Elizabeth Sloan
What we know and don’t know
March 2009
The Elizabeth Sloan that I refer to above was born 4 April 1746, possibly in Lancaster Co. Pennsylvania, or in Virginia. Elizabeth first appears in a record in Rowan Co. NC in 1766, when a marriage bond is executed for her marriage on 26 March 1766, to Andrew Morrison, born 9 Jan 1745, in PA, , son of William and Margaret (Hays?) Morrison. Signatures on the bond are John Frohock, James Patterson and Walter Carruth, none of whom appear to be a relative of Elizabeth. It is spelled SLOAN on the marriage bond.
Andrew and Elizabeth were married in Rowan Co., and she bore 8 known children in that county:
William Hays George Milton
Rachel Elizabeth
Margaret Mary
Rebecca Andrew Sloan
It is interesting to note that all of the male children in this family were given middle names, William’s is Hays, believed to be his paternal grandmother’s maiden name, George ‘s was Milton for which there is no known connection at this time, and Andrew’s was his mother’s maiden name. This is at a time before middle names were common among the Scots-Irish. This middle naming pattern was about 2 generations earlier than it is customary to find middle names, but soon became common among the Scots-Irish community. The female children were not accorded middle names.
Elizabeth and Andrew migrated to TN ca 1810 – probably directly to Franklin Co.
Location of children at Andrew’s death in 1815 is being investigated.
Andrew’s will, dated 22 August 1815, written and probated in Franklin County TN: Abstracted in Franklin County Wills 1808-1875, Ingmire.
Wife: Elizabeth
“my three daughters who now live with me”
“My son Andw S in connection with Wm Alexander in Elk River to have the use of sd. land during life or while married
“among my wife and daughter now with me”
Elizabeth, daughter, Polly daughter. Ed note: This is Mary.
“To son George I leave $20 for his troubles in settling my affairs to collecting debts in Carolina the property which has before this date come into the hands of son Andrew.”
“I will that the first Hundred dollars received from Carolina on my account shall be given to son Andrew S. to assist in paying for his expenses in behalf of my family”
“my beloved wife during her life time as respecting an interest in an estate in Virginia that in cas son Andw S shall see fit to do so any thing in obtaining it he shall be intitled to all the profits thence arising”
Signed: Andrew Morrison (seal)
Executors: Capt. George Davidson; Wm. Alexander, Esqr
Witnesses: James Harris, Jurat; Matilda M. Brown, Jurat.
Dated: 22 August 1815
The notation regarding an “estate in Virginia” is possibly a clue as to the earlier life of Elizabeth.
Note: witness Matilda M Brown is granddaughter of Andrew Morrison, dau of Rebecca Morrison Brown, widow of Robert Brown.
No knowledge of burial site for either Andrew or Elizabeth, nor when or where Elizabeth died. .
Advised by Julia McCorkle Montgomery (deceased in 2008) of a letter of Elmira Sloane McCorkle, noting that “Great Grandmother Morrison (this would be Elizabeth Sloan Morrison) was a sister to Grandfather McCorkle”. (This would be her paternal Grandfather. Unable to get a copy of that letter.
Elizabeth Morrison was witness to will of William “X” Archbald on 6 October 1777, in Rowan Co. NC . William Archbald’s wife was a Martha McCorkle. Exr: of William Archbald’s will was Alexander McCorkle, William Archbald’s father in law; Wit: John Rosebrough, William Rosebrough, Elisabeth Morrison. Rowan Co. Will Book A:251
Other Elizabeth Sloan’s contemporary to my Elizabeth Sloan in the Rowan county and Iredell County area…and data- research about whom could not lead me to my Elizabeth Sloan.
Elizabeth Sloan, daughter of John Sloan “Ironmaster” married William “Willy” S. Brown
Elizabeth Sloan, married to Captain Samuel Espy of Lincoln Co. NC. She was sister to Mary Sloan. Rowan Co. 5 April 1785
Elizabeth Sloane, married Samuel Snoddy. Noted in her will of 9 May 1794, sons Thomas, William, Samuel Jr. Fergus, John, and daughters Eleanor (who married a James Morrison) Sarah, Elizabeth, Margaret, Mary, Agnes, Martha
Elizabeth Sloan, d/o Fergus and Ann E. Robinson Sloan, born ca 1750, d. 1831, married Thomas Hall, s/o James Hall and Prudence Roddy Hall. DAR Patriot Index Vol III, page 660.
Elizabeth Sloan m. Timothy Anderson, Rowan Co. 1770. Her parentage is unknown.
