Morrison
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Morrison Surname Genealogy
The Morrison surname derived ifrom the personal name Maurice that was popular during the Middle Ages. Maurice, the name of some early Christian saints, was the learned spelling of the name. Morice or Morris was its more common form. The patronymic Morison or Morrison ("son of Morris") cropped up as a surname in England, in Scotland, and in Ireland.
The Morrison clan that was centred on Lewis in the Western Isles derived their surname from the Gaelic name MacGilleMhoire; and the Morrisons on the Isle of Man came from Myvorrey or Mylvorrey. MacMuiris was the Irish version of Morris. But most Morrisons in Ireland were of Scots origin.
Scotland. Morrisons, from the Gaelic MacGilleMhoir, first appeared in the islands of the Outer Hebrides. Legend has it that they were descended from the son of a King of Norway who was shipwrecked off the shores of Lewis. He married the heiress of Pabbay castle off Harris and it was from this union that the Morrison clan was said to have begun.
The Morrison hereditary judges or brieves on the isle of Lewis were generally recognized as the chiefs of the clan until the early 1600’s. A number of these Morrisons then crossed over to the mainland and settled in Durness in Mackay country.
The Morrisons on Harris may have been related. More likely, they descended from the bardic O'Muirgheasáin clan who arrived there from county Donegal in the 1500’s. The Morrisons of Ruchdi in North Uist were descendants of the Morrisons of Pabbay in Harris and in 1965 were invested as the chiefs of "clan Morrison."
The Morisons of Bognie in Aberdeenshire have been in fact the leading Morrison family. This family first gained their Bognie estate in the early 1600's. Other Morisons were those of Dersay in Fife and those of Preston Grange in East Lothian.
The first accouint of the Scottish Morrisons was undertaken in 1880 by Captain Thomas and L.A. Morrison in their book The History of the Morison or Morrison Family.
England. Morrison, like similar patronymic names, has generally been a name of the north of England. It first appeared as a surname - as Robert Morisson - in the Yorkshire poll tax records of 1379.
The Moryson family of Chardwell in the West Ridings of Yorkshire dates back to the 15th century. Thomas Morrison later moved south to Hertfordshire and his son Richard, a protege of Thomas Cromwell, distinguished himself as a diplomat at the time of Henry VIII.
Another Moryson family may have come originally from Northumberland. They were in Lincolnshire by the early 1500’s. Thomas Moryson of Cadeby in Lincolnshire was a member of the local gentry who held the lucrative office of Clerk of the Pipes. The family was wealthy enough that his son Fynes could travel around Europe for six years in the 1590’s. He published an account of these travels in 1617.
Some Morrisons in England were of Scottish ancestry, such as Robert Morrison the Protestant missionary to China. He was born of a Scottish father in Northumberland in 1782. John Morrison, born in Alston in Cumberland in 1761, was also probably of Scottish origin.
Morrison supermarkets, begun by William Morrison of Bradford in the 1920's, has been traditionally associated with the north of England. Son Ken Morrison, the recent Chairman of Morrisons, was born in Bradford and makes his home outside York.
James Morrison, the 19th century businessman, grew up in a small village in Hampshire. He came to London and made his fortune as a trader on the principle of "small profits and quick returns." His son Alfred of Fonthill House in Wiltshire was a noted art collector.
Isle of Man. Morrison can be a Manx name. The Manx names of Myvorrey and Mylvorrey, meaning "the son of Mary's servant," would become Morrison. Patrick Mylvorrey, for instance, was born around 1761 in the northwest of the Isle of Man. The next Mylvorrey generation became known as Morrisons.
Ireland. Most Morrisons in Ireland are to be found in Ulster, in particular in Antrim and county Down, and are of Scots origin. The singer Van Morrison's family roots are from the Ulster Scots population that settled in Belfast.
John Morrison was among those Scots Irish who fled after the siege of Londonderry in 1689. Lieutenant Robert Morrison and Captain James Morrison also took part in the battle and were declared traitors by King James in 1689. They all emigrated, helping to found a new Londonderry in New Hampshire in 1719.
