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Who Was Laban Morris? Every Lead on His Origins in One Place

ECR LibrarianNovember 10, 20260 comments

For more than a decade we’ve been chasing the origins of our ancestor Laban Morris (born about 1782, probably still living in July 1865), whose legal name was Laban Henby (or Henly) until the North Carolina General Assembly changed it in 1810, though he was already going by Laban Morris by 1805. Along the way we’ve run down a lot of leads: Morris families in Craven, Beaufort and Pitt, the Gatlins, the Rogerses, the Lancasters, Henbys from Dobbs to Anson, and the Ledbetters of Wake and Nash. Some of those leads went somewhere. Many didn’t. Personally, I keep finding myself re-treading the same ground.

So I decided to gather up everything I’ve collected over the years and I got Librarian to help me put everything in one place with references. For each item I’ve investigated, you’ll find a short summary, the evidence with citations, what the DNA says, what has been ruled out, and the questions that are still open. It’s super long. Use the headings to jump around. Plus there’s a table of contents that will let you jump right to a section if it piques your interest.

Some guidance before you read this post

  • Evidence words. When I say a record says something, I’ve seen the record or a careful transcription or abstract of it. When I say I think, probably, hypothesis or guess, that’s just my own reasoning, not hard documentation via some record. I’ve tried hard to keep the two separate and not lean on old tendencies to assume something just because it seems a certain way to me.
  • Status scale for open questions: proven (records say it directly), probable (strong indirect evidence, nothing against it), possible (fits, but thin), unlikely (evidence leans against it), disproved (records or DNA rule it out).
  • [?] marks a reading or date I haven’t been able to verify against the original or I haven’t been able to put my hands on it for this post.
  • DNA. I report DNA only as totals, from test kits belonging to descendants of Laban and his wife. No tester names or kit numbers are given here, out of respect for living relatives.
  • Spellings. I’ve kept the clerks’ spellings in quotations (Morras, Moris, Henly, Hemby, Handley, Mall’s) and normalized them in my own text. I spell the swamp at Laban’s 1814 land Maul’s Swamp.

Contents

Laban Morris in brief

Here are the documented records for Laban himself, so the rest of the post has something to hang on.

DateRecordSourceNote
22 Aug 1805Marriage bond, Craven. Bondsmen John King and John Williams.Craven bond material; ECRBoth bondsmen were Palmetto Swamp neighbors (north side of the Neuse, west side of Swift Creek). The family tree names the bride Kitty Williams; I found no tie between the bondsman John Williams and a Kitty.
March 1810Subpoenaed as Laban Morris, with Nasby (Nesby) Mills, in Chapman v. Wall.Laban Facts (Drive)Shows he was called Laban Morris months before the legal name change. Also a neighbor pointer.
28 Nov 1810Senate Journal: “petition of Laban Morris.” Laws of 1810, ch. 132, p. 48: Laban and his sons John and William are in Section I (name change only), not the Section II legitimation list.Printed Laws and JournalThe printed act reads “Henly” (or “Heniy”); the handwritten bill reads “Labon Henby.”
17 May 1814Heirs of Hardy Gatlin, all of Georgia, to Laban Morris, 200 acres on the north side of the Neuse at Maul’s Swamp, $200. Craven Deed Book 39 pp. 589–591. Proved June 1815 by Giles Shute.USGenWeb and Drive transcriptionsCalls Bryan’s line, John Nelson’s line, Eliazer Nelson’s corner. The page is given as p. 359 on one of my worksheets [?].
1815Tax list: 1 poll, no land. 16 Oct 1815: Laban sells to Hiram Pollard, witness Charles Butler.ECR post; tax listHis only known land, held about 17 months.
1816Witness to Jeremiah Warren’s deed to Lewis Warren.Craven deed abstract
1817Buyer at the Frederick Pollard estate sale.Estate papers
1820Craven census p. 83, listed with or under Alderson Ellison.Census imageImage barely legible.
1823School subscription list near Piny Grove mill.ECR (secondary)
1825Nelson letter places Laban “on that old field of Ald Elisons.”ECR (secondary)
1830Craven census p. 156a, next to Alderson Ellison.Census image
1840Craven census, north side of the Neuse, pp. 42–43.CensusLaban appears to be listed near Nancy Morris; the image still needs a careful second reading [?].
1849Witness (“Labin Morris”) to Henry Anderson’s deed to William Morris.ECR deed post (secondary)
6 and 9 Nov 1850Enumerated twice in Craven: p. 340A dwelling 1183 (age 68) and p. 341B dwelling 1201 (age 67).CensusSee section 8.
10 Jul 1860Chocowinity, Beaufort County, p. 440b, dwelling 553: Laban 75, with Nancy 40, Mary 16 and Susan 15.Census image and transcriptionHis last dated record.
July 1865Levi Morris’s pension papers mention Levi at “his father’s house in said village of Chocowinity.”Pension file (secondary)Probably shows Laban alive and still renting that house in July 1865 (see section 8).

His birth year is a small puzzle in itself. The 1850 ages (68 and 67) point to about 1782. The 1860 age (75) points to about 1785. I use “about 1782” here.

What has not turned up, despite looking: an orphan binding for Laban, a bastardy bond for his mother, any Henby or Henly on any of Laban’s own papers (the 1805 bond, the 1814 deed and the 1815 sale), and any Henby/Henly estate, guardianship or bastardy record in Craven or Pitt from 1775 to 1810.

1. The Morris families of Craven, Beaufort and Pitt

Summary. There were several unrelated-looking Morris families in this corner of North Carolina before 1800. None is yet proven to be Laban’s. The Pitt family of Lemuel Morris is the one my working theory points to, and it has surprisingly few records: just three early Pitt instruments with a Morris in them.

Beaufort (Bath, Bay River, Blounts Creek, Chocowinity)

  • Thomas Morris of Bath/Beaufort: 1707 deed to Willis Hancock (Neuse); 1707 patent of 180 a. on North Dividing Creek; 1715 corn tax (Hyde); 1716 witness to Isaac Jackson’s will; 1716 sale to John Archbald; 1718/19 patent of 700 a. at Blounts Creek, sold 1721 to Patrick Maule. “Morris’s Creek” is a place name in 1724 and 1729.
  • William Morris of Bay River / Bath Town Creek: witness 1748–1756; 1750 gift from Robert Spring (witness John Morris); 1754 sale with wife Mary (Ottiwell) to William Henry. John Morris bought from David Wharton in 1753.
  • William and Catherine (Webber) Morris to John Maule, 1769/70, south side of the Pamlico. A William Morris (likely this family) is in the 20 Apr 1781 Beaufort militia list and the 1790 census (1 man, 5 boys, 5 females), and in Beaufort in 1800 and 1810. He is a settled family man and should be kept apart from the Craven William of section 6.
  • The Moris family of Blounts Creek: Catherine to Daniel Moris, 1771/72.
  • Benjamin Morris: 1784 tax list (twice); 1787 sheriff’s sale of Washington lot 12. Elizabeth Morris, administratrix, 7 Mar 1785.
  • Elisha Morris of Chocowinity: see section 2.
  • The Morse family (Peter, Michael, Isaac, William) is a separate surname, often indexed with Morris.
  • Negative results: no Morris in the 1764 Beaufort tax list, and no Morris in the published Beaufort deed abstracts for the Tar River side, 1748–1759. The 1779/1786 tax-list transcription has no Morris, Ledbetter or Henby.
  • A puzzle: the 1755 Beaufort tax list has “Wm Harris, Cleverly Rice” filed inside the alphabetized M block. The clerk clearly wrote an H. It could be a misfiled Harris or a Morris written as Harris. Nobody has identified Cleverly Rice.

Pitt

  • No Morris in the Pitt tax lists of 1762, 1763, 1764 or 1775. (Only part of 1775 survives, so absence then proves little.) The 1786 taxable-property list for the Swift Creek district has no Morris either.
  • Lemuel Morris is in the 1786 state census, Capt. Hodges’s district, north of the Tar. Mary Morris heads a household in 1790. See sections 2 and 3.
  • Only three early Pitt instruments name a Morris: Deed Book I pp. 527–528 (1785), Q 14 and Q 174 (both 1805). Mary’s 1799 gift (Book O p. 361) is the other key Morris record.
  • 1767: Thomas Davis of Pitt to William Morris of Dobbs (published abstract, Pitt County Genealogical Quarterly vol. X no. 1, Feb 2003, p. 8). This is the only pre-1780 Pitt deed with a Morris. I haven’t read it.

Craven

  • 1790 census heads: Dinah, Thomas, Nathan, Charles and Jonathan Morris (index reading; Charles and Jonathan may be Dobbs). No William and no Joseph as heads.
  • Estates and wills: Joseph Morris, 1791 (Benjamin Lancaster administrator, see section 5); Samson, 1797; Nathan, 1801 (son of John; his children Nancy, Mrs. Spencer Wise, and Sparrow); Nathaneal, 1803 (sons Sparrow and Thomas); Aaron, 1809; Moses, 1812 (wife Winny); and an 1801 James Morris estate with Thomas Oliver as administrator, which is not Nancy Gatlin’s husband.
  • Bay River / Dawson’s Creek: Craven deeds for Philemon, William, John (Bay River, “formerly Beaufort”), Lodowick, Moses, Aaron, Sampson and others; Thomas Morris “planter of Beaufort County” buying from Crispin in 1774; Mark Hesford to John Morris, 1763.
  • Swift Creek: James and Nancy (Gatlin) Morris (section 4), William and Polly (Bull) Morris (section 6), and from 1805 Laban himself.
  • New Bern: William S. Morris, constable in 1836. His will is dated 1831, with a codicil in 1838 providing for Patty, Harriet, Albert and Freeman; it was proved in December 1848.

Wayne, Dobbs, Hyde and further off

  • Wayne had seven Morris households in 1790 (including Zachariah Sr. and Jr., Thomas, Isaac, Jeremiah and Benjamin). A lone Milley Morris is on the same page as John Handley Jr.
  • A William Morris is on the 1769 Dobbs tax list, and a William Morris took grants on Cattail Branch / Great Contentnea (1766, 1767, 1774).
  • Hyde had David Morris (1-0-1) and a William Morris in 1790. Elisha Morris’s earliest record is a Hyde warrant (1780).
  • William Morris of Anson, father of Betsy Henby: see section 9.
Open questionStatusWhy
Was “Wm Harris, Cleverly Rice” (1755, M block) really a Morris?possibleThe clerk wrote an H; only its position suggests Morris.
Is the 1767 William Morris “of Dobbs” tied to Pitt or to Lemuel?possibleDeed not yet read.
Did a Morris live in Pitt before Lemuel?unlikelyNo Morris in the 1762–1764 lists.

