OVERVIEW[]
James Albert Morrow was born in Tompkins Township, Jackson County MI, in 1878 where his parents had settled sometime after 1873. The family moved to Clay County Iowa sometime between the birth of Patrick Henry in 1881, and the marrige of Margaret Mariah in 1891. In 1902, at the time of his fathers death, James was living on his own in Spring Valley, Adair Co IA.
James and Sophia married about 1908, with their first child, Ellen, being born in 1909. About the time of their marriage James aquired land in Mountrail Co, in northwestern North Dakota, under the Homestead Act. It does not appear that they lived on the land itself but rented it to others who lived there, and worked the land. James made his living operating grain elevators in various towns in the area. The family made their home(s) in Minot and at various other times in some of the surrounding small towns. Sophia took ill sometime in the early 20's, and James moved the family to the Pacific northwest with the hope that a change in climate would help. They first settled in Richmond Beach, a small community on the Puget Sound north of Seattle, WA. James found suitable land for farming in Unalaska, Lewis Co WA, where the family moved probably about 1925. Sophia died in 1928 soon after the move. James died ten years later in 1938.
 White Earth Valley in Mountrail Co, ND. James and Sophia lived in this general area from their marriage in 1910 to about 1925. Photographer: Tracie Heinle, Source: http://www.nd.gov
 Location map for Lowland Twp, Mountrail Co, ND. James and Sophia were here about 1920. |
Vita[]
| Entry | Source/Basis/Commentary | |
| DOB: | 1 Apr 1877 | |
| POB: | Tompkins, Jackson, Michigan | |
| DOD: | 28 February, 1938 | |
| POD: | Chehalis or Cinnebar, Lewis Co, WA | |
| Burial: | ||
| Spouse: | Sohia Cecilia Mucha (1885-1928) | |
| DOM: | c1907 | based on DOB of eldest child. |
| POM: | ||
| Father: | James S. Morrow | |
| Mother: | Ellen Stackpole |
Ancestry[]
James was the son of James S. Morrow (1846-1902) and Ellen Stackpole (1847-1901). James family came to America from Ireland c.1836 ten years before the beginning of the Irish Potatoe Famine. They settled in Moretown, and later Waterbury, Washington County, Vermont.
Ellen's family is not known, but she consistently gave her place of birth as Ireland in US Census records. Some of her children's census records as adults show their mother as having been born in Ireland, but at least two show her having been born at sea. It seems likely that she came to America as an infant about 1847. Evelyn Francis Morrow (1913-2005) says of her grandmother that "she had a hard early life"; this may indicate that she came to America during the Potatoe Famine.
| Patrick Morrow | Bridget McArty | Mark McNulty | Mary O'Harren | ||||||||||||
| James and Katherine Immigrated a Married Couple from Ireland about 1835 | |||||||||||||||
| James Morrow (c1795-1881) | Katherine McNulty (1802-1894) | Immigrated as an Infant from Ireland during the Potatoe Famine, Parents Unknown | Emigrated as a Married Couple from Galicia to Minnesota during the Great Economic Emigration in 1888 | ||||||||||||
| James S. Morrow (1846-1902) | Ellen Stackpole (1847-1901) | Lawrence Mucha (1846-?) | Mary Novak | ||||||||||||
| James Albert Morrow (1878-1938) | Sohia Cecilia Mucha (1885-1928) | ||||||||||||||
ChildList[]
| Name | DOB | POB | DOD | POD | DOM | POM | Spouse | Notes |
| Ellen Morrow (1908-1985) | 1) Edward Kalnoski (?-?) 2) 1892 Raymond Huntting (?-?) | |||||||
| Donald Morrow (1912-?) | 1938 | Alice Nolan | ||||||
| Evelyn Francis Morrow (1913-2005) | 1943 | Baltimore MD | Thurston L. Willis (1913-1991) |
Evelyn and Don, with father James Albert Morrow, c. 1930, in Unalaska, WA. Evelyn described this photo as being taking at a neighbors house, where they had been invited for Sunday Dinner. Ellen is already married at this time, and so not with the family. James is standing hands in pocket, in what he believed to be "business man" pose "ready to do honest business with you, but don't try to take advantage". There are several photos of him standing in exacty this same way. Note the difference in width of ties on Don and James. Don's uptodate with the standard wide tie of the time, while James still favors the thin ties of the previous decade.
Family History[]
TBD
Records[]
1908 Land Patent[]
- Patentee: JAMES A MORROW
- Survey
- State: NORTH DAKOTA
- Acres: 160
- Metes/Bounds: No
- Title Transfer
- Issue Date: 2/17/1908
- Land Office: Montana State Office
- Cancelled: No
- U.S. Reservations: Yes
- Mineral Reservations: No
- Authority: April 24, 1820: Sale-Cash Entry (3 Stat. 566)
Document Numbers
- Document Nr.: 14353
- Accession/Serial Nr.: NDMTAA 060974
- BLM Serial Nr.: NDMTAA 060974
1910 Census[]
| Year | 1910 | House # | Commentary | |||||||
| State | North Dakota | Family # | Sophia gives her POB as MN, and her parents POB as Ireland. Neither POB is consistent with census records for her family in previous years, or with the family emigration data. | |||||||
| County | Ward | |||||||||
| Township | Carbondale | |||||||||
| Name | Age | YOB | Occupation | Years Married | For Mother # Children Born | For Mother # Children Living | Immigration Year | POB | Fathers POB | Mothers POB |
| James A. Morrow | 33 | 1877 | Clerking, Implement House | 2 | MN | VT | Ireland | |||
| Sophia C. | 23 | 1887 | 2 | 1 | 1 | MN | Ireland | Ireland | ||
| Ellen M. | 1 | 1909 | ND | MI | MN | |||||
1920 Census
[]
| Year | 1920 | House # | Commentary | |||||||
| State | ND | Family # | *James is shown as a salaried emplyee, he and Sophie are listed as able to read and write. Their neighbors immediately previous to them include a minister, hotelkeep, and a clerk at the State Bank. Their neighbors following them are listed as farmers. | |||||||
| County | Mountrail | |||||||||
| Township | Lowland | |||||||||
| Name | Age | YOB | Occupation | Immigration Year | POB | Fathers POB | Mothers POB | |||
| James A. Morrow [Ancestry indexes him as James O. Morrow] | 42 years | c 1878 | Grainbuyer, Farmers Elevator | MI | VT | Ireland | ||||
| Sophie | 33 | |||||||||
| Ellen | 11 | |||||||||
| Donald | 7 | |||||||||
| Evelyne | 6 | |||||||||
1930 Census[]
| Year | 1930 | House # | Commentary | |||||||
| State | WA | Family # | Record shows family living in a home that they own, and that they are living on a farm. James is shown as having property worth $8000, a widower, and that he was 31 at marriage. | |||||||
| County | Lewis | |||||||||
| Township | Cinebar | |||||||||
| Name | Age | YOB | Occupation | POB | Fathers POB | Mothers POB | ||||
| James O Morran [James Albert Morrow] | 53 | c1877 | Farmer | MI | VT | Ireland | ||||
| Donald G Morran [Donald G Morrow] | 18 | c1912 | ND | MI | MN | |||||
| Evelyn F Morran [Evelyn F. Morrow] | 17 | c1917 | ND | MI | MN | |||||