Webster J. Morris

Webster J. Morris was born in 1840 in New York, the son of Isaac D. (b. 1811) and Elizabeth (b. 1815).

New York natives Isaac and Elizabeth were presumably married in New York where they resided for some years before moving west. By 1860 Issac had settled his family in Lowell, Kent County, Michigan where he worked as a master carpenter and Webster was working as a printer and living with his family.

Webster was 21 years old and probably still living with his family when he enlisted in Company D on May 13, 1861. He was reported as a provost guard in July of 1862, absent sick in August, and a provost guard from September through November of 1862. On July 9, 1863, he was detached to bring conscripts from Michigan to Washington, was on recruiting duty in Michigan from August through December, and in January of 1864 he was a Sergeant and remained detached in Michigan through February. He was mustered out on June 20, 1864, at Detroit suffering from piles and chronic diarrhea.

After his discharge from the army Webster returned to Michigan, probably to Lowell.

In any case, he married New York native Anna (b. 1843) sometime before 1866 and they had at least three children: Cora (b. 1866), Maude (b. 1868) and Floyd (b. 1870).

By 1870 Webster was working as a newspaper editor and living with his wife and three children in Lowell, Kent County; next door lived one Wayne Morris who was a printer and nearby lived Webster’s father who was working as a newsdealer. (By 1880 his mother was living as a widow in Lowell.)

He was living in Chesterfield, Macomb County in 1888, in Chesaning, Saginaw County in 1890 and in Mt. Clemens, Macomb County in 1894.

He became a member of the Old Third Michigan Infantry Association in June of 1911. In 1879 he applied for and received a pension (no. 229825).

Webster died on January 21,1931, at Grand Rapids, Kent County, but was buried in Highland cemetery in Washtenaw County.