Morrises of Tate County Mississippi

The First Thanksgiving, 1621 at Plymouth Massachusetts

When I began the research of my Morris line for this document, I expected the result to be relatively short in content. There seemed to be nothing unique about them. Well, as usual, I was wrong. Of the vast majority of people with surname Morris, the origin of it is said to be the French Maurice, by way of the Normans who invaded England in 1066. People in England do pronounce Maurice like Morris. But the story of our line, going back 2000 years, shows that the origin for us is different. I tend to believe that our source for Morris isn't as rare as they say. And this isn't the unique part of our line that I'll reveal, anyway.

Our Morris path to Mississippi

The first phase of this journey will be told with respect to the individual men of our Morris line, going back as far as I have names for them. Though we probably never will know the names of earlier men, there is still quite a story to tell of earlier times. The second phase will take our line back to England, and how the line's Y-chromosome tells us where they came from before the advent of human civilization. The final phase will cover the rest of the family tree of John Morris, my great-great grandfather, through all of his great-great grandparents. Keep in mind that most of them lived their lives before the Revolution.

My great-grandmother Turley Morris was born in Tate County and lived to the age of 100. I believe she's the girl to the right in the picture below, maybe 8 years old at the time. Her father was John James Morris. John married Turley's mother in 1889 when he was already 42 years old and had raised a large family before. John had four more kids the second time around. He had brought the line to what would become Tate County in the aftermath of the Civil War, and ours were in the state for 130 years. John was 18 when the War ended, so I don't think he fought in it. He was born in Henderson County Tennessee.


Family of John James Morris in Tate County Mississippi

John's father was Jim Morris, born in 1816. Jim died in 1861 when John was 14. Jim always claimed birth in North Carolina, but the family was in Smith County Tennessee at the time. It had come to Tennessee from North Carolina. Jim's uncles William and Daniel Morris were in Dyer's Regiment in the Creek War. Jim's uncle Henry died in 1813. I haven't researched it, but it might've been related to the War. Jim's father was Isaac, born 1768 in Rowan County North Carolina. Isaac owned 3 slaves in 1820, so our Morrises were slaveholders, at least for a time. Isaac's father was William. William's wife is said to have died 1801 in Kentucky. This indicates that our Morris line took a similar path as our Scott line did, and at the same time, along the Wilderness Road. William is claimed to have fought at Kings Mountain in the Revolutionary War. Our Morrises and Scotts were in Lincoln County Tennessee in the 1820s. It would therefore seem that both lines had Appalachian roots. But this is where the Morris story takes a turn. William wasn't born anywhere near the Wagon Road that all the Scotch-Irish took from Pennsylvania to North Carolina. William was born 1742 in New Jersey.

Part of the state of New Jersey is just across the border from Philadelphia, within the usual sphere of our ancestors. But William was from Woodbridge Township at the northern end of the state, across a river from Staten Island New York and 15 miles south of Manhattan. I doubt there was much affinity between Woodbridge and the culture that William would move our line into. He evidently sought to improve his fortunes through slavery in the South. He died in Lincoln County Tennessee. Our line's entire time in North Carolina (60 years) was during his life. William was a Revolutionary War soldier in North Carolina, but I haven't found what specific company he served in or what action he saw. As was mentioned at the start of this document, the name Morris comes from the French Maurice, and the English now pronounce it like Morris. But our line actually comes from Moore, and it became adapted into Morris when they went south, with an intermediate form of Moores, which I think meant plural Moore. Note that the form in William's will in Tennessee was Moores. His son James used the form Moore in Kentucky, and his son Arthur used the form Moore in North Carolina.


Manhattan in 1731 - was even smaller in 1690

Morris on the Mayflower?

You may have wondered why I put an illustration of the first Thanksgiving at the start of this document. I'll squelch one hope right now and say that the Morrises weren't on the Mayflower. But they came dang close, as you will soon see. And one of John Morris's great-great-grandparents was the descendant of a woman who was on the Mayflower. Oddly, it was totally a coincidence with the Morris path, as the connection was through the Benson side. See the Winslow section at the end of this document.

William's father was also named William. And William's grandfather was called William. So, the William who died in Tennessee we'll call William III. While the line was in New Jersey, they were usually called Moores. William II was born 1705 in Woodbridge. Our Moores were in New Jersey for around 70 years. And as I've been pointing to, they came to New Jersey from Massachusetts. Not only that, but from the far-northeastern corner, north of Boston and Salem. And it turns out to make sense.

