The Morrisettes of North Carolina

My mother’s side of our family tree finds most of her known relatives through her father’s line in Virginia and North Carolina.  One branch of that family tree, the Morrisette family, appears to have arrived in the Virginia area before 1700.  This is the line of one of my mother’s great grandmothers, Elizabeth Morrisette, 1834-1896.

 

Elizabeth’s paternal line traces back to Thomas Morrisett who was born in 1675 in either England, Scotland or France.  Some suspect that Thomas was part of a French Huguenot family and that he lived in Scotland prior to his journey to the Colonies. Most of my information comes from the family genealogy book, The Morrisettes of North Carolina and Other Southern States written in 1972 by Edna Morrisette Shannonhouse. 

It is believed that Thomas Morrisett (1675-1768) arrived in Princess Anne County, Virginia in 1695 with the John Randolph Expedition.  However, there is no manifest or documentation found for a John Randolph Expedition, so we can’t verify that information.   However, the Virginia Randolph's arrived before 1650 beginning with William Randolph, and one of his 5 sons was named John.  The Randolph's were very wealthy landowners raising tobacco and it is reasonable that the Randolph family sponsored many voyages between England and Virginia and possibly at least one led by John Randolph, a son of William Randolph.

 

It is thought that Thomas Morrisett, supposedly a French Huguenot, arrived in Virginia in 1695.  And that he had a twin brother, Pierre/Peter, who arrived in 1700 with a group of French Huguenots that started a settlement known as Mannikintown in Virginia.

Most of what is known about Thomas Morrisett, the emigrant, was obtained from an old Morrisette family bible.  According to Edna Morrisette Shannonhouse, the original Morrisett family bible burned in 1875, and the bible entries were soon thereafter re-created from memory in a new bible to try and capture the early Morrisett information.  According to Ms. Shannonhouse’s book, the second bible records begin with:

Thomas Morrisett, born in Esicks County, Scotland, May 1, 1675; emigrated to this country with the John Roldolph [sic] expedition in 1695; settled in Princess Ann [sic] County, Virginia, near Cape Henry; died June 1, 1768, age 93 years.  Thomas married Mary A Wade, the daughter of Magen Wade, who was born March 15, 1679 in Scots County, England; arrived in 1690; married May 8, 1698; and died March 5, 1775.

The original Thomas Morrisett home site was said to be located in Back Bay, Virginia.  Thomas and Mary had 3 sons, and it is believed that our Morrisett line is through their youngest son, Thomas Morrisett II (1702-1774).  According to Edna Morrisette Shannonhouse: 

“Cap'n Tom was a mariner, and traveled on a boat that did business with ports in the West Indies, and on occasion, they put into port at Indiantown Creek, which is located on the border of present-day Camden and Currituck Counties.  In those days, it was a thriving, deep water port.  At any rate, he is supposed to have fallen in love with a pretty red-haired girl named Hannah Cason.  Some stories say that Hannah's mother was an Indian and her father a Scotsman named Peter Cason.  One story says that Thomas never married the beautiful Hannah, but her children by him were given his name.  Other stories say he did marry her.  All of them agree that she had twin sons by him, named Pater [Peter] and Cason Morrisette.  One story goes on to say that he went back to sea, leaving her a chest full of gold coins and that he never returned.  He is supposed to have been lost at sea or killed by pirates."

One of Hannah Cason’s great granddaughters said that Thomas was referred to as “the Frenchman” and she remembers her great grandmother as a very old woman called “Granny Hannah”, and in her later years Hannah lived with her great grandson, Philip Morrisette (Elizabeth Morrisette’s father), at the Morrisette home known as “Populars” in Sandy Hook.  It is said that Hannah Cason lived to be over 100 years old.

I must note that there has not been any historical documentation found so far that specifically names our Thomas Morrisett or even his son, Thomas Morrisett II.  And the book on the Morrisette family history written by Edna Morrisette Shannonhouse is not a documented or verified source.  Many regard the information included in her book as unproven or even questionable. Feel free to call or email me if you want any further discussion on this topic. 

The earliest Morrisett documentation found in the area does include a Pierre Morriset among a group of about 500 French Huguenot emigrants that arrived aboard three ships that left Southhampton, England in July 1700.  The passenger named Pierre Morriset, a single man, was aboard the ship Mary and Ann, the first of the three ships to arrive at the mouth of the James River in Virginia.  A later ship named the Peter and Anthony arrived at Jamestown, Virginia in September 1700, and the passenger list for that ship included Jean Maricet, with no wife or family, but there is no indication if he was related to the earlier Pierre Morriset. 