Some Morrisons in Fermanagh are descendants of the Irish Morrisons on Harris who fled the Western Isles after conflict with the McAuleys.
America. Most of the Morrisons who came to America in the 18th century were Scots Irish. Their numbers included:
Jacob Haight Morrison was born in upstate New York, but moved south at some stage, married well, and acquired the Brunswick sugar plantation in Pointe Coupee parish, Louisiana in 1856. This plantation was to stay with his family until the 1930's. Later Morrisons of the family were to be prominent in local New Orleans politics.
Canada. Captain John Morrison visited Nova Scotia as a military officer, sent to destroy French fortifications at Louisburg in 1759. By that time he had a family with six young children living in Peterborough, New Hampshire. He was inspired by the lands of Nova Scotia and he moved there, becoming one of the first settlers of Truro. There was to follow the Scots Irish settlement of Londonderry nearby.
Select Morrison Miscellany
Select Morrison Names
Samuel Eliot Morison was an American historian noted for his works of naval history.
Herbert Morrison was a British Labor politician who was Deputy Prime Minister in the Labor government of the 1940's.
Jim Morrison was an American cult singer of the 1960's who died young in Paris at the age of twenty eight.
Van Morrison is a singer/songwriter from Northern Ireland.
Toni Morrison, born Chloe Wofford, is a Nobel Prize-winning American novelist, author of works such as Beloved.
Select Morrisons Today
The Morrison surname derived ifrom the personal name Maurice that was popular during the Middle Ages. Maurice, the name of some early Christian saints, was the learned spelling of the name. Morice or Morris was its more common form. The patronymic Morison or Morrison ("son of Morris") cropped up as a surname in England, in Scotland, and in Ireland.
The Morrison clan that was centred on Lewis in the Western Isles derived their surname from the Gaelic name MacGilleMhoire; and the Morrisons on the Isle of Man came from Myvorrey or Mylvorrey. MacMuiris was the Irish version of Morris. But most Morrisons in Ireland were of Scots origin.
- Clan Morrison Society of North America. US Morrison clan website.
- Morrison Family History. Morrisons of South Shields in Durham.
- Morrison. Morrisons from Scotland and Ireland to America.
- Morrison DNA Project. Morrison DNA.
Scotland. Morrisons, from the Gaelic MacGilleMhoir, first appeared in the islands of the Outer Hebrides. Legend has it that they were descended from the son of a King of Norway who was shipwrecked off the shores of Lewis. He married the heiress of Pabbay castle off Harris and it was from this union that the Morrison clan was said to have begun.
The Morrison hereditary judges or brieves on the isle of Lewis were generally recognized as the chiefs of the clan until the early 1600’s. A number of these Morrisons then crossed over to the mainland and settled in Durness in Mackay country.
"According
to tradition,
Aodh Mac Thormoid married a daughter of the Bishop of Caithness who
bestowed on
the couple the whole of Durness. Aodh then brought over a colony
of about
60 families, mostly of his clan."
The Morrisons on Harris may have been related. More likely, they descended from the bardic O'Muirgheasáin clan who arrived there from county Donegal in the 1500’s. The Morrisons of Ruchdi in North Uist were descendants of the Morrisons of Pabbay in Harris and in 1965 were invested as the chiefs of "clan Morrison."
The Morisons of Bognie in Aberdeenshire have been in fact the leading Morrison family. This family first gained their Bognie estate in the early 1600's. Other Morisons were those of Dersay in Fife and those of Preston Grange in East Lothian.
The first accouint of the Scottish Morrisons was undertaken in 1880 by Captain Thomas and L.A. Morrison in their book The History of the Morison or Morrison Family.
England. Morrison, like similar patronymic names, has generally been a name of the north of England. It first appeared as a surname - as Robert Morisson - in the Yorkshire poll tax records of 1379.
The Moryson family of Chardwell in the West Ridings of Yorkshire dates back to the 15th century. Thomas Morrison later moved south to Hertfordshire and his son Richard, a protege of Thomas Cromwell, distinguished himself as a diplomat at the time of Henry VIII.
