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His father had moved the family from Scotland to Northern Ireland, then afterwards to Pennsylvania. "William Morrison (1704/1771) was evidently born in Ireland, and he was about 31 years old when he came to America in 1735."[2] "Formerly a resident of Colerain Township in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where he held the office of tax collector ..."[3] "He was about 47 years old when he came as a pioneer to North Carolina [with his brothers James and Andrew] in 1751."[4] He claimed to be the first white inhabitant of this "country".[5] About a century later, a local newspaper recalls the details of their trek to North Carolina: “In 1751, there were four families of the name of Morrison, the ancestors of nearly all of the name in this region, which came from Lancaster county, Penn., and settled here. Their names were William, James, Andrew and Thomas; the latter, however, died in Pennsylvania, but his family came and settled on Fifth Creek: William and James built their cabins near together on Third Creek, not far from where Concord Church is — Andrew took up land below, in Rowan, and near Third Creek Church; his family has nearly all emigrated from this part of the Country. As they had been acquainted with George Davidson in Pennsylvania, they first directed their steps to his house; where they were met by a land speculator by the name of Higginbottom, whom they had seen before at the Hawfields, on the way. He directed them from their original intention to settle on the Pee Dee and piloted them to this region, then further west than any other white settlements.”[6] "... by 1752 William Morrison had established himself along the upper reaches of Third Creek. There, he quickly entered into a position of patronage and prominence."[7]
William's possession of the land was formalized some time after his settling there, as occupancy required only habitation and improvement of the land. His homestead was “described as a ‘Messuge Tenement Plantation,’ which means simply that it was settled land with a house and the necessary farm buildings …”[8] The plantation was surveyed on 12 July 1751.[9] “Entries on Third Creek, dated November 19, 1750, were made to William and James Morrison. ... William Morrison’s home and mill [were] built in 1752 … about two miles below the McCulloch tract on Third Creek.”[10] "His grant of 640 acres of land from the Earl of Granville had been signed in November 1753."[11] The small community at the fork in the road known as "Morrison" (Morriſon) was founded by William.[12]
He married Margaret B. Hays (1715–1767) around 1733 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
They reared eight children in North Carolina. Their children were:
Name | Dates | Notes |
William Jr. | 1734-1821 | married (1) Martha Miller; and (2) (unknown). |
Rebecca | 8 Aug 1738 - 11 Aug 1776 | married Samuel Harris on 7 Aug 1758 in Rowan, North Carolina. |
Mary | ca. 1738 - ca. 26 July 1817 | married Robert King ca. 1761. They moved to Sumner County, Tennessee, sometime after 1787. |
Hugh | ca. 1742 - 12 Dec 1821 | Declared a "Lunatic". He was placed under the guardianship of his brother Andrew Newlin Morrison.[13] |
Andrew Newlin | 9 Jun 1744 - 31 March 1828 | married Elizabeth Sloan, the daughter of Gen. Sloan, about 1766 in Rowan County, North Carolina. |
Margaret | b. ca. 1745 | married George Irwin, Sr ca. 1760. |
Martha | b. ca. 1746 | married John Foster. |
Capt. Patrick | 1747 - 16 Jul 1810 | married Anne Foster on 9 Aug 1768 in Rowan County. He was a captain in the Revolutionary War. He lived on Snow Creek, then later moved to Tennessee. |
While initially his basic subsistence was pursued by farming and hunting, William was best known as a miller. “It was Bishop August Spangenberg,[14] while making surveys of this section in November, 1752, trying to locate a suitable place for the Moravians to settle, who first mentioned Morrison's mill. It must have been a landmark and a welcome sight to tired surveyors struggling through the almost unbroken wilderness.” Writing from the forks of Little River, south of the Brushy Mountains, which would be near the present site of Taylorsville, Bishop Spannenburg says, "About fourteen miles from here lives a Scotch-Irish family; there is said to be a mill there but there is neither road nor way leading to it."[15] The situation of William's house and mill may be seen on maps from the period.[16] "From the tone of Spangenberg’s narrative, it is evident that William Morrison’s home was an important stopover for those hoping to take up land near the Catawba River. Late the following year, Morrison petitioned the Rowan County Court of Pleas and Quarter Sessions to have his mill 'being built and Erected' on Third Creek recorded as a public grist mill.[17] Already on the road to local prominence, Morrison would be catapulted further by this mill which served the residents between the Catawba and Fourth Creek. Just as the settlers of the South Carolina Backcountry studied by Rachel N. Klein came to view the millers in their midst as men of importance because of the services they were able to provide."[18]
The Governor and Council meeting on 31 December 1762, appointed William Morrison Justice of the Peace.[19]
