CHAPTER XVI.

MORISONS OF NOTTINGHAM, N. H.-DESCENDANTS OF THE EMIGRANT, WILLIAM MORISON. DESCENDANTS OF HUGH MORISON, THE EMIGRANT, BROTHER OF DAVID AND WILLIAM MORISON. - OTHER MORISONS OF COLERAINE. — REV. JOHN MORRISON, OF PETERBOROUGH, N. H. MORISONS OF BRENTWOOD, N. H.-MORISONS OF SANBORNTON, N. H.

MORISONS OF NOTTINGHAM, N. H.

THIS branch of the family is descended from three brothers, William, David, and Hugh Morison, natives of Scotland, where they were born a few years prior to the Revolution of 1688, which placed William and Mary on the throne of her father, James II. The family to which they belonged were rigid Presbyterians, ardently espousing the cause of the Prince of Orange, and they rallied to the aid of their Protestant brethren who had previously formed a settlement in Ireland, and to strengthen the defences of the city of Londonderry. They endured the horrors of the siege; and they, with others, knew what it was to suffer for their political and religious faith. According to tradition, one of the uncles of these emigrants to America nearly reached the point of starvation during the siege of Londonderry. The Protestants had been driven beneath the walls of the city, and thereby exposed to the missiles of war of both armies, as well as to the horrors of starvation. This Morison "watched all day, hoping to catch a mouse to appease his hunger, but it escaped into the walls, when he burst into a flood of tears."

In Ireland, William Morison was married to Mary Henry, a native of Scotland; and their son James, the only one living to manhood, was born May 7, 1725.

At this time the tide of emigration was setting towards New England; and receiving favorable reports from their relatives* who a few years before had settled in Londonderry, N. H.,† a new impulse was given to emigration. The following year a company was formed, a vessel chartered, and the Morisons, with their families, and others, emigrated to Boston, Mass., sailing

*It is not certain that Hugh Morison came with his brothers in 1726, but it is probable; and it is certain he was living in Londonderry about From the early Town Records of Nottingham, N. H.

1730.

from Port Rush, in the north of Ireland, on the 7th of August, and arriving on the 8th of October, 1726, when William and David Morison purchased a share in the new township of Nottingham, N. H., for which a charter had been granted, and which was then being surveyed, preparatory to settlement. Nottingham was then without a human habitation, and contained within its limits the present towns of Nottingham, Deerfield, and Northwood, N. H.

The survey of the "First Division" lots having been completed, they were distributed by lot among the proprietors, in April, 1727, when both brothers entered the forest with the first settlers, clearing and putting under cultivation three acres of their ten-acre lot, No. 39 First Street; building a dwelling-house on the same, in accordance with the requirements of the charter, into which, in the autumn of 1728, they removed their families from Boston, where they had been for two years. Here in their new home they possessed the courage to encounter the hardships of pioneer life, to which for many years were added the perils of Indian warfare. The dwellings of two of their near neighbors, Simpson's and Beard's, were attacked at midday, and the inmates tomahawked and slain.

Both brothers are mentioned in the town records, as among the earliest municipal officers. The first town-meeting in Nottingham, in which all citizens of lawful age were allowed to vote, was March 26, 1733. At that meeting, David Morison was chosen constable, and William Morison, tythingman; the one, to maintain good order in the community; the other, to see that decorum was observed in church, and the Sabbath not desecrated. They were men of firmness and discretion, and well suited for the offices to which they had been elected. William Morison served on the board of selectmen at the age of seventy, was auditor of accounts the year following, and during the last three years of his life he was appointed on three several committees to procure a minister for permanent settlement. He not only contributed to support at home a clergyman of his own faith, but had to pay an annual tax to the established church, Queen's Chapel, at Portsmouth, as the following verbatim copy of the original receipt now in the hands of Hon. Robert Morrison, of Northwood, N. H., will show.

COPY.

"Received of Mr. William Morrisson four pounds Old Tenor, in full for his Minister's Rates due to Queen's Chappel for the year 1757. Portsm°

November 4, 1758.

P. JAMES DWYER,
Constable."

In 1757, William Morison, being in his seventy-fourth year, retired from active duties, and with his aged partner, who had shared with him the labors, as well as the happiness, of a wellspent life, which then appeared to be drawing to a close, took up his residence with his son James on the corner of the square,

where both died the following year, 1758, and were the first persons interred in what is now Judge Butler's Cemetery.

David Morison died about this time. He left two daughters: Mary, wife of William Ray; two children, David and William ; and Sarah, wife of Thomas Simpson.

