I got a huge lead this week from an obituary that was posted online. The obit was for Ethel Marie Gage Morris Yancey. She was married to Orville Merian Morris. Orville was the youngest son of William Newton Morris and Mary Adline "Mamie" Witcher. William Newton Morris and my 2nd Great Grandfather, James Robert Morris, were brothers.
The obituary, dated 1995, listed four surviving children, all residing in Arkansas. With the help of whitepages.com, I decided to see if I could find a phone number for any of the kids that were listed in the obit. I called a number listed for one of the sons and no one answered the phone. So, I looked for a number for the other son and, sure enough, someone said, "Hello."
Now, I'm not a big fan of making 'cold calls,' because you never know how they are going to go. Thoughts went through my mind, like, "These people aren't going to talk to me. They're probably too busy. They're going to think I'm crazy. Nobody does this." But, I've found, the more you make them, the easier they are to make.
I said, "Hello, is this Dub?" The aged voice on the other end said, "Yes, who is this?" I told him my name and that I thought we were related. He was immediately interested and wanted to know the connection. I told him that our great grandfathers were brothers and verified with him the links from them to us. He was able to confirm my suspicions.
Dub is 77 years old and never knew much about the Morris family. It turns out that his parents divorced when he was young and his dad moved off to Florida and his mother remained in Arkansas. I gathered that Orville didn't have much to do with his family after he moved away. Therefore, Dub never learned about his fathers side of the family.
Our conversation went on for the next twenty minutes, or so, and in the end, Dub was very thankful that I gave him a call.
Moral of the story: don't be afraid to pick up the phone and make that call! You never know what you'll learn.
Our conversation went on for the next twenty minutes, or so, and in the end, Dub was very thankful that I gave him a call.
Moral of the story: don't be afraid to pick up the phone and make that call! You never know what you'll learn.
William Newton Morris with Grandchildren
(Photo by gailg500)
