A wedding to remember

Crisp October air, sunshine, farmland, rivers and lakes as far as the eye can see! Home! My thoughts exactly as I drove down Blaine (and Badin Lake) Road after visiting with my uncle, whom I had the privilege of showing where his great grandparents, Willis Martin Dennis and Susan Hearne were buried at the Henderson Cemetery in Eldorado Township and in exchange he showed me where our Morris and Dennis ancestors lived in Uwharrie Township on River Road. I had just been on an adventure with a Morris cousin but he was not sure which of the three tracts of land John Coon Morris, my great grandfather, lived on. So, I enlisted the help of my Morris uncle to help answer that question. A story for another blog post coming soon. 

It was a beautiful day and as I drove around the area I crossed the county lines where Davidson and Montgomery met and I could not help but think of Thomas Taylor and Priscilla Harris who lived in this area in the mid-1800s.

Theirs was a wedding to remember!

Priscilla Harris was born 12 May 1812 to Littleton Harris and Temperance Williamson of Montgomery County, North Carolina. She married Thomas Taylor, son of Edward and Elizabeth Taylor, in October of 1839. Their wedding went down in history, recorded in the Supreme Court of North Carolina case 38 N.C. 91 (N.C. 1843), Crump v. Morgan. While the wedding bells were still ringing at the Harris house, the father of the bride, Littleton Harris, was receiving the dreaded news that his lunatic ward, Letitia Lindsay Crump, had married Henry Morgan.
 
In the years that followed, while Priscilla and Thomas built a home and family in Davidson County, W. R. D. Lindsay, the brother of Letitia Lindsay, was fighting for his lunatic sister’s marriage to be annulled.

Following are excerpts from the Supreme Court of North Carolina case 38 N.C. 91 (N.C. 1843)

“He [Letitia’s brother, William R. D. Lindsay) after taking Letitia to Guilford County for several months in hopes of renewing her mind and memory took her again to Montgomery [because being in Guilford County only seemed to make her condition worse] and placed her in the family and under the care of Mr. Littleton Harris, a respectable person, and the friend and executor of her late husband.”

“that in October, 1839, Mr. Harris, expecting a large company for some days at his house upon the occasion of the marriage of one of his children (that would be Priscilla), placed Mrs. Crump under the care of a family in his neighborhood, named Palmer, of good reputation, that she might be duly attended to during the festivities in his own family; that on the succeeding Sunday Mrs. Palmer, having occasion to leave home for the day, took Mrs. Crump and her servant to the house of Charles Morgan, the father of the present defendant (Henry Morgan), who resided near, and requested that she might be received and kept out of harm; and she was accordingly so received by Mrs. Morgan and the family;”

“when Mrs. Palmer went for Mrs. Crump (her business being accomplished); was refused access to her and could only see her through the window of a room in which she was shut up. That lady sent immediately to Mr. [Littleton] Harris to advise him of her suspicions, and he hastened to the scene of action, but did not arrive until the marriage had been just concluded.” 

Read more about the Crump v. Morgan case here

After their wedding, Thomas and Priscilla settled down in Davidson County, North Carolina and began their life and family together. In 1850 the couple lived next door to Thomas’s mother, Elizabeth and several family members.

Daughters of Thomas and Priscilla, Julia was born about 1841 and Margaret, about 1843.

Thomas Taylor’s father died before 1841 as his estate file dated for that year can be found in Davidson County, North Carolina showing Elizabeth filed for her dower in her husband’s two tracts of land. One tract being on the waters of Gar Creek joining the lands of John Loftin, Ed Hopkins, Wm (?), Silas Kearns, and John Reed and the other tract bounded by Butler Taylor Sr. and the Montgomery County line on the waters of Beaverdam.

In 1860 Thomas and Priscilla were still living in Davidson County. Thomas, now 46 and Priscilla, 48. Daughters, Julia, age 19 and Margaret, age 17 still living at home. Daughter Mary was born about 1851.

About 1861, Julia Taylor married William Henderson, son of Joel Henderson and Susannah Smart (Morgan), my 4^th great grandmother. Susannah had married first Joseph Morgan, who migrated from Chatham County, North Carolina to Montgomery County, North Carolina about 1805. I descend through Joseph and Susannah’s daughter Priscilla Morgan Hearne. Joseph Morgan died young, about 1814 and Susannah remarried to Joel Henderson who seems to have magically shown up in Montgomery County shortly after Joseph Morgan died. YDNA testing a Henderson male descendant has now proven that Joel Henderson is a YDNA match to Argulus Henderson who lived in Orange and Chatham Counties, North Carolina. So, there may be some family connection between the Henderson and Morgan families.

Julia Taylor and her husband, William Henderson, made their home in Eldorado, Montgomery County. Julia died in 1924 and was buried at the Henderson Family Cemetery, the same cemetery I visited with my uncle to see the graves of Willis Dennis and Susan Hearne, his great grandparents. 

In March of 1866, Margaret Taylor, daughter of Thomas and Priscilla Harris Taylor, married William Sills, the son of James and Melissa Redwine Sills. The couple made their home in Davidson County where Margaret died in 1923 at the age of 80 years.

The 1870 Census shows that Thomas and Priscilla Harris Taylor resided in Alleghany, Davidson County, North Carolina. Mary, now age 20, is still residing at home with her parents.

In 1872, Mary Taylor married Montford Hall, son of John and Nancy Hill Hall. Of interest, this is the same Hall family that Aranna Hall Marks (married Whiston Marks) descends from.

Mary and husband, Montford made their home in Eldorado, Montgomery County, where Mary died in 1910. She is buried at Lanes Chapel in Montgomery County.

1880 finds Thomas and Priscilla Harris Taylor still living in Alleghany, Davidson County. Thomas is 66 and Priscilla is 68.

1900 is an interesting Census as it shows the number of children born and living to a mother. Priscilla has 3 children born and 3 living, so her only children are her daughters, Julia, Margaret, and Mary. The 1900 Census also shows how many years a couple has been married and Thomas and Priscilla claim they have been married for 60 years. An incredible milestone to live to see! 

Thomas Taylor died on 9 Jan 1901, his wife, Priscilla Harris Taylor following 10 days later, on 19 Jan 1901. They are buried at Chandlers Grove Church Cemetery in Montgomery County, North Carolina.

The genealogy of Whitson Marks who lived in the Freeman-Marks house

I had the special honor of speaking at the Stanly County Genealogical Society yesterday and sharing the genealogy of Whitson Marks. Afterwards there was a guided tour of the Freeman-Marks house and we learned even more about the history of the county and those who once called the Freeman-Marks house their home. A special thanks to the Stanly County Genealogical Society for what they do to preserve the history of Stanly County.

Following are the slides used to show the Marks family genealogy, how I used DNA testing and traditional genealogy research (they really go hand-in-hand) to break down the brick wall for the Marks family, and discovered their migration from Richmond County, Virginia to Warren County, North Carolina, to Chatham County, North Carolina, to Stanly County, North Carolina.

Read more about the Marks family by clicking here

 

 

 

 

Our tour of the Freeman-Marks house

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