Sarah Morison, daughter of David, was married Feb. 4, 1748, to Thomas Simpson, son of Andrew Simpson, whose house and ten-acre lot were directly opposite to Morison's on the same street. He was born in Scotland about 1720, came to Boston in the same ship with the Morisons in 1726; and while remaining there, attended the public schools, which laid the foundation for the knowledge he acquired in after life. He became a useful and prominent citizen in Nottingham and Deerfield, as land-surveyor, conveyancer, justice of the peace, etc. Maj. John Simpson, who died in Deerfield, Oct. 28, 1825, was the eldest child of this Thomas Simpson and Sarah Morison. He distinguished himself in the battle of Bunker Hill, was in Whipple's brigade as first lieutenant in 1778, and was subsequently promoted to major for meritorious services.

DESCENDANTS OF THE EMIGRANT, WILLIAM MORISON, OF NOTTINGHAM, N. H.

He was born in Scotland; died in Nottingham, N. H., 1758, at about the age of 74. His wife was Mary Henry, of Scotland; she died 1758. He had three children: two daughters, who died young; and one son.

1. James, born in Ireland, May 7, 1725; married Jane Kelsey, of Nottingham, born Boston, Mass., April 26, 1727; three children; married, 2d, Martha White, of Pembroke, N. H.; five sons and three daughters, only one of whom was ever married. In 1774 his wife died in Nottingham, and he rem. to Deerfield, then almost a wilderness.

CHILDREN, BORN IN NOTTINGHAM, N. H.

2. William, b. Aug. 15, 1750; d. Oct. 23, 1821; had two wives; settled first in Deerfield, N. H., then in Gilmanton; then rem. to Bridgton, Me., where his descendants still res. It is supposed that all his children, thirteen or fourteen in number, went to Maine, except his son Hugh, who lived and d. in Deerfield, N. H. Robert (13), b. June 12, 1752; d. Nov. 11, 1823.

3.

4. James, b. Sept., 1754; was a captain in the Revolution, and a member of General Lee's body-guard; settled in Parsonsfield, Me.; d. in 1840; his descendants still res. in Parsonsfield.

5.

Isaac (21), b. Feb. 3, 1760; d. Jan. 9, 1846.

6. Henry, b. 1762; d. Jan. 15, 1825, aged 63 yrs.

A son, b. 1768; d. young.

10. Mary, b. 1770; d. April 10, 1851, in Deerfield, N. H.

11. Jane, b. 1772; d. about 1833.

12.

Martha, b. 1774; d. May 17, 1795. The last seven persons died in
Deerfield, N. H.

13. Robert2 [3] (William'); born June 12, 1752; died June 11, 1823. He was one of a company of men who left Notting

ham on learning of hostilities at Lexington in 1775. He rendered good services; was at Bunker Hill, Saratoga, and Stillwater; at the latter place witnessed the surrender of Burgoyne. He lived in Nottingham till 1782, when he moved to Northwood. He married Anna Randall, of Lee, N. H.; she died March 21, 1844, aged 80 yrs.

CHILDREN.

14. Miles, b. Oct. 7, 1781; d. Oct. 12, 1849; res. Nottingham; m. Martha Batchelder; two sons, Hiram and Alexander; single; both deceased; and two surviving daughters, Nancy-B., m. Joshua Hoyt; Mary-J., m. Richard Hoyt; both res. Northwood, N. H. 15. Mary, b. Oct. 3, 1790; m. Capt. Moses Hazeltine; at one time a resident of Windham, N. H.; she d. Feb. 10, 1869.

16. James, b. Aug. 7, 1787; d. Aug. 5, 1823; m. Mary Moses, of Epping, N. H.; farmer; res. upon the homestead. Four children: 1st, John, m. Bartlett, of Haverhill, Mass.; res. Northwood. 2d, James; single; res. Northwood. m. James Knowlton, of Northwood.

3d, Betsey. 4th, Jane,

17. John, b. Oct. 3, 1790; d. Alton, N. H., May 17, 1818; physician; res. Alton, N. H.; m. Mary Randall, of Lee, N. H. One child, Mary-Ann, m. Moses-F. Cate, of Wolfboro', N. H.