2. Lemuel and Elisha Morris

Summary. Lemuel Morris of Pitt is the man my working theory centers on. He was a real person who lived north of the Tar, married the widow of Robert Rogers, and was gone by 1790. Elisha Morris of Beaufort is better documented, but I’ve ruled him out as Laban’s father, and nothing connects him to Lemuel.

Lemuel Morris of Pitt: the evidence

  • 1785, Pitt Deed Book I pp. 527–528 (dated January 178[5], ordered registered July Court 1785). Stephen Rogers (heir at law of Robert Rogers), Mary Morris (Robert’s widow) and “Lemuel (his mark) Morris in Right of his Wife” sell 200 acres on Gum Swamp to James Latham Sr. for £60. Witnesses: John Lanier, Phillip Knowis and Josiah Little Sr. This proves Lemuel was Mary’s husband by early 1785.
  • 1786 Pitt state census, Capt. Hodges’s district, north of the Tar River, listed between Randol McDonald and Lake Mount, near John Knowis, Solomon Sheppard and George Jackson. My Pitt tracking sheet gives his household as 2 white males 16–60, 2 white males under 16, 1 white female over 16, 3 white females under 16, and 4 enslaved people. (The online partial transcription of this list doesn’t show numbers for him, so I need to recheck where the numbers came from [?].)
  • 1790 Pitt census: no Lemuel. Mary Morris heads the household (1 free white male 16+, no boys under 16, 3 white females, 1 enslaved person), in the same Hodges/Lloyd/Griffin/Little/Whichard neighborhood.
  • 1812: the Joseph Cason deed (see section 3) calls Ruth Cason “daughter of Samuel morris Decd” and Mary the “wife of said Samuel Morris decd.” I read “Samuel” as a clerk’s slip for Lemuel, since Mary’s only known Morris husband is Lemuel. That’s my interpretation, not a fact in the record [?]. Ruth (Morris) Cason was born about 1776 and died in Georgia in 1819.
  • His children, as far as I know: Ruth (later Cason), and probably James (see section 4). Everyone else in that 1786 household is unnamed.

Ruled out for Lemuel

  • The 1757 “Samuel Moris” in the Ebenezer Folsom warrant is really Samuel James. The 30 Jun 1760 Folsom survey runs along “Samuel James’s Line.” Disproved as an early Lemuel record.
  • Lemuel Harris of Pitt (1764–1771 deeds, Gum Swamp, next to Robert Rogers) signed his own name in 1768. He is listed with Elijah Harris in the 1764 tax list and appears in the 1781 Beaufort militia. He was a real Harris, not Lemuel Morris (disproved as the same man).
  • A “Lemuel Morris” defendant in Chowan County, 1796 (a bastardy-bond file) is in a different county, after Mary was already heading her own household. Probably a different man (unlikely to be ours).

Elisha Morris of Beaufort

  • 8 Aug 1780: Hyde County warrant, 80 acres on the east side of the Pungo River, adjoining Solomon Smith. This is his earliest record.
  • Deeds and grants: Drake, 1787; Reading Blount to Elisha, 1788; Blount, 1795; Grant 553 (Hog Pen Island; entered 1790/94, issued 1798). The 1789 tax list gives him 100 acres.
  • 1790 census: Elisha Morris 1-3-2-1-0 (one free person of color), near John Holmes, Laughinghouse, Reading Blount and Worsley.
  • Will, 1797: wife Ann (Nancy), who remarried Nathan Nelson; children Thomas, Sarah (Mrs. James Buck) and Josiah Manker (illegitimate).
  • Not Laban’s father. Y-DNA puts Laban’s father in a Ledbetter line. Elisha isn’t in the 1781 Beaufort militia list, and nothing ties him to Lemuel, the Henbys or the Ledbetters.
  • Commenters on my Elisha posts who descend from him have mentioned matching Laban’s descendants. I haven’t measured that, and a match could easily come through a later marriage, since Laban’s family moved to Chocowinity [?].
Open questionStatusWhy
Was Lemuel Morris the father of Laban’s mother?possibleThis is my working theory. No record names a daughter who fits.
Was “Samuel Morris” (1812 Cason deed) the same man as Lemuel?probableSame widow Mary, same Rogers family, but it’s a reading I can’t confirm.
Who was Lemuel’s first wife?open (unknown)No record found.
When did Lemuel die?openBetween 1786 (census) and 1790 (Mary heads the household), if the 1790 entry means he was dead. That’s an inference.
Was Elisha Morris Laban’s father?disprovedY-DNA says Laban’s father was a Ledbetter.

3. Mary, Lemuel’s widow, and the Rogers connections

Summary. Mary was first the wife of Robert Rogers of Pitt, then of Lemuel Morris. She had at least one Rogers son (Shadrach) and one Morris son (James), and Lemuel had a daughter Ruth. She may have died by May 1812; the Cason deed of that month can be read either way. Her records are the strongest paper trail into Lemuel’s family.

Robert Rogers

  • 1762 Pitt tax list: Robert Rogers, 1 white and 1 enslaved poll, along with Isaac, William and Absalom Rogers.
  • 20 Jun 1763, Pitt Deed Book B pp. 485–487: John Brown Jr. of Beaufort to Robert Rogers, 200 acres on Gum Swamp. James Latham witnessed. (One note dates it 1762. The deed-book reading is 1763.) Robert is on the 1763 tax list.
  • Dead by January 1785, when his heir at law Stephen Rogers sold the Gum Swamp land with Mary and Lemuel. Stephen was Robert’s son by an earlier wife (inference from his being heir at law while Mary had her own sons).
  • A John Brown deed to Henry Hodges (1769, 94 acres; one abstract says 1768 and 91 acres) runs “along Robert Rogers line.”
  • I haven’t found Robert’s estate papers or the exact year of his death.

Mary’s sons and daughters

  • 9 Sep 1799, Pitt Deed Book O p. 361: Mary Morris of Pitt, by her mark, gives the enslaved man Sam to “my Son Shadrach Roggers” and “my Son James Morris.” This is the record that proves James Morris was Mary’s son.
  • Shadrach Rogers was born about 1767. He bought widely in Pitt from 1793 on: the Moore deed (dated 19 Feb 1793 for 79 acres in one note and 9 Feb 1794 for 99 acres in another [?]); Leancer Daniel, 1797; Benjamin Rogers, 259 acres “part of a tract granted to Ebenezer Folsom” (Q 119, Feb 1805); Benjamin May, 1810 (S 264, S Cannon Swamp). Mathew Rogers’s 1796 deed on the north side of Grindal Creek begins at Shadrach’s corner. His deeds run to 1838, so the tree’s 1810 death date is wrong. The 1858 will of a Shadrick Rogers belongs to a younger man.
  • 25 May 1812: Joseph Cason of Tatnall[?] County, Georgia, sells to Shadrach Rogers; Ruth Cason is “daughter of Samuel morris Decd,” and Joseph claims, “by the right of my wife,” “the half of said negro at the death of Mary Morris the wife of said Samuel Morris decd.” That wording can be read two ways: that Mary was still alive and Joseph was selling his future share, or that Mary had already died, the share had fallen to Ruth, and Joseph was cashing it in. I lean toward the second reading, which fits a death before May 1812, but the deed doesn’t settle it [?].
  • 21 Mar 1801: a “Shadreck Morris” was a buyer at the sale of John Gatten Sr. in Craven, alongside Nancey Gatten. This is either Shadrach Rogers recorded under his stepfather’s surname or another Shadrach. It’s also the earliest hint of a Pitt Rogers/Morris family mixing with the Craven Gatlins (my inference).

Two Mary Rogerses, and other cautions

  • Benjamin Rogers’s wife was also Mary: Mary, daughter of John Jones (Pope Co., Illinois, 1816; Pitt Deed Book T pp. 287–288). She is not Lemuel’s widow.
  • John Price’s daughter Mary Rogers received a gift dated 1766 in one abstract (1762 in another). Whether she was Robert’s wife, and so our Mary, is still open.
  • Gatlins (Edward, Ann, William) were on Grindal Creek next to Isaac Rogers in 1788–92. That puts Pitt Gatlins and Pitt Rogerses side by side. It’s only a neighborhood link.

What the household counts suggest (my analysis)

This is my reading of the numbers above, not anything a record states. In 1786 Lemuel’s house had only one woman over 16, presumably Mary. If Laban’s mother was Lemuel’s daughter and gave birth about 1782, she was probably born by about 1767 and would have been over 16 in 1786. So she wasn’t living at home by then, which fits the idea that she had married or been sent away. The three girls under 16 (Ruth, born about 1776, was surely one) are too young to be Laban’s mother. James Morris, if he was one of the two boys under 16 in 1786, would have turned 16 by 1790 (the 1790 house has one man 16 or over and no boys), which suggests he was born about 1771–1774. If that’s right, either Mary married Lemuel by the early 1770s or James was a stepson she called “my son.” Both are possible.

Open questionStatusWhy
Was Mary the mother of Lemuel’s children Ruth and James?probable for James; possible for RuthThe 1799 gift calls James her son. Ruth is called Samuel’s daughter only.
Was Mary born a Price?possibleRests on the 1766 Price gift to a Mary Rogers.
When did Robert Rogers die?openBetween 1763 and January 1785.
Was the 1801 “Shadreck Morris” Shadrach Rogers?possibleFits the family, but no record says so.

Summary. James Morris married Ann (Nancy Ann) Gatlin, a daughter of John Gatlin of Swift Creek, in 1804 and died by early 1810. A James Morris who was Mary’s son was selling up in Pitt in 1805 and buying in Craven by 1806. I think they’re the same man, which would make Nancy’s husband Lemuel’s son. Separately, Laban bought his only known land from the Georgia heirs of Hardy Gatlin.

James and Nancy: the evidence

  • 29 Feb 1804: marriage bond, James Morris and Ann Gatlin, Craven, bondsman Lazarus Gatlen.
  • 15 Feb 1805, Pitt Deed Book Q p. 14: Benjamin Rogers to James Morris, 50 acres on Cross Swamp (60 acres in one abstract [?]), witness Crandal Little.
  • 13 Sep 1805, Craven Deed Book 36 p. 698: “Lazarus Gatlin and Ann Morris two of the children of the said John Gatlin,” deceased, with James Morris, sell two-eighths of John Gatlin Sr.’s two 100-acre tracts (patented 1769 and 1773) to John Gatlin. This proves Nancy was John Gatlin’s daughter.
  • 16 Oct 1805, Pitt Deed Book Q p. 174: James Morris sells the Cross Swamp land to Jehu Davis (read “John” Davis elsewhere [?]). James signed his own name. Shadrack Rogers witnessed by mark and proved the deed in February 1806.
  • March 1806, Craven Deed Book 36 p. 728: William Gatlin to James Morris, 50 acres on Little Swift Creek / Kitts Swamp.
  • 10 Mar 1810: administration bond on James Morris’s estate. Nancy was administratrix, with Barron Gatlin and William Gatlin as sureties. The sale was on 9 Jun 1810 (Peter Speck, i.e. Ipock, was among the buyers). The 1801 James Morris estate (Thomas Oliver, administrator) is a different man.
  • Craven land entry 561 (John Whitford) adjoins “James Morris’s line.”

