•Series 2 - Part A
Never say never. After an expansive series in 2023 on the Wettenhall Warner descendants, courtesy of renowned historian Dr. E. Russ Williams, Jr., who researched and wrote "Kinsmen All Descendants of Wettenhall Warner and Related Families," I vowed to take a break from the voluminous material. But it would be an injustice if I didn't return to the Warner family with a primary focus on Charlotte Warner Morris, provided by Dr. Williams. With his publication my sole source for this series of columns, my role is simply to relay the interesting information Dr. Williams compiled. A middleman, I am.
As mentioned in early 2023, Dr. Williams's foreword was mind-boggling. The assemblage of the mountain of material on Wettenhall Warner and his descendants was no small undertaking. Working in a world devoid of computers and cell phones, Dr. Williams toiled for years, interviewing area descendants and travelling far and wide, often with his sister and his wife - to Texas, Georgia, Virginia, the Carolinas, and other areas. There, they visited state archives and county courthouses, gathering and assimilating pertinent genealogical information. Dr. Williams's first such trip was made in 1953.
From what I discerned, Dr. Williams - who descended from Wettenhall Warner - did it all for the kinsmen, as he called them. A positive project was his objective, and so it was, lasting for a multitude of years. Amassing friendships and mileage on the family car, he began his study as a fourteen-year-old boy and continued it for almost half a century, well into adulthood. "Kinsmen All" was first released in October of 1964. By mid-November of my birth year, all copies were either sold or reserved. This timing explained why my dad, a first-time forty-five-year-old father-to-be didn't have an original book - something I had always wondered.
Following the 1964 publication, there were second and third editions in 1968 and 1991, respectively. My source for this series of columns is the 1991 edition published by Williams Genealogical Publications, Dr. E. Russ Williams, Jr. The renowned historian wanted the reader to "find an appreciation for their ancestors," as stated in his Preface. Mission accomplished. While my 2023 series of Warner columns focused on the patriarch Wettenhall Warner (1726/37-1818) and then on his son Thomas Cargill Warner (1772-1833) married to Tabitha Cargill (1776-1854) and their descendants, this series begins with Wettenhall and Elizabeth Warner's daughter Charlotte Warner, born in 1775, who married William "Billy" Morris.
As I mentioned in the autumn of 2023, my husband's ancestry on his paternal side traces directly to William "Billy" Morris and wife Charlotte Warner Morris, Rodney's great-great-great-great-grandparents. So, I do have my own motive for studying Dr. Williams's material on the well-known couple. Born July 10, 1775, on what Dr. Williams refers to as "the old John Cargill place" in old Craven County, South Carolina, Charlotte was Wettenhall and Elizabeth Cargill Warner's second born daughter. She was known as Lottie. As her parents were Baptist in faith - in fact, they were charter members in South Carolina's oldest Baptist Church - it was assumed that she was raised a Baptist. However, by the time of her death in 1826 she had become a Methodist. A renowned Methodist Circuit Rider in the Louisiana and Mississippi territory - Rev. Thomas Griffen preached Lottie's funeral.
But long before that, around 1792, she had married William "Billy" Morris, who had been born circa 1764, moving to Orangeburg District, South Carolina, where he had three land grants, with one in 1785 for 100 acres and another in 1791 for 1,000 acres. Dr. Williams noted that the latter was likely "for some civil duty performed for the state, militia duty and deputy work." William and Lottie had relocated to Georgia sometime before 1800, and then by February 1811, they had moved to Louisiana probably living on the Bogue Chitto in the beginning. William served as St. Tammany Parish (which at that time encompassed the area that is now Washington Parish) Deputy Sheriff in 1811 and 1812.
Interestingly, Dr. Williams published several records from the State Land Office, evidencing William Morris's settling and ownership of land here. The one that captured my attention was signed by both William Morris and John Bickham, who declared under oath that the place situated between their claims was that of Jemima Franklin Meghee (Magee) who settled it in 1811 and cultivated it for two years. The widow of Thomas B. Franklin, Jemima Franklin married Philip Magee in 1812 in St. Tammany Parish. It was thought that she was William Morris's sister. But noteworthy to my better half and me, his great-great-great-great grandfather William Morris signed the document with John Bickham, my great-great-great-great grandfather.
Then, in the fall of 1814 when area men were called to military duty, William Morris fought, together with his son Whit, with General Andrew Jackson in the Battle of New Orleans. He was a private in the 12-13th Louisiana Militia, serving under his brother-in-law Col. Thomas C. Warner.
Back to Charlotte Warner Morris, by the time of her death in 1826, she and husband William Morris were living on the state line between Louisiana and Mississippi where he operated a water mill. The Census confirmed that Charlotte was deceased by 1830. William succumbed between 1838 and 1840.
Their descendants included Elizabeth Morris Richardson (1796-1866), Wettenhall Warner Morris (1794-1849), Mary (Polly) Morris Fussell (1798-after 1876), Charlotte Morris Fussell (1802-1880), Thomas Cargill Morris (1804-1860), Chessley B. Morris (1806-1887), William Fountain Morris (1808- ), Barbara Morris Kaufman (1811-1836), Jemima Morris Wood (1813-1891), Kesiah Morris Williams (1815-1895), Henry James Morris (1818- ), and Elsie (Alcy) Morris Jones (1821-189_).
•Stay tuned for more on the Morris family, in the coming months.