18. Robert, born June 30, 1797. Hon. Robert Morrison is the youngest and only surviving member of his father's family. At the age of sixteen he taught a public school, and in May, 1814, he travelled into the State of New York, and obtained a school, which he taught till the spring of 1815; subsequently qualified himself for the practice of medicine, and in 1824-25 attended medical lectures of Harvard University. He received the offer of a good situation as teacher in one of the public schools of Portsmouth, which was accepted, and he rem. to Portsmouth, where he taught for ten years. He then occupied the position of superintendent of the public institutions of the city, which position he held for five years. In 1841, he was elected a member of the legislature. During the first week of the session, he received the appointment of superintendent of the Boston Asylum and Farm School in Boston. He entered upon the discharge of his new duties at once, and held this position for fifteen years, with very satisfactory results. He returned to Portsmouth in July, 1856, and in the following March was elected mayor of that city, re-elected in 1858, and in 1859 elected for the third time, when he purchased a farm in Northwood, in view of the old homestead where he was born and passed his early youth, "where he is now residing in his eightyfourth year, passing his age amid the pleasant cares and comforts of rural life, finding pleasure in rock and rill, in flower and tree, never tired of life, nor sighing for its end." He married, Sept. 25, 1852, Ann-Edward, daughter of Stephen Couch, of Bath, N. H. She was born June 15, 1796, and died Jan. 1, 1872.

CHILDREN, BORN IN PORTSMOUTH, N. H.

19. Ann-Edmond, b. April 16, 1834; m. Jan. 28, 1853, Thomas-M. Thompson; lawyer; res. Chicago, Ill.

20. Augusta-Elizabeth, b. May 31, 1839; m. April 15, 1858, Edward-N. Fuller; journalist; res. Chicago, Ill.

21. Isaac2 [5] (William1); born Feb. 3, 1760; died Jan. 9, 1846. He settled in Pembroke, N. H., with his mother's brother, John White. He was selectman of the town twenty-three years, and a member of the legislature for fourteen years. He married Hannah Holt, of Pembroke, and died Jan. 9, 1846. She died Aug. 22, 1831.

22.

23.

24.

CHILDREN.

Mary-W., b. April 11, 1790; d. June 19, 1831, aged 63 yrs.

Phoebe, b. Aug. 11, 1791; m. Nathaniel Lakeman; res. Pembroke; d. Jan. 3, 1871; three children.

John-W., b. Sept. 9, 1793; res. Pembroke; m. Mary Folsom; d. Jan. 1, 1872; was in war of 1812.

25. James, b. April 28, 1796; d. July 15, 1803.

26. Martha, b. May 12, 1798; m. James Mann, of Pembroke; d. March 30, 1877.

27. Abigail, b. Dec. 17, 1799; m. Jesse Garvin, of Chichester, N. H.; d. April 4, 1821. Two children: 1st, Wilson-D. 2d, William. 28. Henry, b. March 4, 1802; m. Anna Whittier; d. April 10, 1832.

He

res. in Deerfield. Two children: 1st, John-James; d. young. 2d, Isaac-Henry; Capt. Isaac-Henry Morrison res. Deerfield; has represented his town in the legislature; commanded a company in 11th N. H. Regt. Vols. in battle of Fredericksburg, where he was wounded by the rebels; m. Susan James, of Deerfield.

29. James, b. Feb. 9, 1805; m. Susan Shackford, of Allenstown, N. H.; d. Aug. 27, 1853; res. Pembroke.

30. Jane, b. March 25, 1807; m. Giles-W. Ordway, of Concord, N. H.; d. March 18, 1852.

31. Lucinda, b. Sept. 22, 1810; d. Oct. 31, 1854.

DESCENDANTS OF HUGH MORISON THE EMIGRANT, BROTHER OF DAVID AND WILLIAM MORISON, OF NOTTINGHAM. 32. Hugh Morison lived in Londonderry, N. H., about 1730. He deeded land to Hugh Bolton* in 1733, to Samuel Smith in 1736,* and to McAlister in 1739; † he signed the call for the Rev. Mr. McGreggor; † he rem. to Coleraine in 1740; in 1742,† he deeded land in East Nottingham to William Morison. Hugh married Martha June 13, 1772. She died at Coleraine.

CHILDREN, BORN IN COLERAINE, MASS.

33. Martha, b. June 29, 1740. (It is a curious fact that she was the first white child born in Coleraine, Mass., and that Jonathan Morison was the first white child born in Londonderry, N. H. And also Thomas Morison, of Londonderry, the lost son of Charter James (see No. 16, p. 82, and also Chap. XXI), had a son b. Cambridge, N. Y., who was the first white child born there. Thomas m. Martha Clark, of Pelham, Mass., Feb. 15, 1762; he was a surveyor; surveyed the town of Salem, N. Y., and res. in Cambridge.)

34. Samuel, b. Sept. 26, 1742.

OTHER MORISONS OF COLERAINE.

35. John Morison, born 1728; died at Hartford, N. Y., Aug. 1, 1810, aged 82 years; lived in Coleraine, and married Ann

* Rockingham County Records.

† Loudonderry Records.