Thomas J. Morris

Thomas J. Morris was born in 1826 in Stanly County, North Carolina, the third son and sixth child of William Airly Morris and Martha Smith Morris. His father was a prominent figure in Anson County — State Assemblyman, State Senator, and pastor of Rocky River Baptist Church.¹

Early Life in North Carolina

Thomas grew up in a large household on Lane’s Creek and Brown Creek in Anson County. His father died in 1844 when Thomas was about eighteen, and his mother Martha headed the household through the 1850 census, which lists Thomas at age twenty-three alongside his younger siblings Nathan, Rosanna, Susanna, Sarah E., and Columbus.¹

In December 1853, Thomas joined his mother and brothers Jackson J., George W., and Nathan A. in conveying family land to D. (Darling) M. Smith, Martha’s brother — a sign that the family was preparing to leave North Carolina.¹

Marriage and Migration to Texas

Thomas married Sarah Jane Floyd (born October 9, 1836) and worked as a school teacher at Rocky Hill School. At some point the family migrated to Texas and settled in Milam County, near Calvert. There, on February 10, 1856, their son William James Morris was born — the man who would become patriarch of the Morris family in Walker County, Texas.²

Thomas J. Morris stands at the hinge of the Morris line’s geography: his father was a North Carolina politician and pastor; his son became a Texas farmer and Justice of the Peace. The family’s move from the Piedmont to the Gulf Coast was part of the great mid-century migration of Southern families seeking new land in Texas.