On June 20, 1901, my great-grandparents were married at Jetersville in Amelia County, Virginia. Their marriage record lists them as J. Stewart Morris (called Stewart) age 29 born 1872 and Anna May Blanton (called Annie May) age 17 born 1884. Interestingly, both of them fibbed about their ages. Stewart Morris was born on 25 October 1869 making him 31 years 7 months and 25 days old while Annie May was born on 1 November 1884 making her 16 years 7 months and 19 days old. While a nearly 32-year-old man marrying a 16-year-old girl would no doubt be scandalous today, that was apparently not the case in 1901. Interestingly, Stewart’s younger brother, Augustus Rives Morris (1871-1958) married Ella Campbell Rowlett (1857-1922) in 1893 when he was 22 and she was 36 – and she had been his teacher.

There was no family drama over either of the brother’s marriages. Stewart and Annie’s families were well acquainted – the bride and groom were second cousins through the Gills family. Stewart’s paternal grandmother was Elizabeth Smith Gills (c.1820-c.1848) and Annie May’s maternal grandmother was Mary Allen Gills (c. 1831-1890), both of whom were daughters of Miles A. and Mary A. D. (Atkinson) Gills.

It wasn’t long before Annie May gave birth to their first child – a son named Willie Rives Morris – was born in 1902, but lived only a short while. In 1903, a second child was born – another son they named John Stewart Morris, Jr. Unfortunately, this child would die in 1905. According to my grandmother – from eating unripe cherries. Can you imagine how Annie May must have felt as a 20-year-old having lost her first two children? She would soon be busy with a house full of children. Just six days after their second child’s death, Annie May gave birth to their third child – another son named Thomas Cecil Morris (1905 – called Cecil) to be followed by Mary Eleanor (called Eleanor – 1906), Ann Vaughan (1908), James Stewart (1910), Rebecca Blanton (1913 – my grandmother), Helen Lee (1915), John Corlise (1918), Emmett Webster (1920 – called Webster), Robert Augustus (1922) and Willie Calvin (1923). Nine of their children lived to adulthood. The youngest, Willie Calvin Morris was born in 1923, but was killed in 1929 when a tree his father was cutting down spun and twisted and fell on the boy. Stewart’s father died in 1904 and came to own Creekland Farm near the village of Jetersville, which had come to his parents though his mothers’ Vaughan family. Along with general farming, Stewart operated a sawmill for some years, but became a dairy farmer by 1920 and was recorded as such in the 1920 and 1930 U.S. Census. In 1940, he was listed a farmer. Stewart died on 15 March 1958 at the age of 89. Annie May would live until 12 February 1977 when she died at age 92. Both are interred at Jetersville United Methodist Church cemetery in Amelia County, Virginia.

Next Time – Fatally Gored By An Infuriated Bull

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