William's father came from Newbury of Essex County. It so happens that one of the prominent residents of Newbury founded Woodbridge New Jersey. His name was Reverend John Woodbridge. He settled the site in 1664 and it was chartered as a township in 1669. Of (major) note, it was in 1664 that New Amsterdam surrendered to the English and was renamed New York! It's not a coincidence, because the Dutch had controlled the northern part of New Jersey and the British no doubt desired to have settlers in the area to change its character.

Tracing our line backward from William I gets shaky. A Matthew Moores had a son William in Newbury in 1666, which is the source of William I's birth place and date. It's the connection to Reverend John Woodbridge that begins to firm up Matthew being in our line. Matthew was born 1628 in Essex County. Newbury wasn't founded until 1635. Matthew's wife was Sarah Savory. Her grandfather came to Massachusetts on one of the ships after the Mayflower, with her father when he was a child. Sarah was born in Plymouth, and both her father and grandfather died in Plymouth.


Re-creation of Plymouth Plantation - imagine similar buildings in Newbury at the time

Getting back to Newbury, a group of 100 settlers established it in 1635. They came from Wiltshire England. One of them was called Edmund Moores. Another was Reverend John Woodbridge. As I said, the potential connections in our line in Newbury are shaky, but I think it's notable that people named Moores and Woodbridge were brothers in labor in Newbury, and our line later moved to Woodbridge's new township. I don't think it's a coincidence. But Matthew Moores evidently had already been born in Essex County seven years before Edmund immigrated. Edmund was married in 1643. It doesn't fit for Matthew to have been his son. But I'm certain they were related, and Matthew's father was from Wiltshire. An Edmund was baptized in Wiltshire a year after his believed birthdate, to a father called William. I'm confident that William was Matthew's grandfather. Our line was in Massachusetts for upwards of 70 years.

I've seen documents that were described as belonging to a man called Moore, when the name was actually written inside it as Moores. Several English surnames have variant forms with and without trailing s's. They have a common origin, and the reason for the split was the non-standardization of spelling back in the day. For Moores as an example, some followed a non-s convention saying they were of the Moore clan. Others followed a plural convention saying they were of the Moores. With that said, there were some interesting Moore and More people in early Massachusetts. A Richard More was on the Mayflower. We don't descend from him, but he might've been a relative. A Francis More/Moore has been put forward as a potential father for Matthew. Francis was an influential figure in Cambridge Massachusetts, but he doesn't seem to have been to Newbury. Of interest to me, I saw that Reverend John Woodbridge and Francis Moore both made trips back and forth to England. They evidently were men of wealth.

Moores in England

I'm a believer that our Moores came to Massachusetts from Wiltshire England. Francis Moore was from the London area, adding more doubt that he was an ancestor. The origin of surname Moore is Lancashire. Lancashire is in the north of England, on the west coast between Wales and Scotland. Descendants of our Moores have been tested as the I-M253 Y-DNA haplogroup. It's possible that they came from hunter-gatherers who went to Britain a very long time ago. Or they could've been Angles who settled the north of England in the 6th century. Or they could've been Vikings who settled in Britain later. Or they could've been Normans who came up from the south. I tend to believe they were Angles. Lancashire was part of Northumbria.


700 AD

John Morris's other Great-Great-Grandparent Lines

In the last phase of this document, I collect all that I know about the non-Morris paternal lines of the great-great-grandparents of my great-great-grandfather, John Morris. Refer to the Scott Pedigree page for a simple view of John's ancestors.

Benson

John Morris's mother was Mahalia Benson, born 1824 in Lincoln County Tennessee. Mahalia's father was Levin Benson, born 1794 in Rowan County North Carolina. When John's father Jim Morris died, and John was 14, Levin became his guardian. Levin's father was also named Levin, born 1755 in Worcester County Maryland. He moved to Lewes, Sussex County Delaware as an adult and served in the Delaware Line in the Revolutionary War. Levin Sr's father was William Benson, born 1725 in Yarmouth, Norfolk England. Presumably the Bensons were anglican. They were not slaveholders. There's no slam-dunk connection to our line in the Benson DNA project, but the Bensons of Delaware were of Y-DNA haplogroup I-M253. There are also several sources of the name, mostly English. Assuming that ours was I-M253, this means a Viking settler origin with correct modern form Bendtsen, which was anglicized into Benson.

