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Our Morrison History
The Isle of Lewis, on the west coast of Scotland is said to be the place where the Clan Morrison originated. The first inhabitant was said to be Mores, son of Kennanus, whom the Irish historians call Makurich, son of one of the kings of Norway.
Ghille Mhuire, or 'Servant of the Virgin Mary', was, according to tradition, washed ashore, having survived a shipwreck by clinging to a piece of driftwood; this is commemorated in the clan's plant badge. He is said to be a natural son of King Olav, and therefore half-brother of Leod, progenitor of the MacLeods.
Ghille Mhuire married the heiress of the Gows, or Clan Igaa, who held Pabbay in the Sound of Harris.
Nathaniel Holmes Morison wrote on March 11th, 1880, "If the name Morrison is derived from the Gaelic Mhor, or Mor, as I think it is, it must have been formed from that word after the persons bearing the name of Moor, etc., had ceased to be Gauls, and became either Norsemen or Saxons, and used one of those languages. The Gaelic for "son" is Mac, while 'son' at the end of the name is both Norse & Saxon." The fact that the Morrs and not the Morrises, have the same crest as the Morrisons, plainly points in that direction for the ancestry of the name...the Saxon language was well established in England and in the lowlands of Scotland in the 9th century.
  There are two tartans for the Morrison clan, a red clan tartan, and a green hunting tartan. The crest is: "two arms, dexter & sinister in fesse, coupled, holding a two-handed sword, in pale." The Motto: 'Marte et Mari faventibus', meaning "War & the Sea-favoring".(p17 #1) Their battle-cry was 'Teaghlach Phabbay'. In the 1930's a Bible wrapped in a 300-year-old piece of tartan was found in the Black House on Lewis. The Bible and Tartan belonged to a seventeenth-century Morrison and the Lord Lyon Court decided that it was the nearest authentic Morrison on which to base the new tartan, which is red with a small narrow stripe of black, brown, green, and white. As a member of the Clan Morrison Society a Morrison is entitled to wear either tartan.
 "Dun Eystein" created a natural stronghold at the northern end of the Isle of Lewis, or Ness of Lewis, in town of Cnoc Aird. The clan from time immemorial have inhabited this extreme northern point of the Island, to which the Morrisons retired when at war. It is a flat, cliff-like island, oval in shape, 75 yards long and 50 yards broad, separated from the mainland by a narrow perpendicular ravine, through which the sea flows at high water. The ravine is 30-40 feet broad and wide. The remains of a strong wall follow the edge of the cliff on the land-ward side of the island, and through the wall are said to have been squints or loop-holes for observation and defense. Towards the NE corner is a "dun", or castle. The Morrisons were not a numerous clan and tried to live at peace with their more aggressive neighbors, the Macaulays and the Macleods.
The McCauleys killed Donald Ban, brother of John Morrison, who held the position of "breitheamh" or judge of the whole Isle of Lewis, a position held by the Morrisons for many generations. When the Morrisons retaliated, the Macaulays appealed to their allies, the Macleods, whereupon a strong force of Macaulays and Macleods invaded the Morrison lands. The feud was carried on by the next chief, Uisdean, or Hucheon,who invaded north Harris only to be heavily defeated once more.
Hucheon, on his death bed in 1566, confessed to being the natural father of Torquil, until then accepted as the lawful son of Roderick Macleod of Lewis and his wife, Janet Mackenzie. Macleod disinherited Torquil, set aside Janet as an adulteress, and took a third wife. She bore two sons, Torquil Dubh and Tormod. The older Torquil, now half-brother to the Morrison chiefs, allied himself to the Mackenzies of Kintail who, through him, claimed the island of Lewis. In the bloody war that followed, the Morrisons sided with the Mackenzies against the Macleods, and both Hucheon's successor, Ian Dubh, and his son, Malcolm Mor, were killed. The Morrisons were driven from their lands and their power as a fighting force was broken forever.
