Family Tree Maker's Genealogy Site: User Home Page Book: Gearld Family History: Register Report of Daniel Snyder Morris

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Page 82 of 650

Descendants of Daniel Snyder Morris

Generation No. 2

2. LEONIDAS HAMLIN⁷ MORRIS (DANIEL SNYDER⁶, JAMES E.⁵, ROBERT CLARK⁴, ROBERT JR.³, ROBERT SR.², ANDREW¹) was born June 6, 1885 in Rural Montgomery County, Indiana, and died April 26, 1956. He married (1) EMMA CLARK. She was born November 25, 1897 in Smartsburg, Indiana, and died March 4, 1920. He married (2) NETTIE COPE September 1925. She was born January 27.

More About LEONIDAS HAMLIN MORRIS:
Burial: Mt. Zion EUB Church Cemetary, Crawfordsville, Indiana

More About EMMA CLARK:
Burial: Mt. Zion EUB Church Cemetary, Crawfordsville, Indiana

Children of LEONIDAS MORRIS and EMMA CLARK are:

MILDRED LOUISE⁸ MORRIS, b. July 25, 1916, Crawfordsville, Indiana; d. August 18, 1919.

More About MILDRED LOUISE MORRIS:
Burial: Mt. Zion EUB Church Cemetary, Crawfordsville, Indiana

ii.

LEWIS DANIEL MORRIS, b. October 28, 1918, Crawfordsville, Indiana.

Children of LEONIDAS MORRIS and NETTIE COPE are:

10.	iii.		CARL DEAN⁸ MORRIS, b. June 19, 1931, Crawfordsville, Indiana.
	iv.		BENNIE JOE MORRIS, b. March 1, 1935, Crawfordsville, Indiana; m. HELENA TORRES, May 12, 1956; b. October 13, 1934.

3. FRANK VALENTINE SR.⁷ MORRIS (DANIEL SNYDER⁶, JAMES E.⁵, ROBERT CLARK⁴, ROBERT JR.³, ROBERT SR.², ANDREW¹) was born May 2, 1888 in Crawfordsville, Indiana, and died July 11, 1954. He married RUBY EDITH POLLOCK October 16, 1911. She was born June 2, 1895, and died November 24, 1972.

More About FRANK VALENTINE SR. MORRIS:
Burial: Oakhill Cemetary, Oakwood, Illinois

Notes for RUBY EDITH POLLOCK:
This is a continuation of Shirley's: MY CHILDHOOD VIEW OF THE DEPRESSION (written 1979)

