The John and Ella Morrill House in Junction, Utah

Morrill House, Junction Utah, watercolor by Jim Hawks
Private collection of Daniel Bay Gibbons

A few years ago our dear friends, Bret Clark, and his late wife, Melissa Brady Clark, gave us this beautiful watercolor of the John & Ella Morrill home in Junction, Utah, painted by local artist Jim Hawks. It hangs in a prominent position in our family history room (the "Old Times Room," we call it) with all of our family records and portraits.

Three generations of my Bay ancestors are deeply connected with this beautiful house, including my great-grandmother, Mary Eva LeBaron Bay, my grandfather, Horace Earl Bay, and my late mother, Helen Bay Gibbons.

My great-grandmother, Mary Eva LeBaron Bay, was raised by the builders of this home. Her parents died when she was young, and she went to live with her older sister, Ella Morrill and her husband, John, who was the first bishop of the Junction Ward. The Morrills became Mary Eva's surrogate parents. Later, after Mary Eva married, she and her family (who lived just down the road) would join with the Morrill family for holidays in this home, including a full-week every Christmas.

Of these Christmas celebrations for the extended family, my Mom wrote:

John Morrill had become a leading citizen of Piute County, and was becoming more affluent. He built the fanciest home in town. It was a large red-brick, two story home with large rooms and many bedrooms. This became the traditional site of the annual family Christmas celebration which often lasted a full week. Heavy work duties were suspended for the holidays, and the entire family moved into the Morrill home. One large bedroom would be given over to the girls of both families, beds made on the floor, with little sleep and much giggling taking place each night. Another large bedroom housed the boys of the families. The parents then collaborated on Christmas surprises, cooking, sewing, and building items for gifts. The children, too, had their secrets, and there was much mysterious whispering and hiding of pack ages, creating an almost unbearable but delightful feeling of suspense on the part of the children. Old Santa Claus himself in a red suit usually popped into the Morrill house in person to surprise the children for a few minutes on Christmas Eve. He would toss a few pieces of candy into the bedrooms as the excited boys and girls were trying to go to sleep. The house carried telltale odors of fresh paint (which Willard and John had been applying to their homemade toys), mixed with tantalizing fragrances of popcorn, fruitcakes, and candy. It was a fairyland of dreams come true. Helen Bay Gibbons, Letters to Mary: 1879-1929 (Salt Lake City, 1972) p. 73

My great Aunt Celia wrote of these occasions: 

In our home, birthdays of members of the family, and holidays, were great events. But Christmas was the out standing time of childhood days. My parents worked early and late weeks before Christmas, making our Christ mas gifts, and when Christmas Eve came and our family moved to Aunt Ella Morrill's to spend a full week, my joy was beyond description. Then Christ mas morning, a beautiful Christmas tree, cousins to play with, and each year I would find among the gifts my own big rag doll with a clean face, new hair and a full set of new clothes. No little girl was ever happier, not even the children with the costly gifts they have today.
Ibid p. 74. 

Mary Eva LeBaron Bay and her family
Back Row: Ellis (tall), Ethel, Ira and Celia
Front: HEB (my grandfather), Mary Edna (on mother's lap),
MEL, Jack, JWB & France

Christmas, to Mary, was just a synonym for giving.The family income was never too small for sharing Gifts were sent to loved ones near and far. Even in the years of her struggling widowhood, Mary remembered others on all special occasions. Eight pairs of young eyes watched and came to think of their mother and even eventually of themselves, not as poor, but as contributing members of society. 

Another sweet story—when my great-grandmother was expecting a child, then delivered a baby girl, she and her husband, James Willard Bay, Jr., could not agree on a name. They took the infant to this house to visit the Morrills. An older relative from the Morrill family was there, and held the newborn baby girl. She then wrote two names on little slips of paper and placed them in the tiny clutching hands of the little girl. When they returned home (across the street, to their little house by the Junction courthouse), they read the names on the paper—"Mary" and "Edna," and that became the little girl's name (my great-aunt, sister of my Grandpa Bay). Soon thereafter, this older Morrill relative died.

My mother, Helen Bay Gibbons, who died in 2015, often visited the Morrill house as a girl, growing up in Junction. She always looked upon John and Ella Morrill as surrogate great-grandparents, since they helped raise her grandmother in this house. My aunt, Mary Bay Ellis is named after this great-grandmother, Mary Eva LeBaron Bay.

Morrill House in Junction as it appears today