Nancy as a widow

  • 1819: bought knives and forks ($0.45) at the Ester Gatlin sale (3 Jul).
  • 1820: Craven census p. 82, next to Barron Gatlin.
  • 1829: a deponent in the Gatlin v. Gatlin depositions. Grant No. 1886 to D. R. Whitford (entered 1829, issued 1830) calls “Nancy Morris’s corner” and John Gatlin Senior’s 100-acre patent.
  • 13 Nov 1833: a creditor of the Shadrach Gatlin estate for $25.20 (Hardy Whitford, executor).
  • 1840: Craven p. 43, a woman 50–60. 1850: dwelling 1560, age 80, living alone, next to James Gaskins. The ages don’t agree: 50–60 in 1840 means born 1780–1790, but 80 in 1850 means about 1770. The tree gives about 1782 (and also about 1790).
  • Nancy was not an heir of Hardy Gatlin (28 next of kin, and the count matches) or of James Gatlin Sr. (whose children were Sidney, Hollon, Mary, James Jr., Elizabeth and Alfred, with the estate divided in fifths).

Their children (from the tree, not yet proven by records)

  • Jesse Morris (born about 1805) married Sukey Gatlin (bond 25 Oct 1830, bondsman James Powell). Jesse and Susanah Morris sold to John Leigh on 17 Apr 1832, alongside several Gatlins. Jesse sold to John Morris (Craven Deed Book 51 p. 40), dated 13 Aug 1834 in one note and November 1834 in another [?]. In 1850 he was 45, dwelling 1612, with James 19 and Pearson 16.
  • Matilda (born about 1810). James and Matilda Gaskins sold to John Morris on 11 May 1835, witnessed by Hardy Whitford. I think this is Nancy’s daughter, since Nancy lived next to James Gaskins in 1850 (inference).

Other Gatlin–Morris contacts

  • 17 May 1814: Laban’s purchase of 200 acres from Hardy Gatlin’s heirs (Levi and Major of Morgan Co.; the Pearces and Tookes of Greene; Stephen, Furnifold, Hardy and the Roaches of Pulaski, all in Georgia). The deed says the land was granted 24 Jan 1783, but I can’t find that grant in the published Gatlin lists [?].
  • 13 Dec 1810, “Morris v. Gatlin”: notes from William Morris handed to David Gatlin for collection (section 6).
  • Later: Gardner Gatlin’s 1844 marriage bond (bondsman John Morris) and Calvin J. Morris’s 1858 bond (bondsman Bradford Gatlin).
  • Edward Gatlin’s 108-acre patent (1773) and his 450-acre sale (1772) went into Thomas Haslen’s mill estate, the root of the Morris farm chain (section 7).
  • Captain Edward Gatlin’s will (19 May 1781) names no Morris.
Open questionStatusWhy
Was Nancy Gatlin’s husband James the son of Mary (Rogers) Morris?probableSame name and same year; the Pitt James sold out a month after the Craven James is first seen in Craven.
Was James the son of Lemuel Morris?probableMary’s only known Morris husband is Lemuel, but a stepson is also possible.
Were James and Laban related?possibleUnknown. If Laban’s mother was Lemuel’s daughter, James would be her brother or half-brother.
Were Jesse and Matilda the children of James and Nancy?probableTree plus records of names and neighbors; there’s no proof document.
Did John Gatlin Sr. die in 1801?probableHis sale was 21 Mar 1801. One compiled source places a John Gatlin’s death in 1766 and a James’s about 1801, so watch for conflation.

5. Katie Ann Morris and Benjamin Lancaster

Summary. A county heritage-book article says Benjamin Lancaster of Swift Creek “possibly married Katie Ann Morris,” because he administered Joseph Morris’s estate in 1791. That’s an inference by the article’s writer, not a family record. My own older post went further and called Katie Ann the daughter of Joseph Morris. That needs softening.

Benjamin Lancaster

  • Born before 1755 (45+ in 1800). Died before 11 Mar 1805. His widow was Ann (Anna). He signed by mark.
  • Not in the 1779 Craven tax list. His earliest dated Craven record is land entry #820, 20 Apr 1787: 100 acres on the north side of Swift Creek and the west side of Palmetto Swamp, by Jacob Warren’s entry and John Harris. But an earlier claim exists: the folio card for Grant No. 876 (entry No. 952, 100 acres, Craven, File 4645; north side of the Neuse) is dated 23 June 1774 and the grant was issued 14 Sept 1798. So he was taking up Craven land by 1774. His 96-acre Maul’s Run grant (20 Dec 1791) is filed under “Lane, Benjamin” on its folio card, which gives Book 79 p.153; the grant number on that card looks like 538, not 588 [?].
  • 12 Oct 1789 survey, 96 acres on the north side of Swift Creek, west side of Maul’s Run, at the head of Worsley’s Neck, joining land granted to John Gatlin. Surveyor Jas Gatlin. Chain bearers: “Joseph Morras & Wm Morras.” Grant No. 588 (or 538 [?]), 20 Dec 1791.
  • 1 Sep 1792: Henry Warren sells Benjamin Lancaster 50 acres on the south side of Palmetto for £20, part of a patent granted to John Gatlin Sr. on 22 Apr 1763. Witnesses Jeremiah Warren and Jos. Hartley.
  • 1802: Jacob Hickman sells Benjamin Lancaster 150 acres on the north side of the Neuse and west side of Pamphico Swamp, part of a tract patented by John Gatlin. Witnesses Charles Roach and Joseph Hartley [?].
  • 1790 Craven census p. 433: two males 16+ in his house.
  • March 1791: administration of Joseph Morris’s estate, then leave to sell perishables. The buyers were Benjamin Lancaster, John Bond, Solomon Williams, Henry Warren and John Williams. There was no William Morris among them. In 1791 Benjamin was also surety, with Philip Knowis, for Joel King as guardian of the Bush orphans. (A Phillip Knowis witnessed Lemuel and Mary’s 1785 Pitt deed. I haven’t shown they’re the same man [?].)
  • March 1805: a year’s provisions were allotted to “Anne Lancaster, widow of Benjamin Lancaster” (commissioners Lewis Bryan, Edward Nelson, Frederick Pollard, William Bryan). February 1807: administration account. His 1805 estate volume is lost.
  • 25 May 1805: a Craven riot charge names St. Clair Lancaster, Nancy Lancaster, Lovenah Warren and a William Morris (probably the William who married Polly Bull in 1804; see section 6). This comes from a tree abstract; I haven’t seen the original court record [?].
  • Children, as far as known: Jesse Lancaster, and Sinclair (St. Clair) Lancaster, who married Susannah Bull on 11 Nov 1803 (bondsman “Benjamin X Lancaster”). A Nancy Lancaster appears in the 1805 riot record.
  • Origin: best fit is a Benjamin Lancaster of Johnston County (1778–1785), who sold out on 26 Nov 1785, about 17 months before the Craven entry. That rests on a compiled abstract; no record calls the Craven man “late of Johnston.” Other possibilities are an older Craven/Carteret Lancaster family (George, an orphan in 1752; Richard; “Mrs. Jno Lancaster,” 1770) and the Surry, Virginia Lancasters of Dobbs and Wayne.

Joseph Morris (d. by 1791)

  • Chain bearer with William Morris on the 1789 Lancaster survey; estate administered by Benjamin Lancaster in March 1791.
  • Neither Joseph nor William Morris was a head of household in the 1790 Craven census index.
  • Since William didn’t administer or buy, he probably wasn’t Joseph’s adult son and heir. He might have been a brother or a minor. That’s a weak inference.
Open questionStatusWhy
Was Benjamin Lancaster’s wife a Morris (“Katie Ann”)?possibleIt rests only on his administering Joseph Morris’s estate. His known widow was Ann.
Was she Joseph Morris’s daughter?possible (unproven)My older post overstated this.
Was Joseph Morris kin to Lemuel or to Laban?openNo link found.

6. William Morris and Polly Bull

Summary. William Morris married Polly Bull in Craven in 1804. He was in the Palmetto Swamp / Lancaster / Pollard neighborhood until about 1808–1810 and died in Yazoo County, Mississippi, by 1838. He is probably the same William who carried chain with Joseph Morris in 1789, but I can’t prove it. Nobody has yet tied him to Laban.

Evidence

  • 19 Oct 1798: buyer at the Joel King estate sale (tree).
  • 18 Feb 1800: bought 100 acres from Samuel Willis on the east side of Swift Creek, south side of Palmetto Swamp, at a pine in Gatlin’s line, “now Warren’s.” Witnesses James Gatlin Jr. and Major Gatlin (tree abstract).
  • March 1803: commissioner for Easter Nelson’s year’s allowance, with Lewis Bryan, Frederick Pollard and John King.
  • 9 Apr 1804: marriage bond, William Morris and Polly Bull, bondsman Frederick Pollard.
  • 25 May 1805: a riot charge naming St. Clair Lancaster (married to Polly’s sister Susannah), Nancy Lancaster and Lovenah Warren. (An older post says he “later marries Polly Bull,” but the bond came first.)
  • 4 Apr 1807: Frederick Johnson to Elizabeth Bull (Polly’s mother, per the tree), 20 acres at the corner of the Stephen Worsley patent. Witnesses “Willia Morris” and “Mary Morris.”
  • Before 1808: sold his 100-acre Palmetto tract to John Bright. The Bright division return (11 Mar 1809) reads “William Bright 100 acres of land bought of William Morris lying on Parmeto.” William Bright sold it to Jesse Lancaster on 20 Feb 1810.
  • 13 Dec 1810: “Morris v. Gatlin”: notes from William Morris handed to David Gatlin to collect. That looks like a man leaving the county (my inference).
  • November 1834, Yazoo Co., Miss.: William Morris and his wife Mary Morris of Yazoo sell several 80-acre tracts to Lewis Stevens for $5,350.
  • June Term 1838, Yazoo Probate Court: debts due the estate of William Morris deceased, submitted by Reuben Bull, administrator. (The tree’s death date of Feb 1835 needs a source [?].)
  • The Bulls: Ambrose Bull (died 1789) and Elizabeth Johnson had Janet, James Hogan (died Yazoo 1840), Ambrose Jr., Polly, Susannah and Robert. James and Robert were in Georgia by 1811–1814. One family book says Jacob Johnson I’s daughter “Susan Johnson married a Bull,” which conflicts with Elizabeth [?].