Mom used to say "If we had some ham, we'd have ham and eggs, if we had the eggs." When we would be frightened during a thunderstorm with pretty, flashing lightening, Mom would always assure us that everything would be OK as soon as the rain came down. I think of that even now. Mom and Dad must have been very philosophical in raising us.
Seemed we were outside a lot. There always seemed more stars in the sky then, than now and it was always lovely to me to lay down in thick grass and look up through a tree toward the sun and see so many changes because of the breezes. In the Spring, when the winds were strong, we'd just lay back into it. We'd fall lots of times, but we didn't have far to fall then. In the winter we'd lay down along the ditch and spread our arms out and push the snow back and forth and make snow angels.
I remember a little door above Mom's closet in her bedroom that I never saw open very much. I knew three things that that little bin housed. One was a little trolley car that was Jiggs', the second was a very large oval picture of Lou as a baby, and the third was a beautiful doll that had been Mom's as a child. She was jointed every place a human is. It seemed antique then!
Once, during that time, Lou and Fern went to the woods to pick flowers, but they had a knife along. Lou was carrying the knife and climbed through a fence. She cut her leg badly and it was spurting. Well, she proceeded to make a tourniquet out of her garter and came home holding it.
Now, Fern was always pretty level headed and she and Lou took care of us. One night after Mom had gotten home from work, I let out a cuss word and someone reached from behind and slapped me on the mouth. Well, I thought it was Lou, and I doubled up my fist and swung around to hit, but before I could stop the momentum of the swing, I saw it was Mom and I couldn't stop! Well, I guess you know, Mom didn't stop for a while either. While Mom worked, Fern bossed us all like we were her kids, and by the way - still does! Dad used to always call her 'sis' and he'd call Bob 'Bud.'
Behind our house about a mile back was a gun club. Well-to-do men would go there to practice shooting. They had some sort of triggered deal that shot clay pigeons. We'd go over later and gather the unbroken ones for toy dishes. I guess the depression showed up there more to us kids than anything, cause their meetings would be less and farther between.
During the depression, while we were still there, Dad, bless his sole, would go to the dump to look for shoes. If he got two different kinds, didn't make any difference to him. He'd always have leather to fix our shoes, with half soles, or heels or both.
One time Mom had saved up some money and bought Dad a new pair of shoes for his birthday. She hid them and Dad was to look for his present. Mom had put them in the ice box. All of us kids were excited while Dad looked and looked - us knowing what it was. When Dad found them, he broke down and cried, and the next day he took them back and got the money.
I was told once by a relative that Dad was called "Happy" because he was happy-go-lucky and very care free. I hope this straightens out a lot of thoughts. Though, I do think the ones who think that of Dad are very few. He had more friends than you could shake a stick at.
I used to like helping Dad do things. When he would re-wire something in the house, he'd go to the attic and drop a chain down with the wire attached and I'd be waiting at the little hole in the wall to catch the chain.
Once Dad and I went to pick wild raspberries. We took a tub, with him holding one handle and me the other. By the time we got home we had an awful lot of berries and we were so tired and hot, Mom said, "why did you get so many?" And dear Dad said, "I thought Shirley was never gonna quit!" (And I thought it was Dad!)
The depression kept getting worse. Dad and everyone else had been laid off, only for jobs that did carry on through the whole thing. One of which was the railroad. Not getting a check anymore, Dad couldn't make the payments on our house that we all loved so much so Mom and Dad decided to rent it and let it pay for itself.
That was when we moved to a little shack on Grandpa Pollock's place. I can't remember how long that was, but it was long enough to know that the preacher that rented it wasn't going to make the payment to us either. So Dad, after a great deal of time, evicted the preacher and we moved back into it, until we finally lost it anyway, which Dad never really got over. That guy got called several names, none of which were 'preacher!"
During the depression, Dad, wit lots of help, pusher two strawberry sheds together and made a home for all of us. We had something no one else had ever had! In the summer months, the whole side of our house could be opened and propped up from the outside like a shelf, where we'd set our berries after picking them. Our house sat under a big tree and the summer breezes would go right through. Below the hill along the side of the house, was a creek. We had an old hen that had hatched 5 or 6 duck eggs and the little ducks would waddle into the branch to swim. That old hen would just pace back and forth on the bank, just worried to death.