During the reign of James the 1st of England a large portion of Ireland fell to King James. To subdue the Irish he sent a colony of Scottish Protestants to Northern Ireland in 1612. They were rigid Presbyterians and a bitter feud ensued between the Irish Catholics and the Scots. In 1641 there was a massacre of Protestants and over 40,000 perished. In 1649 Cromwell avenged and punished Catholics, bringing peace to Ireland, for a time.
On ascension in 1660 of Charles 1st to the throne of England, he appointed his brother James (later James II) as Viceroy of Scotland. James was a bigoted Catholic and the Scottish Presbyterians were the target of his hatred. Thousands of Scots were slaughtered and many fled to Ireland. John Morrison, Lieutenant Robert Morrison, and Captain James Morrison took part in the battle of Londonderry, Ireland (1688-89). They were declared traitors by King James II in 1689, and fled to America. In 1719 they helped found Londonderry, NH.
The rest of this history contains information from the sources listed at the bottom of the page. They list families from each source who may or may not be related to my direct line. Although originally we had to rely on a preponderance of evidence to link Andrew Morrison, born in 1781 in Pennsylvania and who subsequently married Nancy Jane Carruthers with his parents, James and Jane Morrison of Pocahontas County, Virginia, this has since been proven with DNA results.
John Morrison, was father to:
- James: born 1675 in Ireland; died 5 Mar 1756 in Londonderry, NH
- John Thomas: born 1678 in Ireland; died 14 Jun 1776 in Petersborough, NH
- Martha: born in Ireland; married Thomas Steele; died 22 Oct 1759 in Londonderry, NH
- Halbert: born in Ireland; died 6 Jun 1755, age 70 in Londonderry, NH
- Samuel: born 1710 in Ireland; married Janette Allison; died 21 Jun 1802 in Londonderry, NH
- Hannah: born circa 1716 in Ireland; married William Clendennin; died 7 Jan 1802 Londonderry
- Mary: born 1718 in Ireland; married Andrew Jack, of Chester
- Joseph: born 1720 on passage to America (by wife Jane Steele; married Mary Holmes;died 1807 in Londonderry, NH.(p81 #3)
A James Morrison, together with brothers Robert, Gabriel, and Alexander immigrated to Philadelphia, PA in 1740. They later sent for older brother, John and nephew Andrew and bought land in Cabarrusco, NC.
Beth Orsi, a Morrison Researcher, found an LDS record (Microfilm #459155) of County Down, Ireland, which lists a Nathaniel Morrison, born 28 September 1707. He had siblings, Andrew; John; Joseph, b. 1697; Samuel, born 1699; Jane, born 1700 and died an infant; Mary, born 1703; Elizabeth, born 1705; Jane, born 1709; and,Sarah, born 1712. Most of the children were born in Killyleigh, County Down, Ireland. The four children of Nathaniel born in 1707 are listed; however, no dates for their births are given. The children were:
- Nathaniel Morrison
- Andrew J. Morrison
- Richard Morrison, and
- James Morrison
The father of the above children is most likely our direct line ancestor, and father of Nathaniel Morrison who was born in 1730 and married Thankful Williams.
The following are the DNA results of Morrison’s directly related to OUR Morrison family. Warren Morrison who submitted his DNA is M119 in the group below.
Each of the 6 submissions are directly related through their DNA. By doing a search for Morrison DNA project I was taken to the Morrison DNA Project home page:
Clan Morrison DNA Project
Once there, go partway down the page to Project Status-Results and click. It will then take you to the first results, Groups A thru J. To see ours in Group R, simply insert “Page821.htm” at the end. That takes you to the second part of the results, Groups K thru T. You then have to click on the link that says, “please click here for family groups.” Questions may be submitted to:
Morrison DNA Project
My direct line ancestor, James Morrison was born 5 Oct 1761 in Berkeley county, Virginia. (He was son of Nathaniel, b. 1730; Nathaniel b. 1730 was son of Nathaniel b. in 1707). James married 1st, circa 1781, Mrs. Jane Taylor, widow of Revolutionary War Soldier. She died in 1795. James married 2nd, Elizabeth Callison, born 1778, died in 1838. James died 7 Feb 1858 in Pocahontas County, Virginia in valley west of Droop Mountain
Children born to James:
- Andrew...settled in Kanawha County, Virginia. *This is my Andrew. Much previous speculation existed about who Andrew's father was. Initially, a preponderance of evidence placed James and Jane Morrison as his parents. This has since been proved with DNA results supplied by Warren Morrison, who definitely tied the brothers together.
