Morrison History 1700 to 1953
By Sudie Morrison Hood
Commentary by John A. Morrison,
125 N. E. Wood Glen Lane,
Lee’s Summit, Mo 64064
Tel. (816) 478-0345, (417) 588-1408
Cell (816) 536-8161
e-mail, juan3viajo@aol.com
M194 – Group Q – Morrison DNA Project
Background
The “Morrison History 1700 to 1753” came into my hands after a search of more than twenty years. About 1985, a distant relative who lived in Clemson, South Carolina, sent me a “family tree” that depicted a Morrison family whose patriarch was John Morrison who married Margaret Erwin. The document was literally drawn as a “tree”, with John and Margaret Erwin’s names on the trunk very near the root. My own 2x grandparents, Andrew and Elizabeth Morrison, and my 1x grandparents, Zelotus Columbus and Mattie Morrison, were shown on two of the branches together with the names of their children. John and Margaret Erwin Morrison were my 3x grandparents. During the intervening years, I traced the people named on the tree, primarily by examining U. S. census records, and have concluded that the information contained on the tree is quite accurate. There is a “legend” in the lower right hand corner that relates the origins of the family before John. The legend states, as in a fairy tale: “Once upon a time, there were six or eight Morrison brothers with their families who came from England and Ireland and settled in Va., N.C. and Ga. One settled in Iredell Co. N. C. He raised five sons, Andrew, James, Frank, John, William.” I will have comments on this legend later in this document.
Immediately upon receiving the family “tree”, I began seeking its source. Lucille Vincent, the cousin who sent the document to me, did not know the source. Some years later, I visited Walnut Springs, Bosque County, Texas, where cousins of my great grandfather had settled in the 19th century. I knew members of the family still lived in that area. I was rewarded by finding a woman named Mildred (Chapman) Morrison, widow and second wife of Earl Morrison of Walnut Springs. Mildred showed me many photographs of the family, whose matriarch was Susan Jordan Morrison, widow of John Morrison of Pickens County, Georgia. Susan had journeyed to Texas as a widow with her three sons, James, Alonzo, and Charles, and had settled in Bosque County. As we talked, I described the “tree” and Mildred replied that it had been drawn by her stepdaughter Earline Morrison Hunter. Earline’s motive for preparing the “tree” was to complete a freshman project requirement when she attended Texas Christian University. This was about 1948. Mildred gave me Earline’s address and telephone number in Houston.
Subsequently, I spoke with Earline by telephone. She told me that she knew nothing more of the family history than was shown on the “tree”. Her source had been her aunt, Sudie Morrison Hood, who lived in Dallas at the time. When I spoke to Earline, Sudie had been dead many years. I believe that Earline is now deceased.
Fifteen or more years passed before I found another clue to the origin of the “tree”. At the end of a Morrison family history in one of the county Heritage Books that can be found in most genealogical libraries, I found the name and address of a woman named Gayle Maxson, who had submitted the information. Also at the bottom of the article were credits to her sources, which included Sudie Morrison Hood, who had written a document entitled “Morrison History 1700 to 1953”. I spoke to Gayle on the telephone, who sent me a copy of the document.
My own – and largely independent – studies of the Morrison family have confirmed many of the things that are in Sudie’s history and on Earline’s tree. They also enlarge upon and correct some of the things that Sudie thought were true of the family. This commentary is my attempt to amend and enhance Sudie’s history.
About Sudie Morrison Hood
Sudie Morrison Hood was born in 1885 in Texas, probably in Bosque County. Her father was James R. Morrison, who was born in Georgia, the eldest son of John Morrison and Susan Jordan. Her mother was Ella Huffstutler. The 1900 United States Census for Bosque County shows her as Susan Morrison, aged 15. Included in her father’s household was Susan Morrison, aged 72. This woman was Susan Jordan Morrison, Sudie’s grandmother, for whom she must have been named. Sudie married William Frank Hood before 1915. To them were born Helen, about 1915, Ella M., about 1919, and William F. Hood, Jr., about 1924. The 1930 U. S. census shows this family living in Ft. Worth, Texas. Later, Sudie lived in Dallas. The Texas Death Index, 1903-2000, includes a Susan Hood who died in Dallas County on May 3, 1964.
Commentary
This short history melds details of the families of several Morrison children who had left North Carolina for Georgia (and some of them from there to Texas later on) with general information about the origins of the family in Europe.