At night, Mom and Dad would sleep in the make shift house, and all of us kids slept upstairs at Grandma's. Mom and Dad would work on Grandpa's farm, doing lots of different things. They were so grateful to them. We went to school there in a small, brick, on room schoolhouse that had all eight grades and one teacher. At that time our teacher was Miss Joiner. Ett was in the first grade there. To me, as a kid, the depression didn't seem so bad. Mom and Dad took such good care of us.
Grandma had a rock garden with every kind of flower that grows outdoors. With little paths laid out through it so she could take care of it. They had a winding driveway in from the road to the barnyard with a large snowball bush along one curve. On the west side of the house was a hill down to the well, where they got their water in a bucket. Down by the corn crib was a constantly running spring. A tin cup always sat beside it.
In the corn crib, the boys would cut corn with a big corn knife. Once Jiggs got two of his fingers too close to the corn knife and cut the ends off. Grandma set them back on and wrapped it and they healed!
Grandma used to try to keep us kids out of the hen house. We'd figure we were gathering eggs and we'd poke the hens to get them off the nest. They would open their beaks at us, trying to scare us off�.didn't work!
On Sundays, when they'd get lots of company, the ladies would walk around looking at Grandma's flowers. The men generally played horseshoes or euchre. Bob used to stay at Grandpa's a lot during summer months before all of us lived there. Once they had a lot of company. They were all sitting on chairs in a circle in the back yard and Bob was the only kid around. He didn't have much in common with the grownups, so he was a little embarrassed and probably bored. He had bib overalls on and nothing else, it was a hot day. Well, he squirmed around and folded his arms inside the bib part, and all of a sudden he yawned and stuck both arms up, and his pants hit the ground! I heard this about 30 years later. Aunt Leota said, "Bob, tell them about your bib overalls!" bob laughed till he was almost crying. Seemed it hadn't been brought up in all those years.
Seems like most thoughts I have of my childhood were there at Grandpa's. it was fun to go along with Perc' and Bob to get the cows and then watch them milk. We'd get squirted too, when they'd try to get rid of me. The hay stack was lots of fun, too. We'd climb clear up on top, then slide down. I remember the older boys of Grandma's would roll their own cigarettes. It was so much cheaper. It was really something if someone had a store bought pack of them.
In the living room near the fireplace, they would have two or three big chairs and it was always first come first serve on those chairs. Lots of times I'd be sitting there and Max would come in and say, "Shirley, I think you're sitting on my cap." When I'd get up to look, he'd slide into it! Used to make me so mad. Uncle Sherm was there once with all the kids and Olive was near my age. She said, "I'll tell you something if you won't tell my Dad." You can tell we were pretty young (to have a loose tooth). Guess you know, I told Uncle Sherm and Oli never let me get over that! And well she shouldn't.
Mom used to tell us about her life when she was little. When she and Uncle Sherm were little, they would say "play like" we'd do this, and "play like" we'd do that so often that the word got to sound like "plike". She said one time they put an old blanket across some things to make a tent and they'd put a brick on top to hold it there. She said they were "plike'n" this and "plike'n" that, and the brick fell off and hit her in the head.
She must have met Dad at fifteen. They were married when she was sixteen and Dad was twenty-four. One time her and Aunt Lola were taking the washing down the road in a tub on a wagon. They had to pass Sullivan's were Dad was staying. That was when he started at the brickyard. Mom and Aunt Lola were cruising right along and Mom was looking to see if she could see Dad and Aunt Lola stopped the wagon. Mom went head over heels across the laundry. Then she was afraid that Dad had seen her. But the one who had seen her was Uncle Sherm, at home. He was laughing up a storm when Mom came in and started teasing her. Told her she must have found some money-so divvy up.
Mom was real bashful when she was young. Dad had met her in church. Al the girls in church had set together and were discussing Dad and who would have the first date with him. He came up to Mom after church and asked if could walk her home. She said, "Well, if you'll be right good!" they'd all walk home in large groups. That was when the girls wore real big bows in the back of their hair. In the darkness one of the girls realized she'd lost her bow. So they were all looking for it. One boy said, "I found it," and as he reached for it his hand went into a pile of manure.
Mom would tell us so many things they would do. While Mom and Dad dated, they took lots of pictures. They, and Mart's Mom and Dad ran around together. They lots of them behind the brick yard. They'd even climb trees and all four standing on the same limb in the picture. One of Dad and another fellow showed the other guy holding a gun on Dad jokingly, and in later years, that guy turned out to be a crook. I have one of Mom when she was probably in her late teens and it is my very favorite picture! I've always been so grateful that Dad married Mom.
I remember once being very sick all night and had to be operated on the next day, but that night, while I laid in bed, so sick, every time I'd open my eyes through the night, there was Mom right beside me, never having closed her eyes. Edgar took her next morning-wherever she went to pull strings to get me operated on. She was a very lovely person, inside and out. To me, she was always beautiful and to everyone else, too.
