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
No comments:
Post a Comment