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J. W. MORRIS
Vol. 3, p. 1267

The early history of every county and state is associated more or
less with the element of romance, which in the case of the older
countries is enhanced by the veil of mystery in which their early
beginnings are shrouded. In the founding of newer countries the
romance is just as real, though their history lacks the perspective
given by time. The settlement of New England, of Virginia, Kentucky,
Louisiana and the great Northwest was made possible through the
heroic deeds of pioneers worthy to rank in courage and native force
of character with the most famous heroes of antiquity, and the same
is true of California and Texas and our own young and vigorous State
of Oklahoma the old Indian Territory--which took its place in Uncle
Sam's family of states but a few years ago, and which is still but an
infant, though giving abundant promise of a splendid maturity in the
future. It also has had its heroes, stout of heart and strong of
hand, many of them or their sons are with us today, and whom all
delight to honor. One of the latter, the son of a Texas pioneer and a
"Forty-niner" of early California days, whose strong, forceful
character comes to him by inheritance, is Judge J. W. Morris, lawyer
and justice of the peace at Tishomingo, Johnston County.

Judge Morris was born at Montgomery, near Houston, Texas, in 1864,
and is a son of Captain A. W. and Matilda (PALMER) Morris. The father
was captain of Company K, Eighth Regiment of Texas Rangers during the
war between the states and he lost his life as a soldier. He took
part in the important campaigns of the Mexican war and in 1949 went
to California during the gold excitement. In the following year he
joined an expeditionary party that went to South America. Judge
Morris's mother was a daughter of Col. Martin Palmer, who was once a
member of Congress from Missouri, and who was a colonel in the army
of Gen. Sam Houston during the Texas revolution, and was one of the
signers of Texas independence. The Palmer family is of French origin
and members of an earlier generation came to America during the
Revolution and served under General Lafayette.

J. W. Morris as a boy attended the public schools of Texas. Left an
orphan at an early age, he was obliged to become self-supporting, and
through home study prepared himself both for the law and the
ministry. While an itinerant minister of the Methodist Episcopal
Church, South, he filled a number of important stations in Texas and
Oklahoma conferences. He was admitted to the bar at the age of twenty-
two and began the practice of that profession in Texas. Entering
politics shortly thereafter, he was elected a member of the Texas
legislature, in which he served one term. In 1901 he came to Indian
Territory and located at Ardmore. From there he subsequently removed
to Tishomingo, of which place he has since been a resident. The
outbreak of the Spanish-American war aroused his inherited military
instincts and he enlisted in Texas for service, but his regiment was
not dispatched to the front. He is a member of the Methodist
Episcopal Church, South of the Masonic, Odd Fellows and Woodmens
lodges, of Tishomingo Commercial Club and of the county and state bar
association. In church and educational work he has been a leader, and
besides at present serving as justice of the peace, he has filled the
position of mayor of Tishomingo. He has a brother, Hon. A. W. Morris,
of Galveston, who is a member of the State Senate of Texas. Another
brother W.B. Morris is engaged in the hotel business in Houston,
Texas, while a sister Mrs. A. E. NATION, is the wife of a merchant at
Navasota, Texas. He still retains the local preacher relation with
the Methodist Church, and during his ministerial career he filled
missions, circuits and stations and built many churches.

Judge Morris was married in 1887, in Cameron Texas, to Miss Mattie
NABOURS. They have three children; J. W. Jr., who is an accomplished
musician and a band instructor in Iowa; Iline, a music teacher in
West Texas, and Mrs. Mozelle WHITE, wife of a real estate and loan
dealer at Madill, Oklahoma.

Typed for OKGenWeb by Jean Owens October 23, 1998.