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.
Census Records
In 1830, a mystery little girl aged 5-9 appears in the household of Laban Morris.
On the 1840 census, that same girl is in the household, ten years older.
On the 1850 census, Nancy Morris is listed. in Laban’s family’s household twice — once in his own household and then once in his son William’s household, but neither time is she listed as one of the children of the family.
In 1860, Nancy Morris. is shown still living in Laban’s household even though at this point, his wife has passed away and he has moved over to Chocowinity.
Why would anyone think that Serenia Averitt is really Nancy Morris?
Again, I go over this in more detail in the video, but the highlights are as follows:
- Same age
- Family relationships and proximity
- Mother’s marriage to John Holmes by 1829
- Laban Morris, of all people, understood what it meant to be to be born illegitimate and to change his name
How can this theory be tested?
If you descend from Nancy Morris and you don’t already descend from the Holmes or Averitts, you might test out putting Selah Averitt in as Nancy’s mother and see what happens. You’ll need to have other facts about Selah in your tree, such as her marriage to John Holmes and their other children in order for Ancestry to link things up in ThruLines to test them out.
If you descend from Nancy Morris and you do descend from the Holmes or Averitts, but you don’t descend from Laban Morris and Kitty Williams (or the other Williams siblings), you can test Zachariah Williams being her father and see if you match other descendants of Zachariah Williams.
For more details on how this can work, be sure and watch the video.
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
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 ?
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
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.
I would like to find out when Emanuel Edwards(gggrandfather} and Nancy Morris (gggrand mother got married and where…Be interesting