Morris, John T. (1845-1929)

MORRIS

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 12/6/2016 at 19:39:13

The Indianola Herald, Indianola, Iowa, Thursday, June 21, 1923, front page

Sixty-eight Years a Resident of Squaw Township
John T. Morris is no doubt the oldest resident of Squaw township in the number of years he had been a resident of that township. Mr. Morris came to Iowa on Thanksgiving day, November 27, 1854, when but a boy, ten years of age, being the oldest child of a family of eleven children, of which four children are living today. Mr. Morris’ life is a history of the hardships the early pioneers of Iowa endured, hardships that today would seem utterly unbearable. The Morris family made the trip to Iowa from Warren county, Indiana, overland, and were twenty-three days on the road, having to lay up several times on account of bad blizzards which were regular occurrences in those days. On their way here they met a party coming back who had been to Iowa, who declared that no white man could live out there. One incident of the trip west that Mr. Morris remembers very distinctly was the purchasing of half a deer from an Irishman for only 50 cents. The Irishman having killed two deer that morning, was well pleased with his days work. As stated above the family arrived at their destination on Thanksgiving day and located on the banks of Middle river in this county, staying there until February, when they moved to what is now Squaw township. The log cabin in which they lived had a clap board roof and a bad blizzard was raging which let in lots of snow, sometimes covering the beds. This was the second time that his father, Mercer Morris, had settled on government land, having previously settled in Indiana. They saw some real “hard times” in 1857-58 as the former year was very wet. Corn was very scarce and the price got as high as $2.00 per bushel. Corn bread was considered legal tender, and very few people were able to have biscuits for breakfast on Sunday mornings. By this time we had enough of Iowa and I expect if father could have sold out we would have went back. We done considerable hunting during the winter months, mostly wild turkeys and deer being plentiful, also prairie chickens and rabbits. In 1856, Mr. Morris helped break the first sod on what is now known as the Van Patten farm, when his father farmed ten acres of this land. He also drove the team that turned the first furrow on the Condit farm. He remembers the first election held in Squaw township in 1857 at which time there were 13 votes cast. In all the sixty-eight years that Mr. Morris has been a resident of Squaw township he has never been away from the township for more than a year all the time put together; the longest time he was ever gone was from March 13, to June 26, in 1866. The next longest time he was gone was when he helped drive a bunch of hogs to Eddyville, before the day of the railroads. Mr. Morris would like to hear from anyone who has lived in one township for as long a time as he has. His father died June 6, 1884, at the age of 64 years, 11 months and 9 days and his mother lived until March, 1922, being over 96 years of age at the time of her death. Mr. Morris has made his home on his present farm for 47 years and it can be truthfully said that John T. Morris is one of the sturdy pioneers of Warren county and Squaw township. The New Virginian
[According to Iowa Death Records 1921-1940 on FamilySearch,com, John T. Morris died on Oct 14, 1929 in Lacona, Iowa, parents, Mercer Morris and Elizabeth Taylor.]