Puzzle pieces – Henry Morris of Orange County, North Carolina

I read somewhere that genealogy is akin to piecing together a puzzle without the box top. You have no clue what the finished product is supposed to look like and sometimes it is painstaking fitting two pieces (or people) together. Sometimes, you might get a clue from someone else who has worked on the puzzle (family line) before, but you still must be careful and confirm before you can add their piece (research) to your own puzzle (family).

 
I wrote about Henry Morris the elder, of Smoky Ordinary, Brunswick County, Virginia (as I call him) back in July. Since that time, I have been digging through records in Brunswick, Virginia trying to piece his family tree together. Thankfully, his children (and Henry Sr. as well) were drawn to drama so there is a lot of information that has survived on this Morris family in the way of court and chancery records. 

So, thank you, Henry, for that!  

Henry married a woman named Susannah; I do not know her maiden name. She died before him and the chancery file (link below) provides the place of her burial in the graveyard at her daughter, Mary Rainey's home. Henry must have been sick as several of the depositions claim he was "carried to the funeral in a chair" even though he swore he would never "set foot on William Rainey's property again." 

Henry's children are listed in his will as William, Elizabeth Bailey, Richard, Henry Jr., Mary Rainey, Susannah Smith, Martha Hubbard, and an un-named daughter who looks to have died early but had a daughter that Henry named as “my granddaughter, Mary Dugger” in his will. All the children except for Henry Jr. and perhaps William remained in Brunswick County and neighboring Mecklenburg County, Virginia and have been fairly easy to track due to the excessive number of times they took each other to court.

Take a step back to Feb when I wrote the blog John Morris of Granville County, North Carolina. I found a man named Henry Morris in Granville Court Petitions 1754–1764: Campbell vs Morris and Lanier vs Morris. This Henry Morris had a connection to Brunswick, Virginia as both Lanier and Campbell lived there and had some interactions with Henry Morris of Smoky Ordinary. So, I thought perhaps Henry Morris of Granville, North Carolina was the son of Henry Morris of Smoky Ordinary. But I lost track of Henry Morris in Granville and could not confidently find him. Until now!

Henry Morris of Granville, North Carolina moved to Orange County, North Carolina. Or, he lived in those parts of Granville that became Orange when the county was divided in 1752.

Note of caution: the only link between the Henry Morris’s of Granville and Orange is the Granville Court Petition of Lanier and Campbell linking the Henry who lived in Granville, North Carolina to Brunswick, Virginia. It is a weak link, and more evidence is needed before I can confidently exclaim the two are the same man.

I can absolutely confirm that the Henry Morris (Morras) who lived in Orange County, North Carolina is the son of Henry Morris Sr. of Brunswick County, Virginia (Smoky Ordinary).

A 191-page Virginia Chancery suit between the children of Henry Morris Sr. of Brunswick County, Virginia (Smoky Ordinary Henry) lays out the drama this family and their neighbors were driven to over Henry’s account books, his will (the suit claims at least two wills were falsified documents) and the enslaved people on his plantation.

By page 75 I felt like I might have joined the circus! To make a long story short, evidently, Thomas Stith Sr. had compelled Henry Morris Sr., on his death bed, to sign a deed conveying several slaves to himself. His godson, also named Thomas Stith (Major), who had married Henry’s granddaughter Holly Bailey, was present at the conveyance and was compelled by his godfather to lie about what happened. He later confessed to Thomas Lundie, rector of St. Andrew's Parish in Brunswick County, Virginia and his wife, Lucy, of his wrongdoing as provided in a statement by both Thomas and Lucy Lundie.
 
You just cannot make this stuff up! 

Link to chancery file (it’s free): click here

Brunswick, Virginia Order Book 17 makes it known that Henry Morris was residing in Orange County, North Carolina and the Virginia court ordered on 24 Jul 1797 that the North Carolina court take his deposition for a case pending in Brunswick County, Virginia between William Rainey and wife and Thomas Stith Sr. Another court order for the same went to South Carolina to obtain a deposition from Howard Bailey of Ninety-Six District, and yet another order went to Warren County, North Carolina to obtain a deposition from a man named John Parrish.

Who are these men?

Henry Morris (name is spelled Morras), according to his deposition, is the son of Henry Morris Sr. (Smoky Ordinary). 

Howard Bailey, according to his deposition, is the grandson of Henry Morris Sr. (Smoky Ordinary). Howard must be the son of George Bailey and Elizabeth Morris, daughter of Henry Morris Sr. (Smoky Ordinary) and the sister of Henry Morris who is living in Orange County, North Carolina. Howard would also be the brother of Holly Bailey who married Thomas Stith (Major).

