Monday May 5

Located about ¾ miles up Indian Creek alongside the Ozark Trail on the left bank of creek.

Information on this cemetery is scant. If anyone knows anything about who is buried here, please contact me.

Joshua Morris was a brother of William George Morris of Reynolds County and Caleb Morris of Crawford County. He was also the sibling of Hettie Morris Baker and Hannah Morris Thornton Copeland.

The oral history of having an ancestor who signed the Declaration of Independence has been handed down through the years in each family line. My grandfather told me the story in 1958 when I was 6 years old. However, my research does not connect this family with Robert Morris. Moses Morris who was born in NJ about 1771 and died in Washington County in 1857, is the father of the family members listed above and his ancestory is, as far as I know, undocumented.

Many individuals have accepted the undocumented 'proof' that Moses Morris, 1771 is the son of Moses Moses, 1743-1827 of Sussex County, NJ. due to the fact that in the 1850 census, Washington County MO., Moses listed his place of birth as NJ. Unfortunately, in his 1884 History of Susex County, NJ, Mr. Snell does not mention our Moses Morris when enumerating the children of this Moses Morris. Moses Morris, 1743-1827 is the son of Dennis Morris, 1710, Ireland. Snell does mention this fact. Also, Snell states that Dennis Morris is the uncle of 'Lewis Morris' the signer. I think this is where the oral history leads.

Further confusion occurs when we try to trace the mother of Joshua, William George, Caleb, Hettie and Hannah. Her name was Susannah Morris, 1785-1835 of Amelia County, VA. Amelia County, VA has several recorded Morris family members. Could the oral history lead up this side of the tree? I don't know, and I don't think anyone else does either.

What I am sure of though is that this family has no proven or suspected ties to Robert Morris.

The information about Martha Lorene'Rainey Huff' was given to me by a gentleman who recently passed away. I had been in contact with him for quite awhile and we were trying to piece together the oral history that had been handed down to him concerning Joshua and Rainy. I was never given access to the 'proof' of Rainy's native american linage, the gentleman only stated what his mother and grandmother had told him when he was a child. I do know that it was always an accepted fact in my families 'oral history' that Uncle Joshua had lived at Paintrock and had married an Indian woman.

If you consult a map of the area you will find that William George Morris, living on Logan Creek in Reynolds County and Joshua Morris, living at Paintrock in Shannon County, were only separated by a distance of less than ten miles. Contact between the families was maintained until the mid 1950's. I had never heard the name of Rainy's father and knowing what I do know about the families living in this area I am more inclined to believe that her father was Mr. Huff who farmed on Paintrock and he would not have been known as 'Chief anybody' even if the family had native american ancestory. I believe that Rainy and Joshua lived either on or next to the Huff Farm but I have not determined the exact location. The referenced Graveyard is beside the home of Mr. and Mrs. Stanley Eaton. However, there is another Cemetery nearby and I think it is known as the 'Rector' Cemetery. A 4 wheel drive vehicle is required to get to it.

I believe that family-submitted information is vital, however I also believe that documentation of some sort should be required before it is posted as fact or that a disclaimer be made.

Jim Morris