William eventually established a substantial plantation replete with slaves. "Morrison’s neighbors came to look upon him as a 'man of influence.'[20] Indeed, in October 1754, when a dispute occurred between the Hall family and Michael Dickson of Third Creek, both parties requested that Rowan’s justices refer the matter to William Morrison for resolution.[21] William Morrison’s stature continued to grow as evidenced by the honorific “Es[qui]r[e]” which follows his name in Rowan’s 1768 tax list. More than Morrison’s prestige grew, however. His fortunes increased also, with Morrison owning two African slaves in 1768."[22]
A Catawba in Traditional Dress |
“While at work grinding corn one morning he heard a turkey call in the thick woods nearby and was about to go out to shoot the wild bird when he realized it was not a natural turkey call, but an Indian trying to lure him out of the safety of the clearing and the mill. He slipped out the back of the mill opposite the woods from which the turkey call had come and, taking a wide sweep through the woods, came up behind the Indian who was lying in wait for the white settler to come out to shoot the ’turkey’. The Indian, according to the stories told today, came to his just reward.”[24]
During the French and Indian War the Catawba were allied with the British. So subsequent problems came from other sources: “… the Indians once ran William Morrison and his family out of their home and burned all his property except the mill, which, on account of an Indian superstition, they were afraid to burn. The Morrison family took refuge in Fort Dobbs,[25] the only real haven of safety for the scattered settlers in Western North Carolina for many years.”[26]
"During the troubles with the Indians 1755-63, while the people above here were staying at Fort Dobbs, some men had a still in operation near Morrison's Mill on Third Creek above Watt's Mill, where Mr. Hart now lives. They had at one time some liquor read[y] to finish off and went over one evening just at night to attend to it. They started the fire three times and it went out every time. Becoming alarmed, they thought it was an indication of danger. Returning to the still early in the morning they discovered a party of Indians leaving the still house who had been lying in wait for them."[27]
The Morrison brothers were Presbyterians. "There are traditions to the effect that the congregation which in 1775 became Concord Church had been meeting informally for a number of years prior to the date of organization. It is thought that worship began between 1750 and 1755, the meeting place having been at or near Morrison's Mill, a well-known place located on the waters of Third Creek about a mile south of the present church site."[28] The first minister of the area, Rev. John Thompson, used Morrison's Mill as a "preaching station."[29]
According to his tombstone, he died 3 June 1771.
He and his wife are buried in the Old Morrison Cemetery, Loray, Iredell County, North Carolina,[30] "The Morrison Cemetery [is] just off N.C. 90 west of Loray, N.C."[31] "The Morrison graveyard is situated on an elevated plateau, between two branches about one-half mile northwest from the old mill, and a mile or so southwest from Loray. It is walled in with stone and about sixty yards square in area. In 1820, there was some rivalry between it and Concord graveyard, that resulted in both being enclosed with stone."[32]
"On one headstone — a nice smooth soapstone slab — is the following unique inscription, both in lettering and substance: the letters being raised, and the "s" being executed as "ſ", as follows:"[33]
The inscription on the stone reads:
"In fact his grave was opened and was preserved at Centre Churchyard, according to a North Carolina highway marker — I think it was descendants Sue Alice McCorkle Lee and Julia McCorkle Montgomery (McCorkle 1st cousins to my father Howard Ewing Huie) who gave permission sometime in the 1980s for removal and reburial of William Morrison. They visited sites in North Carolina and found the landowner who wanted to get the graves moved off his farmland. I may be wrong about this, as they didn't remember the precise Morrison first name upon their return to Tennessee."[34]
NOTES:
William's Y-DNA haplotype has been determined:[35]
DNA
MRCA: Alexander Still
MRCA: John Simpson
MRCA: John Simpson
MRCA: James Morrison and Mary (Simpson) Morrison
MRCA: James Morrison and Mary (Simpson) Morrison
August Gottlieb Spangenberg. |
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Featured National Park champion connections: William is 12 degrees from Theodore Roosevelt, 18 degrees from Stephanus Johannes Paulus Kruger, 13 degrees from George Catlin, 13 degrees from Marjory Douglas, 18 degrees from Sueko Embrey, 13 degrees from George Grinnell, 21 degrees from Anton Kröller, 13 degrees from Stephen Mather, 19 degrees from Kara McKean, 15 degrees from John Muir, 13 degrees from Victoria Hanover and 20 degrees from Charles Young on our single family tree. Login to find your connection.
M > Morrison > William Morrison Sr.
Categories: Iredell County, North Carolina, Early Settlers | Iredell County, North Carolina, Slave Owners | Fourth Creek Congregation, Rowan County, North Carolina
edited by Marty Vestal
There is Y-DNA and Big-Y representation within the Morrison-Q group at the Morrison-Q Genealogical Association Inc. My brother is among them. I don't know when it was last updated, but at the moment shows lineage through William's son, Andrew only. There may be other representation that I am unaware of. The same group of researchers have a Morrison-Q project at FTDNA. https://morrison-q.com/wp/
Thank you. Can we move this one forward?