James Morrison and Martha Griffen
Husband James Morrison 1 2
Born: 4 Jan 1745 - Bucks Co, PA 2 Christened: Died: 4 Sep 1839 - Kinzua Twp, Warren Co, PA 2 Buried:
Father: Samuel Morrison (1701-1801) 1 2 Mother: Mercy Mayse (1716-1798) 2
Marriage:
Other Spouse: Margaret Rice ( - ) 2 - 1770 - Loudoun Co, VA 3
Wife Martha Griffen 2
AKA: Martha Griffin 1 Born: 8 May 1758 3 Christened: Died: 3 Sep 1844 - Warren Co, PA 3 Buried:
Other Spouse: Philip Bacon ( - ) 3
Children
1 M Elijah Morrison 4
Born: 30 Jul 1791 4 Christened: Died: 27 Mar 1862 - Venango Co, PA 4 Buried: - Morrison Cemetery, Sandycreek Twp, Venango Co, PA 5Spouse: Jane Cannon (1797/1799-1862) 4
2 M Levi Morrison 4
Born: 21 Mar 1793 4 Christened: Died: Buried:
3 M Abel Morrison 4 6
Born: 3 Aug 1795 - Lycoming Co, PA 4 Christened: Died: 25 Dec 1874 - Corydon, Warren Co, PA 4 Buried:Spouse: Lucinda Richards (1801-1893) 4 6 Marr: 1818 7
4 F Lucretia Morrison 4
Born: 12 Apr 1797 - ? Warren Co, PA 4 Christened: Died: 13 Jan 1867 - McKean Co, PA 4 Buried:Spouse: George Morrison (1789-1850) 4
5 F Priscilla Morrison 4
Born: 29 Sep 1799 4 Christened: Died: 1838 4 Buried:Spouse: Horace Brown ( - ) 4
6 F Rachel Morrison 4
Born: 29 Sep 1799 4 Christened: Died: 2 Jul 1863 - Venango Co, PA 4 Buried:Spouse: John Brown (1808-1869) 4
General Notes: Husband - James Morrison
One of the earliest of the old pioneer families of Warren county was that of James Morrison, a soldier of the Revolutionary War. The family came to that part of the county on which Warren borough now stands, when only three log huts marked the place. They built a log house near the old fort, where the family stayed until 1804, when they moved to Kinzua. [HWC 1887, lxxi]
He was born in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, near Durham Iron Works, where he resided until twenty-six years of age. He then moved to Loudoun County, Virginia, where he lived until 1774, then returned to Pennsylvania. He was a soldier of the revolution, enlisting in September, 1775, in Captain John Elliott's company in Cumberland county at a place call-ed Patch Valley, serving two and a half months. He again enlisted, October 10, 1776, in Captain Thomas Askey's company, serving four months. He again enlisted in 1777 in Captain Robert Samuel's company, Colonel Archibald Buchanan's regiment, serving two months. His fourth enlistment was in 1778 in Colonel John Armstrong's regiment, serving three months (see copy of application for pen-sion, Pension Department, Washington).
He was engaged at the battles of Trenton and Princeton and was out with his company on two occasions, marching from Patch Valley against the Indians, serving a month each time. He applied for a pension, September 10, 1833, giving his place of residence then as Kinzua township, Warren County, Pennsylvania, his age as eighty-nine years. His claim was al-lowed and he was in receipt of this pension until his death. After the war he lived on a farm on the Juniata river until 1785, then moved to Lycoming County, thence in 1800 to Warren County, Pennsylvania, settling on a farm in Kinzua township, where he died. [GPHAV, 719]
In September of 1775, he enlisted in the service of the United Colonies at Path Valley, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, under Captain John Elliot and Lt. James Lawther. Shortly after, they marched to Amboy, New Jersey. He wrote in his pension application: "While at Amboy, I went with about five hundred others, volunteers of Staten Island where the British and the Hessians were building a fort. We attacked them and after a smart skirmish succeeded in driving them off." James is describing the first hostile demonstrations by the colonists against the British Army on Staten Island which occurred 16 September 1776.