- James, Jr.
- John Wesley born 1783
- Nathaniel born 1792 (p62 #2)
Excerpts from #4:
- A James Morrison went to Northern Ireland from Scotland ca. 1700, then to Lancaster, PA. We next hear of them in Mecklenburg, NC. (Note:James Carruthers,
(father of Andrew's wife, Nancy, was born 25 Oct 1787 in Mecklenburg, NC)
- George W. Morrison and brother A. L. Morrison, visited Mrs. Roth's father, Calvary Morrison. Calvary's father was William Morrison, son of James & Rachel Morrison of Pittsylvania County, Virginia. His mother was probably William's 2nd wife, Nelly Beal.
- George W. Morrison a private in Co. G, 1st infantry, died 27 Aug 1847 in Mexican War. He was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1820; brother, James.
-
Deeds:
(Note: This is our Andrew Morrison)
- Harriet A. Morrison, grantor, Winfield, Putnam Co, Virginia
James Stewart, grantee
21A on Kanawha River
Nov 22, 1852 Book 1, p# 521
Being 1/5 of land above Red House that belonged to Andrew Morrison & is on line with property of James Morrison
- James A. Morrison & wife Mary Phis (formerly Mary P. Bradley) and Christopher C. Bradley, heirs of Martha McCown, dec'd, of County of Le Sueur, Minnesota...two shares of 153 A on Poplar Fork 1 Jun 1866;
book 4; p# 137; Winfield, Putnam, Virginia
(Note: This is also our family)
Andrew Morrison:
born 1733 Scotland
died March 7, 1777 in Greenbrier County, West Virginia.
brothers:
- James
Nathaniel
Richard
- Joseph:
emigrated to Virginia and served in the American Revolution. Went from the Isle of Lewis to Belfast, Ireland, then to America through Rockbridge to Greenbrier County, Virginia.
married Mary Organ
served in Captain Chilton's Co., Colonel Thomas Marshall's 3rd VA Regiment
Children:
- Andrew
*Much controversy exists regarding THIS Andrew. To read more of this see: www.violetsky.com/roots/morrison.txt
born 23 Oct 1754
Settled in Botetourt, which formed Augusta Co. in 1770. Lived near Lewisburg
Married Elizabeth Taylor in 1776 in Winchester, Virginia (had 4 boys & 6 girls)
died 15 Oct 1845.
Thomas
Michael
John
BIBLIOGRAPHY
- MORRISON-WILLIAMS
by William Mann Morrison
2nd edition 280 Rockin Hill Drive; Marietta, GA 30060;
US/CAN
929.273
M834mm
1989
- NATHANIEL MORRISON OF VIRGINIA
by Arthur Chittenden Morrison
4th edition Turlock, CA
US/CAN 18 Apr '98 FHL SLC JSMB
929.273
A1 #3493
copy #39; 68 leaves
- HISTORY OF THE MORISON-MORRISON FAMILY
by Leonard Allison Morrison, 1843-1902
Publication Information: US/CAN
microfilm reel; 35mm Film Area
#1036281 Item #1
- MORRISONS: Genealogical data from Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky and Other States
by Theron V. and Louise H. Morrison:
US/CAN
2 microfilm reels; 35 mm.
Morrison, A-George.....#0933541; Morrison, George-Z.....#0933542
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