Brown(s)

Jim Morris's mother was Elizabeth Brown, born 1781 on the Yadkin River in North Carolina. That was in Wilkes County at the time, Caldwell today. Elizabeth's father was James Brown, born 1738 in Londonderry Ireland. James immigrated in 1749 to Maryland. He wed 1760 in Culpeper County Virginia and presumably went straight to the Yadkin Valley. James is claimed to have fired the first shot at Guilford in 1781. He's claimed to have been a Colonel, but I don't think he was at the time of that battle. James and Elizabeth were part of an infamous event. He received a land grant in 1785 for his Revolutionary War service, and he chose land south of Nashville, which was six years old at that time. This was a decade before the state of Tennessee was established. He went to scout it out, then went to fetch his family in 1787 (including 6-year-old Elizabeth), and came to the Long Island on the Holston. He then constructed a flatboat, and the tale says that he set out for their new home. I'm not sure about this detail, as Nashville is on the Cumberland River, and I don't see any water path from there to Long Island. From there he could've taken the Tennessee River to Chattanooga. Maybe there's a path through Kentucky, because the Cumberland comes from there.

Regardless of how they travelled, they were attacked by Natives. James and his sons James and John were killed, and Elizabeth and her mother and the others were taken captive. They were held for about a year, and ended up being freed and taken to South Carolina. In 1790 they returned to James's grant and at long last established their home. This was said to be at the confluence of the Cumberland and Duck Rivers, but I don't see them connecting on the map. The Duck River seems certain, as it goes south of Nashville. Elizabeth is said to have been engaged to a Joshua Thomas who was killed by Natives in 1794, before wedding Isaac Morris. Jim Morris her son was evidently named after James Brown. James's father was William Brown, born 1687 in Londonderry. Elizabeth Ross's mother was Jean Brown, born 1722 in North Carolina. Jean's father was Arthur Brown, born 1680 in Ulster. I don't have clear information on this secondary Brown line in the Morris tree, but my guess is the similarity in path is no coincidence. Therefore my guess is Jean was born in Rowan and Arthur was born in Londonderry, and Arthur and William were brothers. So, Jim Morris's great grandmother Jean was related to his mother Elizabeth. Presumably these are Scots-Irish Presbyterians. I found no clear connection in the Brown DNA project, but it seems likely these were of the Y-DNA haplogroup R-M269. They seem to be completely unrelated to the Browns in the McAtee and Howell trees.


Historical marker for Joseph, a brother of Elizabeth who was also captured

White

Mahalia Benson's mother was Christiana White, born in 1794. In the 1850 census she said she was born in Tennessee, and in the 1860 and 1870 censuses she said she was born in Virginia. This suggests to me that her family was in far-eastern Tennessee when it was part of North Carolina. It's possible that they were in Washington County Virginia, but I put more credence in her earlier claim. Another thing to note about her is that her name was written Christchancy on her tombstone. I don't know how that could've been made official, but I'd think the way she pronounced it was like Christchiana. Maybe no one in the family was literate and whoever made the tombstone understood what she said as what was written.

Her father was Samuel White, born 1765 in Perquimans County North Carolina. This is on the coast around the modern Kitty Hawk monument. Information on Samuel is scattered and probably conflated with relatives of the same name, but the one who died in Rutherford County Tennessee must've been ours. His wife was 20 when Christiana was born, so they must've wed in what would become Tennessee, in the Holston or Watauga areas. The line went eventually to Lincoln County. Samuel's father was Jonathan White, born 1733 in Piney Woods, Perquimans. His father was also named John, born 1706 in Pasquotank County. John's father was Robert White, born 1674 in Pasquotank. His father was also named Robert, born 1632 in Isle of Wight County Virginia. Ancestry.com suggests that Robert Sr's father was William White, claimed to be an original Jamestown settler. William was a Reverend, born 1680 in Thornton, Chester England. I personally think someone has shoehorned a Jamestown connection here, as the info on Robert and William is very messy. There was a William White at Jamestown, described by John Smith as a soldier, not a Reverend.

It's possible that we genuinely connect to that William, but the information has been jumbled. I've seen his birth also claimed as 1660. Ours obviously is an English line, and I'll place the origin in Chester until I have something more solid. The Whites were slaveholders. Presumably they were anglican. I found no clear connection in the White DNA project. Most Tennessee Whites that looked like possible relatives were of the R-M269 haplogroup. I saw slightly more Isle of Wight Whites that were R-M269, while the others were I-M253. The surname White is supposed to have come to England with the Normans. Since our line seems to have been well-off, I will guess that they were I-M253.