Keeping the Williams apart

  • Beaufort William (son of William and Catherine Webber; 1790 household of 1 man, 5 boys, 5 females) is a different, settled family man.
  • Laban’s son William (born about 1809; married 1830) is too young for any of the 1805–1810 records.
  • A William Morris married Celia Johnston on 30 Mar 1818 (bondsman Frances Muse). Since Polly’s husband had a wife Mary in 1834, this is probably a different man.
  • Unplaced items that could belong to any of them: the 1795 Daniel Miller survey (Wm Morris chain bearer); the 1796–97 Miller deeds; the 1797 Cox deed witness; the 1799 Matthew Thomason estate sale; and a “William M Morris, Constable (1811)” image.
Open questionStatusWhy
Was the 1789 chain bearer William Polly’s husband?possible (plausible)Same neighborhood; he’d have been 31+ at marriage.
Was the 1805 riot William Polly’s husband?probableSame Lancaster/Bull/Warren circle, 13 months after the marriage.
Was the Yazoo William Polly’s husband?probableReuben Bull as administrator; James Hogan Bull died there.
Was William kin to Laban?openNo link found. Laban’s son William was too young to be this man.

7. The Morris farm land chain (Haslen, Carthy, Street, Wayne, D. S. Morris)

Summary. The Morris family farm on Swift Creek at Folly Neck, near the old Folly bridge (now NC 118) north of Vanceboro, came to Dorsey Samuel Morris in 1884. His deed recites that the land came from the Wayne family. I traced the Wayne tract back through Samuel Street (1833), the Bank of Cape Fear (1825), Daniel Carthy (1809) and Thomas Haslen’s mill estate, to patents of the 1770s that include Edward Gatlin’s 108 acres. Separately, Laban’s sons William and John bought Haslen’s 640-acre patent south of the creek from Samuel Street in 1833. Family notes trace D. S. Morris’s line to Laban, but these files don’t spell out the exact path [?]. I stop the chain at D. S. Morris’s will; later 20th-century deeds are left out to protect living family.

The Folly Neck (George Wayne) 86 acres, newest to oldest

DateInstrumentBook/pageAcresNotes
Will 5 Dec 1922, proved 21 Jan 1938D. S. Morris to sons Albert and Lewiswill86“the George Wayne tract … bought from David C. Smith in 1884.” Lots 1–4 of his other land go to his wife Mary Elizabeth for life, then to daughters Melissa Powers, Mamie Laughinghouse and Lovey Ross.
10 Jun 1884 (recorded about Dec 1885)David C. and Henrietta Smith of Pitt to Dorsey S. Morris, $40093/15086Begins at the mouth of Brooms Branch, down Swift Creek to Henrietta Smith’s corner, S85E, N25E to Brooms Branch. Adjoins Henrietta Smith and Barrow Forrest. Recites that Levi Wayne deeded it to his son George Wayne.
19 Mar 1878George F. Wayne to David C. Smith, $20079/277–27886East side of Swift Creek in Folly Neck. Louisa Wayne releases her life interest, and also her life estate in Henrietta Smith’s 86 acres, which begin “near Haslin’s old Mill.” Witness Samuel Wayne.
18 Oct 1870Levi P. and Louisa Wayne to George F. Wayne80/2886Folly Neck.
19 Dec 1839Bryan W. Wayne to Levi P. Wayne54/322370
9 Dec 1833Samuel Street to Levi Wayne Sr. and Levi P. Wayne Jr.50/204about 500North side of Big Swift Creek at the fork of the creek and Brooms Branch. Adjoins the Edward Gatlin 108-acre patent. Reserves 2 acres at the old Haslin Mills.
4 Feb 1825President and directors of the Bank of Cape Fear to Samuel Street, $1,50044/460 (abstract 16083)not statedBoth sides of Swift Creek, all the land formerly Elizabeth Haslin’s, which she sold to Daniel Carthy in 1809. It had been sold by Sheriff Thomas H. Daves to John F. Burgwin, who sold to trustees for the bank.
26 Jul 1809 (acknowledged 26 Jun 1810)Elizabeth Haslen to Daniel Carthy, £100 and love for her daughter Sarah, Carthy’s wife40/28–30about 2,169All the mills and mill seats on Great Swift Creek, both sides of the creek, being Thomas Haslen’s grants and purchases.
1772–1775Thomas Haslen’s purchases and grantspatentsEdward Gatlin and wife Elizabeth, 450 acres (Sept 1772); James Kemp, 1[?]98 acres (1775); Joseph James, 50 acres (1773); grants of 90, 300 and 640 acres (21 Jul 1774); Edward Gatlin, 108 acres (26 Apr 1775, his Grant 386 of 25 Jan 1773); Charles James, 133 acres (1774); John Gray Blount, 200 acres (1775).

The bridging links I haven’t read yet: the sheriff’s deed to Burgwin and Burgwin’s deed to the bank trustees. The other D. S. Morris purchases are Mary Wiggins et al. (1883, Book 88 p. 183, probably the Fred Wiggin 40 acres on Swift Creek [?]) and D. D. Smith et al. (1901, Book 138 p. 260, unread). A Feb 1916 survey by R. A. Colvin divided some of his land into lots (lot 1 to Melissa Powers, lot 2 to Mamie Laughinghouse, lot 3 the Lovey Ross lot). The map hasn’t been found.

Which patent underlies the farm? This is a mapping hypothesis, not a record. Edward Gatlin’s 108 acres (1773) is the best fit for the Folly Neck body, since the 1833 Street deed adjoins it. The mill seat itself was Haslen’s, and his 300-acre Grant 235 is the best documentary match for the mill.

William and John Morris and the Haslen 640 acres (1833)

  • 12 Jul 1833, Craven Deed Book 49 pp. 429–430. “Wm Morris & John Morris” and Samuel Street. Street is paid $800, but the condition clause says William and John “justly owe” Street $800 “for the purchase,” in four annual installments. The deed becomes void once they pay in full; if they don’t, Street keeps the land as security. So it’s really a purchase-money mortgage, with the Morrises as buyers. The land is Thomas Haslin’s 1774 patent on the north side of the Neuse and south side of Swift Creek, on both sides of Bear Hole Swamp, 640 acres less 80 acres sold to James and Charles Anderson. Both Morrises signed by mark. Witnesses Nath. H. Street and John M. Whitford. William and John were Laban’s sons. William (born about 1809) was his second-oldest son and is my direct ancestor.
  • The same calls appear in Elizabeth Haslen’s 16 May 1795 deed of the 640 acres to Edward Graham (Book 32 p. 896; one course reads N46W 146 there and N46W 136 in 1833). The link between Graham and Street hasn’t been found.
  • Hardy Gatlin bought 233 acres from the Haslens on 17 Mar 1791 (Book 27 pp. 351–352), on the west side of Swift Creek in Piny Neck, including Haslen’s mill pond. That’s not the farm, but it’s another Gatlin–Haslen–Swift Creek link.

Swift Creek details worth keeping

  • One parcel on the present farm lies on Watery Branch, the same name as the stream at the head of Laban’s 1814 tract and in Hardy Bryan’s 1745 grant (“E side of Swifts Creek … on the Watery Branch”). Whether it’s the same branch is untested.
  • 7 Sep 1793, Book 31 p. 2: Nathaniel Street’s deed of gift to his son Samuel Street was witnessed by a Samuel Morris, who proved it in court. A Samuel Morris in Craven in 1793 matters, because the 1812 Cason deed calls Lemuel’s widow the widow of a “Samuel Morris” (section 2).
Open questionStatusWhy
Did the 1916 division happen in D. S. Morris’s lifetime?openHe was “the late Dorsey S. Morris” in one description with 1913 courses, yet he deeded land “and wife” in 1927 and his will was proved in 1938.
Is the farm’s Watery Branch the same stream as at Laban’s 1814 land?possibleSame name; not mapped.
Who was the 1793 Samuel Morris witness?openCould be relevant to the Samuel/Lemuel question.
Exact line of descent from Laban to D. S. Morrisopen (to document)Family notes say his line goes back to Laban; the path isn’t written out in these files.

8. Laban’s 1850 and 1860 households

Summary. In 1850 Laban was counted twice in Craven within three days. In 1860 he was in Chocowinity, Beaufort County, with three females, Nancy, Mary and Susan, whom I still can’t identify.

1850, Craven County

ListingHousehold as writtenNotes
6 Nov 1850, p. 340A, dwelling 1183Laben 68, farmer, real estate $50; Caroline 70; Joseph 34, cooper; Levi 25; William 20; Nancy 28; Nancy Norris 16; Patrick 10A Sarah Morris, 15, was nearby in the Nancy Everett household (dwelling 1178).
9 Nov 1850, p. 341B, dwelling 1201 (indexed as “Salvin Norriss”)Laben 67, farmer, real estate $25; Caroline 67; Robin 22; Levi 25; Mary Harris 16; Patrick 9Next door: John Morris 43 (1202), William Morris 40 (1204), Thomas Morris 40 (1206).
  • What it looks like: the same household counted twice, or a household that moved within the week. Levi 25 and a boy Patrick appear in both. The girl of 16 is “Nancy Norris” in one and “Mary Harris” in the other, and Patrick’s surname changes the same way. I suspect the same two children with a garbled surname, but that’s a guess.
  • Wife’s name: Caroline in both listings. The family tree gives Laban’s wife as Kitty Williams (married 1805). It could be one woman with two names, or a second wife. I haven’t resolved it.
  • No farm entry for Laban in the 1850 agriculture schedule.

1860, Chocowinity, Beaufort County

  • 10 Jul 1860, p. 440b (stamped p. 880, “Page No. 76”), dwelling 553: Laban Morris 75, born N.C., with no occupation or property; Nancy 40; Mary 16; Susan 15.
  • Neighbors: W. W. Galloway (549), Rossetta Clarke and family (550), David H. Clarke (551), Benj. Clarke (552), Saml. Steward (554), Henry Windfield (555), Eli H. Barr (556), David Edwards (557). The Clarkes later married into Levi’s family.
  • In the same district: his daughter Alpha (Mrs. William Holmes) at dwelling 461 and his youngest son Roland (Rowland) Morris at 463.
  • I think he probably moved to Chocowinity in the 1850s to be near Alpha and Rowland. No record says why.
  • He is not in the 1870 Beaufort index. No deed, will, estate, church or death record for him after 1860 has been found.