She was so meticulous about her appearance. She wouldn't step out the door till she looked as sharp as she could. She wore makeup always. She never had an age limit for us girls as to when we could wear it, and I always did. In my high school yearbook, seemed I was the only one wearing it. Lots of times someone would come to the door and think Mom was a sister to Lou and Fern.
I used to cut Mom's hair and give her permanents. Sometimes it could be very miserable, because she was so precise as to how she wanted it. But we always got it just right. She always wore it down some on her forehead.
Dad always looked real neat too, as a young man. He wore shoes with height to the heel when he and Mom were young. Looked very handsome and immaculate. He used to wear a straight brimmed straw hat. I have a picture of Dewey in one just like Dad's. he bought it as a costume effect to go to Mickey Finns in California. He played ragtime music.
Mom and Dad's whole existence was centered around us. Once Uncle Ham gave Mom a big bundle of casket covers that his father-in-law got where he worked. Mom made them into a comfort for us. It was beautiful, but it gave us the creeps every time we slept under it. It was so warm, we eventually forgot what it was.
During the year Bob and I dated, was when Orson Wells put on the radio show that made him famous. We were being invaded from Mars!! I guess Mom figured that was the last straw, she fainted! I was so mad when we came home. I hated Orson Wells! We saw the beautiful Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) when we dated. Was a little added attraction to dating. Shows then were five cents and you could get a shop permanent for one dollar! My Mom and Dad were remarkable! During the complete raising of us all it was depression. I can't even now figure out how they did it.
Times were still bad when Bob and I were married. I asked him in later years if he was terribly nervous that day, and he said, "yes, I didn't figure I had enough to feed myself, let alone being married!" Lou wanted to have a shower for us, but no one could afford to buy for someone else. She gave me a ruby red plate and creamer and sugar bowl like it, that I still have. Jiggs made me a rolling pin in shop class in high school. Still have it too, and it's very precious to me. We had our first two sons when Bob went to Germany and the third son was born four months before I saw him. Bob moved us back home (or what I've always called home) to be near Fern while he was in the war. By then conditions had improved greatly from the depression, but we were at war! Seemed we traded one for the other.
Bob had been home four years when we got our little girl, really completing our family. And I hope they'll always be as close as my family and I. That's all I could possible ask for. Let's all hope they never again have a war or a depression!
My story wouldn't be complete without mentioning the big sycamore tree. I never knew whether it was on Grandpa's place or the next farm over. I'd get fighting mad if someone ever said it wasn't Grandpa's tree! It was huge at the base and hollow all the way to the top. Years before my time someone had cut a door in it high enough so surface water didn't go into it, but not too high for any age to step in. they had used the cutout for the door and hinged it on with leather. The door always being with one strap and I used to wonder why no one ever fixed it. I guess whoever had done it had grown up and lost interest, but my Dad was always fixing something.
We'd play for hours in that old tree. There were tiny little bony skeletons of rats and mice, or little squirrels, that were dropped down from the very top by the owls. I think every kid in the neighborhood had their initials on that tree. Bob's initials are carved in the cement on a bridge farther west, and are still there. And it's about to cave in.
Near the sycamore was a creek that seemed fun to us. We just loved to play under the bridge that the road crossed. Under the arches of the bridge at either side was a long cement slab that just seemed built for kids to sit on. At that point was one edge of Grandpa's land and I can't remember what kept the cows from the other farm out, but at the other end of the creek was a little swinging picket fence across the water. A lot of things would gather up there at the fence and almost dam up the water. Sometimes it would have to be cleaned out. Right there was always the deepest part of the creek. None of it was very deep, but it was lovely to wade in.
There were maple trees on both farms there and they'd tap the trees and boil it down and make maple syrup. Every winter at Grandpa's they butchered pigs also. They would cook down the fat in large black kettles outside on a tripod over a lively fire, and make up lots of meat in sausage. They would have meat in barrels of brine and every one would help in sugar curing. Then there was the smokehouse, too.
Everything seemed a never to be forgotten adventure. The reason I got so nostalgic is that there is nothing there at all anymore. The mining company stripped all the land for coal and cut out every place we ever lived, all but the first house I ever had a memory of. But it can't be cut out of my mind.