In the details about her Georgia family, and of the migration from Georgia to Texas, Sudie was remarkably accurate. The “History” is not as comprehensive as was the family “tree” that she conveyed to Earline Hunter. Her knowledge seems to be family lore, not public information. There are some errors in the “History” that were not present in Earline’s “tree”, which may indicate that Sudie’s memory was not as clear when she wrote her “History” as it was when she helped Earline prepare the “tree”. The “History” is also inconsistent within itself. The first paragraph and the seventh are contradictory in regard to the origins of the family, and differ with the “legend” on Earline’s “tree”.
Even with these contradictions and differences, there is a degree of commonality in her statements about family origins that compares favorably with present day knowledge about the Morrison immigration into the North Carolina piedmont, my own research about the immediate family into which John Morrison (the man who married Margaret Erwin) was born, and the growing Group Q y-DNA information in the Morrison DNA Project.
As one follows this commentary, it will be best if a copy of Sudie’s history is available and open, as these comments progress as one reads the document.
1. “…there was a family named “Morrison” from Ireland who settled in Ireland County, North Carolina…” If one considers intermediate stops in British America as unimportant, the family did arrive in North Carolina from Ireland. In fact, three Morrison brothers from Northern Ireland (via Pennsylvania) did settle in that part of Rowan County, North Carolina, that later became Iredell County. “Ireland County” is an error; Earline Hunter’s “tree” correctly says “Iredell County, North Carolina.” Descendants of the three brothers still live there.
2. “sometime prior to the Revolutionary War.” Yes, indeed, Sudie is correct. The first of the brothers arrived about 1750 and all were there before the Revolution began. This is common knowledge in Iredell County and is authoritatively covered in Ramsay’s Carolina Cradle.
3. “Two of the sons engaged in the battle of King’s Mountain…” “John, the
younger son, celebrated his 16th birthday by engaging in this battle.” I cannot
confirm that John Morrison was at King’s Mountain, but in a letter from W. L.
Twitty to Lyman C. Draper (see Draper’s King’s Mountain papers) dated October 19, 1880, John Morrison is identified as a participant in the battle as well as being present at an earlier skirmish near Cane Creek in Rutherford County, North Carolina. Twitty’s source was William Long, who was in the infantry that arrived just after the Battle of King’s Mountain concluded.
In 1833, a man that I believe was John’s elder brother, William Morrison, swore that he was a participant in the battle when he submitted a request for a Revolutionary War pension (see Revolutionary War Pension Statement #1455, National Archives). William Morrison lived in Dickson County, Tennessee, in 1833, but his statement says that he lived in Burke County, North Carolina (just north of Rutherford County) until 1796, when he moved to Tennessee.
4. “…he married Miss Margaret Erwin.” I cannot confirm this. Many Morrison researchers have unsuccessfully sought confirmation of her identity.
There were several Erwin families in both Burke and Rutherford Counties. Her
county of residence before marriage was most likely Burke, since she and John must have married about 1791/1792, when John lived in Burke. They were
present in Burke when the 1800 census was taken. After 1800, they are found in Rutherford.
5. To John and Margaret “were born eleven children.” This is correct. They were
all accounted for, by name, on Earline’s “tree”. They were Francis, William,
James, John, Margaret, Catharine, Robert, Thomas, Elizabeth, Andrew, and
Joseph, all of whom are named in John’s 1826 will
6. “The first were twin sisters.” Margaret and Catharine were indeed twins, but they were not first born. Francis, born in 1793, was the eldest, followed by William, James, and John before the twins were born in 1801 or 1802. U. S. census data for 1860 recorded on June 10 shows Mary, age 58. James, who was Sudie’s 1x grandfather, was born in 1796 according to his tombstone in the Lebanon Cemetery in Pickens County, Georgia.
7. “James, Andrew, and Joe, along with their three sisters, moved to Georgia sometime prior to 1848 and settled in Pickens County.” Sudie is correct. It
appears that James may have arrived as early as 1837 (Gayle Maxson’s information), and Andrew shortly after 1840 (Andrew Morrison is in Habersham County, Georgia, in 1840 – U. S. census). They settled in that part of Gilmer County that became Pickens in 1853. It is curious that this document
doesn’t name the three sisters or say anything about their families.
8. “James was born …1796 … married Miss Rachael Patton … born 1801 … in
1820.” These were Sudie’s 1x grandparents. All that I know of them and their family bears out Sudie’s statements in the second paragraph of her history.
9. “Andrew Morrison married Miss Elizabeth Wilson … and moved to Georgia in the 1840s.” This is correct. Andrew and Elizabeth were my 2x grandparents.
10. “He” (meaning Andrew) “reared two daughters and three sons.” Andrew’s family was much larger than that. His children were Mary, Sarah, Adolfus, Francis James, John Poston, Robert Andrew, Jerome Decatur, Zelotus Columbus, and Florence Arrillia. There were nine in all, six males and three females. Of these, three little boys died when they were less than five years old, all between 1849 and 1853. I know that Sudie knew there were at least three daughters and three sons. Earline Hunter’s “tree” identified them by name. It is probable that Sudie never heard of the three boys who died so very young.
