John Wesley Morrison was born on March 13th, 1819 to Andrew and Nancy (Carruthers) Morrison. He grew up in a cabin near the Red House Shoals area of the Kanawha River Valley, about six miles down-river from Poca, in what is now West Virginia. This area was in Kanawha County until 1848, when it became part of the newly created Putnam County. (Note: it originally was Greenbrier, prior to Greenbrier division and boundary changes) When Virginia seceded from the Union in 1861, western counties objected. Fifty western counties united to form "The Restored Government of Virginia" and petitioned Congress for re-admittance to the Union. The state of West Virginia was admitted to the Union in 1863, after Union victories in the area cleared out the Confederates. During the Civil War, West Virginia had about 32,000 soldiers in the Union Army, and about 9,000 in the Confederate Army. Both Kanawha and Putnam counties became part of the newly created state of West Virginia.
John most likely eked out a living farming in Kanawha County near his father. Oral family history states that John "may've 'kept slaves' while in Virginia".
John was named as one of the heirs of his father, Andrew Morrison, along with his mother, Nancy, brother, Benjamin R., and brother-in-law, William Cash, after Andrew's death in 1850. It was soon after this that the family began migrating westward. It is probable that John's older brother, James, had already moved with his family to Cass County, Indiana. The Morrisons did not remain in Indiana for long, and by 1857, they were living in LeSueur County, Minnesota.
John acted as assessor and performed the 1865 Minnesota State Census for Cordova Township in LeSueur County, MN.
The land owned by John and Mary (Forqueran) Morrison was in Cordova Township, right on the border with Cleveland Township. The formal description of their land is:
W 1/2 of SW 1/4 of Section 8, and
W 1/2 of NW 1/4 of Section 17
in T110N of R24W
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The land in LeSueur County was on the old Dodd's Road, just south of what is now LeCenter, Minnesota. The Morrison farm was know as the Blue Grass Farm. As was common in the early days, a small family cemetery soon was established near the homestead. This land was later donated to the county, and, in honor of the donation, was named the Blue Grass Cemetery. The cemetery is still in existence, well maintained, and the burial place for several other early pioneers.
 John died on August 13th, 1868, of what has been described as "Black Diptheria", and is buried in this original family plot, along with his mother, Nancy Jane Carruthers Morrison, his sister, Harriet, and his daughter, Louisa.
An oral history given by one of John's sons, Benjamin, taken in 1936, states that his father was a Doctor. According to Ben, "He used to be gone most of the time. He got very little for his services, as the people were too poor to pay in cash, but gave him meat and vegetables." At this point, there has been found no evidence to corroborate this story.
Sources:
- Federal Census: 1840; 1850; 1860
- MN State Census: 1857; 1865
- Grave Marker
- Jackie Horton
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