He remained at Amboy about two months when his time of enlistment expired and he returned home. Later in the year he again enlisted in the Pennsylvania Line under Captain Thomas Askey. His company joined the forces of the Commander-in-Chief. On Christmas Eve, 1776, James was among the troops under the personal charge of General George Washington, which succeeded in crossing the ice-filled Delaware River at McConkey's Ferry, and marched on to Trenton where they scored a brilliant victory over the British and Hessians. A week later, they marched at night to Princeton, taking the British by surprise at daybreak and captured about three hundred prisoners including some officers.
After the victory at Princeton, they encamped at Morristown for the winter. He was discharged 10 March 1777, after an enlistment of four months and returned home to Path Valley (now located in Fannett and Metal Township, Franklin County, Pennsylvania). He served his third enlistment in 1777 for two months in Captain Robert Samuel's Company of Col. Archibald Buchanan's Regiment.
A fourth enlistment was in 1778 for four months in Col. John Armstrong's Regiment. Between 1778 and 1780 the Juniata Valley in Pennsylvania saw constant bloodshed. Commenting on the situation, James wrote in his pension application: "The Indians were then swarming about settlements and destroying everything they could lay their hands on." It was not until the spring of 1781 that the settlers received aid from Cumberland County. Seventy men were brought into the valley where they founded a garrison at Frankton. They were under the command of Col. Albright and Captain Young who had been sent for the purpose of closing the gaps in the Allegheny Mountains, through which the Indians were entering the valley. The settlers, however, became exasperated after a few weeks of this inactivity and formed their own scouting party and ranged through the country. They were encouraged in this by Lt. Ashen of Bedford Company who promised to add a company to their forces. James Morrison was one of the twenty-five volunteers who enrolled for this scouting party under Captain Moore. His last service as a "ranger" was in 1781. According to his pension papers, "he never served in any other capacity than as a private and a volunteer, being blind in one eye, was not subject by law to military duty.
During the war, he settled his family in Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. After the war he seems to have moved westward up the west bank of the Susquehanna River with his family, relatives and friends. As early as 1800, he came across Pennsylvania by portage to the headwaters of the Allegheny River at the present site of Port Allegheny. After camping there for several weeks, they went up the Allegheny and settled on the east branch of Pine Creek in southeast Warren County, Pennsylvania. He later built a house at Warren near the fort. This pioneer house, built of pine timbers hewn square, stood at the present site of Pennsylvania Avenue, West, in Warren.
In 1805, he and his family were living on a large island near the mouth of the Kinzue Creek, Kinzue Township, Warren County. His remaining years were spent on this island which he owned and kept a large part of it under cultivation. He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church. He and his wife Martha were buried in the Kinzue Cemetery. (The island where many members of the Morrison family lived and the Kinzue Cemetery where many members of the Morrison family were buried are now beneath the Kinzue Reservoir created by the Kinzue Dam built in the 1960s.) James Morrison's name appears on the General Joseph Warren Monument at Warren, Pennsylvania. [DKM, 126]
General Notes: Wife - Martha Griffen
She was said to have been of "Latin extraction".
1 John W. Jordan, LL.D., Genealogical and Personal History of the Allegheny Valley, Pennsylvania (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1913), Pg 719.
2 D. Kipp Melat, The Melat Family 1799 - 1989 (Franklin, PA: Self-published, 1989), Pg 124.
3 D. Kipp Melat, The Melat Family 1799 - 1989 (Franklin, PA: Self-published, 1989), Pg 125.
4 D. Kipp Melat, The Melat Family 1799 - 1989 (Franklin, PA: Self-published, 1989), Pg 127.
5 Venango County Historical Society, Venango County Pennsylvania Cemetery Records and Early Church Histories, Vol. 8, Plum Township (Franklin, PA: Venango County Historical Society, 2000), Pg 59.
6 J. S. Schenck, History of Warren County, Pennsylvania (Syracuse, NY: D. Mason & Co., Publishers, 1887), Pg lxx.
7
J. S. Schenck, History of Warren County, Pennsylvania (Syracuse, NY: D. Mason & Co., Publishers, 1887), Pg 560.
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