Series 2 - Part F
The fifth child of William and Charlotte Warner Morris was Thomas Cargill Morris, born in 1804 or 1805 while the family was still in Georgia. Tom, as he was known, married Mary "Polly" Thomas, the daughter of James Thomas and wife Nancy Morris Thomas. A farmer and a cattleman, Tom was also a Justice of the Peace. After Polly died, he married a lady referred to by Dr. E. Russ Williams, Jr., as the Widow Higgenbotham. Once again, Dr. Williams's terrific voluminous book "Kinsmen All Descendants of Wettenhall Warner and Related Families" is my sole source for this series of columns on the Warner ancestry.
Back to the Widow Higgenbotham, Dr. Williams reported "that she scolded the younger children while Tom was away on business, so the older daughters took over and ran her away." Whether there is truth to this tale or not, the marriage was brief. Digressing, I was reminded of a well-known federal judge in New Orleans whose magnificent home my husband Rodney and I were privileged to visit after his death. The story told was that the companion he acquired after the death of his beloved first wife moved some of her pretty things which he had left just so. And that was the end of her or so it was said. Again, I have no way to verify the veracity of this intriguing tale. Still, it was very interesting.
In the case of Tom Morris, who succumbed in Sun, Louisiana, in October of 1860, we really don't know what "things" were left or the value of his estate. His son Wettenhall Warner "W. W." opened his father's estate, but the War Between the States interrupted the succession proceeding which was never closed; W. W. Morris, serving in the Confederate Army, was killed in Virginia in 1863. Dr. Williams did, however, share evidence of a couple deeds executed by Tom Morris during his lifetime and also the start of the succession by his son.
Tom Morris and wife Polly were buried in a cemetery that Tom's brother Chess had founded. The couple did not have marble grave markers but rather a cedar tree which was planted at the top of Tom's grave. Later, after the tree grew, Tom's name was carved into it, serving as the marker for his grave for more than five decades. It wasn't until 1962 that grandson Ardo "Dode" Pierce had the graves of his grandparents officially marked and the cedar roots removed.
The couple had the following children: William I. Morris, who born in 1825 married Frances Richardson; Elizabeth Morris, who born in 1827 married Matthew Richardson; Annie Eliza Morris (1828-1916), who married Thomas Jefferson Moore; Virilla Morris (1831-1911), who married John Paul, a native of Canada; Wettenhall Warner Morris (1837-1863), also known as "Pet;" Lucinda Burnette Morris (1839-1902), who married John Quincy Adams Pierce; and Edward Thomas Morris (1840-1910), who married Martha E. Davenport. It would seem that "Pet" may have occupied a position of favor.
My father's friend Alcous Stewart, married to Sarah Leach Stewart, was the son of Charles Alcous "C. A." Stewart, who was a dairy farmer and owner of Stewarts Creamery in Bogalusa. C. A. was the grandson of Annie Eliza Morris and husband Thomas Jefferson Moore who was also known as Tom. Sadly, Tom died a tragic death while assisting friends construct a cabin on the Varnado Highway on the north side of Bogalusa. A massive tree fell on Tom, with injuries so horrific that once the tree was lifted, he was buried posthaste in the cemetery.
And there are a number of connections I was able to make between locals I know and Lucinda Burnette Morris and her husband John Quincy Adams Pierce. Interestingly, James Adolphus Pierce, a long-time Washington Parish employee at the courthouse in Franklinton and his sisters Bertha E. Pierce, Bogalusa City Clerk, and Stella Irene Pierce, a teacher in Franklinton, descended from the couple who were their great-grandparents. I well remember the Pierce home on the southwest corner of Main and Varnado where I visited as a child.
Similarly, long-time local Ms. Joetta Pierce Williams Burris's ancestry traced to Lucinda Morris and husband John Quincy Adams Pierce. The best I can figure is they were her great-grandparents. And John Quincy Adams Pierce and wife Lucinda Morris Pierce were also the great-grandparents of my mother's dear friend Lynetta Pierce who was married to John William Bell, Jr., and was the mother of John William Bell, III, and the mother-in-law of Kay Bell.
Bogalusa lawyer Harry Hansbrough Richardson, who was the husband of Willie Mae Caldwell and the father of Martha Ann "Rusty" Richardson Durand, about whom I've written extensively, also descended from Lucinda Morris and husband John Quincy Adams Pierce. They were his great-grandparents.
•Stay tuned for a future follow-up to Part F of Series 2.
