Margaret Ann Lewis Morris is a brick wall no more thanks to her sister Nancy Adaline Lewis Ussery Morton.
I have been revisiting my Morris research in hopes of uncovering any morsel I might have missed and finding more clues on John Jacky Morris, my brick wall, third great grandfather. While re-reading Census data for his daughter, Eliza, I found that in 1870, living in her household was a 27-year-old female named Nancy Ussery.
James and Nancy were married at the home of Diza Morris, the sister of William Morris who married Margaret Lewis.
James R. Morton’s first wife was Catherine Morris, daughter of Reuben Morris and Mary Sealy. I have YDNA tested this Morris line, and they are not a YDNA match to mine. James and Catherine’s daughter, Margaret Morton, married George Washington Morris Jr., son of George Washington ‘Watty’ Morris Sr., who was the brother of Eliza Morris Shaw. This is my Morris line.
Further searches found Nancy and James’ son, Samuel Armistead Morton, who was born in 1883, Montgomery County, North Carolina and died 1966 in Catawba County, North Carolina. The 1910 Census for Montgomery County, North Carolina shows Nancy, aged 68, living in the household of Sam A. Morton in Troy, North Carolina. Samuel Armistead Morton’s death certificate lists his parents as James Morton and Nancy Lewis.
In that moment, as I sat staring at Nancy’s maiden name, Lewis, the pieces began to put themselves together and the brick wall for Margaret Ann Lewis tumbled down! Nancy was Margaret’s sister!
Nancy’s maiden name was not Ussery! It was Lewis. That means she had a first marriage and her marriage to James R. Morton was her second marriage. I do not know who Nancy's first husband was (he was an Ussery, but I do not know his first name) but she looks to have had at least one child with him. Jesse Franklin Ussery born 1862 in Montgomery County, North Carolina and died 1953 New Hanover County, North Carolina. Jesse’s death certificate lists parents as Unknown father and Nancy Lewis, mother.
Nancy died in 1921, and her death certificate lists her parents as Thomas Lewis of North Carolina and Emeline Davis of South Carolina. Many searches later I discovered through the estate file of her father, Stephen Dumas, Emeline’s maiden name was Dumas and not Davis.
I found Nancy A. Lewis in the home of Thomas and Emeline Lewis in Laurens, South Carolina. And there sitting exactly where I expected to find her was Margaret A. Lewis.
Other children of Thomas and Emeline Dumas Lewis were:
Jefferson Franklin (Frank) Lewis who was born in 1837. Research shows he died in 1914 in Travis County, Texas.
William Farley Lewis was born in 1845. He died 1924 in Jackson County, Missouri. He married Louisa Luther, daughter of George Luther and Elizabeth Strider of Randolph County, North Carolina.
James H. Lewis was born in 1848. He died in Milam, Texas after 1920.
John Thomas Lewis born in 1852 and died 1926 in Robeson County, North Carolina. He married Julia Dunn, a daughter of Colin Dunn and Lucinda Carpenter. Julia Dunn Lewis is the niece of Bartholomew Dunn who married Nancy Williams, the sister of Mary Williams Morris (her husband Thomas Morris is a brother to William Morris who married Margaret Ann Lewis).
Stephen Dumas Lewis was born in 1854, so he is not listed on the 1850 Census. He is living next door to Thomas and Emeline Lewis in Washington, Texas in 1880 and is most likely their son.
Thomas and Emeline Lewis lived in Blue, Jackson, Missouri in 1870 and in 1880 they were living in Washington, Texas, exactly where Nancy’s 1882 marriage license said they were living.
In an Ancestry tree I found a descendant of Thomas and Emeline Dumas Lewis who has a lot of stories about the Lewis family from Montgomery County, North Carolina that she had heard growing up.
One entry by this descendant says:
"Thomas & Emeline and children left South Carolina sometime after the 1850 census and moved to North Carolina where Thomas had been born. John Thomas Lewis and Stephen Dumas Lewis were born in North Carolina. 2 daughters of Thomas & Emeline unaccounted for as of now. A letter from Aunt Fannie Lewis had from her uncle, John Martin Overton, in talking about the Lewis's stated she still had an aunt living in Troy. The letter was written about 1914. He did not say whether the aunt was Margaret or Nancy."
In December 1881, John T. Morris, son of William and Margaret Lewis Morris, married Caroline Hall. Their marriage license states that both William and Margaret were living.
By September 1892, when his brother, William Frank Morris married Lou Cook, their marriage license stated that both William and Margaret were dead.
We know that William died 24 Jan 1892 as his gravestone lists his date of death. Unfortunately, I cannot find Margaret at all and do not know what happened to her or where she might be buried.
