Morgan Richards Jr. — Miraculous Survival of Wagon Accident

During the 1854 trek to Utah with the Darwin Richardson Company, eight-year-old Morgan Richards Jr. met with a potentially fatal accident. While walking beside a heavily laden pioneer wagon, he tripped and fell directly into the path of the wheels. The heavy wagon wheels passed over his body. His father, Morgan Richards Sr., and other witnesses were horrified, expecting the boy to be crushed. However, this account, preserved in the Mary Richards McInelly manuscript in the DUP History Collection, records that the boy was miraculously preserved from serious injury. Following a priesthood administration, he recovered quickly and was able to complete the journey to the Salt Lake Valley without broken bones or internal damage. This event is documented as a manuscript-sourced account in the DUP Pioneer Pathways notes.