Who were Nancy, Mary and Susan?

  • Nancy, 40 could be the same Nancy who was 28 in his 1850 household (the ages are off by two years, which is common). Daughter, daughter-in-law or housekeeper? Unknown.
  • Mary, 16, and Susan, 15 can’t be the 1850 girl of 16, who would have been about 26. They might be Nancy’s daughters. That’s a guess.
  • Levi’s July 1865 pension papers mention Levi at “his father’s house in said village of Chocowinity,” where his sister-in-law Jane nursed him and his brother Roland and sister-in-law Sophia visited until he died. Laban never owned a house; he always rented. A rented house wouldn’t still be called Laban’s if he had died, and a landlord would hardly leave a dead tenant’s house standing empty for his relatives to use. So I think Laban was most likely still alive, and still the tenant, in July 1865. A widow or son keeping the lease is possible, but that’s not how the papers describe it.
Open questionStatusWhy
Identities of Nancy (40), Mary (16) and Susan (15) in 1860openNo record names them.
Was Caroline the same woman as Kitty Williams?openThe census says Caroline; the tree says Kitty.
Was Laban alive in July 1865?probable“His father’s house” for a lifelong renter, with the family nursing Levi there.
Are the two 1850 listings one household?probableOverlapping names, three days apart.

9. Henby, Henly, Hunley, Handley

Summary. Laban was legally “Laban Henby” until the 1810 name act. Socially he was already Laban Morris: he married as Laban Morris in August 1805, and he was subpoenaed as Laban Morris in March 1810, months before the act. The printed act says Henly, but the handwritten bill says Henby. My working view is that the Henby name came from a stepfather, perhaps a short “cover” marriage arranged for his mother, and that Morris was his mother’s name. But no record ties any Henby, Henly, Hunley or Handley to Laban. Everything about a particular man in this section is a guess.

The 1810 name act

  • Laws of 1810, ch. 132, p. 48: Section I changes names only. Laban and his sons John and William are in Section I. Section II, which legitimates people, doesn’t include them.
  • Senate Journal, 28 Nov 1810: “petition of Laban Morris.” The petition itself didn’t survive.
  • The 1809 petitions show that name-only changes covered many situations: fathers renaming their own illegitimate sons, a man raised by foster parents (Cood to Wilson), namesakes, and cases with no reason given. Legitimation required a named father (Drake v. Drake, 1833; see also Lee v. Shankle, 1859). So a Section I change doesn’t by itself tell us Laban was born outside marriage.
  • My guess at the trigger: the Chapman v. Wall subpoena of March 1810 named him Laban Morris, the name he’d used since at least 1805, while his legal name was still Henby. Being drawn into court may have made him want the two to match. This is only a guess.

The Dobbs (Glasgow/Greene) Henbys

  • James Henby Sr. and Jr., south side of Little Contentnea / Middle Swamp on the Dobbs–Pitt line. James Sr.: entry 5 Jul 1778, Grant 406 (386 acres); 1782 Pitt suspension, May v. Henby; 1794 “plantation whereon James Henby senr.” lives. James Jr.: warrant 696 (Feb 1780), assigned to William Speight in 1785, Grant 1139 (1 Dec 1794). James Jr. was born by about 1759.
  • A Dobbs marriage licence for a James Henby, 10 Oct 1788, with the bride not named. This is a lead, since a widow or young mother marrying a Henby about then is the kind of record I’m looking for.
  • Joseph Henby: chain carrier on Traverse Thigpen’s 1780 Dobbs survey; 1790 Dobbs household 1-4-3; 1795 witness for Benjamin Sheppard (N. Smith v. B. Sheppard); in Anson by 1799.
  • John Henby went to “Georgia” in 1791 and was back in Craven in 1795. Thomas Henby absconded about 1791–97, was in Anson in 1801 and in Henderson Co., Kentucky, by 1815 (married Anna Barber).
  • In the 1790 Dobbs census, Joseph Henby (1 man, 4 boys under 16, 3 females, 5 enslaved people) is listed two doors from Charles Morris (1 man, no boys, 2 females), with David Chalcraft between them. A transcriber read the name as “Charles Morrison.” On the original page the surname is short and ends in a faint flourish after “Morr,” which looks more like “Morris” than a full “Morrison,” but I can’t call it certain [?]. A Charles Morris, male 16–25, is in the 1800 Greene census.
  • No Henby, Hemby, Hanby or Henly heads of household in Beaufort, Pitt, Craven or Hyde in 1790. A “Samuel Denby” in the 1790 Beaufort census could be a misreading of Henby; that’s speculation. (A Blount Denby in Levi’s court papers is a real Denby.)

Dennis Henby and Betsy Morris of Anson

  • Dennis Hemby was a Dobbs private at Moore’s Creek Bridge (27 Feb 1776), and “of Anson” when he bought Pinch Gut land from Jesse Miller on 7 Aug 1787. In 1790 “Dennis Hemly” (1-1-2) is listed next to William Morris.
  • Dennis’s will, 12 Mar 1806 (proved April Session 1806): wife Elizabeth; sons James, Jesse, William M., Nathan and Noah; daughters Sarah, Elizabeth and Frances. Executors Thomas Lacy and Arche Caraway. Witnesses Nan Nia Morris, James Yarbrough, Mary and Jinne Boggan.
  • Anson grants spell Dennis “Henley/Henly” and his son Noah both “Henely” and “Henby,” so in Anson these spellings were interchangeable.
  • William Morris of Anson (will dated 2 Jan 1804, proved January Session 1806; other notes say 1804 or 1808, which are wrong). Wife Patsy; earlier wife Pherabee (1774, 1776). He was on Hitchcock Creek by 1772. Nine children: Nathan (executor), Jeptha, Molly Yarbrough, Betsy Henby, Fanny Beverly, Sally Yarbrough, Lydia Pistole, William Airly and Patsy. Betsy is proven as his married daughter, and she was very probably Dennis’s wife Elizabeth.
  • William’s origin in Bertie or Dobbs is unproven. The Bertie idea rests on name patterns in a 1759 John Morris will. Another compiled page makes him a son of Charles Morris of Anson (will 1774), but that will names only a wife.
  • DNA: the Anson family’s married surnames (Yarbrough, Beverly, Pistole) show up among the Laban descendants’ matches only below 60 cM, and mostly on the wrong side. That’s no support. When Betsy is entered as Laban’s tentative mother in an Ancestry tree, ThruLines shows no meaningful matches through her, and the few that appear are on the wrong parent of the tester.

Richard Hunley of Craven

  • “Of Craven” by 10 Jul 1771. His sister Mary Hunley’s will (28 Apr 1777) calls him her “Loving Brother.”
  • First wife Catharine: “Richd Hunley & wife Catharine,” dower renounced 1 Oct 1788 (Book 27 p. 61). A Catherine B. Hunley witnessed his 28 Feb 1778 deed, probably the same woman (a guess).
  • Nancy Ambrose, aged 9, was bound to him as an apprentice in June 1779. No kinship is stated.
  • Married Margarett McAlpine (bond 15 Feb 1798). His will (16 Sep 1799) names “my Loving wife Margret Hunley” and “her Daughter Lydia Mcalpine.” He died in 1800.
  • The 1790 census shows no boy under 16 in his household. No record names a child of his, a Morris wife, or Laban.
  • The idea that he was a short-lived cover husband for Laban’s mother is a guess. The records lean against it.

The Wayne Handleys and Thomas Gray’s neighbors

  • Rowland Ledbetter’s company spent weeks “at Gray’s” ferry on the Neuse in 1781 (section 10). Thomas Gray was a Duplin attorney, Wayne senator in 1779, and in 1781 a commissioner together with John Handley.
  • I think “Gray’s” was probably Gray’s Ford at the mouth of Falling Creek (now Thoroughfare Swamp), about 5 miles west of Goldsboro, near today’s Ferry Bridge Road (SR 1224). That’s a guess; the alternative is West Point / Bass’s Ferry at Waynesborough.
  • Neighbors near the creek mouth: the Whitfield store plantation (sold 16 May 1781), Dr. Andrew Bass, the Quaker Coxes, Kennedy, McKinne, Pipkin, Fellow, Miles and Petit. No Morris, Handley or Ledbetter lived in the ford district in 1790. The Handleys of Stoney Creek sat on the 1789 Button Branch–West Point road jury, and the Wayne Morrises were 12–20 miles north (Nahunta/Contentnea).
  • John Handley Jr. (1790: one man, one boy under 16, one woman) is on the same page as a lone Milley Morris. Jesse and Jonathan Handley vanish from the records after 1779 and 1784.
  • My ranking of possible cover husbands, all guesses: Jeremiah Henly of Pitt first, then John Handley Jr., then Jesse or Jonathan Handley, then John Henby, then Joseph Henby.

Other Henley notes

  • Pasquotank Monthly Meeting, 1756: Benjamin Morris married “the widow Henley.” This is far away and early, but it’s a Morris–Henley marriage on record.
  • The Perquimans Henbys: John Henby (died 1752) had grandsons John and Dennis (Demsie); his sons were James (estate in Craven about 1752; married Elisabeth Anderson 1738) and Joseph (married Sarah Anderson 1748).
  • Jeremiah Henly of Pitt bought 100 acres on the east side of Harris’s Branch from Joseph Rogers on 29 Sep 1788 (Pitt Book M pp. 152–153; witnesses Benj. Bell, Henry Jones and Benjamin Womwell [?]). Joseph Rogers was a grandson of John Price, whose daughter was a Mary Rogers. Jeremiah is the only man spelled “Henly” I’ve found in Pitt before 1800, and by 1798 his land had passed to Drury Rodgers (Book O p. 348). Whether Price’s Mary Rogers is the same woman as Mary (Rogers) Morris is unproven, and no record names a wife or child of Jeremiah.
  • Pitt Book O p. 348 (29 Dec 1798): Jesse Henly and James Henly of Screven County, Georgia, sold the same 100 acres to Drury Rodgers, signed “Jesse [X] Henley” and “James Handley”; witnesses include Abram Joiner.
  • A Juda Henly appears in a 1 Feb 1800 bastardy table for a county outside this area (the scan is jumbled).
Open questionStatusWhy
Did Laban’s Henby name come from a stepfather?possibleThis is my working view. No record names one.
Was Betsy (Morris) Henby Laban’s mother?unlikelyThruLines shows nothing meaningful through her. She was in Anson, and Laban was in the east.
Was Richard Hunley the cover husband?unlikelyNo boy in 1790, no Morris wife, no tie to Laban.
Was John Handley Jr. (Wayne) the cover husband?possible (guess)Placed near Gray’s in 1781; Milley Morris on his 1790 page.
Who was the bride in James Henby’s 1788 licence?openUnnamed in the record.
Who was “Nan Nia Morris” (Anson, 1806)?open
Was the 1790 Dobbs neighbor of Joseph Henby “Charles Morris” or “Charles Morrison”?probableThe original page looks more like Morris, but the ending is faint.

