Back in 2019, after driving myself crazy with the mystery for years, I speculatively wondered whether or not Nancy Morris (wife of Emanual Edwards and mother of William Henry Edwards) may have been one of the four daughters of Thomas Morris of Beaufort County (son of Elisha Morris).
The fact of the matter is, the ages don’t fit. Nancy isn’t the daughter of Thomas Morris and Lovinia (LNU).
Is Nancy Morris really Serenia Averitt?
Stick with me here. I go into even more detail in the video below.
Serenia Averitt is named as the “bastard child” of Selah Averitt and a father Selah refuses to name in May 1823. The bondsmen for that bastardy bond were Zachariah Williams and Frederick Butler.
Who are either of those men to Selah Averitt?
Well, Frederick Butler was her step-uncle. Even though they were close in age, Frederick was one of the younger brothers of Selah’s stepmother, Sarah Butler Averitt.
Zachariah Williams seemingly has zero family connection to Selah Averitt. They are also close in age, but Zachariah Williams is the son of Talbot Williams and Nancy Gardner. Talbot and Nancy Williams also happen to be the parents of Caroline “Kitty” Williams, the wife of Laban Morris.
5 comments
kenaycock
I would like to find out when Emanuel Edwards(gggrandfather} and Nancy Morris (gggrand mother got married and where…Be interesting
lauren hall
Interesting. While I had Nancy in my tree as the daughter of Thomas and Louvinia, thrulines did pick up some matches with Edward’s descendents, (but not as many as the Harriet theory, which I believe may be true.) While i do know we matched with Averitt and Holmes families, I haven’t found the connection yet. It’s interesting Elisha/Thomas may still have some relation to Nancy. I have been working on proving more children of Thomas and Lovinia (I’m convinced there’s at least one more son if not two unaccounted for, or an illegitimate child of his sons John or Elisha. Someone in Garvin County is consistently calling Jim morris “Uncle Jimmie” in the paper, specifically in church announcments. The reverends in the area with the last name Morris also married my ancestors Henry and Myrtle), so many clues but no proof yet 🫠 I am going cross-eyed looking for a connection to the Morris’s stomping around Wayne County or Pulaski the same time as Thomas and Elisha 1860-1870
lauren hall
Misspoke in the first comment. There may be another son of Thomas, his son Elisha, or Elisha’s oldest son John who died in the Civil War. There are too many Morris’s with the first names John, William, Thomas, or Elisha for me to tell who’s who sometimes.
kenaycock
My theory…its possible Nancy Morris…my great great granmom..that was married to Emanuel Edwards..that was killed in CW in May 1864…got remarried and thats reason I cant find any details on her…who she got married to and where shes buried….like I said before…her son William Henry Edwards is buried at Vanceboro NC at Juniper Chapel Cemetery…She wasnt that old at time of Emanuel’s death…anyone she some light on this ?
kenaycock
In the death certificate of my great grand father William Henry Edwards…son of Emanuel Edwards that was killed in CW in May of 1864…lists Emanuel Edwards and Nancy Morris as father and mother…it was signed by William Edwards…son of William Henry…and brother of my grandfather Fred Coley Edwards…Coley and William Henry along with grandmother and great grand mother are buried in cemetery at Juniper Chapel on Piney Neck Rd. at Vanceboro NC