More About RUBY EDITH POLLOCK:
Burial: Oakhill Cemetary, Oakwood, Illinois

Children of FRANK MORRIS and RUBY POLLOCK are:

11.	i.	ANNA LLEWELLYN⁸ MORRIS, b. February 20, 1913, Danville, Illinois; d. August 6, 1989.
	ii.	THELMA FERN MORRIS, b. January 15, 1915, Danville, Illinois; m. MARVIN LIGGETT, December 24, 1932; b. October 10, 1911, Danville, Illinois; d. November 1981.
12.	iii.	ROBERT WAYNE MORRIS, b. November 14, 1917, Danville, Illinois; d. August 6, 1988.
13.	iv.	SHIRLEY VIRGINIA MORRIS, b. March 26, 1921, Danville, Illinois; d. March 16, 1982, Danville.
14.	v.	FRANK VALENTINE JR. (JIGGS) MORRIS, b. June 24, 1923, Danville, Illinois.
15.	vi.	ETHELYN IRO MORRIS, b. March 20, 1925, Danville, Illinois.

4. KATE ELIZABETH⁷ MORRIS (DANIEL SNYDER⁶, JAMES E.⁵, ROBERT CLARK⁴, ROBERT JR.³, ROBERT SR.², ANDREW¹) was born November 6, 1888 in Montgomery County, Indiana. She married HARRY CLOSSIN January 9, 1910. He was born September 19, 1882 in Ladota, Indiana, and died October 9, 1958 in Mace, Indiana.

Children of KATE MORRIS and HARRY CLOSSIN are:

16.	i.	MORRIS MILLER⁸ CLOSSIN, b. October 28, 1928, Lindsburg, Indiana.
	ii.	JOE DANIEL CLOSSIN, b. January 15, 1912, Lindsburg, Indiana; m. LOUISE NELSON; b. New York.
17.	iii.	HELEN LOUISE CLOSSIN, b. May 8, 1916, Lindsburg, Indiana.

5. DANIEL⁷ MORRIS (DANIEL SNYDER⁶, JAMES E.⁵, ROBERT CLARK⁴, ROBERT JR.³, ROBERT SR.², ANDREW¹) was born March 13, 1892 in Crawfordsville, Indiana, and died May 19, 1946. He married GEORGIA SPRAY September 20, 1923. She was born April 26, 1903 in Montgomery County, Indiana.

More About DANIEL MORRIS:
Burial: Masonic Cemetary, Crawfordsville, Indiana

Child of DANIEL MORRIS and GEORGIA SPRAY is:

18.

CAROL ANN⁸ MORRIS, b. August 21, 1941, Crawfordsville, Indiana.

6. VERNA HELENA⁷ MORRIS (DANIEL SNYDER⁶, JAMES E.⁵, ROBERT CLARK⁴, ROBERT JR.³, ROBERT SR.², ANDREW¹) was born December 13, 1894 in Crawfordsville, Indiana, and died March 18, 1967 in Crawfordsville, Indiana. She married WILBERTS WILLS. He was born December 19, 1888 in Nichols County, West Virginia, and died November 5.

More About VERNA HELENA MORRIS:
Burial: Mt. Zion EUB Church Cemetary, Crawfordsville, Indiana

More About WILBERTS WILLS:
Burial: Mt. Zion EUB Church Cemetary, Crawfordsville, Indiana

Children of VERNA MORRIS and WILBERTS WILLS are:

	i.		MARION LAURENCE⁸ WILLS, b. February 11, 1926, Crawfordsville, Indiana.
	ii.		PAUL ALLEN WILLS, b. December 25, 1933, Linden, Indiana; d. March 23, 1935, Crawfordsville, Indiana.

More About PAUL ALLEN WILLS:
Burial: Mt. Zion EUB Church Cemetary, Crawfordsville, Indiana