Morris, Jehoshaphat
The Jehoshaphat Morris family came to Indiana in a wagontrain with others from Symons Creek Monthly Meeting (Pasquotank County) during the early summer of 1815, carrying their certificates from the meeting to Lick Creek MM in Washington County, Ind., and were among the founders of the Blue River Monthly Meeting of July 1, 1815. Other families who came with them were the Truebloods, Whites, Nixons, Symons, Coxes, Pritchards, Cosands, and perhaps others.
They followed a trail near the North Carolina-Virginia state line, west to Cumberland Gap, at the corner of the Virginia, Tennessee, and Kentucky. Here they found a 1500-foot-mountain to climb to get to the top of the pass. No doubt here they stopped while two or more teams of horses or oxen were hitched on the lead of each wagon to pull it up the mountain. Then the wagon was guided down the west side with its own team, the wagon being held by brakes. When all were over, they followed the trail northwest down a valley between high mountains, to Corbin, and on to Lexington. Here a trail turned north to Cincinnati, Ohio, and Richmond, Indiana, but they followed the newer trail northwest to the Ohio River at Charlestown Landing, about fifteen miles up the river from Louisville. They, like others, crossed there rather than risk a ferry crossing nearer the falls of the Ohio. From Charlestown, they followed an old Indian trail northwest between 25 and 30 miles to Blue River, their future home. The trip took perhaps eight to ten weeks, for the most part through an unbroken wilderness, camping each night in the open.
Here, near Blue River, each family selected a place for a home, usually located near a spring of flowing water. Jehoshaphat selected a farm with two springs, one a source of Blue River, about seven miles northeast of where Salem now stands. In 1818, his older brother, Aaron, and his family of seven sons, came over and settled half a mile north of Jehoshaphat. Their claims were composed of several hundred acres of level ground on the watershed, known for generations as "The Flat Woods" and the "Morris Neighborhood." When Pritchard, Jehoshaphat's son, was married, he built and lived in a home at the spring, a fourth mile from his father's home, where he died in 1887. The farm has been in continuous possession of the descendants, and is now owned by the fifth generation from Jehoshaphat.
Original Homestead still in the Family
In 1818, the eldest brother, Aaron, came over with his family of four sons (three more sons were born in Indiana) and settled 1/2 mile north of Jehoshaphat. Evidence also indicates that he also brought James White Morris his nephew, aged 12, (son of Thomas & orphaned in 1817) with him. Their claim amounted to several hundred acres of level land on the watershed, known for generations as “The Flat Woods” or the “Morris Neighborhood.” When Jehoshaphat’s son, Pritchard, married, he built a home 1/4 mile east of the homestead, where he lived until he died in 1887. The farm has been in the possession of Jehoshaphat’s descendants until this day. The third brother, Pritchard, also came to Washington County and a story is told about him at a house raising but we have no record of where he may have gone from Blue River. Possibly it may have been to the Whitewater, near Richmond.Jehoshaphat and Peggy’s Family
After settling in Indiana, Jehoshaphat and Peggy raised a family of six additional children. Elizabeth never married and we have no information regarding Semira but the other four, plus Thomas and Pritchard, all have descendants here.Jehoshaphat’s Third Wife, Susanna
After Peggy died in 1831, Jehoshaphat married Susanna Nixon, the widow of Foster Nixon, and were the parents of one son, Jordan. Susanna was 58 years old when Jehoshaphat died in 1857 and she married a third time to Levi Knight in 1866 at the Old Blue River Friends (Hicksite) Meeting House. Source - http://www.kinstories.com/morris-and-white.htmlListing Details
Year Established
1815