10. Ledbetter: Rowland, his parents, and the Wesson DNA

Summary. Y-DNA tests from Laban’s direct male line fall in the Ledbetter project’s Group 01 (I-M253, the Francis Ledbetter cluster of Brunswick County, Virginia). Rowland Ledbetter (born 1764) is the strongest candidate for Laban’s father. As for Rowland’s own parents, the best documentary fit is John Ledbetter of Wake and Nash and his wife Elizabeth. Autosomal DNA strongly supports Rowland’s mother being a daughter of Edward Wesson, but it doesn’t confirm John as his father.

Rowland’s pension, R6237

  • Sworn 2 Sep 1839 in Marshall County, Tennessee. Born Brunswick County, Virginia, 1764. Living in Wake when drafted; later in Nash and Robeson (the word “Robison” is scratched out in one transcript), then Tennessee. It names no parent and no wife. Rejected: “Not six months service.”
  • His tour dates are a year off. He said May 1780 and March 1781. But the only Assembly at Wake Court House was 23 Jun to mid-July 1781, and the Hillsborough session with Governor Martin was April–May 1782. His comrades’ pensions (Gilbert S31693, with a written discharge in August 1781; Wilder S32077) put the first tour in May/June to Aug/Sept 1781.
  • The route: guarding the Assembly at Wake Court House, then Smithfield, then Wayne (“the widow Hush’s,” probably Hooks), then across the Neuse to Maj. Hardy Griffin, then Goshen and Rockfish (the battle at Rockfish was 2 Aug 1781), then weeks “at Gray’s” ferry. Second tour: Hillsborough, spring 1782, discharged by Governor Martin.
  • There’s no record of his unit in Craven or New Bern, and he isn’t in any Beaufort, Craven, Dobbs or Pitt record I’ve searched. There’s no Ledbetter in the 1790 censuses of Craven, Beaufort, Pitt, Hyde, Dobbs or Wayne.
  • If Laban was conceived during or after the 1781 tour, he’d have been born about May–August 1782. That’s a hypothesis. Rowland could have met Laban’s mother anywhere.
  • His 1783 pay voucher has been found (North Carolina Revolutionary Pay Vouchers, 1779–1782, image FS_004348988_00165 on Ancestry). Dated Hillsborough, 10 June 1783, it certifies that Rowland Ledbetter (the surname is partly covered by a punch hole) “exhibited” a claim and was allowed six pounds twelve shillings. It’s signed by Alex[ander] Mebane and John Nichols [?], and the figures in the margin come to £6 14s 10d, matching the Tennessee note. The reverse is a docket with his name. The image just before it is a separate certificate with a Ledbetter/Rowland docket for £602 10s currency, “presented on the 30th day of September 1781, on Loan to the United States, and since Rejected”; it may be his too, but nothing ties it to him yet [?].

Rowland’s later life

  • 20 Oct 1778, Wake: John Ledbetter enters 600 acres on the north side of the Neuse and both sides of Rocky Branch, joining Julius Johnston, Lodwick Alford and Israel Privitt, “including said Ledbetter improvements” (warrant 640). Neighbors’ entries of Dec 1778 and Jan 1779 (Hezekiah Massey, David Horton, William Privitt Jr.) also run to John Ledbetter’s line. So John was already settled in eastern Wake by 1778, near the Little River and the Johnston and Nash lines.
  • 20 Mar 1779, Brunswick Co., Va., Deed Book 13 p. 430: “John Ledbetter and his wife Eliz. of Wake Co. NC” sell William Corbin 175 acres on the north side of Rattlesnake Creek, joining James Ledbetter. Proved 28 Feb 1780. This is the Rattlesnake Creek land his father William gave him in 1774, so it ties the Brunswick John, son of William, to the John of Wake, and names his wife Elizabeth.
  • 4 Nov 1782, Wake: chain carrier with Hezekiah Massey on John Ledbetter’s 600-acre survey (north side of the Neuse, both sides of Rocky Branch). The same day he carried chain with Israel Previtt on Massey’s 300-acre survey along “Ledbetter’s line.” (An unsourced online profile calls the partner “Isaac Privitt.”)
  • 1784 and 1789, Wake: David Horton’s 1784 will names John Ledbetter as a neighbor. In 1789 deeds from John Ledbetter to Hezekiah Massey and to John Pendergrass were proved in Wake court, which looks like John selling out of Wake as he moved over the Nash line.
  • 7 Nov 1787, Nash: survey for Rowland, Grant 427 (26 Nov 1789), 150 acres on Clark’s Branch, running to “John Ledbetter’s line.”
  • 1790 Nash census: Rowland (1-2-4) two lines above John (2-3-3). A Holding Ledbetter (1-2-4) is also listed, and one transcript shows John twice. Holding is usually placed with William and Mary Cheves Ledbetter of Chatham, but living this close he could be another son of John [?].
  • 7 Jan 1794: “Rolan Ledbetter of … Nash” sold the Clark’s Branch land to Henry Lewis, again running to “John Ledbetters line.” Proved November 1797.
  • Anson, about 1787–1811: in 1804 he witnessed Huldah Jackson’s will; he’s in the 1810 Anson census. Then Lincoln County, Tennessee (about 1811); a Tennessee grant (No. 1744, 1825) adjoined Henry Ledbetter; Marshall County in 1839. He died in 1842 (fall 1842 in one account; a specific 2 Sep 1842 has no known source).
  • A family record of 1905 (secondary; it gives his birth wrongly as 1766): wife Sarah Vaughn “of Chesterfield County in South Carolina” (died 2 Jun 1833). Eleven children: Nancy (1787), Henry (1789), Jesse (1791), Wesson (Mar 1793), Rebecca (1796), Betsy (1797), Henrietta (1799, who married a Laban Haislip), Isaac (1801), Katherine (1803), James Johnston (1807) and William Riley (1810). Brother James.
  • Where the John Ledbetter idea came from. Sherry Mirkovic’s 2002 notes, shared with my cousin Mike Morris, were the first to argue that John and Elizabeth Ledbetter were Rowland’s parents. Her reasons against Henry and Drury: Rowland was drafted in Wake at 16 or 17 and was probably still living with his parents, while Henry was still in Brunswick (militia captain 1781–82, daughters married there in 1783 and 1786) and Drury was in Montgomery County and the Assembly at Halifax. Rowland’s 1783 vouchers came from the Hillsborough district and Drury’s from Salisbury. Her notes also carry an early query from another Laban descendant reporting a family tradition that “our Morris line were Ledbetters.”
  • The name Rowland keeps turning up among Laban’s descendants, starting with his youngest son, William Rowland Morris.

Who were Rowland’s parents?

CandidateForAgainstStatus
A. John Ledbetter of Wake, then Nash (wife Elizabeth; son of William Ledbetter of Rattlesnake Creek, Brunswick Co., Va., by a 12 Feb 1774 gift deed)Rowland was born in Brunswick in 1764, was in Wake in 1781 and then Nash, carried chain on John’s 1782 survey, had land adjoining John’s line, and was listed next to him in 1790.No record states the relationship. Autosomal DNA finds 0 matches through John himself.probable (best fit, not proven)
John and Elizabeth (Wesson): the maiden nameRowland named a son Wesson. The DNA groups for Edward Wesson are strong (below).The surname comes from the son’s name, not from a record of Elizabeth. Edward Wesson (about 1717–1788) of Brunswick is described on an unsourced web page.possible to probable (a guess backed by DNA)
B. William Ledbetter Sr. and Mary Cheves of ChathamRight age and Virginia birth. Mary’s father was “of the County of Wake” (1771).The family is in Chatham, and Rowland never appears with them.possible (weak)
C. Col. Drury Ledbetter and Winifred LanierRowland later lived in Anson, where Drury had been. Drury’s father and brother were named Henry. One match’s tree names Drury.Drury never lived in Wake. His listed children don’t include a Rowland. He was in Georgia by about 1784.unlikely
D. Henry Ledbetter and Winifred WallTwo linked trees name them (probably copies of each other).Henry stayed in Brunswick. A 1798 suit names Winifred’s five children, with no Rowland (reported; suit not seen).unlikely (largely ruled out)
E. Richard Ledbetter Jr. / Mary Walton lineMary’s 1778 will names her sons; they’re cousins.disproved
John and Amy of Orange/Chatham; John Jr. of Chatham (wife Elizabeth, son James; will 1791)Same names.Different places; no Rowland.disproved (look-alikes to watch for)
Any member of the R-M269 “John Ledbetter b. 1698” line (Group 02)Laban’s Y-DNA is I-M253.disproved

The DNA, in totals

  • Y-DNA: Laban’s male-line kits are in Ledbetter Group 01 (I-M253) with lines from Henry and Drury, Richard and William, and others. That confirms Rowland’s family is part of the Brunswick cluster. It can’t choose between candidates A, B and C without further Big Y testing on documented lines.
  • Rowland group (one Laban-descendant kit): 59 matches, 8–48 cM, all on the expected side. By Rowland’s child, from Ancestry hints: James Johnson 20, Wesson 15, Henrietta 5, Isaac 4, Betsey 3, Henry 3, Jesse 2, no hint 7.
  • Wesson test (after John Ledbetter and Elizabeth Wesson, and Edward Wesson and Mary E. Johnson, were added tentatively to the tree). On two sibling kits: Rowland 238 and 278 matches; Elizabeth 103 and 119; Edward 59 and 42; Mary 76 and 61; John 0 and 0. On one kit, lines through Edward’s other children: Henry 12, Isaac 11, John 5, Milly 4, William 5, half-uncle William (1768–1811) 18. On the other, 19 named matches through Edward’s other children (Isaac 13, Henry 3, half-uncle William 2, a potential Edward 1).
  • A third kit: Laban 161, Rowland 152, Elizabeth 61, John 0.
  • What it means: people who descend from Edward Wesson’s other children match Laban’s descendants. That supports Rowland’s mother being Edward Wesson’s daughter. The zero through John means John’s fatherhood still rests on the land and census records alone. (The zero could also mean the tree has no hints yet for John’s other children.)
Open questionStatusWhy
Was Rowland Ledbetter Laban’s father?probableThe Y-DNA is Ledbetter, and Rowland was in eastern NC in 1781. No record names Laban’s father.
Was Rowland’s father John Ledbetter of Wake and Nash?probableLand and census evidence only.
Was Rowland’s mother a Wesson (Edward’s daughter)?probableStrong DNA clusters through Edward’s other children.
Was Drury Ledbetter Rowland’s father?unlikelySee the table.
Where did Rowland meet Laban’s mother?openWayne along the Neuse in July–August 1781 is a guess.

