MARION M. MORRISS
The family line of Mr. Morriss, Virginians through several generations,
is thus traced. Isaac Morriss, of Fairfax county, Virginia, married
Ann Thompson, of Amelia county, this State. Their son, William
A. Morriss of Pittsylvania county, married Winifred Quesenbury. A
son born to them, named William L., living also in Pittsylvania county,
married Ann Earp, and Marion M. Morriss is their son. He was
born in Pittsylvania county, on March 4, 1843.
Before he was nineteen years of age he had entered the Southern army,
and he served from February, 1862, to the close of the war as orderly
sergeant of the Ringgold Battery. Since the war his home has been in
Washington county, where he has been identified with the best interests
of the county. For ten years he was a magistrate of the county. He
has been, from its beginning, intimately connected with the Southwest
Virginia Institute, and chairman of its board of trustees since organization.
He carries on an estate, and is also a merchant of Glade
Spring.
Mr. Morriss has been twice married. His first wife, who died February
17, 1882, was Elizabeth A., daughter of James W. McSpadden of
this county. Their children are: William S., Walker M., Nina B., John
T., Benham, Mary (deceased), Dabney, Judson and Marion M. Secondly
Mr. Morriss married Evie Hunter, of Appomattox county, Virginia,
and their only son bears the name of her family, Hunter. She is of
well-known Virginia families, Benjamin and Sarah Hunter, nee Williams,
of Appomattox county her parents, and her paternal grandfather Benjamin
Hunter who married Sarah Arrington, of Campbell county,
Virginia.
