Spencer James McMorris

Spencer James McMorris

• Father: John B. McMorries b. 5 January 1769, d. 30 December 1823
• Mother: Nancy Morgan

• Spencer James McMorris was born circa 1798 in South Carolina.
• Found in Universalism in America: A History (1886):
       For the purpose of showing the general progress of Universalism since 1820, in the different States and Territories, we here take them up in their alphabetical order: --
       Alabama. -- At what time Universalism was first preached in this State we have no means of knowing. So far as we are informed, Rev. W. Atkins was the pioneer preacher, about 1832. In 1834 he organized churches at Mount Olympus and Montgomery, and about this time Rev. Messrs. L. F. W. Andrews and S. J. McMorris also entered the State. Mr. Andrews edited and published a paper. Subsequently Mr. McMorris also started a denominational journal; but of these, and other issued in Alabama, mention will be made in another place. . . . 
        Mississippi. -- To the best of our knowledge, Universalism was first preached in this State by Rev. S. J. McMorris, in 1840 or 1841, during his temporary residence in Starkville. . . . 
• He married Margaret Kincaid say 1833, first cousins; his father was a brother of her mother.
• He married Emera Anne Elizabeth Mitchell, daughter of Thomas James Mitchell and Mary Wood.
• Spencer James McMorris and Emera Anne Elizabeth Mitchell appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1850 in Wetumpka, Coosa County, Alabama. Other members of the household included John Thomas Thrasher.
• He was a clergyman, according to the 1850 census, and the census enumerator for that area.
• In August 1851, S. J. McMorris was City Clerk of Wetumpka.
• Mary Wood Mitchell wrote on 5 October 1852, in a letter to her niece Lizzie Green Wood Powell, "It has just occurd to me that I receivd a letter from brother written when they were looking for Willis home. he said Camel was anxiously looking for an answer to his letter. I then answer,d Camel,s letter & described John T. Thrasher,s wife & wedding, also the little party I gave him Perhaps that letter has been received, But I must say that I think John has a choice wife. Emera is delighted with her. they will live with Emera this year if no longer, as Mr Mc Morris has become a traveling Preacher -- he has not spent a month at home this year. E. thinks he answer,d before he was calld."
• The following appeared on 29 July 1859 in The Liberator: The Universalist Herald, published at Montgomery, Ala., with the Rev. John C. Burrows as its editor, and S. J. McMorris, B. F. Strain, and J. Shingdy, as corresponding editors. . .
• Spencer James McMorris and Emera Anne Elizabeth Mitchell appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1860 in Wetumpka, Coosa County, Alabama, Elmore County was established by the Alabama legislature in 1866, with Wetumpka as the county seat.
• He was a Universalist preacher, according to the 1860 census.
• Spencer James McMorris and Emera Anne Elizabeth Mitchell appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1870 in Wetumpka, Elmore County, Alabama, enumerated next to Emera's son William Augustus Thrasher and his family.
• He was a clergyman, according to the 1870 census.
• Spencer James McMorris died on 2 March 1874.
• His wife Emera Anne Elizabeth Mitchell became a widow at his death.
• The following appeared in The Clarke County Democrat: Rev. S. J. McMorris, of Wetumpka, who died on the 2d, inst., was well and widely known. He was a Universalist minister and for more than forty years had preached that faith. Thirty years ago he edited a Universalist newspaper in Wetumpka, called the "Messengere of Glad Tidings."
• The following appeared on 17 September 1874 in the Wheeling Daily Register: (New York, Sept. 16) Prior to the opening of the Universalist Convention this morning devotional exercises were held and brief addresses were made by. . . . The Committee on Resolutions, with regard to deaths of members, offered a series of resolutions, which were adopted, regretting the deaths of John J. Bartholamew, Thos. J. Greenwood, F. S. Bacon, A. J. Clark, Wm. W. Nelson, S. J. McMorris, and C. S. Hilles. . . .

• Last Edited: 28 Jun 2014

• Charts: Descendants of WOOD William & Lydia Ballentine