Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, genealogical-memorial ...

Grace Bett, who died there June 6, 1705.
She probably returned there after his
death to live with some of her children.
Their fourth son, Samuel Morris, was
born March 19, 1670, baptized April 19
following, and received lands from his
father in Woodstock. He purchased from
the heirs the paternal homestead in Roxbury
in 1694, for £ 120, and added by pur-
chase thirty-six acres and other lands.
For a time he resided in Marlborough,
Massachusetts, and was described as of
that town, December 18, 1714, when he
exchanged the Roxbury homestead for
1500 acres of land in what is now Thompson,
Connecticut on the Quinnebaug
river. The exchange was made with Gov-
ernor Dudley, of Massachusetts, and the
valuation of each property was placed at
£500. Samuel Morris died January 9,
1745, in Thompson. Both he and his son
were involved in disputes with the parish
of Thompson about parish rates, and he
attended church at Dudley, Massachusetts,
or at Woodstock, either of which
were nearer to his home and more con-
venient of access than Thompson parish
church. By maintaining a bridge over
the Quinnebaug river at large personal
expense, Samuel Morris and his son
pleaded for exemption from the Thompson
parish rates, and were granted some
concession. He married Mehitable Mayo,
born January 6, 1669, in Roxbury, admit-
ted to full communion in the church there,
October 28, 1688, and died there Febru-
ary 8, 1702.
Their eldest child was Samuel Morris,
born August 13, 1695, in Roxbury, who
succeeded his father on the farm in
Thompson, and was an extensive trader,
buying up produce of the farmers, which
he transported to Boston and exchanged
for merchandise. In the fall of 1755 he
sold his property and removed to Smith-
field, Rhode Island, where he died June
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
334
l 3< 1765. He married (intentions pub-
lished September 7, 1728) Abigail Bragg,
born January 23, 1701, in Bristol, Rhode
Island, died July 29 1790, in Woodstock,
daughter of Henry and Elizabeth Bragg.
Their third son, John Morris, born September
5, 1735, in Thompson, married,
June 16, 1763, Rebecca Gore, born May
5, 1746, in Dudley, Massachusetts, daugh-
ter of Elijah and Rebecca (Vinton) Gore,
and lived in that town.
Their eldest son, Elijah Gore Morris,
born April 7, 1767, in Dudley, spent much
of his life in teaching, and removed to
Wethersfield, Connecticut, in his sixty-
ninth year. He married, November 26,
1790, Tamma Davis, born January 16,
1770, in Dudley, daughter of Edward and
Elizabeth Davis, died January 10, 1840,
in Wethersfield, in her seventy-first year.
Their second son, Moses Morris, born
August 21, 1796, in Dudley, was a joiner
by trade, lived in Wethersfield, and was
killed May 25, 1849, by a fall from a wagon.
He married, October 26, 1826, Laura
Wells, born March 8, 1800, in Wethers-
field, died January 17, i860, daughter of
Samuel and Anna (Griswold) Wells. She
was descended from Governor Thomas
Wells, of Connecticut, who was born in
1598 in Essex county, England, and
whose property there was confiscated for
political reasons. He came to America
as secretary to Lords Say and Brooke,
located about 1636 at Saybrook, and in
the following year was a magistrate at
Hartford, where he continued twenty-two
years to fill that office. In 1654 and in
four other years he was Deputy to the
General Court ; from 1655 to 1658 was
Governor of the Connecticut Colony;
held other offices of trust and honor ;
died
January 14, 1660, and was buried in Hartford.
He married Elizabeth Hart, who
died in 1640. She was the mother of
Samuel Wells, born 1630 in England,