Elizabeth Sloan, married Samuel Haynes. See P. Roberson research notes
Elizabeth Sloan, married James Morrison in Burke County NC. James was a son of William Morrison of Burke Co. believed to be son of Thomas, son of James? Her parentage is unknown.
Elizabeth Sloan, daughter of Archibald and Margaret ____ Sloan. This Elizabeth Sloan is listed in the Patrick Sloan Bible memo as being his sister, and dau of Archibald.
Andrew Sloan Morrison (Reverend) was a son of Andrew Morrison and Elizabeth Sloan Morrison. Andrew Sloan Morrison’s location at time of his father’s death in Franklin County TN is unknown, though he probably was in the vicinity of his father (Probably Blount Co.TN) He is listed as MG in a majority of marriage indexes in that county at that time. Will of Andrew Morrison was dated 22 Aug 1815 in Franklin Co. TN.
Blount Co. TN work – was ASM there at time of his father’s death. Did mother Elizabeth Morrison join him as a widow or where was she?
??? Franklin Co. TN , , Bedford County TN , Coffee County – formed in 1836
This memo pertains to one Elizabeth Sloan, my fourth great grandmother. I have found at least eight other Elizabeth Sloan’s contemporary to her in Rowan , Burke and Iredell Co. NC, none of whom have led me through their parentage, to my Elizabeth’s mother and father.
Jean Morrison
5478 Hanover Circle
Cincinnati OH 45230
513-232-1827
Sister of Morrison DNA Project – Number M115
help to subsidize the cost of hosting our WEB site.
I’m sorry to have waited ten years to respond to cousin Jean Morrison’s thoughtful, informed summary of what is known about Elizabeth Sloan Morrison, wife of the Andrew M who was son of William Morrison, 1704-1771. Some say Elizabeth Sloan was born in PA circa 1746 and that Andrew Morrison, her husband, was born in PA 1744. (I do not know.) In 1766, these two would marry in Rowan County, NC. But who was Elizabeth Sloan? This question continues to plague her modern descendants, including me.
I present some clues for consideration.
Clue Number One: Walter Carruth (spelling Caruth?)–
Walter Carruth was father of Agnes Carruth (Mrs. ROBERT SLOAN). Walter Carruth served as bondsman or witness for the 1766 marriage in Rowan Co., NC, of Elizabeth Sloan & Andrew Morrison. This gives us a clue that Robert Sloan who m. Agnes Carruth was related to our Elizabeth Sloan (Mrs. Andrew Morrison). Was Robert Sloan a brother to our Elizabeth Sloan (Morrison)? Was he her uncle? Does this Robert Sloan appear in the census records of Rowan County, NC?
Clue Number Two: James Patterson–
James Patterson was a brother-in-law to Alexander McCorkle, 1722-1800. James Patterson’s wife was nee Emeline McCorkle. James Patterson also served, with the above Walter Carruth, as bondsman or witness to the 1766 NC marriage of Elizabeth Sloan to Andrew Morrison. Emeline McCorkle was a sister to Alexander McCorkle, 1722-1800, and we know Emeline’s husband served as bondsman. Emeline McCorkle’s sister, whom I call “Miss X McCorkle,” married a Mr. SLOAN, probably in Pennsylvania; this union of the McCorkle sister and Mr. Sloan produced Elizabeth Sloan (Morrison). The WALTER CARRUTH clue does not negate, and the JAMES PATTERSON clue reinforces, the statement in an old letter of Elmira Sloan McCorkle (Mrs. Stephen Roache, 1797-1890)(her mother was Margaret Morrison McCorkle, 1770-1848) that “grandfather McCorkle” (Alexander McCorkle, 1722-1800) was a brother to the mother of Elizabeth Sloan (Mrs. Andrew Morrison). Long ago, I placed on my web site (www.MarshaHuie.com) what I knew about said letter from Elmira in which Elmira wrote her nephew, James Scott McCorkle, MD., of Newbern, Dyer County, NW Tennessee, that her mother’s grandmother was a sister to Alexander McCorkle, 1722-1800. (Yes, somewhere I have that old letter, but no, I don’t any longer know where it is in my mountains of genealogical information. Mea culpa.)