Ross

Isaac Moores's mother was Elizabeth Ross, born 1744 in Rowan County North Carolina. Elizabeth's father was Isaac Ross, born 1708 in Woodbridge New Jersey. Isaac's father was David Ross, born 1681 in Balblair, Scottish highlands. ThruLines can't prove David as being correct, and information on him doesn't perfectly align with Isaac. David was evidently a wealthy man, but it's still possible that he went first to the Irish plantations and Isaac was born there, and that David was 'transported' to the colonies. It does seem clear that Isaac Ross is correct, but nothing is clear from there on this line, even a connection to Woodbridge. Presumably the Rosses were Presbyterian. The line is too old to have slaveholding information, but if they were Presbyterian, they probably weren't slaveholders. The surname Ross connects back to Dal Riata Irish immigrants, founders of the Kingdom of Scotland. Y-DNA is totally unclear from the Ross DNA project, but given the Irish background, haplogroup R-M269 seems a good guess. The name Ross derives from Old English for red-haired.

Gillespie

James Brown's wife was Jane Gillespie, born 1740 in Winchester, Frederick County Virginia. As told above, Jane was abducted by a Cherokee band while travelling with her husband and family to his land grant south of Nashville, in what would become the state of Tennessee a decade later. Jane managed to survive while her husband and eldest sons were killed, yet she led the family back to the site to finally establish their home, five years later. Jane's father was Patrick Gillespie, born 1680, probably in Cecil County Maryland. Patrick's father was George Gillespie, born 1644 in Perth Scotland. Presumably the Gillespies were Presbyterian and not slaveholders. Gillespie is said to be a Pictish surname. I found no clear connection in the Gillespie DNA project, but Virginia Gillespies from Scotland were of haplogroup R-M269.

Brummell

Levin Sr Benson's wife was Rebecca Brummell, born 1765 in Rowan County North Carolina. Rebecca's father was Jacob Brummell, born in 1740. It's not clear at all where Jacob was born, or who his father was. The surname Brummell is said to be pre-Norman English, meaning broom hollow, where broom meant growing gorse. The associated place name is Bramhall in Cheshire. Jacob may have been born in eastern North Carolina, but either way I'll assume they came from Cheshire. Presumably they were anglican. I found no Brummell DNA project, but there is a Bramhall, and they all tested as Y-DNA haplogroup R-M269.

Keeter

Samuel White's wife was Lucinda Keeter, born 1774 in Rutherford County North Carolina. Samuel wed her on the way to future Tennessee. Lucinda's father was James Keeter, born 1698 in Albemarle County North Carolina. James's father was William Keeter, born 1664 in Lawnes Creek, Isle of Wight Virginia. William's father was William Kitto, born 1639 in Padstow, Cornwall England. I've seen the name spelled Keattoe and Kyttowe. The name is patronymic, from Christopher. Apparently in Wales Christopher was shortened to Kitt, and instead of Kitts, like Williams or Adams or Evans in Wales, in Cornwall the surname Kitto was adopted. Presumably this line was anglican. There's no Kitto DNA project, but Cornish Y-DNA is over 90% haplogroup R-M269.

Conger

William Moores II's wife was Phoebe Conger, born 1708 in Woodbridge New Jersey. Phoebe's father was Gershom Conger, born 1685 in Woodbridge. Gershom's father was John Conger, born 1633 in Yarmouth, Norfolk England. I've seen two claims about the Conger surname - one that it was shortened from Belconger, and two that it comes from the town of Congleton in Cheshire. The Belconger seems an odd source to me, but it does come from Norfolk, rooted in Norman French Bellencombre. I suppose I have to go with the Norfolk version. Presumably this line was anglican. I've seen one Y-DNA test of a Belconger, and that was haplogroup J-M172. I doubt that it will ever be possible to prove that ours was the same, but it's the only lead I have.

Fleming

James Brown's mother was Peggy Fleming, born 1701 in Londonderry Ireland. If the name sounds familiar, a more recent olympic ice skater had the same. I expect that it's a coincidence. I don't know who our Peggy's father was. The name Fleming means Flemish, or from Flanders, i.e. Belgium. A group of Flemish went from France to Ireland in 1171, which I guess was the origin of this line. Given that Peggy wed a Presbyterian man, I'm guessing that her line was Presbyterian. Most Irish Flemings test as Y-DNA haplogroup R-M269.

Dennison

Jane Gillespie's mother was Anne Dennison, born 1666 in Ulcombe, Kent England. I don't know who Anne's father was. I do know that Dennison has a common origin with Tennison, like we have in the Meredith tree. I expect that any relation between the two lines was long before Anne's time. I make the typical guesses here on religion and Y-DNA.

