Ingram Owes It's Roots to the Morriss Family

From the June 8th West Kerr Current!

EDITORÕS NOTE Ñ This is the 19th of a series of articles on local families to mark Kerr CountyÕs sesquicentennial.

By Irene Van Winkle

West Kerr Current

The town of Old Ingram owes its roots to land bought by Reverend J.C.W. Ingram from pioneer settler Abner McWhorter Morriss in 1879. It became the hub of a community that soon boasted a post office, general store and telephone company.

The known origin of A. M. Morriss goes back a few more generations, but this family branch should not be confused with other similar-sounding names.

According to family ancestral lore, itÕs all in the spelling: ÒIf you spell it with one ÔsÕ, then you have probably have something to hide. If you spell it with only one ÔrÕ and one ÔsÕ, then youÕre probably hiding from the law.Ó No offense, really!

The story might start with A. M.Õs father, John George Morriss (1810-1897), who was born in Hopkinsville, Ky. to Adam and Nell (McWhorter) Morriss. John came from Hopkinsville to join his older brother, Abner, at his trading post on the Red River known as ÒCoahuila y Texas.Ó

From narratives written in various sources, including the Hill Country Album (1986) and Bob BennettÕs ÒKerr CountyÓ (1956), John became fluent in Cherokee and Choctaw, as well as familiar with the western territories. The United States Army engaged him as scout and interpreter while moving tribes to the Indian Territory.

John went to Alabama where he developed a new strain of horses, crossing Kentucky thoroughbreds with Morgans. It was an early predecessor to the quarter horse that combined speed with endurance.

In 1831, he returned to Texas and applied for a Mexican land grant in the DeWitt Colony (now in Lavaca County). The following year, he received a league of land.

He married Arminta Keller (whose family had come from Illinois and then South Carolina) in 1835 after his return to the Òstates,Ó and they had seven children: Adam, Jane, Abner McWhorter (1839), Susan, John, Jr., Nathaniel and Margaret. While they lived in Missouri, Arminta died in 1848, shortly after their last childÕs birth, and only three of the children (Jane, Susan and Abner) survived to adulthood. Abner (who died in 1924) was the only child to survive his father.

Jane married Dr. John Moore, but moved to Kerr County after he died. Her youngest daughter, Elizabeth (ÒLizzieÓ) married Tom Moore.

Daughter Susan married Airs Marion Gilmer, who was the second mayor of Kerrville. She was the first Morriss at Sunset Cemetery.

In 1853, John got the mail contract, and ran it (with A. M.Õs eventual help) until 1857. At age 14, A.M. carried mail tri-weekly between La Grange, Hallettsville and Victoria.

By 1861, A.M. signed up for the First Texas Cavalry, under General Whitfield, who once told him, ÒAbner, this is it! War is hell!Ó He later served with infantry divisions as far away as Tennessee.

By 1863, while on furlough in Lavaca County, he married Ann Thompson of Mississippi, who had moved to Jefferson, Texas in 1848 when she was 3 years old.

A.M. and Ann had five children: Airs Gilmer (born in 1865), Edward Elijah (1868-1929), Adam Jordan and twins, Will Abner and Patti. Airs Gilmer was father to Ruth and Patti Beall.

A.M. Morriss and Airs M. Gilmer moved with their cattle herds to Kerr County. A.M. Gilmer was in charge of the driving.

They sold six acres to Rev. Ingram for $10 an acre, then moved farther up west of Kerrville by 1883.

The first year they lived in Kerr County, Airs and his brother Edward rode horseback to school in Kerrville Ñthen located in a one-room building on the corner of the present day Main and Sidney Baker streets. Ann Morriss (who died in 1934) was the first school teacher in western Kerr County, riding horseback to Henderson Branch. Her 36 pupils included her own young twins.

Patti Beall and Will also attended Tivy High School (now an administration building at Tivy and North streets). She was later admitted to Juilliard School of Music in New York, and finally moved to Olney, Texas.

Edward Elijah, called ÒE.E.Ó, married Mary Jane Sproul in 1888, at the two-room home of her parentsÕ home near Johnson Creek, when she was 16 and he 20 years of age. Mary JaneÕs family (her father was Billy) had come from Louisiana, and she had at least two sisters, Hada and Dora. Mary Jane (1871-1948) was born in Selma, Texas to William and Margaret (Edens). Her parents had a farm where Randolph Air Force Base is now, but they moved to Kerr County when she was 11 years of age. She attended Dry Branch and Sunset schools.