According to Ms. Shannonhouse, the Pierre Morriset who arrived in 1700 is the twin brother of our Thomas Morriset who she believes arrived earlier in 1695.  Again, there is no recorded documentation for Thomas’ arrival, just family lore and an early family bible. 

The next recorded documentation found for a Morriset in our line is a North Carolina land grant record showing that acreage was granted to Peter Morrisett (1728 – 1803) on July 9, 1760 in Currituck County, North Carolina. 

Several months ago I wrote a series of blog posts about several of my ancestors that fought in the Revolutionary War.  All of the individuals noted in those 3 blog posts were on my father’s side of the family and lived in the northeast.  I was pleased when I recently realized that I had missed an ancestor who was on my mother’s Morrisette side of the family and also fought in the Revolutionary War.  

Documentation shows that this Peter Morrisette enlisted as a Patriot on May 21, 1778 as a corporal in the 10^th Carolina Regiment assigned to Carter’s company; and he also served in the 6^th Carolina Regiment commanded by Col Gideon Lamb during the Revolutionary War.  In 1820, after his death, Peter Morrisette was issued a Revolutionary land warrant for acreage for his service.  The land was granted in the name of his heirs.

A Peter Morrisett is found in the 1790 Census for Camden County, North Carolina.  The census shows his family of four included 2 adult males, 1 adult female, 1 male child, and one slave.  In the 1800 census a Peter Morrisette family was in Currituck County and had 1 adult male, 1 adult female, 5 children under 16, with no slaves.  It is probable that these two censuses refer to Peter Morrisette, the eldest son of Thomas Morrisett II and Hannah Cason, or his son, also named Peter Morrisette.  Unfortunately, these early census records only list the name of the head of household.

*  *  *  *  * 

Individuals:

 

Thomas Morrisett  (1675 – 1768) m. Mary Ann Wade Morrisett (1679 – 1775)

Thomas Morrisett II (1702 – 1774) m. Hannah Cason (1703 – aft. 1803)

                        Peter Morrisett  (1728 – 1803) m. Alis/Alice D’auge 

                                    Peter Morrisett II (1750 – 1820) m. Chloe Hutchins

                                                Philip Morrisette (1790 – 1837) m. Jane Garrett

                                                            Elizabeth Morrisette  (1834 – 1896)

 

Notes:

1)  Elizabeth Morrisette (1834-1896), noted above, had an interesting life and you can find more information on Elizabeth at my blog post Struck by Lightning, posted on November 30, 2021.

2)  I noted several years ago in the Introduction to this blog that I first became interested in gathering our family history information in the late 1970’s.  In the spring of 1979, I took a trip with my mother to visit some of her relatives in Virginia and North Carolina.  On that trip, I started asking questions and gathering information about my mother’s ancestors. 

One of my mother’s cousins, Esther Rippard Bradshaw, with a love for our family genealogy, offered to share her information with me – and I was hooked.  Esther copied many of her family sheet pages (it was a time before we used the computer for our genealogy!) from her files that related to my family line. Esther and my mother were both granddaughters of Luke Hughes & Jane Roberts Hughes.  

Esther also showed me a paperbound typewritten book titled “The Morrisettes of North Carolina and Other Southern States” written in 1972 by Edna Morrisette Shannonhouse and told me that was the source for a great deal of information on our family Morrisette line.  Regrettably, she told me that it was no longer in print and the only copies that she knew of belonged to family members.

After I got home to New Mexico, I decided to write Edna Morrisette Shannonhouse to inquire about her book.  Edna answered my letter, and she told me that there truly were no more copies available; however I was delighted when she mailed me copies of the pages from her own book that linked to my family line.  Those pages even had some of her handwritten notes on them! 

Ms. Shannonhouse died in 1995, and her son later authorized a reprinting of her book in 2006 by the Family Research Society of Northeastern North Carolina.  So there are now more copies to be found of this book. 

I’ll state again, however, that because much of her early Morrisette information is family lore and not verified with documentation, many historians remain skeptical as to the accuracy of some of Ms. Shannonhouse’s facts and assumptions. 

 – Jane Scribner McCrary