Kennedy

Levin Sr Benson's mother was Tabitha Kennedy, born 1727 in Somerset County Maryland. Tabitha's father was Isaac Kennedy, born 1700 in Ireland. Kennedy is Gaelic for grim-headed, or dour. The name is claimed to originate in Scotland actually, and some of them went to Ireland in the year 900. It could be that this actually was a Scots-Irish line, but I don't know how to tell. My assumption is that since they went to Maryland, they were Catholic. The Kennedy DNA project is private, so I'm going to guess Y-DNA haplogroup R-M269.

Luttrell

Rebecca Brummell's mother was Lydia Luttrell, born in 1745. Presumably she was born in North Carolina, but I don't know, and I don't know who her father was. The name is Norman in origin, and from Nottinghamshire. Presumably they were anglican. The best lead on Y-DNA I have is a Littrell tested as haplogroup R-M269.

Winslow

Samuel White's mother was Lydia Winslow, born 1741 in Piney Woods, Perquimans County North Carolina. Lydia's father was Joseph Winslow, born 1705 in Perquimans. Joseph's father was Timothy, born 1682 in Perquimans. Timothy's father was Joseph Winslow, born 1636 in Plymouth Massachusetts. Joseph the elder's father was John Winslow, born 1597 in Worcestershire, England. He died in Boston. In the past I would've dismissed this line as a desperate attempt of an ancestry.com user to trace the line back from North Carolina. But Joseph the elder is documented as being involved in the founding of a settlement called Charles Town at Cape Fear in the 1660s. Joseph's wife was Mary Chilton, who was on the Mayflower. Presumably the Winslows were anglican. Descendants of Timothy have been tested as Y-DNA haplogroup I-M253.

Johnson

Lucinda Keeter's mother was Lucy Johnson, born 1751 in North Carolina. I don't know who her father was. The surname Johnson came to England with the Normans. Presumably the line was anglican. There's no way to know their Y-DNA, so I will guess haplogroup R-M269.

Summary of John Morris's Great-Great-Grandparent Lines

Only two of the sixteen lines are known to have been slaveholders, but probably a few more were and we just don't have records. More than half were English and anglican, and about a quarter were Scottish and Presbyterian. One quarter were of the Viking/Germanic haplogroup I-M253, and two thirds are guessed to be R-M269. Many of these were total unknowns, so there might've been a little more diversity genetically.

Migration paths
Morris: 1865 Hernando, DeSoto, Mississippi - 1810 Centre Point, Henderson, Tennessee - 1765 Salisbury, Rowan, North Carolina - 1662 Woodbridge, Middlesex, New Jersey - 1625 Newbury, Essex, Massachusetts - 1500 Amesbury, Wiltshire, England - 0 Lancaster, Lancashire, England
Benson: 1839 Centre Point, Henderson, Tennessee - 1815 Fayetteville, Lincoln, Tennessee - 1785 Salisbury, Rowan, North Carolina - 1774 Lewes, Sussex, Delaware - 1750 Pocomoke City, Worcester, Maryland - 0 Yarmouth, Norfolk, England
Brown: 1792 Columbia, Davidson, Tennessee - 1760 Yadkin Valley, Rowan, North Carolina - 1749 Baltimore, Baltimore, Maryland - 1650 Londonderry, Derry, Ireland - 0 Annan, Dumfries, Scotland
White: 1815 Fayetteville, Lincoln, Tennessee - 1790 Jonesboro, Washington, North Carolina - 1730 Hertford, Perquimans, North Carolina - 1660 Elizabeth City, Pasquotank, North Carolina - 1630 Isle of Wight, Isle of Wight, Virginia - 0 Thornton, Chester, England
Ross: 1740 Salisbury, Rowan, North Carolina - 1705 Woodbridge, Middlesex, New Jersey - 0 Balblair, Highland, Scotland
Gillespie: 1700 Winchester, Frederick, Virginia - 1680 Charlestown, Cecil, Maryland - 0 Perth, Perthshire, Scotland
Brummell: 1740 Salisbury, Rowan, North Carolina - 0 Bramhall, Cheshire, England
Keeter: 1760 Rutherfordton, Rutherford, North Carolina - 1690 Albemarle, Albemarle, North Carolina - 1660 Lawnes Creek, Isle of Wight, Virginia - 0 Padstow, Cornwall, England
Conger: 1680 Woodbridge, Middlesex, New Jersey - 0 Yarmouth, Norfolk, England
Winslow: 1666 Piney Woods, Perquimans, North Carolina - 0 Worcester, Worcestershire, England