An Old Settler Dead
Thomas S. Morrison
Succumbed to Bright's Disease
Deceased Came to
Harvey County
Among the Earliest
Settlers and
Has Lived Here Ever
Since
News was telephoned
to town this morning of the death at 10:30 o'clock this morning of Thomas S.
Morrison, one of the pioneer settlers of Harvey County. Mr. Morrison had been in feeble health all
summer, his ailment being Bright's disease.
He took treatment at the Axtell Hospital during the summer but his
advanced years were against him and he succumbed to the disease this morning,
the end having been expected for some time.
He died at the home of his son, Frank S. Morrison, who lives on the old
homestead of his father four and a half miles south of town on Kansas Avenue.
Thomas S. Morrison
was one of the very earliest settlers in Harvey county. He came here in 1871, before the day of the
railroad, and walked from Emporia to Sedgwick.
With the assistance of William Finn, now of Sedgwick, he located a claim
in Darlington township, the northwest quarter of section eight. Afterwards he pre-empted the southeast eighty
of section eight, adjoining the homestead, and there built the house which has
since been his home.
Prior to coming to
Kansas, his home was in Washington county, Illinois, where he was born January
13th, 1832. He was married there to Mary
Swanwick in 1859, the union being blessed with two children, a boy and a girl. The girl died in infancy but the son, Frank
S., is now a highly respected citizen of Darlington township. Mr. Morrison served three years as a member
of Company K, Fifth Illinois Cavalry.
His wife died before he came to Kansas and for years he "batched
it" on his farm in Harvey county until his son Frank married, after which
he made his home with them.
Although an old
soldier, Mr. Morrison never identified himself with a Grand Army post. He was a member in good standing of Newton
Lodge No. 142, A.F. and A.M. During his
residence in Darlington township, he devoted himself almost exclusively to
building up his farm and gave little attention to politics or public
matters. The only public office he ever
held was that of township trustee. He
was simple and unpretentious in his life, consent to devote himself to his farm
in which he took great pride and which he made a valuable and well-improved
property. His neighbors recognized in
him a man of exceptionally fine character and he was generally liked by all
that knew him. Besides his son Frank,
four brothers, all living in Chester, Illinois, and one sister, Mrs. G.H. Pate of
Lakin, Kansas, survive him. The Evening Kansan-Republican, Newton Kansas. November 30, 1904. Page 1. (C) Transcribed by Darren McMannis for HCGS.
