Ripley County, INGenWeb Project
-- Church History --
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Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia
Volume 1
Biographies
Morris, Robert
McRae, Alexander, second Bishop of the Eleventh Ward, Salt Lake City, was born in Anson county, North Carolina. Sept. 7, 1807; removed with his parents to South Carolina, and after wards to Iredell county, in his native State, where he learned the trade of a tailor. When about twenty years old he left home, and in March, 1829, enlisted in the U. S. Army in South Carolina; he served five years. After his discharge in 1834, he removed to Louisville, Kentucky, and subsequently, Oct. 2, 1834, married Eunice Fitzgerald, at New Castle, Henry county, Ky. From there he moved to Ripley county, Indiana, where he embraced the fullness of the gospel and was baptized in June, 1837, together with his wife. In September following he removed to Far West, Mo., where he was elected a captain in the 23rd regiment of the Missouri militia. During the persecutions and mobbings in 1838 he took a very active part in the defense of his people until he was betrayed into the hands of the enemy by Geo. M. Hinkle, together with the Prophet and other brethren, Oct. 31, 1838. With them he passed through all the hardships and meek trials to which they were subjected and finally was incarcerated in Liberty jail. There he remained until the spring of 1839, when he together with his fellow-prisoners, succeeded in getting away from the guard and escape to Illinois. At Quincy, where he remained for a short time, he was ordained to the office of a Seventy. Subsequently, he removed to Ripley county, Indiana, and later established himself as a tailor in Nauvoo, Ill., and also assisted in various ways to build up that city. In 1844 he filled a mission to North Carolina, and returned to Indiana after the Prophet's death. In the spring of 1845 he returned to his home in Nauvoo, where he passed through all the persecutions and hardships which the Saints had to endure in those days. As a captain of the Nauvoo Legion, he took an active part in the defense of Nauvoo, and rendered efficient service in the famous battle fought in September, 1846. Previous to this he had served as an aide-de-camp to General Don Carlos Smith. After the capitulation of Nauvoo he went to Winter Quarters, and, later, located temporarily at Kanesville, Iowa. While residing in the latter place he was elected sheriff of Pottawattamie county. Finally, he came to Great Salt Lake valley, with his family, in 1852. Jan. 19, 1857, he was ordained Bishop of the Eleventh Ward, Salt Lake City, a position which he occupied until his death. In 1869-70 he filled a mission to the States, laboring principally in Mississippi and Alabama, together with his son Daniel. After a long and eventful career, Bishop McRae died at his residence in Salt Lake City, June 20, 1891.[p.621]