James Elmore Morrow (1837 - 1904)

Born 28 Mar 1837 in Brooke, Virginia, United States

Ancestors

Husband of Clara (Johnson) Morrow — married 19 Sep 1867 in Cumberland, Allegany, Maryland, United States

Descendants

Died 12 Dec 1904 at age 67 in Englewood, Bergen, New Jersey, United States

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Biography

James Elmore Morrow was the grandfather of the wife of Charles Lindbergh, Anne Morrow. He was a veteran of the Civil War, and the 11th principal of Marshall College.

James E. Morrow was born on March 28, 1837, the son of Alexander Morrow and Sarah Jane (Wilson) Morrow, in Fairview, the county seat of Hancock County, (West) Virginia. Morrow eschewed the life of a farmer, and his family sent him to Jefferson College [now Washington and Jefferson University] at Cannonsburg, Pennsylvania. He entered at the age of fifteen and graduated with a bachelors of arts in 1856, with the intention of practicing law. However, the realties of earning a living intruded and he took a position as a teacher in a school near his home in Fairview. After two years, he resigned and took a position at the law offices of O. W. Langfitt of Wellsburg, where he read law and passed the Pennsylvania Bar in 1859.

At the outbreak of the Civil War, he enlisted in the 1st West Virginia Infantry at Wellsburg, (West) Virginia, on October 30, 1861. He advanced through the ranks to captain, commanding Company F. He had "months of hard service at points along the Baltimore and Ohio railroad between Cumberland and Washington, was wounded and retired to mend at Wheeling, West Virginia, with less active service in mustering in troops." He apparently considered remaining in the army at the war’s end, but his commanding officer dissuaded him because of his health, and he was mustered out on November 26, 1864.

After the war he, with two of his brothers, traveled west and established a private academy near Omaha, Nebraska. After this experience he abandoned his interest in the law and "devote himself to educational work—an accurate choice, the beginning of the second epoch in his life." From then on he "turned to teaching and spent his life in that vocation."

During the war, apparently while recuperating at Wheeling, he met his wife, Clara Johnston, who was "winding bandages." They corresponded frequently after he left Wheeling. He returned east from Nebraska and married her on September 19, 1867, at Cumberland, Maryland. They had eight children, five boys and three girls—three of the boys died in infancy.

Sources

• Alexander Morrow of Brooke County (W) Virginia and his descendants. Nees and Morrow, Gateway Press, Inc. Baltimore, MD 1993 929.273 Family History Library. Also available digitally on Family Search.
• Northwestern Historical Association. Memoirs of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania (Northwest Historical Association, Madison, Wisconsin, 1904, Vol. 1, p. 401)
• Find A Grave: Memorial #234714191