11. “He” (meaning Andrew) “died in November 1885. The two oldest boys were killed while serving in the C. S. A. Army.” Sudie is almost correct. Andrew
actually died on December 9, 1885. Adolfus was killed at Petersburg, Va., in June 1864; Francis was killed at Jonesboro, Ga., in August, 1864. All of these dates are taken from Andrew and Elizabeth’s bible.
12. “The youngest boy, Columbus … died in the spring of 1933 in Granbury, Texas.” Zelotus Columbus was known as Columbus while he lived in Georgia, but went by Z. C. in Texas. He died in 1930 in Granbury, Texas, not 1933.
13. “His” (meaning Columbus) “children were Frank, Hattie, Addie, and an adopted son, who now lives in Granbury.” In reality, Columbus had five children. They were John (my grandfather), Frank, Betty, Addie, and Mattie Clyde. Sudie is wrong here. However, Earline’s “tree” was more nearly correct. It names my grandfather John, Frank, Betty, and Addie, as well as Betty’s husband. Mattie Clyde died in Georgia as a very young child, and would easily have been unknown to or forgotten by Sudie. Columbus didn’t have an adopted son, but he was the legal guardian of his orphaned grandson Howard Griffith, who moved with him from Georgia and lived near him as an adult in Granbury for a number of years.
14. “Joseph Morrison … in Gordon County.” Sudie is correct. Joe was still
in Pickens County in 1860, but lived in Gordon County later on, and is
buried there. He did outlive all his children.
15. Sudie names only the three brothers who went to Georgia, failing to
name the three sisters. Mary Morrison, who married William Johnson Long,
lived in Georgia until they went to Texas about 1870. They are the William Long’s that Sudie said were members of the Lebanon Presbyterian Church, but
even then aren’t mentioned as relatives. Catharine Morrison, Mary’s twin,
married E. P. (Pat) Watson. Elizabeth Morrison, youngest daughter and a spinster, lived with Joseph Morrison. It is strange to me that none of these women are named, or identified as her relatives. Mary, Catharine
and Elizabeth are named on Earline’s “tree”.
16. In re churches: Luke Tate, in his History of Pickens County substantially verifies
Sudie’s paragraph. Tate says the Lebanon Presbyterian Church was organized in
1839 or 1840, soon after the Morrison family settled in Georgia. Tate says that all
of the members of the Morrison family belonged to this church, not just the James
Morrison and William Long families. Tate speaks of the library but doesn’t say where it was located. Tate mentions Mrs. Duckett. James Morrison did deed land so the Baptist’s could build their log church and school in Pickens County.
At this point, it is helpful to analyze Sudie’s knowledge of her family, beginning with the John who married Margaret Erwin. Almost everything in the “History” is either borne out by my own independent research or, in the case of some omissions or minor errors,
more nearly correct on Earline’s “tree”. Her knowledge of her family was quite good, and she can be considered a reliable source of information.
However, in regard to the family before John Morrison, the husband of Margaret Erwin, her performance was inconsistent. It is useful to look at three different versions of John’s ancestry. The first is from Earline’s “tree”; the second comes from the first paragraph of Sudie’s “History”; and the third comes from the seventh paragraph of her “History”.
“Once upon a time there were six or eight Morrison brothers with their families who came from England and Ireland and settled in Va., N.C., and
Ga. One settled in Iredell Co. N. C. He raised five sons. Andrew, James,
Frank, John, William.” From Earline’s “tree”.
“Tradition says that once upon a time there was a family named ‘Morrison’
from Ireland who settled in Ireland County, North Carolina, sometime prior
to the Revolutionary War.” From the “History”, paragraph one.
“In the 1700s, there were eight Morrison boys from Ireland, England, and
Holland who came to North Carolina. The lineage of five of these boys are
lost. Frank I, William I, James I, and Andrew I probably settled with three
sisters between 1750-1760 in Iredell County, Virginia.” From the “History”,
paragraph seven.
What are we to make of these three statements? Neglecting the errors associated with Iredell County, i. e., sometimes Ireland County, sometimes North Carolina, sometimes Virginia, and concluding that she always meant Iredell County, North Carolina, as was stated in Earline’s “tree”, let’s consider the consistencies among the three statements.
In all three statements, a “family” of Morrison’s is defined, not just one member of a family.
Ireland is consistently a point of departure.
North Carolina is consistently the place of settlement in North America.
In North Carolina, the place of settlement is Iredell County.
