Family:Robert Morrow and Elizabeth Shaw (1)

Ancestry / DNA Findings

Worth S. Ray in his error-filled book Tennessee Cousins, lists Robert Morrow, with wife Elizabeth Shaw and some correct children, as son of Rev. David and Elizabeth Catlett. It’s unclear where “Rev. David” came from or how he was tied by Ray to Robert, other children, and various siblings. However, Y-DNA testing has established that descendants of two of Robert's sons do not match those connected with “Old Samuel of Spartenburg”, supposedly Rev. David’s brother. Project researchers have found evidence of another David who is likely Samuel’s brother. That leaves it technically possible that Rev. David is Robert’s father, and that all Ray’s other connections are incorrect.

As noted below, Ray combined several families - he also thinks there is a connection to William Morrow m. Ann Mebane. If he’s talking about William Morrow of Knox Co, TN who married Isabella Mebane, he was born in Ireland. There is no descendant currently in the project from that family. If he's talking about James Morrow m. Ann Mebane, descendants of that couple do not match either this group or the Old Sam group.

Worth’s notes (known corrections in brackets):

“This Robert Morrow's marriage bond to Elizabeth Shaw is on file in the department of archives and history at Raleigh. They were married in Guilford County, May 20, 1773 [this is probably the date of the marriage bond, not the wedding] with William Dent and William Dick as surities. It may have been in that part that had been taken from Orange County.

William Dent was from Maryland where he had married Verlinda Beall. Robert Morrow and Wm Dent both later settled in Wilkes Co Georgia where he served on jury on August 3, 1790. Two years before, in August 1788 Robert Morrow had purchased lands from John Nelson and his wife Eleanor in Wilkes Co. [This could also be Robert Morrow m. Ann Hurley, who is from Orange Co, NC, but unrelated per DNA testing.] John Nelson was the son of Alex Nelson of Guilford County, whose dau Ellen maried John McAdoo and his dau Mary married William Mebane, whose dau Ann Mebane [William and Mary (Nelson) Mebane are not generally thought to have a daughter Ann; Isabella Mebane did marry a William Morrow, but she was born in 1781; Mary Nelson Mebane died in 1764], married a William Morrow, who was the son of Samuel Morrow [if this is "Old Sam," he had no children] and the first cousin of Robert Morrow. Rev Thos. H. Nelson of Knoxville, was of this family.

All of these signs point unerringly to the North Carolina relationship between the Guilford and Orange County NC Morrows and those in Knox County. See Knox County Marriage.

From Georgia, Robert Morrow came to Tennessee, and resided in Warren County, where he died. He was a member of the Society of the Cincinnatti (Va)."

DNA Tests

DNA of descendants of sons John and Hugh has been matched.

Those descendants also match loosely with those in the Flat River Morrows, also known as Group 2 on this list of participants. That may indicate no relationship, or, with data from additional participants, a distant relationship prior to colonial times (reports estimate ~80% chance of a common male ancestor in the last 16 generations).

1. ↑ Elizabeth Shaw Morrow Pension Application.