James Morrow

JAMES MORROW, a prominent retired farmer who now resides at Columbus, but still owns his finely improved farm of 300 acres in Crawford township, was born in County Antrim, Ireland, in 1833, and is a son of George and Isabel (Dunlap) Morrow.

The parents of Mr. Morrow died when he was young and, as he was the eldest of the family of six children, more than the usual amount of responsibility fell upon his shoulders. Of this family he is now the only survivor, one brother, who also came to America, having since passed away.

In 1854, a young man of 21 years, Mr. Morrow came to the United States and found employment with the operator of a cotton mill in Pennsylvania, who had been a friend of the family in the old country. Two years later he went to Philadelphia, and there learned the trade of carpet weaver. This craft he followed for a time, but his ambition was to secure a tract of land and follow farming. Coming to he West, he located on a small tract in Southern Michigan, at Tecumseh, and built a small house on it, which he later traded for 80 acres of land. Circumstances led him from Michigan to Missouri, where he managed a farm for two years. In 1862 he enlisted in Company A, 115th Reg. Illinois Vol. Inf., and served as a private soldier through the whole succeeding three years of the war, being mustered out in 1865. He then returned to Illinois and later sold his Michigan land, which enabled him to buy a farm in Christian County, Illinois. There Mr. Morrow made his home until 1882, when he came to Cherokee County, Kansas, and located on a farm of 160 acres in Crawford township, three miles south and a half mile east of Columbus. This he improved and enlarged, and engaged in a general line of farming.

Prior to coming to Kansas, Mr. Morrow married, in Illinois. Anna M. Ladd, who was born in Connecticut, but had resided in Illinois since childhood. At her death, one year later, she left one son,—William G., now of Columbus. Mr. Morrow married, for his second wife, Mary E. Throckmorton, who was born in Virginia, reared in Ohio, and later moved to Illinois. The only daughter of this marriage is Mrs. Ella M. Holcomb, who resides with her father at Columbus, and has two little daughters,—Hazel and Theodora,—who are great pets and boon companions of their indulgent grandfather.

Formerly, Mr. Morrow was very active in the Republican party, but latterly has confined his interest to the mere duties of citizenship. For a long period he served as a justice of the peace in Crawford township.

While living in Missouri, Mr. Morrow joined the Masonic fraternity, and he belongs also to the Grand Army of the Republic. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and a citizen whose sterling traits of character command the respect of all who know him. Portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Morrow accompany this sketch.

History of Cherokee County Kansas and its representative citizens, ed. & comp. by Nathaniel Thompson Allison, 1904, transcribed by Carolyn Ward, instructor from USD 508, Baxter Springs Middle School, Baxter Springs, Kansas, 3/11/97.