at her daughter's home in Ashland, Virginia, after a five year battle with breast cancer.[7] Reverend Albert L. Hill, a pastor from St. John Baptist Church, performed her funeral services. Gracie is buried at the Sargent family plot in Ruther Glen, Virginia.[8]

By Joseph Stuart with research assistance from Hannah Koford

Primary Sources

Celester M. Anderson, Findagrave.com. 

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Record of Members Collection, Southern States Mission, Virginia District, Microfilm 1995, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah.

“John Clement Farr.” Missionary Database. Accessed March 18, 2021.

“Morris,” Times-Dispatch, 1 November 1962, 45.

“Sargent.” Presiding Bishopric stake and mission census, 1914-1935. C.R. 4 311. Church History Library, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah.

“Thomas Edwin Ricks III.” Missionary Database. Accessed March 18, 2021.

United States. 1900 Census. Virginia, Caroline County, Madison District.

United States. 1910 Census. Virginia, Caroline County, Madison District.

United States. 1920 Census. Virginia, Caroline County, Madison District.

United States. 1940 Census. Virginia, Caroline County, Madison District.

Virginia. Caroline County. Marriage Records, 1936-2014. Ernest Gray Anderson and Celester Grace Morris, 14 January 1950.

Virginia. State Board of Health. Bureau of Vital Statistics. Certificates of Death. File 89-017317. Registered number 143. Celester Morris Anderson. Virginia State Archives. Richmond, Virginia.

Virginia. State Board of Health. Bureau of Vital Statistics. Certificates of Death. File 28117. Registered number 135. Gracie Morris. Virginia State Archives. Richmond, Virginia.

Wright, Virginia K. Oral interview by Alan Cherry, 14 October 1986. Transcript. Charles Redd Center for Western Studies Oral History Project. L. Tom Perry Special Collections. Harold B. Lee Library. Brigham Young University. Provo, Utah.

[1] Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Record of Members Collection, Southern States Mission, Virginia District, Microfilm 1995, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah; United States, 1900 Census, Virginia, Caroline County, Madison district; Virginia, State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Certificates of Death, File 28117, registered number 135, Gracie Morris, Virginia State Archives, Richmond, Virginia; United States, 1900 Census, Virginia, Caroline County, Madison District.

[2] Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Record of Members Collection, Southern States Mission, Virginia District, Microfilm 1995, Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah; “John Clement Farr,” Missionary Database; “Thomas Edwin Ricks III,” Missionary Database.

[3] Virginia, State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Certificates of Death, File 89-017317, registered number 699, Celester Morris Anderson, Virginia State Archives, Richmond, Virginia; United States, 1940 Census, Virginia, Caroline County, Madison district; “Reynard Clinton Morris,” United States, Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007.

[4] Virginia K. Wright, oral interview by Alan Cherry, 14 October 1986, transcript, 10, 17, Charles Redd Center for Western Studies Oral History Project, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.

[5] Wright, Oral Interview, 10.

[6] “Morris,” Times-Dispatch, 1 November 1962, 45.

[7] Virginia, State Board of Health, Bureau of Vital Statistics, Certificates of Death, File 28117, registered number 135, Gracie Morris, Virginia State Archives, Richmond, Virginia.

[8] “Morris,” Times-Dispatch, 1 November 1962, 45. Richard Morris was never a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, so it possible that Saint John Baptist Church is the church he and Gracie were affiliated with at the time of her death. Both Richard’s mother and Gracie and Richard’s daughter were buried in the new section of the Saint John Baptist Church Cemetery. Anderson, Celester M. Findagrave.com.

Documents

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