E.E. had built a one-room house nearby, and they lived there for several years. Meanwhile their family grew to nine children: Edward ÒErnest,Ó ÒCarlÓ Adam, Robert ÒHal,Ó Annie Mae (1896-1957), Mary ÒLorineÓ (1902-1989), Margaret Merle, Elizabeth and ÒSproulÓ Abner (named for his uncle). Another child, a baby girl, only lived three weeks.

Several books were written later by members of this new generation.Lorine Morriss Carpenter wrote a biography, ÒHer Little Candle Ñ The story of My Mother, Mary Jane Sproul Morris.Ó LorineÕs son, Robby Carpenter, a Kerrville dentist, said she also wrote three books of poems.

In her book, Lorine described her parentsÕ wedding, down to the seven petticoats Mary Jane wore, all the food her grandmother Sproul had prepared, and the simple ceremony performed by Presbyterian minister, John Vann.

She also mentioned that no wine was served, no rice was thrown, and there was no music.

When E.E. received a quarter section of land from the state of Texas, he was the first of his family to move to the Divide area, 15 miles from their parents. Mary Jane, according to Lorine, was an excellent horsewoman, riding sidesaddle even when pregnant. E.E. and Mary Jane were both buried at the family plot in Sunset Cemetery alongside their infant.

Lorine, who later became an English teacher, attended the historic Schofield School, which many young women attended in the early 1900s.

She describes her days and classmates in 1923:

ÒI had a small class of boarding girls and a few girls from over in town. Little Seawillow Fitzsimmons stayed with an auntie and was a day student. Little Nell Schreiner, too, was a day student. They were very nice little girls, so precise!Ó

She recounted that her principal, ÒMiss Lipscomb,Ó resigned due to poor health.

Robby added that Annie Mae wrote a book about her own grandmother, called ÒHer name was Ann.Ó He said he has a class photo of his aunt (who was class salutatorian) at the old Tivy High School. In that same class was the valedictorian Ñ Howard Butt, who was only about 14 years old at the time.

Early life on the Divide (they lived about 10 miles west of Garven Store), was isolated, but the family managed to leave for the Òbig cityÓ occasionally.

ÒMother told me that when she was a child, the big excitement was four or five times a year when they would go to town Ñ Kerrville. They worked hard a whole day, got a few daysÕ worth of chores done and then loaded up the wagon. They spent the night at the ranch, then got up at three or four a.m., and headed out. The trip to Kerrville by wagon took all day. TheyÕd get there by dark, and then spend the night by the river (now Louise Hays Park) or at the yard behind SchreinerÕs. Then theyÕd spend the next day or two shopping at SchreinerÕs and other places.Ó

By the time they were ready to leave, theyÕd reverse the schedule, get up early morning, drive all day, and then get home after dark. Of course, the next day, theyÕd unpack and have to catch up on all the chores.

ÒNow the same drive takes 40-45 minutes,Ó Robby said.

By the time Lorine and her siblings were getting married and having their own children, Mary Louise had moved to Rocksprings, where she had a large house built on the family ranch.

Annie Mae taught at the Dee Hughes school, and did not attend LorineÕs wedding to Jim Carpenter in 1925. The newlyweds spent most of their married lives in Junction.

Toward the end of the decade, although E.E. was already in his early 60s, Lorine said he still dreamed of moving farther west, against the protests of his family. He and Mary Jane had only been living in their new home for a few years.

Sadly, he died while visiting in San Antonio with Will. After getting a call, Dr. Cade could do nothing but pronounce him as he arrived.

E.E.Õs last words, Lorine said, were: ÒWe wonÕt all be going west.Ó

The cold December funeral precluded a festive Christmas celebration, and a 14-inch snowfall left people housebound.

Lorine had a favorite saying, Robby said: ÒIÕve lived in a generation of the most changes that any generation on Planet Earth ever experienced Ñ IÕve gone from the covered wagon to the space age.Ó`

RobbyÕs siblings are Mary, Betty, Jim (deceased), Sue, Carol. He met his wife, also named Carol, at a revival in Boerne where her father was a pastor at the First Baptist Church. They have two children, Sarah and David.

Sproul eventually married Annie Laurie, the parents of Gordon Morriss, a Kerrville attorney, who also served one term (elected in 1982) as Kerr County Judge. He has two children: Jessica Rae and ÒSanchoÓ (Gordon, Jr.).

In another Morriss family link to the Divide, the oldest Morriss son (Ernest) married the oldest Snodgrass daughter (Loma).

Jean Ward, daughter of Margaret Merle (the only surviving sibling of E.E. and Mary Jane) works at Trinity Baptist Church in Kerrville.