11. Debunked claims

Thomas Morris and Rachel Platt of Burbage, Wiltshire

  • The claim: Laban was the son of Thomas Morris and Rachel Platt, with an English origin in Burbage, Wiltshire.
  • Why it’s wrong: Laban’s Y-DNA is Ledbetter, not Morris, and no record connects Laban to any Thomas Morris and Rachel Platt. I wrote about this in Laban Morris of Craven County, NC is NOT the son of Thomas Morris & Rachel Platt! The Drive file titled “MORRIS, Laban – Research Notes” turned out to be a copy of the Thomas Morris notes, which is probably how some of this got mixed up.
  • Rachel Platt still appears as Laban’s mother in several DNA matches’ trees. Those entries are copies, not evidence. (A “Miss Morris Henly” mother in another tree is my own old placeholder, not a find.)
  • Status: disproved.

The reasoning behind the Drury Ledbetter attribution

  • The claim: Rowland Ledbetter was a son of Col. Drury Ledbetter and Winifred Lanier.
  • Where it seems to come from: Rowland spent about 1787–1811 in Anson, where Drury had lived; Drury’s family used names that recur among Rowland’s (Henry, for one); and Drury is the best-known Ledbetter of the right generation. Drury’s wife Winifred was a daughter of Sampson Lanier, whose brothers included James Henry Lanier and a Lemuel Lanier. Lanier men served in Capt. John Hodges’s Pitt company in 1780, and a John Lanier witnessed Lemuel and Mary Morris’s 1785 deed. That’s an interesting Pitt neighborhood overlap, but it’s about Laniers, not evidence of who Rowland’s father was.
  • Why it doesn’t hold: Drury never lived in Wake, where Rowland was in 1780–82. Drury was in Anson/Montgomery from 1772–74 and in Georgia from about 1784. The published list of his children has no Rowland. Only one match’s tree gives Drury; none gives John or William. Y-DNA can’t separate Drury’s line from John’s, because both are in Group 01.
  • Status: unlikely.

Betsy (Morris) Henby as Laban’s mother

  • The claim: since Laban was a “Henby” and Betsy Morris married Dennis Henby, Betsy must be his mother.
  • Why it doesn’t hold: Betsy and Dennis were in Anson by 1787, far from the Craven/Pitt world where Laban turns up in 1805. Dennis’s 1806 will names his children, and there’s no Laban. When Betsy is entered as Laban’s tentative mother, ThruLines finds no meaningful matches through her, and the few that appear sit on the wrong parent of the tester. The Anson family’s surnames get no support in the match lists.
  • Rowland did live in Anson from about 1787, but that’s after Laban’s birth.
  • Status: unlikely (close to disproved).

Other retired ideas

  • Laban and Selah Averitt as half-siblings (a shared mother, “David’s first wife”): retracted after X-DNA comparisons didn’t support it. Disproved.
  • The South Carolina / Moncks Corner story: there were no Gatlins, Morrises, Henbys or Ledbetters in the 1790 Charleston District lowcountry parishes. Hardy Gatlin’s heirs went to Georgia, not South Carolina. The Moncks Corner connection probably comes from a Wiggins family move to Berkeley County in the 1870s. Unsupported.
  • A Wayne/Dobbs birthplace for Laban’s mother (my 2014 post): only ever a guess. It’s kept only as one possibility, because Rowland served along the Neuse in Wayne in 1781.
  • Elisha Morris as Laban’s father: ruled out (Y-DNA).
  • “Laban Celley” in a Beaufort tax-list transcription is a coincidence of first name only.
  • A “Malinda Brown” lead in the DNA match lists was a coincidence.

12. Other Morris leads

  • Delilah Morris and Hezekiah Waters, Craven Superior Court, 1816. On 18 Apr 1816 they were found guilty of fornication. Waters was recognized in £100, with Col. Edward Pasteur as security. On 17 Oct 1816 the same pair were sentenced for “adultery”: Waters $50, Delilah $1. No other record of a Delilah Morris turns up in Craven bonds, deeds (1799–1824), wills (1801–1812) or the tree. She might be an unnamed young woman in the 1790 Dinah Morris or 1800 Ann Morris household, but that’s pure possibility. Open.
  • Hezekiah Morris Waters. On 14 Mar 1811 (Craven Deed Book 38 p. 211), Hezekiah Waters gave “my beloved son Hezekiah Morris Waters” 10 acres near New Bern, two enslaved people (Hannah and Jim) and household goods. An H. M. Waters (born about Dec 1801, died 1888) is buried in Coffee Co., Alabama. His wife “Nancy Gatlin Waters” (born 1803, in South Carolina per the 1850 census) is a different woman from Nancy (Gatlin) Morris. A separate Hezekiah Waters and wife Nancy shared in Edward Gatlin’s Edgecombe land in 1811. None of this ties to Laban. Possible Morris link through the middle name only.
  • Levi Morris’s court records, 1850–1861 (Laban’s son): Beaufort affrays with Robert Taylor (1853, 1857); Isaac Taylor’s debt suit against Levi and John Holmes (1858–59); Craven affray convictions and fines; Craven jury service (1857, 1859). They’re useful for the family’s movements between Craven and Chocowinity, not for Laban’s parents.
  • “Henry Sd. Morriss.” A witness to Rowland Ledbetter’s 6 Oct 1837 Tennessee deed reads Henry H. Harris in one abstract and “Henry Sd. Morriss” in another. That’s almost certainly an abstracting slip, but worth one look [?].
  • Samuel Morris, Craven, 1793, witness to Nathaniel Street’s gift (section 7).
  • The 1767 Thomas Davis to William Morris of Dobbs deed (section 1). Unread.
  • Milley Morris (Wayne, 1790) and Nan Nia Morris (Anson, 1806): single women who appear next to Handley or Henby names.
  • Craven 1850 young Morrises in other households, possible apprentices or wards: Francis 8 and William 4 (with Eliz. Morriss 39, in William Brooks’s house, dwelling 805); Philip 12 (John Fenner, 812); Sarah 15 (Nancy Everett, 1178); Gideon 24 (Samuel Whitehurst, 1327); Calvin 16 (Joseph J. Robinson, 303, New Bern); David 17 (Edward Cary, 628, New Bern); Jno 19 (Inarh Holly, 221, New Bern); William 26 (with Susan Morris 30, in Celia Lewis’s house, 1408); Britton 7 (with Ann Morris 47, Joshua Rice, 1530).
  • Pearson Morris married Delilah Daniels on 1 Jan 1857 (bondsman James H. Morris). Probably Jesse’s son Pearson (16 in 1850), and unrelated to the 1816 Delilah.
  • The 1784 petition to annex part of Pitt to Beaufort may list north-of-Tar signers from Lemuel’s district. Not yet read.

Where things stand on Laban’s parents

Father. Laban’s father was a Ledbetter. That’s settled by Y-DNA. Rowland Ledbetter (1764–1842) is the strongest candidate: he’s the right age, he was marching through eastern North Carolina along the Neuse in the summer of 1781, about nine months to a year before Laban’s estimated birth, and the name Rowland runs through Laban’s descendants. No record names him as Laban’s father, so I’d call it probable. Rowland’s own parents were most likely John Ledbetter of Wake and Nash and a daughter of Edward Wesson (probable). Drury Ledbetter as Rowland’s father is unlikely.

Mother. Still unknown. Here’s what fits and what doesn’t:

  • A daughter of Lemuel Morris of Pitt, probably by a first wife (possible; my working theory). For: Laban took the Morris name. Lemuel’s household had daughters, and an older daughter would not have been counted at home in 1786. Lemuel’s son James moved to Swift Creek, Laban’s own neighborhood, by 1805–06. Against, or missing: no record names such a daughter, and nothing yet connects Laban to James, Mary, Shadrach or Ruth.
  • A Morris girl married off quickly to a Henby, Henly or Handley as a cover (possible, a guess). It would explain both of Laban’s surnames and the name-only 1810 act. No marriage, bond or Henby record supports it yet.
  • Betsy (Morris) Henby of Anson (unlikely). There’s no DNA support, and her place and her husband’s will don’t fit.
  • Thomas Morris and Rachel Platt (disproved).
  • A woman of the Wayne/Dobbs Morris or Handley families near Gray’s (possible, a guess). It matches where Rowland was, but no Morris or Handley lived in the ford district in 1790.

The most useful records would be (1) any Pitt or Craven record naming a child of Lemuel Morris other than James and Ruth; (2) a marriage or bond for a Henby/Henly/Handley and a Morris about 1780–1783; (3) the Dobbs 1788 James Henby licence or any record naming his bride; and (4) DNA matches through James and Nancy (Gatlin) Morris’s descendants, or through Ruth (Morris) Cason’s, measured against Laban’s descendants.