Another Moryson family may have come originally from Northumberland. They were in Lincolnshire by the early 1500’s. Thomas Moryson of Cadeby in Lincolnshire was a member of the local gentry who held the lucrative office of Clerk of the Pipes. The family was wealthy enough that his son Fynes could travel around Europe for six years in the 1590’s. He published an account of these travels in 1617.
Some Morrisons in England were of Scottish ancestry, such as Robert Morrison the Protestant missionary to China. He was born of a Scottish father in Northumberland in 1782. John Morrison, born in Alston in Cumberland in 1761, was also probably of Scottish origin.
Morrison supermarkets, begun by William Morrison of Bradford in the 1920's, has been traditionally associated with the north of England. Son Ken Morrison, the recent Chairman of Morrisons, was born in Bradford and makes his home outside York.
James Morrison, the 19th century businessman, grew up in a small village in Hampshire. He came to London and made his fortune as a trader on the principle of "small profits and quick returns." His son Alfred of Fonthill House in Wiltshire was a noted art collector.
Isle of Man. Morrison can be a Manx name. The Manx names of Myvorrey and Mylvorrey, meaning "the son of Mary's servant," would become Morrison. Patrick Mylvorrey, for instance, was born around 1761 in the northwest of the Isle of Man. The next Mylvorrey generation became known as Morrisons.
Ireland. Most Morrisons in Ireland are to be found in Ulster, in particular in Antrim and county Down, and are of Scots origin. The singer Van Morrison's family roots are from the Ulster Scots population that settled in Belfast.
John Morrison was among those Scots Irish who fled after the siege of Londonderry in 1689. Lieutenant Robert Morrison and Captain James Morrison also took part in the battle and were declared traitors by King James in 1689. They all emigrated, helping to found a new Londonderry in New Hampshire in 1719.
Some Morrisons in Fermanagh are descendants of the Irish Morrisons on Harris who fled the Western Isles after conflict with the McAuleys.
America. Most of the Morrisons who came to America in the 18th century were Scots Irish. Their numbers included:
- two Morrison brothers, Samuel and James, who settled in Drumore
township in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania around 1718.
- the Morrisons from Londonderry in Ireland who helped found the
town of Londonderry in New Hampshire in 1719. The John Morrison
who died there in 1736 was said to have been 108 years of age.
The family home, Morrsion House, was built there
in 1760 and still stands.
- Samuel and Mercy Morrison of county Tyrone who came to Bucks
county, Pennsylvania on the Sally of
Coleraine around 1740. Some of these Morrisons moved onto
New York and Ohio.
- four Morrison brothers who came to Pennsylvania from Ulster around 1740. William Morrison was an early settler in North Carolina.
- and Nathaniel Morrison from the Isle of Lewis who came to
Greenbrier, Virginia sometime in the 1750's.
Jacob Haight Morrison was born in upstate New York, but moved south at some stage, married well, and acquired the Brunswick sugar plantation in Pointe Coupee parish, Louisiana in 1856. This plantation was to stay with his family until the 1930's. Later Morrisons of the family were to be prominent in local New Orleans politics.
Canada. Captain John Morrison visited Nova Scotia as a military officer, sent to destroy French fortifications at Louisburg in 1759. By that time he had a family with six young children living in Peterborough, New Hampshire. He was inspired by the lands of Nova Scotia and he moved there, becoming one of the first settlers of Truro. There was to follow the Scots Irish settlement of Londonderry nearby.
Select Morrison Miscellany
If you would like to read more, click on the miscellany page for
further stories and accounts:
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Samuel Eliot Morison was an American historian noted for his works of naval history.
Herbert Morrison was a British Labor politician who was Deputy Prime Minister in the Labor government of the 1940's.
Jim Morrison was an American cult singer of the 1960's who died young in Paris at the age of twenty eight.
Van Morrison is a singer/songwriter from Northern Ireland.
Toni Morrison, born Chloe Wofford, is a Nobel Prize-winning American novelist, author of works such as Beloved.
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