Sophia (Tompkins) Morrison (abt. 1822 - bef. 1870)

Born about 1822 in Upper Canada [uncertain]

Ancestors

Wife of John Morrison — married about 1843 in Grenville County, Canada West [uncertain]

Descendants

Died before 1 Jun 1870 before about age 48 in Michigan, United States [uncertain]

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Biography

Sophia Tompkins was born to uncertain origins in the early 1820s; she married circa 1842 to John Morrison, a native of Ireland and farmer of Edwardsburgh Township, Grenville County, in 1851, and Culross Township, Bruce County, in 1861. They had at least seven children, all but one sons.

She died in the 1860s; her family around 1865 moved from Canada to Michigan.

Online trees give 6 May 1822 and 18 Jun 1865 for Sophia's dates, though no sources are provided; these trees give Port Huron, St. Clair County, Michigan, for her deathplace. Her husband then appeared in the home of daughter Maria Morrison Troyer near Muir, North Plains Township, Ionia County, in 1870.

Research notes

Sophia's origins, even just down to her birthplace, are unclear and changing with different sources. The census in 1851 gives "United States" while 1861's gives "Canada West" (later Ontario). Son John Wesley's death certificate agrees with Canada, though son Samuel's certificate gives Scotland. Census records of daughter Maria even give Pennsylvania.

If born in the United States, she was possibly a descendant of John Tompkins, many descendants of whom removed to New York.

The most likely candidate to be her father is Jesse Tompkins, born in Wolford Township, Grenville County, close to where John and Sophia Morrison lived at least up to 1851. Jesse was a Wesleyan Methodist, just as Sophia, being marked as such in 1851's census as well as naming one of her sons after John Wesley. Jesse also lived in the same township in 1851 as Sophia, Edwardsburgh Township, figuring to be among the only Tompkinses in that township at that time. Lastly, Jesse may have served as a namesake for John and Sophia's son Robert Jesse Morrison, though this, with everything else may be simple coincidence. Jesse Tompkins was of a United Empire Loyalist family and his wife Sylvania was born in the United States, perhaps explaining why Sophia was mentioned in the 1851 Census as being from the United States, even if erroneously.

Sources

• 1851 Census of Canada. http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/e/e095/e002351038.jpg; http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/e/e095/e002350994.jpg
• 1861 Canada census; Culross Township (E.D. 1), Bruce County, Canada West; taken 14 January 1861; page 5 and lines 41–7:
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