John Parrish (Parish) has no deposition that I could find in the file but based on other court and deed records found in Brunswick County, Virginia he seems to be somehow connected to the Dugger and Stanback families who intermarried with Mary and Elizabeth Dugger, the grandchildren of Henry Morris Sr. (Smoky Ordinary). Daniel and Howell Dugger shown in the below document are brothers. John must have moved to Warren County, North Carolina after 1787.

There is so much confusion on Henry Morris of Orange County, North Carolina that I had to stop searching for him in online family trees and genealogy forums; it is just a confusing mess. There may have been two Henry Morris’s in Orange County, North Carolina and tax lists do show that name in Orange County, North Carolina as early as 1755 and again in 1779 but the question is, are these the same men or two different men?

Without a doubt, I now know that Henry Morris, spelled Morras in the 1797 deposition as well as in his 1801 will, is the same Henry Morris Jr., son of Henry Morris Sr. of Brunswick County, Virginia (Smoky Ordinary) because he identifies himself as such in the 1797 deposition for the suit pending in Brunswick County, Virginia between William Rainey and his wife Mary (his sister) and Thomas Stith.

Stayed tuned! More to come as I continue to research the Morris family of Brunswick, Virginia and Orange, North Carolina. 

The 1801 will of Henry Morris (Morras) of Orange County, North Carolina 

John Morris of Garr Creek, Montgomery County, North Carolina

In the previous blog I wrote about John Morris of Lick Creek who lived in Rowan County (those parts that became Davidson in 1822). In this blog I will cover another John Morris who lived on Garr Creek (sometimes seen as Gar, with one “r”) located on the current day county lines of Montgomery, Rowan, Davidson, and Stanly but at the time John lived there in the late 1700s, only Rowan and Montgomery counties existed. Davidson was formed from Rowan in 1822 and Stanly from Montgomery in 1841. 

Garr Creek and Lick Creek are less than 20 miles from one another, and I cannot help but wonder if the two John Morris’s were related or knew each other. Thus far, I have not found any records to indicate a relationship. Most likely, YDNA testing of male descendants would probably be needed to show what Morris family each belong to.

John Morris of Garr Creek was in the area at least by the time Montgomery was formed from Anson in 1779. He entered a land grant for that year on the northeast side of the Yadkin River on the North fork of McLeans Creek by a white oak and pine pointer standing at the foot of Long Mountain on Thomas Wilson’s and Elizabeth Cornwell’s line. Chain carriers were Isaac Morris and John Morris Jr., both most likely sons, or some other close relation to John Morris Sr.

John can also be found on the early state Census 1784-1787 with Taylor’s whom he later can be found on deed records with. This makes me wonder if John of Garr Creek may be from Fairfax, Virginia where the Taylor’s are from or did these families just by happenstance end up in the same place?

John of Garr Creek is thought to be the father of Etheldred Morris who married Wincey Taylor, daughter of Cannon Taylor, who left Montgomery County after 1800 for Smith County, Tennessee. He died there in 1806. Cannon Taylor is most likely the son of John Taylor Sr. who came to Montgomery County, North Carolina from Fairfax County, Virginia.

The 1800 Census shows John Taylor Sr. on page 483, Ann Morris, the wife of John Morris Sr. (he died in 1800 so did not make the Census) on page 520, and Joshua Carter Sr. who served as executor of the last will and testament of John, is seen on page 518.

Because Joshua Carter, along with Ann, were executors of the will of John, it begs the question, was Ann’s maiden name Carter?

Ann Morris is shown as over the age of 45, so she was born before 1755. She has 2 males between the ages of 16 – 25 living in her household. Etheldred Morris, on later Census’s indicates he was born about 1783, so one of these males could be him as he would have been about 17 years old in 1800.

John Taylor Sr. had a land grant dated 1789 for 50 acres of land on Reynolds Fork Creek of Beaverdam Creek (see above map). His land adjoined Alexander Goodin (Goodwin) and Thomas Lomax. Chain carriers were Walter Thompson and William Taylor, probably the son of John Taylor.

More to come in another post about the Taylor’s and Ashford’s.

The Goodwin's and Lomax's have some relationship to the Walker family. Read more about that here. 

In an 1846 deed found in Stanly County, Etheldred Morris deeds the land of Cannon Taylor, that he received by heirship from Cannon Taylor to his son, Wyatt, for love and affection, with a caveat that the heirs of Cannon Taylor may claim the land if they want it. The land joined a path in John Morris’s line, formerly, but now Etheldred Morris’s line and, on the Salisbury Road, and contained 100 acres. Witnesses John F. Miller and R. C. Miller.

Since the land once belonged to John Morris, but now belongs to Etheldred, it might be assumed that Etheldred inherited the land from John, meaning John might be the father of Etheldred.

