The biography I have for James A. Morrison is courtesy of Mark Wilson, a cousin of ours from MN and is as follows:

James lived with his parents, and continued to live with his mother after his father's death in 1868. At some point after 1875, he moved to Pine City, where he worked as a timber cruiser for a lumber company. (A timber cruiser is the person who goes out into the forest ahead of the cutting crew, marking and grading the trees) The lumber company he worked for was owned by Thomas Rice. While working there he met and married Rice's daughter, Georgia Ann. They were married at Taylor's farm near Pine City on June 18th, 1877. He later moved back to LeSueur County, where he stayed until the late 1890's.

Almost all of the Morrisons left LeSueur Co. in the late 1890's. James moved further north in MN with his sister, Josephine, and her husband, Hank Van Fleet. They settled near Watkins, in Forest Prairie Township of Meeker Co. While living there, their daughter, Annie, was born and died, at the age of 2 months. She was buried in tiny Forest Prairie (now Pioneer) Cemetery, between Watkins and Eden Valley.

In about 1901, Hank and Josephine Van Fleet moved to Adams Co., WA, to farm with Hank's brother, Charles. James and his family also moved, settling for a short time in Pierz, in Morrison Co., then soon moving to Staples, in Todd Co. There, James worked for the Northern Pacific Railroad, where he worked for the remainder of his life. At the time of his death, he was janitor at the NP depot in Staples.

In early May of 1917, he began suffering from what appeared to be ear problems, and on May 10 he was taken to the hospital in Brainard. He died there on Saturday, May 12. His remains were brought home to Staples on the night train, and his funeral was held at the Methodist church on the following Monday. At the time of his death he was survived by his wife, Georgia, 11 children (Tom died in 1888 and Annie in 1899), 9 grandchildren, 3 sisters (Martha, Josephine & Lilly) and 3 brothers (John, Ben, & Charles). He is buried in the Evergreen Hill Cemetery in Staples.

His obituary, taken from the "Staples World" on Thursday, May 17, 1917, gives this additional information:

James Andrew Morrison was born in Charleston, VA (later, W. VA) on March 22, 1851. He married June 18, 1877 to Georgia Ann Rice, and was the father to 13 children. He moved with his family to southern MN at the age of 8.