Person:Joseph Morrow (20)

Who is this Joseph?

Letters of administration for the estate of Joseph Morrow, Jr. were granted to James M. Morrow, Joseph Morrow, and Joseph C. Read on 4 March 1833, the same day as the same three men were granted letters for Ewing Morrow. This is the only record that clearly establishes the existence of two Joseph Morrows in Morgan County. All of the tax lists in Wilkes and Morgan County between 1792 and 1832 tell a consistent story of one man, and only one family of Joseph appears in the census in 1820 or 1830 (see Joseph's record for more detail).

One record that does not clearly belong to Joseph Senior: The 1827 Georgia Lottery list says Joseph Morrow draw in Lee County, as did James M. Morrow, both of Morgan County. Then, "Peter G, one of the heirs of Joseph Morrow dec’d of Morgan County," claimed lot 18-29 of Lee, now Marion County. App’t of Warren J. Hill of Walton Co. as atty. 29 May 1843. This record has been used to place the Peter Gilliam Morrow still living in the area as the son of this Joseph (as the other Peter Gilliam Morrow is the son of Joseph Sr., who was clearly still living in 1843, and both had left the state by 1840). But Peter, for the reasons described in that record, is clearly the son of Ewing. He is also the brother of James M. (the one who administered James Jr's estate and drew in the lottery along with this Joseph).

What makes this all make sense is if Joseph, Jr. is a brother of James M. and Peter G., and a young, unmarried man at the time of the lottery pull who was living with his parents and had not otherwise left records. He then passed away shortly thereafter without issue, making his siblings his heirs.

The land record is also sometimes (and in prior versions of this page) associated with the marriage record for Joseph Morrow and Matilda Hamner in 1808. The problem with that theory is that it requires the married couple to leave no records, including census records, in the area for more than 20 years. Moreover, if both theories were true--the son of Ewing married Matilda--this man would be 5-10 years older than Ewing's other children.

See Morrow Descendants of Peter Gilliam for additional commentary.