Two of the statements say that the settlement in North Carolina was before
the Revolutionary War.
How do these consistencies measure up to what is known. Remarkably well. Using Ramsay’s Carolina Cradle as our authority, three brothers named Morrison (William, James, and Andrew) settled in what later became Iredell County, North Carolina, beginning about 1750. They had accompanied their father, James, from Northern Ireland to America about 1730.
Now, let’s look at the inconsistencies:
Were there six, or eight brothers?
Did some come from England and Holland?
Did some settle in Virginia and Georgia?
Were there three sisters in the “family?”
Why doesn’t she say Rowan County instead of Iredell County? Iredell
County wasn’t formed until 1788.
Did only “one” settle in Iredell County, North Carolina, or were there more?
Can we ever know the answers to the first four of these questions, and do we even care? I think not, to both questions. History probably can’t tell us how many brothers came, whether there were sisters, too, or whether one or more came from England or even from Holland. It is quite possible that some in the family stopped off in Virginia as they traveled south, and that one or more went on to Georgia.
What about Rowan vs. Iredell County? Either Sudie’s informants knew that the family
was from that part of Rowan that later became Iredell, or the family didn’t leave that
area until after Iredell was formed. I believe the answer is the first of these two probabilities. I am quite sure that John’s father was in Burke County when it was formed in 1778, not in the part of Rowan that became Iredell. Was he ever in the part of Rowan that became Iredell? Why not? The other Morrison’s were.
What about the last question? We already know the answer. There were more than one. When Sudie singled out “one”, it was to point out that the “one”, whoever he was, fathered five sons named Andrew, Frank, James, John, and William. By saying “one”, she was telling us she didn’t know his name. By naming five people, she was telling us that she did know the names of a set of brothers, sons of the “one”. And, by underlining John, she was saying that the John Morrison on the trunk of the tree, the one who married Margaret Erwin, was the brother who was the first nameable progenitor of her family.
Another question: Did John have brothers named Andrew, James, William, and
Frank. We cannot, at least now, know the answer to this question with certainty.
I have examined the records in Burke County, North Carolina, from John’s youth to his mid-forties, and have concluded that Sudie’s “one” was William Morrison, Sr., and that John had brothers named Andrew, James, William, and Thomas, and that there were others not yet identified. So, three of the four names fit, and the fourth is possible For a reference to the family, see the last paragraph of this Commentary..
The remaining question from these three statements I shall call the “probability” question.
Were Frank I, William I, James I, and Andrew I probably the brothers who settled in Iredell County, North Carolina? We know there is no “probability” at all about William, James, and Andrew. They were the original Morrison settlers in Iredell County. What about Frank? Was there even a Frank? We don’t and can’t know the answer to these questions. If Sudie was wrong about Frank, is that enough to discredit her? I think not.
General Conclusion
Sudie had an excellent knowledge of her family beginning in 1796 with the birth of her great grandfather James. She had a reasonably good knowledge of her broader family as it existed in Georgia and Texas beginning in the 1840s, and some knowledge of her family before the birth of her great grandfather, including the time and place of arrival in North Carolina and kinsmen who were present at the Battle of King’s Mountain in 1780.
She may have known the names of the original Morrison settlers in Iredell County and probably knew the names of at least some of John Morrison’s brothers. That all of this was the product of family tradition instead of public facts is remarkable.
The most confusing part of her “History” pertains to the origins of the family. Despite contradictions and mistakes of place, her location of the family in the piedmont of North Carolina between 1750 and 1760 is accurate. There is sufficient consistency in given names of the original settlers and the brothers of John to convince me that her sources knew of what they were speaking, even though her several attempts to convey their knowledge is garbled. Her source was probably her 1x grandfather James, as translated by her grandmother Susan, his daughter-in-law. By the time Sudie was old enough to begin to absorb the stories, some 30 years had passed since James and Susan had last spoken. And by then Susan was 72 years old. And we must remember that Sudie herself was 67 when she was writing and dictating her History, and she was recalling things she had heard more than 50 years earlier. I believe there is the ring of truth in her combined “History” and Earline’s “tree”, regarding the origins of the family. John Morrison was one of the “Iredell” Morrisons, by means of connections still vague. I remain an optimist. As the little boy said when he was accidentally buried under horse manure, “There must be a pony in here somewhere.”
I have spoken briefly in this commentary about William Morrison of Burke County, who is the putative father of John Morrison (who married Margaret Erwin). See “The Family of William Morrison, Senior, of Burke County, North Carolina” for my reasoning and for the names of a number of the members of that hypothetical family. It is on line at the Morrison-Q website.
help to subsidize the cost of hosting our WEB site.