Master timeline

DateEventPlaceSource / section
1707–1721Thomas Morris of Bath: deeds and patents, Blounts Creek 700 a. sold 1721BeaufortMorris tracking sheet (§1)
1748–1756William Morris of Bay River / Bath Town Creek, witness and sellerBeaufort§1
1755“Wm Harris, Cleverly Rice” filed in the M block of the tax listBeaufort1755 tax list (§1)
1756Benjamin Morris marries “the widow Henley”Pasquotank MM§9
30 Jun 1760Folsom survey shows “Samuel Moris” was Samuel JamesBeaufort (now Pitt)§2
1762–1764No Morris in the Pitt tax lists; Robert Rogers taxed 1762Pitt§1, §3
20 Jun 1763John Brown Jr. to Robert Rogers, 200 a. Gum Swamp (DB B 485–487)Pitt§3
1764Brunswick Co., Va.: Rowland Ledbetter bornVirginiaR6237 (§10)
1767Thomas Davis of Pitt to William Morris of DobbsPittPCGQ abstract (§1)
1768Lemuel Harris signs his name (a real Harris)Pitt§2
1769, 1773John Gatlin Sr.’s two 100 a. patentsCraven§4
1772–1775Thomas Haslen assembles the Swift Creek mill estate, incl. Edward Gatlin’s 108 a. (Grant 386, 1773) and Grants 235–237 (1774)Craven§7
12 Feb 1774William Ledbetter gives land to son John (Brunswick DB 11 p. 237)Virginia§10
about 1776Ruth Morris (later Cason) bornPitt§2
28 Apr 1777Mary Hunley’s will names brother RichardCraven§9
20 Oct 1778John Ledbetter enters 600 acres on Rocky BranchWake§10
20 Mar 1779John and Eliz. Ledbetter of Wake sell his Rattlesnake Creek gift landVirginia§10
8 Aug 1780Elisha Morris’s Hyde warrant, Pungo RiverHyde§2
20 Apr 1781Beaufort militia: Wm. Morris and Lemuel HarrisBeaufort§1
May/June–Aug/Sept 1781Rowland’s first tour: Wake C.H., Smithfield, Wayne, across the Neuse, Rockfish (2 Aug), “Gray’s”Wake–Wayne–Duplin§10
about 1782Laban born (1850 ages); about 1785 by the 1860 ageeastern NCcensus (§8)
spring 1782Rowland’s second tour, HillsboroughOrange§10
4 Nov 1782Rowland carries chain on John Ledbetter’s and Hezekiah Massey’s surveysWake§10
10 Jun 1783Rowland’s pay voucher, Hillsborough: allowed £6 12s (margin total £6 14s 10d)Orange§10
Jan 1785 (July Ct 1785)Stephen Rogers, Mary Morris and “Lemuel Morris in Right of his Wife” sell 200 a. (DB I 527–528)Pitt§2, §3
26 Nov 1785A Benjamin Lancaster sells out of JohnstonJohnston§5
1786Lemuel Morris in Capt. Hodges’s districtPitt§2
20 Apr 1787Benjamin Lancaster’s Craven land entry #820Craven§5
7 Aug 1787Dennis Hemby “of Anson” buys Pinch Gut landAnson§9
7 Nov 1787Rowland’s Nash survey to “John Ledbetter’s line” (Grant 427, 1789)Nash§10
10 Oct 1788Dobbs marriage licence for James Henby, bride unnamedDobbs§9
12 Oct 1789Lancaster survey: chain bearers Joseph and Wm Morras (Grant 588 or 538 [?], 1791)Craven§5
1790Census: Mary Morris heads household (Pitt); Rowland next to John Ledbetter (Nash); Dennis Hemly next to William Morris (Anson); Milley Morris on John Handley Jr.’s page (Wayne)various§2, §9, §10
Mar 1791Joseph Morris estate administered by Benjamin LancasterCraven§5
7 Sep 1793Samuel Morris witnesses Nathaniel Street’s gift (Bk 31 p. 2)Craven§7
7 Jan 1794Rowland sells Clark’s Branch land to Henry Lewis (proved 1797)Nash§10
16 May 1795Elizabeth Haslen to Edward Graham, Haslen 640 a. (Bk 32 p. 896)Craven§7
1797Elisha Morris’s willBeaufort§2
9 Sep 1799Mary Morris gives Sam to “my Son Shadrach Roggers” and “my Son James Morris” (DB O 361)Pitt§3
1800Richard Hunley diesCraven§9
18 Feb 1800William Morris buys 100 a. on Palmetto from Samuel WillisCraven§6
21 Mar 1801John Gatten Sr. sale: Nancey Gatten and Shadreck Morris buyCraven§3, §4
29 Feb 1804James Morris and Ann Gatlin marriage bondCraven§4
9 Apr 1804William Morris and Polly Bull marriage bondCraven§6
15 Feb 1805Benjamin Rogers to James Morris, Cross Swamp (Q 14)Pitt§4
before 11 Mar 1805Benjamin Lancaster diesCraven§5
25 May 1805Riot charge: William Morris with the Lancasters and Lovenah WarrenCraven§6
22 Aug 1805Laban’s marriage bond (King and Williams)CravenLaban in brief
13 Sep 1805Lazarus Gatlin and James & Ann Morris sell John Gatlin’s land (Bk 36 p. 698)Craven§4
16 Oct 1805James Morris to Jehu Davis (Q 174), witness Shadrack RogersPitt§4
January Session 1806William Morris of Anson’s will provedAnson§9
Mar 1806William Gatlin to James Morris (Bk 36 p. 728)Craven§4
12 Mar 1806Dennis Hemby’s will (witness Nan Nia Morris)Anson§9
4 Apr 1807William and Mary Morris witness the Johnson to Elizabeth Bull deedCraven§6
26 Jul 1809Elizabeth Haslen to Daniel Carthy, the mill estate (Bk 40 pp. 28–30)Craven§7
10 Mar 1810James Morris estate bond (Nancy, administratrix)Craven§4
Mar 1810Chapman v. Wall subpoena names LabanCravenLaban in brief
28 Nov 1810Petition of Laban Morris; 1810 Laws ch. 132Raleigh§9
13 Dec 1810“Morris v. Gatlin”: William Morris’s notes to David GatlinCraven§6
14 Mar 1811Hezekiah Waters’s gift to his son Hezekiah Morris WatersCraven§12
25 May 1812Cason deed: Ruth “daughter of Samuel morris Decd”; share due “at the death of Mary Morris” (Mary possibly already dead)Pitt/Georgia§3
17 May 1814Hardy Gatlin’s Georgia heirs to Laban, 200 a. at Maul’s Swamp (Bk 39 pp. 589–591)CravenLaban in brief
16 Oct 1815Laban sells to Hiram PollardCravenLaban in brief
Apr and Oct 1816State v. Hezekiah Waters and Delilah MorrisCraven§12
1820Nancy Morris next to Barron Gatlin; Laban with Alderson EllisonCraven§4
4 Feb 1825Bank of Cape Fear to Samuel Street (Bk 44 p. 460)Craven§7
1830Laban next to Alderson Ellison (p. 156a)CravenLaban in brief
12 Jul 1833Wm and John Morris buy the Haslen 640 a. from Samuel Street (Bk 49 pp. 429–430)Craven§7
9 Dec 1833Street to Levi Wayne Sr. and Jr., about 500 a. (Bk 50 p. 204)Craven§7
1834–1838William and Mary Morris in Yazoo; his estate administered by Reuben Bull (June 1838)Mississippi§6
2 Sep 1839Rowland’s pension declarationMarshall Co., Tenn.§10
1842Rowland diesMadison Co., Tenn.§10
Dec 1848William S. Morris of New Bern’s will provedCraven§1
6 and 9 Nov 1850Laban enumerated twice (dw. 1183, 1201); Nancy Morris 80 (dw. 1560)Craven§8
1850–1861Levi Morris’s court casesCraven/Beaufort§12
10 Jul 1860Laban 75 with Nancy, Mary and Susan (dw. 553)Chocowinity, Beaufort§8
July 1865Levi’s pension papers mention “his father’s house” at ChocowinityBeaufort§8
1870–1884Wayne to Smith to Dorsey S. Morris, 86 a. Folly Neck (Bk 80/28, 79/277, 93/150)Craven§7
5 Dec 1922 / 21 Jan 1938D. S. Morris’s will written / provedCraven§7

Open questions and next steps

#QuestionStatusNext step
1Who was Laban’s mother?openPitt and Craven court minutes, 1780–1790, for a Morris daughter; any Morris–Henby/Henly/Handley marriage record, 1780–1783.
2Was she a daughter of Lemuel Morris?possibleFind Lemuel’s estate or guardianship, or a deed naming his heirs; check the 1784 Pitt-to-Beaufort annexation petition.
3Does “Samuel Morris” (1812) mean Lemuel?probableRead the 1812 Cason deed original; identify the 1793 Craven Samuel Morris witness.
4Was Nancy Gatlin’s husband James the son of Lemuel and Mary?probableLook for James’s Pitt-to-Craven link in a deed or court record; compare DNA from Jesse/Matilda descendants.
5Who was Lemuel’s first wife, and when did he die?openPitt estates and court minutes, 1786–1790.
6Where did the numbers for Lemuel’s 1786 household come from?openRecheck the original 1786 Pitt list against my tracking sheet.
7Who were Nancy (40), Mary (16) and Susan (15) in 1860?open1870 Beaufort and Craven census, marriage bonds, death certificates of any Mary or Susan Morris born about 1844–45.
8Caroline vs. Kitty: one wife or two?openCraven bonds and later records of the children for their mother’s name.
9Was Laban alive in July 1865?probableRe-read Levi’s pension affidavits for any more on the house.
10Was Rowland’s father John Ledbetter of Wake/Nash?probableBig Y on documented lines; ThruLines with John’s other children tentatively added.
11Was Katie Ann Morris Benjamin Lancaster’s wife, and Joseph Morris’s daughter?possibleJohnston originals (1780, 1785 deeds, dower releases); Craven court minutes for Joseph Morris’s heirs.
12Was the 1789 chain bearer William the husband of Polly Bull?possible1800 and 1810 Craven census images; the Willis and Bright deeds.
13Was a Henby, Henly or Handley a stepfather?possibleThe 1788 James Henby licence; Wayne records for John Handley Jr.; who Charles Morris of Dobbs (1790) and Greene (1800) was.
14Where exactly was “Gray’s” ferry?open (guess: mouth of Falling Creek)Wayne deeds for Thomas Gray, 1779–1784.
15Can the Bk 39 p. 589 (1814) image be checked?openPull the image; compare witnesses with Bk 36 p. 698 (1805); confirm the page (589 vs. 359).
16Was the 1840 Laban entry actually read?openPull Craven 1840 pp. 42–43.
17Is the 1833 Street deed Bk 49 p. 429 (640 less 80 a.) or Bk 50 p. 320 (520 a., 1832)?openCheck the grantee index.
18Who was Delilah Morris (1816)?openCraven minutes 1815–1817; a bastardy bond; the 1820 census.
19Who was Cleverly Rice (1755)?openBeaufort records for a Rice.
20What does the 1767 Davis to William Morris (of Dobbs) deed say?openGet the Pitt County Genealogical Quarterly page or the Pitt deed index.
21The 1779 Beaufort tax listopen (unread)Read the ECU copy.
22Is the 1781 rejected loan certificate (image 00164) Rowland’s?openRead the faint docket closely; the 1783 voucher itself is now found.

If you descend from Lemuel Morris, Mary Rogers Morris, Shadrach Rogers, Ruth (Morris) Cason, James and Nancy (Gatlin) Morris, or the Wesson family of Brunswick County, I’d love to compare notes. Please leave a comment below with your sources, and we’ll look at the evidence together.

Draft compiled 10 November 2026 from my research files. Corrections welcome.

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