Clue Number Three: The name COWDEN recurs in Pennsylvania with SLOANs who may constitute the Sloan family of Elizabeth Sloan (Mrs. Andrew Morrison) of Pennsylvania–
Elizabeth Sloan Morrison’s daughter, Margaret Morrison McCorkle, 1770-1848, named one daughter Rebecca COWDEN McCorkle (Mrs. Gideon Thompson), just as . Margaret named another daughter Elmira SLOAN McCorkle. When I look at Archibald (‘Arsbold’) Sloan, Sr., 1697-1764, and Samuel Sloan, 1720-1771, and Archibald Sloan Jr., 1719-1788, I can almost taste kinship to our Elizabeth Sloan (Morrison). But hunches are not enough for genealogy. The 1771 will of Samuel Sloan mentions ‘Arsbold Sloan’ and “my brother John Sloan’s eldest son,” “my brother John Sloan,” “James Sloan,” “Arsbold Sloan the only son of my sister Elizabeth Sloan,” “my sister Mary Sloan…husband James Mitchel[l?]s,” “my niece Elizabeth Sloan my brother WILLIAM SLOAN’s daughter.” My head spins. I think a son of the Archibald Sloan born 1697 probably in Ireland and died in Lancaster, PA, was Samuel Sloan circa 1718-1771; and another son was Archibald Sloan, Jr., born ca. 1718, who died ca. 1786 in Rowan Co., NC.
Briefly I had thought, but now have doubts, that I had made the Sloan-Cowden connection with Lt. David Sloan, 1744-1776, who was killed in the 1776 Battle of Long Island. It seemed easy to insert our Elizabeth Sloan Morrison as sister to Lt. David Sloan, who left one child Annie Sloan (Annie Sloan in PA became a Mrs. COWDEN). Bingo. But … … …
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On the topic of VIRGINIA COLONY connections of Elizabeth Sloan (Mrs. Andrew Morrison): One of Elizabeth’s sons was Andrew Sloan Morrison, a Presbyterian minister who died a resident of Indiana, son of Elizabeth Sloan & Andrew Morrison, and grandson of “first inhabitor” William Morrison, 1704-1771. An old perhaps 1835 letter from ASM’s sister Margaret Morrison McCorkle to her daughter, Elmira Sloan McCorkle (Roach) lends credence to SLOAN, or Morrison or perhaps McCorkle, Virginia landholdings. Margaret by then in NW Tennessee was worrying about her siblings–said she had heard but could not verify that her sister Rachel Morrison [Mrs. Robert Brown] had died July of 1835. And Margaret wondered in writing where her brother Andrew Sloan Morrison was; she had no clue that ASM has removed to Indiana; she wrote that her brother Andrew Sloan Morrison was likely up in Virginia attending to an old land-title lawsuit in Virginia. Our best clues may lie in the land-records offices of Colonial Virginia.
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As to Elizabeth SLoan & Andrew Morrison’s son William Hay(e)s Morrison, 1767-1837, who married Mary Haynes: It’s long bothered me why Wm Hays Morrison is interred not where he resided but in NW Tennessee (Dyer County, Tenn., McCorkle Cemetery east of Newbern). All I had to do was read his will. Witnesses in Franklin County, Tennessee (eastern Tenn. in the environs of today’s Winchester near Chattanooga) were Margaret Morrison McCorkle’s son Edwin Alexander McCorkle, 1799-1853; son Jehiel Morrison McCorkle, 1804-1849; and son-in-law Lemuel Locke Scott. Margaret had evidently sent her three stalwarts from NW Tenn. to East Tenn. to bring to Dyer County her brother William Hays Morrison, who died in 1837 in Dyer County and is interred beside his sister Margaret Morrison McCorkle.
Similarly, Margaret Morrison (Mrs. Robert McCorkle), 1770-1848, had evidently grown tired of her sister Mary Morrison-Morrison’s continual complaints so sent son Edwin Alexander McCorkle in a wagon to rescue Margaret’s two sisters (Mary Morison and Rebecca Morrison) trapped near Hillsboro, Tennessee, in today’s Coffee County. Mary Morrison and sister Rebecca Morrison, the latter of whom never married as best I can tell, were afraid and refused to come with their nephew Edwin A McCorkle to West Tennessee. Mary Morrison, daughter of Elizabeth Sloan & Andrew Morrison, had married her first cousin John Morrison, a son of Mary’s Uncle Patrick Morrison. Jean Morrison of Cincinnati informed me of the existence of divorce proceedings regarding this Mary Morrison. I have not figured out why the two Morrison sisters were living with a James Morrison in Coffee County, Tennessee.
Thanks for reading this.–Marsha Cope Huie, 8 September 2020
Marsha,
Thank you for all of this information! Interesting to say the least. Genealogy can be very confusing especially when so many have the same names over and over. I am a descendant of Andrew Morrison and Elizabeth Sloan so this helps with many questions many of us have as far as why people are where they are.
Thank you again!
Stephanie Hayden