Cannon Taylor had two land grants, one on Thicketty Creek but he sold that to William Rush in 1798. The other one he entered in 1793 and had surveyed in 1796. 100 acres on the South side of the Yadkin River on Rockhole … on a path in John Morris line … to John F. Smith’s line … on the Salisbury Road. Samuel Smith and George Morris were chain carriers. This is the exact same tract of land Etheldred gave to his son, Wyatt, in 1846.

So, it is established that Cannon Taylor and John Morris owned land that adjoined one another, and that both tracts of land, that of Cannon Taylor and John Morris, later fell to Etheldred. Cannon Taylor died about 1806 in Smith County, Tennessee. John Morris died about 1800 in Montgomery County, North Carolina.

A 1790 survey shows that Barney (also seen as Bartholomew) Dunn was granted 85 acres on Beaverdam Creek adjoining John Morris and John Taylor’s lines. Chain carriers for this survey were John Taylor and Cannon Taylor, the father-in-law of Etheldred Morris.

This survey establishes that John Morris also owned land on Beaverdam Creek area of Montgomery County. Other land surveys, grants, and deeds indicate that John Morris also owned land on Garr Creek and across the Yadkin River on the “Rockhole.”

In all, John Morris (whether it be the same or multiple John’s) owned roughly 2500 acres of land in Rowan and Montgomery counties between the years 1779 and 1800.

Reading through Rowan County land records, I discovered that there was a John Morris Sr. and a John Morris Jr. In 1788, John Morris Jr. of South Carolina (no county listed) sold to John Morris Sr. of Montgomery County, North Carolina his 200 acres on Garr Creek located in Rowan County.

With this new information, and assuming that John Jr. is the son of John Sr. this would set the birth years back for both John’s. John Jr. would have been born prior to 1767 if the legal age to own land was 21 (1788 – 21 = 1767) and John Sr., if the father of John Jr. would have been born prior to 1746 (1767 – 21 = 1746) if John Sr. was 21 years old when he married and began a family.

Charles Taylor, who may be a son of John Taylor Sr. lived in South Carolina when he joined the Revolutionary cause and left quite the paper trail. He ended up in Bedford County, Tennessee where, in Aug 1832 he applied for a pension and provided his background information which is quite useful.

Charles claimed his age (in 1832) as 79 years and 9 days and began his declaration stating while living in Chesterfield, South Carolina he volunteered to serve in the winter of the year 1772 as a drummer. He served for one month.

Since the Revolutionary War did not begin until 1775, the 1772 date was probably a lapse in memory.

Chesterfield may be a clue to help associate John Morris Jr. (he was living in South Carolina when he sold his land on Garr Creek to John Morris Sr.) to Charles Taylor and thus back to John Morris Sr. in Rowan / Montgomery counties.

In 1776, Charles was drafted in Chesterfield, South Carolina and served again as a drummer. He was stationed at what was called the ten-mile house for 2 months or more and was discharged.

He later was drafted again but was taken sick and shortly thereafter was taken prisoner by the Tories and marched to their encampment below Camden on the Wateree River where he was kept about a month at which time he made his escape and fled to the state of Georgia to his brother-in-law, Benjamin Moseley. He remained in Georgia until he was able to attach himself to another regiment about May 1781.

Charles was in the battle of Augusta where he saw Colonels William Washington and Henry "Light Horse" Lee. He served a total of about 18 months.  

In the questionnaire Charles says he was born 5 Aug 1753 in Fairfax County, Virginia and he did have a record of his age in his prayer book at his home. He claims to have lived in Chesterfield, South Carolina, Wilkes County, Georgia with his brother-in-law, Rowan County, North Carolina, Smith County, Tennessee (Cannon Taylor also lived in Smith County, Tennessee) and Bedford County, Tennessee.

People who lived in his neighborhood who could vouch for his service were Reverend William Jenkins, Michael Fisher, Benjamin Reavis, and William Carter. All names who can be found in Rowan County, North Carolina.

Charles was allowed pension at $60.50 annually for serving as a Private for 18 months in the South Carolina and Georgia militia.

In 1798, John Morris Sr. of Montgomery County, North Carolina sold to Charles Taylor of Rowan County, North Carolina 100 acres of land on the waters of Garr Creek in Rowan County. Witness: George Fisher (no doubt related to Michael Fisher who was mentioned in Charles Taylor’s pension claim as living in his neighborhood).

John Morris of Garr Creek died about 1800. His estate file most likely was destroyed in the courthouse fire that devastated Montgomery County, North Carolina in 1843. However, one deed does survive in Rowan County showing John’s wife was named Ann who along with Joshua Carter were executors of the last will and testament of John Morris.

In 1800, Ann Morris and Joshua Carter sold to Michael Fisher Esq. (probably the same man Charles Taylor mentioned in his pension claim) a tract of land in Rowan County, North Carolina on the Northeast side of the Yadkin River on the waters of Garr Creek joining the lines of John Morris Sr. and Charles Taylor. Witnesses were George Fisher and Charles Taylor.